It took Cyrus nearly three weeks to complete the new body for Cryptor. He was extra cautious and had to make sure that everything was in tip top shape, not wanting there to be any problems. Upon running some test, Cyrus concluded that the body was ready. Cryptor was informed post haste. When Cryptor was ready, the inventor prepared him to transfer over to the new body. Having Cryptor lie out on the table in the lab, Cyrus powered him off to transfer him over to the small. The inventor connected Cryptor to the computer and temporarily uploaded his AI, then re-uploading it in the new, short body. Once that was complete, the small body was powered on.
Cryptor powered back on a little faster than his normal body, automatically feeling completely different and alien to the world. Grumbling, he sat up, clasping his head in his hand. For the most part movement felt the same besides everything being smaller and a lot stiffer, newer. Like normal, he turned to hang his legs off the table, only to find he had to pull himself forward a bit just to do so. With a frown, Cryptor stared down at his legs, seeing the much larger drop than normal. The sight caused his foot to twitch, feeling like it was supposed to be closer to the ground.
Eventually Cryptor got out of the petrified state and looked at Cyrus, finding himself looking up at the inventor even with the elevated help of the table. Flinching at the sight and almost cowering, Cryptor stared up at Cyrus, having the height change sink its way in. The inventor watched Cryptor, smiling at the android. The inventor steered his chair a bit closer to the now short android. Without a word, Cyrus helped Cryptor off the table. Cyrus then took Cryptor's hand and had him hold the table for support, knowing that he probably was not use to his body. Cryptor frowned when he got placed on the ground, standing in the form to find himself just barely taller than the table itself.
"We need to break in this body before you do anything." Cyrus stated, patting Cryptor's shoulder.
Cyrus looked over at the other body on the table. The body looked lifeless, making Cyrus remember how Cryptor had been gone for a year. He frowned, thinking about what he had done to Cryptor. The inventor had to avert his eyes, remembering the painful memories just by looking at Cryptor's lifeless body. Scowling, Cryptor went to look up at Cyrus, seeing the hurtful expression on his face. Tracing the inventor's sight he saw his normal body unconscious on another table.
"Cyrus, I-" Cryptor began to say before cutting himself, already knowing something was seriously off. "Wha-" He again began to say. Getting the same result, Cryptor's head quickly shot up to glare at Cyrus. Cyrus looked down at Cryptor when he heard him trying to speak. Whatever Cryptor tried to say, all Cyrus heard was beeping. Sighing at the sight of the android's glare, Cyrus shook his head.
"Don't look at me, I didn't intend for the beeping." He said with a shrug. "There's probably something wrong with the speech processor... we can fix it later."
"Fix it later?! You expect me to walk around in this thing with the addition of the inability to speak?!" Cryptor spat, letting go of the table he was holding onto to step closer to Cyrus. Quickly losing his balance in the body, Cryptor quickly brought his arm up to catch himself against the table, forgetting that he had to reach higher and his arm searching the air for something much higher. The result of the mistake caused Cryptor to topple over, clocking his head on the edge of the table as he went down. Now sitting on the ground under the table, Cryptor shook his head with a growl before glaring up at the table overhead. Cyrus gasped and went to Cryptor's aide immediately. The inventor reached down and helped the android up. When Cryptor was on his feet again, Cyrus inspected the body to make sure nothing was out of place.
"You're going to have to be careful until you're use to this body." Cyrus sighed. "I know your little outburst was due to the inability to speak, but it's not an easy thing to just fix. You can enjoy being outside without having to talk." Cryptor disliked the help Cyrus gave him, feeling more like he was getting jerked around by the inventor.
"I want out of this thing." He scowled up at Cyrus before jerking himself away from Cyrus, unsteadily making his way around him and towards the table his normal body rested on. As he walked, Cryptor felt like he was going to fall over any moment, almost achieving so several times. He had grabbed onto the table he was coursed for as soon as he could, practically falling into it. Cryptor frowned when he got to the table, looking down at his feet with disappointment. "I hate this body." He growled before getting up on his tip toes as he tried to look at the old body, reaching across the table to grab one of its hands to pull it closer. Cyrus' sight was again brought up to Cryptor's other body when the android tried grabbing his own hand. The inventor frowned, brows furrowing. He felt suddenly depressed. Shaking his head, he looked away from the larger, lifeless body.
"Cryptor, I can't understand you." He stated, his mood slightly audible in his voice. "Would you still like to go outside? Nod yes or no." Cryptor frowned when Cyrus spoke, looking over his shoulder at him before letting go of his hand and clumsily turning around to look at the inventor. Almost falling again when he moved, Cryptor reached up for the table again to keep himself standing.
"I know you can't understand me." He grumbled, glaring at Cyrus. "And no I don't want to go outside, I want out of this stupid thing!" He shook his head, pointing up at his body on the table. The inventor shook his head at the answer he received. He bit his lower lip and looked around the room. Spotting a pad of paper nearby, Cyrus quickly steered himself over to it and brought back to Cryptor. Handing the pad to the android, Cyrus pulled a worn down click pen out of his jacket pocket, giving it to Cryptor as well. Cryptor frowned, looking at the note pad and pen he had been handed, the objects feeling gigantic in his hands.
"Are you sure that you don't want to go outside?" Cyrus asked, tilting his head. "This may be the only way you can go out for a while... wouldn't you at least want to see the changes in the city?" Glaring up at Cyrus, Cryptor dropped both of the objects on the ground before sitting down in front of them, picking up the pen and trying to write. The task of writing proved to be more difficult for the robot than normal though and Cryptor was already grimacing at the task after making one line. Continuing on slowly, Cryptor's writing ended up a lot more sloppy than normal, some of his words combining into one and letters mashing together. Disappointed with the end result, Cryptor grudgingly held up the book to Cyrus.
"I don't like this body." Cyrus read the note, sighing and shaking his head.
"I suppose that I could figure something out later." Cyrus sighed. "It may take a while... I figured you would be aching to get out of here though." Cryptor looked down at the ground with a frown. Sighing he took the paper to the pen and wrote.
"I guess I can manage a day." He wrote before shaking his head and speaking as he held up the book. "I'm going to regret all of this…"
"Alright. I've told Jackson that he would be chaperoning you when you leave. He'll be waiting down in the testing room." Cyrus stated. "Do you still need help walking?" Cryptor tensed at Jackson's name, looking up at Cyrus warily.
"Does it have to be Jackson?" He mumbled as he stood up off the ground, quickly stumbling to the left before straightening himself out. Clumsily stepping back towards the pad and pen on the ground, Cryptor bent down to pick them up, then writing a quick and sloppy "No" before handing the pad up to Cyrus.
"No, you don't need help walking?" Cyrus said after reading the pad. The inventor shrugged and shook his head. Cryptor was stubborn. "Well, I still think I should watch you until you got the hang of it." Cryptor glared up at Cyrus, crossing his arms.
"I can walk fine." He hissed, lifting one foot slightly off the ground to make an example. Making the example Cryptor almost automatically toppled over, quickly slamming his foot back down just to keep standing. "Sort of…" He grumbled in addition to his statement Cyrus shrugged at the beeping, knowing that Cryptor was likely protesting the offer for help. The inventor shook his head.
"Let's just get you a bit more use to these legs before I send you off." Cryptor frowned but knew Cyrus was right. He couldn't go out in the city if he couldn't even walk. Reluctantly, Cryptor agreed with Cyrus, beginning to practice using the short body. Mostly, Cryptor just walked all over the room, trying to readjust to the change, and eventually he could walk with a pretty good sense of balance. Once Cryptor seemed to be well balanced and able to walk, Cyrus sent him off to find Jackson. Upon arriving at the testing room, the android did not see Jackson at his station. Frowning Cryptor figured that he was late.
Turning to leave, the android heard someone clearing their throat from above. Cryptor looked up to see Jackson hanging from the ceiling by his feet. The employee's face was red and he looked a bit dizzy.
"Cryptor, is that you?" Jackson asked, waving at the android. "Cyrus said he had another body for you, but he didn't say anything about it being so small." Cryptor frowned at the sight he saw on the ceiling, rolling his eye and shaking his head. Unable to say anything comprehensible to human ear, Cryptor pointed down at the ground, ordering Jackson to come down from the ceiling. Jackson nodded slowly, heading towards the nearest wall. Carefully, Jackson scaled down the wall. He was aided by a pair of magnetic gloves to go along with the boots. Once he was on the ground safely, Jackson gave himself a moment to get over his light head before deactivating the boots and gloves. Shedding the gloves and boots, Jackson approached Cryptor.
"So, are you ready to go?" Jackson asked, patting Cryptor's head. Irritated with the pat of the head, Cryptor glared up at Jackson, swatting the hand away. Eventually relaxing from the assault, Cryptor glanced behind him at the door before looking at Jackson again.
"I would answer that question but all you're going to hear is beeping." He spoke more to himself than to Jackson. Then Cryptor held his hand like he was clicking a pen demanding for the utensil. It took the still dizzy employee a moment to understand what Cryptor was signing for. When he figured it out, Jackson went to retrieve a pen and his clipboard. Handing them both to Cryptor, he waited for the android to write out whatever he needed to. Cryptor had taken the tools as soon as it was handed to him, immediately beginning to write sloppy words out for Jackson.
"Cyrus messed up, speech processors don't work. I can't talk, you only hear beeping." He explained on the paper before handing the clipboard back up to Jackson with an annoyed expression. Jackson nodded slowly as he read Cryptor's note. Shrugging, the employee handed Cryptor the clipboard and pen again.
"We can bring this in case you need to say something later." The employee stated, headed towards the door. "We're gonna stop to pick up some lunch if that's okay." Cryptor frowned, quickly hurrying after Jackson.
"I don't think you're expecting me to answer that, nor do I really have a choice." He grumbled as he tried to keep up with Jackson. The employee did not understand Cryptor. Jackson merely assumed that Cryptor agreed as he led him out of the room. Heading to the nearest elevator, Jackson took the now pint sized android down to the first floor and into the lobby. The lobby was not so busy, but there were a few people passing by. It did not take long for Cryptor to get noticed. As Jackson was taking Cryptor to the front doors, they were stopped by a woman. She leaned down and smiled at Cryptor.
"Oh my goodness. What a cute little robot." She said, patting Cryptor's head. "What does this little cutie do?"
"Uh... oh, he helps test prototypes at the moment." Jackson answered, feeling like he was on the spot. It didn't take much for the woman to seriously piss off the android. She made him want to hit her or something to get her out of his face. By now though Cryptor knew better than to attack civilians, the result was never a pleasant one. Thus, the small robot was left with the option of glaring at her.
"Don't call me cute." He hissed at her, backing a few steps away from her with a very irritated expression on his face.
"Aw, he's shy." She cooed.
"Mam, he's not a child... You're going to upset him." Jackson said, knowing that Cryptor was likely already angry. He did not need to deal with one of Cryptor's tantrums. "I'm sorry, but we have to go now. Good day." With that, Jackson took Cryptor by the hand and pulled him away. That woman probably would not be the last to note how cute Cryptor's current body was. He felt a bit guilty for letting that happen. Cryptor would probably be in a horrible mood for the rest of the day. Maybe even for a week. Cryptor frowned deeply at the woman's words, looking back at her with a harsh glare as Jackson pulled him away. Although he was thankful for the save, the position he was in now just added more irritation onto his already infuriated self. Glaring up at Jackson as they rushed away, Cryptor jerked his hand trying to get it out of Jackson's.
"Why did I even agree to this?" Cryptor spat, not caring if anyone could understand him or not. "I'm and idiot, I should have made Cyrus just put me back in when he asked! I didn't once stop to think how other people would react to this stupid form!" Jackson sighed and shook his head as he pulled Cryptor along towards the sidewalk. When Cryptor tried to pull his hand away, Jackson released him.
"I'll try to take you somewhere not so populated." He stated, heading down the sidewalk. "I would hate to let what just happened get repeated..." Cryptor frowned, looking down at the ground as he followed Jackson. The employee had a point, it was very likely that someone would do the same thing to him. Sighing, he finally looked back up, catching sight of the new city. Although the changes truly did fascinate the android, his mood was already ruined and he couldn't really enjoy it all. He was currently more focused on scanning everyone they passed, afraid that one of them was going to attack him at any moment.
For the most part, Jackson and Cryptor were ignored by the busy passersby. Occasionally a person or two would notice Cryptor and make a comment as they passed. Jackson felt bad for Cryptor, knowing that Cryptor probably did not want to be ogled because of his size. It was probably hard for the android to not snap at the people they passed. Cryptor was infuriated enough to the point where he had a permanent glare on his face. Several times he wanted to smack the people with the clipboard he had been forced to carry.
Jackson and Cryptor arrived at a small, not so populated convenience store. There were only a few other people including the clerk. Jackson took Cryptor in and went looking through the isles for something he would eat. Getting in the store and off the streets was a bit of a relief for the android, but he still didn't drop his guard. There were still people in the store and they could easily stop and prod at his obnoxiously 'cute' body. The small store itself eventually relaxed Cryptor and he would drop his guard until he caught sight of someone in the store. Cryptor would occasionally stop in the store to pull something off the shelf and look at it, only to put it back with a usually disgusted expression. Cryptor quickly got bored of the store though and began to trudge behind Jackson, giving an occasional glance up at him.
"How long are you going to be in this store?" He grumbled as he followed.
"What was that?" Jackson asked, looking down at Cryptor for a moment. The employee looked back up at the shelves. He then spotted something that he liked. Taking the packaged sandwich off the shelf, Jackson looked down at Cryptor again. "I gotta pay for this and then we can go wherever you want." Cryptor huffed, rolling his eyes. Wherever he wanted wasn't very much, he really just wanted to go back to the tower to get out of the stupid body. Following Jackson to the checkout, Cryptor wanted to hide below the countertop, not wanting the person at the checkout to say anything about him. As Jackson checked out, the clerk leaned over the counter a bit to look at Cryptor. He chuckled and rang Jackson up, stating the price out loud. As Jackson got out his money, the clerk tapped his fingers on the counter.
"So, is the little guy supposed to be your robot son or something?" The clerk asked.
"Uh... no." Jackson answered with a confused look as he handed the clerk the money.
"I see... What's the little guy's name?" The clerk asked as he put the money away. Then he handed Jackson his change.
"Uh... His name is Mindroid." Jackson answered on the spot. Cryptor frowned looking away as the conversation went on about him. Very irritated with that the clerk said, Cryptor heard the them ask what his name was. Snapping his head back to the two, Cryptor looked up at them both then getting a very confused expression when Jackson came up with a name.
"Mindroid?" He questioned the name before looking back up at Jackson with a glare, smacking him with the clipboard. "What kind of name is Mindroid?"
"Hey." Jackson grumbled, taking the clipboard away from Cryptor. Having the clipboard taken away from him, Cryptor reached up trying to grab it back, but Jackson had the board well out of reach and he quickly gave up on getting it back. The employee took the bag from the clerk, told him to have a nice day and then pulled Cryptor along out of the store. Then he lightly hit the android on the head with the clipboard before handing it back to him. Cryptor winced as Jackson bopped him on the head, grumbling as he took the object back. "Were do you want to go now?" Glaring at Jackson for several moments, Cryptor slowly tore his gaze from the employee to the clipboard to begin to write. Frowning, Cryptor handed the board back up to Jackson that simply said "Tower" on it.
"You want to go back? Eh, I don't blame you." Jackson said after reading Cryptor's reply. Cryptor was probably tired of being treated like a child. This body was a big mistake. "We'll head back then... Maybe we'll try a different route though." Cryptor shrugged before writing some more on the clipboard.
"As annoying as the attention I've been getting is, I do want to see the city." Looking over the words he wrote for a moment, Cryptor then decided to write a little more. "What kind of name is Mindroid?" Jackson took the clipboard and read it, laughing at the end.
"Mindroid, because you're a mini-android." Jackson chuckled. "It was a bit on the spot, but I think it suits this body." Giving Cryptor a wink, Jackson motioned for Cryptor to follow as he headed off down a sidewalk. Cryptor frowned, grumbling at the reason behind the name. If it weren't for the fact that the name was mocking him, he probably would have found it humorous.
"It's dumb." He pouted as he followed behind Jackson, crossing his arms as he did so. Jackson led Cryptor down a new route to the tower. As they walked down the sidewalk, people would look down at Cryptor and smile at him. Many people commented on how cute he was. Jackson tried to take Cryptor down as many less populated paths as possible, understanding how furious the android was.
As they walked down a less populated street, Jackson spotted a shop he loved to go to. Mentally weighing whether or not he should break to go inside, Jackson decided he wanted to check out what they had in stock.
"Cryptor, I'm going to just pop into this shop." He said, pointing at a shop with robotics and mechanical items. "I'll only be in for a minute or two. Would you like to come in with me or wait outside?" Cryptor looked at the shop seeing all the robotic parts and mechanisms in the window.
"Why would I stay out here like this?" Cryptor questioned as he looked down the street, preferring to stick to Jackson for protection. Looking back up at Jackson, Cryptor remembered quickly about the speech problem before quickly copying down his answer onto the paper for him. When he was finally able to read what Cryptor said, Jackson nodded and led the android inside. There were only about four other people inside. As soon as the people saw Cryptor, they looked excited. They seemed to flock around Jackson and Cryptor, all looking down at the android. Cryptor jerked back when he entered the store and saw the group all immediately approach him, as he was expecting them to do something like call him cute or something of the likes.
"Wow, what a cool android." One of them said in awe. "This is probably the coolest thing I've seen in this shop." Cryptor obviously looked surprised by being called cool instead of cute. The word cool made him feel a lot better than he had throughout the day.
"Did you build him, Jackson?" The proprietor asked, looking up at Cryptor's chaperone.
"Nah. My boss did." Jackson sighed, scratching the back of his head. "You guys shouldn't crowd around him... he doesn't like that." As they all spoke Cryptor shifted his gaze between the speakers, getting a bit uncomfortable with having so many taller people all grouped so close to him with attention all directed at him. Shifting on his feet, Cryptor backed up a couple of steps, only to bump into Jackson before looking up at him. Looking up at the employee from the awkward angle, Cryptor rather quickly stepped himself back to where he was standing before, not really having anywhere to go in the circle. Jackson waved the others off, making them give Cryptor some space.
"Kev, have you gotten the parts I need yet?" He asked as he snapped at the proprietor, getting his attention. "If not, I'll just be browsing."
"Sorry, I haven't gotten them yet. They should be in by next Tuesday." The proprietor answered. "Hey, would you mind if we check out this android? We won't fiddle with him, just kinda look at him and talk maybe?"
"It's up to him." Jackson answered. "He's not much for talking right now though." Cryptor head quickly whipped back to glare at Jackson.
"Not much for talking? How about not able to talk?" He spat at the employee.
"Woah, he beeps." Another person stated, grinning at the android. "He's so cool."
"Does he have the clipboard so he can communicate?" Another asked, looking up at Jackson.
"Yeah." Jackson answered with a shrug. "Cryp- Mindroid, I'm going to browse. You can either follow me or entertain your fan base." With that, the employee headed off into the store. Cryptor frowned, following Jackson for a couple of steps before stopping, sending a look back at the group. Looking at them, he eventually turned back around to face them. As he didn't feel too comfortable with the strangers, he thought he might as well let them entertain themselves for the time being, and if he ever needed to he could always run over to Jackson. As Jackson left to browse, the proprietor knelt down to be closer to Cryptor's height. He inspected the android curiously. Fixing his glasses, he leaned in a bit to get a better look at the eyepiece.
"I wonder what this is for." He thought out loud. "What purpose does this thing serve? It can't be just for seeing." Cryptor frowned uncomfortable with how close the proprietor was to him. Backing up a few steps, Cryptor quickly scribbled out a few lines he had already wrote on the paper before writing and holding it up to him.
"It's deactivated now, shoots lasers when on." The proprietor nodded and looked back at one of the other three.
"David, aren't lasers your thing?" He asked. "I mean, this little guy shooting lasers from his eye must be pretty interesting for you." The guy being spoken to stepped forward, standing at the proprietor's side. "Yeah. It's pretty cool. If it weren't deactivated, I would have loved to see it in action." David answered. "I wonder how powerful the laser was... why would this little guy need a laser though? He's not built to fight or something, is he?"
"Woah, what if he is?" A girl gasped, joining David by the proprietor's side. "That would be so cool. I bet he would be able to kick Kevin's butt."
"Gretchen, you could kick my butt." The proprietor chuckled, motioning at Cryptor. "So, are you built for fighting?" Cryptor chuckled at the group's conversation. Shifting on his feet for a moment, not sure how he should answer the question, Cryptor crossed his arms, hesitantly answering with a nod.
"Wow, he's so cool!" David exclaimed.
"What else should we ask him?" The last of the group asked.
"I kinda want to check out his robotics." Kevin stated. "Would it be okay if I took a look? I'm trying to make something robotic myself, and it might be nice to see something to compare it to." Cryptor frowned at the request, looking through the store to try and locate Jackson. Finally looking back at them, he continued to frown. Sighing, he wrote quickly.
"Building what?"
"Well, I'm sorta trying to make a light weight but strong robotic prosthetic for my brother." Kevin answered. "We don't have the money to buy one, so I've been building one bit by bit with spare parts." Cryptor frowned looking down at the ground, more so at his unfamiliar body. Beginning to write a reply, Cryptor took a bit with what he wanted to write.
"I don't like being poked at, bad past experiences with people other than Cyrus. There isn't very much on me to see, a lot is covered up." Kevin nodded and stood up.
"I understand." He shrugged. "These guys probably have more questions for you, but I really should go make some orders and stock some shelves." With that Kevin left Cryptor with the others.
"So, if you were built for fighting, why has your laser been deactivated?" Gretchen asked, kneeling down like Kevin had. "Did it not function properly?"
"It works." He quickly answered, bringing a hand up to the eye piece. Cryptor wasn't really sure why Cyrus had added the part to the body in the first place, probably to make it look at least a little similar to his normal body. Then grumbling, he shrugged to answer her. "Not that I could tell you the real reason..." Unable to understand Cryptor, Gretchen shrugged.
"Why do you talk with beeping?" She asked, more curious about that now. "Did your inventor just want you to beep?" Cryptor shook his head at her, his eyes scanning over the clipboard. Finding the line he wanted, Cryptor pointed at it and showed her the first line on the sheet that read as "Cyrus messed up, speech processors don't work. I can't talk, you only hear beeping." "I see. Is it a problem in your code or broken speech processor." Gretchen asked. "I think that Kevin might have one of those lying around if you want to get it fixed when you get home." Cryptor frowned, looking through the store for Jackson again, actually seeing him this time.
"I don't think I'll ever be getting back in this stupid body." He grumbled to himself as he wrote out the words, "Cyrus probably has it handled." for her.
"Well, alright. If you are ever in need of a part though, this is the place to go." Gretchen sighed, looking up to see Jackson returning from his browsing. "I'm sure Kevin and the gang would love to see you again too."
"Yes, I'm sure he'll always be welcome here." David added, nudging Gretchen as she stood up.
"Ready to go?" Jackson asked, walking up to the android. Cryptor looked up at Jackson when he spoke, shifting a look back at the people he talked to before looking back to Jackson with a nod. Receiving his answer, Jackson bid all his friends farewell and lead Cryptor back outside. Once outside, Jackson looked down at Cryptor and smiled. "So, do you ever plan on going back?" He asked. "It would mean a lot to them if you do." Cryptor snorted at Jackson's question, jotting down his answer on the clipboard.
"Not in this stupid thing." Jackson chuckled and shook his head.
"They would be very surprised to see you in your real body." He stated, looking back up at the street.Cryptor laughed.
"That they would."