Chapter Text

Reasoning

It was Tachyonic who was manning the comms when the update finally came in that Quantum Bot was fixed and ready to go.

Professor Quantum had asked to be informed when his robot came back so that he could "check him over for malfunctions". They all knew he meant try to find flaws with his new design and search for Guild trackers, even if it involved literally tearing him into pieces.

Plasmodia had suggested they just… not tell Professor Quantum until after he had been in the field and blame it on them "forgetting". Agent Quantum had made the executive decision that she was no longer allowed to man the comms they had gotten from the guild regarding pick up.

So now Tachyonic and Agent Quantum spent most of their time waiting for a message that seemed to take a suspiciously long time arriving.

Instead, they generally focused on the one topic they could agree on.

"How are we going to let our friends know?"

They'd come to agreement that no matter what Professor Quantum said, they wanted to introduce Quantum Bot to their friends before his debut. After everything they’d been through it was the least they could do.

Kyle had supported it though probably not for the reasons the rest of the team had. Hephaestus and Bahamut had already met Quantum Bot. If they really were Tori and Beverly… this would be a good chance to find more hard proof. Even if the thought twisted his stomach.

So far, all they had agreed on was that they wanted to do it. The how was far more challenging. Especially since Professor Quantum insisted the Quantumbot was supposed to live in the AHC and help out, seeing as how he "didn't need sleep". Instead he was able to be the perfect “warning system” for missions. He also insisted that Quantumbot wouldn’t need to be “socialized” like the rest of them.

They knew he meant their friends, Tori, Beverly, and Chloe. Kyle used to wonder why he bothered being a cape if he cared so little about the people he sought to protect. Now he wondered if it had to do with another element of their identities.

"Hey, we have a situation," Kyle called as he walked down the hall. "They want us to pick Quantumbot up ourselves. I got the location. Apparently they want to go over his “new specs."

“Oh, that’s not bad,” Austin mused. “That way we know what to expect and there shouldn’t be any surprises to learn about.”

“Also no surprises for them,” Kyle grumbled.

“They designed his body. Until Quantum upgrades himself with new tools, there will be no surprises for them either way.”

“Well, this also works for us,” Austin mused. “Maybe we can use this to you know. Accidentally run into, oh I don’t know, some old friends. We could drop them our patrol route so we can casually ‘run into them’.”

“That sounds like terrible idea,” Kyle winced. He was not going let his team share their route with villains, even villains they had a good working professional relationship with. He wasn’t an idiot. “Professor Quantum would know for sure.”

“I forgot about that. Good point, Kyle.”

“Chloe should be at her regular job,” Plasmodia mused. “Maybe we could drop in for a coffee break while on our patrol. It is on our route.”

“We could do that,” Austin agreed. “It would feel more natural. The only downsides is we technically aren’t supposed to go out to coffee while on patrol. We wouldn’t want any more photos of us and some normie to wind up on the internet.”

They nodded. After their mistake with their debut had gotten Tori kidnapped, they really didn’t want to accidentally drag another friend into the fray. The loss of Ike had only made that resolution stronger. No more dragging friends into unwanted spotlight and danger. And if they could help it, no more losing anyone.

“Its not a terrible idea,” Kyle sighed. “We can table it for a bit. Depending on if Quantumbot got holograms with his new body and can discretely get her to join us.”

“That could work. For now we’ll go with it and if not we should still have some time to plan something. Maybe we can plan an introduction while in person. Anyone know when Tori and Beverly get back?”

Ellie shook her head. “They’re off on something for Indigo Industry. Did the guild tell us a time to go with the location?”

Kyle blinked. “Let me check. I’ll let you know.”

“While you are at it, if you could let Professor Quantum know as well. He did insist on us keeping him in the loop.”

“Because of his whole stupid “checking for bugs” excuse. We all know its because he wants to find an excuse to decommission Quantumbot anyway.”

Austin took a deep breathe. “Plasmodia I know you’re having issues with him but Professor Quantum knows what he is doing. It is reasonable to expect the guild to use access to one of our members to find ways to bug us. That said and I can’t believe I am saying this, we are going to have to trust that Xelas does a good enough job he can’t find any flaws.”

Kyle nodded. He rushed into the other room. Checked the requested time. Checked it again.

Then ran back in a tizzy. “They want us to meet, in the next half hour! At the park off Gremlar and Main.”

Everyone froze. That location was about thirty minutes away, at a moderate pace.

“How quickly can we let Professor Quantum know, change and get there?” Ellie asked.

Kyle shook his head. “We’re lucky enough that we’re already at the AHC. Even if I rush there, there is no telling how long until Professor Quantum remembers we exist. But none of us are fast enough to do that, change, and get there before the Guild leaves.”

Austin nodded. “Well, surely given the short time frame, Professor Quantum may forgive us for going without him and just leaving, a note.”

They looked at each other and smiled. It was time for the New Science Sentries to pick up their newest team member.