Disclaimer: I don't own OK K.O.! Let's be Heroes!
Title: Join the Dark Side, we Have Hacks
Summary: Fearing she is taking advantage of her friendship with K.O., Dendy sets out to retrieve secret info from Boxmore.
Chapter Title: Day Three
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Dendy is best (February 13th)- Thanks!
Maya The Turtle - Continue I have!
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Day 2 Notes:
-Boxmore 'bots are easily excited and just as easily pleased
-Ernesto is really good at playing cards; Dendy (self) owes him two technos.
-Lord Boxman continues to be a butthead
-No progress as of yet
"Welcome to Gar's, get your stuff and get out," Enid greeted as Dendy walked through the front door, absorbed in her phone. She glanced up to see how her words had been taken, then realized who she'd addressed in the first place. "Oh, hey, Dendy. Where've you been?"
"I have been walking."
"Fair enough," she said, then turned back to her phone.
Rad passed by with a box of various goods to shelve, stopping to blink at her. "You looked wiped, dude."
Dendy let out an awkward half-laugh, running her hands through her already messy hair. She made a mental note to jot that down as a possible nervous tic later. "I do not pull myself together very well when I don't sleep correctly."
"Bad night?"
She didn't think it a bright idea to tell two heroes that she'd slept badly because of anxious nerves relating to betraying herself to villains. Dendy didn't need her beloved facts and statistics to know that would go poorly. "Something like that."
"DENDY!" K.O. cried, hopping over multiple shelves to reach her quicker. He hit the ground and took off at a sprint; the kappa had the presence of mind to put her hands out and block him from tackling her, which Dendy assumed to not be his intent. "You gotta help me!"
"K.O.," Dendy said patiently. "I am no more built for reaching the higher shelves than you are, and I still refuse to 'stack'."
"What? No, not that." K.O. looked on the verge of tears. "The test, Dendy! Ms. Quantum's big test!"
"Oh. That."
"I can't handle another F, Dendy! She'll hang me from the side of the school! I'll be another one of her stories! 'Don't be like K.O.', she'll say, 'he failed his test and got hung off the side of the school. Then his mommy got so disappointed in him that he exploded into a million pieces. The end.'"
"Disappointment will not kill you, K.O."
"It'll kill my soul, Dendy!" he wailed, shaking her.
Enid sucked in a hissing breath, setting her phone aside entirely. "Ms. Quantum is still kicking it in the teaching biz? Dang."
"Which one was Ms. Quantum?" Rad asked. "I suck at remembering teacher names."
"She was the one who always threw stuff at us."
A lightbulb popped up over his head. "Ooooooh, her. I totally thought she'd have retired by now."
"She takes too much enjoyment out of her work," Dendy sighed. "She says she hates seeing us fail, but she sure isn't trying to help students with their work, either."
K.O. snorked back some rising snot. Dendy's nose wrinkled with disgust. "You're my only hope, Dendy. You gotta help me. A-And, if you're too busy, maybe you could spare me some study guides instead?"
Dendy let out a sigh. Normally, she'd pull up her schedule and see about penciling him in at a later time, but she knew her schedule would have some very sensitive information on it, so it was now or never. "Fine. But only if I can have the beanbag chair."
"Now, little ones," Ernesto tried, holding his hands up. "We must leave our new employee alone so she can do her work."
Shannon was having none of it. "But it's not fair that Raymond gets to be all highlighted and we aren't yet!"
"Yeah!" Darrell added, as if that somehow made her argument more powerful.
"It's fine, Ernesto," Dendy said without looking up. She sat criss-cross on the lounge chair, surrounded by screens. "Changing their pallets won't take long."
Name: Ernesto
Nickname or Full Name: No Data
(If Nickname) Full Name: No Data
Danger Level: Medium
Unknowns: Age, How Much of Plaza Hatred Is His Own
Knowns: Beatable by Dendy (self), Self-Conscious, Probably Handles Finances, Loyal to Father Figure (Lord Boxman)
Notes: Is Only Boxmore Robot Uninterested in Attacking Plaza Full-Time Like Siblings, Despite Hating Plaza, May Hate Battling All Together.
Overall Opinion: Apprecitate His Style
They descended on her hackpack before Dendy had the time to do much else, greedily grabbing wires and plugging them into various outlets. The kappa had to tell them repeatedly that only one could go at a time, lest they wanted to mix and match, which led to a mild scuffle over who went first. During said scuffle, Jethro rolled over, and Dendy gave him the gray highlights he apparently wanted. Then came Shannon and Darrell, respectively. Ernesto declined, stating he rather enjoyed his form the way it was, but Dendy noticed him eyeing the color wheel she brought up for them to pick from.
"What is all this stuff, anyway?" Shannon tried to pull one of her screens closer, but Dendy had locked them into place. "It doesn't look like anything daddy would want you to do."
"It's schoolwork," she explained. "I'm studying for a test."
"A test? Lord Boxdad gives us those, sometimes." Darrel slid his finger across the screen, flipping to the next page of her study guide. "But it's not over this stuff. He usually just makes sure our blasters are working right."
Ernesto pointed at one. "Is that... college-level math?"
Dendy snapped her fingers, and it vanished. "I was just doing that one for fun."
Darrell made a few metallic, shriek-filled attempts to snap his own fingers and see what would happen. She turned to inform him it only worked with her- Dendy was quite proud of how well-programmed her machines were, only responding to her particular wants and wishes- but before she could Lord Boxman walked into the game room, scowling up a storm. "What is going on in here?"
"I'm studying, sir," Dendy said immediately, while the other robots flinched. "You didn't seem to need me at all yesterday, so I assumed-"
"Well, I need you now." he snapped, whirling around on his heels. "Hurry up already!"
Dendy followed behind at a snail's pace, reluctant to give the villain what he wanted. A small, hero-centric part of her hated being ordered about like this by a man who undoubtedly hated her very existence. A larger, more logical part of her told her to keep quiet and do as he said, lest she be drawn into battle in the middle of enemy territory, which is never a good plan, and Dendy knew that was the smartest way to go about it. (Besides. She still didn't have any worthwhile information yet.)
Finally, about halfway across the factory, Lord Boxman started talking again. "I didn't need you yesterday because I was busy," he grumbled, as if she had somehow cut him off. "I've been working on the piranha plan. Y'know, trying to make them smaller?"
"I remember."
They entered the main hub where the bus-sized creature was being kept. One look told Dendy it was still bus-sized. Lord Boxman led her up an upraised platform, one hand dragging on the railing, to the very center. "Well, I kinda... dropped the remote?"
Dendy blinked at him. "You mean the creature's controller?"
"Of course. What else?" He rolled his eyes. "It fell in, and, well..." Lord Boxman cleared his throat. He was blushing. "I'm not a very strong swimmer."
Her eyebrows rose. Dendy forced her tone to remain steady. "Sir?"
"What?"
"Are you telling me that you made an aquatic-based robot... but are unable to swim yourself?" She reached up to pinch the bridge of her nose, just under the goggles. "What if there was further correction needed? How would you have fixed it?"
Lord Boxman balled his hands into fists. "I ALREADY TOLD YOU I WASN'T IN THE BEST FRAME OF MIND WHEN I BUILT IT, OKAY!?"
Shannon, leaning over the railing, stepped back with a grimace. "Yuck. Who actually likes this stuff, anyway? Makes me rust."
"I suppose organics do," Raymond replied, setting his chin on his hand. "They're basically made of it, aren't they?"
"They certainly don't feel like it," Darrell commented as he tested his hand. "I mean, those Lakewood losers are pretty solid when you hit 'em, y'know?"
"I am Jethro," Jethro said.
"You're right, Jethro," the cyclops 'bot answered. "Hey, Dendy, what do you- Dendy?"
Dendy was pulling her shoes and socks off. "Yes?"
"What're you doin'?"
"I'm going after the controller."
Shannon pointed at the water. "In that?"
Dendy shrugged as she walked out onto the platform, her bare feet making quiet flap-flap noises on the cold metal. She rather hated having her feet out like this, but the promise of getting in a swim made it worth it. "I quite like water."
There's a dizzying moment of fear when Dendy hopped off, never one for heights, but then she hits the water, and all that melted away. Dendy blew some soothing bubbles out of her mouth as she sunk, waiting patiently for her feet to touch bottom. Even the large metal fish couldn't take away the bliss swimming gave kappas, in spite of the fact that a single tooth was bigger than her entire body. She gave a little kick, relishing in the cool slide as she made her way over to the dropped control- which, in Lord Boxman's defense, did remind her of a remote.
Dendy loathed to leave the water so soon, especially since she was soaked to the bone, but she kicked off and swam upwards. The robot eyed her, trying to judge her threat level. Being a level one on the POW Card scale, she doubted she'd be worth its time. Her head broke surface with a quiet grunt. She shook her wet googles out, then made for the edge of the pool, climbing out and over with a much louder grunt.
"That was amazing!" Darrell cried as she climbed the steps once again, handing over the controller to an equally surprised Boxman.
"How did you hold your breath that long?" Lord Boxman asked, too amazed to be demanding. "That pool is way too deep for a normal human."
"You're over-selling your pool, sir," Dendy said, trying (and failing) to wring out her short hair. "It was no problem to me. After all, I am semi-aquatic."
"You are?"
Dendy stared at him. For once, she forgot about being polite. "Boxman, you are aware that I'm a kappaling, correct?"
He growled. "HOW WAS I SUPPOSED TO KNOW THAT!?"
"My skin is green." Light green, technically, but it was still fairly noticeable.
"What difference does that make?" Lord Boxman threw his hands out, flabbergasted. "Everyone in the entire stinking Plaza is differently colored! I swear, you people are like a rainbow of friendship. It's sickening."
"Which ones are kappalings again?" Darrell asked, holding a finger up sheepishly. "I'm bad with organic names."
Dendy retrieved her socks and shoes, though she did not put them on (wearing wet socks is way worse than having her feet on cold ground). She wiped her hands dry, then opened her POW Card collection, grabbing a kappa card at random- it was her mother, Pepelina. She handed it to Darrell. "This is a kappa. I'm a kid kappa, or kappaling."
"Ooooh," he said, eye lighting up. "That one."
Shannon bent over his shoulder to look at it. "Those weird head-hole critters?" She looked at Dendy. "You don't have a head-hole."
"That will come with age." Dendy retrieved the card, carefully checking it over for scratches. "I do have the webbed feet, though."
"Ahhh, Dendy, just who I wanted to see," Lord Boxman sighed as she hesitantly entered, about to take her leave. "I must thank you for retrieving the control from that pool earlier."
Several emotions surged through her at the villain's praise, the chief one being confusion. Dendy didn't think Lord Boxman had ever thanked anyone within her general vicinity before. She hadn't been entirely sure the words were in his vocabulary. Well, at least until now. "You're... welcome?"
He leaned on his hands, trying to remain impassive, but Dendy thought she saw a desperate look in his eyes. "You wouldn't happen to have any suggestions with the piranha, would you? I'm having trouble making it... smaller."
"I've been considering the problem in my free time, and have a solution, sir." Dendy pulled up a file. "How about, instead of making such a large creature smaller, we take the unnecessary metal and make it longer? That way, it still keeps its strength and power, but it will fit better in the plumbing."
"Like a long... fish?"
"I was thinking more along the lines of a water snake, sir." Dendy widened the blueprints so he could see them more easily. She could feel a small smile on her face; Dendy loved solving issues almost as much as she loved facts and statistics. But, perhaps, Lord Boxman would take it as her taking enjoyment in villainy, and that would definitely get her some extra points.
"Brilliant!" He clapped his hands together. "We attack tomorrow."
Something in her lightened at that. Perhaps this endeavor would bring her info after all. Dendy smiled a bit wider. "I'll be sure to put it in my notes, sir."
"Now, Dendy," Lord Boxman prompted, putting his chin on the back of his hand. "We wouldn't want to ruin the surprise, would we?"
"No, sir."
"Good." He sat back in his chair, steepling his fingers. "Let's make this your first test, then. If you spill the beans, I'll know you aren't actually interested in villainy. If you don't, I'll keep you on."
The smile slipped off Dendy's face. "Sir?"
Lord Boxman shrugged. "You have to admit, it's a bit odd that the first hero-turned-villain from the Plaza is the best friend of that meddlesome brat K.O. I just figured it'd be in my best interest to cover my bases. So, we'll see how this more generic attack plays out, then go from there. Alright?"
"Oh," Dendy said, voice flat. It was all she could think to say.
Shannon led her to the door with a hand on her shoulder. At first, Dendy thought it was an attempt to intimidate her, but then Shannon opened her mouth and spoke.
"Sorry about that," she said. "Daddy can be... paranoid. But who can blame him? He's never employed non-robots before." Her fingers squeezed in what she took to be a supportive manner. "Don't worry. We know you wouldn't betray us."
That left her far from reassured, though she attempted to smile anyway. It came out more as a grimace.
Name: Shannon
Nickname, Or Full Name: No Data
(If Nickname) Full Name: No Data
Danger Level: Low
Unknowns: Age, How Much of Plaza Hatred Is Her Own
Knowns: Loyal to Father Figure (Lord Boxman), Likes Purple, Melodramatic
Notes: Possible Ally
Overall Opinion: Very Snarky, but Also Very Sensitive
Day 3 Notes:
-This Was a Mistake
-What Have I done
Author's Note: Woo-hoo, chapter two! It's not as long as the first, but I'm certainly not complaining. =) Next chapter will be mostly about day five.
-Mandaree1
