A/N - Welcome to Protection Verse. I've been working on this since February 2018 and I decided to post the 180,000+ words behemoth over here to see if there's an audience for it. It's across a couple fics and still ongoing even today. A few things before we begin. Almost all the characters shown in this fic are based on fictional YouTube characters (aka egos) or various YouTube videos I enjoy. Very few of them are presented canonically, so there's some kind of twist, hence the name - Not As You Know Them. Still I really hope you'll find something to like about the story. - If you have any questions, feel free to ask, I'll answer the best I can without spoiling anything that may be upcoming

One Final A/N - Beyond this chapter, author's notes may sometimes be meta contributions to the story similar to what I use over on AO3.

Bing is a lousy droid – Fact.

Not only is he undeniably inferior at many basic functions that come so much easier to Google, he's far too upbeat, tends to be hyperactive, spends too much time on that dang skateboard, the droid's systems are way too slow, and he takes an age to charge. Despite Google's repeated insistence that none of them need Bing, Dark frequently shuts down his protests and says that Bing is staying.

Google has deemed that letting Bing know just how aggravating he finds the inferior droid is worth less than looks of disdain and grunts of disapproval when their paths cross. Still Bing doesn't seem to get the idea, and every time he continues to give a wave and that weird greeting.

Google's brothers are a little more tolerant of Bing, though not by much. So it's they who start to notice something off about him.

Red mostly just says no to whatever stupid new dangerous activity Bing is wanting to check out. This week it's BMX, last week it was abseiling, next week it could well be sky-diving. It makes no sense that a droid would be that intent on putting itself into such dangerous situations. He doesn't notice initially that Bing has stopped approaching him, eventually realising that the last time Bing suggested some activity was a good few weeks ago.

Green often assists Dr Iplier in his clinic, and one day, he enters to find Bing speaking with the doc in hushed voices, though he soon shuts up when he realises they aren't alone. Dr Iplier doesn't realise and promises that he'll ask around but that Bing should assume the answer is no. Once Bing has left, Green asks what that had been about but the doc just claims doctor-patient confidentiality and says nothing.

Oliver is the closest with Bing, the two of them actually getting on quite well, though Google still doesn't understand it. The yellow droid and Bing often watch TV, or hang out in the garden or go for mini-adventures (nothing life-threatening).So when he searches everywhere for the orange droid, only to find the guy still in bed barely moving or responding, of course he's worried. At first he thinks it might be a charging issue but Bing kind of half wakes up and insists it isn't, before he asks to be given some time to just rest.

The three of them take their concerns to Google who reminds them that Bing isn't like them. He's an inferior machine and is distracting them from their objectives. It isn't until he's passing Bing's room and he can hear muted sobs that his own curiosity gets the better of him and he goes in to investigate.

Bing is sat on the edge of his bed, cradling his right arm that looks like it's shut down, a bit too stiff and still. Sure enough Bing is crying, though as soon as he sees Google coming in, he gives this big fake smile as though he doesn't look like death.

The two of them stay like this for a moment or two, Google in the doorway, Bing on the bed. Having satisfied his curiosity, Google starts to leave, stopping because Bing calls out to him, asking him for help.

Bing admits he isn't actually a droid powered by the search engine Bing. His real name is Ashley Bingham. Bing was a childhood nickname that's always stuck. When he was in his late teens, he was involved in a nasty accident that destroyed a large portion of the right side of his body. By rights he should have died. He only survived because he somehow would up the subject of an incredibly experimental (and probably not very legal) bionic procedure. It was a success but the connections between his robotic parts and his human parts made for a messy problem when it came to illness or malfunction.

A doctor can look after his fleshy body, a robotics specialist can easily maintain his enhancements, but very few are willing to get involved when the two mix. The only person really qualified to maintain Bing is an up-to-date expert in bionics, and even then given the often controversial nature of the practice, most of them only know how to handle it in theory.

The only practioner, who has maintained Bing to this point, died six months ago, and Bing has spent all this time trying to find someone else before something goes wrong. Even asking Dr Iplier if he knows anyone who might be able to help. Bing then explains that it may be too late, since he can't move his arm and his eye is starting to malfunction. If he doesn't find someone to fix him soon, it's only a matter of time before something more vital fails, and there's no coming back from that.

This is a lot to take in, Google finding himself with a lot of questions but deciding that now is probably not the time, he sends a message to summon all the Google droids in Bing's room. They each have a vital role to play.

Green is tasked with finding any and all resources available that discuss the practice of bionic surgery and to search for notes by the original surgeon. After all, in this new digital age, nothing is ever truly lost. Everything needs to be found, read, noted, printed, filed and shared between them.

Red has to find out which of the other egos know, discreetly. A somewhat arduous task but a vital one nonetheless, given the extremes to which Bing has gone to try and keep this hidden. It's clearly a point of concern, possibly even shame and if there is anyone who may try and use it against him, they need to know.

Oliver's duty is to keep Bing calm, since he's still crying and clearly very distressed. Keep him distracted and reassure him that this is just a hurdle, not a road block. Make sure he doesn't do anything to further aggravate his parts and maybe try to find out what was replaced so they know where to start working.

Google heads straight for the clinic, informing the doctor that he knows, and they'll require regular access to his clinic at various points, maybe even need his assistance from time to time. When the doctor asks why Google just says he and his brother will be fixing Bing from now on.

They can hardly leave him in the state they found him, they cannot allow him to simply cease to function. Google doesn't entirely understand his own motivation but he knows one thing.

Bing is a lousy droid - fact - because he's not a droid. And he definitely doesn't deserve to die.