Chapter 7 finally! It took me almost all week to have the internet to actually get this done, but here it is now!
I still cannot believe that you spent your time working on an inanimate chunk of metal that was not even programmed correctly when you could have been working on continuing this!
Ether, real life takes precedence. The internet connection being screwed up whenever I was home from Robotics, though, that was just an unlucky coincidence.
Do you mean like how your alliance had two different technical difficulties in the la-
Oh, I'm sorry, Ether. It looks like there's no time left in this Author's Note for you to be a poor sport in a competition you weren't even in. Anyway -
(All cheating aside)
IGNORING the ultralink, let's begin!
Disclaimer: Nope. I still don't own Max Steel. I do, however, own a VHS copy of each movie in the original Star Wars trilogy and a copy of Skyrim.
It turned out that my parents weren't home after I rushed away from the scene of the battle with Dredd. In fact, they didn't show up until around nine, claiming that their boss had thought that something hadn't been done correctly and had insisted on lecturing them and several of their co-workers. Despite this, however, my father had come home with a huge grin on his face, the look that he would get on his face whenever he had successfully annoyed my mom during one of her lectures.
I decided that it was best not to question it.
Since the next day had ended up being a Saturday, I had decided to sleep in, much to Ether's irritation. After the usual sleeping in routine (which we had perfected while the school was being repaired), I had gotten up and started making breakfast when the Imperial March from Star Wars began playing in my head. I raised an eyebrow at Ether. "And you're trying to lure me to the Dark Side of music why, exactly?"
Ether's screen flashed a question mark for a moment before vanishing again. "I had assumed that it would be the most appropriate choice for a 'ringtone' for Commander Forge Farrus. He wishes for us to have a 'training day' at the N-Tek headquarters."
"What, do those idiots have that little faith in – where is their base?"
The ultralink did her best to mimic rolling her optic display. "Do not worry. I remember the route."
"…and this is my lab!" Berto announced as he led me through a specific door. "So, what do you think?" The second I had flown in, Farrus had decided to designate Berto as my tour guide.
I nodded. "Cool. Hypothetically, how mad would Farrus be if someone were to, say, hijack the training simulator for, oh, I don't know, Skyrim?"
Berto grinned. "Net, I like the way you think."
"What about me?" Ether asked, popping off of my suit. Throughout the entire tour, she had been…quiet. Had she fallen asleep or something? {No,} she replied to my thoughts, {I just do not trust them.}
Berto looked at the ultralink. "Well, what do you think about the idea?"
Ether did her best to shrug. "I do not know what Skyrim is. Net has yet to introduce me to it." As she spoke, the ultralink stared at me, as close to a hopeful look as she could get plastered across her screen.
I shrugged back. "Nah, I'm thinking more…Undertale, next." When Berto raised an eyebrow, I grinned. "Genocide run," I muttered. "Blind, with me recording every reaction for posterity." I chuckled darkly.
"You are muy malo," Berto said with a small grin.
"Sorry, I'm late, Berto. I kind of overslept an-AAAAH!" Max sprinted into Berto's lab, crashing right into me.
Although I didn't notice it, energy began billowing from my eyes. "Watch where you are going, Max McGrath," I said in a monotone, unsure on how to actually sound.
Max stood up and frowned. "Who invited him?" he asked Berto.
Steel seemingly popped out of nowhere with his servos crossed. "Yeah, what he said!"
At that moment, all activity in my mind stopped except for one thought: Does he seriously think I'm a guy?
{It appears so,} Ether replied. {Why is that so important?}
Instead of answering Ether, I burst out laughing. Now that I actually paid closer attention to my voice, I could hear that, although it was high enough to sound like a female's, it was still too deep to sound normal. "That," I laughed, "just made my day. I really needed that."
Max, Steel, and Berto exchanged looks. Steel was the first one to speak. "I don't believe he's…all there in the head."
"What do you mean?" Ether asked sarcastically. "I have known this from the second day I spent with Net."
My laughter stopped. "Wow, you're actually being sarcastic, Ether? I didn't know you had a sarcastic circuit in your chassis!"
"You are patronizing me."
"No, I'm not!"
"Yes, yo-"
"Ether! Net!" Max called out. "Look, Berto's been trying to get your attention for a few minutes now. Knock it off."
I frowned but complied. Ether straightened her position in the air as if she were acting smug.
"Muchas gracias, Max," Berto said before taking a few steps back. "Now, everyone must close their eyes and remember: no peeking."
I complied by closing my eyes and covering my helmet's visor to make it more visible. "I'm ready when you are."
"Same here," Steel chimed in.
"Ditto." Max.
"I am prepared." Ether.
There was about a moment of dead silence before Berto spoke again. "You're sure you're not peeking?"
"One hundred percent, Berto."
"My optic is currently offline."
"I'm not," Max replied. "Steel might be, though. You know how he is."
"You know how he is," Steel mocked.
"Is that your impression of me?"
"Is that your impression of me?"
"Gentlemen, please?" Berto cut them off. When they both fell silent, he continued, "Introducing, the All-new, Mega-improved, and disturbingly handsome Cybernetic Tactical Robot Operative, give it up for CYTRO!"
I opened my eyes to see a tall robot with a green visor being lifted out of the floor by a green hard-light platform. My jaw dropped. Max's opinion, on the other hand…
"Really? Another one?"
"Okay," Berto relented nervously, "the previous models might have had some issues, but with this one, I've worked out all the kinks!" He pulled a tablet off of the desk behind him and hit a button, causing CYTRO to do a flip.
I nodded. "Pretty high dexterity there."
"He's certainly agile enough," Steel agreed. "What else can he do?" Berto hit another button, which caused CYTRO to blast Steel in the face with a laser. "That was a cheap shot!"
Max grinned. "I'll give it to you, Berto, he's got some moves."
"He's got more than just moves." Berto hit yet another button, causing two guns to flip out of CYTRO's back. I caught one while Max caught the other. "Farrus wants us to be ready for everything, right? So I figured having a walking armory in the field with us could come in handy."
"Sweet, now I've got four sidekicks," Max said.
"Excuse me?" I snapped, my eyes glowing again.
"I beg your pardon?" Ether and Steel asked at the same time.
Steel continued on, "Did you just refer to me as a sidekick?"
"Oh, I'm sorry," Max joked, "do you prefer 'second banana'?"
I raised an eyebrow. "'Second banana'?"
"Understudy? Mascot? Junior Assistant? Fan Club President?" Unnoticed by Max, the gun in his hand began sparking with TURBO energy. I yelped upon seeing the same problem with my gun and dropped it, only causing it to give a sizzle before dying.
"Uh, guys?" Berto tried to interrupt the argument between Max and Steel. Key word: tried.
"Look, it's Max Steel, okay? I can't be the sidekick, I've got top billing."
"Then perhaps we should call ourselves 'Steel Max'!"
"GUYS!" Berto yelled, still failing to get their attention.
"Look at the gun, you idiots," I grumbled, my palm hitting the front of my helmet.
"What if we call ourselves 'Max Knucklehead'?"
"Max Knucklehead sounds like a perfect name for you!"
At that point, the gun began beeping erratically, finally catching Max and Steel's attention. I dived behind a desk as CYTRO grabbed the gun from Max and jumped behind cover. The gun blew up, sending bits of CYTRO flying everywhere. The head landed at Berto's feet.
"Uh…" Max started, "I guess I forgot how my TURBO energy overloads technology."
Berto didn't even grace him with a response, instead marching away with the poor robot's head. I got up and chased after him. "Hey, Berto! Wait up!"
"What do you want?" Berto asked, irritated.
I pulled my special gloves out of a small pocket on the outside of my right thigh. Knowing that my movement had confused Berto too much for him to be mad at me, I pulled the gloves on. "My TURBO energy doesn't affect stuff through these gloves, so I was wondering if I could help you put CYTRO back together again. I've always been interested in robotics and stuff, and I'd really like to see how he works."
Ether flew over to me and hovered over my shoulder. "Net? I did not know you were interested in working with technology."
I shrugged. "You didn't ask."
Berto glared at me. "Prove it. Prove that you won't destroy CYTRO any more than Max already has."
"Sorry about this, Ether."
"Sorry about wha-AAAUGH! WATCH IT!" Without further warning, I grabbed the ultralink in my hands and simply held her. Ten seconds passed, then thirty. When a whole minute went by without Ether beginning to overload, Berto sighed.
"Lo siento, I had just finished reassembling CYTRO, and then Max blew him apart!"
I blinked, then grinned as an idea came to me. "Why don't I help you TURBO-proof it? That way, Max can't destroy it right away."
"You don't have to if you don't want to, Net. I –"
"Don't think of it as free labor," I interjected. "Think of it as…me being your new intern…that wants hands-on experience in rebuilding a humanoid-shaped robot…that can also be used to help solve and correct the energy overload problem."
Apparently, my last words won him over, because he nodded in agreement. "All right, but you must do exactly as I say. Both of you, if Ether wishes to join us?"
Ether tapped the bottom of her chassis with her servo before doing her version of a nod. "I do not wish to run into Farrus, and I do not wish to be with Max and Steel, as they are being…right now."
"Being what right now?" Berto asked, unused to Ether's weird speech patterns.
"She does this weird 'insert word here' thing, only she doesn't say when to insert the word. She just pauses," I explained. "She probably couldn't think of one specific word that would work better than any other, so she's letting us fill in the blank."
Ether 'nodded' again. "They are being insufferable, ignoramuses, idiotic, childish…"
I smirked slightly as Ether continued to list different adjectives and nouns that would fit in that sentence. Berto chuckled softly.
And that's a wrap! There weren't any reviews for Chapter 6, so I guess that's it!
