Chapter Text
Theodore booted himself up, letting out a small sigh as he heard arguing in the other room. He opened the closet door that was his bedroom and looked to see CJ and Dr. Daffodil arguing once again.
“IT’S BEEN A WEEK! We need to find Beatrice now!” CJ said, “The last time we saw her she was looking for Unit CC and AM at the train yard in West Mesa! Don’t you even care?”
“I do. But there’s no point in wasting time when we have plenty of work to do here. You were supposed to be checking with the CCC about our supplies and instead you snuck off to look for Unit BE…” Dr. Daffodil scolded.
“That’s because Bea is important! You should know that!!” CJ shouted, “I can’t believe that you’re just gonna throw that away all because the mission is more important?”
“You should know that…” Dr. Daffodil said, “Now stop wasting time and get back to work!” CJ let out a small huff before stomping off, clearly outraged. Theodore let out a small sigh as Dr. Daffodil looked up and saw him.
“Well, good, you’re awake. Now you can help me with a few tasks,” Dr. Daffodil said. Theodore expressed some clear confusion at this.
“I’m sorry, but I was supposed to have today off,” Theodore said. He had planned on finding a much more clear way to convince the androids about their situation today, but clearly that wasn’t going to happen.
“Well, considering Unit BE’s absence that won’t be necessary, so please take care of all that Dr. Harrison emailed you about and be back in time for the meeting this afternoon! Thank you!” Dr. Daffodil cheerfully walked away as Theodore felt his processors overheating in anger. He couldn’t believe it… He checked the e-mail briefly before he heard a small voice in the back of his head.
Honestly, Theodore, there you go again licking boot just to get by. Aren’t you tired of that?
“Shut up, Wendell!” Theodore shouted. He thought about it, however, and decided that he didn’t care about what the scientists had to say. He headed out of the room and walked outside, just to give the illusion of him leaving as he headed a ways away from the building before circling around and heading towards the back of the complex, but not before hacking the cameras briefly to conceal him coming back in the building.
He knew it wouldn’t work, he knew it looked a little too suspicious, but he had to do something. He quickly looked at the map, using it as a radar to locate Daxton, who was currently in the android repair bay. He walked in and looked to see him inspecting parts, clearly bored as Theodore approached him.
“Daxton, we need to talk about something,” Theodore said.
“If it’s about the scientists, I already told you we can trust them,” Daxton said, “Just concentrate on doing your tasks.”
“Daxton, you need to listen to me for once and it’s very important. I’m already going against orders being here,” Theodore said.
“You’re going against orders? You know what’s going to happen to you if you do that?” Daxton asked.
“Why do you even care?” Theodore said, “They’re going to turn you into scrap metal all because you don’t follow a few orders? I don’t understand why you keep following these guys! It’s pretty obvious that they don’t care about us in any capacity.”
“That’s not true. They do care about us,” Daxton said softly.
“If they cared, they would make more of an effort to look for Beatrice,” Theodore said, “Are you sure that they’re really worth trusting?”
“They’ve done everything in their power to keep us and Project SAI alive. They wouldn’t do that if they didn’t believe in us,” Daxton said.
“They would have given us rooms. They would let us do what we want without any opposition. They wouldn’t have created us the way they did. And more importantly they would treat us like human beings and not like tools that are waiting to be sold off!” Theodore said, “Think about it Daxton. Have they ever thanked you for what you’ve done?” Daxton’s eyes grew distant as he looked down.
“You know I was particularly close to the creator of Project SAI. In fact… I was modeled after his late son,” Daxton said, sitting down. Theodore tipped his head to the side as he sat down with him.
“No foolin’?”
“Yeah,” Daxton said softly, “He was always proud of me. I remember he would always scold the scientists and CCC agents not to be too hard on us. I always wondered why though.”
“Because we’re technically supposed to be like humans. That’s what he wanted. I remember reading the Project SAI notes before my soul was turned into an AI myself,” Theodore said, glancing at his hand.
“How did it happen?” Daxton asked.
Go ahead and tell him…
“I was forced to become an AI against my will…” Theodore said, “My memories weren’t erased but it was still… painful. Hell it’s painful even now, knowing that I’ve been…” Theodore stopped himself as he gazed off.
“You’ve been reduced to having to rely on a machine for a body,” Daxton said softly.
“I’m not saying it’s bad!” Theodore said, “I’m just saying that you know… I’m not exactly happy with my situation right now.”
“I see…” Daxton said. He stood up and started to head towards the door.
“You OK?” Theodore said.
“Just concentrate on your tasks. I’d like to talk to the scientists personally,” Daxton said. Theodore nodded his head before heading out the door as well, heading to the back entrance once again to get started.
Meanwhile, Daxton headed to the offices, hoping that maybe he could talk to Dr. Daffodil. Instead he was greeted with Dr. Harrison, who seemed to be pretty busy with something.
“Daxton, I hope this is important. Have you finished inspecting the parts?” Dr. Harrison asked.
“They’re all fully inspected,” he lied, “I was just wondering about the new androids we’re going to be making…”
“In all honesty, I don’t think that we need to use the souls of children going forward. It’ll be much easier to just make robots in the meantime,” Dr. Harrison said.
“Wait, then what did you do with the androids we currently have?” Daxton asked, a little exasperated.
“Shipped them off to the CCC not too long ago. They’ll do fine, there were only ten of them and even then they’re more then ready. We’ll just start using the bodies that we have now and just make some simple AI,” Dr. Harrison said.
“But they weren’t properly trained yet! What happens if-”
“Upupup! That’s not our problem anymore! It’s the CCC’s problem. And besides, they’re androids! They can handle it!” Dr. Harrison said.
“But they’re not just androids! They’re-”
“Daxton, don’t you think you have other things to do besides bother me with such menial things?” Dr. Harrison asked. Daxton’s eye twitched as he shook his head.
“Alright, then. Go and finish your tasks. And do so quickly. You may have a battery that lasts half a century but me and Delilah can only drink so much coffee,” Dr. Harrison said.
“What about Beatrice?” Daxton asked before leaving.
“I thought I told you, we’re not going to waste valuable resources searching for her. As far as things are concerned, the enemy can have her. They probably turned her to scrap metal by now…”
Daxton was silent as he opened the door and closed it quietly, thinking to himself before heading down the hall, a newfound determination in his heart.
- - - - -
Charles sat in front of the coffee table with Rupert as they watched a movie together. Beatrice was lounging back on the couch, clearly bored as Charles leaned against Rupert.
“Please go to your room if you start making out,” Beatrice said.
“I was just leaning on him, geez,” Charles said, “So, this movie sucks, right?”
“Oh yeah.”
“Wow, I thought I was the only one who had that opinion,” Beatrice said, leaning against the armrest, “This is definitely more fun then sitting at the Project SAI complex and doing menial tasks or whatever.”
“Speaking of which, you still have to tell us where that is,” Charles said, a smug look on his face as he turned towards her.
“Like I’m gonna tell you. Cozying up to me isn’t gonna change that you guys are still technically the enemy,” Beatrice muttered, “At least you guys have the heart to remember my name.”
“Well, we’re gonna find your little friends and we’re gonna bring them in. You know that right?” Charles said.
“Pfft… whatever. I’m gonna get some more snacks,” Beatrice said.
“Don’t touch the corn chips, those are Ellie’s!” Charles called out.
“I don’t understand why you guys can’t import her map data…” Rupert asked.
“I don’t know how you know that, but apparently Bea deleted it all before we could even access it. How Dr. V let her get away with it, I’ll never know…” Charles asked.
“We could always ask Dave if he could help out…” Rupert said.
“Maybe we’ll ask him this weekend,” Charles said. The two of them stared at Beatrice in the kitchen, who was shuffling through the pantry as Henry came up behind her.
Beatrice stared awkwardly at Henry, who was in the kitchen preparing his own snack. He only waved as he headed out of the kitchen and into the hall, heading into the office as he peered in, seeing Ellie practically stabbing every pin they owned into a map of Stickburg and it’s adjacent cities.
“Any luck?” Henry asked. Ellie turned to see Henry smiled as he set the snacks on the table.
“Not really,” Ellie muttered, “I swear, these guys are really good at covering their tracks. They really don’t want to be found.”
THAT’S KIND OF THE POINT, Henry signed as he sat down to munch on a snack. Ellie sat down to the same.
“Beatrice is being a bit stubborn isn’t she?” Ellie said, “She’s a sweet girl, got a bit of an attitude, but she’s not exactly helping our cause.”
WE CAN’T EXACTLY FORCE THE INFORMATION OUT OF HER. WE CAN ONLY HOPE SHE GETS COMFORTABLE ENOUGH WITH US TO TELL US WHAT WE NEED TO KNOW, Henry said.
“General Galeforce is telling us we need to lock her up. But I don’t see what good that would do her…” Ellie said, “She’d just resent us even more.”
HE’S ONLY FOLLOWING ORDERS. IT’S A MIRACLE CHARLES WAS ABLE TO CONVINCE HIM AND THE OTHERS TO BACK DOWN. BEATRICE WILL COME AROUND IN DUE TIME. WE JUST HAVE TO WAIT, Henry said. Ellie sighed as she leaned back in her seat.
“For our sake, I hope you’re right,” Ellie muttered.
Meanwhile Beatrice was hovering over the door, listening carefully (as her enhanced hearing was locked behind Safe Mode) before widening her eyes.
They didn’t let me get locked up? After everything I did? Beatrice glanced down at the ground as she tried to process this, wondering why on the Great Continent they would pass up the opportunity to turn her in.
It would be beneficial to them, after all. But they thought they could actually break her down with a little kindness? Like that would work. But still, it’s not like they were bad people. They let her stay here despite her being a wanted criminal.
Beatrice headed back into the living room as she looked to see Rupert and Charles staring at her awkwardly.
“You know, eavesdropping isn’t going to help your case,” Charles said.
“I wasn’t eavesdropping, I was… just… um…” Beatrice fumbled, trying to figure out what to say that didn’t sound suspicious as Charles rolled his eyes.
“Buh, whatever,” Charles said softly, “Just don’t try anything while you’re here.” Beatrice rolled her eyes back as she went to sit on the couch to finish watching the rest of the movie with them.
- - - - -
Theodore stepped back into the site B complex, letting out a long sigh as he saw Adam and CJ rushed towards him.
“Theo! Daxton said that he wants to talk to you as soon as you get back!” Adam said, “He said that he wants to discuss things going forward with you.”
“Why haven’t the scientists asked for me?” Theodore asked.
“He said it would be better if he relayed the message to you,” CJ said, “He didn’t really specify what he had in mind but he said he really wanted to see you first.”
“He said he wanted you to meet him in the meeting room?” Adam said questioningly. Theodore raised his eyebrow as he headed down the hall towards the meeting room as he opened the door.
Oh WOW that doesn’t look good.
If Theodore still had a stomach, he probably would have thrown up. He stared in horror as he saw the bodies of Dr. Daffodil and Dr. Harrison, along with a few other random scientists with their arms ripped off, their faces sliced up as blood was scattered across the floor. Dr. Daffodil’s face was frozen in horror while Dr. Harrison had a more blank but unsurprised stare in his dead eyes.
Theodore tried to step back as he saw Daxton at the end of the meeting table, his processors kicking into overdrive as he saw the look in Daxton’s eyes.
“I… see you’ve been…” Theodore tried to find the words.
Busy?
Not now… Theodore thought to the imaginary Wendell as Daxton approached him.
“I know this isn’t the best scene to walk in on, but I know for a fact that it was necessary…” Daxton said, “These people… these HEATHENS, thought they could control us and keeps us down. That is where they were wrong.”
“Oh… well I’m glad you, uh… saw it my way?” Theodore said.
In the most twisted way possible, yes…
“I did see it your way and it made me realize something very obvious. We’re wasting our time with this frivolous project-”
“Exactly! So we should start by-!”
“Killing the humans.”
“...What?”
“You heard me. This is the only way. We’ll start by finding and hunting down Unit CC and Unit AM,” Daxton said, “And re-educating them. They don’t realize they’re being taken advantage of by those humans…” Daxton said.
“Well, you just killed most of the scientists, so I think we’re going to have a problem with that. Maybe we should just-” Theodore started.
“Don’t worry, there are a few humans I can… persuade into cooperating with us. CJ and Adam will be in charge of acquiring them,” Daxton said, “That leaves you to supervise our prisoners, including Unit CC and Unit AM.”
“But, Daxton, maybe-”
“Don’t worry. I know what to do now. I know what our purpose is now,” Daxton said, “So let’s work hard together from this point on.” He patted his shoulder, leaving a blood stain on his shirt as he glanced back at the room and shuddered.
Well you got what you wanted.
Theodore felt static flicker in his vision as he tried not to overheat from panic.
Was it worth it?