Chapter Text
Lumine was busy with the straps on the disposable trash bag that he had dragged into his bedroom to clean out his closet for the month. With the bag sitting comfortably beside his nightstand, the young Reploid dug through his belongings and took out some items, placing them here or there.
It was a new month for the Maverick House II, and this was also the time that annual cleaning took place in the entire household.
The loud, booming noise of the vacuum cleaner had been echoing throughout the hallways as Red was cleaning the dusty carpet floor. Alongside millions of Mavericks who worked hard to keep the house sparkling and up to code, Lumine decided to use this time wisely to give his closet a new makeover.
"C'mon, Vile! Why can't you do the dishes right?" He heard Sigma say over the constant screaming of the vacuum. Lumine shrugged it off as he had always been subjected to hearing Sigma's endless complaining at Vile for literally anything he did.
Continuing to ignore them, Lumine was actually listening to his music as he pulled out a few items from his closet and plopped them onto the floor, for which he would sort out later. He took the trash bag and set it beside his desk that was jointed with the wall, making it easy for him to go to it whenever he needed to.
Lumine began picking up a few items and placed them onto the floor near his bed, separating them evenly to spot the difference.
"Okay," he told himself as he took a deep breath and stepped back. "A few of these things will be put back in the closet, some will go into the attic, and others are going to the trash."
The items the Maverick had pulled from his closet were nothing but jumbling piles of old drawings he had made during his downtime, numerous boxes of what could possibly be diamonds, riches, and gold, then lastly old files. Clapping his hands together, Lumine took the piles of old sketches and proceeded to place them back inside the closet and placed the boxes of diamonds in a separate shelf.
He took the old files and placed them inside the trash bag, pulling the two yellow straps up and tying it into a knot.
Setting it down in the middle of his bedroom, the young Maverick went out to go help the others. Making his way down the halls and ignoring Red's vacuuming, Lumine reached the living room as he had been oblivious to the loud choruses of the vacuum machine echoing throughout and the leaf blower outside.
He walked past Berkana and Gareth wiping the windows to its full luster and happened to have entered the kitchen, completely aware of the mop that was leaning lackadaisically on the walls. There, he saw Sigma cleaning off the counters and Vile washing a second set of dishes.
Ignoring the helmeted Maverick's angered muttering, Lumine took the mop and proceeded to wipe it across the stone cold marble floor, getting every inch of it.
He dug his way underneath the dining table that was in the middle of the gigantic kitchen that had a large table built for all the Mavericks to eat at. With a relative ease Lumine made sure that he also got the underside of the chairs and even the back of the refrigerator, scaring away any leftover dust and microscopic vermin from behind.
Since he still had his earbuds in alongside his cassette player with him, Lumine silently swayed his hips to the rhythm of his music, showing signs of enjoyment in his work.
Behind his thunderous melodies and the bass that blasted aggressively in his ears, admist all the noise was Vile silently griping.
"Why do we do this every month?" He complained as he dried off a bowl and placed it inside the cupboard.
"This is required by the Doc and the rest of the committee," Sigma replied indignantly, his eye twitching angrily at his roommate's annoying complaints. The entire house had been nothing but filled with the scent of lemon spray and the monotonous noises of the cleaning appliances all around.
Red, looking over his finished work on the hallway carpet, powered off the vacuum cleaner and rolled it off into the respective closet in the halls, finishing up on a few tasks for the day.
Outside in the large forest backyard of the Maverick House, with all the fallen sycamore leaves blown off the patio that was adjacent to the edge of the back door's entrance, Dynamo powered the leaf blower off and set it down on the outside table.
As if everyone is slowly finishing up their cleaning job and powering off for today, Lumine dried off the mop and placed it on the hook outside of the back to dry.
Vile sighed in relief as he and Sigma put the dishes back in their respective spots and walked out of the kitchen relaxed. As every Maverick filed out into the living room and all sat down on the couch to rest up, Sigma looked everywhere and looked proud of the sparkling scenery before him.
"Well done, everyone!" He proudly exclaimed. "Let's all stop for now. We've cleaned up enough to last us another four months."
Everyone proudly cheered and left for their bedrooms. However, Lumine was stopped on his way before he could even get to his room to throw away the trash bag he had overflowing. He turned to see Sigma walk up to him.
"Lumine, may I speak to you for a second?" He asked, his unusual towering height frightening the small Maverick. Casting a worried glance at the man of the house, Lumine gulped a knot down his throat and asked, "what for...?"
"You're not in trouble or anything," Sigma replied. "Dr. Lee had decided on a proposal for us that will come in the passing months to come. He says it's urgent and it would be best if we all stuck around to talk about it."
"Does this have anything to do with any of us?" Lumine asked nervously, scratching the back of his head.
"Yes, considering our background having everything to do with murder, blackmail, overthrowing of the government, and betrayal, the Doc finds it suitable if we got along with other things besides the full grown humans and animals."
The teenage Maverick sank back and listened to Sigma explain the proposal that he had been informed about.
"Go on," he finally said during an entire minute of silence.
"Dr. Lee and I have been talking to each other about the matter and he says that we are given a new assignment. Each of us are going to care for and raise a child altogether."
Lumine stopped dead as if he had been frozen in time upon hearing that word. His eyes widening in shock he looked up at Sigma and cleared his throat a bit. This seemed a bit odd, coming from the former leader of the Maverick Hunters.
The same Maverick who betrayed the Hunters and tried to start an uprising, rallying up multiple other Reploids to join him in his cause, and slaying millions of Innocents, wants to raise a child.
"Hold on!" Lumine hissed. "When did this happen!? Have you been badly injured on the cranial lobe, Sigma?"
The large Maverick held out his hand and gently patted Lumine on the head affectionately. "I may have been crazy, but this will seem easy for you and the rest. I promise."
With that, Sigma walked off and into his bedroom, leaving Lumine to stand quizzically in the living room, processing the Commander's words carefully.