CHAPTER 18 – IT'S ALL ABOUT IMAGE

Early that morning:

Good morning, Michael, Kitt sent through their private link.

Morning, Kitt, Michael replied. What's up?

Mostly the usual, but Bonnie has completed a special device for the two of us and she would like to install it in you the next time you drop by.

In that case, I'll leave Nick a quick message and head to the mansion now. I might as well, since they're both asleep and Nick's planning another long flight session tonight.

You're certainly welcome to stay here. Frankly, I would enjoy the company. Kitt said earnestly.

Michael soon arrived at the Knight Mansion. As a driverless car, he still found it rather weird checking in with Security to identify himself. He usually lowered the window – only part-way if the weather was bad – and chatted briefly with the staff. He had found they were more at ease knowing whether he was Michael or Kitt. They could tell at a glance while he was in his previous body, but since the transfer to the new one, the two vehicles were identical, except for the license plates. Oh, well, at least KARR was no longer around to add to the confusion.

Upon entering the garage, Kitt greeted him while Bonnie finished pulling her hair back to restrain it while she worked on the new arrival.

"Hi, Michael," she said as the sleek Trans Am pulled into his usual work bay.

"Hey, Bon-bon. How are things here at home base?"

"Pretty quiet for now. I don't usually have that much interaction with Devon, but I've certainly missed his presence the last few days. It was a lot of fun, though, the other night on the mountain."

"Somehow I don't think Devon had that much fun. It was pretty rough on him," Michael countered.

Kitt spoke next. "I agree, Michael. Are all of Nick's lessons so…extreme?"

Michael sighed, then admitted, "Unfortunately, most of them are kinda rough. Not all. But most. I think he's doing them as a worst-case scenario so Devon can learn exactly what his new body is capable of."

Giving it a moment of thought, Kitt said, "I'm just concerned about him. He had some severe injuries that night, and apparently those weren't the only injuries he's sustained during his training. Perhaps Nick is pushing him too hard."

Michael would have rolled his eyes if he still had them. Instead, his front scanner speeded up and he chuckled while Bonnie failed to stifle her own giggle.

"What's so funny?" Kitt wondered. "I find nothing humorous about the situation."

"Oh, if only Nick were here," Bonnie said wistfully.

"I know," Michael agreed. "I'd have to introduce them all over again as 'Pot, meet Kettle.'"

"Michael, are you speaking in some form of code?" Kitt asked innocently.

"I knew you wouldn't understand," the other Pontiac informed him. "But at least Nick would…for a change."

Kitt huffed in frustration. "But as you said…I still don't. Would you please explain?"

"It's derived from the phrase of 'Pot calling the Kettle black,'" Bonnie volunteered before Michael could answer. "It means one person is criticizing someone else for something they themselves have done."

Kitt was silent an unusually long time before asking, "Are you – both of you – saying you thought I pushed Michael too hard?" The hurt was obvious in his lightly-accented voice.

"No, we're not saying that at all," Michael soothed instantly. "But someone outside the situation might easily have seen it that way. It was the same way for us as it is now with Nick and Devon. You and Nick both pushed really hard – yet not too hard. But Devon and I reacted the same way. We took it…and kept going. We realize how important it is to understand exactly what our new bodies can and can't do. People's lives may be at stake, and if we misjudge our abilities, we could kill someone."

Bonnie jumped in and added, "You and Nick only pushed them so far. Devon and Michael pushed themselves as well. But to someone outside the situation, it would seem to be too much. It also seems worse for Devon since he's trying to learn as much as possible in only two weeks. Nick has to prioritize, and use a lot of worst-case scenarios to accomplish it."

"Now I understand," Kitt said, mollified. "Thank you for the explanation."

"So don't worry about Devon, alright, pal?" Michael asked. "Nick knows what he's doing, and he does care about him. They still have a lot on their plates, while mine is…empty."

"Which works out perfectly for me," Bonnie said happily as she approached his long prow. "Pop the hood for me, will you? I have a new component I want to install."

Michael unlatched and raised the hood. "What does it do?"

"I'm not telling you until I'm done. It's a surprise, and I think you'll like it," the woman said evasively, but gleefully.

Michael lowered his voice and stage-whispered, "Kitt, what does it do?"

"I'm sorry, Michael, but she wouldn't tell me, either." The AI was mildly offended that his own "mother" was withholding information from him. "She's already installed it in me, but it requires a special code to activate it. She won't give it to me until…"

Bonnie cut him off. "Until both of you are set to use it. That's not too much to ask, is it? After all, the installation is pretty quick."

She turned her attention specifically to Michael. "Michael, I know you don't like it, but I have to turn your CPU entirely off for part of this. The new piece takes a LOT of processing power, so I have to add another board to your CPU to handle it."

"How much time are we talking?" Michael asked warily.

"Roughly three minutes. Sorry, but…is that okay with you? I promise it'll be worth it."

"Three whole minutes? Alright, but I'll hold you to it," Michael said unenthusiastically.

After installing the new board and rebooting the CPU, Michael awoke, complaining, "That better be all, or I'm outta here," he vowed, thoroughly unhappy with this part of the day so far.

Bonnie lowered the hood, leaving a thick cable attached between the two CPU's. Next she moved to a position in front of, yet between the two sportscars. "Hang on a sec and let me get Robin down here. She'll want to see this, too."

Kitt's driver soon joined them and stood defensively beside her partner. "Well, I'm here. What's going on?"

Bonnie slyly lifted an eyebrow and turned toward the cars. "Okay, both of you, execute program 71946-slash-4."

Instantly two diffuse columns of blue light shimmered in the air, then changed color and form, solidifying as…

…two copies of the human form of Michael Knight, complete with matching clothing.

"How on earth…" said the image closest to Michael's vehicular body. The mouth of the image moved to match the words, which were delayed by a fraction of a second. "Hey, it talks, too?" The words were still delayed.

The other image spoke. "Bonnie, is this a hologram?" Kitt asked. "And why am I speaking with Michael's voice?" His words were also out of sync with the image.

"Yes, it's a hologram. And since it's a representation of a human, it's technically an avatar. We'll have to work on the audio and video synchronization to straighten out the timing, but that's fixable. And, Kitt, the program automatically selects the appropriate settings in your voice modulator to match the active avatar."

"Wow, that is so cool, Bonnie!" Robin said excitedly as she stared at the two men standing perfectly still beside the cars. She reached out to touch one, and as expected, her hand went through thin air instead of contacting flesh and blood. "Can they move?"

"They should be able to," Bonnie replied, "But it'll probably be a lot easier for Michael – for a change – than Kitt, since Kitt has never had a human form."

"I have no idea what to do with this," Kitt's image of Michael said.

"Don't worry. Let Michael take the lead and figure it out a little more, then he can start helping you. That's why I already connected your CPU's so you could work it out together."

Michael's own avatar was already walking. His first steps were slow and tentative. He hadn't actually walked for over a year now, and knew to take it easy at first. A few more steps revealed his increasing confidence as he moved more naturally with each stride.

"What is the source of the image?" Kitt asked, feeling awkward to be stuck with his companion's voice, but his curiosity got the better of him.

Bonnie went to a small table behind her, several feet in front of Kitt, and a matching one for Michael. "It's this," she said, indicating a short cylindrical object on what seemed to be a charging station. "There's one for each of you – for your drivers, actually – but you can also use it like this. Without external power, it's only good for ten minutes, but on its charging base…just keep the power on."

She removed the device and held it toward the driver. "Here, Robin. Put it on." The small item looked like a wide and somewhat thick bracelet or cuff.

Robin slipped it on her right wrist, since the com-link was already on the left. "What do you call it?" she asked the other woman.

"An Avatar Cuff," the cyberneticist proudly replied. "I wanted to combine it with the com-link, but it was just too bulky. Besides, you shouldn't need it all the time anyway."

"Can you set it for other people, or is it just me?" Michael wanted to know.

"Since it requires extensive image and voice files to…what do you call it? Sell…uh… something," Bonnie faltered as she explained.

"Illusion," Michael's avatar supplied. "'Sell the illusion.'"

"Because of that, there is only room for ten avatars. So far you both have five: Michael, Robin, Devon, Nick, and me." She briefly glanced down, shook her head, then looked at the cars' scanners again. "I hate to mention it, but, yes, the files for Michael can be modified to look and sound like Garthe. Hopefully you'll never need that, but it's there, and it doesn't count as a full set of files."

"Do you have vampire modifications for Nick and Devon?" Robin asked.

The other woman shook her head. "I didn't want to risk the possibility of someone hacking those files and…you know."

"Good. I was hoping you didn't."

Bonnie looked at the cuff Robin now wore. "Kitt can change the color of the cuff for you so it can go with other outfits."

"That's good. I wasn't too thrilled with having that much black on my wrist," Robin said with a shudder.

"He can add patterns as well, or even change it to match your skin so it'll be nearly invisible," Bonnie promised with a knowing smile.

"Now that sounds perfect."

"You should probably take it off now, though, and put it back on the charger," Bonnie suggested.

Michael's avatar smoothly approached the two women. Its eyes met those of the cyberneticist.

"It's been a long time since I had to look up at you like this," she said to the image.

"No kidding," he/it agreed. "I'm not used to being this tall anymore."

"He can't actually see you…can he?" Robin asked Bonnie, unsure which answer she wanted.

"No, he has to depend on his scanner – and only his scanner – for this to work. That's one big drawback. It takes so much processing power that they can't operate the rest of the vehicle except the voice components, the doors and windows, and the scanner. It leaves them vulnerable since they have no sensors besides the scanner, so Surveillance Mode is out. They can be driven normally, though, while operating the avatar, but can't do it themselves. Not with an active image."

"Hmm," the avatar said. "That means I can…" He/it walked to the driver's side of his vehicular self, opened the door, and sat down in the seat – or gave the full illusion of doing so. After waving at the women, he opened the door and exited the cabin as he'd done so many times from Kitt. "Hello, ladies," he/it said with a huge and irresistible smile. After closing the door, he confidently strode to their position and stopped.

Robin's jaw slackened in shock as Michael's voice said, "How was that? Was it real enough for you?"

Bonnie held up an arm so his scanner could get a good view of her suddenly bumpy skin. "Michael, that gave me chills in every cell of my body, and gooseflesh to boot." She had to reach for a tissue. "I think it made my eyes water, too." She dabbed at the imminent tears. "It was like seeing your human body alive again, just as I remember it." She fanned her face with her hand. "I hate to think what my heart rate jumped to."

"I take it I sold the illusion?" he/it asked.

"You can say that again. I had no idea you'd pick it up this quickly."

"It probably helps that this is nearly an exact match to my mental image of myself. I know Ellen said I should try to change it, that it would help me adjust. But I just couldn't, and it turned out that…I didn't need to. So this is like putting on my favorite outfit and imagining what I'm supposed to look like and exactly how I would move. The only catch is that I can't actually touch anything, so I had to do the car door separately. Need to work on the timing for that, though. My hand went partly through the corner when I closed it."

Bonnie watched as the avatar spoke. "Speaking of timing, you've already fixed the synchronization problem. I didn't expect that."

The image sighed. "Yep. It's nice to finally be able to learn something new, especially this awesome, without having to struggle for two or three weeks to master it. You did an amazing job, Bon-bon."

"I still feel like little more than a statue," the other avatar complained. "I don't know how to move like a human, much less do it so that it looks natural."

"I know, Kitt," Bonnie said apologetically. "But I got the idea when we spent the day at Nick's place, and he played that incredible piece on the piano. You said you shut down all visual input because you could 'see' the whole thing based solely on aural input. That means you have a highly active visual imagination, much the same as ours. You should be able to imagine exactly what you want your avatar to do, and it should do it."

"Exactly," the other avatar agreed. "That's what I did. But I have memories to draw on, and you don't."

"That's why I connected your CPU's," Bonnie explained. "If you would let him access enough of your memories to get a feel for it, that would help immensely."

"Sure. No problem."

"Are you certain that wouldn't be intrusive?" Kitt asked, not attempting to alter his own avatar to look at the other one.

"Not at all, Kitt," Michael said amicably.

"Very well. But I do have some other questions first. How do we change to the other avatars, for one?"

Bonnie smiled at Kitt's scanner as she answered, "You have to stop the active one and clear that processor first, then enter the same code, but with a different tag on the end. One is Devon, Two is me, Three is Robin, Four is Michael, and Five is Nick."

Seconds later, Kitt's avatar vanished and was replaced with that of Nick. As soon as it fully compiled, Robin moved in for a closer look. "Looks just like him," she announced. "But does it sound like him?"

This avatar remained utterly immobile as Kitt replied in a close approximation of Nick's voice. "I'm not as comfortable with this image as the other one, since I haven't studied the fine details of his motions as I have for Michael."

Robin shivered. "Gee, that was weird. Like having a perfect statue talking to you."

The avatar vanished, allowing Kitt to use his own voice again. "I'm sorry, Robin. I didn't mean to upset you. It does feel good to have my own voice back, though. What a relief!"

Michael's avatar vanished as well, and was replaced by that of their boss. "How's this?" the image asked before it was completely compiled. "Is this a good match, too?"

He noted a frown on Bonnie's face. Robin was shaking her head in disapproval.

"Uh-oh. What's wrong?"

Even Kitt complained. "That's terrible, Michael. You may have his voice, but you're using your own speech patterns. That combination will never work."

"Oh. So that's it. Gotcha."

Robin cringed, nearly gagging at the idea of the real Devon using that particular word.

It was Bonnie's turn to shiver. "That's the problem, but I didn't realize how much you'll have to practice to get it right. I just hope you don't need to use it before that."

"That's not the only problem," Robin declared. "Devon no longer looks like that, not since Nick made him into a vampire. In fact, I'm not even sure the voice is quite right anymore."

"That's true," Kitt agreed. "I believe that set of files needs an extensive update."

"I think you're right."

Robin looked at the cyberneticist. "I guess the first order of business is for Michael to teach Kitt how to move like a human. After that, they need to practice – lots of practice – with each of their avatars until they can sell the illusion for all of them. For Devon's, they can at least work on the speech issues...if they have time. That'll be the toughest part anyway. The good thing is that there's no deadline on any of this."

"That's true," Bonnie concurred. "But they sooner they get a handle on it, the better. And it'll certainly be interesting for us to watch." She faced the cars' scanners as she added, "By the way, guys, you can change the clothing and hairstyles on the avatars as well – to a point. You can't remove any clothing items in the sense of hanging a jacket over the back of a chair and walking away. You can convert the combination of shirt and jacket into just the shirt, with or without a tie, by the way. You can also change the colors, textures, and patterns to whatever you want. Keep in mind, though, that the more complex you get, the more processing power it takes to make it look right, so I'd advise you to stick with solid colors if possible."

"Is there any reason Kitt can't design an avatar for himself?" Michael asked, hoping he wasn't the only one who had thought of that.

"He most certainly can." Bonnie smiled as she looked directly at Kitt's scanner. "And I'd love for you to do that, Kitt, and I'll help you in any way I can. But I would advise you to wait until you're more comfortable with the others first. That may help you decide on such things as height, physique, complexion, hair and eye color."

Robin chimed in. "You also need to consider how old you want to want to be – or seem to be. An older look can add an air of authority, while a younger one can seem more energetic and open-minded. Who knows, you may decide to have one of each so you can use them for different circumstances."

Michael's scanner froze in the center position. "Are you saying he should look like an older and younger brother for me?"

Robin backed up slightly, caught off guard by the odd suggestion. "I guess I am. And it would kinda make sense. After all, he often seems more mature than you, while other times he seems younger. Either way, it's up to him."

"That sounds challenging," Kitt decided. "I'll have to give it some thought – a great deal of thought. But first I need to spend some time with Michael, and this time he's the teacher."

Bonnie disagreed. "Kitt, he may know more about the visual part of this, but you need to put him through his paces on the verbal skills. Good luck with that."

Robin held up an index finger. "I have a suggestion."

The cyberneticist glanced at her, puzzled. "Okay, let's hear it."

"While they're practicing, they might as well go all-out. Little things like…footsteps, shifting their weight or similar small motions when they're standing still, shadows, blinking, eye movement, breathing, body language – particularly facial expressions."

"Oh, dear," Kitt commented in dismay. "I hadn't realized this would get so complicated."

"I hate to say it, but she's right," Michael added. "This is gonna take a long time."

"And lots of practice…and lots of processing power." Bonnie said, nodding her head emphatically. "Now you understand why I had to add a dedicated processor. You'll need it.

"I think you'll have fun with this, but it will take time to do it well. And that's fine. We'll let you have some time to yourselves to get the hang of it. Just let us know when you're ready for us to see how it's going."

"Will do," Michael said agreeably.

"Very well," Kitt said as the women headed upstairs.

Michael allowed Kitt to fully explore his strongest memories of various physical activities, excluding his many encounters with the opposite sex. Sleeping, walking, running, climbing, jumping, and touching or holding people, animals, and objects were the initial objectives. After that, they focused on faster motions, particularly fighting… and something special that Michael suggested.

Kitt combined the new knowledge with his own perspective of most of those memories. He had observed Michael's actions, now he began to grasp how it felt to do them. Hopefully the synthesis of data would help him to "move" his avatars in a more natural manner.

After well over an hour of studying and experiencing the other's memories, Kitt was ready to attempt an adequate rendering of his "Michael" avatar. This would be the foundation for movement for the others, and should be the smoothest, since it had far more data from which to draw.

Had anyone entered the garage during the next four hours, they would have been confused by the twin cars and twin men. The avatars interacted with each other, dealing with questions, corrections, and suggestions to improve the credibility of all aspects of the illusions. Once Kitt had the overall "feel" for the task, they worked on the fine points. Three hours later, Michael contacted Bonnie, asking her and Robin to join them in the garage to critique their performance.

"This should be interesting," Bonnie said as she led the way down the stairs. "I never imagined they would spend the whole day on it."

"Maybe we should have brought popcorn," Robin added, grinning as she looked toward the vehicles.

For a change, the vehicles weren't alone in the spacious area. A "Michael" avatar watched their descent from his position leaning against Michael's vehicle. Or was it Kitt's?

Robin's grin faded as she noted a matching avatar seated at the table. Did this one belong to Kitt or Michael? "Uh, guys, it's tough enough not knowing which avatar is which, but now I'm not even sure which vehicle is which."

"The cars haven't switched," Bonnie assured her. "They can't. The data and charging cables are still in place and their avatars can't touch them to remove them."

"Very true, Bonnie," the image at the table agreed as it politely stood to wave the ladies to the other two seats at the small table. The women took the seats and watched the other image approach and face the first one.

"Well, Kitt, you won that bet," the second said. "Bon-bon didn't even have to think about it. She knew there was no way we could switch places."

The first one laughed. "I can't believe you called her Bon-bon, Kitt. I didn't think you had it in you."

The other one rolled his eyes and shook his head. "Of course, I had it in me. I'm Michael, and I've been calling her that for years."

"Yeah, right. Pull the other one," his counterpart suggested, lifting a leg slightly to make his point. After turning toward the ladies, he added, "I'm Michael, and he's Kitt."

The bewildered women glanced at each other and shrugged noncommittally. "Sorry, but we have no idea who's who," Robin declared for both of them.

"That means he's doing a decent imitation of me," the other man said with a smile. "Good job, Kitt."

The first one briefly glanced skyward, then shook his head. "I think we've been practicing so long that even we don't know who's who anymore."

"Are you tired already? This is supposed to be fun!" This one looked down at the floor beneath the other man. "You forgot to add the shadows," he scolded.

"You're one to talk. Yours are in the wrong positions, based on the lighting." Appropriate shadows appeared beneath the avatar's image.

"Oh. You're right. Good catch, Michael." The image adjusted the shadows to match the lighting.

"As if you're any good at math," the other said with disdain. "Besides, we messed up the shadows on purpose."

"I'm just glad you both corrected the problem," Bonnie said. "Now can you show us something more physical to see if you can handle the coordination?"

"You mean like this?" one of them said, leaping onto Kitt's prow. The front of the car lowered slightly under the theoretical weight of the man.

"Why couldn't you jump onto your own car?" the other one complained as he jumped onto the same one. The car lowered even more.

"I did!" The first one jumped off. The car lifted quickly, throwing the remaining man off balance. He fell, slid off the hood, and onto the floor.

"That hurt! Are you trying to make me break an arm?" the victim said from his position on the floor.

"It didn't hurt, and you have no bones to break. Get up off the floor and let's show 'em what else we can do."

While the downed avatar convincingly struggled off the floor, using the car for support, the other opened Michael's passenger door. After reaching inside, grasping something, and closing the door again, it turned toward their audience of two.

"Believe it or not, both of us can do this," it announced as three white balls began cycling through the air in a cascade, the simplest juggling pattern for beginners. "This is what took so long. I thought he'd never get the hang of it."

Soon both avatars were juggling in the same pattern.

"A couple years ago, I showed Kitt I could do this. He didn't think I could, so of course, I had to prove it. I never thought I'd be able to teach him to do it, though," one of the male images said while focusing on the pattern of the balls moving through the air.

Bonnie and Robin laughed in delight as they watched the avatars of their companions.

"I wouldn't have thought of that, but it's a great way to work on something physical. There's a tremendous amount of high-end math going on here, and that's what I want to see. I'm surprised you can do it and still manage to talk at the same time. That's impressive," Bonnie said proudly.

Robin was studying every aspect of the holographic activity. "As far as I can tell, the shadows seem right for this situation, and the motions are all smooth and at a believable rate; there's no blurring, which is a surprise. The only thing that's missing, and would only be missed at close range, is the slight sound of the balls hitting the hands. I can juggle, too, or I wouldn't know about it."

"Can you juggle and walk at the same time?" Bonnie wanted to know.

The other avatar answered this time. "No. We can barely talk when we do this, but even that dedicated processing chip can't handle any more. This is it, but I think it's more than enough for most situations."

Bonnie clapped her hands and Robin joined in. "That was an outstanding performance for both of you. I never doubted these avatars would be your best, but I never expected that I wouldn't be able to figure out who was who. But the fact is…" her shoulders sunk in defeat. "I still don't know."

"Me either," Robin admitted. "I was watching and listening so carefully, and I was just sure I could figure it out." She shook her head. "But I didn't. And now that you've won, would you tell us – honestly – who's who?" she pleaded.

The "twins" looked at each other and shrugged at almost the same time, then faced the women.

"Okay, but only because you asked so politely," the first one said. "I'm Michael." He turned toward his counterpart.

"And I am Kitt, although you can't tell by this voice. Of course, that was the point of this exercise, to determine if I could imitate a human, specifically him, with some degree of credibility. Apparently, my attempt was successful."

"Now that's the Kitt I know," Bonnie said as she examined that avatar. Both images had allowed the juggling balls to vanish, but this tall male figure leaned heavily against Kitt's vehicle and allowed his "mother" to study him. "Your image is bleeding into the edge of the roof ever so slightly," she said from behind him. "I wouldn't have noticed if I hadn't been specifically looking for it. I'm just pleased you can do it this accurately from beside your own vehicle. I bet that takes some incredibly fine control to avoid reflections from the glossy surface."

"Yes, it does," Kitt agreed as his image pushed away from the car and turned to face her. "And I'm glad you suggested asking Michael to share his memories with me so I could learn to do this. Mere pictures and videos alone would have proved dreadfully inadequate. His memories allowed me to provide a far better performance."

"You did a great job, partner," Robin declared. "I'm proud of you."

"Me too," Michael agreed. "If I'd been in their shoes, I couldn't have told the difference either."

Kitt's avatar gave a courteous bow of appreciation. "Thank you – Michael, for teaching me, and ladies, for your honest opinions and not making me feel foolish."

"Glad to do it, Kitt," Robin said for both of them.

Michael's avatar held out a hand to indicate the table. "If you wouldn't mind pulling out the other two chairs, we can join you at the table." He was glad Devon had authorized the purchase of a larger and much nicer table and chairs for the garage a couple months before his transition. The Director had realized the companions would probably be spending much more time in the garage to interact with Michael and Kitt and might as well be more comfortable doing so.

As they settled down, Bonnie said, "In case you haven't noticed, the avatar program is a major power-hog. Unless you're plugged in for recharging like you are now, it can drain you if you aren't careful. It's such a problem that even when you are charging, you're still losing ground. You can work with it several hours like you have today, but you'll have to start with a full charge, and do another recharge afterward. Got it?"

"We got it, Bon-bon," Kitt said, surprising the cyberneticist by using Michael's pet name for her.

The woman shuddered slightly, realizing Kitt had actually said that.

"Can we use it over the video screen in the car?" Michael asked.

"Uh…I hadn't thought about that," Bonnie said after a few seconds of hesitation. "The program can't do it that way as is, but I believe I can write a subroutine to let you do it. It should take a lot less processing as a small, two-dimensional, head-only image, but that means you should be able to use it while driving."

"That would be good."

The four of them spent the next hour chatting amiably before Robin announced that she was ready for a snack and would head to bed soon. Bonnie agreed, so they left the twin avatars and approached the stairs. With one foot on the bottom step, Robin turned toward the others and vowed, "I'm bringing popcorn tomorrow."