Four years had passed since the Delaires got Emmy and things had been rather odd for Red in that time.

In between his Security job, which was on the cusp of being promoted to protector of the city, he had been managing dealing with his baby sister growing up. Sometimes, Red felt more comfortable taking on criminals and disasters then helping Maddie learn about…certain topics.

Luckily, Ted, Angela and Emmy handled most of that. And hey, Red and Emmy got along fine; Emmy may not have understood why Red liked his cartoons so much if he was better than most characters and Red sometimes thought Emmy worried over Madeline too much, but never to the point she annoyed him; he always saw the logic in her concerns.

Well, aside from how he interacted with other Nanoids, but we'll get to that later.

Madeline herself was still the sweet girl both cyborg and robot loved, now in Elementary school and already having her own circle of friends.

"Another perfect day," Emmy said her fists on her hips as she looked at the suburban town and the rising sun.

Meanwhile, in Madeline's bedroom, Red was opening up the curtains to help raise her out of bed. Emmy also came in, doing the duty of rousing her up with her voice.

"Good morning, Madeline! Time to get ready for school."

"Five more minutes..." Madeline mumbled as she tried sinking into her covers.

"Hey, if I had to suffer at school, so do you, kiddo." Red snarkily commented.

"Yeah, but then you had to leave. Can't I do that?"

"No way jose!" Red gasped. "While, yes, I did leave school because we couldn't afford it, the whole point of doing the whole thing is so that nyou DON'T end up like me before all…This."

He gestured to his cybernetic body.

"But you got so cool!" Madeline groaned, starting to wake up more.

"And just imagine how cool YOU'LL be when you finish." Red smiled as he left the room. "Breakfast will be waiting for ya."

Emmy followed after Red and went into the kitchen, making oatmeal and styling it like a cat face with strawberry ears, banana eyes, nose, and whiskers, and blueberry pupils and snout.

Madeline yawned as she came down into the kitchen, Red chuckling as he picked her up and placed her on her chair, pouring her a glass of orange juice as Emmy served her breakfast.

"Oatmeal again?"

"It satisfies the requirements of your nutrition plan."

Ted came hurrying in, already putting his coat on as he was ready to go to work.

"Good morning, Mr. Delaire! Would you care for some breakfast?"

"That's okay Emmy, just coffee."

"At least take a doughnut," Red said, offering one of the pastries to his adoptive father. "I planned ahead and everything. Besides, every suburban family man has to have doughnuts with his coffee."

Ted rolled his eyes but smiled. "Thanks, Red. You're always too good to us."

"Hey, you saved my life, remember? And I'll keep reminding you of that until the day I die."

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves with such morbid thoughts," Ted said as he prepared to leave. "Madeline! Bye sweetie, have a good day at school!"

Madeline just let out a sleepy groan, still half-asleep as she slowly shoveled the oatmeal into her mouth. Red just chuckled as he saw Ted off.

"She says she loves you too, sir."

EMMY

After finishing breakfast, Emmy was doing Madeline's hair into its signature ponytail while Red shaved his face like Superman would...firing heat beams from his eyes, reflecting off the mirror and burning whatever hair was growing.

"Emmy, did Ted leave yet?" Angela asked as she came in.

"Mr. Delaire left at 6:51 this morning. He estimates he'll be home between 6:15 and 6:30 PM." Emmy said.

"Okay, any errands today?"

"You have 15 items on grocery pickup at Wiggins Market. Would you like me to pick them up for you today?"

"That would be great, Emmy. Thanks!" Angela smiled. "Just take the debit card."

"I think I heard from the grapevine that it's Jillian's birthday tomorrow, ma'am," Red added.

"Right! Why don't you join Emmy and help pick out a card at the store as well then." Angela then turned and presented two pairs of shoes to the Nandroid and the Cyborg. "Alright, shoes?"

"I would choose the black ones." Emmy suggested.

Red nodded. "Ditto on that."

After Angela finished getting dressed, she brought Madeline, who was all set to go to school, her lunch box.

"Don't forget your lunch again, Madeline. And please eat your carrot sticks this time."

"That was just the one time, I promise!"

Neither of them believed her.

"Okay, are we all set? We don't want to miss the trolley." Emmy said.

"Yep!" Madeline smiled.

"Hold on, kiddo. We gotta go over the three asks." Red pointed out as he squatted down. "Did you do your homework? Did you brush your teeth? Did you use the bathroom?"

"Done, brushed, and of course!" Madeline smiled before pausing and turning around to head to the bathroom. "Hang on, I forgot something in the bathroom that's totally unrelated to that!"

Emmy and Red could only facepalm in conjunction at that.

"Phew! Just made it!" Red gasped as he, Emmy, and Madeline made it to the trolley that would take them to Hawthorne Elementary. "Jeez, why did I still have to have lungs?!"

"Because despite your cybernetic augmentations, you are still very much human," Emmy said as the three got on the trolley.

"Good morning, Madeline! Good morning, Emmy!" Greeted three other Nandroids, who also happened to be Emmy's best friends back when she was learning how to be a proper Nandroid.

Yes, Nandroids apparently go to school to learn how to be Nandroids when they are built. Weird, am I right? Then again, I guess it helps that robots these days are more human than most.

"Good morning, everyone! Isn't it a lovely day?" Emmy greeted back with a smile.

"Wait! Please!" Came a voice as everyone looked to see another Nandroid trying to catch the trolley with two twin boys in hand.

"Oh boy, Franny's late again." Red shook his head. "Bus driver, hold the gas pedal, we still have one more coming!"

"Well, it looks like the struggle bus is right on time as usual," Snarkily spoke Molly, who had brown hair in a ponytail.

"Poor Franny. The twins are such a handful." Said Amy, who had fluffy golden blonde hair.

"Then she'll just have to be twice as prepared next time. We know the child is never to blame." Molly said.

"Obviously!" Added Polly, who had short brown hair in a bob.

Red rolled his eyes. "Hey, you try looking after those two troublemakers. I swear, their parents put WAY too much sugar in their cereal."

As fate would have it, Molly, Amy, Polly, and Franny were all assigned to families who were quite close to the Delaires and whose children were best friends with Madeline.

Amy worked for the Khatri Family and their son, Ajay. Dr. Khatri was regarded as one of the country's most brilliant neurosurgeons and his wife, Priya was currently expecting another child. Amy herself tended to have her 'Dumb Blonde' moments as Angela often called them.

Red and Emmy considered Amy their best friend outside of the family, and Red found her 'Dumb Blonde' moments endearing. Heck, when the others tried to speak in inuendos or on 'adult subjects', her innocence and navity was a breath of fresh air and lead to some funny moments.

Ajay was also a pretty good kid, Red mused.

Polly served Mr. Spiegel, his husband Mr. Pryce, and their adopted daughter, Michelle. Mr. Spiegel was an accomplished architect while Mr. Pryce was a very successful real-estate agent. They were a very chic, cultured, and progressive family, a perfect fit for Polly, who was rather posh in her mannerisms.

Red also once joked that Mr. Spiegel and Mr. Pryce were like Mitchell Pritchett and Cameron Tucker from 'Modern Family', which they had to admit was quite an amusing and apt comparison once he'd shown them videos. He also apprtiaited how they never treated him differently for being a cyborg, instead prasing him for his bravery both before and after his transformation.

Michelle was inspired by Red and started searching for the comics and shows he watched, impressed with the characters in them.

Molly worked for the Mendenhall Family, one of the most prestigious families in all of Hawthorne Grove. They had been involved in the petroleum industry for generations though Ted often commented they had way too much money. They were certainly quite a fit for Molly, who had a bit of a prideful air about her.

Because of that prideful air, Red wasn't overly keen on spending time with the Mendenhalls or Molly; they reminded him a little TOO much of the richer kids he'd encountered growing up…and a few of the criminals he'd gone after had either been ruined by them or emulating them….

Finally, Franny worked for the Flagg Family, being the particular guardian of their twin sons, Nathan and Ryan. They lived on the intersection of Tulip and Cherry Road, just a block away from the Delaries.

Red liked the Flagg twins, little troublemakers that they were; reminded him of himself when he'd been that age. And whenever he could, he'd help Franny out.

"Hey Corbin, what song are you listening to?" Madeline asked when she noticed his headphones and MP3.

"It's actually the new audiobook by Lewis and Bernstein on low-risk investments in a potential disruption of the financial environment." Corbin casually replied before returning to it as Madeline rolled her eyes.

"Ugh, what are his parents even teaching him? He's gotta learn to be a kid more often." Red scoffed.

While waiting on the trolley, Madeline began chatting with her friends while Emmy and her fellow Nandroids engaged in some gossip.

"I saw you-know-who at the Orchard Club last night with a new mystery gentleman." Polly whispered.

"I hear she's dating her plastic surgeon now, I bet it was him!" Molly said.

"Surely there must be an ethical quandary over seeing a former patient," Emmy noted.

"Yeah, but I bet he's super rich!" Amy giggled.

Polly rolled her eyes. "As if she isn't already living perfectly well on alimony of her first two marriages."

"You wouldn't know it by how cheaply she dresses." Molly snarked.

Emmy giggled. "Oh Molly, you're terrible!"

"I heard about this one professor gentleman who took in a lowly common woman and taught her how to become a classy and beautiful lady who speaks well. And then they eventually fell in love!" Amy excitedly said.

Molly put a hand to her head. "Amy that's just a movie. You're talking about My Fair Lady."

"No, um...oh. Yes, you're right."

Red snorted to himself as he turned to Franny.

"So, anything going on with you?"

Franny's cheeks glowed bright red. "Nothing much. Thanks for stopping the trolley. I swear, you'd think I was running on OS3.5!"

"Trust me, I have those days too." Red chuckled. "Sometimes I wonder which parts are human and which parts are machine with how this body acts up."

"Well, if you need a hand with…maintenance…" Polly flirted with Red, which her fellow Nanoids motioned for her not to.

"WE'D better get going!" Emmy said, pulling Red away and waving goodbye to her friends and she dragged him away

EMMY

After dropping Madeline off at school, Red and Emmy headed to the market to pick out a birthday card for Angela's assistant, Jillian. Emmy in particular found amusement in some of them.

"Emmy, please, people are staring..." Red whispered before looking at a birthday card with a cat in a rainbow afro. Opening it up, he read the contents. "'To celebrate your birthday, a cat was stripped of its dignity.'"

Now it was Red's turn to chuckle but he was much more subdued than Emmy was, not drawing attention to himself as he showed it to her, which made her go into another laughing fit.

EMMY

Later in the evening, Red and Emmy picked Madeline back up from school and headed home. While Emmy helped Madeline with her piano lessons, Red went to his room to unwind with some music.

Despite his cybernetics, Red still enjoyed all the normal human things, his upgrades just helped him learn how to play instruments better, which he was terrible at back when he was still fully flesh and blood.

Madeline soon got to work on her homework while Emmy got ready with cooking dinner. Red had also offered his assistance but Emmy politely declined, leaving him to just kick back in front of the TV and watch the news, especially regarding Olburg.

"And finally tonight." The newscaster said as he read off the final story. "Another brutal and ruthless attack on several Nanoids and factories. Authorities suspect the newly dubbed 'Boss' as leading the gangs towards these acts, but others are not so sure. One eye-witness claims the attacks wer all prepatrated by a single individual in a faux gentleman's attire. More as we get more information."

"I really hope they can let me go back there soon..." Red muttered. "I have all these cool tools and I can't use them to help my old home."

After Ted and Angela came home, the family gathered around for dinner, which was beef stew tonight.

"Dad, can I be excused to watch some TV?" Madeline asked.

"Hm? Ask your mother."

"Can I, Mom?"

"Did you finish all your homework?"

"Yep!"

"And your French?"

Madeline rolled her eyes. "Oui, puis-je y aller maintenant."

"Fine we'll work in some tonight, but just PBS."

"Finally!" Madeline cheered as she ran into the living room.

"Red, everything okay?" Angela asked.

"Oh, just…worried." He admitted. "This one story on the news was so close to home and…"

"We'll settle it on the weekend." Ted said. "But yes, these attacks are getting closer and closer to us and the authoritiesa rea waiting too long."

"Just…Don't tell Maddy, okay?" Red begged. "I don't want her or you guys worrying."

The Delaires and Emmy nodded in understanding.

Knightmare Lord A/N:

This chapter mostly followed the original comic with the added addition of Red and his personal thoughts on things. Mrotrax and I are gonna try and do some world-building here, which Mrotrax is honestly better at then me.

Mrotrax A/N:

So far, we've met the supporting cast and have teased over the man who will become Red's arch-enemy. All I will say on the matter of shippings is that this story will mainly be an eventual RedXEmmy, but all the female Nanoids will get a chance to shine.

Hope you liked it and are intrigued!

Stay safe until next time!