Felix had to keep an eye on Rush, still somewhat worried about how unstable he was, but he ended up driving ahead of him anyways, pulling into the Fill N' Fly several hundred feet ahead of him. Sure enough, Streak and Maristella were both there, along with the mix-breed Rush had talked about earlier and a brown F-18 he hadn't seen before. He rolled over to the dragon and the car, somewhat glad it was easy enough to find them. "You two did finish everything I asked you to, right?"

It was Maristella who responded first, "Yes. All accounted for as you wished. However, this dragon decided to show me around town." Her voice remained cold and matter-of-fact. It wasn't exactly the kindest of voices.

"Yep!" Streak agreed, "I thought if she was going to be staying here a while she might as well get to know those around town. By the way, Felix, this is Otter."

"Hello," the brown plane spoke. His eyes were a milky blue, fogged over with blindness that stared off into the distance blankly. "Felix, right? The inventor?"

"I suppose you could call me that," the Jaguar replied, "Nice to meet you, Otter," he added quickly, checking his mirrors to see where Rush was… he knew he'd probably be a bit slow, but if he lost his balance or something he'd have to get help. "Sorry I'm so distracted… I'm just a bit worried about a friend," he said, noting that he probably sounded a bit weird to a blind plane.

Otter nodded however, even if he didn't understand. As soon as he heard Rush's voice, declaring that Felix didn't need to worry about him, he smiled. "Hey Rush, long time no see?"

"Long time, never see," Rush agreed. The two warplanes had developed a mutual understanding of each others' circumstances, so though the statement may have seemed rude, it was customary. Not only that, but Otter was one of the planes Rush had felt he could talk to when it came to his own worries about AI other than himself, which was surprisingly often. But then again, that was Otter's job: in counseling.

The other plane, Tera, observed for a minute, not exactly sure what to say, but when she heard Rush's voice her eyes widened in fright. "Holy tailpipes… uh, Otter… that's not Rush," she said quickly, moving back a little out of instinct. "I don't know if he's some kind of impostor or what, but that's not him."

"I could have swo-"

"Oh it's him alright," Streak agreed with Otter, walking up to Rush and patting the F-18's side. Rush glared down at his companion. "...just a little different is all." Rush himself sighed, grumbling something impossible to understand about Felix and his crazy ideas. "Felix, you explain," Streak grinned to the car, putting him on the spot.

The Jaguar paused for a second, quickly figuring out something to say, "It was just a matter of spare parts… but that's nothing to worry abou-"

"A Corsair doesn't turn into an F-18… Rush was dead," Tera said, not making any sense of the situation whatsoever. "If he's Rush, then you turned him into a… franken-plane or something."

The brown F-18 sucked in a breath, then let it out slowly. He wasn't sure he understood the situation completely, but he knew that it would be inevitable for the truth to get to Tera sooner or later. Whether or not she could comprehend the idea would be difficult. "Rush is different then most of us…" he explained, grasping at straws as to what he should say, "But not all that different from you. He's made up of computers and programming, and if he were to 'die', it would be considered simply like shutting a computer down. If he is as you say an F-18 now, then… well, it'd be like changing a monitor on a computer. The computer looks different, but is the same basic thing." He felt as if he needed to explain to Tera that she was the same way, but without being sure how she'd react in the situation at hand, he felt it best to leave that part out.

"You're not making any sense," Tera shot back, "Planes aren't computers. Computers are computers."

"Artificial intelligence, Tera, is made up of computers. Rush is AI, and so are you… and so… so am I… I think…" he tried to explain, suddenly sounding very unsure of himself. "Some of us are-"

"Enough!" Maristella's voice was sharp and clear, "Felix, this is in clear violation of the rules and regulations my Superiors taught me. If I weren't your student and you not my master, I would most certainly be inclined to turn you in here and now."

"You guys are all crazy. I don't know what the heck is going on, but you need to take all this crap somewhere else." Tera was clearly beyond confused, her eyes darting from vehicle to vehicle and not fully computing what she'd been told. Not able to form her thoughts into words, she started her engine and headed for the runway without even saying goodbye to Otter.

"Vehicles like that are why I don't like that rule," Felix said, turning and glaring at Maristella, "It's not fair to them. And I'll have you know that Rush is already fully aware of what he is. It was one of the first things I ever told him. Get used to seeing the rules broken because when it comes to projects, they don't exist." He paused, hoping he'd made his point. "You and Streak need to help Rush get back to the hangar, and I need to make arrangements for you to stay somewhere. You're not allowed to tamper with anything without my permission and supervision. Try anything and I'll report it." You play the government card, I'll fight fire with fire.

Maristella glared as if ready to challenge him. Yet, after a few moments nodded. "Yes sir,' she nodded, tapping Streak as she passed him. The dragon immediately placed himself at Rush's side, steadying the plane as he went. It was obvious that Rush hated his position of the weakest of the group, but he tolerated it as best as he could.

"...you're Rush's creator," Otter stated, "You made him…" The plane looked contemplative for a few seconds before continuing, "Would.. would there be any way for you to…" Otter seemed suddenly very shy, "...take a look at my eyes some day and maybe… oh, never mind." The plane finished off, seeming very distraught and looking as if he'd gotten his hopes up then grounded himself again.

Felix had already been wondering why Otter was blind in the first place. He'd never seen anything like it… no pun intended. "It's perfectly alright," he replied, "I'm rather curious about it myself, to be honest. It's not a normal malfunction. I'd love to see what I could do, though… I've got other things on my plate at the moment, but I'll be around here for a while to make sure Rush is adjusting properly. Maybe in a week or two I can look at it, does that sound okay?"

"It sounds alright," Otter agreed, holding back an automatic smile. "Just let me know whenever you find the time… and… if you don't find anything you can help with to fix me… that's alright."

"Perfect. Well, it was a pleasure to meet you, Otter, but I have to go check on some things. Oh, and you'd probably like to know that you're not AI. If anything, you're more human than I am… and just trust me when I say that I know the difference."

As Felix turned back, Otter was left to contemplate on what Felix had said. There was a gap in his memory he could not retrieve - a blank spot where nothingness was- and Otter felt more afraid about that than anything else of his dark world of only sound and touch.