I was not expecting this chapter to be almost 3000 words long, to be honest, but I regret nothing.

It would not be until a week later that Violeta and Rafael would see their eldest son, again, since their last conversation. Far from the first time that he would spend days lost in his work and cooped up in the lab, it still never failed to concern his mother. Were it not for her husband's constant reassurances, she would've checked up on him by now.

"He's fine, Querida."

Of course, she also had her own responsibilities to the Project and occasionally had to concede to Rafael's insistence. As for the others, they were more apprehensive of what would happen once Caesar came out of the lab.

But a straight week is ridiculous.

"It only takes three days without water for the human body to shut down, Rafa."

"Then, it's a good thing we're in a building full of doctors, Vi."

Rafael and Caesar were so alike in that way. Workaholics they were. Their passions hooked deep into them, leading to countless sleepless nights filled with essays-worth of code and enough nuts and bolts to drown in as they'd work themselves like machines. Caesar's obsessions could even rival his father's, and that statement alone put Violeta at great unease.

She eventually broke her husband down, pulling him along to Caesar's lab. He agreed just to sate her, and so that they could peacefully resume their work.

Walking into the lab, again, there was no wave of smoke, no cursing or threats, no mutant venus fly traps, and the mess from last time was even cleaned up. It was just Caesar, eyes glued to the screen in front of him. A familiar sight over the years that comforted Violeta if just by a fraction. The lab was quiet, save for the tapping of his keyboard and the beeping and whirring noises from the machines around them.

She approached her son, resting her hand on his shoulder, warm and gentle, "Caesar?"

He hummed in acknowledgment, not pulling away from his computer just yet.

"How long have you been working, mijo?"

"What do you mean?" His voice was distant, clearly distracted by the lines upon lines of code filling up the screen at a mile a minute.

"When was the last time that you took a break, mi vida?"

"Uhm… Give me a second," he was reluctant to interrupt his flow; instead, he called out, "IRA, when was the last time I took a break?"

A monotonous voice rang out in response, droning and fragmented, "One hour and thirty-seven minutes and forty-eight seconds."

With a nod, he explained, "I set up a reminder earlier for IRA to notify me when it's been four hours for my next break. I've been trying the Uberman sleep schedule to see if it will help maximize my productivity."

Violeta tutted, "Caesar, no research has confirmed that polyphasic sleep does anything for you, physiologically. Other than more sleep deprivation."

"IRA?" Rafael interjected, looking for the voice that echoed through the room just a second ago.

"Yes, I finally managed to finish my first version for an AI assistant," he continued, "The Independent Robotic Assistant. So far, it's been mostly basic scheduling and reminders and simple data input and processing. Operating similarly to Smart technology, it's basically connected to the entirety of this lab, able to activate at just my voice commands. Unless I were to override it, manually, but that's beside the point. At this time, it's been simple commands like turning the lights and machines on and off, but the idea is to get it to follow more complex orders like retrieving tools and files with ease or notifying me if, say, my blood sugar is low. That will involve a lot of innovation on the lab itself, but it certainly is doable."

"Which will require Project funding. So, I hope that you have already filed a proposal for this to be approved."

"Ah," he finally broke away from the computer, looking up in realization, "That's what I forgot to remind IRA to tell me."

"Caesar, por favor…"

He turned to his father, "I have started it; no pasa nada, Papí."

"Bueno," Violeta smiled, taking him by the arm, "We can go over it for lunch with your brother."

"U-uhm!" While his body obediently stood to be pulled along by his mother, Caesar looked between his parents and his abandoned computer in a panic, "Wait, no, Mamá, I'm not done yet. It hasn't been a four-hour interval, yet!"

"But it has been a week since you've left this room, mijo, and Rex has been asking about you."

IRA's voice spoke, again, slow and toneless, "Dr. Salazar, you are not due for your break for one hour and thirty-four minutes and thirty-two seconds."

"Caesar Salazar-"

"I told you it wasn't time yet."

Rafael stepped between them, "It's fine. We need to go get your brother ready, anyways, but once your hour and thirty minutes-"

"-Thirty-four minutes and sixteen seconds-" IRA corrected.

"-Thirty-four minutes and sixteen seconds-" he amended.

"-Thirty-four minutes and twelve seconds-" IRA corrected.

"-Thirty-four minutes and however seconds…" he amended, "Meet us downstairs in the cafeteria, alright?"

"I can do that," Caesar nodded, shoulders sagging in relief, "I'll let IRA know."

And true to his word, he had met up with Rafael and Violeta on the dot, taking the seat beside his father and handing him a tablet with his proposal on it. Rex sat by his mother's side.

"Hermano," the young boy bounced in his seat as he spoke, feet dangling above the ground, "Dr. Rylander said that you died."

"He did, did he?"

"Yes, they were about to start a pool on whether or not you accidentally fell into the Reactor," and Violeta wished she could say that she was joking, "Have you eaten yet?"

"Yes, well, technically yes."

"Then, I 'technically' have lunch for you," she slid Tupperware toward him, "Drink the smoothie, you look pale."

She had prepared what felt like a full meal with steamed rice, peach habanero shrimp, nectarines, pineapple, and Tajín. Despite her busy schedule, she was always happy to cook, having been raised by their abuela whose love language was food. Even after a long day's work, she always kept herself busy with cooking, reading, turning the house upside down, or making efforts to drag her family out of the lab every now and then. Though she scolds her son and husband for their all-nighters, she barely had room to speak as she couldn't help but indulge in her interests for hours.

"Caesar," Rafael said, reading the tablet, "You do realize that you would be taking apart the whole lab from the inside out with all of this? Do you really expect me to get approval on 22 tablets of Bismuth?"

"I could probably get by with only half of the amount if that helps. I can just make more crystals with the Pepto Bismol that I've stocked up on, just in case you wouldn't be able to get it."

"Please, don't say that in front of me. I'd be legally obligated to do something about it."

He scrolled through his son's proposal, growingly stressed the longer that he did. As much as he was looking forward to IRA's development, he was significantly less excited about managing their budget, even with their generous Consortium funds. It was undoubtedly the most tedious part of big projects such as these, having to go through the process of requests and then waiting for approval after. With their new facilities and his position as one of the head researchers, came with the task of managing other people, some old and some new, and taking into account things like sponsorships, rigorous networking, and even Human Resources. He's been a scientist for decades now, working on group projects, research papers, and dissertations for as long as he could remember, but all the technicalities never got any better. Maybe Caesar had the right idea in replacing his human assistants with a machine.

He sighed, "Meanwhile, some people's kids ask their parents for cars."

"Can I have a car?" Rex spoke up, draining his soda with vigor.

Caesar went on, "I don't need a car. I'd sooner come up with my own means of transportation than ask you for something like that."

"Yes, build your own lab with wheels, so I don't have to worry about you blowing up ours," Rafael handed back the tablet, shoveling rice into his mouth before he would pass out worrying about all of the numbers and paperwork.

Eventually, they changed the subject, but not really, to other matters regarding the Nanite Project. It was the type of conversation that left Rex with a faraway look in his eyes as he popped fruit snacks into his mouth.

"I thought that Wilson and Goldstein came around the same time?"

"No, Dr. Wilson has been on the Project for some months now, but Dr. Goldstein is relatively new."

"One of the newer hires?"

"Is it true that they're still bringing more people onto the Project?" Caesar asked; he was alright with the idea of new faces, but with that comes more people to criticize his work ethic.

"That is what I've been told," his father shrugged.

"I don't know why we need more people interfering at this point," Violeta shook her head, sprinkling a generous amount of spice onto her fruit, "We have been more than capable of achieving plenty with much less."

"But think about what we can get done now with much more."

"Still, some of these people are rather suspect, no?"

"Really?" Rafael couldn't help but laugh, "You're saying this? Being from this family?"

"I'm just saying!" she gave a light smack to his hand, "Like Van Kleiss? Él probablemente cree que Java es un café."

"What's that?" Rex asked as his mother cleaned pineapple juice from his face.

"Es una programming language that lets us communicate with computers, Bebé."

"Also one of the world's top-ranked programming languages," Caesar piped in.

"Is it?"

He shrugged, rocking his hand in a so-so gesture, "Depends, really."

"Ignore your mother, mi hijo," Rafael told Rex, "She's just being a chismosa."

"Oh? What happened to 'you're right, you're always right', huh?"

"I'm only kidding, Querida!" He laughed, nervously.

"Ah, I'm not too late for the show now, am I?"

Interrupted by a new voice, the family looked up to one (1) Dr. Gabriel Rylander, holding a tray of food and wearing an amused expression.

"Please, Vi, he means well, I'm sure."

Rafael huffed, "One would think such a good friend would be willing to vouch for my life with more conviction."

"Gabriel," Violeta greeted, "Please, pull up a chair and join us."

"Thank you kindly," he said, sitting by Rafael and Violeta, "So, I couldn't help but notice how quiet it's been around here lately. Caesar, are you alright?"

"Yes, of course," the younger man replied, sipping on his smoothie and giving Rylander a puzzled look, "How are you?"

Rafael wheezed, elbowing his friend in the ribs.

"Well, while I am glad you're doing well," Gabriel laughed, "I am especially thrilled now that Peter owes me $20 because of that."

"You know," Violeta began, smirking, "It's always good to see Gabe being a good godfather, betting on one of his godson's lives."

"I can assure you two that I am a more stand-up man when I want to be."

She scoffed, "This coming from the one who had my first son's name purposely spelled wrong just for a pun."

"More than twenty years, and you haven't let that go!" Holding up his hands in defense, he couldn't hide his grin, "Besides, it was the perfect opportunity - you both should've known what to expect when you let me choose the name. And another thing, it's not spelled wrong; it's just the Roman variation."

"Che, it is technically wrong because he's Hispanic, not a salad," Rafael quickly corrected, a bit heatedly, "It's 'SEH-sar', not 'SEE-zerr'."

"But clearly, you still had faith in me when you let me pick Rex's name, too."

"Only because all of Violeta's choices weren't good. It was a compromise. Neutral ground."

"Discúlpeme, what was wrong with my choices?"

"Well, we weren't going to name him 'Pico Salazar'."

"At least, I had original ideas. What were yours? 'Leo'? 'Rafael, Jr.'?"

"What's wrong with those?"

"You were only naming the Ninja Turtles!"

"If we get another brother," Rex joined in, "Can we name him 'Michaelangelo'?"

"What about a sister?" Caesar followed up.

"Michelle… Angela?"

The table broke into laughter.

"It's certainly nice to be with the family like this, isn't it?"

"You should do it, too, Gabe," Rafael turned to him, "Bring the wife and son over, I mean. We have plenty of room and board here on the labsite."

"You know I can't. It was hard enough to convince them to move everything to Abysus, and I don't think that they'd be too keen on spending most days in a big building full of dangerous machines, toxic chemicals, and stuffy, pretentious…" he stopped, feeling their intense gazes, "Er, no offense, though! I'm very happy for you that you're getting to spend time with your family."

"Right," Rafael stared back, unimpressed, "Tell me why we're friends, again?"

"Because I'm the only one who will laugh at your jokes," Gabriel chuckled, "And really, this lifestyle works for you. I mean, Caesar turned out fine, right?"

Caesar, meanwhile, was explaining to his little brother how to make Bismuth crystals with Pepto Bismol and a blow torch.

Rafael sighed, good-natured, "Look anyways, Caesar, I think that we can get your proposal approved, but only if you take my notes into account and make those changes. Though in the future, please turn in the proposal first before going ahead with everything, and also, try not to let this new project of yours get in the way of your actual work, yes?"

"Sí," Violeta agreed, petting Rex's hair, "We don't want you spending too much time with IRA, now."

"Ira?" Gabriel perked up, grinning at Caesar, "Ah, so that's what you've been up to!"

"Caesar got a girlfriend?!" Rex gasped, coming to the same conclusion.

"No," his brother shook his head, "IRA isn't a girl-"

"Caesar got a boyfriend?"

"It's the name of the AI that I built."

Gabriel paused, mouth slightly parted as he glanced between the family. They looked back with equal confusion. After a moment, he shrugged, giving a deferring nod, "Well, I suppose, as long as you're happy, a robot boyfriend isn't that out of character for you."

After finishing their lunch, Violeta separated from them to take Rex back to his room while Caesar, Rafael, and Rylander headed back to the lab.

"Dr. Salazar."

Rafael and Caesar both turned.

She smiled, friendly, dressed in a dark violet sweater under her lab coat. Heels clicked across the floor as she approached where she stood just a couple of inches shorter than them, "Pardon me, I meant the older one."

"Yes," Rafael said, looking her up and down. There were a good number of people on the Project, and admittedly, even he hadn't gotten to know them all, personally. "How can I help you?"

"My apologies that it took so long for us to make our acquaintance," she held out her hand, professional, "The Consortium may have already notified you of my arrival."

He shook her hand, realization dawning on his face, "Ah, yes, 'the Representative'. Though, they were actually rather vague on what you were here for, exactly."

"Not any more amendments, I hope," Gabriel spoke up while Caesar cringed at the thought. "We had enough trouble with the last attorney."

Rafael kept quiet. Though he was more open-minded about the new faces working alongside them than the others were, he did share their wariness as all these strangers began to interfere with their work. After all, it's become a project that they've all held near and dear, putting all of their blood, sweat, and tears into it over the years. Still, it was the Consortium's insistence that these other scientists and lawyers be involved as well. Call it quality control, call it micromanaging, call it accountability, call it whatever you'd like, but Rafael was willing to be civil if for the sake of progress.

"I can assure you, Dr. Rylander, not much will change while I'm here." She regarded Gabriel with the same smile, "Think of me as a supervisor of sorts. I'm only here to act as communication between you and the higher-ups if you or they have any questions. It will be as if I'm not here at all."

"Do they have any questions, then?" Rafael asked.

"Not at the moment, no," she explained, "If it's alright with you, I do have a few inquiries of my own that I'd like to ask you as head researcher. Would be nice to know what exactly I'm supervising here."

"Of course, I'd be happy to…" he trailed off, "Perdoname, I don't think that I caught your name."

She brushed away the fringe of hair in front of her face, briefly, before it fell back into place, "You can call me Knight."

Caesar watched as his father left with Knight until they turned a corner. He shared a look with Rylander, eyebrows furrowed and mouth a thin line, before he left without a word to his lab.

The door slid shut behind him as he found himself back in the familiar space of the laboratory. It was quiet, aside from the usual beeping and whirring, which troubled him as he looked around, scrutinizing the room, "IRA."

"Good afternoon, Dr. Salazar."

"You should be greeting me once I walk into the lab…" He frowned, in thought as he strode back to his computer, "IRA, set the timer for 5 hours this time. Mamá was right; the polyphasic sleep hasn't been working."

So, this is roughly where I left off when I first drafted this story in 2018. From this point on, it's no longer a reboot lol. I'm legit making this up as I go. Also, bonus points to whoever knows the Generator Rex fanfiction that inspired some of the baby names conversation.