That day, there were no clouds obstructing the sun, the temperature wasn't too high, and shouts and laughter rang out from the park.
It was the usual summer day. School started again in a few weeks and kids wanted to do every activity they could before studies took up their time again.
Ex didn't take notice of his surroundings as he walked, his stride long and relaxed. For once, there was a mild look in his eyes as he jammed his hands into his pants pockets. He noticed a few stares which he shrugged off easily enough. He knew it was his blue eyes, blond hair, and his ugly scar.
He did not belong in Japan or with its people.
He'd been itching to get out of the claustrophobic (despite it being large) confines of the underground base. He knew it was too good a day to waste below surface and donned a casual outfit of jeans and a black T-shirt.
Ex scanned the ground intently. Ever since he'd lost his phone, he had a growing fear that he dropped it outside, and if he lost it near the underbrush where the authorities could find it - he was toast.
He swallowed a grimace. Ex reasoned he was just being paranoid, that some kid picked it up thinking it was an instant freebie. However, he couldn't shake off the feeling that it simply wasn't the case... Ex learned to trust his instincts even when they led nowhere.
Isis told him that if he should ever lose his cell she would activate a program allowing the phone to self-destruct. Not explode-into-a-crater kind of destruction, but it would fry the unit and render the phone and its data useless. Ex had scoffed and said he was never that careless.
Ex knew right then who was going to have the last laugh.
He scowled as he searched for some coins for a pay phone and headed in the direction of a booth, reluctantly intending to inform Isis and have her destroy the missing cell. Ex didn't have to go farther before something crashed into him at a rather high-speed. He felt the air whoosh out of him as he fell over.
"Whoa! Sorry, dude. My bad," the offender apologized as he helped the man up.
Ex gruffly brushed sand and grit off his clothes before he could make a scathing remark. The comment died in his throat as soon as Ex took in the person before him. It wasn't just a boy, but a familiar Medabot. The same 'Bot he took down.
The robot looked closely at him, "that's one helluva scar you got there! How'd you get it?"
"Not the sensitive type, are you?" Ex grunted.
Metabee brushed off the jab, "have I seen you somewhere before? You seem familiar..."
Ex blinked. "What? No! I'm visiting a-a friend," he faltered mildly. Metabee didn't seem to notice. Then again, Metabee wasn't exactly emoting like he normally would.
The man furrowed his brow slightly; this was an unexpected turn of events. If he played this right, perhaps he could get rid of the pest and the last tie to Ikki. Or maybe just keep tabs on him. One or the other.
"...Anyway, sorry 'bout running into you like that," Metabee bowed slightly before moving to take off again.
Ex stopped him quickly. "Hey, wait," that got his attention. "You're Metabee, right?"
"Yeah?"
Ex shook the Medabot's hand. "I saw you in the world championships a couple of years back. You were great! Where's your Metafighter, though? Isn't he usually with you or something?" Ex had to take care of avoiding the creepiness level.
A shadow passed over Metabee's faceplate for a split second before disappearing, "ah, he's doing whatever kids do. I... ditched him for a little while." The 'Bot awkwardly rubbed at the back of his neck which Ex interpreted as Metabee starting to get wary.
"Oh? Forgive me, I didn't mean to pry on anything. Just wondering, that's all," Ex airily said.
"Well, there's somewhere I need to go, so..."
Ex held up his hands in a surrender position and smiled, almost smirking, "I can take a hint, don't worry."
Before Metabee could say anything, Ex chuckled and started to walk off, waving only once. His smile turned into an ugly sneer when his back was completely on Metabee, "gotcha."
Metabee shrugged and left in the direction of Henry's store.
The man he had just ran into was... what was the word? Malicious? The aura he gave off was disturbing to say the least. Metabee didn't even put much stock in "auras."
"That guy must have some serious issues." Metabee muttered.
Metabee felt weird - like there was something wrong. He unconsciously ran diagnostics, but couldn't find anything tampering with his internal systems. However, his body felt odd, as if it was trying to function with a foreign object stuck in him. Like humans trying to work with a thorn in their side.
It took him fifteen minutes to maneuver around the busy crowds to get to the quieter sections. Once he arrived at the convenience store, Metabee poked his head in. "Henry? Dude, you here? Hello?"
Nobody answered him. Was it Henry's lunch break or something? No, he would've locked the store before stepping out. Which meant someone had to be here. Metabee growled in frustration.
Where was Henry when you needed him?
After a few minutes, he was about to stomp off in a huff when he heard Henry call out to him, "hey, Metabee! Didn't see ya out there!" Henry rubbed the back of his neck with a sheepish expression as he came out from the back of the store. "I wasn't doing anything suspicious whatsoever. Nope!" Henry looked like he was sweating gallons, even though the weather was mild. One arm was folded behind his back.
"Okaaay... Look, I was just-" Metabee couldn't help but shift on one foot to try to see what exactly Henry was hiding.
"Oh, look at the time!" Henry glanced at his arm that had no watch, which only heightened Metabee's mixture of annoyance and suspicion. "Sorry, Metabee, I need to do an errand for my boss right now. Make sure to come back next time."
Metabee was promptly and literally kicked out.
With his infamous temper flaring, he jumped right back on his feet and shot the storefront a murderous glare. "No one kicks out Metabee! Nobody!" The innocent bystanders inched away from Metabee, some of them knowing what the small robot could do.
Receiving no answer, Metabee ran off, his whole body practically on fire. Henry sighed in relief once he spotted the angry robot running off from his hiding spot. "Wow. I really thought he was going to shoot me there for a minute."
Henry pulled out his mask he held behind his back, sighed, and put it away. Ikki was relying on him; hopefully his tendency to screw up wouldn't be present this time. 'I should probably get into that phone before anything else can interrupt me.'
Henry turned the phone on and smirked; someone was about to receive a lesson on his awesome jail-breaking skills...
"Useless Henry - shoulda known he wouldn't help," Metabee walked away from the storefront with his arms crossed, his metal footsteps echoing slightly. His fury from earlier had cooled down.
After several minutes, he found himself at Nae's repair garage. Metabee brightened slightly, "Hey, Ms. Nae!"
The young woman hunched over a Medabot with a wide-eyed girl peeking over the table to watch her work. Ms. Nae briefly looked up and waved quickly before going back to work. Honey, her Medabot and assistant, was passing her tools all the while.
"Okay. She's all finished, but be careful next time when choosing battles. I don't want to see you two here again for a while," Nae gently and playfully chided.
The girl nodded and thanked the mechanic before chattering with her Medabot. The young woman wiped her forehead before focusing on Metabee. "Hello there, Metabee," she glanced around, "where's Ikki?"
The robot looked everywhere but her, "did you guys fight again?" She guessed.
"What? No!" Metabee reacted defensively.
Her brow creased, "you aren't acting like your normal self. What brought you here so upset?"
Metabee reeled with surprise. It was like she was reading him like a book! He was starting to get sloppy... However she was on to something and wouldn't leave him alone until she had her answers.
Nae was that persistent.
He hesitated before telling her everything and left nothing out.
Metabee watched as her eyes got wider with disbelief and slight fear before a hardened glint set in. That was rather rare. She was normally a very gentle spirit. To see her dead serious was very unnerving to him.
"Metabee, this is an extremely serious situation going on here. Why wasn't the police notified? He's been missing for a day? Two days now and no ransom or anything?"
Metabee stayed silent.
"Do you know anything else about this?" Nae asked, worry clouding her face.
He shook his head and stared at the ground. He felt a hand rest on his shoulder before shyly looking back up. "Did you need anything over here?" Nae offered kindly.
Something suddenly clicked in Metabee's head. He couldn't wander around the streets everyday like some stray; he had better things to do! However, he would need someplace to stay... He wasn't sure if she would agree, but there wasn't anything he could do but ask.
Ms. Nae lifted her hand when the wild fire returned to Metabee's optics. That was the 'Bot she knew. Although, she had no idea what caused the determination to come back.
Metabee looked at her, "Ms. Nae, I can't go home - not till I find Ikki - but I can't really spend time out in the streets either. Do you mind if I stayed here for a while? I'll earn my keep! Please?"
Surprised, Nae pondered this for a moment. Was it really a good idea? Taking in a Medabot who already had a family? Her rational side was telling her not to do this: to do the responsible adult thing and tell him to go home immediately. However, something in her refused the notion. Refused to cross her arms, look stern, and speak some sense into Metabee.
'I hope I know what I'm doing,' she wearily thought to herself.
Static raced over its vision as the nameless Medabot reactivated - its vision cleared enough to work properly. All it saw was a pale white color. It felt something lay lightly against its whole body.
It thrashed wildly in a panic and shook the tarp off, sitting up as it did so. It was still in the lab it tried to break out of. The glass tube had a plastic sheet over the jagged hole it created. Different tech filled the walls of the room and made soft pings every few seconds.
A woman with blonde hair, pulled in a messy ponytail, slept with her head in her arms not far from it. The lab wasn't empty like it first thought.
She sagged against the examining counter loosely gripping a screwdriver. It didn't seem that safe to sleep with a tool, the Medabot reasoned. For all it knew, she could accidentally poke her eye out or give herself some other injury.
It slowly crawled towards her and, with its thumb and index fingers, tried to gingerly pry the screwdriver out of Isis' hand.
She instinctively tightened her hold on it and the robot stiffened, suddenly nervous. But after shifting her head and exhaling, Isis didn't wake up. The Medabot relaxed and went back to its self-imposed task.
After a few minutes, the robot finally pried the tool from Isis and laid it at her side.
Quietly, it slipped off the counter and headed towards the door. Fully alert, it glanced side to side when it entered the hallway. Deeming it safe, it started to slowly wander about.
After some time had passed, it began to hear faint voices - belonging to both machines and humans - and stopped outside a closed door where the noise originated from.
As the door opened, the Medabot did a double take. Beyond the door, Medabots and their human partners trained in the spacious room. They streamed out of different simulators and generally chatted with one another. No one took notice of it.
The robot tentatively entered and received some curious glances, but never a second look.
It watched a few Medabots dueling some drones through a glass shield. Interest sparked within it as the Medabots countered and dodged gracefully. A surge of blood-lust suddenly speared through it; an excitement for a good battle.
"Like what you see?"
The Medabot froze with momentary fright before swiftly and unsteadily whipping around to face the newcomer. It had a KLN model with various shades of red, orange, and some brown. It seemed curious and friendly. The Medabot decided it was not an immediate threat.
"Who, me?"
"I'm not really talkin' to anybody else," the other quipped dryly. He leaned forward slightly, "I"ve never seen you before, and believe me, I never really forget anyone. Who're you?"
"I, uh..." It trailed off. It didn't know. What was it supposed to be?
"Ah, you must be the newbie," the other deducted.
"A what?" It asked.
"Eh, nevermind... I'm Flame, by the way," he held out his hand. The Medabot slowly took it.
"Uh, nice to meet you."
"Same here. You have a name?"
The Medabot went silent. Did it ever get a name? Surely, it must have - but it couldn't remember. Nothing could make it remember.
"...Don't worry about it, I'm sure you'll get one soon. In the meantime, follow me." Flame started to walk off. The Medabot eyed him suspiciously, but made to follow anyway.
"Hey, Isis! You would never believe what I just did!" Ex burst into the lab, startling Isis awake.
She shot him a tired glare, "will you stop bursting in like that? It's starting to get old!"
"C'mon, I know you'd want to hear this!"
"What, that you dropped your toothbrush in the toilet again?" Isis grumbled sleepily, turning around to face Ex.
"What? No! It was only one time! But-"
"You caught your room on fire? Again?" Isis laid her head on her palm as she stared at Ex.
"Are you still going on about that? That was a long time ago!"
"Three weeks isn't a very long time."
"It does count as a long time!" Ex retorted, his face suddenly flushing crimson.
"What then?"
"I managed to slip a tracker on Metabee. I can watch his every move."
Isis simply stared at him, unimpressed.
"What? You don't believe me?"
"Oh, I believe you. I just don't understand what you want me to say. 'Congratulations?' Ex, you did your job, and that's that..." She suddenly noticed the tarp on the ground. With her brows furrowed, she snapped her attention to the table.
It confirmed her frustration: the Medabot was gone.
"Aw, crap!"
"Uh, what're you looking for?" Ex asked.
She cursed softly as she got up, rolled her shoulders, and stretched her back, hearing her cramped bones popping. "The Medabot I was working on: it's gone!"
"What? How could you lose that thing?"
"Don't question me! Just help me find it!" Isis was horribly embarrassed, not because she slept in the lab - she did that multiple times already - but because she seemingly didn't shut the robot down properly. That was generally a rookie mistake.
She took several deep breaths to calm herself down.
"It probably went exploring, which is surprising because I didn't think it would develop any sort of curiosity yet." She reasoned. She walked over to a computer and activated it. She typed out a code rapidly while Ex silently peered over her shoulder.
"Ah!" Isis leaned forward slightly. A blip stood out in an area. "It's in the training room."
"The training room?" Ex asked, crossing his arms.
"Yes. Do you mind getting it for me?"
"I suppose I have nothing else to waste my time," Ex replied carelessly.
Her face darkened, "excuse me?"
He nervously sweat dropped when he realized just who he was with, "uh, I meant, I'll be happy to go catch it! Just give me a minute and don't murder me!"
"Thank you for your assistance," Isis narrowed her eyes.
"Sure," he scratched the back of his head uncomfortably. "No problem."
"That reminds me, I still need to report to Shadow, so, if you don't mind..." She made a slight motion towards the door.
"Oh. Fine, I can take a hint. I'm not allowed to see what that report is, eh? I'll be off," Ex set off at a brisk pace.
Isis sighed before burying her face in her hands. This was too much to deal with at the moment, and she had that blasted report to do. "Sometimes I wonder why I bother," she groaned.
Author's Note:
Updated: 12/06/18
(Oh lord, I just saw an editing error in this chapter. I fixed it this time around - but that's horribly embarrassing. I apologize!)
Huh, I ought to stop procrastinating with this.
I thank those who are still following me or this story for putting up with an onslaught of Warrior Cats fanfics, but writing and publishing new fanfics is a tough temptation, especially if you're working with near stagnant stories of your own.
I honestly don't know when we'll reach any big action (aside from skirmishes), I originally intended to end this with around 25-30 chapters, but it might go a little longer than that.
I hope you enjoyed so far, and please leave a review. ;)
Tell me about any errors and I'll fix them.
-Winterbornbree