Chapter Text
A-869 unplugged and threw his recharging cable to the side, pulling his jacket out from where it’d been haphazardly tossed hours before. As he frantically searched for his missing items, he heard a loud blat from the bed, the other occupant now sitting up with a plain look of irritation.
“Hey, Orph, have you seen my other—” Before he could finish his question, a shoe came flying through the air and smacked him right in the middle of his speaker. “Yeah. That.”
“You do this nearly every day.” A-869 ducked as a tie was thrown at him. It landed to hang limply on top of his head.
“Fair point.” Taking it down, he arranged it around his shoulders like a scarf. “I counter with this.” He motioned to the mess of tools and various knick-knacks.
“Hurry up before I shove you out the door.”
“I was on time the last two days.” The shoe was pulled on. Then the rummaging through a pile of clothes nearby started. “Besides, you weren’t complaining a few hours ago.”
A-869 felt the back of his jacket nabbed when Orpheus jumped out of bed, forced a tablet into his hands, and literally shoved him out the door. One shoe untied, the other scuffed, and his jacket slightly askew – yeah, he’d worry about his appearance later, when it mattered a little more. He wasn’t that late. Half an hour at the most.
With his attention taken up by trying to tie his tie on the move, he almost missed the image a half-hearted cast brought back to him. One of the simulation trainer assistants was heading his way. With a sudden jolt, he made an abrupt about face, keeping his back to the techfolk to avoid any embarrassing encounters. A second later, he collided with something solid, causing him to stumble backward and land directly at the feet of a towering Speakerman. The Speakerman’s expressionless face looked down at him as a broad hand reached out, wrapped around his torso, and effortlessly lifted him onto his massive shoulder.
A-869 slumped. Looks like they were waiting for the assistant to get here after all.
“Hold up.” The large held his hand up for the Speakerman to wait. “A-869 was supposed t’ help me out with the Soundpups this mornin’. I’ll get ‘im where ya need 'im t’ be this afternoon.”
The assistant shook their head. "I'm just doing the rounds. If he didn't make it this morning, he would be auto-slotted for this afternoon's training, anyway. I don't care what he gets up to at this point.”
As the assistant kept on their way, swiping through their tablet as they went, the large Speakerman shifted so he could see A-869 a little better while the standard unit started fumbling with his tie all over again. “Sometimes I don’t think ya wanna be a large as bad as ya claim.”
“I do.” Finally, the knot was done. A-869 pulled it up flush with the collar of his shirt. “I didn’t expect last night to happen, Altus.”
Altus laughed, a deep, rumbling sound. “I don’t want th’ details.” With that, the large reached up and pinched the tie, giving it a light tug. Light for a large, anyway. It near pulled the smaller Speakerman right off his perch. “You are helpin’ me out with th’ Soundpups this mornin’.” Some thought Altus’ typically lazy way of speech, dropping off at the end before some words were finished or leaving some sounds out altogether, was aggravating. A-869 found himself caught on every word. “The black mono ones need a good wipe down.”
“Please tell me there are more than us. Say the words, Altus. I want to hear them.” A-869 whined.
Altus’ buzzed lightly. “I already lied for ya once today, little guy.”
It wasn’t unusual to see the Speaker striders hanging around various parts of the Speakerman HQ they could access; after all, they had legs with which to move on their own, their sizes normally only a 10-20ft more than a large Speakerman’s average. The Speakercopters reached a good 40ft – not counting the six long airfoils up top.
As the two techfolk stepped into the hangar designed for the aforementioned units, the slightly smaller Speakers hummed and popped happily, recognizing Altus right away. The two larger Speakers thrummed with excitement, their massive propellers whirring as they very nearly hovered in anticipation. The waves of sound from the single, dark speaker each reverberated A-869’s insides as the techfolk drew closer.
“Calm down, guys. I’m here,” Altus said calmly as he approached two of the smaller grouped together. He patted each one in turn, trying to soothe their excitement. One of the more mischievous striders noticed A-869 on his perch, curling its leg forward, aiming to snatch the small unit off Altus’ shoulder. The large shifted just in time. The sharp appendage came dangerously close to snagging on his shirt, but he managed to avoid it. “I need this guy right now. I’ll toss ‘im to ya later.”
A-869 jumped off the shoulder, using the fabric of the larger unit’s shirt and pants to climb down far enough to safely fall the rest of the way. Once on solid ground, he wasted no time in retrieving the cleaning supplies from a nearby cabinet, determined to get this task over with as quickly as possible. Altus, meanwhile, released the brake on a scissor lift and maneuvered it to the side of one of the black Speakers.
“Get started, shorty.” Altus could hear the faint sound of the mono Speaker whirring happily as it observed every move. “I don’t wanna see a single smudge when yer done.”
A-869 hopped over the lift’s top rail, setting the cleaning kit down before using the foot pedal to release the lock and extend the platform out just a bit further. “First thing I’m calling you after the upgrade is ‘shorty’.” He readied the lift to start the ascent, pulling out the e-stop first. The familiar hum of the machinery filled his audios, and he could feel the platform vibrating beneath his feet.
“You keep thinkin’ that.”
The scissor lift stopped at the 40 ft point. “Any update on when these guys head out for more than testing?” When no reply came, he turned around to lean over the railing, not finding Altus anywhere on the concrete floor below. When the sound he cast finally got back to him, the form of the large Speakerman could just be made out moving toward the back of the hangar where a few work benches were set up. Giving a frustrated honk, he slumped with his arms across the railing.
<<I’ll be over shortly, shorty. I’m checking on that batch of biodiesel ya tried to make yesterday to see if it’s settled yet.>> He didn’t like it when Altus transmitted instead of speaking. It didn’t seem right hearing the other speak normally.
A-869 chuffed, grabbing up a rag. <<I’m gonna shove this rag right in your port if you don’t stop calling me that.>> He began aggressively rubbing on part of the Speakercopter next to him. When the scissor lift gave a little shake, he glanced down at a light tapping that'd started on his foot. The Speaker Strider from before had managed to use part of the lift itself to angle itself upwards, apparently intent upon snagging the Speakerman's ankle.
It felt like hours later before A-869 saw the rest of the base again. He’d had just enough time to straighten things out, like replacing his shirt (ripped up from the Speaker strider who enjoyed hugging him far too much to be healthy) and cleaning himself up a bit before making it to the afternoon training. Altus had left shortly before he had, pretty much leaving clean-up there to him as well.
Stupid ass courses. Passing them would mean he would be one step closer to being considered for the next round of upgrades. It meant enhancements and upgrades; the next step to becoming a large unit. The competition wasn’t exactly fierce. In fact, there really wasn’t any, but only the best would make it through for immediate consideration. The rest would be placed on a “holding list” of sorts, doomed to wait for the next round.
At least it felt like one person was on his side in all this. Altus, mentor in all but official title, kept pushing him to stay focused. Even if it didn’t work half the time. Whatever potential he saw in A-869, it couldn’t be his time management skills.
Speaking of time, he needed to make some shortcuts if he planned on getting there.
Making his way through the base, he navigated the familiar hallways with ease, passing by the hangar where the massive Titan Speakerman, a technological marvel of Soundkind engineering, had been the pride and joy. It was mostly empty and silent, the sleek, metallic walls gleaming in the artificial light, maintained to be in a state of readiness once they retrieved their titan and he returned to them. He’d heard the Camera Faction’s advancements with the parasite disabling technology was being modified into a much, much bigger version, something big enough to free Titan Sound once and for all.
Shaking the thoughts off, *<Focus. You’ve got to focus.>* he passed through without taking another glance around, exiting down at the other end toward the conference rooms. Just a few more turns and a simple hop, skip, and a jump until…
One of the conference room doors slid open. He looked up to see the hunched form of none other than Altus wedging his way out. From his vantage point next to one of the larger unit’s shins, A-869 could see what looked like TV units and the tell-tale swirl of fog distorting their shapes as they teleported away. It was a mesmerizing sight; he couldn’t seem to tear his sensors away from the scene unfolding before him.
In one motion, Altus had scooped him up, and he just about made a sound before, <<Don’t make a single shittin’ sound!>> He muted it, Altus already having pulled part some of his shirt’s buttons and shoving the smaller unit right inside. <<Flatten out and make yourself look like me.>> A-869 did as he was told, smashing himself as much as he could up against the plating. Altus close his shirt, still holding on to it. For a moment, everything was still. Then, the large Speakerman was moving again, pulling himself the rest of the way out of the door.
“Got caught a bit an’ popped a few buttons. Gonna need t’ go get a new shirt. I’ll get back t’ ya with that list of units.” Hearing and feeling Altus’s voice from right up against him was an entirely new experience.
“With the TV Faction’s presence, it should be short but sweet. We shouldn’t need too many.” A-869 recognized the voice immediatly. It had to be Black Speakerwoman. She was the only one who had a voice he could listen to for ages if she let him.
Maybe not while he was hiding inside someone’s shirt, though.
“Cameras are bringin’, what, eight larges countin’ Plunger ‘n stuff?”
“Stuff?”
“Yeah, stuff. POV, that scientist guy always hangin’ around 'im. Y’know, stuff.”
“So, you can remember all the little nicknames you’ve given everybody around here, but you just call the Cameras ‘and stuff’?”
Altus trilled. “Pretty much.” The large definitely felt the smaller unit squirm a little uncomfortably inside the albeit warm but dark confines of the shirt.. “Think you’ll be getting’ those upgrades soon?”
“I’ll be out in the field before you know it.” The next sound was definitely an exasperated one. “Go on. I’ll see you around.”
“Be seein’ ya 'round, Athena.”
A-869 felt Altus turn and start walking. He couldn’t see a thing, trapped inside as he was with his speaker pressed directly up against the other’s abdomen and chest. All he could hear was the motion-induced sounds of the mechanical muscles working as Altus moved. After a few moments, he felt a rumble. “Ok. You’re clear.”
A-869 released his death grip on Altus’s torso, letting himself get fished for and pulled out of the clothing. Immediately, he started apologizing, “I swear I was just using it as a shortcut!”
“Easy on th’ defensive. I know. The rooms are soundproof. S’not like ya could’ve known we were in there.” Altus remarked as he set Speakerman down on the ground. He then proceeded to straighten out his shirt and redo the buttons. “Lookin’ at ya now, I think I’m gonna give ya a little incentive t’ start runnin’ and make it t’ training on time. Get your shit handled an’ I’ll take ya out tomorrow. What do ya say t’ that?”
A-869’s voice came out at the highest pitch he’d ever heard before at the proposal. “I think I’ve got somewhere to be!” Giving a quick cast around, feet wanting to move before he even knew which way to go, he startled when he realized where he was. “Oh. You took me here already!” Altus’s rumbling laugh had him rubbing the back of his headcasing, shoulders hunched upwards sheepishly. “Hey, uh, before I head in… If you give a nickname to almost everybody around here, do you have one for me? You never call me anything.”
“Sure do. I started calling ya Vox a while back, then I got t’ callin’ ya Voxxi in my head ‘cause ya grew on me an’ got cute.” At the little Speakerman’s surprised chirp, he laughed again. “Like a fuckin’ puppy.”
A-869 groaned. “Why don’t you give me a belly rub while you’re at it?” He shook his head before heading through the door into the training room.