As soon as Cryptor had his office back to normal, Cyrus immediately lectured Cryptor on why his behavior was unacceptable. Cyrus ended up having to raise his voice more than once when arguing with Cryptor. The inventor would not let Cryptor get away with such behavior. Once he was through lecturing Cryptor, Cyrus removed Cryptor from the Digiverse and put him into a small janitorial bot. When he powered Cryptor on, he backed away, expecting Cryptor to be quite angry with the new body.
When Cryptor had been powered on, he was gravely confused. The feeling was so, so wrong. It wasn't like anything he had felt. It was constricting, stiff, and small. He already hated it and he didn't even know what his condition was. It took a lot longer than necessary for his vision to even activate. Blinking as his eyes adjusted, his vision was completely wrong as well. Finally looking past the strange way of seeing, he took notice of Cyrus' towering figure in front of him and jumped in surprise. And his jump of surprise wasn't like a flinch or a stumble back like it would have been but rather like he was sprung up backwards.
Finally trying to figure out his condition, he raised his stiff arms, surprised by the sight, he dropped them and looked down, the best he could, to see the treads that were supposedly supposed to be his feet.
"W-what is this?" He stuttered, in too much shock to even be angry with the inventor, the lower shutter on his eye twitching as he heard his voice admitted from the robot's vocal processor.
"I put you in a standard janitorial bot." Cyrus answered, shifting in his seat. "It's perfect for your punishment. You will be cleaning this sector. Lab, hallway, and a few rooms on this floor." Cryptor jerked, looking at Cyrus in shock.
"NO!" He spat, the vocal box capabilities honestly not doing his angered tone much good. "I am not cleaning anything!" A frown would have been accompanying the best possible scowl the robot to muster up if it had been physically possible for it. It took Cryptor a moment to figure out how to roll the treads on the machine. "You are not making me clean anything! What even is this stupid thing? It's worse than a toaster that is trying to toast a piece of bread while it's being held upside down! It's even worse than a cotton candy machine trying to spin taffy! Get me out of this stupid piece of trash!"
"You are staying in that body until you've learned your lesson, Cryptor." Cyrus said with a stern tone. "And since you're so stubborn, I guess you'll be in it for quite some time." Cryptor growled, glaring at Cyrus. Knowing in situations like this there was no reasoning with Cyrus, Cryptor grumbled, rolling forward and looking down over the table. Looking back up at Cyrus, Cryptor rolled back a little on the table.
"I'm not cleaning anything." Cyrus was about to reply when he heard the door to the lab open behind him. He looked back to see Mindroid standing in the doorway. The little android made a bleeping sound that Cyrus guessed was addressing him. The inventor gave a nod and waved for the android to enter.
"Come on in." The inventor sighed before looking back at Cryptor. "What is it you need, Mindroid?" Mindroid bleeped and beeped as he hurried over to Cyrus' side. From his tone, Cyrus could tell that he was upset about something, but he could not guess what.
"Cryptor, would you mind translating?" Cyrus asked, hoping Cryptor wouldn't be unresponsive. Mindroid, who's attention shifted to the small bot on the table, pointed at Cryptor and tilted his head as he beeped inquisitively. Cryptor blinked, staring at Mindroid very confused. His head tipping to the side as well, he continued to stare.
"I…" He began to say, pausing and looking from Mindroid to Cyrus a couple of times. "I don't know…"
"You don't know? Can't you and Pixal usually understand him?" Cyrus asked, clearly looking confused. "Hm... maybe it's the body." Mindroid's hands went to his hips and he beeped cheerily, eying Cryptor with a smirk hidden by his mask.
"Wow, the ignoramus can't understand me." Mindroid marveled. "That's great. Just wonderful. Then he can't tell that I'm calling him a tin can. That's what he is after all. A big, mean, tin can."
"Well, I guess I'll have to see what he wants later when Pixal returns." Cyrus said with a shrug. Cryptor grumbled, glaring at Mindroid, his lower eye shudder twitching as he listened to Mindroid's beeps. He had no idea what the android was saying, but he had a pretty good feeling he was making fun of him.
"If you are making fun of me Mindroid, I am going to kill you."
"Oh I'm so scared. Please don't hurt me, mighty Cryptor." Mindroid bleeped, though no one could understand him. "I think I like the brute better in this body. I bet I could beat him up. I think I'm gonna beat him up later."
"Hush now." Cyrus said, patting Mindroid's head once before looking back at Cryptor. "If you ever want out of that body, I suggest you get cleaning and learn how to behave like a civil being. I have some things to deal with and I expect you to be done by the time I get back."
"I am not going to clean anything idiot! Just get me out of this stupid tin can!" Cryptor growled, glaring at Cyrus now.
"I stand by what I said, Cryptor." Cyrus said as he reached out and picked Cryptor up off the table and set him on the floor. "You will be stuck in that body until I decide to take you out." Without waiting for a reply, Cyrus spun around and headed for the door. He had a lot to deal with and he did not plan on spending all of his time focusing on Cryptor's bratty behavior. He had yet another interview scheduled with the actual news and not some strange blogger like before. Not to mention he had to speak with the protesters and whatnot. Then he had to deal with Cryptor's repairs without Pixal's help.
Once he made his way down to the lobby, Cyrus headed towards the front entrance. Seeing that the news van was waiting and the news anchor was getting ready, Cyrus prepared himself for the poking and prodding of the press. He also made sure to straighten out his appearance. Then, when the news team entered, he showed them to the first floor conference room. Without much question, the team followed Cyrus to the room, the group all setting up to begin broadcasting. Without further ado, they began as the TV spot light had been switched over to the interviewer.
"Thank you Steve." The woman began, speaking to the man that wasn't even in the room and was back at the network's station. "As you have stated, I am here at Borg Tower with the one and only Cyrus Borg, who has graciously accepted our request for this meeting. As many of our viewers are probably wondering, we will hopefully receive answers to many of our questions." Turning to Cyrus she smiled. "Thank you Cyrus for letting us come here today. I am sure you are quite busy and appreciate that you have made the time for us."
"Not a problem, ma'am," Cyrus said with a nod. He did a good job at hiding his nerves, but his twiddling fingers were a pretty good give away. He had always hated these interviews, mainly because of the pressure. "I always try to make time for these things." The interviewer smiled and nodded at the inventor.
"Since the unfortunate reveal of Gadgetman, many of us have been wondering about them. As they have been identified as the android you built almost two years ago, many of us have been wondering, why? Two years ago, this android was reported to be quite troublesome and was demanded to be deactivated and marked as a failed project for its malicious acts. Why is it you neglected all of our demands and reactivated it, and how long have you been keeping it a secret from us?" Cyrus forced himself to keep a neutral expression. He let out a sigh and shook his head.
"I will be honest with you, I care a lot for that Android." Cyrus began. "He was- he is very close to me and it was hard to keep him off. I know that he's done wrong and there is no excusing it, but I wanted to give him one more chance." Cyrus paused and fixed his glasses. He cleared his throat and began again, "When I turned him on again, I knew that, if approached in the right way, everyone would see him in a different light. Unfortunately, I was unable to think of a way before he took matters into his own hands. On his own, he proved to be a great hero." The woman nodded at his answer.
"The android has done some very heroic acts and was looked up upon, that's where citizen conflict comes in. Many people are still looking up to its night time appearances, while others were quick to turn against it. Some even doubt their trust in you for your decision to keep the robot running. What is your opinion on this?"
"His name is Cryptor and he is not an it, ma'am, and I would appreciate it if you refrained from calling him that." Cyrus said, allowing a look of offense appear on his face. The gall of this woman. She frowned at Cyrus' statement.
"I apologize for my mistake. I guess it is more of a habit to refer to the basic service bots as such. Cryptor, is a more advanced android, much like the white ninja Zane." She apologized to the inventor. Cyrus sighed, then deciding to continue.
"Cryptor may have done wrong, but he certainly deserves some respect. He's not just some machine with no regard for human life. He cares about people other than himself. As far as I'm concerned, he is a person like you and me. Let the public feel how they want about me, I will fight for his right to a second chance."
"It is good to know your input on the situation; however, there is one question some people have been wondering. Why did you let it…him run around with dangerous prototypes that could have harmed civilians and why did you try so hard to find Gadgetman if he was Cryptor?"
"Let him? I did not let him use my prototypes." Cyrus answered, unable to hide his irritation any longer. "I was unaware that he was Gadgetman. If I were behind it, why would I have so desperately tried to find him? Why would I have tried to get those prototypes back? If I were in on it, wouldn't it make more sense for me to have cheered him on? Wouldn't it have made sense for me to give him tools that weren't mere prototypes?" The reporter looked a little surprised by his answer.
"It does make sense you would do so…" She puzzled before looking at Cyrus doubtfully. "But if you didn't know he was Gadgetman, how can we be certain he can be trusted? If he can't even listen to you and is willing to keep such a large secret from you, how can we know we can rely on him in times of need?"
"Are you really questioning his motives?" Cyrus retorted. "If you must know, I am a very worrisome person and Cryptor probably knew that I wouldn't want to risk him getting caught or damaged. While I don't agree with his secretive behavior, I completely understand it and see no reason to not trust him for saving people as a masked vigilante." Cyrus glanced down at his watch and grimaced at the time. "Unfortunately I have already delayed my work enough today, so this interview will have to be cut short." He said with a heavy sigh. "I will try to free up more time and answer more of the public's questions, but for now I am far too busy." She nodded understandingly at Cyrus.
"Thank you Mister Borg for answering our questions. We greatly appreciate the time you made for this event and hope to talk to you again in the future." With a smile, she turned to look at the camera. "Back to you Steve." With that, the crew cut the air and began to clean up, thanking Cyrus once again as they parted. Cyrus soon departed from the conference room, heading towards the elevator. He had to catch up on paperwork before he lost the whole day and he had to check on Cryptor's progress. So, he decided to check the floor the lab was on.
When he got to the floor, Cyrus spotted a door that had a small puddle of water accumulating outside of it. Hearing the sound of running water in it, he opened the door to check it out. As soon as the door cracked open, water poured out of the room, spreading into a thin sheet in the hallway.
Cryptor was found in a flooding room. Inside, it could obviously be seen the struggles he was having. Currently, he had somehow managed to get a bucket stuck on his head, trying to get it off with his limited range of arm movement. The water was coming from a faucet near him, it over filling the conveniently plugged sink and poring onto the floor. Cryptor had been nearly waist high in water and couldn't move due to the strings of a mop being caught in his treads. The robot was obviously very frustrated with his situation, and it didn't look like he was going to be getting out of it on his own any time soon. It wasn't until he felt the water level quickly lower around him that he froze. His hands still holding the handle of the bucket that was pinning his arms down, he looked towards where he knew the door was.
"This looks ridiculous doesn't it?" He mumbled to himself in a volume barely audible. Cyrus stared in at the scene with a deadpan look. He just stayed silent as he looked from the water on the floor to the distressed robot. If he had been in a better mood, he may have found the scene humorous. That was not the case.
With a heavy sigh, Cyrus entered the room and headed over to Cryptor. Before helping the robot, he turned off the faucet and unplugged the drain. Then he pulled the helmet off of Cryptor's head and dropped it without care. Absent mindedly, his right hand ran through his hair as he shook his head in disappointment. He clearly looked worn down from the stress he had been enduring since Cryptor's reveal.
"You are a total mess, Cryptor." He said, his voice sounding just was worn down as he looked. He then picked the small android up and set him on the counter next to the sink. Cyrus began pulling the mop strings from his treads. Cryptor had known it was Cyrus who had opened the door fairly quickly. Upon being released from the binds of the bucket, Cryptor took notice of the absolute mess of the room he had made. Cryptor was greatly disappointed in himself and would be frowning deeply if it was possible. Getting picked, Cryptor watched Cyrus pick the mop out of his wheel.
"You told me to clean and I have no idea how to clean. I hardly know how to clean myself." He grumbled. Cyrus shook his head and closed his eyes for a moment before looked up at Cryptor with the best stern look he could muster at the moment.
"True, but I trusted you of all people to be able to at least get a bucket of water." He retorted tiredly as he continued to free Cryptor's wheels. "You are capable of so much, yet the most simple of tasks are so hard for you." Cryptor grumbled, wanting to free himself from the mop but the body made the task impossible.
"Maybe it would have been easier if I had an instruction manual on how to use this pile of scrap metal."
"Well maybe if you weren't such an ass to everyone you wouldn't be in this mess!" Cyrus shouted. He immediately regretted what he had said. While he was right, he did not need to use such language or raise his voice like that.
"I'm sorry, I'm just so... exhausted from all of this." Cyrus apologized as he removed the last string. He then set Cryptor on the floor before turning around one hundred and eighty degrees and hurrying towards the door. He would call for some real janitorial bots to clean up Cryptor's mess. Cryptor flinched at Cyrus' outburst, staring in shock at him for several moments as he watched Cyrus walk away. Staying in the room still for several minutes, even after Cyrus left, Cryptor finally glanced around at the wet mess he had made. He felt much like he had after his first incident with Zane. He knew he was in trouble and Cyrus was not happy at all with him. With a sigh he finally rolled across the wet ground and out of the room.
Cyrus had entered the lab and called for an employee to send up a few janitorial bots. Then, with yet another heavy sigh, he slouched in his seat. His hand went to the back of his neck and gently tried to soothe a dull pain that he had been feeling all day. Oh how he wished he could just relax for a change. Unfortunately, he would likely not be able to do so for quite some time.
Not wanting to go off and do paperwork just yet, the paraplegic looked over at the table Cryptor's body was laid out on. They had hardly gotten the repairs started. By the looks of it, they would take far longer to fix than originally anticipated. Unfortunately, that meant more trouble from Cryptor if he were put back in the Digiverse. Of course Cyrus could put the AI in the lab computer and keep him there, but Cryptor would hate him for that.
It was not until he heard beeping that Cyrus realized that Mindroid was standing in the doorway. He had yet to attend to the small android's problem. Unfortunately, he could not help the little robot without someone to translate him.
"Oh, Mindroid, I'm sorry." Cyrus sniffled, wiping at his nose with his sleeve. Then he turned towards the door and headed to the small bot. He really had to go and try to get his work done. "I can't help you yet... when Pixal returns, just bring her up to me in my office. In the meantime, could you please watch Cryptor?" Mindroid nodded and beeped as Cyrus steered himself out of the lab and towards the elevator. The inventor stopped and watched as Cryptor rolled past him before entering the elevator and leaving. Mindroid smirked behind his mask and held his arms behind his back, strolling over to Cryptor.
"I'm in charge of you now." He beeped, knowing that Cryptor would not understand. Revenge would be so sweet. When Cryptor heard Mindroid's beeping, he glanced at him before groaning.
"Leave me alone Mindroid." He grumbled, looking forward again and trying to ignore the short, yet taller, android. Mindroid stopped when he was in front of Cryptor. He tilted his head as if he did not understand, beeping in confusion along with his little act. Oh this would be fun. Very fun.
"Don't play stupid with me Mindroid." He growled before going around the droid.
"I'm not the stupid one here, you ignoramus." Mindroid beeped in a tone that sounded just as confused as before. Then with a little chuckle, Mindroid hooked his foot under Cryptor's body and quickly flipped him onto his back. "You're gonna get a taste of your own medicine, tin-can." Cryptor was surprised by Mindroid's attack. With a flat look he stared up at the ceiling.
"Thank you Mindroid. I totally needed that after having a bucket stuck on my head and a mop in my wheels for more than half an hour." He grumbled sarcastically. "Sit me back up moron." Mindroid shook his head and strolled up to the smaller robot with his arms still behind his back. He would not harm Cryptor in this body since the body was not his, but he would bully his tormentor until he was satisfied. He had a little plan for that too.
"Jerk." Mindroid uttered before sitting on Cryptor's chassis. He grabbed the robot's arms and held them still as he rested his feet on Cryptor's face. "You're not so tough now, are you?" Cryptor grumbled when Mindroid decided to turn him into a chair. He knew perfectly well what Mindroid was doing, and he was succeeding at it very well. Cryptor really hated his predicament and was really loathing the body he had been forced into. There was no doubt Cyrus would hear about what Mindroid was doing.
"Mindroid." Cryptor growled, trying to turn his head out of Mindroid's feet. He really wished he could understand the droid. "Get off."
"No." Mindroid said, his voice coming out normal. He smiled as he pressed his heel under Cryptor's head and pushed it into an uncomfortable position. He was having too much fun with such simple teasing. "You are a worthless tin-can who thinks he can treat anyone how you want. Stupid tin-head." Cryptor growled, glaring at Mindroid from the odd angle his head had been forced into.
"You do know Cyrus doesn't tolerate this kind of behavior?" He huffed, just growing increasingly agitated with him. "And you do know I'm not going to be in this stupid tin can forever?" Mindroid just shrugged before getting off of Cryptor, acting as if he had been discouraged by what the other said. Then, the little android helped Cryptor up and onto his treads. He beeped in a faux apologetic way as he waited for his next opportunity to tease the other. Cryptor was a bit relieved when Mindroid finally got off of him, but he had a pretty strong feeling that Mindroid wasn't quite done with him yet. Staying still for a moment, Cryptor pivoted around to look at Mindroid with an annoyed expression. If the Janitorial bot was physically capable of crossing its arms, Cryptor would surely be doing it right now. Mindroid had a lot more power over him at the moment, and the extra foot of height Mindroid had over him didn't help his situation out at all. Another idea came to the little droid's mind as Cryptor stared at him. Behind his mask, Mindroid smirked. He grabbed the janitorial bot's arm and yanked him in one direction. Mindroid beeped in a cheerful tone, acting as if he had something he wanted to show Cryptor.
"Come on." Mindroid spoke with words and not bleeps. Cryptor had immediately resisted against Mindroid's pull, but was clearly outmatched in the strength category.
"Mindroid, let go." He growled, his wheels skidding on the ground as he tried to roll backwards away from the android. "Is it really so hard for you to just leave me alone? I don't want to see whatever it is you want me to." Mindroid continued to pull Cryptor along until he grew tired of Cryptor's struggling. With a huff, Mindroid picked Cryptor off the ground and carried him off down the hall. The janitorial bot was heavier than Mindroid had thought, but he was still able to carry him. When Cryptor had been picked up, he had immediately begun to panic, feeling like he was in a similar situation to one like before, where he ended up getting hung in a closet for half an hour. Mindroid beeped as he brought Cryptor to a large vent. Mindroid smirked and kicked the cover off. When Cryptor had seen the droid kick off the cover to the vent, that old feeling only elevated, making him panic even more. Then with a devious chuckle, Mindroid stuck Cryptor head first into the square hole. Mindroid forced Cryptor in as far as he would go before standing up and dusting his hands off. Getting slid in, unable to do anything against Mindroid, Cryptor immediately tried to get himself out of the crammed space.
"Have fun!" Mindroid spoke, turning to walk off. He did not take off too fast, wanting to hear Cryptor's protests.
"Mindroid! Get back here and get me out!" He shouted at him, hearing him walk away. Continuing to spew threats as well as a few pleads eventually, Cryptor fell silent when he knew the droid was long gone.
Staying still for a bit in the vent, Cryptor growled again before rolling his trends, hoping to manage to roll himself out. The struggling went on for a while, going on and off as he kept giving up.
"I'm going to kill the pipsqueak." He grumbled, giving up once again after who knows what number try it was. Cryptor ended up being lodged in that vent for about two hours. His frustration with the situation only grew as each minute passed. When Cryptor was finally found by his creator, he was a bit relieved.
"Oh goodness!" Cyrus gasped, hurrying over to the vent. The inventor began tugging on the little bot post haste. "Are you okay? You aren't damaged, are you?" Having heard Cyrus's concern and being tugged on, Cryptor just got agitated more.
"How should I know?" He spat, wanting to move his treads, but knowing he shouldn't when Cyrus was holding them. "Just hurry up and get me out of here, I'm sick of this." Cyrus continued to pull and tug, but Cryptor was stuck pretty good. After a while of trying, Cyrus tried wiggling Cryptor loose. Unfortunately, that did not help nor got them any closer to un-lodging Cryptor.
"You're really stuck in there." Cyrus groaned, giving up on pulling Cryptor out. "How did this happen anyway?" Cryptor grumbled, still being stuck in the vent even with Cyrus' help.
"Why don't you ask Mindroid about that?" He huffed, trying to spin himself loose again with his treads after Cyrus let go.
"Mindroid did this?" Cyrus growled. Mindroid had only added to the paraplegic's problems by doing this to Cryptor. "I'm going to have to have a word with that him after we get you free." Cyrus let out an exhausted sigh and shook his head slowly. "I'll tell yah, I've had more than enough of this crap." He murmured as he pulled out a cellphone. "We're going to have to cut you of there." Cryptor groaned at the news, falling limp and giving up on getting out.
"I am going to kill Mindroid." He growled. Cyrus called for someone to come down to help get Cryptor out of the wall. It took a few minutes to cut him out of the wall. Fixing the wall would be just another problem Cyrus would have to deal with, but he had to deal with Cryptor and Mindroid. Taking Cryptor to the lab, Cyrus set him on a table. For a moment, Cyrus just held his aching head, looking quite miserable.
"If I put you back in the Digiverse, will you promise to be good?" He asked after a long, unbroken, silence. Cryptor grumbled at the request.
"If it keeps me from getting buckets stuck on my head, mops in my wheels, getting turning into a chair, having feet shoved in my face, and getting shoved in vents," he listed out all the problems he had had in the short amount of time in the body, "yes, I would."
"Alright." Cyrus sighed, picking Cryptor up off of the table. "Also, you leave Mindroid to me. Don't go stapling him to a wall or hang him out of a window. I have enough problems as it is..."
A/N: Wow. Looking back, this chapter was both really stupid and really important. I'd remove it if it weren't for the fact it was important. Why do I get ideas like this all the time?