The morning air was cool on Leon's face as he shouldered open one of the hangar's side doors. The mechanism engaged and clattering wide, as the man quietly sighed and looked over his shoulder at his Blade Liger.
The Blade Liger watched him do this. Then stepped outside through the missing swath of wall, swishing its tail.
Leon stared, raised a brow, then walked outside after it.
He and Jaime had been working the past several days on repairing the Liger. Though admittedly, Jaime had been doing most of the work because Leon's dexterity was currently limited. Little now remained to see to on the Liger besides a few cosmetic issues and the issue of the missing blade.
Blade Ligers weren't terribly common. The major downside to owning an uncommon Zoid was that their parts were expensive, difficult to source, or worse - had to be fabricated from scratch each time you needed one.
As far as Leon knew, the blade stuck in the Berserk Fury was fine. It was just… stuck in the Berserk Fury.
The two sauntered out to the stone remains of the Fury and silently looked them over. Even in death the Berserk Fury remained horrifying, its jaws permanently agape and stone teeth only slightly less daunting than razor-edged metal had been.
The Blade Liger touched its snout to the fractured end of its blade assembly poking out of the Fury's side. The piece was still metal, contrasting strongly against the ossified Zoid.
"Bet you it's all still in one piece," Leon said idly to his Liger, to which it chuffed agreement. The man carefully made his way closer to the blade's entry point, tracing his eyes along the deep, lengthy gouge in what'd become stone.
Leon wanted to be impressed with himself. But all he could bring to mind was his panic. The idea of life-or-death Zoid battles was a harsh one. He felt small and almost foolish on that stage. Zoids hadn't been used as true tools of war for centuries now. Competition pilots all called themselves Warriors, but were they really? They were sportsmen.
Warriors protected their homes, their friends, their families.
Leon considered.
He was a Warrior.
"You got him good," A child's voice observed, startling Leon badly.
He looked around until he saw Vega, seated in the inky shadow beneath the Fury's neck. Almost invisibly beside Vega was his Organoid, pitch-black in the early dawn's haze.
Leon understood, logically, that there shouldn't be reason to fear. But his reptile brain informed him that the shadow was full of death, and doused him with adrenaline. He hesitated before speaking.
"Kind of had to."
Vega shrugged. "You didn't have to do anything."
Leon blinked. He didn't say anything - he didn't know what to say. After several seconds of silence the man inhaled deeply and turned back to his Liger.
Vega smirked and glanced after him. "Want help?"
"We've got it."
Naomi sat up out of bed, set her feet on the floor, and immediately froze.
Ambient lay across almost the entire bedroom floor, tail crunched up against the dresser and head resting loosely on its foreclaws. Its green optics shifted in regard.
She exhaled and glanced over her shoulder to glare daggers at Brad. The man stirred, but wasn't quite awake.
Naomi looked back at the Organoid with an equal air of ire and defeat. "Why are you still here. What are you?"
Ambient gave a throaty rumble.
Naomi stared.
Ambient dimmed its optics with a slow blink. Humans were difficult enough. Humans that it couldn't get through to? The worst.
~Oh. Lovel'eh. Ye really are one of those.~
It was equally difficult to pick up on the thoughts of someone closed off in such a way. Were the opportunity available, Ambient usually just ate people like this. Because they were annoying. More annoying than usual. However, it knew the useful person in the room would likely take issue with that.
Ambient twitched its tailtip irritably, debating the woman.
Shaking her head, Naomi stood and stepped across the room to slip into some clothing. Once lightly dressed she turned to the creature again. Though she couldn't hear or understand the beast, she wasn't oblivious. Its increasingly-predatory stare twinged the part of her mind that'd long saved humanity from destruction. The part that whispers: it's dangerous.
Her regard became more cautious and deliberate. She glanced again at Brad.
"Brad."
"Mmn."
"Get up. That thing is still here."
Brad sat up and looked at Ambient, who visibly mellowed. This didn't escape Naomi's notice; she narrowed her eyes.
~Moor'nin, lad. Just mindin' the floor.~
Organoids were weird.
Bit had spent his twenty-plus years alive as an individual - singular.
Now he carried an inexplicable sense of existing two places at once, always somehow able to perceive Zero's presence. Though the white Organoid didn't trail behind him quite as closely as he'd seen One clinging to Vega, the feeling of being watched never relented.
It wasn't a bad thing, really. It was comforting. It just took some getting used to.
Just like having a 9 foot tall beast constantly try accompanying you into the shower did.
As Bit stood in the shower's spray, Zero rasped its tongue along his neck and shoulders. With an impossible-seeming gentleness it combed its teeth through the back of his rough blonde hair. Bit found this extremely pleasant, oddness aside.
Yet every time he glanced at Zero, the reality of the creature couldn't be escaped. The Organoid was absolutely massive, the blades on its face as long as Bit's forearms. This wasn't a pet.
The two relished in the hot water and each other's company, a soft comfort beyond compare. Several times Bit's eyes drifted shut, and he leaned back onto Zero's smooth chest. He'd not been sleeping well. Not since-
Someone knocked on the outside door. Bit startled.
He cut his eyes and sighed, wishing now more than ever that the base had more than one hot-water bathroom.
Zero wasn't bothered in the slightest and simply stepped aside, glancing at the door.
"Sorry Bit," It was Steve's voice. "But you've been in there for like an hour. Other people here too, you know."
Unseen, Bit idly mocked Steve's statement. He stepped out of the shower and toweled off, glancing down to inspect the healing gash on his leg. "We need to add another shower with hot water by the hangar."
"Too expensive." Steve replied.
"Take it out of my earnings and it'll be my shower, then." Bit said loudly as he dressed. Then his tone dropped with a grumble. "Gotta rebuild everything out there anyways."
Steve appeared to consider this, because he shut up long enough for Bit to finish and open the sliding door. Steve blinked at him and withdrew slightly, clearly not expecting the blonde's visible ire.
"I'll… think about it." He glanced up at Zero, then back to Bit. "You doing ok?"
"Never better," Bit said as he pushed past, motioning for the Organoid to follow.
Naomi stood in the kitchen, menacingly eating fruit.
It was the only course of action she could actually decide on, tensely watching Brad and that thing have a conversation in the living room.
Ambient looked awful, was absolutely filthy, smelled like iron and wet dirt, and... just didn't seem to care. Brad didn't seem to care either. Was she supposed to follow suit? Was this just suddenly okay, having this thing in the apartment?
No. No, it was not.
But Naomi could clearly see Brad's attention to the Organoid was earnest. She was reluctant to interfere.
Yet the growing reality of the Organoid's presence began to give her pause. What were these, exactly? What did they do, what could they do? Why did they talk (to some people, at least?) Why'd they start showing up all at once?
Ambient flicked an emerald optic her way, a split-second's glance.
Her questions didn't have answers, but the hair on the back of her neck did stand up.
This wasn't a simple annoyance, was it. This thing wasn't just going to go away, was it.
Frustrated and stewing in her own thoughts, she'd more or less tuned Brad's half-conversation out. So when both finally looked her way in question, she blinked - unprepared and annoyed. "What?"
"Sorry." Brad said with a shitty smile, chagrined. He wasn't at all blind to her irritation. "I know you don't want him here. Is the hangar okay?"
Naomi flicked her free hand. "Whatever. As long as it stays out of sight and gets its dirty ass out of here."
The Organoid chuffed indignantly.
Brad glanced. "I mean. She's got a point."
Ambient narrowed its optics at the man.
Brad became quite possibly the first person in history to pressure-wash an Organoid, inside and out.
By the time he was done, Ambient looked a little better. Brad also pressure-sprayed the undersides of the Fox and Gun Sniper so they didn't feel left out, given their attention on both the Organoid and the whole process. The Zoids were delighted, responding with soft chuffs and happily clacking claws.
After that was through and everything had been put away, Brad pulled over his mechanic stool and sat. Ambient stood nearby, idly grooming its own flank.
"So. Do you things heal, need maintenance, or... what?" He asked.
It was an honest question, given an Organoid's obvious similarity to a Zoid - and a Zoid doing both. A Zoid's internal components and wiring could often heal on their own, but external components and weaponry had to be repaired. Being able to work on a Zoid entailed an eclectic mix of skills, which most pro-level pilots eventually gained to some degree. Brad was no exception, having spent years doing most of his own maintenance work.
Ambient stopped grooming and looked at the man strangely.
"You know. Your armor or whatever. It's all fucked up."
~Been this way for a long time, lad. Uh'll be fine.~
Brad shrugged, and looked up at the Fox. Its tail started to slow-wag at his attention.
"Hey. Good boy."
Ambient glanced up at the Fox also. ~Yon Zoid's yours, eh?~
"Mm-hmm." Brad idly rolled to the workbench, picked up a towel, then motioned for Ambient to come closer. "C'mere."
Ambient squinted but obliged after a moment. Brad began to detail its head and face with the towel.
The Organoid clearly didn't know how to process this, but didn't find it disagreeable. It'd all but given up on the concept of touch, and tentatively pressed into the man's efforts.
Brad grinned a little. Several relatively-silent minutes passed this way, before Brad finished up.
"There. Better."
Ambient tilted its head down at the man as he removed the towel. It seemed hesitant to respond, almost flustered.
"Yes? No?"
The Organoid rumbled a low non-answer and changed the subject, twitching its foreclaws. ~You know… ah've nae had a proper meal in a long while.~
Brad stared, realizing he had no idea what these things ate. He guessed it wasn't typical Zoid fuel - the synthetic, nutrient-rich slurry that Zoids universally metabolized. Ambient heard the question even though it wasn't fully expressed.
~I can feed on anythin' honestly. But I best love the stuff straight from'a Core. S'how things used to be.~ Ambient eyed the Shadow Fox.
Brad arched a brow. "Not interested in you hurting the Fox."
~No, no. Does'nae hurt 'im. But lad's got to be, ah… okay with it.~
Brad felt the Fox attempting to parse this, followed by its strong impression of confused suspicion. He shrugged at the Zoid and looked back down at Ambient. "Whatever. Between you two."
The man stood and continued to clean up, backgrounded by the snorts and chuffs of both Zoids and the Organoid.
Ambient abruptly blazed red and plunged into the Shadow Fox. The Zoid's eyeglass went bright crimson then harshly dimmed, the sensation of the Organoid's fusion unpleasant. Ambient wasn't gentle, it was greedy - and started to voraciously feed from the Fox, drawing power. The Fox was young, healthy - and it'd been a long time since Ambient had managed more than a few uninterrupted seconds on a living Zoid.
The Shadow Fox bucked once, its heavy landing shaking the hangar walls. But its head dipped and it went slack-jawed as the endorphin-like rush of fusion overtook it. The unexpected feeling reached Brad too, and he swallowed hard against the bizarre sensation.
After several moments, there came the distinct clicks of the Fox's clawtips unsheathing onto the concrete floor. Pain. Discomfort sliced through what should've been a static calm.
"Ambient. Stop."
~Just let me finish.~ Ambient snapped back, optics dimmed to black with the sheer ecstasy of sustenance. The osmosis of energy lessened as the starved party equalized with the well-fed. Ambient rumbled and lay its head on the Fox's crystalline Core, gently lapping the surface.
The Shadow Fox contemplated Ambient through its lessening discomfort, both realizing and starting to feel out what the creature could offer in return. The Zoid maintained an assuring sense of control, instinctively aware it had the option to eject the Organoid at any point - and equally aware that Ambient was silently begging for it not to. Despite it remaining unspoken, the notion was clear - patience now would be handsomely rewarded later.
The Shadow Fox itself had little context for the concept of personal gain. But the idea wasn't foreign: its pilot existed on a substrate of quiet but powerful desires. And that had been before everything.
To the outside observer, little had changed in the man and Zoid's dynamic. But blue eyes kept flickering with a deep disappointment, however fleeting. Though Brad was quick to offer reassurances, and his intensity never waned… the Shadow Fox was concerned.
It possessed no understanding of the emotional catastrophe involved in both valuing a companion and craving a forbidden fruit.
Ambient's offer was accepted.
It'd only been about two minutes, but seemed excruciatingly longer. Ambient disengaged, reappearing with a clack of talons on the hangar floor beneath the Fox.
Brad stared. Squinting, unsure.
~Ayyyyye lad, blessed be. Y'truly are an Evesend.~ Ambient glanced up at the Fox's belly. ~You too, tod.~
The Organoid stretched, circling once beneath the Zoid before tucking to the floor. Clean, sated, and sufficiently secure, Ambient looked comfortable despite the unforgiving concrete floor.
Both Zoids watched with only an idle interest. Brad shrugged and continued cleaning up.
The Organoid's optics had dimmed into sleep by the time Brad was done. When the man finally glanced back again, the sight gave him pause.
Brad hadn't really considered the possibility that these things slept. He'd never seen - well, felt - the Fury sleep. Because it had never seemed tired. Or comfortable for that matter. But the Fury-
He squinted his eyes tightly shut. Held his breath for a few seconds. Sat on the edge of the work table. Lit a cigarette and took a deep drag.
The Shadow Fox glanced, and Brad vaguely waved its attention away. He hated this, and didn't want to think about the black Organoid or anything it entailed.
But he simply couldn't help it.
After a few minutes Brad opened his eyes again and stared quietly into the stilled hangar. The Organoid's bulky but relaxed form reminded him of the big village dog in the town he'd grown up in.
As bad as Ambient looked and as strange as it seemed, it was somehow soothing to Brad that these creatures - well, at least this one - weren't simply unknowable, alien entities. They slept. They wanted food and shelter.
Just like everything else did.