We're very encouraged to see that people are enjoying this story enough to send corrections on the grammar for the German. We have someone registered that's provided translations, so just know that we know. I just have to upload the older chapters over again and put the edits in. She's going to provide the few lines that need to be gone over, so just know that this issue's already been addressed.
And yes, angst and revelations abound! To all those concerned, Zero will snap out of it in a few chapters' time: this kind of brooding doesn't suit him, does it? Him just shrugging this all off with no emotional impact whatsoever wouldn't make for a believable character, though, especially considering the magnitude of what just happened.
As for where Ciel was, she wouldn't have gone running to Cerveau's lab or made an appearance for several reasons. The first and most obvious reason is that she'd have had two unconscious Reploids in her lab—Milan and Alouette—and she'd have been occupied with trying to get them up and figure out what was wrong. The second reason is that she didn't know that Zero and Blues even went to the lab for maintenance, so she had no idea where the source of the problem was. And as proactive a person as she can be, I'm sorry, but even if she had known what was going down, she'd have done nothing but gotten killed.
Add in the reality that them going to the lab and the attack itself took all of maybe five minutes, and that's being generous…yeah. There wouldn't have been time.
Cerveau was the one that went down to her lab to be sure she was alright, but given that the focus of the story isn't on Ciel, she's not going to be getting as much face time as some of the other characters.
Our heroes really dodged a bullet, though, in that Zero's current body doesn't have access to the Virus. There would have been a lot of shiny new Mavericks if that hadn't been the case.
The following morning, Rock was still snuggled into Blues' side, having barely moved at all the entire time. His charge completed long ago, but he stayed connected to Blues, didn't remove the cord, because otherwise he wouldn't be able to feel him. Blues was hurt. His systems were evened out due to the power down, but his mind?
His mental condition wouldn't improve at all, not until he came back online and dealt with this consciously.
Rock knew that even if he did fidget around, it wouldn't disturb the elder Robot Master, but he tried to hold still anyway, instead listening to their combined systems noises and occasional footfalls outside their door. Rock knew no one would be able to get in. The lock that Blues added? Maybe Rock would be able to tackle it once he recovered the rest of his memories.
It was hard not to be worried. Shadow did what he could, but Rock wanted Blues and Blues couldn't…he needed his rest. Rock understood that, understood that he had to be patient, but…it was almost cold on the network here, like this.
One thing X liked—in a way—about being a Cyber Elf was the fact that when he ejected from Cyberspace to rejoin the world of the living, he could do so wherever he wanted.
Today, he figured, would be a good time to start his day in his brothers' room. He really wanted to check on Rock.
Even in Cyberspace, the defense program remained active, so he was reaching for Rock and establishing their link even before he'd fully solidified.
Rock picked his head up slightly, turned a bit at the shimmering form coalescing, even smiling a bit as X materialized. Rock did his best not to move too much—if Blues' arm moved, it wouldn't be put back around Rock's back. "X," the child greeted quietly, his voice and feeling on the aura not nearly as bright as X was used to feeling.
X smiled softly, moving into a sitting position on the floor next to the bed, resting one hand against Rock's back. "Morning," X greeted, love and comfort passed along their link as he hugged his brother as best he could. "How are you feeling?"
Rock hesitated, even as he reached out through his link with X, greeting the android and letting him know that he was happy to see him, even if Rock wasn't so happy overall. "I'm okay," the child said, his head craned to look to X as he shifted slightly—oh so carefully—so he could look at the unit he was coming to recognize as his youngest brother more fully. The arm remained wrapped around Rock. "Blues told me to charge off him while he—" Rock looked away from X, a tremulous feeling over their link before continuing, "while he runs maintenance."
"That's all right," X said. "Although I'm sure you're done charging," and there was a soft smile, "I'm not going to ask you to leave." Not with Rock's Master currently so far gone that he was offline, not knowing that the cable running between then had nothing to do with either one's power core or charge levels. "I wanted to come see you, see how things were going with Blues' maintenance, and make sure you were okay."
Because, even if Rock didn't have the concept anymore, they were still brothers.
Rock nodded, still a bit withdrawn, but not at all because of X. X didn't make Rock unsure; it was this whole situation. Rock glanced back to Blues' prone form, both of them mostly concealed under the blankets, then looked back to X. "He…he really didn't feel good. He can't hear us this time," and Rock clutched Blues a bit tighter at the thought.
X smiled, nodding softly. "He'll be okay," he assured, though at the same time, X queried Rock for a full status update. While the young Robot Master looked okay, his resonance on the Harmony the day before and the way he sounded now made X just want to check, to verify that, really, this was just an emotional upset and Rock hadn't actually hurt anything else.
Then again, that was more of a concern that X had for Zero, especially given what the blonde had done the day before.
X idly hoped that Rock hadn't heard that.
Rock let X have the status update, a warm feeling originating from Rock's side of their connection: X was looking after Rock, too. Rock's systems were in the green, but he was very, very upset to have his Master hurt so, to have his Master offline, when he was still so young and, now, so frightened. "He's hurt," Rock said, his voice quiet and tremulous. His body was hurt and his mind was hurt.
"I know," X said, pushing more comfort along their link, "but he'll be okay. He just needs time." A stronger pulse of love from X, "And I'll stay here with you until he wakes up if you want me to."
Over their link, Rock reached for X again, like a child reaching to be picked up, and sent some happiness along the line. "Would it be okay?" Rock was a little worried; wasn't X a busy person? "They'll need you, what happened scared them too, didn't it?"
X nodded. "It did, but I talked with them yesterday. Once Cerveau woke everyone, I spoke with them. They're still a little shaken, but…" X moved a bit, coddling Rock even though he couldn't physically touch him, and X sighed. "They're not as young as you," X said. "They're…they've been through a lot, just like you, but they're older. They can handle things fairly well," and if the lack of comm chatter the day before was any indication, they were doing worlds better now then they'd been a week ago. "Besides, they may be my family because I feel a responsibility for them, but you're my brother, actual family to me. That's more important, especially with everything that happened." And X felt a bit guilty that he hadn't been able to do more for them, hadn't been able to provide better support during and after the incident in the lab.
X's guilt translated over the link and Rock reached out to him again, curious and a bit puzzled by the emotion. He understood the concept of family the way X explained it, or he thought he did, and he understood that family was a way of saying that these units, these people, are important to you. And X was important to Rock, so that's what made them family? Rock wasn't sure. But the feeling was the same regardless of the name attributed to it, or so Blues told Rock. Love was love and pain was pain regardless of what words were used. Rock wished Blues was awake to help him figure this part out, too. "You feel sad too…because of Blues? But you feel bad, and…why?" Why should X feel bad when he didn't do anything bad, when he didn't hurt anyone?
"I feel bad because I couldn't do more to protect them, especially Blues, from…from what happened. I've mentioned before that I can't do as much, can't interact with the world, as much as I'd like to be able to because I'm a Cyber Elf. I…I feel a sense of responsibility for the units here, even if they're not my subordinate units, even if I'm not, can't be, their Master like Blues is for you. To be…inefficient in protecting them…it can be bothersome." X smiled. "But I try, so it's not all bad. And I learned from it," X assured Rock. "Blues helped fix the problem, fixed what was wrong, so it won't happen again."
Rock shifted under the blanket, under Blues' arm, and reached out to touch X again, never failing to be fascinated by X's current state as a Cyber Elf. It was a tingly, vague feeling. "Blues and Shadow wouldn't…wouldn't tell me what happened, exactly," though Rock knew it had to do with someone doing something cruel to Zero and forcing Zero to do something cruel to Blues in turn. And now Blues was hurt, and Zero too, though in a different way. "Is it lonely not having a Master?" Blues was only offline and Rock still felt a bit alone, still felt a bit lonely.
X figured the further he kept from the topic of what had happened, the better it would be for everyone, and deftly avoided mentioning the incident. "It's…it's a bit different for me, for us, because we don't…don't need a Master in the same way. We have people that we listen to, like how the Resistance looks to me for guidance," though certain members did have an odd way of showing their respect, "so, in a way, I'm the Master for this group, but…we think, Reploids and androids, we think more like humans. We make our connections differently. But…it is a bit lonely," X admitted, "because I'm…I…" X wasn't sure how to word this. "Since I'm seen as sort of a Master in that I'm a commander, there are not a lot of people that see me as…approachable. They see me a…they see more of an ideal than a person sometimes, especially because I'm so old. It's…I think the phrase 'it's lonely at the top' fits."
Rock blinked, processing what X said, and a look like comprehension passed over his features, "Because you can't link, so they can't feel that you're really warm." And if they could feel that, then they wouldn't be intimidated by X. "Some of them are afraid of Blues, too, because they can't link," and they were missing half of who Blues was. "But Blues and I talk to you all the time," Rock frowned, "so it's not lonely anymore?" Or at least a little bit less lonely?
"No, it's not," X answered, smiling, pushing more love and constant reassurance through his link to Rock, fortifying and strengthening their bond. "And you and Blues being here helped a lot more because…" X blinked, looking down in embarrassment. "I know that when you first met me, I was really scary, that I upset you because I was angry, but the rest of the people here…they'd never seen me like that before. I'm usually quiet and really reserved, so I think that was part of what was wrong with their…impression of me. They had an idea, and after these past weeks…I think I kind of broke their understanding of me a bit." He reached for Rock's hair, forlornly wishing he could ruffle it. "Sometimes, people see someone they look up to as really different from them, as better, because they can't link, because they don't really know. For me to be like I've been, to see that I do actually feel a lot of the same things as them…it's making them see I'm not different, that I can be talked to, that I'm someone they can relate to instead of being someone to look up to."
Rock blinked again. The idea of the person in the position of 'Master' not being relatable was…that was such a lonely thought and he reached out to X again, feeling the Cyber Elf reaching to him through the link , fortifying their bond, and it really was reassuring. "I've…maybe it's because of the link, but Blues was always…" always just Blues, nothing else. Even if he'd pushed the link the first time, pushed it to check Rock's coding, to check that Rock was alright.
X nodded. "You feel people differently because you feel deeper. We can interact wirelessly or wired with one another, but we can't really feel the same way. Like this," and X pushed a feeling of protection, like a blanket wrapping around Rock, through their link. "We can't do that normally. We can't feel each other that way because we're not really…we weren't designed like that. I think…I think part of why I can is because I was built with you and Blues and the others in mind," and even then the way he did that, the way he manifested emotions and feelings, was exceedingly odd and X really wasn't sure he could put how he did it to words. "I don't know if the others would be able to feel and project the same way, but this, this is something special between your model types." They were empathetic, able to feel each other out, because they weren't meant to work the same way as humans. Androids, and Reploids by extension, were modeled after humans, and that meant that they weren't really able to get into one another's heads, meant that they were alienated from deep links, left only with cursory interactions and surface-level connections. Their emotional drives allowed for a greater range of human-type attachments, but the ability to link their minds and share that closeness? That was beyond their capabilities.
Rock frowned; he wouldn't like not being able to feel others. Rock's feeling toward X were alternating between affection and cuddling, like an anxious child wanting attention. Rock didn't remember Doctor Light at all, couldn't even begin to imagine what their maker was thinking when he was built, when X was built. "It frustrates Blues when people can't connect since he…he has a hard time giving surface interactions a chance." A hard time trusting, a hard time trying.
With his past, X really couldn't blame him. The fact that Blues had stayed at all, that he'd allowed for him and Rock to stay despite what Blues knew of humanity's reaction to them, said something. X was intrigued and part of him did want to find out exactly why Blues would have ignored what he knew in order to stay, but that was a conversation for a much later point in time. "I can…I can understand," X admitted, though he really couldn't relate, "and I hope that he'll be willing to keep trying as time goes on. Even if it is inconvenient, I appreciate it that he's at least trying."
"Blues is a really nice person," Rock said, his eyes straying to the arm still wrapped around his middle. "I can see why…why a lot of people don't like him or are frightened of him, especially if all they know is how…how humans interact." And none of Blues' past. "He does things for the people he likes, but he's not…not so nice to people he doesn't like," like he wasn't nice to Copy Rock, "But he likes you a lot, X."
A smile, love pulsed across the link. "I would hope that you like me too," he said, teasing a little. "And I like you both a lot, appreciate you very much, and not just because you're family." Though, were X being brutally honest, that was a big part of it. "Despite how I acted before, I'm really glad that the two of you are here, three if you count Shadow, though he's not family to us." Not directly, anyhow. X nuzzled closer to Rock, resting his head just shy of it sinking through the bed.
Rock smiled, still probing at X, his fingers partly pushing through the Cyber Elf as he tested different pressure levels, "I like you a lot, too," though Rock was more pointing out Blues' feelings about X because it was so very, very rare for any unit to gain his approval so quickly. Rock liked everyone. Rock was in the business of making friends. Blues? Blues was in the business of filtering moles from Rock's friends list.
More assurance. X kept the link strong, kept providing the comfort he knew the young Robot Master needed. "When Blues wakes up later, do you want to go visit Alouette and her Jangyo again?" X had noticed that the Garm had been returned to Rocinolle's lab at some point, and Alouette had messaged X the night before, asking when 'Mister Rock' would be able to come and play again. A soft laugh flitted past his lips at the thought that, really, Alouette and Rock were a lot closer in AI age than the little Reploid seemed to think.
Rock was responding more strongly via the link than he was in person and it gave X a more comprehensive idea of how the little Robot Master was doing. "I'd like to see Alouette and her Jangyo again," Rock nodded, eyes brightening some at the prospect. Maybe he could show Alouette that Blues wasn't scary? Provided Blues was up for it. Maybe it'd be better if he just went with X again…
Rock didn't think that Blues would be too keen on crawling the base after this.
"She'll be happy to see you. She's been wanting to play, but Ciel's been really busy and no one else really…gets that she's not as mentally advanced as they are, so playtime doesn't…doesn't translate well." Really, those that did go to visit either did so to ask the Reploid for help with the Cyber Elves or to ensure that she wasn't underfeeding her pets. Ciel occasionally took time out of her schedule, but with current events, she'd been pushing herself really hard and not granting herself a lot of time to just idle about.
That Alouette's AI was equivalent to an eight-year-old human never seemed to click with any of them, and it didn't help that Ciel never really admitted to anyone that she didn't want to update Alouette's AI programming because she was the last thing Ciel had of her father.
Constructed in the wake of Ciel's mother passing, Alouette was, by all rights, her little sister.
X frowned a little at the thought that Ciel really needed to start setting some time aside to spend with the Reploid.
Rock's presence really would help Alouette. So, "How much longer until Blues wakes up?" X asked, hand moving in lazy circles over Rock's back.
Rock hesitated at that question, gaze dropping to the mattress, quietly, very quietly, the child's voice intoned, "9.876 hours left," and Rock wasn't sure if something else would queue up at that point or if Blues would wake.
X nodded. That'd set Blues to wake up somewhere in the early to middle afternoon, which would make it very likely that Alouette was either in her room or Ciel's lab. "Would you like me to let Alouette know you'll be by to visit later?"
Rock nodded, clearly still considering whether Blues would be likely to come. Though if they were afraid of him, he may not want to look at them. "Could you? I think it'd be fun to play again, and if she hasn't had any other kids to play with…" That was lonely. Blues played with Rock, set up a lot of fun games for him, but if the Reploids here weren't doing that for Alouette?
"Will you be okay with me leaving?" He looked at the cable running between Rock and Blues. "And do you want me to come right back?" X had other things to do, but to prioritize over family? Never in a million years, especially after the prior day's events.
"Is it okay if you come back?" Rock asked; he didn't want to keep X from doing what he needed to, "It's not boring for you to sit in here?" Had Rock not been so worried, being linked to an offline unit would have left him bored to tears. As it was, this link, this tiny trickle, was far, far more comfortable than no link at all.
"It's not boring at all," and he reassured Rock of that fact over their link. "I'll be back shortly, and we can play with your lock program again. You can show me how to get through them better, even though I'm really not as much of a hacker as some of the other units." With that, X leaned forward, pressed his forehead close to Rock's for a moment, then got to his feet. "See you in a couple minutes," X said, pressing his hand to the terminal's access port.
The link remained strong as X fractured into a data stream and loaded to the network.
Rock tilted his head toward X's when their foreheads touched, eyes closing as Rock's feeling from the link was a warm, fuzzy, affectionate feeling. Bright and young.
Several moments after X loaded into the network, a strange sound echoed in the Harmony, like a fourth song suddenly manifesting as Rock looked up, eyes becoming round and smile widening, almost getting up from where he was to greet this newcomer. But Rock didn't need to get up, their newly-reopened link said affectionately, he's come to Rock.
It was good to see that he and Blues alike were alive and whole, the hand on Rock's head said, even if Blues wasn't as whole as he should be. But Rock shouldn't worry, it was okay now. He'd take care of it.
X had just sent a message off to Alouette's signal code, since she was offline at the moment, and was about to eject from the net when a sudden sound caught his attention. Shadow's song on the Harmony remained low but constant, while Rock's had suddenly brightened, as if in response to the new voice on their network.
A moment later, X's eyes went wide, recognizing the song from Rock's memory file. Reaching across the network once his defense system had pinpointed the nexus, X tried to establish a link to this new unit, calling out, 'Elec—'
And the net went dead.
And not just the net. The entire base was offline, power completely cut. Elec accessed the networks here, barely acknowledging Shadow as he quickly found the controls he was looking for and offlined the power through most of the base, immediately grabbing the coding for the power structure, output, and production and settling down with it leisurely, as though reading the Sunday paper. He needed to know what was going on here to be able to help fix it, and guessing never got anyone anywhere.
Elec knew that Blues had been harmed somehow, but what happened to Rock? The second their connection flared back to life, he recognized Rock as a newbuilt and, pushing further, probing at the other Robot Master confirmed it. Rock's activation time was sufficient for him to be past that stage three times over. He knew that there'd been some damage from the time spent offline, but this kind of magnitude? Elec fired a status update request to Rock, quickly accepting it and reading it over. And he grimaced. He knew he couldn't be mad at Blues; the message he'd sent was choppy enough as it was and, judging by his condition, there really hadn't been the opportunity to compile a detailed report. It'd taken a lot to even send what he did.
That's why he was sanctioning Blues to go into a full defragmentation and maintenance cycle, overriding any warnings and concerns; it was safe here now and Rock would be looked after. Blues needed this. There shouldn't be any question of 'should I' involved here. So Elec wired into Blues, using the port on the other side of his neck, and rooted around for a moment before being authorized deeper access and finding what he was looking for.
Commence full defragmentation cycle Y/N?
Y.
Commence full cleanup cycle Y/N?
Y.
Full defragmentation and cleanup cycles commenced. Estimated time until completion: 244.153 hours.
Elec balked at that, a wave of irritation passing through him. What was Blues thinking, allowing himself to fall so far behind in basic maintenance?
Normally, Elec would have taken the time to greet X, take the time to meet him first, but the objective right now was getting Blues into good condition. Their eldest 'brother' did absolutely nothing beyond what he needed to keep running (and barely) and it was no way to live. So, yes, Blues would swallow his medicine, bitter as it may be. X may have objected to that, which was why he was caught on the network and not in here with him and Rock. Elec knew Rock wouldn't object; it helped Blues and, really, with Rock as a newbuilt right now, he had absolutely no right to claim to know better than Elec right now.
Rock was always better mannered than that: it was good to see that that hadn't changed. "Come here, Rock," Elec said softly, reached down for the child and disconnecting him from Blues. Rock was reluctant to do so, but Elec reassured him, showed Rock what the extended maintenance would do for Blues, how this would help him. And right now, Rock could help Blues by being a good child and being happy even if his Master was offline. He'd had several hours to settle down and recharge: it was time to rejoin the living.
X froze where he was. While the net had gone shockingly quiet, the elf knew that the system was merely idling. The power had been cut, which was why he was now the only unit online.
And he didn't have a way out until the power was restored.
What in blazes was Elec thinking? Or doing, for that matter?
Faucon shook his head, moving for the room where the majority of the security team was stationed. "Hey, everyone armed and upstairs. Turrets are still offline," and with the power off, they weren't going to be working anyway, "so we need to get topside now." The officer was thankful that most of the security team was either equipped with night vision capabilities or knew the base like the backs of their hands. Getting out for a timely response would have been impossible otherwise. And that said nothing of the fact that the doors that were closed before the outage would have to be forced open manually.
The monitoring team was at high alert the second the power went out, a couple of the units wiring their charger ports into their terminals and trying to kick the systems back online. Shock ran through them as the systems refused to boot.
"Door's offline too," Sentinella called from the doorway. "Someone want to help me force this thing open? We need to get someone topside."
Milan moved Ciel to the furthest spot in her room from the door. "Stay here. I'm going to see if I can get in contact with the security team and see what's going on." With that, he forced the door open and moved out into the hallway beyond.
Ciel nodded in the darkness, cuddling Alouette in her arms, the young Reploid shaking a bit, though she was doing a good job of keeping herself from crying.
"I'm scared, Sis," Alouette said as she leaned into Ciel's shoulder.
"Milan will take care of us," Ciel said. "We'll be alright."
Alouette nodded. "How come stuff keeps happening to us? It wasn't all silly like this before Mister Zero and Mister Blues showed up."
Ciel laughed a bit, cuddling the Reploid closer to her. "Maybe it's a sign that things are starting to go in the right direction for us," she said. "Besides, it's a lot better than the boring stuff we were doing before, isn't it?" She really hoped she was cheering her sister up.
Alouette frowned a bit, hugging her doll a bit tighter. "At least boring didn't mean the lights went off."
Elec let Rock settle on the newly-placed couch beside him, let the child lean into his side as he began analyzing the coding he collected, line by line, command by command, trying to get an idea of what they were aiming to do with it.
Because what they were actually accomplishing was honestly…had humans coded this? At least the programming language used was (somewhat) viable.
It took all of twenty minutes for Rock to become fidgety and anxious: the power being cut meant that the network used by the Reploids was offline, which in turn meant that X and Rock's connection had been severed. Rock didn't like that, even if he really, really, really liked that Elec was here.
'Patience,' Elec murmured over their link, 'this is for everyone's benefit.'
Either way, it was hard for Rock to sit still, and he'd taken to bouncing a bit in his seat on the couch, intently watching Elec work over their link, intently watching the power structure in this base reform into something good, something genuinely manageable. Increased productivity, increased output, increased efficiency across the board.
After two hours' time, Elec was finally satisfied enough with the coding side of the issue to permit power to flow through the base once again, the lights flickering on and the network pulsing back to life as though nothing happened.
Well, that was the point, Elec mused. The outage was inconvenient, surely, but the point was that they'd be able to get back to their lives and have an easier and more productive time of it.
Faucon and Milan both noticed the minute the networks came back online, moving out of the line of sight of the turrets as they auto-connected to the communications and security nets.
"Well, that's a relief," Faucon said, double-checking the area surrounding the base to verify that there weren't any attacking Neo Arcadians. Two hours with the base absolutely unprotected had been two hours too many. "Head back downstairs, check on Ciel. I'll have the rest of the team check on everyone else."
Milan nodded, ushering Fidare towards the nearest entrance. "Get down to the monitors, make sure the team's wired back in and online." Opening a message window, Milan quickly bounced a priority alert to Rocinolle: they really needed those turrets back online and their transponders recognized.
Alouette jumped a little when the lights flickered back on, but she was smiling by the time Ciel's room was fully illuminated. "Yay, the power's back!" Despite her young age, she was quick to jump on the network, wanting to see if anyone else was online yet to make sure they were all okay. She made a soft sound of surprise when a message alert popped up, and she was out of Ciel's lap and dancing in happy circles. "Sis, Mister X says Mister Rock wants to come play and see my fishies!"
"Do you want to head to your room now and get it cleaned up a little before he shows up?" Ciel asked.
Alouette frowned. "My room isn't messy."
Ciel shook her head. "I picked you up this morning and saw it. It's messy. Go straighten up or I'll tell Milan to message X and let him know that you can't have company."
The Reploid blinked, then darted out of the room and down the hall.
X sighed as he felt the network wake up around him, and the minute Blues' terminal came online, he linked to it in order to eject from the network, sending out connection requests to Rock, Shadow, and Elec.
The first thing X saw when he came off the net, however, wasn't Rock and Elec sitting on the couch across from the terminal.
It was the white couch they were sitting on.
"When did Blues get a couch?" he asked.
Rock blinked innocently up to X while Elec merely shrugged.
X looked between the two, at a loss for words for a long while, and finally sighed, his shoulders drooping. He verified the connections with the three active Robot Masters, looked at Blues, and then realized that Rock had disconnected. "Is everything okay?"
"Elec's here!" Rock chirped, more to communicate how happy he was that Elec was with them than to tell X that he was.
"Well, aside from Blues being comatose?" Elec asked, frowning at the bed. "He'll be out for a while. I came to help out. And to look after Rock." Which, Elec was certain, this entire Resistance would thank him for should they ever experience a young unit romping around unhindered.
"Comatose? How long is he going to be out for?" According to what Rock had told him, shouldn't he be down for only seven or so hours more? That really shouldn't equal 'comatose' for the Robot Masters, in his opinion. "Although I am happy to see you," X said, bowing. "As well as meet you," although X hesitated to send a status query to his brother.
"I'm happy to meet you, too," Elec smiled, querying X on his own, querying for X's status and overall well-being. Elec knew about the form X took before he even came, but to see it in person? There had to be something they could do. "And Blues…" Elec sighed, a frustrated sound. "He'll be down for another 242 hours and some change."
X looked as if someone had just belted him in the gut. "He's going to be down for…" The elf really had to hold back the urge to scream—not at anyone in particular, but rather at the situation as a whole—and opted to change the topic of conversation altogether. "Just out of curiosity, was there any particular reason why you felt it necessary to shut off the base's power grid and leave me stuck on the communications network for the past two hours?" He sent his status update to Elec, attaching his own query with the transmission, as he dropped into a low hover.
Elec frowned at X, as though he'd just asked something really obvious, such as why the sky was blue. "Why did I…" Rock blinked at X, head tilted, clearly puzzled by X's question as well. Elec sent X his own status before attempting to explain this, even though Elec clearly felt this should be fairly obvious. "Have you even looked at the setup here, with this base's power?"
"You're talking about the coding on the solar cells?" X asked. "You had to shut the base down for that?" While he was sure that Elec had spent the past two hours rolling his eyes and groaning at the coding, he still couldn't get why the system had to be offlined for that.
"The solar cells? What about the main grid, the generators? I'm fairly certain that they need to be cracked open and looked at—something's not right there. Not to mention how wasteful the system is: you have a lot of energy just escaping when your units could be charging with it, or using it to warm the base, or something useful. The overall output is about thirty percent below what it could be doing with the resources you have, and that's not even considering upgrading or expanding." Elec seemed to catch himself there, clamping his mouth shut as he collected himself.
X sighed, resting his hand against his forehead, rubbing at the crystal on his helmet. "The more I hear the Robot Masters talk, the more I realize how much we've done wrong in the last two centuries." Although he did appreciate the fact that Elec was willing to work with the system, was seemingly willing to help. "And I know that we've got issues with coding. I…I tried explaining this to Blues, but I don't know if he got the message to you or not," especially since it seemed like Blues had been working below the radar in contacting the other Robot Masters. "Whatever happened between being sealed by Doctor Light and being reactivated a century later, general coding skills just…weren't as good as what you're used to. I don't know why, but…" X fell quiet, burying his face in his hands. "What do you need to do or have to finalize the repairs and upgrades?"
"Much of the knowledge was lost," Elec responded, though that didn't stop him from becoming exasperated with it, sickened by the whole situation. "Blue did communicate that, though in no great detail," because it was not needed. "I'm sorry. I didn't meant to insult you," and Elec was genuinely sorry, even if his personality was programmed to make him a bit arrogant, "but…as for the supplies, I'd need to look at the physical components first. Everything I listed is very fixable, very attainable," Elec reassured X, reinforcing their link some, though he was hanging back, more reserved the way Blues was.
"I'm not…it wasn't insulting," X said. "I'm just frustrated with this situation, with the fact that we've had such an issue because our skills aren't where they were in your time. It's like cleaning the house before having company, only for said company to start running white gloves across the countertops and showing me just how much I missed." It irked X's nerves that there was really that much wrong with the system. "As for parts, just compile a list. I'll talk to one of our techs, see who'll tag along to assist, so that you can look over everything." Even though he trusted that Elec wouldn't do anything harmful to the components.
And that was going to require introducing Elec to the rest of the base.
X couldn't help but rub at the crystal again.
Elec had to remember that X was looking at this from a human's point of view: to find any dirt on a white glove in Roll's house? But of course, a human wasn't a Robot Master, and neither was an android. They weren't wired to be so anal about things. "I'll get the list to you as soon as I am able," Elec nodded as Rock smiled up at X and Elec alike.
X's posture read as stressed and frustrated, and X did his best to keep the units he was linked to from recognizing how badly he was beating himself up over the situation. He hadn't been the one that coded their power system, but to know that those around him had done so badly? He felt as if he'd somehow managed to fail them all, even though they'd survived this long. "Thank you," X said.
Rock reached out through his link with X, sending out feelings of affection and reassurance to him. 'Elec is…he's very self-confident,' he had to be when he was managing such potentially dangerous plants, 'and he comes off like…like that. He wasn't completely disappointed in the power systems here, though. I think he's cranky because of Blues,' and Rock frowned at that.
'Still,' X countered, 'it shouldn't have been bad at all. Systems coding isn't nearly as involved as Reploid coding. Even the mechaniloids are more complex.' And X didn't even want to think about what Elec was going to say when he finally got a chance to look at the data for the Neo Arcadian power plant. 'But thank you for letting me know, Rock. It does help a little.' He looked at Blues, the ghost of a smile on his face. 'I think anyone would be cranky about Blues, all thing considered.'
Elec was looking at Blues again, scanning him, unable to link more deeply when a cord didn't connect them. "He looks like hell. Rock, did you get a full status report from him?"
"I got part of one," X said, setting up the file transfer and noticing, for the first time, that the report file was considerably large for it to have been only for Blues' shoulder joint. When he actually opened the file after starting the transfer, his eyes went wide. "Or I got a full one and didn't realize it until now."
Part of X was glad he was a Cyber Elf. It seemed like dealing with Blues, had he a body, would have kept him in a permanent state of 'I'm going to be sick'.
Elec accepted the transfer, opened the file, and closed his eyes, grimacing. "He's worse off than I thought," both physically and mentally. "In all honesty, I'm amazed he gave a full report at all. He almost never gives them to even Rock." So to have given it to X? Elec was impressed.
But still, all those parts, worn through, showing orange and red? Ready to break, ready to rupture. The pain. It seemed their centuries-long sleep did nothing to change Blues.
"I don't think he was thinking too clearly," X admitted. After all the damage he'd taken against the Protocol? It was a miracle he'd been able to stay awake long enough to get into bed.
Elec agreed. "This works to our favor, though. This? We need this. This will help up help him. I authorized a full defragmentation and cleanup cycle on his systems, so that's why he'll be down for so long." And in all honesty, Blues would never have done this for himself, especially not with Rock here as he was. "Though part of the conditions for that was that someone be here that could look after Rock properly, which wasn't a problem." Elec could do it quite easily.
X nodded. He was beyond thankful that there was someone who could be there for Rock. He was sorely under qualified and underequipped to handle the Robot Master. And Shadow? The Wilybot was impressive in his capabilities, but beyond that? Rock really did need family there, even if Shadow was a great bodyguard.
Reaching out and fortifying his link with the Wilybot, X sent a status query request for both Shadow and Zero.
Shadow's immediate response to X's query was a sigh. He'd been checking in on Zero hourly, and 'He's still huddled on his bed. He hasn't moved for the last…five hours, as far as I can tell. Not even when Elec arrived and cut the power.' It was honestly pathetic, and not in an adorable kitten kind of way. Shadow preferred frogs anyway.
'He hasn't tried to break anything else, has he?' Not that there was much left to break in the first place, but the pod had managed to only lose its lid and its connection to the wall. And the bed had been in one piece the last X knew.
'No, he hasn't. He's been ruminating for the most part. I'm concerned that he will draw this out…' Shadow frowned, considering Zero from his position on the ceiling. If Zero insisted on wallowing beyond a healthy grieving period…well, they'd jump that hurdle when they came to it.
Well, at least he seemed to have gotten the destructive phase over and done with in one fell swoop. 'I'm going to be letting the Resistance know about Elec. And you,' if Shadow didn't voice a complaint.
'That's fine,' though it might seem strange for a ninja to be so nonchalant about being revealed, in Shadow's case, it honestly didn't matter. 'Although, shall I wait to appear before them, given that my eyes may alarm them?'
'Probably for the best,' X said. 'That'll at least give me a chance to…get past the Maverick concern that may be raised.' X got to his feet. "Would you and Rock mind joining me? I'd…I'd like to introduce you to the Resistance. From there, it shouldn't be too hard to get you over to the generators and the rest of the power grid."
Elec rose, but Rock reached up to him, tugged on part of his armor, and Elec looked down to the child, blinking for a moment before reaching down and picking him up, balancing him on one hip in much the same way Blues did that day when X first met Rock. "That would probably be for the best," Elec agreed, still looking down to Rock, slightly bemused. Well, he was a newbuilt, but to be so huggy? It wasn't disagreeable or unpleasant, just…unexpected.
"I just hope that you can get the lock undone, otherwise we're going to need Shadow to get us out of here." X looked to Elec expectantly.
"The lock? Oh," Elec said when he realized that X meant the game on the door. Well, now that he was looking at it, it would have been a game had it not…oh, wow, it really was a lock. That was just like Blues. Elec engaged in a staring contest with the door, frowning slightly at it, and after twenty seconds or so, he stepped forward and the door slid open. "I'm going to lock it again behind us, otherwise…well, he'll force himself awake if his systems don't register him as sufficiently secure, and that's almost worse than not defragging at all."
"That's fine," X said, falling in step behind Elec. "You seem to be okay with the locking mechanism, so it won't be much of a problem getting in and out." Even less so for X. "I'm just trying to figure where would be best to go now. Cerveau's lab on the fourth level or Rocinolle's on the fifth have the most space, but the power station for the base is on the second." He looked to Elec. "Any preference?"
Elec glanced back to X, speaking to him over his shoulder, "You're more acquainted with the size of the Resistance and how many individuals would need to be present for this. If a bigger room is better, we can use that first and I'll take a look at the power station after."
X shrugged a bit, floating along as he moved to Elec's side. "At this point, most everyone will find out over the comm net, even if I only have a few people in the room." Plus there would be the units they ran into on the way. "If you'd like, we could probably go up to Ciel's room. She's my co-commander with the Resistance and may actually…well, her research would prove interesting to you." X's voice lowered as they moved for the lift. "Though I'm not sure. She's been a little…hesitant around Rock and Blues for a while. I'm not sure how she'd react to you at this point."
"Hesitant? I guess I can kind of understand Blues, but around Rock? She's the only human here, right? She's not afraid of Reploids, is she?" Because that'd be strange if she was. Not that Elec hadn't met his fair share of frightened humans, even if, really, he didn't think he looked that imposing. He pushed out over the networks, settling more, especially on the comm and utilities networks, checking through data and reading files and getting a feel for the base as a whole, even as Rock bobbled after him on the network.
"She…brought up a bit of a touchy subject during a Q&A session that had Rock and Blues both a bit upset. I think because she's used to seeing Rock with Blues, she kind of batches her reaction regardless of which unit she runs into. She's been keeping to her room a lot more since that day. Aside from that, no, she's not really afraid of Reploids. Kind of hard to be when she's an engineer, though she has branched out a bit in terms of her focus since she left Neo Arcadia."
"A touchy—oh." Rock rested his head against Elec's shoulder and told him the question that Ciel asked. Elec frowned; he could completely understand Blues and Rock's reaction, even if the girl didn't know any better. Of all the subjects to touch upon…Elec didn't let his own discomfort with the subject translate into his feeling on the network, instead focusing forward, on where they were walking. "If it'd upset her to have us in her quarters, then we should go to a more public area," though it was up to X in the end.
"Rock," X said, resting a hand close to his brother's shoulder, "do you know how to log onto the network with a mock account?"
Rock turned his head to look at X, his cheek still resting against Elec's shoulder as the child nodded slowly, "I watched Blues do it."
X smiled. "Could you log on and contact Alouette? I know she's looking forward to seeing you today, but I need her to run ahead and let Ciel know she's going to have company." Honestly, the girl needed to get over her hesitation. If there were more Robot Masters out there, other survivors of whatever catastrophe had befallen them, she couldn't afford to keep hiding behind doors and Reploids just because of one bad incident.
Besides, her meeting Elec may just prove useful to her current research focus.
Rock perked up, quickly fabricating the mock account, making it feel like the Reploids as much as he could, copying what he'd seen Blues do, then 'logged in' to the network. He almost didn't restrict who could see and interact with him. After a moment, he located Alouette on the network and sent her a message, 'Alouette! I want to come over to play, but X needs to talk to Ciel so he asked me to let you know that she'll have company very soon. Is that okay?'
Alouette perked up immediately, smiling and giggling as she linked with Rock. 'Mister Rock!' she said happily. 'I'm not done cleaning my room yet, but I can let Sis know. Is…' her voice was a bit hesitant, 'is your big brother coming with you?'
Rock hesitated for a moment, becoming uneasy again at the thought of Blues' current condition, 'No. Blues is…he's still sleeping.' Rock didn't want to scare her by saying he was actually offline. 'We want him to rest until he feels better.'
'Okay!' she chirped. 'Sis is probably still working on her project, but I'm sure she'll be okay with you and Mister X coming to say hi. She's been…kinda quiet lately.' She suddenly stopped, her communication line falling quiet for a moment. 'Mister Rock, do you know what happened to the lights earlier?' There was a hint of unease in her voice when she asked. Grabbing her doll, she started making her way to Ciel's lab.
'You can just call me Rock, Alouette.' Mentally, they were near the same age, 'But…the lights going out was maintenance, wasn't it?' Which wasn't a lie: as far as the Robot Masters were concerned, that was completely justified emergency maintenance on a failing system. Elec couldn't not address it immediately.
'I didn't think about that,' she said. 'I'll see you soon!' she said, waiting a moment before disconnecting from private chat.
Rock smiled softly, then looked to X again. "She said she'll let Ciel know."
"Thank you," X said. "Elec, we'll be heading to the second level," he told his brother. "Either of you have the lift?"
"I got it," Elec said as they came to a stop at where the lift docked. After several moments, the lift arrived with a slight hissing sound and they boarded, Elec ordering it to the second level without stopping to pick up other passengers.
Alouette was waiting by the lift, smile on her face, when the platform finally reached the second level. Her smile faltered for a moment as she pondered the new robot holding Rock. "Hi," she said finally, then immediately brightened. "Hi! I'm Alouette!" she greeted, holding out her hand. Maybe this one was nicer than the one in sunglasses?
Elec smiled and accepted Alouette's offered hand, shaking it while still holding Rock with the other arm, "I'm Elec, Alouette. It's nice to meet you," and okay, yes, this child unit was cute. Elec wondered if they started the Reploids this way and upgraded them as they grew? Except no, that'd be terribly inefficient, wouldn't it? Weren't parts a bit hard to come by?
Rock was smiling widely now, looking down to Alouette, "He's one of my big brothers, but Blues is the biggest."
"You look a lot different than Mister Blues or Rock, Mister Elec," Alouette said, looking over Elec for a long moment. She giggled a bit, bounced, and then reached for Rock. "C'mon, Rock, the fishies are waiting for us!" She motioned for Rock to get down, to go with her, even though she'd noticed Rock holding onto his brother just as tightly as he had Blues days before. She really hoped that he wasn't upset with her or with someone at the base.
Being upset wasn't something she liked seeing in her friends, especially when there was so much fun to be had around the base.
Elec didn't give Rock the chance to be reluctant to get down, didn't give him a chance to decide that being shy was his newest personality trait. He deposited Rock on the ground and pushed on his back lightly, reassuring Rock over their link: yes, he should go play. Like a normal child. Elec ignored Alouette's comment about him looking a lot different from Rock and Blues; among the Robot Masters, those two were the odd ones out. The twins and Blues were the only three that were built to look so human they could potentially blend in, had Rock not been so recognizable and Blues been so unwilling to even begin to pretend to try to act.
Alouette smiled even wider, grabbing Rock's hand and pulling him along to her room. She'd told the Jangyo they were having company before she'd gone to Ciel's room, and while she was probably going to take Rock to see Ciel later, the fishies were more important.
X laughed as he watched the two units move through the hallways. "I'm glad Rock made friends with her. With most of us being adult-level AI, there aren't a lot of people that take time out for her." X sighed a bit. "Well, let's introduce you to Ciel and Milan, see how things go from there." He really hoped that Ciel wouldn't panic or lock up the way she'd been around Blues.
Elec nodded, mentally cataloguing these names and adding details alongside them. Blues hadn't actually included detailed profiles about the Resistance members, only for X and Zero, and given how frustrated the unit had grown with the people here, it wasn't surprising. Elec needed to compile a more detailed list, however, and though Rock was able to help a little bit, he needed to gather data for himself. He knew what kind of data he was looking for, after all.