Cross posted on tumblr and ao3

I don't own DMMd

Whilst waiting on Mink to get his ass into gear was not something Noiz was happy about, he did it. Noiz waited as patiently as a twenty-one year old could muster, fiddling with bits here and there until he had not only pulled apart but then put back together one of his little robots at least six times.

To be honest, Noiz wasn't sure if he should even be here. Here being outside the once grand walls to Platinum Jail. It had been quite some time since Platinum Jail was exclusive (two years, eight months and three days to be exact). Right now, even if the locals had started to move in, it still wasn't entirely safe. Keisen was a much nicer place compared to Platinum Jail anytime of day. At least Noiz was sure that in Keisen he was going to get shot and then mugged, not just mugged and left to drag his sorry butt home.

Mink had said he would be allowed to come along, as he claimed he didn't entirely know what Noiz needed. Which was utter bullshit because Mink was surprisingly knowledgeable about a lot of things, and had often pointed Noiz in the right direction (when pressed of course because the man wouldn't speak unless spoken to).

Just as Noiz began to remove the top of his little robot to mess around with it once more, his light was blocked. He tensed, instantly, because for one thing he had let his guard down entirely (and he could almost hear the old him laughing at him). But an all too familiar smell soon wafted around him, making him slightly dizzy, and Noiz frowned up at the giant of a man.

"You're late."

Mink was completely unfazed by Noiz's tone, having finally got his attention, moved past Noiz and continued past the walls. Scurrying to follow, Noiz shoved the little robot into his pocket and ignored the amused looks of Scratch's members. At least Mink had the sense to bring some sort of threatening look with him, although Noiz was definitely more afraid of Mink than Tattooed McBeard walking beside him. Guy looked like his tattoos had come to life with all that facial hair. It was kind of gross to be honest.

"Do you know where these robots would be?"

Increasing his pace so that he was now only a few steps behind Mink, Noiz lowered his voice. "Centre of the Jail where the tower was. Apparently there have been recordings of the robots still being active there."

"And they shouldn't be I take it?"

"After Toue being overthrown, technically no."

A rather unimpressed snort left Mink. "Can't even use a failsafe properly."

Noiz didn't bother responding. He didn't want to get into the technicalities behind the mess that was Platinum Jail. Although, he hadn't actually had much of an active role during what had happened (he was still trying to pin Sly down and well that was an experience in itself), he had heard bits and pieces here and there. What he was doing was kind of maybe getting into the place at least four hours late to haul Aoba's injured ass out, and then walk around until the wee hours of the morn picking up scrap to sell off later. Maybe. No one can prove he was doing that.

Aoba apparently knew far more about what happened than anyone else but he refused to speak about it, only mentioning that his family was involved and hey, maybe there was a mass experiment going on the citizens of Platinum Jail. Who knows. It sounded like some bad comic Noiz was entirely committed to when he was at the tender age of thirteen.

All Noiz knew at that moment though, was that they were about to walk straight into an active robot and he was not looking forward to it. Pulling back far enough, Mink only had to give him one look to understand, and they stopped, just as the bot came around the corner.

It gave them one hard look, for good measure, and Noiz kind of had to kickstart himself to not fawn over that face because it was missing those two moles that he had grown attached to as he was tending to Clear's face.

Mink knocked him over the head, mumbling something about "now is not the time", before charging head on at the bot.

"Don't break it!" Was all Noiz shouted as he saw two men happily whack the bot over the back of the head.

According to his research any sustained injury apart from the robot's own doing was quite easy for the bot to repair. Noiz merely shook his head as the fractured skin of the bot knit itself back together and one of the guy's with a bat tried hitting it again.

"Just hold it down!"

Fishing in his pocket for that damn little robot, Noiz appreciated that Mink actually took notice of him. Reattaching one wire, Noiz watched the little bot jumped to life in his hands. Walking up to the now really aggressive robot (who looked a lot like Clear it was almost startling), Noiz merely frowned.

There were no ports for him to attach the wires to, and Mink's men were really struggling here. Sighing to himself, Noiz - carefully - reached out towards the bot, gripping its jaw in one hand. "Open wide," he muttered, before shoving the smaller bot inside.

It squeaked at him and called him a rather offensive name, but it's internal wires shot out and well the Not-Clear robot was not expecting that. Mink's men had their arms full as the thing thrashed about until it got its arms free, and proceeded to run away. Without thinking, Noiz dashed after it, ignoring Mink's calls. There was no way he was going to let it get away, not in this life.

Thankfully, the effects of Noiz's bot had started to kick in, as soon the robot was limping around corners, trying to lose itself in the Jail. One of it's eyes was swivelling in its socket when it caught sight of Noiz, and it opened its mouth, jaw wordlessly moving. Noiz thought for a moment it was actually crying, and he felt kind of bad (wondered too if Clear would make that kind of face). Taking a few steps towards him, it's knees finally gave out and it collapsed on its side, staring up at him. Convulsing a few times, in a last ditch effort it nearly managed to rip Noiz's toy out before the light of its eyes died out.

Hoping he hadn't caused the bot to commit its own form of shutting down, Noiz pulled his little bot free, letting it flash the collected data up at him.

Finally aware of his surroundings, Noiz realised he was incredibly lost. And also incredibly exposed, as it felt like a hundred pairs of eyes were staring at his back. For a fleeting moment Noiz thought he was going to die, but the familiar thunk of boots had him slap himself on the cheek and stand up.

Grinning quite smugly at the disgruntled look on Mink's face, Noiz motioned to the curled up bot. "I present to you an alpha."