Chapter 2: daily grind, a dash of violence and the fine line between love and loathing
Spy.. Spy... Bink groaned. He hated spy work. Sneaking around doing a whole lot of nothing. At least he had escaped being staged in the library. The bank smelled funny, the air musty with the smell of paper and old coins. Bored, he shifted, leaning back- well, sinking back into the shiny black leather cushions of the couch. The leather made an odd creaking sound, funny to his ears. Several banking clients turned to glare at him after a few moments, scowling dangerously at his sudden burst of childlike antics. Bink stopped bouncing, leaning back in the chair before they started inquiring about where his 'parents' were... Drawing himself away from his thoughts, he sat back, twiddling his feet and leafing boredly through an instruction manual on savings plans, his mechanical brain absorbing every scrap of information as he boredly scanned the page- then stopped. The silence was eerie. A faint whisper began, one of the patrons, leaning against the wall by the window, glanced out- and hissed. "It's him.. He's here- he's coming here!" Looking around in a panic, the citizens in the bank fidgeted, on the verge of breaking-then silenced the aggravated chatter as the bell over the door sounded a tiny tinkling call.
Bink suddenly became very interested in the financial savings plan list on option two, trying not to let his hands shake. The heavy tromping footsteps slowly approached...
All eyes avoided him. Staring around as he slipped inside, his hands lingering on the door, making a light scraping sound across the wood. He flashed them a winning smile, snickering derisively at their shunning silence. Midnight black armor gleaming in the halogen lights flickering faintly overhead. His mind drifted from the task at hand and the accusing stares as he caught sight of something on the couch.
Bink slowed his rapidly rising breathing as best as he could, holding the brochure over his face and trying in vain to read the shaking script across the page
...Megaman blinked, laughing slightly as his hand descended, snatching away the brochure...
Bink jumped, shaking, as he saw the hand close around the shiny plastic paper of the brochure, crumpling the delicate paper. The fingers were almost jet black, only the faintest hint of blue struggling through the inky darkness. The paper was wrenched free, and there he was- Megaman, staring down at him through his smoldering green eyes. He shivered at the smile stretching across Megaman's face, trying to draw his eyes away...
"Hey it's one of those freaky little lego rejects!" Grinning, Megaman suddenly reached out, roughly snatching the small struggling form by the head/neck junction and hoisting it far in the air. Shaking the servbot idly, he walked a few steps, standing in the middle of the room, thoroughly enjoying himself as he shook the servbot with every statement. "Sooooo what ya doin here little bot? Did that creepy bitch send you down here to scope out the place mmm?" Blinking a little bit, Megaman swayed back, moving away from the sudden, unexpected kicking swing produced by the angry servbot. Looking a little more closely, he suddenly giggled and quipped "Hey- what the heck happened to your eye?" Interested, he reached out...
Bink shivered as he felt Megaman's hand slide across the glass of his eye, the metal of his fingers making a soft scraping sound as Megaman ran a finger across the faintly smeared paint on the left side of his face. He felt the bot stiffen, and smirked as it hissed out. "You might not recognize me- I'm different now... you killed me, remember?"
"Ahhh... mm no- OH yes I think I might... Clozer woods- tank- very funny..." Bink shook, eyes wide, as Megaman pressed him into a pillar, moving close and breathing, hissing into his ear. "Want me to do it again?" Laughing as the servbot blanched, eyes paling, and headed for the door, task forgotten. Striding quickly across the perfectly manicured lawn, he walked to the fountain, easing down on the sculpted concrete of the edge, still holding the struggling, panicking bot. "Remember this?? The water... sinking over your head. It SCARES you- doesn't it?" The mist sprayed over him, beading on his artificial skin as he thrust the servbot an inch from the water, grinning as it struggled, hands clamped to his restraining fingers. Tucking the servbot under his arm, Megaman rose, his face fixed in a grin as he lifted it before his face. "Tell your mistress hi for me!"
Moving away from the edge, Megaman tensed, taking several quick steps, one hand bracing the bot under the chin, the other on the waist, tucked under the little button like knobs on it's tummy. Holding the bot before him, Megaman held the servbot before him, and, adding a little heft, let it go and kicked viciously, his foot slamming into it's stomach as he drop kicked the servbot over the twenty foot edge.
Bink screamed as he hit the palm tree, the tall trunk shivering as he collided with it, his internal diagnostics throwing a fit. Bouncing off the tree, he spun to a stop, sliding across grass and then concrete, in a shower of sparks. A small terrier like dog skipped up, it's voice rising in a bark as it's green clad owner scolded "Paprika! Get away from there!" Another man looked on in concern, tilting his construction hat back from his forehead. Bink rose, shaking, rapidly glancing around before he launched himself, skipping and scrambling, towards the portal to the Downtown District.
The buildings flashed by as he sprinted down the main road, confused eyes following his progress, wondering townspeople turning to stare. A car, shining a dull red in the sunlight, coasted down the main street, faster than the servebot could dodge. The driver's eyes widened as the 'child' ran before his car, staring up at him through strange eyes... Bink gasped, his head whipping around as he skips on desperate block-like feet, backpedaling and turning to jump to the side- the car's fragile bumper crumples as he flips, spinning, to the side, howling as he is struck- his titanium form easily accommodating a mere car strike but the agony screaming through every artificial sensor, knocking his respiration system out for a few moments, leaving him gasping in the middle of the street. Trying to ries to rise, his legs wouldn't work quite right as he focuses as best as he could on the shining lights that were rapidly approaching him.
"I'm telling you! No child could have survived that!! It's a pirate creation I'm sure of it!" the police officer batted at his partner, pointing at the form in the street, the eyes flickering open and closed in strange shuddering movements. Turning on the light, he waited till the car was almost stopped before leaping out, stumbling a little and drawing his gun, whipping a bead on the bot before shouting "Freeze pirate!"
Bink looked up, small chips of paint remaining on the street as he whipped around, staring at the cops. Suddenly leaping up, he sprinted, his rectangular feet clanging on the blacktop as he ran out of the street- barely skipping aside of a street lamp and taking off- the street lamp besides him suddenly spit forth a few sparks and shrieked as the bullet bounced off of it, lodging in a nearby building's wall- Bink coughed in panic, running into the maze of residential houses, hearing the hoarse shout and thumping footsteps of the police officers and occasional popping explosions as bullets bounced and hit behind and around him- he pitched forward as the wall just by his head flew in a puff of stucco and he screamed, turning a corner.
"Where the heck did he go??" The police officer adjusted his helmet, glancing around and cursing acidly as he wandered for a few moments. His partner growled and beckoned with a curt gesture before turning another corner and going on, muttering in an angry voice.
The trash can lid slid, shimmying off and falling with a clatter to the ground. Pulling himself out of the largely empty garbage can, he shook off a few errant scraps of paper and vegetable bits and shook himself, taking off at a run for the library doors thirty meters away.
The servbot in the library slowly turned a page, sighing, her legs kicking boredly (hey they carry gender in the voice). She looked up, closing the book, as another servbot suddenly burst through the double doors, gasping and wild eyed. Seeing her, he scrambled forward- the librarian turned her eyes to the two, worried at the state of the kid that had just slipped into the library interior. Watching the two out of the corner of her eye, the librarian turned back to the forms, only paying half attention to the document.
Staring curiously, the other bot stopped, trying to remember if she knew him- then scooted a little back upon noticing the blemished coloration streaking beneath his eye. "H-hey I don't know what your doing here but this is my-" She looked to the librarian and lowered her voice "this is MY post... your at the bank remem-" He stopped her with a hand, staring at her.
"Megaman's here- cops everywhere- where do you think I got THIS for Tron's sake??" He thrust a pincer like hand at his face, tracing a scrape in the paint. She nodded, scooping up the book and jumping down. "Carl's in the police office- I hope he hasn't gotten caught yet, and Juan is in the electronics store- we can get him as we leave. We'll just have to tell Miss Tron we failed- c'mon." Bink nodded and moved up besides her. She tucked the book under her arm and jumped down from her chair, hurrying to the door. "Hey wait!" the librarian raised a hand, adjusting her glasses with the other hand and leaning over the counter. "Aren't you going to check that out first??" The other servbot just gave her a disgusted look and pushed open the door, slipping out and holding it for Bink as they slipped into the sun laced air outside.
"Leslie- did you see him when he went by?" Leslie looked at him as if he was immensely stupid and growled "do you think I'd be around here if I saw the black bomber here??" Bink nodded, running besides her with their bouncing gait, heading for the Apple Market at the south end of town. The door loomed close, and they dashed for it- before a large van, bearing a bright orange and yellow coloration pattern, slid to a stop besides the two, staring in shock in the street. The van left large black marks across the pavement, spinning in an arc besides them, the door slamming open as the form within jumped out. Roll adjusted the chain gun in her hands, looking the two servbots over and raising an eyebrow. Leslie backed away as Bink stepped forward, scared out of his wits. "We didn't do anything wrong Miss Roll lady! Please we need to go!!" Roll rubbed some grease off her face and readjusted her gun, grunting under the weight. Her dark red armor, remarkably like Teasel's, bore many dents and blemishes, but she held up that which wasn't supported by the pressure pistons- a considerable weight, with pride. The gun strapped to her back looked remarkably like a rocket launcher, the word 'ACTIVE' scrawled across the top in block printing. Roll just growled and shook her head vigorously. "I'm not after you little guys. You KNOW who I'm here after- Where is he?" Turning her head, she glanced up the main avenue, then back down as Bink approached hesitantly. "City Hall district. Bank- last time I saw him. I think he might be coming this way..." Shaking, they looked up the street, and stared. Emerging from the portal was a form, indistinct from far away- save for the singular feature of it's dark blue armor- Roll's rage poured from her musical voice. "He's here! Megaman is here!!" Leslie grabbed him fiercely on the arm, dropping her library book and tugging him to the door with a quick, high pitched "Sorry Miss Roll we need to go now!! Please be careful!!" Roll nodded, checking her equipment and said swiftly- "Tell Tron we're not finished yet her and I-" Bink's last view was of her tromping down the street towards the battle prepped figure, raising her gun. Then the door closed, muffling the faint sounds of chain-gun fire and explosions of plasma...
Bink and Leslie ran down the center of Apple Market, dodging angry people and trashcans. Bink skipped aside as a short boy in a bluish shirt suddenly jumped towards him, calling out to one of his friends- "Hey!! They're with the suspicious pirate lady from before!!" Swatting the child aside with an angry tilt to his features, he hissed his eyes taking on a formation they had never had the need to adopt before. Anger. Bink glared at the other two children as they hoisted their partner to his feet, spitting the words. "Get out of our way. We need to get out of here- not fight with you three clowns. Do you want Megaman to kill us all??" Bink grabbed Leslie by the arm, yanking her towards the electronics store at a dead run. The door made a tinkling sound as the bell was bumped, the two 'children' slipping through the doorway and glancing frantically around. Bink whispered urgently, his pincer-like hands to his mouth "Juan? -Juan?? Blast it where are you?" Leslie elbowed him and pointed to a box in the corner... which shifted, bucked, and then spread open on top, revealing a very annoyed looking servbot bearing a backpack- "what the heck are you doing here? I don't know about you but I try to be professional when it comes to my assignment and you just blew my urk!" Bink tugged, pulling the other servbot out of the box and shaking him slightly as he hissed. "Megaman's here- and so is Roll. You know what that means- who knows what could happen! Personally I'm not interested at all in dying again." Juan looked at him another moment- his eyes brightening in recognition and he nodded, gulping. "Lead the way then." Bink slipped out of the store followed by he others, the voice of the electronics store owner calling out "Hey!! Your not kids!"
"Hey Juan- you got the radio right?" Juan looked up as they were running, silently nodding and fishing the walkie-talkie out of his backpack, fumbling to flip the switch. The hand held radio exploded in static as the servbots slowed to a walk, moving to surround Juan and the crucial radio under a small tree. The sound of various servbot chatter sounded as Juan turned the knob, scanning for Bonne prime- and heard Tron's strident commands through the radio, her voice butchered by the receiver's inadequacy. Juan silently handed the radio to Bink, who took it, 'thumbing' the talk button. "Miss Tron? Miss Tron- trouble in the city Miss Tron! There's a BIG battle goin on- Megaman's here! And Roll found him!!" Juan winced, looking back at the city- and stared. Nudging Leslie, he pointed silently... The city was alight with the flashes of the raging battle, sparks and explosions competing with the pulsing light of plasma blasts going awry as the battle raged.
Bink clicked the receiver, listening- and jerked his head away as the static blazed at him, followed by Tron's voice. "Who is this? Juan? It doesn't sound- his voice is deeper... Joey- no- Bink! Bink you're in trouble? Who all is with you?" The concern in her voice was touching, but Bink merely shook his head and went on "Leslie, Juan and me- we couldn't get Carl out... we're sorry." Bink looked down, his eyes dimming... he hoped Carl would be okay. Even getting arrested was better than... he rubbed at his tummy, the memory, feeling more like a bad dream, coming back to him, of Megaman laughing as he tore him open, reaching into his body- jerking himself out of the reminiscence- he turned back to the radio. "Miss Tron! Miss Tron!? What do we do??"
Tron's voice was grim. "I'm sending down a Drache with Charlie. I want you all to get in- then go and see if you can get Carl. Where is the fight happening?"
"Downtown District."
"Then swing around there and hit it from the north- just get him out of there and yourselves to safety. We'll discuss everything else later- Tron over and out." The static started up again, a dull, endless droning buzz.
"Right" turning back to Leslie and Juan, Bink nodded. "Chuck's coming with a Drache. We get Carl and get out." The three nodded, hunkering down under the tree as the clouds moved slowly over the sun.
The mini missile vented a trail of gray smoke as it shot out of the end of her gun, the impact slamming the weapon into her power armor- an impact she hardly felt. Her eyes slitted, she reigned in the weapon, pulling off a rolling dodge to the side as a spray of plasma bolts slammed to earth a millimeter away where she had been standing, sending up a wave of melted asphalt to splatter against her special jump boots.
"Give it UP Roll!! You KNOW you can't handle me!! These new toys are no different!!" Megaman blinked, ducking behind the smoking side of a building as a missile, beeping dully, sailed towards him and buried itself into the building with a small explosion. At first Roll had been weak- a joke. He had laughed at her vow- laughed at her attack. He had to admit; he wasn't laughing anymore. Getting steadily faster and faster, harder and harder hitting, Megaman, though he refused to admit it, hated and feared these meetings between him and Roll. Lately... he could never be sure... how they would turn out. Pale, he moved a handful of hair from his face, readying his plasma blaster once again and slowly peeking from the side of the- the rain of bullets splattered across the building, a few whizzing by mere inches from his face as he drew back.
"These 'TOYS' are going to tear you APART MEGAMAN!! You'll NEVER hurt ANYONE EVER AGAIN!!" Roll's trembling scream sounded from near the library, echoing from the stone as she swung around, hunting her ex bestest best friend with a hard gleam in her eye, clutching the hot barrel of the chain buster with strained fingers. Gritting her teeth, she tensed, drawing a bead on the spot she had last seen him- waiting for a sign of movement...
'This is ridiculous! Self doubt is for wussies and dead people. Time to move in for the ki-' Megaman gritted his teeth, half shutting his eyes as he forced himself to finish. 'Move in... for the kill. I've got to kill Roll... no matter how everything used to be. No use talking anymore... talk is... over now.' The blasts had stopped for a moment. Taking up a new position, he readied his buster gun and threw himself around the corner, spinning his back to the wall and peppering the area with high level pulse bursts of hot plasma. Stucco and concrete atomized on impact, leaving nothing but smoking craters and a sifting of dust... but Roll was nowhere to be found. Catching the slightest movement out of the corner of his eye, Megaman's head snapped up, his shining green eyes staring disbelieving at the sight of Roll nearing the top of her leap- 'no way she could jump that hi-' The missiles bucking forth from the end of the Active launcher had almost reached him, speeding down at him from the sky. Megaman rolled desperately, skidding to a stop as crushed concrete blew across him, paling his hair. Roll landed delicately on top of a building, shifting with a grinding sound on the wooden slats of the roof. He screamed as he shot, his eyes watering from the crumbled concrete across his face. "Roll! We could have worked together you and I!! We could have been so much Roll- like a digger and spotter should. If only you'd have listened Roll... if only you had known what had happened..." The chain gun fire neared as he fired, Roll's aim, however hampered by the explosive balls of plasma and the various dodges she was forced into above the rooftops, was getting steadily better as the seconds ticked by.
"I'd NEVER side with you!! You're a MURDERER!! You killed DATA!! Shut up and fight!!" Near sobbing with rage, Roll leapt forth from a building, dropping swiftly to her knees to avoid the hard flashing balls of plasma that destroyed the facade of the house behind her. Several terrified screams sounded as she rose, hefting her gun and leaping- turning, she bounced off a wall, bounding between one building and another here or there, spreading dented cracks as she pushed off- Megaman caught her as she came at him, wrapping his fingers around the hard red armor around her wrist and, with a snarling heave, spun her to the wrecked and scorched street. The armor vented forth screaming sparks as it slid, Roll tumbling and slamming into a street lamp, causing it's horrible death as it folded at the middle, collapsing to the street below. Ripping the bent ended street fixture out of the ground, Roll hefted the fifteen foot plus long pole in her armored hands, glaring and snarling bitterly.
"Oh THAT'S the way you want it?? I can do that too little girl!!" Tearing out the pole on the other side of the street in a shower of sparks, Megaman hoisted it before him, grinning ferally as he faced off with Roll, stepping off the sidewalk and into the street. Roll stared- well, glared really, measuring her old friend with wary eyes. Holding the impromptu oversized quarterstaff before her, she stepped carefully to the side. Megaman, however, promptly broke his lamp end off and was twirling it like a baton, spinning the pole in one hand in a blur and gently beckoning her forward with his other. Mind burning, Roll moved a little bit closer, watching his every move- and whipped her quarter staff upwards as he slammed his for her head, giving it a spin slightly counteractive of his as his descended and then flew out, it spinning out of control and nearly out of his grasp as she batted it away. The move continued, the other end, near the bottom, swinging upwards and clipping him under the chin, his head rocking back. Roll gave no quarter, the end coming back then swiftly and savagely inward, catching him full end in the stomach, knocking the wind from him as she spun her own body around his, placing an elbow in his back and pulling the quarterstaff out of the way- most of the way. His eyes flicked downwards, followed by his hands as he locked in a death grip around her wrist, pulling the staff from her protesting fingers and whipping around, one hand still holding her as the other, not fully controlling it, swung the length of metal forward, catching Roll across the head. Spinning back, she stumbled, eyes dazed, recovering as best she could as she wiped away the trickling blood, though inside she wanted to curl up crying. Head pounding, she stood before him. He merely grinned, hefting the end of his buster gun as a curl of wispy gray smoke slid from the end, the smell of burning ozone rising as the plasma began to flicker and grow at the tip.
The hail of plasma bullets pattered the street around him, bouncing tearing across his armored body with ripping holes and dents as he ducked, placing hand and buster gun over his head and roared in raging pain. The Drache sailed on, not stopping and picking up as much speed as it could, sailing for Uptown, and rocked as the booming impact of the ball of plasma caught the edge, tilting it to the side and several degrees off course. "Shoot at ME?? You little bastards- I'll get you for that!" Voice choked with pain and consuming anger, Megaman launched himself, limping faintly, down the street, intending on killing the retreating servbots; but halted at the sound of a rocket launcher loading. Swinging around with a fully prepped plasma blast flickering in the tube of his buster gun, he snapped his arm upwards, his other hand bracing the barrel of his transformed arm.
The niggling sound at the edge of Roll's consciousness suddenly sprang into focus, driving into her conscious mind like a spike; Gramps' voice, high with tension, screaming across the gritty static laced transmission of the spotter channels. "Roll? ROLL?? Respond!! Roll what are you doing?!?? FIGHTING in the middle of DOWNTOWN?!?? Roll, get OUT of there! Stand down!! STAND DOWN!!! Oh lord please let her here me..." Hitting the transmitter switch, Roll turned, saying into the mike. "Right- transmission received... sorry bout not hearing you before but gotta go- meet you in the spotter car. Over and out" Roll turned, staring at Mega through tired eyes. Shaking her head, she shook the barrel of the Active launcher at him, fixing him with a stare. "This is NOT over!! You WILL pay- but another day!! Till then Megaman!!" Turning, she tore down the street, running as fast as she could, her armor making odd hissing and grinding noises as the weight support pistons vented and called, holding up the considerable weight of the armor. A few halfhearted explosions of plasma followed her feet, throwing up debris as Megaman's laughter followed her down the street...
Hitting the door, she threw herself into the van, whipping around till she had fallen partially against the very back wall of the vehicle, and shouted "Gramps!! Lets get the HECK out of here!!" She braced as the van bucked into motion, Gramps' tense "got it!" sounding as the two tore away across the front street, slid around the corner of the library and were gone. Megaman slowly turned, craning his head as he surveyed the thrashed houses and burned and pockmarked street... hell- they had even managed to collapse the top story of the library. Shaking his head in wonder, Megaman shrugged, casually tromping up the street, heading for Apple Market, casually ignoring the shaken stares of people from within their wrecked and half wrecked houses.
Carl looked out the window for the fifteenth time, staring in the direction of the Downtown district and it's strange and disturbing light show. Leaning back against the corner, he thumped his head against one wall, worry twisting inside his mechanical innards. The police officer glared at him again, not liking the thought of having a child in a police department. Snorting slightly at the citizen's perpetual problem with identifying him and other servbots as anything but their own people's young, he shook his head, turned to the window, and stared incredulously. The Drache, rather than hovering peaceably, slammed into the grass, denting the lawn and belching forth smoke from a soot stained hole in the outer hull on one side. The hatch, swinging open, was assisted in it's downwards swing by a struggling servbot, the bot frantically waving a hand and calling to him, beckoning him inside. Unable to hear him, Carl simply nodded, rushing towards the door. Hitting it on the run, he leapt up, pushing into the release bar and swung the door outwards- and stopped, staring at the cop in front of him, barely a foot away, the gun aimed right at his head. "Freeze!! You're with the pirates aren't you?? SPYING on us?? You little-" Hearing a click behind him, the police officer turned, staring... at another servbot, holding a gun in it's pincers, fully loaded. Carl stared, unable to place the name- till his eyes, roving over the face, caught the smudging dribble of paint under the eye- Bink? Bink was saving him? Wierded out, Carl tried to move, edging around the cop as the police man growled, saying contemptuously "what are you going to do little one? Shoot me? You wouldn't dare." Bink just flickered expressions. What was once neutral expression, round eyed and slightly frowning, abruptly flicked to another face with a slight shuttering sound. The eyes were round on the bottom, apparently cut in half into a glare, 'eyebrows' turned sharply downwards. Bink wrenched his head to the side and Carl nodded, edging to the grounded Drache and began climbing the gangplank. "STOP!" The cop shouted, drawing a bead on the retreating servbot, his finger tightening on the trigger, then cried out as the gun spun away, shot from his fingers. Glaring at the bot holding the gun on him, he stepped closer as the bot moved, sidestepping like a crab, towards the craft. "Don't make me shoot out your knees" He blinked. The bot looked like it was fully intending to do just that.
Bink stepped carefully up the gangplank, watching the policeman carefully. As the door began to close, he tucked the gun under one short arm and bowed before moving into the darkness of the craft.
Chuck turned in the pilot seat, looking back over his shoulder and saying in a slightly more baritone voice than usual for servbots. "We got him?" Bink nodded, briefly rubbing Carl on the shoulder and leading him to the passenger's chair. Carl sat carefully, looking confused by the whole thing and eased into the cushion. Leslie took a seat beside him, nodding to him and strapping herself in as the craft began rising, hovering unsteadily for a moment before leveling off smoothly. And Bink took his seat in the gunner's pod, sitting down in the belly of the craft, his head slightly below the other servbot's feet and pulled the transparent fiberglass ceiling over him as he began flicking on screens and sensors, television monitors popping into view, showing him the outside world. Bink began launching the start up programs of the spread gun, warming up the motors as the craft rose, bellowing forth smoke and waves of heated air as Chuck pulled upwards, forcing altitude into the craft.
"Mission accomplished Miss Tron. Carl secure... but the Drache took a hit- we should be back soon for report and stuff Miss Tron." Bink heard the crackle of the radio above in the main room, the servbots happily laughing and hugging each other as they caught sight of the shadowy form on the horizon, the Gesellchaft hovering peaceably over the Clozer forest.
The gangplank hissed open and down, revealing the dusky shapes of the Drache hangar, bathed in the light of sunset from the open hatchway of the Gesellchaft's massive side. Bink pulled himself out of his uncomfortable position in the gunner pit, looking up as a familiar face blocked the rosy red light. "Babbuu!!" Bink laughed as Bon stuck his head in the door, burbling happily. Leslie giggled, hugging his large bulky leg as the odd robot bent, taking the servbot in a titanium bending hug. She just laughed and kicked her feet happily, jumping down and moving into the group of the other four servbots. Laughing, Miss Tron moved up beside her younger brother and tapped at a notepad like laptop held lightly in her left hand. Carl stepped forward, bowed for a moment and began, Miss Tron typing as she ran her eyes over him, looking unconsciously for harm. "Police dispatch is having problems Miss Tron. Their radio receiver was damaged in a fight with Megaman so they can't call out on the radio! Once out in the field they can't talk... and the commissioner looks real bad. All haggard and tired out. Kinda feel sorry for the guy." Shrugging, Carl moved back, allowing Bink to step forward. His mind flashing over the incidents at the bank, he shivered, ducking his head as he stepped up to the curious stare of Miss Tron. "Miss Tron. if it's okay... I'd rather download my information rather than report." Leslie blinked. Servbots usually hated having to do that... not only did it feel downright sickening to have the jack plugged under your chin, but it almost always led to a punishment, allowing Miss Tron to see just how much goofing off and messing around a servbot did on spy duty. Bink just backed to the very end of the group, looking at the floor. It must have been a bad, bad day. Juan shrugged a little, rattling off his report. "Prices are going up because people are buying stuff... a lot of flashlights and batteries mostly. Lots of batteries. People are talking about all kinds of things. The Main Gate and Megaman... they think the apocalypse is coming... what with Megaman wanting to open the Main Gate and all... I can't blame them." Leslie nodded agreement, wincing as she continued and summed up the report. "speaking of apocalypse. The old legend says that not only is there the fabulous treasure underground... most likely in this Main Gate deal.... But also- something we should majorly avoid tangling with. No book would say what it was... but whatever it is- it's bad. Real bad. I found out this island originally had upwards of four other cultures on it. All dead. They had built on previous cultures.... But all of them had been killed off by something. Something really bad. I don't know- nothing was that specific... but this is going from worse to tragic, if you ask me." Carl quipped under his breath. "yeah but nobody asked you" He caught Leslie's fist in the stomach, knocking him onto his back where he curled up as she plopped onto him, pummeling him with odd clanking noises. Bon Bonne merely lifted the two, shaking them with tooth rattling force, in his cute friendly way. "Baaii" Dropping them both to the deck, they looked up to Tron's not remarkably amused face as she tapped her nails against the board.
"You five have been through a lot. Head for the mess hall and grab some supper. Then head for the torture room for punishment. I'll go light this time because of recent events..." She measured each face as the servbots stared pleadingly at her. A smile passed across her face as she finished, drawling out "after that... a... ten hour siesta. Knock yourselves out" She turned, walking away to hide her smile as she heard the ecstatic cheering erupting behind her.
"Wow, TEN hours??" Leslie grinned, grabbing Bink in one hand and Juan in the other, looking back at Chuck and Carl and saying "C'mon! Lets grab some dinner and get this over with!! We've got TEN HOURS to burn!!" Laughing, she rushed down the hall, only marginally paying attention to the fact that she was dragging her captives across the floor as they curled up, giggling.
The mess hall quieted a little as the new group burst through the door but picked up again almost immediately as they saw merely another group of Servbots coming in to eat. A few hushed and bent over their meals as they caught sight of Bink's telltale visage, but far less than the night after his death and resurrection. Approaching the front of the cafeteria, the five got in line behind the other waiting servbots.
Sighing boredly, Bink leaned against the wall besides him, tapping a pincer on his tray. Charley looked at him and said in a deep, low voice. "Hey could you maybe cut it out? that's annoying as heck Bink" Bink gave him a look, smiled and shrugged affirmative "sure thing Chuck, whatever you say." Charley groaned. "Pleeease. I HATE that name. My name's Charley." A few servbots behind him complained at their stall and they resumed walking, tones hushed. "Charley? Sure thing man- Chuck is kinda dorky anyway. "Yeah. Thanks. I think...." Scratching his head, Charles moved forward as the line shrunk.
Juan rubbed his head with the tray and groaned. "This sucks. Not dinner, I mean. The damn torture part." He scowled, looking accusingly at the rest of the group, convinced it was completely their fault. Leslie glared at him for a second. "Well thank ya for bringing that up! It was all HIS fault anyway!" Carl blinked at the accusing pincer, and hung his head. "Yeah. It is... I'm sorry."
"It IS your fault don't give me- huh?" Startled silent by the admittance, she stood unmoving, staring. Bink merely laughed and tugged her arm. "C'mon princess. You're holding up the line."
The food servbot smiled, tilting his head as the five approached and adjusted the strange chef's hat atop his head. Luckily he wasn't a bot in training, and so was warm and friendly, not the harried wretches on trainer days. Nodding warmly, he held up the spoon, eyebrows raised questioningly. Carl cleared his throat, turning to look at the rest of the group. Les spoke up. "If anyone objects, just five of the C special. What is it? Pasta prima- prim- noodles and sauce. Sound good?" Bink shrugged, Carl nodding and Chuck staring off into space. Juan scrunched up his features, shaking his head. Shrugging, Leslie placed four orders, waiting to the side. Juan got a B lunch chicken sandwich, looking at the other orders in undisguised loathing. Bink nipped off for just a moment, snatching the parmesan container from a nearby condiments table and drowned his entire meal in the stuff. Nodding, he rejoined the group, Leslie merely shook her head, smiling at him.
Charley tapped Carl's shoulder, pointing. "nearly empty bench." Bink nodded, smiling as the group tromped over. A few servbots looked up, not many, and one smiled welcome before turning back to his food. The group sat, Leslie, Bink and Charley on one side, Carl and Juan on the other as they set into their meals, conversation dying off.
Bink chewed in relative silence, his mind elsewhere. His fork spun slowly as he moved the handle, rotating it in his hands subconsciously, eyes staring off into space.
"So. How did the spy missions go hmm?" Bink slowly blinked, startled, and turned around to glance behind him at- Teasel, sitting placidly at a bench and delicately pulling apart a poppyseed muffin in his armored fingers. Leslie shifted face, beaming. "It was scary! Megaman was there and Roll and everything!" Teasel stared, and leaned forward, setting aside his muffin. "Megaman? Megaman was there?? What happened?" Several servbots had stopped to listen as their leader conversed with the group of servbots on the bench. Turning to look at each other, the surrounding servbots leaned in closer, listening intently.
Bink spoke up in a shaking voice. "Megaman was here all right! I was stationed in the bank and everyone got scared and then suddenly he was there!" A bot piped up, looking concerned. "What- did he do to you?"
"I was sitting on the couch and he grabbed me and scared me bad and kicked me off the City Hall ledge garden wall and I hit a tree and it HURT!" Teasel couldn't help smiling at the childlike meter of the speech, but tried to look businesslike as he leaned in, listening to the rest of the story. Bink turned as another servbot tapped him. "Did you get out okay?" Bink nodded. Another piped up. "What does he look like?" Bink shivered, describing the black clad psychopath to the other servbots then continuing. "Then I was running to get the others and I got hit by a car. It was an accident Master Teasel I'm sorry! Some police showed up and started shooting at me- I hid and got away and then I saw Leslie..." He turned, his servbot eyes, expression fixed but still managing to relay shaky nervousness, on her.
Teasel nodded as he listened, absorbing the words but more- studying the faces. A servbot actually could pull a lot of communicating off through body language, despite the fixed expressions. The tilt of a head, shakes, or even how quickly an expression changed could all give clue to the physical and emotional state of a servbot. and these servbots looked pretty haggard. The way the story was going, it sounded like it had been quite a hard day. Teasel drummed a finger against the table as he listened, occasionally nodding, his hair bobbing with each move. The servbots continued to reiterate the not so nice events of the day. One of the servbots turned to look at him. Teasel tried to place the name... then smiled as he saw the smudge under the eye.
Each servbot winding their tale to a close, Bink leaned against the table, trying not to think about the day's events. Dejectedly making bubbles in his milk, he rested, slouching as the conversation flitted about him. And felt a hand on his shoulder. A large hand, the fingers concealed in green armor. Bink smiled as he looked up into Teasel's friendly smile as the tall man rubbed the little childlike robot on the head. "Ya did good kids. Keep up the good work. Heard Tron's got a bit of unpleasantness scheduled for you guys later on. Tell you what... I'll see if I can't ask her to give you guys a break. Sound good mm?" Teasel smiled and nodded, wandering away, humming to himself as he snatched up the rest of his muffin and took off for the doorway at the end of the cafeteria, nibbling his muffin.
Tron looked up as Teasel entered, sweeping muffin crumbs from his fingers to the floor of the bridge. Standing straight and proud, he wiped more crumbs from his mouth and claps his sister in a bone bending hug. (Bonne bending hug?) He stepped away, smiling as she glared at him playfully. Swatting him on the arm, she turned away just in time to hide her wince. Teasel pretended to look hurt, smirking. Then he got serious, discarding his playful antics for another tune. "Hey Tron. Came down to plead the case of a few servbots. Heard there was a bit of a scuffle and they got in earlier and weeelll..."
Tron smiled, raising an eyebrow. "Come to plead pitifully for their welfare Teasel?" Teasel giggled, then looked at Tron and quailed slightly at her serious if humorous expression. She raised an eyebrow, waiting. Mumbling faintly, he said in a hushed voice "Aww c'mon Tron! This is embarassing!"
Her grin was triumphant. "I know."
Shrugging, Teasel, trying not to burst out in giggles fell to his knee and, with the pomp and regalia of a proposing prince, spouted forth in an overly dramatic voice. "Oh Mistress Tron! Goddess of the Kobun! Would you, great lady of wisdom and mercy please spare two of your wayward children??"
Tron merely grinned. "Six"
"OKAY six! ...Well?" He grinned prettily, flashing a white smile. She pretended to mill it over, before laughingly helping her brother to his feet. The servbots of the bridge giggled, enjoying their master's mirth and silliness. Teasel, calming himself, turned to Tron, who nodded. "Kay Teasel. I'll give em a day off to go with their day off." Bon raised his great spherical head/torso/ his odd little mouth lifting in a strange, undeniably Bon'ish smile as, fluttering the noisemaker briefly like a reptilian tongue "Babuu!"
Bink walked slowly down the center of apple market, his little pincer like hands clutching the little kobun sized blue backpack weighing comfortably on his small shoulders. The light shone down, muted slightly, illuminating all the shops and stalls. Bink didn't care that he had seen bigger, brighter, more amazing and special shops, markets and locations in his travels of the world; each encounter, each place was beautiful, unique and held it's own brand of joy. Bink scanned the walk, sighting the various shops, on the prowl for one very special shop in particular. Repressing a squeak of glee, he quickened his steps, hurrying towards the storefront of one particular shop. The Mini Disk store's windows seemed to gleam a little brighter than normal, seemed to be in just a little too sharp a focus. Bink felt the smile spread across his face, and he didn't try to stop it.
Miss Tron had given him 2000 zenny to blow. Special gift. Bink was elated. If he did it right... he could get two MD's and have a few bucks left over. The door swung open, a small bell jangling delicately over the door. The owner raised his head, smiling with professional friendliness. Odd little kid. The store owner turned back. Bink obediently left his backpack behind and wandered into the aisles, his eyes scanning the shelves. A squeak took his voice as he flicked a hand out to the samplers, placing the bulky headphones on the back shelf into his head. He had picked right. Moving through the racks, he reached out and plucked forth a mini disk, flipping the container and scanning the back. Reading the code under the scanner, the strains of music flickering through his head...
The store owner looked up, suddenly smiling as the small, odd child came up to the counter. Laying two of the mini disk containers on the counter, the odd little child beamed, all the way out the door. Shaking his head, the store owner turned back to his magazine.
Bink shuffled along, his eyes scanning the booths. He had 230 creds left. A stall caught his eye, the fruit out front gleaming enticingly. Bink stalled, staring at the booth for a few moments. A nice, fresh, sweet apple would be perfect... he briefly considered pirating it- but shook his head. This was his break. He'd do it right, no sense in making trouble now. Making up his mind, he nodded, approaching the booth. Looking over the apples, he selected one. it shone, perfectly gold/red and matte of skin, that buff warmth of ripeness. Hefting the apple, he approached the booth owner- and stopped.
Bink fidgeted under the merchant's stare. The man hadn't said anything yet, hadn't made a move... but his gaze was withering with suspicion and apathy. "You. You're no kid. I know you- I've seen you... you're one of those god damned pirates ruining our lives aren't you!?" Bink shrunk from the angry man, scared. He leaned hard into a vegetable cart, the feathery leaves of a celery stalk tickling his face. He listened, hating the tone, angry at the man for hating him so. "Damn pirates... and now you're going to steal from me.?!? I'm calling the police."
"OH come ON!" The merchant abruptly jumped back, startled, as the small ch- no- not child, the little mechanical creation, suddenly slammed both hands to the edge of one of the permanent grocer's cart, causing the entire thing to jump. Waving the apple, the small servbot railed at him in an affronted, insulted and frustrated tone. "I CAME here to get something to eat! I'm PAYING for it, don't you see?? Look! LOOK! I do right this time, going out of my way to do the RIGHT THING... and what do you do?? THREATEN me?!? Leave me alone. Leave me alone!!! This is my only off day. This is probably going to be the ONLY break I'm gonna get for two weeks! Maybe a month!! This is my only break.... I swear you have me thrown in jail and I'll FIND YOU! I'll make it hell for you guys as long as I'm here! I only asked to do the right thing and buy- BUY- an apple from you! And you threaten to have me thrown in a cell for it? FOR DOING GOOD!? DAMN YOU." Shaking, he slapped the credit disk down in front of the greengrocer, his eyes hurt and angry. "Take it. Scan it. And let me get the HELL out of here... don't call the police. Not for doing the right thing. I could have stolen the apple and been away before you knew it was gone. Doubt me. Go ahead. But instead... instead I decided no- I was going to do it right this time. Do the right thing. Avoid trouble. And everything would be all right. And you threaten to arrest me. I'm going now. Don't you dare call the police on me. Don't ruin my only day off..." The merchant watched the little servbot stride down the center of the walk, pushing open the door to downtown. Shaking his head, he leaned back, staring off into space with a thoughtful frown across his face.
Bink huffed, glancing down at the apple in his hands. And sighed, letting the air out of his respirator. Shaking his head, he winced. He hated what had just happened. Not so much about what the guy had said, the anger or threats. That bugged him. Most people were usually so nice with him. He was unhappy at the thought of someone just hating him for what he was. He was angry and afraid of himself. Yelling, swearing... Miss Tron would hate him, he thought with a mental wail. He shook his head, determined. He'd confess it all to Miss Tron. and accept his punishment. Filled with reassurance, determination and steadiness, he pushed open the door open to the Downtown District.
People moved sluggishly along the street, their frames bearing a strange hopeless kind of nervousness, eyes dulled and not wanting to see, to see the smoking legacies of the battle around them. Some merely went about the business, determinedly not looking at the burned and blackened craters marking the walls and streets of Downtown. Bink silently took off his backpack, pushing the apple and MD's deep into the depths and began striding down the street in the odd little shuffling walk of servbots. A pair of citizens wandered nearby, heads together; their voices drifted on the wind, coming to him, soft but animated. "Did you hear? MissRoll donated 20,000 zenny towards the rebuilding of downtown!" The other voice snapped out, thick with ire. "As SHOULD she! Imagine! Using a ROCKET LAUNCHER in Downtown?" the words drifted back and forth... Bink turned, staring off into the distance down the pockmarked street, CPU running several different thoughts at once. 'MissRoll is here... that might be a problem. Just because she let us go before, doesn't mean she couldn't get unpleasant now...' he shivered slightly at the intimidating girl. The street looked like it had been on the receiving end of a meteor shower, he thought, as he progressed along it's blackened, smoking length, the acrid scent of burned and vaporized asphalt drifting across his chemoreceptor sites.
Eyes wide, Bink strode down the center palisade of Downtown, the black, crusted waves of half melted asphalt crunching under the round metal plates of his feet. The blackened dust smears under his foot, a small sifting of ash-like debris spills across the top of his foot, tarnishing the metal a little as he moves to avoid a rather spectacularly dangerous looking pothole, the gleam of dull metal pipes glinting from deep within the wounded street like the white flash of bone. His eyes taking on a concerned tilt, Bink reaches the center of the street. It was a little sad, seeing the town trashed like that... The smoke rising slowly from the towering form of the half collapsed library, the fallen majesty form tilted at a slight but precarious angle. Tilting his head upwards, he looks up and up, the form of a bird wheeling in the dark, overcast sky.
Two sets of red armored fingers sink comfortably onto his shoulders, clamped tight but not painful as, tapping the servbot's shoulder with a calm, steady rhythm, Roll gazes serenely and rather regretfully at the crippled silhouette of the library, smoking pathetically in the dimmed light. Looking down with bemused serenity, Roll slowly runs a red metal armored fingertip around the edge of Bink's peg, tracing the edge of the gray metal on the servbot's head. Rubbing along the servbot's left side, she holds it steady, not intending to let it out of hand.
The panicked gasps fluttering in his metallic throat gradually still as Bink's CPU slowly calms and settles, the random thoughts spinning themselves out as the feeling of the caressing fingertip gently massaging the sensitive metal of his top slowly calms the panic fluttering in his chassis. Looking up into Roll's composed face, he blinks, the sound of shifting facial expressions rising a little above the gently moaning wind.
"What are you doing here?"
"M- Miss Roll...?"
"Answer now or face deactivation pirate- I'm not going to abide any of the Bonne's criminal antics-"
Raising a pincer, he clatters it a few times, answering in a reassuring voice, eyes on hers. "I'm on a break Miss Roll."
Mouth quirked in a wry smile, she asks. "What's your name robot?"
"Servbot- and it's Bink. Miss Roll." Adding the last bit in a respectful voice, he looked up to her.
Roll looks down at him, her face losing a little of the sternness of her expression, her mouth twisting a little into a smile. Her hands still tighten as he shifts, a little uncomfortable under her authorative grip. After a moment, her fingers ease on his metal, and he calms, the pressure sensors easing off as he straightens with a little shift. Roll's hands caress across his small, teal hued shoulder once more, fingers gently patting his back. "Miss Tron did well... making you all... she did a good job."
Touched, Bink's face shifts into a gladdened smile. "Thanks Miss Roll... I'll be sure to tell her that."
"Bink?"
"Yeah?"
Roll's grin turned wry, her mouth twisting in amused, joking threat. "You do and I'll track you down and reprogram you to serve drinks at the mayor's parties."
Bink smiled, not wholly sure of her kidding or not but a bit too thankful of her good humor to care. Moving a few steps away from the technical adversary of the Bonne family, he smiles waveringly, moving off down the street. Voice monotonous, he rattles off in his tinny voice, saluting politely with a pincer as he says "Well Miss Roll it's been a pleasure surprisingly but time I hardly even have is burning I must truly be going now good luck with the blue boy..." Bink stills slightly, his expression sad as he sees Roll's face go slack, cold of emotion. Rubbing his forearm with one pincer, he looks at the ground and, hesitant of intrusion, merely bows, moving away from the silent Roll. As he moves away, almost out of hearing range, he slows, pauses, and stops; moving back swiftly, he reaches out, quite boldly, and takes Roll's blood hued armored hand. She looks down at him, slightly bemused, mostly brooding unhappily, as he says in a low, serious voice. "Miss Roll? The Bonne family... is here if you need us. Good luck Digger." Roll merely smiles, running a couple fingers over Bink's head. As Bink moves away, her voice washes over him, pulling a shy smile to his face. "And to you... Digger."
Spy.. Spy... Bink groaned. He hated spy work. Sneaking around doing a whole lot of nothing. At least he had escaped being staged in the library. The bank smelled funny, the air musty with the smell of paper and old coins. Bored, he shifted, leaning back- well, sinking back into the shiny black leather cushions of the couch. The leather made an odd creaking sound, funny to his ears. Several banking clients turned to glare at him after a few moments, scowling dangerously at his sudden burst of childlike antics. Bink stopped bouncing, leaning back in the chair before they started inquiring about where his 'parents' were... Drawing himself away from his thoughts, he sat back, twiddling his feet and leafing boredly through an instruction manual on savings plans, his mechanical brain absorbing every scrap of information as he boredly scanned the page- then stopped. The silence was eerie. A faint whisper began, one of the patrons, leaning against the wall by the window, glanced out- and hissed. "It's him.. He's here- he's coming here!" Looking around in a panic, the citizens in the bank fidgeted, on the verge of breaking-then silenced the aggravated chatter as the bell over the door sounded a tiny tinkling call.
Bink suddenly became very interested in the financial savings plan list on option two, trying not to let his hands shake. The heavy tromping footsteps slowly approached...
All eyes avoided him. Staring around as he slipped inside, his hands lingering on the door, making a light scraping sound across the wood. He flashed them a winning smile, snickering derisively at their shunning silence. Midnight black armor gleaming in the halogen lights flickering faintly overhead. His mind drifted from the task at hand and the accusing stares as he caught sight of something on the couch.
Bink slowed his rapidly rising breathing as best as he could, holding the brochure over his face and trying in vain to read the shaking script across the page
...Megaman blinked, laughing slightly as his hand descended, snatching away the brochure...
Bink jumped, shaking, as he saw the hand close around the shiny plastic paper of the brochure, crumpling the delicate paper. The fingers were almost jet black, only the faintest hint of blue struggling through the inky darkness. The paper was wrenched free, and there he was- Megaman, staring down at him through his smoldering green eyes. He shivered at the smile stretching across Megaman's face, trying to draw his eyes away...
"Hey it's one of those freaky little lego rejects!" Grinning, Megaman suddenly reached out, roughly snatching the small struggling form by the head/neck junction and hoisting it far in the air. Shaking the servbot idly, he walked a few steps, standing in the middle of the room, thoroughly enjoying himself as he shook the servbot with every statement. "Sooooo what ya doin here little bot? Did that creepy bitch send you down here to scope out the place mmm?" Blinking a little bit, Megaman swayed back, moving away from the sudden, unexpected kicking swing produced by the angry servbot. Looking a little more closely, he suddenly giggled and quipped "Hey- what the heck happened to your eye?" Interested, he reached out...
Bink shivered as he felt Megaman's hand slide across the glass of his eye, the metal of his fingers making a soft scraping sound as Megaman ran a finger across the faintly smeared paint on the left side of his face. He felt the bot stiffen, and smirked as it hissed out. "You might not recognize me- I'm different now... you killed me, remember?"
"Ahhh... mm no- OH yes I think I might... Clozer woods- tank- very funny..." Bink shook, eyes wide, as Megaman pressed him into a pillar, moving close and breathing, hissing into his ear. "Want me to do it again?" Laughing as the servbot blanched, eyes paling, and headed for the door, task forgotten. Striding quickly across the perfectly manicured lawn, he walked to the fountain, easing down on the sculpted concrete of the edge, still holding the struggling, panicking bot. "Remember this?? The water... sinking over your head. It SCARES you- doesn't it?" The mist sprayed over him, beading on his artificial skin as he thrust the servbot an inch from the water, grinning as it struggled, hands clamped to his restraining fingers. Tucking the servbot under his arm, Megaman rose, his face fixed in a grin as he lifted it before his face. "Tell your mistress hi for me!"
Moving away from the edge, Megaman tensed, taking several quick steps, one hand bracing the bot under the chin, the other on the waist, tucked under the little button like knobs on it's tummy. Holding the bot before him, Megaman held the servbot before him, and, adding a little heft, let it go and kicked viciously, his foot slamming into it's stomach as he drop kicked the servbot over the twenty foot edge.
Bink screamed as he hit the palm tree, the tall trunk shivering as he collided with it, his internal diagnostics throwing a fit. Bouncing off the tree, he spun to a stop, sliding across grass and then concrete, in a shower of sparks. A small terrier like dog skipped up, it's voice rising in a bark as it's green clad owner scolded "Paprika! Get away from there!" Another man looked on in concern, tilting his construction hat back from his forehead. Bink rose, shaking, rapidly glancing around before he launched himself, skipping and scrambling, towards the portal to the Downtown District.
The buildings flashed by as he sprinted down the main road, confused eyes following his progress, wondering townspeople turning to stare. A car, shining a dull red in the sunlight, coasted down the main street, faster than the servebot could dodge. The driver's eyes widened as the 'child' ran before his car, staring up at him through strange eyes... Bink gasped, his head whipping around as he skips on desperate block-like feet, backpedaling and turning to jump to the side- the car's fragile bumper crumples as he flips, spinning, to the side, howling as he is struck- his titanium form easily accommodating a mere car strike but the agony screaming through every artificial sensor, knocking his respiration system out for a few moments, leaving him gasping in the middle of the street. Trying to ries to rise, his legs wouldn't work quite right as he focuses as best as he could on the shining lights that were rapidly approaching him.
"I'm telling you! No child could have survived that!! It's a pirate creation I'm sure of it!" the police officer batted at his partner, pointing at the form in the street, the eyes flickering open and closed in strange shuddering movements. Turning on the light, he waited till the car was almost stopped before leaping out, stumbling a little and drawing his gun, whipping a bead on the bot before shouting "Freeze pirate!"
Bink looked up, small chips of paint remaining on the street as he whipped around, staring at the cops. Suddenly leaping up, he sprinted, his rectangular feet clanging on the blacktop as he ran out of the street- barely skipping aside of a street lamp and taking off- the street lamp besides him suddenly spit forth a few sparks and shrieked as the bullet bounced off of it, lodging in a nearby building's wall- Bink coughed in panic, running into the maze of residential houses, hearing the hoarse shout and thumping footsteps of the police officers and occasional popping explosions as bullets bounced and hit behind and around him- he pitched forward as the wall just by his head flew in a puff of stucco and he screamed, turning a corner.
"Where the heck did he go??" The police officer adjusted his helmet, glancing around and cursing acidly as he wandered for a few moments. His partner growled and beckoned with a curt gesture before turning another corner and going on, muttering in an angry voice.
The trash can lid slid, shimmying off and falling with a clatter to the ground. Pulling himself out of the largely empty garbage can, he shook off a few errant scraps of paper and vegetable bits and shook himself, taking off at a run for the library doors thirty meters away.
The servbot in the library slowly turned a page, sighing, her legs kicking boredly (hey they carry gender in the voice). She looked up, closing the book, as another servbot suddenly burst through the double doors, gasping and wild eyed. Seeing her, he scrambled forward- the librarian turned her eyes to the two, worried at the state of the kid that had just slipped into the library interior. Watching the two out of the corner of her eye, the librarian turned back to the forms, only paying half attention to the document.
Staring curiously, the other bot stopped, trying to remember if she knew him- then scooted a little back upon noticing the blemished coloration streaking beneath his eye. "H-hey I don't know what your doing here but this is my-" She looked to the librarian and lowered her voice "this is MY post... your at the bank remem-" He stopped her with a hand, staring at her.
"Megaman's here- cops everywhere- where do you think I got THIS for Tron's sake??" He thrust a pincer like hand at his face, tracing a scrape in the paint. She nodded, scooping up the book and jumping down. "Carl's in the police office- I hope he hasn't gotten caught yet, and Juan is in the electronics store- we can get him as we leave. We'll just have to tell Miss Tron we failed- c'mon." Bink nodded and moved up besides her. She tucked the book under her arm and jumped down from her chair, hurrying to the door. "Hey wait!" the librarian raised a hand, adjusting her glasses with the other hand and leaning over the counter. "Aren't you going to check that out first??" The other servbot just gave her a disgusted look and pushed open the door, slipping out and holding it for Bink as they slipped into the sun laced air outside.
"Leslie- did you see him when he went by?" Leslie looked at him as if he was immensely stupid and growled "do you think I'd be around here if I saw the black bomber here??" Bink nodded, running besides her with their bouncing gait, heading for the Apple Market at the south end of town. The door loomed close, and they dashed for it- before a large van, bearing a bright orange and yellow coloration pattern, slid to a stop besides the two, staring in shock in the street. The van left large black marks across the pavement, spinning in an arc besides them, the door slamming open as the form within jumped out. Roll adjusted the chain gun in her hands, looking the two servbots over and raising an eyebrow. Leslie backed away as Bink stepped forward, scared out of his wits. "We didn't do anything wrong Miss Roll lady! Please we need to go!!" Roll rubbed some grease off her face and readjusted her gun, grunting under the weight. Her dark red armor, remarkably like Teasel's, bore many dents and blemishes, but she held up that which wasn't supported by the pressure pistons- a considerable weight, with pride. The gun strapped to her back looked remarkably like a rocket launcher, the word 'ACTIVE' scrawled across the top in block printing. Roll just growled and shook her head vigorously. "I'm not after you little guys. You KNOW who I'm here after- Where is he?" Turning her head, she glanced up the main avenue, then back down as Bink approached hesitantly. "City Hall district. Bank- last time I saw him. I think he might be coming this way..." Shaking, they looked up the street, and stared. Emerging from the portal was a form, indistinct from far away- save for the singular feature of it's dark blue armor- Roll's rage poured from her musical voice. "He's here! Megaman is here!!" Leslie grabbed him fiercely on the arm, dropping her library book and tugging him to the door with a quick, high pitched "Sorry Miss Roll we need to go now!! Please be careful!!" Roll nodded, checking her equipment and said swiftly- "Tell Tron we're not finished yet her and I-" Bink's last view was of her tromping down the street towards the battle prepped figure, raising her gun. Then the door closed, muffling the faint sounds of chain-gun fire and explosions of plasma...
Bink and Leslie ran down the center of Apple Market, dodging angry people and trashcans. Bink skipped aside as a short boy in a bluish shirt suddenly jumped towards him, calling out to one of his friends- "Hey!! They're with the suspicious pirate lady from before!!" Swatting the child aside with an angry tilt to his features, he hissed his eyes taking on a formation they had never had the need to adopt before. Anger. Bink glared at the other two children as they hoisted their partner to his feet, spitting the words. "Get out of our way. We need to get out of here- not fight with you three clowns. Do you want Megaman to kill us all??" Bink grabbed Leslie by the arm, yanking her towards the electronics store at a dead run. The door made a tinkling sound as the bell was bumped, the two 'children' slipping through the doorway and glancing frantically around. Bink whispered urgently, his pincer-like hands to his mouth "Juan? -Juan?? Blast it where are you?" Leslie elbowed him and pointed to a box in the corner... which shifted, bucked, and then spread open on top, revealing a very annoyed looking servbot bearing a backpack- "what the heck are you doing here? I don't know about you but I try to be professional when it comes to my assignment and you just blew my urk!" Bink tugged, pulling the other servbot out of the box and shaking him slightly as he hissed. "Megaman's here- and so is Roll. You know what that means- who knows what could happen! Personally I'm not interested at all in dying again." Juan looked at him another moment- his eyes brightening in recognition and he nodded, gulping. "Lead the way then." Bink slipped out of the store followed by he others, the voice of the electronics store owner calling out "Hey!! Your not kids!"
"Hey Juan- you got the radio right?" Juan looked up as they were running, silently nodding and fishing the walkie-talkie out of his backpack, fumbling to flip the switch. The hand held radio exploded in static as the servbots slowed to a walk, moving to surround Juan and the crucial radio under a small tree. The sound of various servbot chatter sounded as Juan turned the knob, scanning for Bonne prime- and heard Tron's strident commands through the radio, her voice butchered by the receiver's inadequacy. Juan silently handed the radio to Bink, who took it, 'thumbing' the talk button. "Miss Tron? Miss Tron- trouble in the city Miss Tron! There's a BIG battle goin on- Megaman's here! And Roll found him!!" Juan winced, looking back at the city- and stared. Nudging Leslie, he pointed silently... The city was alight with the flashes of the raging battle, sparks and explosions competing with the pulsing light of plasma blasts going awry as the battle raged.
Bink clicked the receiver, listening- and jerked his head away as the static blazed at him, followed by Tron's voice. "Who is this? Juan? It doesn't sound- his voice is deeper... Joey- no- Bink! Bink you're in trouble? Who all is with you?" The concern in her voice was touching, but Bink merely shook his head and went on "Leslie, Juan and me- we couldn't get Carl out... we're sorry." Bink looked down, his eyes dimming... he hoped Carl would be okay. Even getting arrested was better than... he rubbed at his tummy, the memory, feeling more like a bad dream, coming back to him, of Megaman laughing as he tore him open, reaching into his body- jerking himself out of the reminiscence- he turned back to the radio. "Miss Tron! Miss Tron!? What do we do??"
Tron's voice was grim. "I'm sending down a Drache with Charlie. I want you all to get in- then go and see if you can get Carl. Where is the fight happening?"
"Downtown District."
"Then swing around there and hit it from the north- just get him out of there and yourselves to safety. We'll discuss everything else later- Tron over and out." The static started up again, a dull, endless droning buzz.
"Right" turning back to Leslie and Juan, Bink nodded. "Chuck's coming with a Drache. We get Carl and get out." The three nodded, hunkering down under the tree as the clouds moved slowly over the sun.
The mini missile vented a trail of gray smoke as it shot out of the end of her gun, the impact slamming the weapon into her power armor- an impact she hardly felt. Her eyes slitted, she reigned in the weapon, pulling off a rolling dodge to the side as a spray of plasma bolts slammed to earth a millimeter away where she had been standing, sending up a wave of melted asphalt to splatter against her special jump boots.
"Give it UP Roll!! You KNOW you can't handle me!! These new toys are no different!!" Megaman blinked, ducking behind the smoking side of a building as a missile, beeping dully, sailed towards him and buried itself into the building with a small explosion. At first Roll had been weak- a joke. He had laughed at her vow- laughed at her attack. He had to admit; he wasn't laughing anymore. Getting steadily faster and faster, harder and harder hitting, Megaman, though he refused to admit it, hated and feared these meetings between him and Roll. Lately... he could never be sure... how they would turn out. Pale, he moved a handful of hair from his face, readying his plasma blaster once again and slowly peeking from the side of the- the rain of bullets splattered across the building, a few whizzing by mere inches from his face as he drew back.
"These 'TOYS' are going to tear you APART MEGAMAN!! You'll NEVER hurt ANYONE EVER AGAIN!!" Roll's trembling scream sounded from near the library, echoing from the stone as she swung around, hunting her ex bestest best friend with a hard gleam in her eye, clutching the hot barrel of the chain buster with strained fingers. Gritting her teeth, she tensed, drawing a bead on the spot she had last seen him- waiting for a sign of movement...
'This is ridiculous! Self doubt is for wussies and dead people. Time to move in for the ki-' Megaman gritted his teeth, half shutting his eyes as he forced himself to finish. 'Move in... for the kill. I've got to kill Roll... no matter how everything used to be. No use talking anymore... talk is... over now.' The blasts had stopped for a moment. Taking up a new position, he readied his buster gun and threw himself around the corner, spinning his back to the wall and peppering the area with high level pulse bursts of hot plasma. Stucco and concrete atomized on impact, leaving nothing but smoking craters and a sifting of dust... but Roll was nowhere to be found. Catching the slightest movement out of the corner of his eye, Megaman's head snapped up, his shining green eyes staring disbelieving at the sight of Roll nearing the top of her leap- 'no way she could jump that hi-' The missiles bucking forth from the end of the Active launcher had almost reached him, speeding down at him from the sky. Megaman rolled desperately, skidding to a stop as crushed concrete blew across him, paling his hair. Roll landed delicately on top of a building, shifting with a grinding sound on the wooden slats of the roof. He screamed as he shot, his eyes watering from the crumbled concrete across his face. "Roll! We could have worked together you and I!! We could have been so much Roll- like a digger and spotter should. If only you'd have listened Roll... if only you had known what had happened..." The chain gun fire neared as he fired, Roll's aim, however hampered by the explosive balls of plasma and the various dodges she was forced into above the rooftops, was getting steadily better as the seconds ticked by.
"I'd NEVER side with you!! You're a MURDERER!! You killed DATA!! Shut up and fight!!" Near sobbing with rage, Roll leapt forth from a building, dropping swiftly to her knees to avoid the hard flashing balls of plasma that destroyed the facade of the house behind her. Several terrified screams sounded as she rose, hefting her gun and leaping- turning, she bounced off a wall, bounding between one building and another here or there, spreading dented cracks as she pushed off- Megaman caught her as she came at him, wrapping his fingers around the hard red armor around her wrist and, with a snarling heave, spun her to the wrecked and scorched street. The armor vented forth screaming sparks as it slid, Roll tumbling and slamming into a street lamp, causing it's horrible death as it folded at the middle, collapsing to the street below. Ripping the bent ended street fixture out of the ground, Roll hefted the fifteen foot plus long pole in her armored hands, glaring and snarling bitterly.
"Oh THAT'S the way you want it?? I can do that too little girl!!" Tearing out the pole on the other side of the street in a shower of sparks, Megaman hoisted it before him, grinning ferally as he faced off with Roll, stepping off the sidewalk and into the street. Roll stared- well, glared really, measuring her old friend with wary eyes. Holding the impromptu oversized quarterstaff before her, she stepped carefully to the side. Megaman, however, promptly broke his lamp end off and was twirling it like a baton, spinning the pole in one hand in a blur and gently beckoning her forward with his other. Mind burning, Roll moved a little bit closer, watching his every move- and whipped her quarter staff upwards as he slammed his for her head, giving it a spin slightly counteractive of his as his descended and then flew out, it spinning out of control and nearly out of his grasp as she batted it away. The move continued, the other end, near the bottom, swinging upwards and clipping him under the chin, his head rocking back. Roll gave no quarter, the end coming back then swiftly and savagely inward, catching him full end in the stomach, knocking the wind from him as she spun her own body around his, placing an elbow in his back and pulling the quarterstaff out of the way- most of the way. His eyes flicked downwards, followed by his hands as he locked in a death grip around her wrist, pulling the staff from her protesting fingers and whipping around, one hand still holding her as the other, not fully controlling it, swung the length of metal forward, catching Roll across the head. Spinning back, she stumbled, eyes dazed, recovering as best she could as she wiped away the trickling blood, though inside she wanted to curl up crying. Head pounding, she stood before him. He merely grinned, hefting the end of his buster gun as a curl of wispy gray smoke slid from the end, the smell of burning ozone rising as the plasma began to flicker and grow at the tip.
The hail of plasma bullets pattered the street around him, bouncing tearing across his armored body with ripping holes and dents as he ducked, placing hand and buster gun over his head and roared in raging pain. The Drache sailed on, not stopping and picking up as much speed as it could, sailing for Uptown, and rocked as the booming impact of the ball of plasma caught the edge, tilting it to the side and several degrees off course. "Shoot at ME?? You little bastards- I'll get you for that!" Voice choked with pain and consuming anger, Megaman launched himself, limping faintly, down the street, intending on killing the retreating servbots; but halted at the sound of a rocket launcher loading. Swinging around with a fully prepped plasma blast flickering in the tube of his buster gun, he snapped his arm upwards, his other hand bracing the barrel of his transformed arm.
The niggling sound at the edge of Roll's consciousness suddenly sprang into focus, driving into her conscious mind like a spike; Gramps' voice, high with tension, screaming across the gritty static laced transmission of the spotter channels. "Roll? ROLL?? Respond!! Roll what are you doing?!?? FIGHTING in the middle of DOWNTOWN?!?? Roll, get OUT of there! Stand down!! STAND DOWN!!! Oh lord please let her here me..." Hitting the transmitter switch, Roll turned, saying into the mike. "Right- transmission received... sorry bout not hearing you before but gotta go- meet you in the spotter car. Over and out" Roll turned, staring at Mega through tired eyes. Shaking her head, she shook the barrel of the Active launcher at him, fixing him with a stare. "This is NOT over!! You WILL pay- but another day!! Till then Megaman!!" Turning, she tore down the street, running as fast as she could, her armor making odd hissing and grinding noises as the weight support pistons vented and called, holding up the considerable weight of the armor. A few halfhearted explosions of plasma followed her feet, throwing up debris as Megaman's laughter followed her down the street...
Hitting the door, she threw herself into the van, whipping around till she had fallen partially against the very back wall of the vehicle, and shouted "Gramps!! Lets get the HECK out of here!!" She braced as the van bucked into motion, Gramps' tense "got it!" sounding as the two tore away across the front street, slid around the corner of the library and were gone. Megaman slowly turned, craning his head as he surveyed the thrashed houses and burned and pockmarked street... hell- they had even managed to collapse the top story of the library. Shaking his head in wonder, Megaman shrugged, casually tromping up the street, heading for Apple Market, casually ignoring the shaken stares of people from within their wrecked and half wrecked houses.
Carl looked out the window for the fifteenth time, staring in the direction of the Downtown district and it's strange and disturbing light show. Leaning back against the corner, he thumped his head against one wall, worry twisting inside his mechanical innards. The police officer glared at him again, not liking the thought of having a child in a police department. Snorting slightly at the citizen's perpetual problem with identifying him and other servbots as anything but their own people's young, he shook his head, turned to the window, and stared incredulously. The Drache, rather than hovering peaceably, slammed into the grass, denting the lawn and belching forth smoke from a soot stained hole in the outer hull on one side. The hatch, swinging open, was assisted in it's downwards swing by a struggling servbot, the bot frantically waving a hand and calling to him, beckoning him inside. Unable to hear him, Carl simply nodded, rushing towards the door. Hitting it on the run, he leapt up, pushing into the release bar and swung the door outwards- and stopped, staring at the cop in front of him, barely a foot away, the gun aimed right at his head. "Freeze!! You're with the pirates aren't you?? SPYING on us?? You little-" Hearing a click behind him, the police officer turned, staring... at another servbot, holding a gun in it's pincers, fully loaded. Carl stared, unable to place the name- till his eyes, roving over the face, caught the smudging dribble of paint under the eye- Bink? Bink was saving him? Wierded out, Carl tried to move, edging around the cop as the police man growled, saying contemptuously "what are you going to do little one? Shoot me? You wouldn't dare." Bink just flickered expressions. What was once neutral expression, round eyed and slightly frowning, abruptly flicked to another face with a slight shuttering sound. The eyes were round on the bottom, apparently cut in half into a glare, 'eyebrows' turned sharply downwards. Bink wrenched his head to the side and Carl nodded, edging to the grounded Drache and began climbing the gangplank. "STOP!" The cop shouted, drawing a bead on the retreating servbot, his finger tightening on the trigger, then cried out as the gun spun away, shot from his fingers. Glaring at the bot holding the gun on him, he stepped closer as the bot moved, sidestepping like a crab, towards the craft. "Don't make me shoot out your knees" He blinked. The bot looked like it was fully intending to do just that.
Bink stepped carefully up the gangplank, watching the policeman carefully. As the door began to close, he tucked the gun under one short arm and bowed before moving into the darkness of the craft.
Chuck turned in the pilot seat, looking back over his shoulder and saying in a slightly more baritone voice than usual for servbots. "We got him?" Bink nodded, briefly rubbing Carl on the shoulder and leading him to the passenger's chair. Carl sat carefully, looking confused by the whole thing and eased into the cushion. Leslie took a seat beside him, nodding to him and strapping herself in as the craft began rising, hovering unsteadily for a moment before leveling off smoothly. And Bink took his seat in the gunner's pod, sitting down in the belly of the craft, his head slightly below the other servbot's feet and pulled the transparent fiberglass ceiling over him as he began flicking on screens and sensors, television monitors popping into view, showing him the outside world. Bink began launching the start up programs of the spread gun, warming up the motors as the craft rose, bellowing forth smoke and waves of heated air as Chuck pulled upwards, forcing altitude into the craft.
"Mission accomplished Miss Tron. Carl secure... but the Drache took a hit- we should be back soon for report and stuff Miss Tron." Bink heard the crackle of the radio above in the main room, the servbots happily laughing and hugging each other as they caught sight of the shadowy form on the horizon, the Gesellchaft hovering peaceably over the Clozer forest.
The gangplank hissed open and down, revealing the dusky shapes of the Drache hangar, bathed in the light of sunset from the open hatchway of the Gesellchaft's massive side. Bink pulled himself out of his uncomfortable position in the gunner pit, looking up as a familiar face blocked the rosy red light. "Babbuu!!" Bink laughed as Bon stuck his head in the door, burbling happily. Leslie giggled, hugging his large bulky leg as the odd robot bent, taking the servbot in a titanium bending hug. She just laughed and kicked her feet happily, jumping down and moving into the group of the other four servbots. Laughing, Miss Tron moved up beside her younger brother and tapped at a notepad like laptop held lightly in her left hand. Carl stepped forward, bowed for a moment and began, Miss Tron typing as she ran her eyes over him, looking unconsciously for harm. "Police dispatch is having problems Miss Tron. Their radio receiver was damaged in a fight with Megaman so they can't call out on the radio! Once out in the field they can't talk... and the commissioner looks real bad. All haggard and tired out. Kinda feel sorry for the guy." Shrugging, Carl moved back, allowing Bink to step forward. His mind flashing over the incidents at the bank, he shivered, ducking his head as he stepped up to the curious stare of Miss Tron. "Miss Tron. if it's okay... I'd rather download my information rather than report." Leslie blinked. Servbots usually hated having to do that... not only did it feel downright sickening to have the jack plugged under your chin, but it almost always led to a punishment, allowing Miss Tron to see just how much goofing off and messing around a servbot did on spy duty. Bink just backed to the very end of the group, looking at the floor. It must have been a bad, bad day. Juan shrugged a little, rattling off his report. "Prices are going up because people are buying stuff... a lot of flashlights and batteries mostly. Lots of batteries. People are talking about all kinds of things. The Main Gate and Megaman... they think the apocalypse is coming... what with Megaman wanting to open the Main Gate and all... I can't blame them." Leslie nodded agreement, wincing as she continued and summed up the report. "speaking of apocalypse. The old legend says that not only is there the fabulous treasure underground... most likely in this Main Gate deal.... But also- something we should majorly avoid tangling with. No book would say what it was... but whatever it is- it's bad. Real bad. I found out this island originally had upwards of four other cultures on it. All dead. They had built on previous cultures.... But all of them had been killed off by something. Something really bad. I don't know- nothing was that specific... but this is going from worse to tragic, if you ask me." Carl quipped under his breath. "yeah but nobody asked you" He caught Leslie's fist in the stomach, knocking him onto his back where he curled up as she plopped onto him, pummeling him with odd clanking noises. Bon Bonne merely lifted the two, shaking them with tooth rattling force, in his cute friendly way. "Baaii" Dropping them both to the deck, they looked up to Tron's not remarkably amused face as she tapped her nails against the board.
"You five have been through a lot. Head for the mess hall and grab some supper. Then head for the torture room for punishment. I'll go light this time because of recent events..." She measured each face as the servbots stared pleadingly at her. A smile passed across her face as she finished, drawling out "after that... a... ten hour siesta. Knock yourselves out" She turned, walking away to hide her smile as she heard the ecstatic cheering erupting behind her.
"Wow, TEN hours??" Leslie grinned, grabbing Bink in one hand and Juan in the other, looking back at Chuck and Carl and saying "C'mon! Lets grab some dinner and get this over with!! We've got TEN HOURS to burn!!" Laughing, she rushed down the hall, only marginally paying attention to the fact that she was dragging her captives across the floor as they curled up, giggling.
The mess hall quieted a little as the new group burst through the door but picked up again almost immediately as they saw merely another group of Servbots coming in to eat. A few hushed and bent over their meals as they caught sight of Bink's telltale visage, but far less than the night after his death and resurrection. Approaching the front of the cafeteria, the five got in line behind the other waiting servbots.
Sighing boredly, Bink leaned against the wall besides him, tapping a pincer on his tray. Charley looked at him and said in a deep, low voice. "Hey could you maybe cut it out? that's annoying as heck Bink" Bink gave him a look, smiled and shrugged affirmative "sure thing Chuck, whatever you say." Charley groaned. "Pleeease. I HATE that name. My name's Charley." A few servbots behind him complained at their stall and they resumed walking, tones hushed. "Charley? Sure thing man- Chuck is kinda dorky anyway. "Yeah. Thanks. I think...." Scratching his head, Charles moved forward as the line shrunk.
Juan rubbed his head with the tray and groaned. "This sucks. Not dinner, I mean. The damn torture part." He scowled, looking accusingly at the rest of the group, convinced it was completely their fault. Leslie glared at him for a second. "Well thank ya for bringing that up! It was all HIS fault anyway!" Carl blinked at the accusing pincer, and hung his head. "Yeah. It is... I'm sorry."
"It IS your fault don't give me- huh?" Startled silent by the admittance, she stood unmoving, staring. Bink merely laughed and tugged her arm. "C'mon princess. You're holding up the line."
The food servbot smiled, tilting his head as the five approached and adjusted the strange chef's hat atop his head. Luckily he wasn't a bot in training, and so was warm and friendly, not the harried wretches on trainer days. Nodding warmly, he held up the spoon, eyebrows raised questioningly. Carl cleared his throat, turning to look at the rest of the group. Les spoke up. "If anyone objects, just five of the C special. What is it? Pasta prima- prim- noodles and sauce. Sound good?" Bink shrugged, Carl nodding and Chuck staring off into space. Juan scrunched up his features, shaking his head. Shrugging, Leslie placed four orders, waiting to the side. Juan got a B lunch chicken sandwich, looking at the other orders in undisguised loathing. Bink nipped off for just a moment, snatching the parmesan container from a nearby condiments table and drowned his entire meal in the stuff. Nodding, he rejoined the group, Leslie merely shook her head, smiling at him.
Charley tapped Carl's shoulder, pointing. "nearly empty bench." Bink nodded, smiling as the group tromped over. A few servbots looked up, not many, and one smiled welcome before turning back to his food. The group sat, Leslie, Bink and Charley on one side, Carl and Juan on the other as they set into their meals, conversation dying off.
Bink chewed in relative silence, his mind elsewhere. His fork spun slowly as he moved the handle, rotating it in his hands subconsciously, eyes staring off into space.
"So. How did the spy missions go hmm?" Bink slowly blinked, startled, and turned around to glance behind him at- Teasel, sitting placidly at a bench and delicately pulling apart a poppyseed muffin in his armored fingers. Leslie shifted face, beaming. "It was scary! Megaman was there and Roll and everything!" Teasel stared, and leaned forward, setting aside his muffin. "Megaman? Megaman was there?? What happened?" Several servbots had stopped to listen as their leader conversed with the group of servbots on the bench. Turning to look at each other, the surrounding servbots leaned in closer, listening intently.
Bink spoke up in a shaking voice. "Megaman was here all right! I was stationed in the bank and everyone got scared and then suddenly he was there!" A bot piped up, looking concerned. "What- did he do to you?"
"I was sitting on the couch and he grabbed me and scared me bad and kicked me off the City Hall ledge garden wall and I hit a tree and it HURT!" Teasel couldn't help smiling at the childlike meter of the speech, but tried to look businesslike as he leaned in, listening to the rest of the story. Bink turned as another servbot tapped him. "Did you get out okay?" Bink nodded. Another piped up. "What does he look like?" Bink shivered, describing the black clad psychopath to the other servbots then continuing. "Then I was running to get the others and I got hit by a car. It was an accident Master Teasel I'm sorry! Some police showed up and started shooting at me- I hid and got away and then I saw Leslie..." He turned, his servbot eyes, expression fixed but still managing to relay shaky nervousness, on her.
Teasel nodded as he listened, absorbing the words but more- studying the faces. A servbot actually could pull a lot of communicating off through body language, despite the fixed expressions. The tilt of a head, shakes, or even how quickly an expression changed could all give clue to the physical and emotional state of a servbot. and these servbots looked pretty haggard. The way the story was going, it sounded like it had been quite a hard day. Teasel drummed a finger against the table as he listened, occasionally nodding, his hair bobbing with each move. The servbots continued to reiterate the not so nice events of the day. One of the servbots turned to look at him. Teasel tried to place the name... then smiled as he saw the smudge under the eye.
Each servbot winding their tale to a close, Bink leaned against the table, trying not to think about the day's events. Dejectedly making bubbles in his milk, he rested, slouching as the conversation flitted about him. And felt a hand on his shoulder. A large hand, the fingers concealed in green armor. Bink smiled as he looked up into Teasel's friendly smile as the tall man rubbed the little childlike robot on the head. "Ya did good kids. Keep up the good work. Heard Tron's got a bit of unpleasantness scheduled for you guys later on. Tell you what... I'll see if I can't ask her to give you guys a break. Sound good mm?" Teasel smiled and nodded, wandering away, humming to himself as he snatched up the rest of his muffin and took off for the doorway at the end of the cafeteria, nibbling his muffin.
Tron looked up as Teasel entered, sweeping muffin crumbs from his fingers to the floor of the bridge. Standing straight and proud, he wiped more crumbs from his mouth and claps his sister in a bone bending hug. (Bonne bending hug?) He stepped away, smiling as she glared at him playfully. Swatting him on the arm, she turned away just in time to hide her wince. Teasel pretended to look hurt, smirking. Then he got serious, discarding his playful antics for another tune. "Hey Tron. Came down to plead the case of a few servbots. Heard there was a bit of a scuffle and they got in earlier and weeelll..."
Tron smiled, raising an eyebrow. "Come to plead pitifully for their welfare Teasel?" Teasel giggled, then looked at Tron and quailed slightly at her serious if humorous expression. She raised an eyebrow, waiting. Mumbling faintly, he said in a hushed voice "Aww c'mon Tron! This is embarassing!"
Her grin was triumphant. "I know."
Shrugging, Teasel, trying not to burst out in giggles fell to his knee and, with the pomp and regalia of a proposing prince, spouted forth in an overly dramatic voice. "Oh Mistress Tron! Goddess of the Kobun! Would you, great lady of wisdom and mercy please spare two of your wayward children??"
Tron merely grinned. "Six"
"OKAY six! ...Well?" He grinned prettily, flashing a white smile. She pretended to mill it over, before laughingly helping her brother to his feet. The servbots of the bridge giggled, enjoying their master's mirth and silliness. Teasel, calming himself, turned to Tron, who nodded. "Kay Teasel. I'll give em a day off to go with their day off." Bon raised his great spherical head/torso/ his odd little mouth lifting in a strange, undeniably Bon'ish smile as, fluttering the noisemaker briefly like a reptilian tongue "Babuu!"
Bink walked slowly down the center of apple market, his little pincer like hands clutching the little kobun sized blue backpack weighing comfortably on his small shoulders. The light shone down, muted slightly, illuminating all the shops and stalls. Bink didn't care that he had seen bigger, brighter, more amazing and special shops, markets and locations in his travels of the world; each encounter, each place was beautiful, unique and held it's own brand of joy. Bink scanned the walk, sighting the various shops, on the prowl for one very special shop in particular. Repressing a squeak of glee, he quickened his steps, hurrying towards the storefront of one particular shop. The Mini Disk store's windows seemed to gleam a little brighter than normal, seemed to be in just a little too sharp a focus. Bink felt the smile spread across his face, and he didn't try to stop it.
Miss Tron had given him 2000 zenny to blow. Special gift. Bink was elated. If he did it right... he could get two MD's and have a few bucks left over. The door swung open, a small bell jangling delicately over the door. The owner raised his head, smiling with professional friendliness. Odd little kid. The store owner turned back. Bink obediently left his backpack behind and wandered into the aisles, his eyes scanning the shelves. A squeak took his voice as he flicked a hand out to the samplers, placing the bulky headphones on the back shelf into his head. He had picked right. Moving through the racks, he reached out and plucked forth a mini disk, flipping the container and scanning the back. Reading the code under the scanner, the strains of music flickering through his head...
The store owner looked up, suddenly smiling as the small, odd child came up to the counter. Laying two of the mini disk containers on the counter, the odd little child beamed, all the way out the door. Shaking his head, the store owner turned back to his magazine.
Bink shuffled along, his eyes scanning the booths. He had 230 creds left. A stall caught his eye, the fruit out front gleaming enticingly. Bink stalled, staring at the booth for a few moments. A nice, fresh, sweet apple would be perfect... he briefly considered pirating it- but shook his head. This was his break. He'd do it right, no sense in making trouble now. Making up his mind, he nodded, approaching the booth. Looking over the apples, he selected one. it shone, perfectly gold/red and matte of skin, that buff warmth of ripeness. Hefting the apple, he approached the booth owner- and stopped.
Bink fidgeted under the merchant's stare. The man hadn't said anything yet, hadn't made a move... but his gaze was withering with suspicion and apathy. "You. You're no kid. I know you- I've seen you... you're one of those god damned pirates ruining our lives aren't you!?" Bink shrunk from the angry man, scared. He leaned hard into a vegetable cart, the feathery leaves of a celery stalk tickling his face. He listened, hating the tone, angry at the man for hating him so. "Damn pirates... and now you're going to steal from me.?!? I'm calling the police."
"OH come ON!" The merchant abruptly jumped back, startled, as the small ch- no- not child, the little mechanical creation, suddenly slammed both hands to the edge of one of the permanent grocer's cart, causing the entire thing to jump. Waving the apple, the small servbot railed at him in an affronted, insulted and frustrated tone. "I CAME here to get something to eat! I'm PAYING for it, don't you see?? Look! LOOK! I do right this time, going out of my way to do the RIGHT THING... and what do you do?? THREATEN me?!? Leave me alone. Leave me alone!!! This is my only off day. This is probably going to be the ONLY break I'm gonna get for two weeks! Maybe a month!! This is my only break.... I swear you have me thrown in jail and I'll FIND YOU! I'll make it hell for you guys as long as I'm here! I only asked to do the right thing and buy- BUY- an apple from you! And you threaten to have me thrown in a cell for it? FOR DOING GOOD!? DAMN YOU." Shaking, he slapped the credit disk down in front of the greengrocer, his eyes hurt and angry. "Take it. Scan it. And let me get the HELL out of here... don't call the police. Not for doing the right thing. I could have stolen the apple and been away before you knew it was gone. Doubt me. Go ahead. But instead... instead I decided no- I was going to do it right this time. Do the right thing. Avoid trouble. And everything would be all right. And you threaten to arrest me. I'm going now. Don't you dare call the police on me. Don't ruin my only day off..." The merchant watched the little servbot stride down the center of the walk, pushing open the door to downtown. Shaking his head, he leaned back, staring off into space with a thoughtful frown across his face.
Bink huffed, glancing down at the apple in his hands. And sighed, letting the air out of his respirator. Shaking his head, he winced. He hated what had just happened. Not so much about what the guy had said, the anger or threats. That bugged him. Most people were usually so nice with him. He was unhappy at the thought of someone just hating him for what he was. He was angry and afraid of himself. Yelling, swearing... Miss Tron would hate him, he thought with a mental wail. He shook his head, determined. He'd confess it all to Miss Tron. and accept his punishment. Filled with reassurance, determination and steadiness, he pushed open the door open to the Downtown District.
People moved sluggishly along the street, their frames bearing a strange hopeless kind of nervousness, eyes dulled and not wanting to see, to see the smoking legacies of the battle around them. Some merely went about the business, determinedly not looking at the burned and blackened craters marking the walls and streets of Downtown. Bink silently took off his backpack, pushing the apple and MD's deep into the depths and began striding down the street in the odd little shuffling walk of servbots. A pair of citizens wandered nearby, heads together; their voices drifted on the wind, coming to him, soft but animated. "Did you hear? MissRoll donated 20,000 zenny towards the rebuilding of downtown!" The other voice snapped out, thick with ire. "As SHOULD she! Imagine! Using a ROCKET LAUNCHER in Downtown?" the words drifted back and forth... Bink turned, staring off into the distance down the pockmarked street, CPU running several different thoughts at once. 'MissRoll is here... that might be a problem. Just because she let us go before, doesn't mean she couldn't get unpleasant now...' he shivered slightly at the intimidating girl. The street looked like it had been on the receiving end of a meteor shower, he thought, as he progressed along it's blackened, smoking length, the acrid scent of burned and vaporized asphalt drifting across his chemoreceptor sites.
Eyes wide, Bink strode down the center palisade of Downtown, the black, crusted waves of half melted asphalt crunching under the round metal plates of his feet. The blackened dust smears under his foot, a small sifting of ash-like debris spills across the top of his foot, tarnishing the metal a little as he moves to avoid a rather spectacularly dangerous looking pothole, the gleam of dull metal pipes glinting from deep within the wounded street like the white flash of bone. His eyes taking on a concerned tilt, Bink reaches the center of the street. It was a little sad, seeing the town trashed like that... The smoke rising slowly from the towering form of the half collapsed library, the fallen majesty form tilted at a slight but precarious angle. Tilting his head upwards, he looks up and up, the form of a bird wheeling in the dark, overcast sky.
Two sets of red armored fingers sink comfortably onto his shoulders, clamped tight but not painful as, tapping the servbot's shoulder with a calm, steady rhythm, Roll gazes serenely and rather regretfully at the crippled silhouette of the library, smoking pathetically in the dimmed light. Looking down with bemused serenity, Roll slowly runs a red metal armored fingertip around the edge of Bink's peg, tracing the edge of the gray metal on the servbot's head. Rubbing along the servbot's left side, she holds it steady, not intending to let it out of hand.
The panicked gasps fluttering in his metallic throat gradually still as Bink's CPU slowly calms and settles, the random thoughts spinning themselves out as the feeling of the caressing fingertip gently massaging the sensitive metal of his top slowly calms the panic fluttering in his chassis. Looking up into Roll's composed face, he blinks, the sound of shifting facial expressions rising a little above the gently moaning wind.
"What are you doing here?"
"M- Miss Roll...?"
"Answer now or face deactivation pirate- I'm not going to abide any of the Bonne's criminal antics-"
Raising a pincer, he clatters it a few times, answering in a reassuring voice, eyes on hers. "I'm on a break Miss Roll."
Mouth quirked in a wry smile, she asks. "What's your name robot?"
"Servbot- and it's Bink. Miss Roll." Adding the last bit in a respectful voice, he looked up to her.
Roll looks down at him, her face losing a little of the sternness of her expression, her mouth twisting a little into a smile. Her hands still tighten as he shifts, a little uncomfortable under her authorative grip. After a moment, her fingers ease on his metal, and he calms, the pressure sensors easing off as he straightens with a little shift. Roll's hands caress across his small, teal hued shoulder once more, fingers gently patting his back. "Miss Tron did well... making you all... she did a good job."
Touched, Bink's face shifts into a gladdened smile. "Thanks Miss Roll... I'll be sure to tell her that."
"Bink?"
"Yeah?"
Roll's grin turned wry, her mouth twisting in amused, joking threat. "You do and I'll track you down and reprogram you to serve drinks at the mayor's parties."
Bink smiled, not wholly sure of her kidding or not but a bit too thankful of her good humor to care. Moving a few steps away from the technical adversary of the Bonne family, he smiles waveringly, moving off down the street. Voice monotonous, he rattles off in his tinny voice, saluting politely with a pincer as he says "Well Miss Roll it's been a pleasure surprisingly but time I hardly even have is burning I must truly be going now good luck with the blue boy..." Bink stills slightly, his expression sad as he sees Roll's face go slack, cold of emotion. Rubbing his forearm with one pincer, he looks at the ground and, hesitant of intrusion, merely bows, moving away from the silent Roll. As he moves away, almost out of hearing range, he slows, pauses, and stops; moving back swiftly, he reaches out, quite boldly, and takes Roll's blood hued armored hand. She looks down at him, slightly bemused, mostly brooding unhappily, as he says in a low, serious voice. "Miss Roll? The Bonne family... is here if you need us. Good luck Digger." Roll merely smiles, running a couple fingers over Bink's head. As Bink moves away, her voice washes over him, pulling a shy smile to his face. "And to you... Digger."
