Zero takes a few deep breaths before mechanically approaching the training room doors. As X suggested, he comes in during Roll and Layer's training sessions – the best time to catch the younger reploid without intruding on working hours.
It takes all he has to not run back out at the startled looks the two give him when they notice his presence. X nods encouragingly at him from the far wall, entirely unsubtle. Zero resists the urge to glare at him.
"Roll, may I talk to you?" Zero says, incredibly awkward.
Roll blinks, training sword still lit up in her hand. "Oh. Yes?"
(Layer, also incredibly obvious, cycles between dismay and cooing while making excessive hand gestures in X's direction. Zero determinedly does not look straight at the navigator either.)
It is, as they walk a few steps away for the semblance of privacy, then that Zero realizes he has to talk with the child with X and Layer hovering like the great busybodies they are. He'll never hear the end of this, Zero thinks, glad that at the very least Axl isn't here to witness the spectacle that is Zero's utter lack of social skills.
"Did you need something, Commander Zero?" Roll asks, when Zero is silent for too long.
"I don't dislike you." He blurts, the core of his hastily prepared speech popping out instead of his rehearsed lines. Ah. "I mean – " Zero quietly turns red as he slaps a hand to his face. "I don't know where you got the idea from, but I don't dislike you. Roll." He peeks down at the smaller reploid from between the gaps of his fingers, awaiting her response.
(Zero can hear Layer and X making exasperated noises at each other. Don't think he can't hear you guys!)
"… Thank you," Roll starts at length, a startled laugh bubbling out of her throat. "I don't dislike you either, Commander Zero." The girl says, lips upturned in the widest grin he's gotten out of her yet. "Rock thinks highly of you. Thank you for being his friend."
These two children have some kind of special ability or something, Zero thinks, trying unsuccessfully to squash down the fondness suffocating his throat. "N-no problem." He gets out, emotionally constipated. "Good talk."
Without waiting for Roll's response, he turns to (flee) walk away.
And then because he can't just leave it as is, Zero turns around and adds, "If you want some extra tips for beating Layer, I can help."
Roll blinks. Zero watches the child's eyes flicker behind him, towards the gossipmongers, before settling into a small smile. "I would like that, Commander Zero."
"Zero, just Zero." Zero corrects, smirk pulling at the edge of his mouth. "I can't have people usurping my position as your teacher."
Roll laughs. "Of course, Zero."
-ooo-
Axl freezes, Rock on the other side of the hallway, holding what looks like the insides of a reploid's main processor. The child doesn't notice him, plodding along past the corner, in an awful hurry towards what looks like the dorms.
It's after hours (of course it is) and is the boy stealing parts? Did he kidnap someone piece by piece? Had Axl been watching a slow murder this whole time?
Worried now, Axl focuses all his stealth abilities into following the child unit. For all of Rock's suspicious activity, the boy hardly looks back at all, simply making as much speed as he can towards his shared rooms with his sister, absently patting the discombobulated reploid's processor like a dear pet or friend. He doesn't even check the halls before he goes into his room, Axl's sensors picking up the faint traces of radiation when the door opens.
He waits a few moments after Rock has disappeared into the room before letting himself down from the ceiling. Alpha radiation? Was the kid running a nuclear generator in there? A bomb?! Axl jiggles a knee, torn between storming the dorm and running to find X or Zero.
On one hand, he could probably take Rock and Roll himself. He's a S-class hunter for a reason! On the other, this was Rock and Roll. They were basically the Hunters' pets for how much the base fawned over them, X and Zero included.
Reconnaissance, Axl concludes, is what he needs. He'll get a look in through the outside window at their room first. Maybe crawl in through the vents. He could –
"Axl?"
Before Axl can as so much scream or aim his pistols, a terrifyingly familiar broom sweeps him into the room. The door closes behind him and locks with a quiet beep, and very suddenly Axl is facing a stern Roll and a guilty looking Rock.
"Aha, hi?" Axl tries, waving a pistol at them. Roll frowns, face twisting into a sad expression, while Rock shifts from foot to foot, awkward.
When it looks like neither of them are going to attempt murder at being caught, Axl carefully scans the room. There are trace remains of gamma radiation all over the place, though it looks like there were attempts at snuffing some of it out. The curtains are closed along all of the windows, and the room itself is surprisingly messy for all of Roll's cleanliness. Parts litter the floor and provided generic Hunter dorm furniture, though the longer Axl stares at the layout of the clutter, the more it looks deliberate.
The processor Rock had been carrying lies in the middle of the room, plugged into the wall with a thick cable. What looks like a reploid's torso sits right next to it, the most complete bit of work amongst the other parts.
Parts of a reploid, Axl realizes with a start, the pieces along the floor an incomplete jigsaw of the dissected inners of a humanoid robot.
"Now you know what I've been doing." Rock says at length, smiling awkwardly. The boy scuffs a toe against the tiled floor, chastised before Axl has even said anything. Roll stands beside him, hands curled along her broom defensively.
"Er, what exactly is this all supposed to be?" Axl asks, lost at the guilt pouring out of the two children. He'd expected to be attacked, not – not whatever these two are awaiting. Punishment? "Are you making someone?" A new sibling? Is that how these two work? They just – just make each other?
Rock smiles crookedly, "Fixing someone," he corrects, moving to pick up one of the metal bits decorating the floor. It's a helmet, painted red, with a black visor along the front. It's swaddled in a faded yellow scarf, and Axl is hit with the impression of a memento. "Sorry; we've been borrowing bits and pieces for Blues, but he's been so badly damaged – " The boy cuts off with a hiccup, looking miserable.
Axl frowns. "You could bring him to Lifesaver – or even Douglass. Any of the med staff, really. They could help."
Roll shakes her head, frowning. "Blues wouldn't have wanted – he doesn't like to be handled by others. He didn't even like us helping him…." The child trails off biting a lip.
"And Blues is a bit different from the typical reploid," Rock adds, "He's a… very particular model."
Right, they're customized reploids, Axl remembers. Built by an independent engineer who died or something.
Axl squints at the two children, who shuffle uncertainly under his stare. This isn't… really them doing anything wrong – except filching extra parts for this Blues reploid, but Axl isn't particularly concerned about that aspect. Reploids in the Hunter profession switch out parts so often very few are left with whatever original limbs they came in with. A few going missing were hardly going to be missed.
He really should take this to X. He'd know what to do about this. But…. "I won't tell anyone." Axl decides aloud, crossing his arms. He grins at the two reploids, taking in their twin looks of surprise and hope. "But!" he adds, "You have to introduce me to this Blues of yours when he wakes up, okay?"
Not all reploids came back okay when put back together. Their personality might change, their memories corrupted. Some went Irregular altogether, infected by a faulty part.
Unaware of Axl's grim reasoning, Rock and Roll nod exuberantly. "Deal!" Rock agrees, all too willing.
Axl smiles and pats the two on the head.
Apparently I'm only capable in writing in bursts and fits. I've already written three chapters today.
I'll try to pace the updates? Or something? Plot is actually making its way through the story now and. Ugh. This isn't how it was meant to go.
Sorry about the whiplash mood of the story. Let me know if you guys feel like I'm seesawing too fast between tones.