Chapter 1

Feeling herself freeze under the gaze of the two green eyes, Noodle swallowed down a mouthful of hesitation. The beady, sharp, lime-coloured eyes bore into her own, unwavering and unblinking.

The guitarist had only come down to the kitchen for a cup of water, only to find her robot clone sitting in the inky blackness of the dark kitchen. Finding the ability to move once again, Noodle reached for a light switch, which she hastily flicked on.

Now that the kitchen was bathed in the flickering light, Noodle felt a little safer. She moved a little, letting out a sigh as she realised that the cyborg wasn't actually staring at her; she was deactivated, charging as she sat at the dining table.

Noodle wandered over to the sink, where she picked a glass out of a cupboard and filled it under the tap. "I thought you were an intruder," her own voice made her jump, almost causing her to drop her glass. Noodle spun to face her clone.

"You scared me!" Noodle chided.

"I am sorry," Cyborg Noodle fiddled with her own fingers awkwardly. Noodle raised her eyebrow curiously as Cyborg averted her eyes, watching her own hands.

"Are you malfunctioning or something?

"I don't know. See you tomorrow," Cyborg gave a hasty goodbye, then deactivated herself.

Noodle took a sip from her drink, then climbed back upstairs to her bedroom.

Cyborg hadn't actually deactivated herself. She sat in the dark all night, running diagnostic after diagnostic on herself, as that had become routine for her. The robot was fervently searching for any flaw in her code that could cause the tingly feeling that rose in her chest whenever the real Noodle was nearby.

She'd first experienced the foreign sensation when she first laid her eyes on her original model - back on Plastic Beach. As Noodle jumped down from the giant Russel's open palm, Cyborg had felt herself lift off of the plastic shore, as if she had developed a soul that was currently in the process of leaving her body behind.

If not for a sudden blow to her gut that sent her down to the ground, provided by a very impatient Noodle, Cyborg would've floated up to cloud nine and never come back down.

"Where is 2-D?" Noodle demanded, holding Cyborg by her military jacket's collar.

"I-- I-- You--" the robot had tripped over her words for the first time ever. Before Noodle could've disconnected her clone's head from her shoulders, they'd been split apart by an explosion caused by a bomb dropped by a pirate jet above.

It was only now that Cyborg Noodle realised that she was watching her memories instead of running diagnostics. She regained her composure, then returned to her routine.

"Make the Dullard something to eat, would you? We can't have him dying of starvation on the job." Murdoc stood over the seated Cyborg.

"Yes, sir," Cyborg ripped her charger wire out of her neck, then rose to her feet with a dry sigh. Wandering over to the fridge, she searched for something edible, collecting a packet of bacon.

"No, that's too good for him."

Cyborg returned the bacon, then dug around in the fridge a little more. Finding nothing else that could sustain human life, she shut the fridge and tried digging around in the overhead cupboards instead. Grabbing a loaf of bread that seemed to be edible, she cut two slices out and popped them into a toaster.

"And grab me some rum, would you?"

"Yes, sir," Cyborg knelt down to open his mini-fridge, then collected a bottle of the sickly concoction for her creator. "Here."

Murdoc snatched the bottle, then glanced up at a clock hanging on the wall. "Oops, I'm late. Can't keep my adoring fans waiting."

Cyborg watched as the bassist waltzed towards the front door, before turning towards a small closet and letting himself in.

A half-full laundry basket hooked under her arm, Cyborg tapped her knuckles against Noodle's bedroom door.

"Hng?" a groggy voice answered. "Who's there?"

"I--" Cyborg felt herself start to burn up again. "I'm just doing the laundry. Can I come in?"

After a moment of pause, Noodle answered, "Sure."

Cyborg pushed open the door and slipped into Noodle's bedroom, which was bathed in a dim, red glow from a collection of lamps around the space. The robot gave a slight wave, paired with a nervous smile.

Noodle, who was sprawled out underneath her thick duvet, shot the cyborg a finger gun. "Murdoc's got you doing housework again? Weren't you designed to shoot people?"

With a melancholic hum, Cyborg leaned down to grab a set of unwashed clothes, which she recognised as the outfit Noodle had been wearing last night. Piling it into the basket, Cyborg's eyes wandered to her purple-haired human counterpart.

Then, she dropped the basket, her eyes finding themselves trained on the sight of Noodle's shirtless torso.

"I thought you'd be wearing pyjamas," Cyborg shielded her eyes with her arm, suddenly feeling very uncomfortable.

"It's hot."

"Yes, it is... hot outside," Cyborg agreed, sucking in oxygen. She quickly turned away and resumed her chore.

"Alright, what's up? Malfunctioning again?"

"Stop saying that!"

"Why?"

"Because if I were malfunctioning, Master would dismantle me!"

"No he wouldn't. You do everything for him - he'd never give that up."

Cyborg hastily finished packing up all of Noodle's laundry, then hurried towards the door.

"I don't think I've ever seen a robot get flustered before."

"H-Huh?" Cyborg froze. Noodle giggled. "No. No!" the robot insisted, facing Noodle once more. "I'm not! I think I'm just running out of charge."

"After charging all night?"

"Yes! Maybe my charger wasn't connected properly."

"Sure," Noodle laid back down, rolling up in her duvet. "Come back once you're finished catering to Muds. And bring snacks."

"Why?"

Noodle gave a tired grunt in response.

Cyborg, thankful that her human counterpart hadn't noticed the oil-coloured blush that had risen in her face, stepped out onto the landing outside.

"Oh no." she sighed, glancing down at her shaking body.

When Cyborg returned to Noodle's bedroom, she was grateful to find the human guitarist wearing a dressing gown.

"What was that all about?" Noodle asked as the robot trudged towards her bed. She didn't want to be here, but it had been an order.

"Nothing," Cyborg mumbled, taking a seat beside the human on her mattress. Cyborg revealed a packet of hoola hoops and handed it to Noodle, "This is all I could find."

Noodle dropped the packet onto her bedside table, then leaned against a stack of pillows at the headboard of her bed. She grabbed a TV remote and two weird controllers that Cyborg didn't recognise.

"What do these do?" Cyborg took one as Noodle handed it to her, then flicked on the telly.

"Don't tell me you've never played a Wii before."

"I've never played anything before. Master told me that my motherboard would explode if I looked at TV screens."

"So you've never seen a movie either?"

"Not until recently. I watched that movie about the future assassin robot with your drummer."

"Terminator?"

"Yes, that's the one."

"Did you like it?"

"It was confusing. But, uh, I thought it was okay. So what are we doing now?"

"Mario Kart." Noodle chirped.

"I understood one of those words."

"Look, you jus-- Move the remote like a steering wheel to turn and press that little button there to go forward."

"Okay."