The next day the hospital released Anubis. Since his brother was at work, he thought he'd have to find his way by himself. He was too scared. The last time he'd been on his own, those three had lynched him. So he stood at the entrance to the hospital. Fidgeting. People passing by took in the sight of this agitated angel.
He'd gotten changed into some more fresh clothes. Despite the fact it was a very hot day, he was wearing a slightly too large white polo-neck, and black trousers. But he had his reasons...
The doctor had suggested he get a bath before he left, and during said bath, the angel had noticed the burn marks. They were only faint on his neck, but the flames from the explosion had left scorch patterns over most of his back and arms. Hence the long sleeves. He didn't want to give people any further reason to stare...
So there he stood, feeling a little overheated, unsure of what to do. It was while he was panicking that he felt a tap on his shoulder. He whipped round, looking fearfully up at the person.
"Relax bud, its only me, remember?" Christophe poked his nose as he spoke, and snickered when the kid went cross-eyed.
Anubis blinked, then seemed to relax. This guy was one of the nice ones..the one with the scary brother.
As he thought about it, some kids nearby were setting off bottle rockets fort a laugh. The loud volley of bangs scared Anubis, who mistook it for an explosion..
"Uh..." Christophe blinked down at him. Anubis had jumped about a mile in the air, then clung onto him in fright.
"You can let go now...its not an explosion.."
People looked at the odd sight. Cortes brother and some lavender-haired guy clanging fearfully to him.
At last Anubis let go, and Christophe pointed to the group of kids and explained it. The terrified angel nodded, but still looked a little twitchy.
--Geez, a little neurotic isn't he?-- Christophe thought to himself --I've never seen anyone so easily startled..--
He sighed, wondering how he gotten suckered into babysitting a neurotic robot.
--His brother said he trusts me for some reason..probably because i didn't smack him senseless on meeting him...other then that, i can't see why he does..--
He was interrupted by a loud growl. He looked at Anubis, who turned bright red, and nearly fell over.
Steady him he sighed, and began nudging him towards the tavern. The kid needed food and badly.
The kid hung back nervously as they reached the taverns doors. He looked afraid of something.
"Don't panic, those guys are in lock-up, and if anyone tries anything funny...ill kick the crap outta them, now c'mon..." he urged him inside.
People glanced round briefly to see who it was. Anubis just hid behind Christophe, and kept his head down. He was starting to panic...
"Hey, over here!" Mahad spotted them and called over. Christophe strode over towards them, Anubis sidling behind, clutching the end of his sleeve in fright.
Seated at the table were Lena and her brother, along with Wayan and cheng.
"Another one, way cool!" cheng said enthusiastically as Christophe managed to sit the nervous Anubis down. The pale-haired robot blinked and stared down at the floor, tugging the ends of his sleeves over his hands.
He could hear cheng babbling about robotics and computers to the others, but his heart was pounding too hard in his ears for him to hear it properly.
It was very warm too...
"What's with the sweater, you're gonna fry in this weather..." Mahad asked.
"He's right...your face is already red..." Wayan added, looking at him.
"You OK dressed like that bud?" Christophe asked. Anubis just nodded quickly.
"M fine." he said, his words some what muffled by the polo-neck. He stared at the table, still a little nervous around so many people.
Cheng was poking at a device on the table. Anubis heard him explaining it was a radio transmitter or something like that..
When the next round of drinks arrived, the kid put the device to one side. Checking the kid wasn't looking, Anubis nudged it a little closer to him. In his pocket was a little toolkit, something the vector had given him just in case.
He pulled it out now, and within seconds, had flipped the panel open. He stared down at it. Ah, it was a simple problem. All he to do was re-attach this wire...and move this one..
In less time then it took for Mahad to make a cheesy joke, he'd rewired it. He clicked the panel back into place, and pressed the power button. It crackled into life, startling him with a burst of static, when shifted into a transmission.
"Hawuuh?" cheng blinked, staring at him. He grinned "how'd you do that?!" he picked up the radio.
"Itd take me ages to sort it out, how'd you fix it so fast...?" he looked admiringly at Anubis.
The robot scratched at the side of his cheek. "Uhm...i dunno...r-really.." he stammered out at last.
"You must have a pretty good knowledge of machines then..?" Wayan asked. Anubis thought about it.
"Yeah..I guess so..."" he brushed strands of hair out of his eyes. In the process of this, the sleeve slipped down a bit. Hidden by it were some of the burn wounds from the incident, as well as bruise marks from where the thugs had grabbed hold of him when he'd tried to run.
Spying the burns, Christophe and everyone else quickly knew why the guy wore a sweater in such hot weather..
Spotting them staring at him, Anubis quickly put his hand down, pulling the sleeve over it again. His face was red, he knew it. He hadn't wanted them to see it.
He stared at the floor again. He could barely concentrate. his stomach was shifting. He fidgeted uneasily.
"There you lot ARE, I've been all over the place...where you able to find out what's wrong with the radio?"
Anubis felt his stomach freeze up. That voice.
"Its already fixed Cortes!" cheng handed it over to the captain, "cool huh?"
Cortes raised an eyebrow "that was fast cheng! I only gave it to you this morning!"
Cheng grinned and pointed at the scared Anubis "it wasn't me, he did! in about 5 seconds flat!"
Anubis hunched over as much as he could. He could feel the guy staring at him. The large collar of the sweater hid the lower part of his face, all that could be seen were wide scared eyes.
"Impressive..." Cortes said at last, turning it over in his hands "must have a natural talent for building machines..." he decided not to mention the fact the guy had been able to build a compression canon.
Anubis just squeaked in response. Cortes scared him. The human was so fierce, and those wings were huge..but they were pretty.
"Hey where the other half of ya?" mahad asked. Cortes sat down with a sigh.
"Off on patrol again...wont be back till later..." his voice sounded sad almost.
"Aww..missin' him already?" Christophe teased. Cortes glared at him.
"Just like you'll soon be missing your brain!" he said crossly.
"What brain?" Christophe sniggered, poking his brother in the head.
Cortes glared at swatted at him, but Christophe leaned back to avoid it. And lost his balance, falling off his stool and onto the floor. Anubis couldn't help it.
"Pff...hehe.." he laughed softly. Then went red and hid his face behind the collar of his sweater again.
"Nice going!" Mahad laughed. Lena and Wayan couldn't keep straight faces either.
Cortes shook his head "dork!" he said at last.
"Nerd!" came the response as Christophe sat himself back up.
Anubis couldn't help giggling a little at those two. You could tell they were related allright..the way they acted.
Cortes looked at the lavender-haired angel as he heard him snigger. It was a start.
Catching the fierce-bird-captain staring at him, Anubis ducked his head and tried to make himself as inconspicuous as possible. That guy obviously didn't like him one bit..he was probably only playing nice because his partner, Anubis brother, had begged him to. Why else would he glare at him all the time..?
His stomach lurched, and he hiccupped. Eyes wide, he scuttled away from the table, aiming for the bathroom.
Cheng blinked as he seen Anubis make a break for it. "He looks a little...pale to say the least.."
Christophe shrugged "tell me about it, he's neurotic, scared of loud noises, his own shadow...plus he seems to eat an inordinately large amount according to vector. He's like a twitchy stomach on legs..."
Cortes sighed "he's a total fruit loop then...well that hasn't changed..only the last time i seen him, he was a psychopathic loon, not a scardey-cat one..."
"Don't be so mean!" Lena interrupted, looking at Cortes "he's lost all his memories, and the first day he was awake, those thugs nearly killed him. If it was YOUR first day awake, you'd be scared too!"
Cortes sighed huffily, "hmph..yeah whatever..." he grumped, which was about as close to an agreement as Lena was going to get outta him.
Wayan chuckled at the captains sulky expression. Since the DNA infusion, his moods sometimes became a little basic, somewhat childish. It was so funny to watch.
In the bathroom a very dizzy Anubis was splashing water on his face. The little food he'd managed to eat before leaving the hospital had decided to come back up. It had been very unpleasant. His head ached too. So much felt like it was building up on him.
"Hey..you're that little rat aren't you? My friends got slammed in lockup thanks to you and your accusations.." a voice cut into the fugue.
Anubis blinked. He'd seen this guy sitting near the three that had attacked him, and realised he must be part of their group as well. He panicked, backing up against the wall.
"P-please...just l-leave me alone-yeaoh!" he cut off mid sentence as the guy smacked him across the face pretty hard, knocking him back into the wall. The guy was clearly drunk despite the early hours of the morning.
"You're a pathetic piece of trash..even the captain doesn't want you around. I've seen the way he was glaring at you..he wants rid of you. The only reason he asnt' is cos 'es sleeping with your goody-goody twin, and 'e told him to let you stay.."
This struck home. Anubis thought about it. The way Cortes had disliked him on site, and only thanks to sirus had he relented and agreed to let him stay. Plus he kept glaring at him every time he saw him...
"And if you think that because he stuck up for your sorry ass last night, that he doesn't mind you here, yer wrong. He could hardly say anything with your brother there could 'e? He only cares for himself and your brother...he couldn't give a crap about the likes of YOU-"
Here Anubis could take no more. The headache had built to a pounding crescendo. And overflowed.
"JUST STAY AWAY FROM ME!!" he shouted as the pain peaked sharply. The guy stared. the robot was glowing with a faint white outline. The it expanded outwards. Every window in the restroom shattered at the same time, the radio he wore went crazy. The stall doors tore free from the hinges, and the mirrors rattled in their frames but remarkably remained intact.
Everyone in the bar looked up at the anguished cry rang out. Then got the fright of their life as the volley of explosions rang out. Every piece of radio equipment either went offline or started spouting garbled crazy static. The main screen showed only snowy static, a high pitched whine emitting from it. Then it went silent as whatever was interfering cut out.
"What the hell was that?!" Mahad squeaked as he removed his hands from his ears.
"Radio interference..." cheng said at last.
"From a bomb? That's not possible..plus we don't have anything like that here!" Christophe added. Cortes thought about it as they all got up from the table and headed for the restroom.
"NO...but we do have a mentally unstable robot..."
"You mean HE did that?" cheng gaped, "whoa..."
They barged into the bathroom, confronting the scene before them. The guy who'd hit Anubis was old cold on the floor. The terrified robot was backed up against the wall, hands to his head.
"What the hell happened here?!" Cortes yelled, advancing on Anubis. "Are you totally off your rocker, you cant just go attacking anyone that comes near ye, let alone wrecking the damn place-!" he reached out and grabbed the shaking Anubis by his shoulders. "now snap out of it!"
He was going to hurt him, throw him out was all Anubis could think. He was in deep trouble now. He began to panic. The pain built up again.
"Are you listening to me?!" Cortes snapped. "What's the matter with you?!"
"I...I DONT KNOW ALREADY!!" Anubis cried tearfully. The was a faint whine, a bright glow, and the next second Cortes was flung to the floor by the re-emergence of the protective force.
"Whoa.." cheng was looking at his equipment "Interference is off the charts..he's somehow creating it himself!"
"Is this normal?!" Cortes snarled, getting to his feet.
"Wait..don't scare him Cortes.." Lena said softly "that's what's making him lash out. I can sense it. People are still being cruel to him..that's what that guy did, he tried to hurt him.." she walked towards the scared robot "he doesn't know how to get himself out of these kinds of messes"
"It's like he created a sort of shielding, but because he was damaged by the incident with Cortes and Marcus last time, it musta gone a bit wrong, hence the interference wave!" cheng added brightly.
Cortes glowered at his brother "oi, he doesn't seem to have tried electrocuting YOU yet, YOU talk to the crazy guy."
Lena watched Anubis' behaviour, he wouldn't look up at them, which meant he was very scared of people. Perhaps he thought Cortes was going to kick him out for this, that's why he wasn't calming down.
Wayan blinked "shall I go radio his brother..he might be able to give us some information.."
Cortes nodded "that'd be best, go quickly!" as Wayan tore off, he noticed his brother sneaking towards the shivering Anubis.
"Hey kid, you can calm down now.." he looked at the unconscious attacker "that jerkass wont be bothering ya again. One of Patrucci's little buddies if i remember rightly...their the worst lot..is that how you got that bruise.." he indicated the swelling on the poor robots left cheek. It looked like he'd been hit pretty hard.
Cortes blinked, taking the possible situation in. This guy must've cornered Anubis and probably started yelling at him. He smelt like a booze factory. He was piss-drunk.
"Pee-yew.." Mahad pulled a face "he musta been fart as a pissed..."
"That's pissed as a fart, Mahad, and don't use such language!" Cortes added.
"Why not? I heard it off you!" Mahad sniggered. Cortes shook his head.
"Doesn't mean you have to copy me idiot boy.."
Lena giggled, trust her brother to get it wrong...
Christophe was standing right in front of Anubis now. He carefully reached out and patted the guy on head "s'ok bud you can switch the WMD now.."
Anubis blinked up at him "but...he'll throw me out for sure.." he sniffled "that's what the guy said.."
Christophe sighed and ruffled his hair, looking over at his brother as he spoke "not if I have anything to say about it. He's caused some mass damage himself ya know...like the hospital for one.."
Cortes gave his brother his best death glare, "fine fine...forgot about it..I'll have someone start repairs.." he sighed. He didn't know what to think. Maybe he WAS being a bit harsh on the guy. After all, sirus had said he had no memories left of the incident.
--I just cant trust him as easily as everyone else can I suppose...probably because I've seen the other side of him first...then this naive side..--
"--there's a giant floating melon outside that wants to have a chat with you commander half-wit!"
"..send it in.." Cortes muttered absently, then realised what Mahad had said, as the whole bathroom erupted into waves of laughter.
"Go play with the traffic Mahad!" he snapped crossly, aware he'd made an arse of himself. But even he couldn't help a faint smile...
"Dumbass!" Christophe snickered. he looked at Anubis "see? he's not all bad, don't be fooled by the gruff exterior..he's a good guy, just give him time to get used to you..he's not very good with trusting people right off the bat." he patted Anubis' shoulder "besides, he'd have kicked you out last night if he was going to..once he's promised someone safety here, he doesn't turn them away unless its deadly serious."
"R-really..?" Anubis sniffled, peering fearfully at Cortes.
Cortes sighed and rolled his eyes "yeees. so stop wigging out already, I'm not going to knock your block off-"
"Or knock you off the block!" Mahad interpreted.
"Shut. up. you." Cortes growled jokingly.
Mahad grinned "hehe"
Anubis smiled very slightly, then sniffled again. He took a step forward, and his stomach growled again, making him feel dizzy. He stumbled and felt the floor come rushing toward him..
Christophe quickly stepped forward and grabbed hold of him, propping him against him. "steady kid, you musta used up most yer batteries on that little outburst..."
"But why is the r-room spinning?" Anubis mumbled weakly, clutching onto Christophe tightly.
"You're drunk?" Mahad offered.
Wayan came tearing back in, "he's on his way back now he said, sir!"
Cortes sighed, feeling relieved. He needed to talk to sirus, about a lot of things...
Anubis barely heard any of this, he had his head buried in Christophe's shoulder. It felt safe having someone he knew wouldn't hurt him, and that didn't think of him as a piece of trash.
--Sliiiight problem here...if i move, he's gonna fall over. He looks like he can barely stand..-- Christophe sighed. Why had he agreed to this...? Although, when he looked at the guy,. he felt somewhat sorry for him. And in a way, he was sort of sweet, like an innocent little child..so willing to trust HIM all because he'd happened to find him behind those bins.
Anubis was getting drowsier by the second. --Humans smell kind of nice..-- he thought absently, then wondered what basis he'd thought that up from. And why?
He was dimly aware of Christophe talking to him, but he couldn't figure out the words. He let his eyes close, and fell into a blissful sleep.
"Hey-WHOA!" Christophe managed to catch him as the pale haired robot blacked out. He carefully picked him up, the guy barely weighed anything.
"Better get him to the doctor.." Cortes sighed, grabbing the radio to call ahead. "what a mess.."
Whee, third chapter hehe
Random fact: I cannot. fricken. SLEEP. DAMN YOU INSOMNIA-zzzzzzzzzzzzz...