Into the Night
Third: Infiltration
by Lady Virgo
"Pull free of
the binds
as they drown
your true self"
///
Blues barely raised a brow at Shadow's return. "That was fast." He commented idly.
"I couldn't stay."
"Because then you wouldn't leave." He flashed a tight grin at Shadow's glare. "It doesn't matter, either way. He'll create a decent enough distraction."
Shadow made a noncommittal noise and stayed crouched, not really watching Blues' handiwork.
Normally it wouldn't have bothered Blues, but he could feel waves of emotion coming off his younger copy, and that made him worry. From where there was void, logically nothing should ever be there.
"You're bothered."
"I'm worried."
"Oh?" Shadow admitting to feeling, what a first. "What about?"
"These new bioroids of Cossack's. They're very strong."
"And what of that worries you? You don't care about Rock having to fight them."
"No..." he admitted, "I'm worried about how they mix with the others. There was already a rift in our ranks while I was there. Now it would only widen."
"And your worried about how it's affecting Quick, am I correct?" Blues twisted a bolt closed. "Because his emotions are easily hurt when something happens to the others, especially someone close to him."
Shadow cast an askew look at Blues. "You've read their profiles, you've seen how they've acted. It may just be Wily's reprogramming, but they're something we should be wary about."
"You're just worried because there's a caste forming lead by two rapists."
Violet eyes narrowed. "Is that not something I should be concerned about?"
"That's not what you're concerned about. You're concerned because they have access to Quick."
He bristled, somewhat ashamed to be read so easily. "So?"
"If you're so worried, maybe you should do something about it."
"Like what?"
Blues turned to him fully, expression unreadable. "Thinking for yourself would be a start."
He growled to himself, cursing at the pompous bastard for assuming him to be totally helpless. But yet, he had nothing to say in his defense. He had no idea how to approach this problem.
So he dealt with it as he did everything else that confounded him. He ignored it.
"Are you finished here?"
It seemed that Blues understood what he was getting at and was almost annoyed enough to keep the subject in play, but something moved subtly under his expression and he let it drop. "I'm done. Let's go."
He watched as Shadow moved through the dark like a black wave, undetectable. Blues stepped into full view of a camera and gave it a cocky smile before he followed suit, wishing he could see Wily's expression when he saw the security footage.
~*~*~*~
The smoke curled around his head and he felt his eyes water a bit. He didn't like smoking, it left an awful taste in his mouth, but it made the people around him more comfortable, so he allowed them to offer him a cigarette or two. Though nicotine didn't do anything to his system, the carbon monoxide tended to stuff his vents a bit, so if he ever felt the need to cough as a human did, it was just as real.
Blues sat at the bar, drinking with a boisterous group. He had to be a bit more careful with alcohol than Shadow had to be with smoking. To a bioroid, neither were particularly dangerous or habit forming, but drinking too much with too high of an alcoholic percentage could stand to burn through some of the tubing. Especially in the older models whose insides were much softer and prone to decay than the newer ones. Shadow had known that when Metal- his particular makeup making him extremely susceptible to emotional and addictive effects of alcohol -had to get his entire insides rewired because they had been eaten through and burned several systems.
At first, Shadow was adamant on not going into human establishments, assured that they would've been a waste of time. But, as he slowly had come to understand, humans were extremely curious creatures and had ways of knowing things and findings things out that Shadow would've never figured. The bar they were at in particular- a shabby little dump somewhere on the outskirts of the town, too rundown even for the ghetto -was especially knowledgeable in acquiring machinery and parts.
"What for?" Shadow had asked. "We've done all the repairs and upgrades we needed."
"I had an idea. And I'll need some expensive parts cheap." Came his reply. Blues opted to go for a less... mysterious look. With his long trench coat and leather gloves, someone might try to mug him thinking he had money. Or that something unwashable and unmentionable might spill on it.
He had handed Shadow a ragged, worn through windbreaker, taking a long, threadbare overcoat and rumpled shawl for himself. He leaned heavily on a white tipped, crooked staff and held onto Shadow's forearm.
Shadow was instructed to lead Blues as if he were blind and leave him at the bar, but to stay close. Blues would be the one getting the supplies while Shadow sat and gathered information.
"Humans tend to be more open around people that are disabled or worse off than them. Makes them feel better about themselves. And try to seem a bit clingy, but not too much." He then patted Shadow's cheek. "We're family, be nice."
Shadow growled, but followed him inside.
Acting wasn't his strong point, but being around so many humans- many who proved to be shifty several times over -made him wary and fairly paranoid so those around him thought those covert glances he kept taking in Blues' direction were to make sure he was fine. Which was partially true. One of the first times they had gone to that bar together, Shadow hadn't kept his eye on Blues and suddenly found himself left behind.
"Because I couldn't warn you without giving something away." Blues had said when they met up again and Shadow had extinguished all his frustrations at his disappearance. "After all, the disabled try to want to be independent, therefor I can't appear to depend on you to be with me all the time. Watching after /me/ is /your/ job."
So fine. He could do his job. Give him an order and he'd follow it without question.
Almost.
Shadow shook his head and took another puff from his cigarette, longer than usual, deeper than expected. His lungs- unused to the sudden amount of polluted air -compressed suddenly, causing a slight coughing fit. One of the humans sitting next to him pounded his back, commenting on the changing weather on giving him a cold.
He cast another glance at Blues and saw him laugh at something that his 'supplier' said. Blues tapped his third finger on the bar twice and rapped his knuckles of his left hand against his knee once. The sign that he was going to move out and Shadow was to meet them behind the building.
Shadow stood, muttered an unintelligible excuse and paused by Blues, bringing himself close to his ear. To others, it appeared that he was explaining to Blues that he would be back and not to move, in actuality, he was saying where exactly he was going to be hiding in the alley so Blues could position himself and the supplier appropriately. He nodded, letting the younger leave before he talked to supplier more. Get some time between exits, keep it from being suspicious.
He slipped easily in a deep corner in the back alley, easing into the shadows as he waited patiently. The wait could've taken anywhere between twenty to forty minutes, depending on how attentive Blues felt the rest of the place was. Barely even twenty minutes passed before the two finally entered into eyesight, Blues carefully positioning themselves for Shadow's perception. Not only did this allow Shadow to view 'proper human interaction'- to use Blues' words -it also kept Blues' back covered. Black Market trading is a very dangerous hobby, especially to those that appeared weak or inhibited. Blues was definitely capable of handling himself, but the very cautious and paranoid often brought back up with them, like Shadow. The man they were dealing with at the moment, though, had never tried to cross them over in any way before, though, because they paid good money for the things he supplied. But no person ever dealing in such a shady operation could be considered trustworthy. To take on a job like this was putting your life up for grabs. It meant you lived day by day because eventually, someone would decide that your life was something they wanted to have and would cross you up.
Blues wasn't even going to allow for the attempt.
The two appeared to be wrapping it up, exchanging a few words for show after the payment and merchandise switched hands. Shadow idly wondered if the man- who dealt with Blues on a very nearly regular basis -still believed he was blind. He might play the part a bit too perfectly in Shadow's view. But he supposed it was better than under or overplaying the part.
He lowered the sensitivity on his audile systems and slipped back into full light as the man left.
~*~*~*~
"A receptor." Shadow said flatly, the two sat on a fallen tree and random bolder, angled slightly towards each other. Shadow had wanted to ask about Blues' purchase from the moment he realized what it was being bought.
"Yes." Came Blues' reply.
"Why?"
"Because I'm going to plant one in the fortress."
Dark brows furrowed. "But you've already planted a couple there."
"Ah, but this..." he held up the small chip into the broken moonlight. "This is a special, state-of-the-art receptor. Modify one or two protocols on this and I'll be able to tap into the entire comm system Wily has set up there. Anything he says to anyone using the comm system I'll be able to hear. Anything that could be heard by the speakers and microphones he's set up in the fortress, regardless if they are in use or not, I can pick up. Nothing he or the others can say will be able to get by me, now."
"Won't that get a bit noisy?" Shadow asked knowingly. There's over thirty beings in the fortress that's able to talk. How will you be able to distinguish what is important and what isn't?"
"The same way I can talk to you and still listen to what is currently going on in Skull Fortress." Blues said, blinking flatly behind his shades. "I multitask."
Shadow couldn't help but let a snort out. "Of course."
"Well," he pulled out a laptop from his knapsack, "what do you say we go install this later tonight?"
~*~*~*~
"-like you wouldn't believe-"
"-man, not another one."
"-hey, are you gonna have-"
"-I thought it was-"
"-no, no, that's supposed to-"
"-the connection isn't-"
Blues fingered at the remote he implanted at the curve of his ear. The receptor was working fine, it seemed, just as well as he had hoped. He had Shadow linked up to the other receptors implanted in the fortress and then hooked up to Blues himself so he could cross reference. And, just as he had hoped, he was getting the talk that wasn't being picked up by his previous bugs.
The only problem was getting used to the constant wave of noise he suddenly developed in his head. It always took a while every time he planted another receiver, but over time it gradually faded into white noise faster and faster, training his mind to pick up only the talk that would allow him to infiltrate or thwart another Wily attempt. However, this new job was picking up a whole lot more talk, all coming in sudden bursts of insistent chatter. Though Blues would never let anyone see him hesitate, he was almost doubting his ability to handle this much information all at once.
Blues looked over at his companion. "Are you hearing this?"
He made a face. "I'm attempting to."
"Don't try to listen to everything at once, you might overload something."
"If I could, I'm sure I'd be getting a major headache from this."
"Come now. It's not so bad."
"You're twitching."
Blues blinked, suddenly feeling the fibers in his left cheek convulse, mainly under his eye and at the edge of his mouth, though even then it was rather subtle. Curse Shadow's observational skills. But then again, they were the same as Blues'. He frowned internally at that. Fine, then curse the accuracy of the replication.
But then... Blues certainly didn't want an /inferior/ bioroid running around, claiming to be his copy. He'd feel rather insulted. He settled for cursing Wily, instead.
"Minor overload." He said calmly, fingering the implant once more, this time shutting off the internal audio speaker. All the feedback the chip received went straight into Blues' databanks, bypassing the ports that allowed Blues to actively hear what was going on. It meant more work, having to backtrack and review all that was said before being able to move on to what was presently happening, but right now, he didn't want to lose face and begin smoking in the head in front of Shadow.
It would've been the ultimate loss.
Once Shadow heard the voices ceasing in their uplink, he unplugged the wire that joined the spine of his neck to Blues'. "Ingenious." He said. "You managed to tag everything going on in Skull Fortress and nearly burned something in the process. I can't wait to see your next trick."
Blues raised a brow, dully impressed. "Why, Shadow. I do believe you're beginning to develop my sarcastic wit."
The other's lips pulled back in a cross between a grimace and a scowl. "I can't repress /all/ of your bad habits."
To that, Blues merely smirked before he turned the receiver back on, keeping the reception down low so that only the signals within a certain distance would be transmitted to the audile converter.
"Trying to blow something again?"
"I invested a rather generous sum of money into this endeavor. I'm getting accustomed to it little by little. After all, even electronic equipment takes time to get used to taxing jobs. After a while, my internal systems will sort themselves out to properly conduct the task."
Shadow shrugged indifferently. With a pause, he bent to pick up the networking cable and reinserted it into the output/input aperture.
It was still a lot of noise and information they both had to deal with, but one thing they were built to specifically do was to adapt. And this was no different than any other change they had to overcome.
After a couple hours had passed, Blues spoke up. "Nothing very interesting seems to be happening on the near side. Shall we attempt to drop into the main complex?" Since he deemed himself comfortable enough to receive more, he assumed Shadow was as well. The other nodded and Blues reached up to prod at the remote. A rush of new information bombarded them and both felt compelled to wince ever so slightly at the sudden strain on their systems.
As he skimmed through the discussions Shadow began to wonder just what it was he was doing. He was built to be loyal solely to Wily, but he had already betrayed his maker. Why? To understand his purpose? How cliché. And he was helping his creator's enemy, well, one of them. And, he supposed, by his mere absence and giving up in the middle of his fight with Rock, he was helping the others, as well. But he was going to return to Skull Fortress one of these days, wasn't he? Yeah, right. How could he possibly go back? Dr. Wily would flay him alive- so to speak -the moment he set foot back in. He wouldn't be taken back, especially not since word had gotten around about him and Blues. Especially since he had helped Blues to infiltrate and bug the fortress.
With a silent huff, he asked himself, what was there for him in Skull Fortress?
"Shadow...."
His eyes widened and he felt his heart clench at the sound of his name.
Quick...
"A little louder."
"Sh-Shadow!" He could hear the panic and misery in his voice even over the distance. Fists bunched against the slender material of his pants, Shadow fought at the other voices in his mind.
Stop, stop! He shouted internally. I'm losing him! Desperate to keep the voice, Shadow grabbed at the cable, sending a probe into Blues, receiving information on the exact location the data was coming from. From there, the probe was sent into the remote, isolating only the input from that location.
In surprise, Blues turned to Shadow and stopped short. The younger robot's face had gone pale, the hand clutching his neck was leaving impressions on the pliable exo-shell.
"God... Shadow!" Quick nearly wailed in his mind and Blues' eyes widened. "Please, stop, please..! SHADOW!"
It amazed Blues, in an odd way. He had seen Shadow go through various stages of growth and hardships during his time out in the human world, even during his time in Skull Fortress. And yet, through all that, he had never once seen him go into even the most minor of Surges. But this time, just listening to the broken voice, crying out his name, imagining the tears and the struggle, the mere act, he watched Shadow's eyes come alive with a pale violet light. He could see, even from the distance, the anger and despise moving through his face, body clenched tight.
And all that was going through Shadow's mind was Quick's shattered voice, crying and whimpering his name.
"How did I do?"
"Very well."
"Good. Then could I ask a job from you?"
"Perhaps."
Magnet. Shadow's stiff lips pulled back in a snarl, the most vicious ever to claim his countenance. The other, he was sure from the other audile files he picked up from Blues, was that Cossack bioroid, Pharaoh.
He nearly jumped to his feet, ripping the cable from its outlet. Not bothering to say a word, Shadow took off, heading towards Skull Fortress. He had already slipped through the trees as Blues shot to his feet, and just heaved a small sigh. Nothing he could've said would've made Shadow stay, but he certainly didn't want Shadow getting caught in a reckless act of vengeance.
With slow, deliberate movements, Blues packed up the equipment that lay about him before he followed after Shadow. Maybe, he thought to himself, as painful as this experience had been to him emotionally, he might actually begin to understand who he is without me.
Third: Infiltration
by Lady Virgo
"Pull free of
the binds
as they drown
your true self"
///
Blues barely raised a brow at Shadow's return. "That was fast." He commented idly.
"I couldn't stay."
"Because then you wouldn't leave." He flashed a tight grin at Shadow's glare. "It doesn't matter, either way. He'll create a decent enough distraction."
Shadow made a noncommittal noise and stayed crouched, not really watching Blues' handiwork.
Normally it wouldn't have bothered Blues, but he could feel waves of emotion coming off his younger copy, and that made him worry. From where there was void, logically nothing should ever be there.
"You're bothered."
"I'm worried."
"Oh?" Shadow admitting to feeling, what a first. "What about?"
"These new bioroids of Cossack's. They're very strong."
"And what of that worries you? You don't care about Rock having to fight them."
"No..." he admitted, "I'm worried about how they mix with the others. There was already a rift in our ranks while I was there. Now it would only widen."
"And your worried about how it's affecting Quick, am I correct?" Blues twisted a bolt closed. "Because his emotions are easily hurt when something happens to the others, especially someone close to him."
Shadow cast an askew look at Blues. "You've read their profiles, you've seen how they've acted. It may just be Wily's reprogramming, but they're something we should be wary about."
"You're just worried because there's a caste forming lead by two rapists."
Violet eyes narrowed. "Is that not something I should be concerned about?"
"That's not what you're concerned about. You're concerned because they have access to Quick."
He bristled, somewhat ashamed to be read so easily. "So?"
"If you're so worried, maybe you should do something about it."
"Like what?"
Blues turned to him fully, expression unreadable. "Thinking for yourself would be a start."
He growled to himself, cursing at the pompous bastard for assuming him to be totally helpless. But yet, he had nothing to say in his defense. He had no idea how to approach this problem.
So he dealt with it as he did everything else that confounded him. He ignored it.
"Are you finished here?"
It seemed that Blues understood what he was getting at and was almost annoyed enough to keep the subject in play, but something moved subtly under his expression and he let it drop. "I'm done. Let's go."
He watched as Shadow moved through the dark like a black wave, undetectable. Blues stepped into full view of a camera and gave it a cocky smile before he followed suit, wishing he could see Wily's expression when he saw the security footage.
~*~*~*~
The smoke curled around his head and he felt his eyes water a bit. He didn't like smoking, it left an awful taste in his mouth, but it made the people around him more comfortable, so he allowed them to offer him a cigarette or two. Though nicotine didn't do anything to his system, the carbon monoxide tended to stuff his vents a bit, so if he ever felt the need to cough as a human did, it was just as real.
Blues sat at the bar, drinking with a boisterous group. He had to be a bit more careful with alcohol than Shadow had to be with smoking. To a bioroid, neither were particularly dangerous or habit forming, but drinking too much with too high of an alcoholic percentage could stand to burn through some of the tubing. Especially in the older models whose insides were much softer and prone to decay than the newer ones. Shadow had known that when Metal- his particular makeup making him extremely susceptible to emotional and addictive effects of alcohol -had to get his entire insides rewired because they had been eaten through and burned several systems.
At first, Shadow was adamant on not going into human establishments, assured that they would've been a waste of time. But, as he slowly had come to understand, humans were extremely curious creatures and had ways of knowing things and findings things out that Shadow would've never figured. The bar they were at in particular- a shabby little dump somewhere on the outskirts of the town, too rundown even for the ghetto -was especially knowledgeable in acquiring machinery and parts.
"What for?" Shadow had asked. "We've done all the repairs and upgrades we needed."
"I had an idea. And I'll need some expensive parts cheap." Came his reply. Blues opted to go for a less... mysterious look. With his long trench coat and leather gloves, someone might try to mug him thinking he had money. Or that something unwashable and unmentionable might spill on it.
He had handed Shadow a ragged, worn through windbreaker, taking a long, threadbare overcoat and rumpled shawl for himself. He leaned heavily on a white tipped, crooked staff and held onto Shadow's forearm.
Shadow was instructed to lead Blues as if he were blind and leave him at the bar, but to stay close. Blues would be the one getting the supplies while Shadow sat and gathered information.
"Humans tend to be more open around people that are disabled or worse off than them. Makes them feel better about themselves. And try to seem a bit clingy, but not too much." He then patted Shadow's cheek. "We're family, be nice."
Shadow growled, but followed him inside.
Acting wasn't his strong point, but being around so many humans- many who proved to be shifty several times over -made him wary and fairly paranoid so those around him thought those covert glances he kept taking in Blues' direction were to make sure he was fine. Which was partially true. One of the first times they had gone to that bar together, Shadow hadn't kept his eye on Blues and suddenly found himself left behind.
"Because I couldn't warn you without giving something away." Blues had said when they met up again and Shadow had extinguished all his frustrations at his disappearance. "After all, the disabled try to want to be independent, therefor I can't appear to depend on you to be with me all the time. Watching after /me/ is /your/ job."
So fine. He could do his job. Give him an order and he'd follow it without question.
Almost.
Shadow shook his head and took another puff from his cigarette, longer than usual, deeper than expected. His lungs- unused to the sudden amount of polluted air -compressed suddenly, causing a slight coughing fit. One of the humans sitting next to him pounded his back, commenting on the changing weather on giving him a cold.
He cast another glance at Blues and saw him laugh at something that his 'supplier' said. Blues tapped his third finger on the bar twice and rapped his knuckles of his left hand against his knee once. The sign that he was going to move out and Shadow was to meet them behind the building.
Shadow stood, muttered an unintelligible excuse and paused by Blues, bringing himself close to his ear. To others, it appeared that he was explaining to Blues that he would be back and not to move, in actuality, he was saying where exactly he was going to be hiding in the alley so Blues could position himself and the supplier appropriately. He nodded, letting the younger leave before he talked to supplier more. Get some time between exits, keep it from being suspicious.
He slipped easily in a deep corner in the back alley, easing into the shadows as he waited patiently. The wait could've taken anywhere between twenty to forty minutes, depending on how attentive Blues felt the rest of the place was. Barely even twenty minutes passed before the two finally entered into eyesight, Blues carefully positioning themselves for Shadow's perception. Not only did this allow Shadow to view 'proper human interaction'- to use Blues' words -it also kept Blues' back covered. Black Market trading is a very dangerous hobby, especially to those that appeared weak or inhibited. Blues was definitely capable of handling himself, but the very cautious and paranoid often brought back up with them, like Shadow. The man they were dealing with at the moment, though, had never tried to cross them over in any way before, though, because they paid good money for the things he supplied. But no person ever dealing in such a shady operation could be considered trustworthy. To take on a job like this was putting your life up for grabs. It meant you lived day by day because eventually, someone would decide that your life was something they wanted to have and would cross you up.
Blues wasn't even going to allow for the attempt.
The two appeared to be wrapping it up, exchanging a few words for show after the payment and merchandise switched hands. Shadow idly wondered if the man- who dealt with Blues on a very nearly regular basis -still believed he was blind. He might play the part a bit too perfectly in Shadow's view. But he supposed it was better than under or overplaying the part.
He lowered the sensitivity on his audile systems and slipped back into full light as the man left.
~*~*~*~
"A receptor." Shadow said flatly, the two sat on a fallen tree and random bolder, angled slightly towards each other. Shadow had wanted to ask about Blues' purchase from the moment he realized what it was being bought.
"Yes." Came Blues' reply.
"Why?"
"Because I'm going to plant one in the fortress."
Dark brows furrowed. "But you've already planted a couple there."
"Ah, but this..." he held up the small chip into the broken moonlight. "This is a special, state-of-the-art receptor. Modify one or two protocols on this and I'll be able to tap into the entire comm system Wily has set up there. Anything he says to anyone using the comm system I'll be able to hear. Anything that could be heard by the speakers and microphones he's set up in the fortress, regardless if they are in use or not, I can pick up. Nothing he or the others can say will be able to get by me, now."
"Won't that get a bit noisy?" Shadow asked knowingly. There's over thirty beings in the fortress that's able to talk. How will you be able to distinguish what is important and what isn't?"
"The same way I can talk to you and still listen to what is currently going on in Skull Fortress." Blues said, blinking flatly behind his shades. "I multitask."
Shadow couldn't help but let a snort out. "Of course."
"Well," he pulled out a laptop from his knapsack, "what do you say we go install this later tonight?"
~*~*~*~
"-like you wouldn't believe-"
"-man, not another one."
"-hey, are you gonna have-"
"-I thought it was-"
"-no, no, that's supposed to-"
"-the connection isn't-"
Blues fingered at the remote he implanted at the curve of his ear. The receptor was working fine, it seemed, just as well as he had hoped. He had Shadow linked up to the other receptors implanted in the fortress and then hooked up to Blues himself so he could cross reference. And, just as he had hoped, he was getting the talk that wasn't being picked up by his previous bugs.
The only problem was getting used to the constant wave of noise he suddenly developed in his head. It always took a while every time he planted another receiver, but over time it gradually faded into white noise faster and faster, training his mind to pick up only the talk that would allow him to infiltrate or thwart another Wily attempt. However, this new job was picking up a whole lot more talk, all coming in sudden bursts of insistent chatter. Though Blues would never let anyone see him hesitate, he was almost doubting his ability to handle this much information all at once.
Blues looked over at his companion. "Are you hearing this?"
He made a face. "I'm attempting to."
"Don't try to listen to everything at once, you might overload something."
"If I could, I'm sure I'd be getting a major headache from this."
"Come now. It's not so bad."
"You're twitching."
Blues blinked, suddenly feeling the fibers in his left cheek convulse, mainly under his eye and at the edge of his mouth, though even then it was rather subtle. Curse Shadow's observational skills. But then again, they were the same as Blues'. He frowned internally at that. Fine, then curse the accuracy of the replication.
But then... Blues certainly didn't want an /inferior/ bioroid running around, claiming to be his copy. He'd feel rather insulted. He settled for cursing Wily, instead.
"Minor overload." He said calmly, fingering the implant once more, this time shutting off the internal audio speaker. All the feedback the chip received went straight into Blues' databanks, bypassing the ports that allowed Blues to actively hear what was going on. It meant more work, having to backtrack and review all that was said before being able to move on to what was presently happening, but right now, he didn't want to lose face and begin smoking in the head in front of Shadow.
It would've been the ultimate loss.
Once Shadow heard the voices ceasing in their uplink, he unplugged the wire that joined the spine of his neck to Blues'. "Ingenious." He said. "You managed to tag everything going on in Skull Fortress and nearly burned something in the process. I can't wait to see your next trick."
Blues raised a brow, dully impressed. "Why, Shadow. I do believe you're beginning to develop my sarcastic wit."
The other's lips pulled back in a cross between a grimace and a scowl. "I can't repress /all/ of your bad habits."
To that, Blues merely smirked before he turned the receiver back on, keeping the reception down low so that only the signals within a certain distance would be transmitted to the audile converter.
"Trying to blow something again?"
"I invested a rather generous sum of money into this endeavor. I'm getting accustomed to it little by little. After all, even electronic equipment takes time to get used to taxing jobs. After a while, my internal systems will sort themselves out to properly conduct the task."
Shadow shrugged indifferently. With a pause, he bent to pick up the networking cable and reinserted it into the output/input aperture.
It was still a lot of noise and information they both had to deal with, but one thing they were built to specifically do was to adapt. And this was no different than any other change they had to overcome.
After a couple hours had passed, Blues spoke up. "Nothing very interesting seems to be happening on the near side. Shall we attempt to drop into the main complex?" Since he deemed himself comfortable enough to receive more, he assumed Shadow was as well. The other nodded and Blues reached up to prod at the remote. A rush of new information bombarded them and both felt compelled to wince ever so slightly at the sudden strain on their systems.
As he skimmed through the discussions Shadow began to wonder just what it was he was doing. He was built to be loyal solely to Wily, but he had already betrayed his maker. Why? To understand his purpose? How cliché. And he was helping his creator's enemy, well, one of them. And, he supposed, by his mere absence and giving up in the middle of his fight with Rock, he was helping the others, as well. But he was going to return to Skull Fortress one of these days, wasn't he? Yeah, right. How could he possibly go back? Dr. Wily would flay him alive- so to speak -the moment he set foot back in. He wouldn't be taken back, especially not since word had gotten around about him and Blues. Especially since he had helped Blues to infiltrate and bug the fortress.
With a silent huff, he asked himself, what was there for him in Skull Fortress?
"Shadow...."
His eyes widened and he felt his heart clench at the sound of his name.
Quick...
"A little louder."
"Sh-Shadow!" He could hear the panic and misery in his voice even over the distance. Fists bunched against the slender material of his pants, Shadow fought at the other voices in his mind.
Stop, stop! He shouted internally. I'm losing him! Desperate to keep the voice, Shadow grabbed at the cable, sending a probe into Blues, receiving information on the exact location the data was coming from. From there, the probe was sent into the remote, isolating only the input from that location.
In surprise, Blues turned to Shadow and stopped short. The younger robot's face had gone pale, the hand clutching his neck was leaving impressions on the pliable exo-shell.
"God... Shadow!" Quick nearly wailed in his mind and Blues' eyes widened. "Please, stop, please..! SHADOW!"
It amazed Blues, in an odd way. He had seen Shadow go through various stages of growth and hardships during his time out in the human world, even during his time in Skull Fortress. And yet, through all that, he had never once seen him go into even the most minor of Surges. But this time, just listening to the broken voice, crying out his name, imagining the tears and the struggle, the mere act, he watched Shadow's eyes come alive with a pale violet light. He could see, even from the distance, the anger and despise moving through his face, body clenched tight.
And all that was going through Shadow's mind was Quick's shattered voice, crying and whimpering his name.
"How did I do?"
"Very well."
"Good. Then could I ask a job from you?"
"Perhaps."
Magnet. Shadow's stiff lips pulled back in a snarl, the most vicious ever to claim his countenance. The other, he was sure from the other audile files he picked up from Blues, was that Cossack bioroid, Pharaoh.
He nearly jumped to his feet, ripping the cable from its outlet. Not bothering to say a word, Shadow took off, heading towards Skull Fortress. He had already slipped through the trees as Blues shot to his feet, and just heaved a small sigh. Nothing he could've said would've made Shadow stay, but he certainly didn't want Shadow getting caught in a reckless act of vengeance.
With slow, deliberate movements, Blues packed up the equipment that lay about him before he followed after Shadow. Maybe, he thought to himself, as painful as this experience had been to him emotionally, he might actually begin to understand who he is without me.