"In the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years."-Abraham Lincoln.
X hummed to a tune as he began the journey back to Cain's house. He jumped when his phone vibrated in his pocket. He turned the small device on and stared at the screen for a second, before putting the device to his ear.
"Doctor Cain?" X inquired. "Is something wrong?"
"I need you to teleport to the labs real quick. I know it's rather sudden but you know I've been trying to convince the government that reploids are worth producing. And well, there's an agent waiting here to meet you. I think she made sure we were unprepared for her, just so that she can make sure our answers are genuine. Please come over as soon as you can, alright?" Doctor Cain asked. X hummed in response.
"I'll be over soon, but I need to find someplace I can teleport without being noticed."
"Okay. See you soon then."
X hung up and glanced around. There was a Taco bell nearby. That would do.
He stepped into the building and headed straight for the bathrooms. He glanced around the stall filled room as the door shut gently behind him. His scans didn't pick up any life forms. With a sigh of relief, blue energy gathered around him and he suddenly vanished in a flash of blue light and a whistle like noise.
He rematerialized in Cain labs, the air whistling around him again. Cain had described it as a 'boo-wip', but X never heard it, considering he was either dematerializing or rematerializing at that point. He glanced around the labs and saw a woman in a black suit and tie staring at him in disbelief next to Doctor Cain.
"X! How was school?" Doctor Cain asked. The woman's mouth parted slightly, but she recomposed herself a split second later. X shrugged.
"Rather easy and enjoyable," X coolly responded as he threw his backpack up on a desk.
"Hold on a second. Is this or is this not X, Doctor Light's last creation?" the woman asked looking X over in disbelief. Dr. Cain hummed an affirmative. "Where's the blue armor?"
X's armor materialized around him in a flash of blue light. The woman blinked at him in shock.
"You're X?"
"Yes?" X answered, a bit confused as to why she was so disbelieving.
"I was expecting something a bit more, oh I don't know, weaponized. You are Doctor Light's last creation and last surviving robot. I expected him to put a bit more defenses on you. Heck, even your armor's not as thick as I'd imagined. How much do you weigh?"
"57 kilograms. Or just about 125.4 pounds," X responded. "I'm a bit lighter though without the armor." The woman stared at him in disbelief. X concluded that the woman was the agent Doctor Cain had mentioned.
"HOW?! You should be made out of metal!" the agent exclaimed. X shrugged.
"I am. I'm mostly made out of titanium, which is why I'm so light. I was designed as a human interface, to interact and communicate with humans. It's only logical that I was made as human like as possible."
The woman shook her head in disbelief. "Amazing. And why are you going to school? Shouldn't you already know everything?"
X shrugged. "Like I said. Human interface unit. It's a part of who I am."
"List the parts and their functions that are inside of you," the agent demanded, still trying to wrap her head around how human like the robot before her was.
"Well, in the way of armor parts. There's my interior skeleton, which is a reactive super-flexible armoured skeleton which reduces 93 percent of damage. My body skin is a lightweight "Titanium-X" alloy which also has infused solar panels so that I can charge in the light. As for head parts, there's obviously my processors and the I.C. chip or integrated circuit. Basically it's my personality or 'soul'. Then there's the broad-range eye camera which lets me see at a far higher "frame rate" than that of a human's and the ultra-sensitive voice recognition system which lets me hear a far broader spectrum of sounds than the normal human ear can. Then there's my voice, which was made by HAYATOM Inc."
The agent blinked.
"Then there're the body parts. The accumulative energy generation device stores solar energy. Its primary power supply generates both the necessary energy to fuel all of my systems, and enough for a secondary supply that can be used in areas where collecting solar energy becomes impossible. The ultra-compact fuel tank is a large quantity of (Micro-Fusion) fuel that is stored in an ultra-compact tank, in order for me to be active when in dark places- such as underground or underwater. This becomes my power source if my accumulated solar energy runs out. The central control system is basically my second "brain", the I.C. chip being the first, which controls the exact movements of my whole body. Oh, and there's an auto repair system."
The agent nodded.
"In my arms, there's the X-Buster or the Mega Buster Mark 17. It's my most powerful weapon. It converts solar energy into a high powered beam. The energy amplification device amplifies stored energy to release a more powerful charged shot. Then there's the variable weapon system. I can use weapons or systems copied from other robots or Reploids through some unknown process. Megaman had that as well, but I think mine's a bit different. I haven't really tested that out yet though."
The agent kept on nodding.
"Lastly, there's my legs. The full auto balancer or Gyroscopic stabilization system enables me to land cleanly in any area, from any kind of state."
The agent nodded one final time and then spoke. "This is why I'm a government agent and not a mechanic. Anything else?"
X glanced at Doctor Cain who nodded. X gulped nervously. The X-Buster was powerful by itself. It would give the agent plenty to worry about. He didn't want to mention why he was named the way he was.
"Well, sort of. The reason Doctor Light named me X is because it stands for a variable. I have unlimited potential. It's called the X-Factor. We're not even sure how it does what it does. All we know it that it does it."
The agent looked thoroughly confused.
"Essentially the X-Factor is a bit like the Auto repair system. If there's a problem, it fixes it. However, nothing has to be broken. If I'm faced with a problem that I can't get through the first time, the X-Factor will make it so that I can the second time. It upgrades me after each challenge. It's like a human getting stronger over time after working out every day or better yet evolution. It's sort of like that song, 'what doesn't kill you makes you stronger'. . . I can't turn it off and I don't even know how it figures out how to upgrade me. All I know is that it uses nanites to build or alter the parts inside of me and it shuts me down while it does so. So I don't know exactly what happens, but if the upgrade's not extremely important and I react fast enough, I can delay the upgrade for a couple of hours. It does scream at me to do things sometimes too."
The agent frowned. Doctor Cain decided to speak up as well.
"It's like that for just about all of X. There's not much we understand about him. Doctor Light made sure that if anyone were to take X apart, they would discover nothing of importance. You open him up and his parts look like normal robotic parts, but they function far more efficiently than normal parts. We don't know if the X-Factor will change that and make it obvious that X is far more advanced, but we do know that a good portion of X's strength and abilities will forever be hidden to our eyes. This set up prevents us from copying him, even just his core programming. That much we understood from his programing," Doctor Cain said.
"His programming? How much of that do you understand?"
"About ten percent for sure. There's another sixteen percent that we're iffy on. The rest is like looking at an alien language. What we do understand is sprinkled throughout his entire programming. It doesn't give us much of an understanding of what's going on inside of him. However, it does give us a good understanding of how to go about creating an android like mind. In other words, X, I don't understand. Reploids, however, I do."
The agent frowned. "So to even you X is a mystery."
Doctor Cain nodded. "But I'm not trying to put androids on the assembly line now am I?"
The agent smirked at him. "No sir, I don't think you are."
X frowned. Doctor Cain was acting like he didn't see reploids as androids. Yet, Doctor Cain had said that X was more human like that any robot he had ever seen. Did that mean that Doctor Cain didn't consider reploids to be very human like?
"While X still acts far more like a human than a reploid ever will, reploids are still capable of human like emotions and responses. Or in other words, reploids act human, but X acts even more so."
The agent nodded and thought for a moment.
"Reploids, they're stronger, faster both physically and mentally, and they don't require nearly as much sustenance or sleep. Say for instance a reploid were to battle a human, the reploid would win yes?"
Doctor Cain nodded, but wasn't really happy on where the situation was leading.
"So we don't want any reploids going rouge or killing anybody. . . Can reploids be affected by viruses?"
Doctor Cain frowned and slowly began answering the question, choosing his words carefully. "That is another difference between reploids and X. You see, as far as we know, X is completely immune to viruses. We subjected him to every Trojan, malware, or virus out there. We even had professionals create a few. And yet, X has never been affected any of them. He appears to be completely immune."
"And X was okay with this?" the agent asked. Doctor Cain shrugged.
"It was a necessary evil, besides it never affected him," Doctor Cain responded, unconcerned with the fact that his actions could have harmed X's wellbeing. The agent sighed and muttered something about scientists. "To answer your question. Yes, reploids can be affected by viruses just like any computer. That's why we equip each and every one of them with an antivirus specifically designed for their programming."
"The antivirus, does it prevent the virus from harming them?"
"So far yes, we've yet to encounter a virus that completely shatters the anti-virus's defenses and affects the reploid's programming. There's a few that came close, but those merely mimicked a human cold and the reploids soon recovered."
X frowned. He had been unaware that Doctor Cain had been doing such a thing.
"So these reploids, can I meet a few of them?" the agent asked. Doctor Cain nodded and the two began shuffling out the door. X moved to follow them, but Doctor Cain motioned for him to stay put. X plopped down in a nearby seat and began working on his homework.
X finished soon after Doctor Cain and the agent walked back into the room, talking about the steps needed in order to manufacture reploids. He glanced at his internal clock. They had been gone for only an hour. X placed his work back inside his bag and watched the two humans converse.
"That's it? I figured there would be something far more complicated to their construction," the agent commented.
"Reploids aren't as advanced as X and we didn't want to scare anybody with something too advanced in the beginning," Doctor Cain explained. The agent nodded in silent agreement. She glanced at X for a moment, looking as if she was debating something. She then turned to Doctor Cain as she seemed to make up her mind.
"Doctor Cain I was wondering if I could take X into town with me. I would like to see his human interface abilities in action," the agent asked. Doctor Cain frowned.
"I'm afraid that's not possible. X has been gone all day, and I was hoping on getting his help in finishing a new mailing droid," Doctor Cain responded. X frowned. He thought they finished that project weeks ago. The agent noticed his confusion.
"Oh, I'm sure you can hold that off for a bit longer. Besides, I'm sure us humans would be grateful for you letting us keep our jobs for one more day," the agent responded coolly. A tension formed rapidly in the air between Doctor Cain and the agent. X blinked. What had happened while they were gone?
"Mrs. Carson, I do not think that would be wise." Doctor Cain was cut off with the agent's next sharp comeback.
"Not wise? Why are you hiding him from the world, Cain?" she spat his name out and Doctor Cain frowned at her. "If he's as socially capable as you claim him to be then why are you placing him under a false name at the school and in Cain labs for when he's in his more human form? Do you not want the world to see him for what he truly is? How do I know that he's truly an android and not one of your replicated androids that you seem to be so fond of? I need proof, Doctor Cain, that X truly is as human as you claim and he needs to be far away from you when I do."
Doctor Cain glared at her. X jumped in before the situation got out of hand. He could feel the tension in the air. It was thick enough to cut with a knife.
"Doctor Cain, it's fine. We finished that Mailing Droid last week, remember? I'll be fine. I'm not completely defenseless. Besides, this might boost a more positive reaction to reploid manufacturing," X soothed. Doctor Cain glared at X and then sighed loudly.
"Fine," he snapped. X winced at the sudden harshness. Doctor Cain saw this and relaxed a bit in an effort to ease some of the android's distress. "Just don't be out too late." He glanced at the agent. "I expect that he'll be back home by eight and no later."
X was confused. Doctor Cain let him leave whenever he wanted before and even encouraged it. What was different now? Why were the agent and the scientist so hostile towards each other? What happened while they were gone?
X shook his head and followed the agent out of the room, his azure metal boots clanking against the white tile. He glanced at the agent who appeared to be silently fuming. The agent appeared to be reserved, but there was a quiet fury in her eyes. He was tempted to ask what happened while they were gone, but he resolved to asking what was wrong. He opened his mouth to ask but his question died on his lips as the agent shook her head.
"Sorry X, can I call you X?" the agent asked. X nodded. "Look, I know you're curious, but it's probably for the best that you don't know."
X sighed and relented. "Alright." They were quiet for a while as they walked towards the exit of Cain labs, the only sound was the echo of metal against tile with each step X took. Then the agent gasped. X glanced at her in concern.
"I just realized I never told you my name. Cain said it earlier, but a proper introduction is in order. My name is Carson. Or Agent Carson. Or Agent C," the agent introduced, holding out her hand and smiling at the android. X smiled back and shook her hand.
"X," he said simply. Carson led him out of the building and too a small black car parked in a lot. He motioned for him to get in. X frowned. He never had to get in a car with his armor on before. That's when a question he should have asked a long time ago aroused in him mind.
"Um, should I be wearing my armor?" X asked. Carson nodded.
"I want to see how you interact with people who know you're an android. Can you fit in the car though?" X's boots were three times as wide as normal boots and just about twice as long. Foot space would be a problem.
X opened the passenger car door and looked at the seat. Carson didn't object to him getting in the front, so X moved the seat back as far as it would go and gently slid in, careful not to scratch anything with the metal bottoms of his feet. Carson smiled at the sight of the android trying so hard not to damage the car.
"Relax, it's a government owned car. It's not even mine. Do you realize how many agents' cars get blown up in a week? Most of the time nobody gets prosecuted for it either. Scratching the interior is a mild offense. Nothing will happen because of it."
X relaxed some at this as he debated putting on a seat belt. He was coated in inch thick titanium. Did he really need the seat belt?
"Don't bother with the seat belt. We're just going to town and I doubt the police are going to pull us over when you're obviously inhuman," Carson stated. X briefly wondered if she was a mind reader. "And no, I don't read minds. I was trained to interpret people. If you're really as advanced as Cain claims you to be, then you are no different."
X couldn't help but wonder again if she had telepathic abilities. The car roared to life as Carson turned the key and drove it out of the parking lot and onto the road. It didn't take long for the vehicle to be driving through the city.
"This is a government owned car yes? Why does it still have wheels?" X asked. It had been curious as to why the vehicle was an older model and not a newer hovering version.
"It's more of a cover and a precaution. This car can fly, but I prefer the old fashioned approach," Carson replied, she then pulled into a parking lot, squeezing into a slot between two large SUVs. She stepped out of the car to pay the timed parking device while X struggled to get out of the car without damaging either vehicle. X grumbled as he carefully side shuffled between the two vehicles and came to stand next to the agent.
"That was done on purpose wasn't it?" X grumbled. Carson merely grinned at him. X sighed and followed the government agent onto the sidewalk. People stared at him in awe and parted to let the two of them pass. X sighed sadly.
"What's wrong?" Carson asked. "Don't you like the attention?"
"No," X responded. "I just want to be seen as an equal. I don't want to be looked down upon as something less, but I also don't want to be revered as a god."
"Huh." Carson studied X briefly before suddenly dragging the android into a store. It was a shoe store. X obediently followed the agent through the aisles all the while wondering why they would be in a shoe store.
Carson picked up a pair of brown leather boots. "Do you think these will fit you?" she asked. X glanced down at the large boots that covered the lower half of his legs. There was no way the leather boots, while large for a human, would ever be big enough to cover the large metal boot that covered X's entire leg below the knee.
X looked up at Carson and gave her a 'seriously' type of look. "No, I think they'll fit just fine. My boot's only five times bigger," X said sarcastically. Carson blinked before chuckling a bit. The level of sarcasm from the android was unexpected.
"I suppose that wouldn't work. Oh well." Carson shoved the confused android out of the building, civilians scrambling to get out of the way. Carson had her hands on X's shoulders and he was forced to walked backwards. Surprisingly he didn't even trip once, even when Carson forced him over the step at the store's entranceway. X muttered a few apologies after Carson let go of him (she had forced a few people to step to the side) and began walking away. X walked slightly faster for a bit to catch up.
Carson looked at the mechanical being beside her as he carefully walked around people who had stopped in the middle of the sidewalk to stare at the blue armored android. X was annoyed, but he didn't show any hostility to any one of them. Carson couldn't blame them; it wasn't every day you saw an android, not to mention one that was built a hundred years ago, walking through the streets.
With a chuckle, she veered off to the side and stopped before a crosswalk. Vehicles of all sorts were currently driving past at ridiculous speeds, quite a few of them were floating. X paused next to her and shifted uncomfortably under the stares he was getting from the humans around him.
"So how are you liking being famous?" Carson asked with a smirk. X glared at her.
"It's just peachy," X muttered. Carson chuckled again.
"Were you programmed with a sarcasm chip?" Carson inquired. X shrugged.
"I hardly even know half of the things I was programmed with," X responded. "But I don't think so. There's a scientist back at Cain Labs who's incredibly sarcastic. I spend a lot of time with him; he's been teaching me a few things."
Carson nodded but then blinked when X's words sunk in. Wait . . . it was possible that X learned the sarcasm from somebody else? And unlike most other A.I. programs of today, this was true sarcasm. X responded to variables like a human would. Most other programs that were programed with sarcasm or learned it on their own used it at times when it was completely unnecessary or didn't make any sense at all for the situation. And that was only for the few A.I. that were capable of sarcasm. There quite a few that were not capable of ever being sarcastic.
X was different. That was plainly obvious from the moment Carson met the android. The way he responded to stimuli almost made her wonder if X was really just a human soul in a metal body.
As the crosswalk light turned green and she began making her way across, Carson realized that X was possibly one of the most dangerous beings on the planet. A being that could blend in and not be discovered, while having physical capabilities that surpassed any human. A being that could blow apart buildings and take a bullet without much damage. She had read the stories of X's predecessor. She knew of the true power behind the buster hidden in X's arm. The copying abilities. The charged shot.
And X's armor which was made out of titanium. Incredibly strong for its weight. The ideal substance for creating any human like robot. In battle though, it could also prove to be an advantage. The titanium would allow for more flexibility and speed, not to mention an easier repair job.
And none of that was mentioning the X-Factor. The ability to evolve over time had been unheard of before. Given time, X could become the most powerful being in the world, and arguably the universe. He had the potential for it.
Unlimited potential. It was a scary thought. If X became a sort of criminal, he could be unstoppable. And if they didn't take X out quickly, then there would be no stopping him. Carson hopped that it would never come to that.
There was a small worn down park on the way to Carson's destination. There were less people around and X had relaxed as the number or stares from people decreased. A young dark skinned boy no older than nine sat on a rusty swing in the park, head down and staring sadly at a basketball as he rolled it under his feet. X glanced around. There were no parents nearby or any other kids. The child was alone.
Carson glanced in the boy's direction, but otherwise paid the boy no extra heed. X stopped and stared at the kid who obviously wasn't happy with his loneliness. He glanced at Carson who had continued on without him a little ways. Making up his mind, X walked through the park. Carson and wherever she was leading him to could wait.
X sat down on the swing next to the boy who looked up at him in shock and amazement. He gave him a comforting grin.
"Do you play basketball?" X asked, gesturing to the ball under the boy's feet. The boy nodded.
"Yeah, but I mostly just play by myself. Nobody really comes here anymore except my friends, but they're all busy. The other kids all go to the fancy new playgrounds."
"Why can't you go to the fancy new playgrounds as well?" X asked. The boy shrugged.
"You need parents to go to those playgrounds. Mum and da are always busy with something."
The boy looked back down at his basketball, it was new and hardly used. Perhaps the boy had gotten it as a gift, but hadn't used it. Games get old fast when you don't have anybody to play with.
Carson stopped and turning around soon after the clank of X's boots on the cement stopped. She found him talking to the boy she saw earlier sitting by himself. Carson walked closer as to hear more of their conversation.
X frowned and then rubbed the back of his head even though the helmet covered up all of it. He gave a sheepish grin to the boy.
"I'll let you know that I've never played basketball before. You're going to have to teach me," X stated. The boy looked up at him, eyes wide in amazement. A moment later, his face broke out into a huge grin.
"You're gonna-?" the boy started. X nodded.
"It doesn't hurt to try something new, but I might suck at this like I do ping pong," X warned. The boy raised an eyebrow.
"Ping pong?"
X frowned as he glanced at the boy. "It's harder than it looks," X muttered. The boy grinned and stood, holding out a hand.
"I'm Timothy!" the boy greeted. X smiled and shook the boy's hand.
"Call me X," X said. Timothy nodded and ran out onto the cracked basketball court nearby, joyfully bouncing the ball on the cement. X glanced at the agent who was leaning against a pole on the slide. "I'm just gonna . . ."
Carson shook her head and made a shooing gesture with her hand. X grinned and ran to catch up with the boy. His feet clanked loudly against the cement. Timothy blinked and stared at X's feet.
"Metal?" Timothy asked. X sighed and nodded. He should have known that this was coming. "And here I thought you just dressed strangely. . . . You dress really strangely."
X sighed and once again went to rubbing the back of his head. "Yeah, um, I'm X."
The boy frowned at him. "You've mentioned that."
"No. Geez how to I put this. I'm . . . not human?" X stated almost ending it like a question. Timothy raised an eyebrow at him.
"Oh really? Then what are you?"
"Android."
The boy blinked and then his eyes widened in shock. "No way. You're joshin'me." X sighed and shook his head. Timothy grinned. "I've heard of you! You're the one that they're all talking about! That's super cool!"
X shuffled his boots in discomfort. Timothy noticed this and laughed. "So are you still gonna play?"
X grinned and nodded. Soon the two started. Timothy spent most of the time showing X what to do and a few moves. Soon, they had a game rolling. Clearly Timothy was the better player, but X was getting the hang of it.
They played for a couple of hours before Timothy had to go home. Carson didn't seem to mind watching them. It was about six and they only had two hours left before X was required to be back.
X joined Carson on the sidewalk, smiling happily. They walked a little ways before Carson dragged the android into a gas station. X stared around at the various objects displayed a bit curious as to why he was dragged into a gas station. He ran off of solar energy, not gasoline. Agent Carson knew that.
He turned to see Carson handing him some sort of candy. He raised an eyebrow and looked at her in confusion.
"Eat it," Carson ordered. X shrugged and unwrapped the candy, popping it into his mouth and figuring it was probably chocolate. His eyes widened in alarm and his face twisted into disgust as he bit down on the treat though. Carson looked incredibly amused by X's expression.
He was right. It was chocolate, but there was something else in it. Something evil that possessed the heavenly chocolate. It turned the entire treat bitter. Incredibly bitter. X forced the "treat" down his throat and gasped for fresh air. The taste lingered in his mouth.
"Sweet mother of all batteries! What was that?!" X exclaimed. Carson looked at him amused.
"It looks like you're weak to things that are very bitter. That was a coffee chocolate," Carson explained.
"WHY WOULD THEY DO THAT TO CHOCOLATE?!" X cried. Carson shrugged.
"The taste grows on you. I'm actually a fan. You like blue right?" the agent asked. X shuddered in response to Carson's first two statements and then nodded at her last. Carson sent another amused glance in his direction and shoved a large bottle into his hand. X looked at it warily. There was some sort of icy blue liquid in the large open topped cup.
"Oh relax. That is a far sweeter treat. I'm having one too. But don't expect me to give you one of these things ever again. I'm not your mother; I'm a government agent. You want one of things again? Get a job," Carson lectured. X shrugged and took a large sip, a HUGE mistake on his part. The icy liquid chilled his systems rabidly and sent a stabbing pain up to his forehead. X grimaced and pressed a gloved hand to his forehead.
"You can get a brain freeze?" Carson asked as she watched the android grimace in pain. X shrugged as Carson chuckled. "You're not supposed to drink it very fast you idiot. Otherwise that'll happen again."
X smiled sheepishly and followed the agent out of the building passing a few teens on the way. His eyes widened as he recognized them.
Tony was having what he called a normal day. He got yelled at in gym and just about fell asleep in math. The only cool thing that happened was that it was Xavier's first day.
Xavier was cool in Tony's opinion. But, he seemed like he was hiding something. Scratch that, Tony knew that X was hiding something. However, he figured that X would tell him when he was ready.
His evening was pretty normal too. Tony, Sam, and Mark picked Nicole up from her abusive (in all of her friend's opinions) parents. Tony debated contacting Xavier as well, but he didn't have the strange teen's number and he was rather new to the group. He wasn't sure if Nicole was ready for somebody else to know the hardships she faced at home.
They went to the library first. Nicole went directly to the computers to type up the next chapter from one of her computers. Sam went with her to keep her motivated (really it was the opposite at times. Sam distracted Nicole more than she actually helped, but Nicole didn't seem to mind). Mark and Tony plopped down at a table to crack down on their homework. If they didn't have any or finished early, Mark would grab a book. Tony, on the other hand, would sit in agonizing silence as the evening wore on. They usually stayed there for two to three hours.
From there, they would go eat dinner either at one of their own houses or at a restaurant and then go to a nearby gas station for dessert. The station had the best slushies around and the place always seemed to cheer Nicole up.
The day turned from average to SUPER AWESOME when he passed X on the way into the gas station.
Tony had immediately stopped and stared in shock as the blue armored android walked passed him, sending a small wave in his direction. He completely missed the way X's eyes widened in recognition when he looked at Tony and his friends. His mind was too busy processing the reality of what he was seeing.
Sam however, didn't. She narrowed her eyes at the advanced robot in suspicion and tensed immediately in his presence. She only relaxed when the android left, following the woman that had walked out of the station before him.
Tony snapped into fan girl mode the moment X was out of sight. "OH MY GOSH! DID YOU SEE HIM?! HE WAS AMAZING! A bit smaller than what I had originally imagined, but THAT DOESN'T TAKE AWAY FROM HIS AWESOMENESS!"
"That was X?" Nicole asked quietly, too quiet for any of her companions to her. She hadn't really noticed X's armor. She mostly just stared into the android's eyes. That's what she did with everybody. The eyes were pathways to the soul and she could determine a person's character by studying their eyes.
X's eyes seemed familiar. Like she'd seen them before. She couldn't place her finger on where though.
As they stepped into the gas station and Nicole began filling her slushie cup with the blue raspberry slush, it dawned on her. Blue. That was where she had seen those eyes before.
While she didn't notice X's armor, she did notice that he was covered in blue. Xavier had the same eyes and he was also covered in blue. After that it was easy to put two and two together. Xavier was X. She was sure of it.
While she was thinking, she hadn't noticed that her cup had overfilled until Sam reached over to gently take Nicole's hand off the tab, breaking Nicole's concentration.
Sam stared at Nicole in concern. "Nicole? Are you okay?" Sam asked, gently.
Nicole blinked and then looked at the blonde. "Sam? . . . Uh. . . yeah. I just . . . I just was thinking about something. That's all."
"Are you sure? Is it something you'd like to talk about?" Nicole shook her head.
"No. . . it's not my place to tell you. This has nothing to do with my parents. I'm fine Sam really. I just . . . You know how I look into people's eyes and study them."
Sam nodded and then frowned. "Does this have something to do with X?"
"Sort of."
"Huh? Why would X have anything to tell us?" Tony asked confused as he joined the conversation. "I mean. I admire the guy, but he's an android. We're human."
Nicole shrugged and Sam stared at her in confusion. Sam knew that Nicole's observation skills sometimes made her seem omnipotent. And Nicole was always right. Was there something more to X than she had originally thought?
A little over an hour later, X and Carson leaned against the guard rail on the balcony of a sky scraper, observing the chaos that was the traffic below them. The government agent reviewed the last hour in her head as she watched the android observe the world below them with a look of interest.
X proved to be every bit like what Cain had described. The android loved kids, that much was evident when Carson had to physically drag the metallic being away from where he was playing with the kids at yet another park.
Also, despite his wariness to interact with humans which was probably caused by Doctor Cain's enforcement of a secret identity, X was socially adept. There weren't many people he couldn't talk to. And while the stares and open mouths unnerved him, X's natural cheerfulness managed to get the tension and awkwardness around him to drop rapidly in conversations. That and X seemed to care about what others had to say.
Carson smiled to herself. X was a good person and she doubted that he would stray from that path very easily. His innocence was blinding at times and he was far wimpier than what she was used to.
Actually, no, it wasn't that X was wimpy, no that wasn't it. He was soft. Too soft. A few more years might harden him up a bit more, but as of right now, he was a little weak in the way of the mind. He had determination though, and will. But he was also far too gullible sometimes.
All in all, he was acting exactly like he should. X wasn't even a year old at this point. He had the knowledge of a professor, the mind of a teenager, but the experience of a baby. Perhaps, when those differences began evening out, he would get stronger. As of right now, X had a lot of things he needed to work on.
At this point, X could easily slip into darkness. It was rather easy to fool X. He saw the good in everybody and sometimes assumed that people were going to act like the good inside of them.
He needed to grow up.
However, despite his obvious weaknesses regarding his mental issues, Carson found that she rather liked the android. Enough that she felt the need to warn him about the true darkness that surrounded him, darkness that he was too blind to see.
"X," Carson started. The android's head turned to look at her. "There's something you should know."
X remained silent, knowing that whatever she was going to say was important and that he shouldn't interrupt.
"There are a lot of people out there that are not as nice as they seem," Carson stated. X opened his mouth to respond, but the agent shushed him. "People who would use your potential for their own benefit. People who really aren't looking out for anybody else's wellbeing except their own." Carson paused. "You have to start paying attention to things and being cautious. You can't trust people just because they seem nice. People are more manipulative that you think."
X nodded.
"The point is X that Doctor Cain isn't who he seems. He's-," Carson was cut off by X.
"What do you mean?! Doctor Cain has taken care of me ever since I was activated!" X exclaimed.
"I know! But you can't believe that everything he says is true! He's not telling you everything!" Carson argued.
"Doctor Cain's one of the few that doesn't discriminate me for being an android!"
"I KNOW X!" Carson shouted. X shut his mouth. "X, there's a fine line between trust and idiocy. I'm not saying that Doctor Cain hasn't done a lot for you; I'm just saying that his intentions are darker than you think! He-," Carson was once again cut off.
"I TRUST Doctor Cain! Alright?! He's like a father to me!" X shook his head and breathed in a bit to calm down.
"X-," Carson started, but got cut off again as X raised a hand to stop her.
"I'm heading back. It's about time anyways," X grumbled. Carson blinked as X vanished in a flash of blue, the air whistling.
Carson sighed after the light disappeared.
"You really need to grow up, X."
Author's Note: This was an odd chapter. I'll just say that right now. It had to have been really late when I wrote this because Carson came out a lot stranger than truly necessary. If I haven't mentioned this before, I, especially my writing, get a little loopy when I'm tired. I could try to do it earlier in the day, but honestly, my best ideas come to me only when I'm semi conscious.
