And here's a longer one for you, that actually involves Nos! *gasp* To be honest, all three of these are my favorite characters and I enjoy trying to write with all of them, but I always get nervous when it comes to the energy vampire. He's such a popular character, I can't help but worry about people hating how I write with him.

This oneshot is the first of many playing around with the 'injecting grownup, rookie ranger Savy into a twisted canon timeline' au. It's set during Nos-4-a2, and I randomly generated this word with while a villain song came up in my shuffle, so this is what came of that. I'm sure this is obvious, but just in case, this doesn't exactly follow canon to a T. I need to come back and edit this a bit more...

"Hey, XR!"

Savy closed the lab door behind her, eternally grateful that Captain Nebula could've cared less about the fact she liked to sneak in late at night when she wasn't on call or dead to the world. The LGMs probably would have felt differently had they known about it, but as nice and helpful as they were, the young woman couldn't say she cared about the possibility of frustrating them.

If she did, big whoop. It wasn't like she was doing anything wrong. She'd worked in here enough as it was, that as far as Savy was concerned, unlimited access was what she rightfully deserved. The cute little aliens didn't have to be the only technological miracle workers.

Not that she was here to tweak anything right this second. Tonight was the start of this week's poker championship- for the rangers and staff that knew about the proceedings, anyway- and XR hadn't shown up for the secret, strategic meeting they'd agreed upon at least two days ago.

She'd been told by Booster and Mira that the little guy was tired and had gone into recharge, but Savy had figured that was his excuse to cast away suspicion and slip away the second he had a chance. Since everybody else had finally gone to their homes on Capital planet or settled in for their evening work, this had seemed the best time to come get him.

Hell, staying in the lab for their meeting was probably for the best.

"XR?"

The fact he wasn't answering her immediately cast doubt on the brilliant plan scenario. Savy sighed as she circled the room until she came upon the recharge chamber, her robot pal strapped in tight and mumbling in stasis mode.

"Figures," she huffed, folding her arms across her chest. Whatever Team Lightyear had gone and gotten themselves into had drained the poor bot dry, and he'd completely forgotten about their plans. Maybe she could convince one of the sentrybots to cash in on her side, or Mira. Somebody.

She could always wake him up too Savy supposed, but she had to fight with herself over whether that was a good idea or not. Being rude wasn't her main concern. It was whether the poor bot would have enough energy to be up to the task.

Savy had just about come to a decision, when a strange noise issued from behind the recharge chamber, compelling her to go take a look.

Leaving XR to rest, the young woman walked around the panels that had hidden the storage field from view; arching a brow at the sight that awaited her. She'd heard about Team Lightyear's latest exploits in passing, but the details had been vague and now she could see why. The supposed big thing they'd saved was a box.

A box.

And it was being kept under a containment field. No wonder nobody had really been able to give any answers. Considering the strange sound was coming from it however, maybe she would. Being the first person to figure out what this was would be pretty cool, Savy had to say.

She didn't have to wait long. Almost as if it had been waiting for somebody to show up, the box began to open itself; not exactly unique in itself, until what looked like fog began pouring out of it. Savy jumped as the top flung itself open the rest of the way, and she had only a split second to register the clawed hand the grasped onto the box's side, before a large, robotic figure had suddenly emerged.

Savy had never seen anything like this bot in her life, not even having grown up around many of them in the slums of Tradeworld. This robot was so- so polished, elegant, unique. She was actually glad XR was asleep, as it had given her the chance to witness this. Though it also begged several questions, one of which why the robot looked almost disappointed to wake up to her.

"So you're what Team Lightyear rescued, huh?"

The robot didn't answer at first, instead shooting her calculating stares between taking in his current prison of sorts. Savy felt a twinge of guilt at the sight, hoping she could diffuse this tense situation, if it was going to turn into one.

"Rescued?" Her companion finally scoffed, a male robot given his voice; which resounded with three, distinctive tones. Another thing she'd never come across before, in a robot. Whoever had created him had gone to great lengths to do so.

"Well, yeah." She responded, not sure what else to say. At least not until the larger optic he had, encased in gold, gave a familiar gleam.

"This seems a bit much for a rescue, don't you think-?"

Savy couldn't help but frown at the wounded expression he gave. But she knew there was a reason for these precautionary measures, so she wouldn't hold anything against Team Lightyear or Captain Nebula. The LGMs were the ones who should've picked up on this. Why nobody had bothered to try studying the box until now was beyond her.

"I don't think they took a very good look at the-your box," Savy spoke up for her fellow rangers. "Command had to take precautions, Zurg supposedly wants you real bad. You know why?"

If she knew, then she could help keep him out of harm's way, and Command could understand him better. There was also the fact she was curious what Zurg wanted with the likes of him. He was a top-notch robot, but there needed to be more reason than that for Zurg- or any villain really- to pursue one bot.

Something was special about him, beyond the way he looked. There had to be some kind of function both powerful and easily abused. Something-

"I have a power that no other robot can boast," He answered, so quickly it was as if he'd rehearsed it beforehand. "My ability to manipulate energy is second to none."

Savy fell silent, torn on whether to be amused or surprised by this robot's level of ego. Then again, maybe he was just programmed this way, to be blunt and to the point about his level of ability. She didn't really have any reason to doubt his claims, and arrogance suited her better than beating around the bush. That sounded exactly like the sort of power Zurg would love to get his hands on.

But who had built him? And why?

"Then it's a good thing he didn't get to you," she replied, growing more contemplative by the second. "...But why didn't you get out of the box until now?"

The more pitiful-looking gleams in his eyes seemed to shift into something darker, but only for a few seconds. Either it was the lighting in here and her eyes playing tricks on her, or he felt she was taking a shot at him.

"My one flaw, you see," He began, though it had taken him longer than it should have to respond. "I protected myself and the rangers as best I could, but my powers require massive recharge time, if used like that."

Savy rubbed her chin thoughtfully, trying to formulate a plan of action. A great part of her wanted to let the robot out so he could tell his story to Nebula and everybody else. She'd get in trouble for doing it, but if it helped him and them out, that wouldn't matter.

But there was a smaller part that insisted she go speak to Nebula, even Buzz, about this first. That tiny side where her more obnoxious, law-abiding self resided. The containment field wouldn't be safe if Zurg and his cronies waltzed on in, but Zurg himself wasn't going to mount an attack tonight, and Darkmatter wasn't that suicidal.

That left the Hornets, but there was so much energy in Star Command, that if they did come after him, she was fairly certain her new acquaintance could handle himself. If the boasting about his level of power was true.

Savy heaved at herself as the Buzz in her head won out, convincing her it was for the best she tell somebody else first. Decadent as the robot was, he also looked like the kind people would be easily startled by, so dragging him from here all the way to Nebula's office didn't seem like the best idea. An amusing one, yes, but not the one she would go with.

"Let me put a word in with Nebula. I'll need to rough 'im up a bit, so it may take a few minutes."

Her companion arched an optic ridge, and she thought about telling him the truth about the commander's less than enthusiastic view on bots. As blunt as she could be, however, Savy didn't want to be the one to tell him that. He'd find it out on his own, soon enough. Hopefully the commander would be at least a little favorable to this one, if only because he'd saved space ranger lives.

"Trust me, it's better if I handle it."

He made no attempt to argue with her on the subject, instead enveloping himself with the cloak he wore again and hovering, waiting for her to leave and do just that.

And yes, she left XR in the lab. Whoops! Not that she knew about any of that LOL. I cut this apart a bit from what I initially had, so there may be some weird spots I need to go back and fix.