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The S.T.E.A.M. Team

Chapter 4

Arthur tried not to flinch as Diana stared him down, clearly annoyed. He was in the S.T.E.A.M. Lab, wondering just how he had gotten into this mess. After Feliks had finished lecturing him yesterday, something that Arthur would never have expected of the Pole, Feliks had texted Diana and coaxed her into helping Arthur. Diana was reluctant to have anything to do with him, having heard of the occurrence between Arthur and Amelia, but had rather grudgingly agreed when Feliks promised that Arthur would apologize as soon as he'd get the chance and brought up the fact that she did owe him a favor.

The next day, after his classes had wrapped up, Arthur had made his way over to the S.T.E.A.M. Lab. Diana had adversely unlocked the doors for Arthur, and after threatening him, had dragged him to the workplace, stating that Amelia and Matthew weren't there right then because they had something to deal with but would be there soon. Plopping down, she'd held her hand out for Arthur's textbooks rather expectantly, which brought them to now, with Diana inspecting Arthur's material and passive-aggressively making rude remarks when the occasion would strike. She clearly was still upset that Arthur had hurt her friend.

". . . So, tell me why you chose to study this bullshit?"

Arthur deflated a little. "For the same reasons that you're studying Science Technology, Chemical Technology, and Nuclear Technology. Because it fascinates me. Unfortunately, my teachers decided to assign everyone in my class individually to design and construct a machine that is fully functional and serves an actual helpful purpose."

Diana hm-hmed under her breath, nodding to herself as she flipped between the pages of the textbook, alternating her gaze between the actual writing and Arthur's notes and scribbles for his project. "And your idea for you project is?"

"I know it's stupid, but I wanted to create a kind of robotic technology that could control or supervise AI serving various purposes. The idea of it was that it could serve as a kind of master controller to lesser-compotent AI, keeping it from malfunctioning or quickly sending off an alert if something were to malfunction. God, it sounded better in my head-"

Diana interrupted him, placing her hand over his mouth. "No, it's not necessarily a bad idea. It could be useful in hospitals or laboratories or just places containing machinery that could backfire. But..." she glanced at Arthur. "What would this look like?"

Arthur shifted on his feet, growing increasingly uncomfortable. "It would be a chip, maybe the size of a flash drive. You could plug it directly into a machine or into an adaptor that would connect the two, and would function that way."

Diana's lips twitched.

"Like a parasite."

"No!" Arthur shook his head. "Well, kind of... but not in a bad sense."

Diana turned away from him. "Now, here's the problem, buddy. If you haven't noticed, the stuff that I'm studying... it's not the same stuff that you're working on. And no matter how much extra knowledge that I've picked up from the guys around here, I'm not going to be able to help you as much with this shit."

Arthur groaned, and Diana took it as a sign to continue on.

"Mr. Antonio is studying Mathematics, Statistics, and Architectural Engineering. Mr. Francis is studying Textile Sciences and Engineering as well as Materials Engineering. Mr. Gilbert is studying Computer Engineering Technology and is studying history on the side. Mr. Lovino is studying Applied Mathematics, Computational Mathematics, and Geometry. I'm studying Science Technology, Chemical Technology, and Nuclear Technology. Ms. Natalya is studying Astronomy and Astrophysics. Look, between all of the people who work here, currently, the best option you've got for help is probably Mr. Gilbert. But even then, he isn't even really the best option because that title goes to-"

Arthur cut Diana off.

"Amelia Jones and Matthew Williams."

She glared at him for a minute, before returning to flipping over his work. "Yes, they would probably be the best options for you. Seeing how both of them did take courses that are closer aligned in your interests. Besides, the Ms. Amelia and Mr. Matthew have picked up a lot since their college days, so they probably know even more about any of this than we do. Unfortunately,-"

Arthur cut Diana off again.

"I opened my mouth and insulted Jones after she offered to help me, stopping the growth of any possible seedling of mercy for me, and now I owe her an apology as soon as she gets here-"

"And she's here right now."

Amelia Jones stood, leaning against the archway leading into the room that Arthur and Diana were in, looking very, very, very unhappy with what she had arrived to.

A/N: Okay, so something that is probably important enough to note right now: I am taking liberties with this story as to how this college is functioning. The college part of it isn't the focus, and is meant to serve as the setting and the reason why Arthur has to come up with and build this machine of this. It serves as the motivation and the setting, but is not the focus.

In case you're wondering, the reason why Lithuania is referring to the other people who work in the lab as Ms. or Mr., it's because I picture her being pretty formal, and typically, she doesn't curse. She was cursing a little and being a little stand-offish towards Arthur because she doesn't care for him after he hurt America. However, when she calls him by his actual name, it will be in a formal state because she does like to retain that formality.

Arthur is referring to America as Jones, Ms. Jones, or Amelia Jones here because he doesn't really have permission to just call her by her first name, and he was in front of Lithuania when he was mentioning her. Eventually, you will probably see him referring to America as just Amelia, but that is not right now.

Please review! I really need to know any thoughts or opinions on this chapter. I mentioned this last time, but if you want this to include any romantic UsUk, please let me know in a review or a PM. It'll be easier to change the ideas that I have for this storyline earlier on than later.

So, school resumes tomorrow. And guess what that means! It means that, knowing me, it'll probably be a good long while before I have the time or will to write again! I duly apologize in advance for any ungodly long wait times. Here's to hoping that that prediction doesn't happen.