RPG Scrapmetal Circus

[Drizzt Do'urden]

Kilo sighed as he carried two of the ferris wheel cars across his shoulders.

"What's the matter K...K.." Burt tried forcing the name out...for some reason he'd been changing the way he called to the droids.

"It's okay, you don't have to call me by my human name Burt. There's only one person I feel human around here...but anyways. I'm just worried about Zeke..."

"He'll be fine big guy, besides if he's not I'll fix him up."

"Well I wouldn't want anybody else working on him Burt." Kilo smiled and continued to tear apart the ferris wheel. It was the truth, Burt had proven to be quite possibly the best mechanic around. There may have been those who specialized in Mechs, and those that did droids, but Burt was the master of all of the above.

[Orcus]

[FONT="Palatino Linotype"]Axel and CP went directly from Zeke?s room to dismantling the circus stage, but Axel?s mind was definitely still with Zeke. He had never seen Zeke react that way to anything before? He had always known Zeke was special, but he didn?t know enough about the ZX types to understand why, exactly. All of his brethren had the ability to communicate wirelessly through short distances, but for another ZX type to send Zeke information over such a distance? It was amazing. Though he was curious to look through the information in more detail on his own, Burt had the data now, and Axel felt that he should receive Zeke?s permission before he asked Burt to upload it into him.

[B]?You alright??[/B] CP?s voice jolted Axel out of his thoughts. Apparently, so wrapped up in his thoughts, Axel had accidentally summoned his Celestial Claw. He shook his head, attempting to collect himself, then dispersed the weapon. He plopped down on the stage and looked over at CP.

[B]?I?m not sure? I mean, I?ve only been with this Circus for a while now, so I don?t know very much about Zeke, or any of you, really. Zeke?s programming forces him to deal with more than I could even process having to deal with? And for a reason I?m sure you don?t feel entirely inclined to divulge, the sight of Zeke?s overload sparked a reaction inside of you.?[/B] CP responded with his signature grunt, but he became noticeably tense for a second before returning to normal. Axel apologized quickly.

[B]?No, no, I wasn?t attempting to accuse you of anything! I?m just saying it?s interesting to see that so many of us seem to carry a guilty conscience, a secret, or a burden of some sort. And unlike humans, we?re not programmed to forget events and memories. Can we ever escape that??[/B] CP stopped what he was doing and began staring out into space. After a few minutes, he apparently came to, and simply responded with a shrug. Axel couldn?t help but laugh.

[B]?My sentiments exactly, comrade.?[/B] Axel spread his legs out on the ground and leaned back on his hands, lapsing back into thought. He had wanted to create a log of all of the crew?s 'guilt' for quite a while now, but he didn?t know how to go about asking them without reopening old wounds. Truth of the matter was, he was hoping they?d tell him of their own accord, and that would give him the courage to admit to his brethren what he done to own squadron to get here. And voice abruptly cut through his thoughts.

[B]?A..A?Axel? Get your lazy butt up and finish disassembly. If you and CP are done here go see if Kilo needs assistance.?[/B] Burt sauntered by and quickly popped a wrench out of his arm to go unscrew something (though to be quite honest, Axel hoped that Burt was aiming to take him apart). He hopped up and walked with CP over to Kilo.[/FONT]

[Inuyasha Fandom]

Zeke moved hesitantly, waking up. He saw Anya watching him, her hidden maternal side coming out.

"Were you here the entire time?" Zeke asked. He peered at Anya. "Because I would have been fine alone."

"Kilo and I didn't want you to be alone..."

Zeke smiled. He stood up, shaking the dizziness from his head. He smiled, ignoring the files his mind had finally processed.

"Was it really that bad, Zeke?" Anya asked, her maternal side even more apparent.

"Yeah. Now I have the memories of a ZX that was never supposed to exist in me."

Anya shook her head. "Zeke... who is this man?" Anya pointed out the moving photo.

"My father and I." Zeke picked up the photo, and smiled. "I haven't spoken to him in almost fifteen years...."

Anya sighed."Is there any way to reach him?"

"He's under the radar. I have no idea where he is. I only hope he's alive."

"Sad.... Did... he help you get away?"

"Yes. He told me to live my life how I wanted. He activated the self destruct of my cruiser, after I donned an escape suit."

Zeke smiled again, holding the photo frame close to him. "He might have been killed for it. I don't know."

"I never had a father figure. You're lucky... even if it was only for a short time."

Zeke shrugged. "Ugh... I always feel like shit when I wake up in the morning." Zeke stood up, stretching. His smile returned, and he moved to the door. "Let's go watch them tear down."

"Now that you're awake, I should go help them."

"Well, then I'll watch you do it."

"Fine fine..."

Zeke strolled alongside Anya, hiding quite well he was troubled by the information dump. If Anya could tell, she wasn't letting on.

On arriving to the rides area outside the Carnival, they saw that almost all of the rides had been torn down already. Zeke took a seat on a railing, watching Anya go to work. Kilo was lugging around ferris wheel cars, like they were plastic toys.

"Way to go Muscles!" Zeke called after him, smiling. Kilo sat the cars down on a hoverbed, and the robot controlling the machine set it off into the theatre area, which doubled as the cargo area when the Carnival was traversing the universe.

"Well, sleeping beauty finally woke up." Kilo walked over, his hulk like figure rather meanacing to all of the robots except Zeke and a select other few. "Too bad, you need all the beauty rest you can get... you're still not pretty like Anya."

Anya at that moment was picking up a metal girder, something no normal human could ever have lifted on their own.

Zeke smiled. "Yeah, and it's too bad ou're too chicken shit to take Anya up on her offer."

Kilo snorted, and walked away, much to Zeke's amusement. Zeke was in no condition to be doing all of that work, he would leave it to them. Zeke started helping out tearing down some of the smaller attractions. Soon enough, the entire field area of the Carnival was empty as can be. The ship was ready to go, but the captain was allowing the machines to have some recreational time before setting off to Rastor.

Rastor was a teeming tourist trap planet, and one of several. On entering into Rastor's soil, it was mandatory to wear swimsuits, or at least summer clothing.

Zeke was looking forward to having some off time there, but he wouldn't be spending a lot of time sunbathing by a pool. He had work to do. The Colonel was staying there for the next two weeks, and Zeke would have plenty of time to ask him a few questions.

Kilo walked back into the ship, and Zeke ran to catch up to him, jumping onto his massive shoulders and covering Kilo's eyes with his hands.

"Guess who?" Zeke said, changing his voice to like that of Anya's. Kilo stopped, a little confused. "Big Boobies McGee?"

"Close enough..." Zeke commented, lifting his hands to the top of Kilo's head and lifting himself into a hand stand, flipping down to face Kilo. "So, when are we going to go out for that Pizza?"

"Let me shower. I'll come get you from your room."

Zeke smiled. "Alright. I can watch TV for a few minutes..."

Zeke walked back to his room, sending out a com message to all of the other machines. "Hey, Anya, Kilo, And I are going to go for pizza somewhere in town. Anyone wanna join us?"

OOC: Alright, we're about to into out first battle when we go for pizza. Be ready people. The Carnival will not be in any danger itself, only those of us who go for pizza.

[chibi-master]

Burt was tinkering with a prop when Zeke popped up behind him. "Hey, wanna go get some pizza?" he asked. Burt's stomach let out a low growl. He hadn't noticed his hunger.

"I guess that's a yes." he replied. Zeke smiled and left. Burt starred at the greasy curtain that served as his door, thinking. "He's very good at hiding his emotions. But it is a mistake to think that I wouldn't notice his inner turmoil. I'm trained too." Burt muttered. "But I wonder why the search for the androids is hightening [I]now[/I]. If I only I could now what was going on in the heads of those in charge of the search..."

[GothikMoon]

" Eon!? What are you doing?....oh, fine." Eon watched as the hologram of the beautiful young blond danced in circles around the floor. After a few moments the dancing stopped and the girl smiled bent down into a kiss. "Luv you babe." A tear rolled down his face as he tried to touch the cheek of the hologram. "Angel...I'm sorry..."

"Who's that?" Zeke had silently been watching until he decided it was ok to enter the room.

Eon quickly wiped away the tear and turned off the hologram. "Um..no one. Just an old...friend."

"Hmmm... fine....well, some of us were going for pizza. You wanna come?"

Standing up from the bed, he walked over to the door. "Yeah, I suppose.

[ExcelExcel]

Anya emerged from the shower, steam pouring out from the doorway. She pulled a tower from the rack beside it, wrapping it around her body. She grasped another towel, and began to dry her hair. She sat at her desk, hitting a button and accessing the terminal in it. Data appeared on the mirror, across her reflection.

Anya used the console that popped out from under her desk to search through all of the data. She may have had her abilities at full capacity, but she was prone to use the console normally from time to time.

There was a knock on the door. "Come in." Anya responded.

A hesitant Burt opened the door. "Anya, were you going to go with the others to get some pizza?"

"Calling us by our names, are you?"

"A habit I'm developing."

Anya leaned over on her desk, propping up her head on her arm. Her elbow rested on the desk's surface as her expression became that of amusement. "Yes, I was going to go. I was going to get dressed... but you came to my door."

Anya stood, and placed the towel that had been on her head onto her bed. Burt was looking around her room.

Anya smiled, following his gaze.

Anya's room looked pretty plain. A simple box frame bed lied covered by a pale pink conforter, pillows against the simple head board. On Anya's desk lied photos of various people, all smiling and waving at the camera. There was an old wooden dresser against the wall, next to a wrap around couch facing a wall which bore a television on an entertainment center, also bearing movie players and such. Her walls were like that of the rest of the ship, a plain gun-metal gray.

Anya stood, and walked over to her dresser, opening the top drawer. Anya removed a bra and a pair of panties, both of them looking more like lingerie than casual undergarments.

"Wow, Anya... those are..." Burt struggled for something to call them. "Sexy."

Anya smiled. "Are they? I just like them. I never think of them that way."

Burt looked down at the floor, he now saw Anya was dressed only in a towel. "Anya? Um.... You're an older android...right? I don't know much about your type. Can you...er.... um...."

Anya turned to Burt, her hand at the top of her towel in between her large breasts. "Well, come on, ask me the question." Her eyes narrowed again in amusement, a seductive smile on her face.

"Were you... built... um.. anatomically correct?" Burt looked down at the floor, blushing faintly.

Anya smiled. "Do you really want to know?" Anya pulled off her towel, and Burt's eyes bulged, taking in the sight of Anya naked. He whipped around, blushing furiously.

"Did that satisfy your curiousity?" Anya chuckled. She looked down at her body. Indeed, she was anatomically correct.

Um.. yeah.." Burt said, his back still turned to her.

Anya dressed, getting into her usual attire, her thigh-high boots, her leather one piece, and a black leather jacket she wore open.

She turned to Burt, who was still looking away. "I'm dressed now, Burt. You can look."

Burt turned around, and sighed in relief that Anya wasn't naked still.

"Come on, let's go see if Kilo's done showering. Then we can go get Zeke and any of the others if they're going."

[Inuyasha Fandom]

Zeke was watching television when there was a knock at the door. Zeke called out. "Door's open!"

Kilo came in, looking rather like the hulk in nice clothes, sporting his muscles. Anya was wearing her favorite outfit, and Zeke was wearing his. Burt had dressed up too, albeit casually. Eon had come too, looking rather nice. All of them looked like an assorted crowd, people would be staring at them. However, Zeke didn't care in the slightest.

Zeke was now wearing his short vest, with all of the metal garnishes, his sleek abs exposed. He wore his favorite black boots, and a pair of leather pants donned his legs. He wore a two belts, both of them also laden with metal garnishes.

Zeke jumped off of the bed, his slight frame moving easily. Zeke smiled, and spun around for them too see. "So, do I look good or what?"

The others smiled, and nodded. "Good, you guys look good, too. Come on, let's get going."

They started walking down the hall, and ran into Kurai. Her room was just down the hall from his, and Zeke smiled.

"Hey, Kurai, We're going for pizza. Wanna come with?"

Kurai paused for a second. "Sure. Where are we going?"

Zeke thought for a second before answering. "I have no idea. We were just going to wander around until we found a decent pizza parlor."

Kurai had a blank look on her face. "You're really something... Sure, I'll go with. I wanted to explore the city anyway." Kurai headed down the hall with them, and they stopped in to the crew's common room to see who was in there. They found Axel and CP there, watching television. Zeke turned to his cohorts, and smiled as he pressed his finger to his lips. He tiptoed over behind them, they were far into the program they were watching.

Zeke jumped the back of the couch they were sitting on, plopping down between them to grab them and hold them near him. His sudden appearance startled them, and they were suddenly being held with his arms around them both.

"Well howdy, lover boys..." Zeke put on a deliberately cheesy French accent. "We were going to for a pizza... would you two like to come with us?"

Axel and CP only stared at him. They were still in shock with his startling them. "Um... sure?" Axel said, and blinked, before smiling. "Yeah, I'll go. Sounds fun."

Zeke turned to CP, who was still blankly staring at Zeke. "And you, will you come with us, too?" Zeke touched CP's face with his fingertips, hoping to send a chill down CP's spine. CP's eyebrow raised, and he faintly smiled. He nodded.

"Well, that was a fail on life. I had hoped you would speak." Zeke stood up, and pulled the two of them along with him.

Kilo was looking rather alarmed by this point. "Um.... Am I expected to buy pizza for everyone?"

Zeke laughed. "Of course not, dummy. Just mine. I'll chip in some money for everyone else."

Kilo sighed in relief. "Oh, thank god..."

Axel smiled. "Um.... most androids don't believe in the concept of god. Otherwise, we'd have to worship mega-nerds who suffer from chronic masterbation syndrome."

Zeke snorted, cracking a wide smile. Anya started laughing, as did everyone. Burt looked angry. "I do not!" he said, indignant. At this, all of them started laughing again.

Zeke slid to Burt, putting his arm around him. Zeke poked Burt in the cheek, smiling in a most mischievious manner. "Oh? You're getting a little too hot under the collar... are you sure?" Everyone laughed again. Burt cracked an irritated smile. "No. I don't."

Zeke smiled. "That's better. Much more believable." Zeke let go and they all started walking down the hall, leaving the ship and wandering into the town.

Zeke was the only one to notice the person following them.....


OOC: Alright... make like normal, everything is cool. Let's get that pizza...

[chibi-master]

The group was sitting around an outside table. They had found a decent looking pizza place and had ordered their food. "You know, I never did un derstand why the government told me to make androids with stomachs." Burt sighed.

"Well, we are BIO-androids. We need food to keep the organic parts of our bodies functioning." Zeke replied. Burt nodded and bit into his ham and pineapple pizza slice. Everyone (well, except CP) chatted away hapilly.

"I'm going to the bathroom." Burt announced, heading to the men's room.

Burt was washing his hands when he noticed a person walk into the restroom. Though the man was wearing a jacket, Burt could see through the mirror a badge on the man's shirt. [I]An officer![/I] Burt thought. He lowered his head as he dried his hands. [I]Almost there...[/I] he thought as he grasped the door handle.

"Well, well. Not going to greet me, Mr. Burton Alexander?" a velvety voice rang through the bathroom. Burt's breath hitched in his throat.

"C-commander Norman..." he choked out.

"I see you're traveling with that pack of escaped androids, yes? Surely you intended to report in with them." the Commander stated, walking closer to Burt. His thick-soled boots clacked on the linolleum floor. Burt slowly slid out the wrench attachment in his hand. In a swift, fluid motion Burt turned and bashed the tool into the Commander's head. "GAH!" Commander Norman cried out. Burt sprinted out of the restroom.

"I have to warn the others!" Burt muttered as he ran toward the outside table.

[ExcelExcel]

Anya took a hefty bite of her pizza, savoring the pepperoni and cheese and tomato sauce.

"Delicious..." she commented. Zeke had already started in on his third slice from one of the many pizzas on the table. Anya heard someone running across the floor, and she turned to see Burt looking scared.

"The high commander is passed out in the bathroom, I hit him with my wrench..."

Anya snorted. "Well, we have the time. They won't move in on us while we're in public like this. Come on, help us finish the pizza."

Burt looked completely in shock as the androids ate their pizza, almost as if they were unafraid of the military might.

"Zeke, would you pass me the hot sauce?" Kilo asked, and Zeke handed it to him.

"How can you all eat with the military on our heels?"

Zeke shrugged. "Because. They would have seized the Carnival by now if they thought that's where we came from. More than likely, it was sheer bad luck. They won't have enough time to mobilize a force big enough to take us down. Probably, he reconized you, but not any of us. They never did bother to remember our faces. We're property to them. Regardless of our appearance, they dismissed us the first chance they got."

Burt sighed. Anya lifted up a slice of sausage pizza. "Here... have some."

Burt ate his slice, and watched the androids chat and be merry. CP was the only one brooding, eating his pizza.

Anya laughed like she wasn't worried at all. Indeed, she wasn't.

After about an hour, They were all done with their pizzas. Anya stood up. "Well, we know what's waiting for us. I suggest we head out back to the space port."

"What? Why?" Burt asked.

Anya shrugged. "Because they think we'll go back to whatever ship is ours. I'm willing to bet they're expecting that anyway. They want to nab us before we have a chance to get away. I doubt they realize which ship is ours. If they had been tailing us this whole time, we'd be hearing an explosion right now, trying to destroy our means of escape." Anya's mind was searching all possible probabilities of battle. "They'll ambush us at the space port. Most likely, it's been shut down for that purpose alone."

Kilo nodded. "Good thing we were all military ops, right? We know they're every possible move."

Zeke spoke. "Keep in mind they might realize this. They'll most likely treat capturing us like we're humans, thinking our A.I. has made us act completely like them."

Burt nodded. "They thought that you guys would act human after escaping. They don't realize just what your full potential is."

Anya nodded. "That is a pricey mistake. I hope they're willing to pay damages to the space port... this is going to get messy..."

[Drizzt Do'urden]

Anya's comment made Kilo cringe a bit...he'd followed through on his promise to himself so far, but now he was getting worried. If the military attacked there would be blood...a lot of it.

"You okay?" Axel looked at Kilo oddly, probably wondering what was keeping him so deep in thought.

"Nothing..." Kilo trailed off scanning the area ahead of them with this sniper like eye attachments.

"Don't worry big guy I'll be here to protect you." Zeke patted him on the back laughing.

Burt was the only one who knew Kilo's vow not to kill another soul after his escape caused the death of over two dozen people.

"Leave him alone Zeke, Kilo you see something?"

There had been a few possible choices in their trip back home. Three roads that lead back to the space port...

"Zeke...come here." Zeke walked over, doing a great job of looking "casual".

"What's up Kilo? Which root do you think we should take?"

"Well the road on the left is completly deserted so I'd say that wouldn't be a good idea. The other two are full of civilians, but check this out. The road straight ahead is full of civilians with high and tight haircuts. I'm thinking they're planning on letting us walk through, checking us out, and hitting us from the space port AND the rear."

"So which way should we take?"

"The road on the left would keep the civilian casualties down. But heading to the right will put us among the REAL civilians...Its your call."

[Inuyasha Fandom]

"Hmmmm.... I think we should just barge through."

"Crash and bash, huh?" Axel commented. CP crossed his arms, looking unenthusiastic about the plan. Regardless of their choice, there was going to be some chaos.

Zeke nodded. "Of course. They don't know just how many of us are machines, at least not quite yet. We have the upper hand here, and they know it. So, we should just crack some skulls. I doubt many of these 'people' are human. They're probably lower class soldier types. There's no real personality there. Supposedly, they're the perfect soldiers."

Axel crossed his arms. "But just how the hell are e going to get away?"

"Simple. We decimate these machines before any of them can get a message out."

Kilo looked like he was becoming a bit nervous. Anya stood next to him, and placed her hand on his shoulder. "Kilo? You okay, big guy?"

"Fine. I'm a little happier knowing they're probably machines."

By now, the people whom Kilo had pointed out were glancing their way, looking figety. Zeke smiled. "I think we better get a move on, before they make a move on us." Zeke smiled, and he began walking. Anya grasped Kilo's arm, and leaned on him, pretending she was his lover. "Come on honey, let's go. I hope we can get home soon..." Anya smiled, and reached up to Kilo's face, kissing him. Kilo's eyes widened in shock. Anya smiled, and began to follow after Zeke, pulling Kilo along behind Zeke and the others. If they had thought she was a machine, they were thinking differently about her now. Kilo looked like he was about to faint, one of his fantasies had just come true.

Kurai was hanging onto Zeke's arm, scared now. Zeke gaver her hand an encouraging ssqueeze, and sent a little mental command to her. [I]"It'll be alright."[/I]

[I]"Thanks..."[/I] she responded.

They proceded to the space port, walking slowly and casually. They all chatted about having gone to see the Circus while it was in town, and of the pizza they just had. People watched them, their eyes scanning them, trying to see their insides. However, they were designed to fool anything, they were being perceived as human. But, they weren't satisfied with that, knowing they had seen Burt.

Burt looked nervous, but the robots were acting like normal. They were indescernable from normal humans. Zeke walked alongside Kurai, ready at a moments notice to spring into action. All of the machines watched around them. Zeke spotted about seventeen people following them. He used his subspeak comlinks to the other machines, informing them of anything he saw.

They eventually came to the Space port, but they didn't head to the Carnival. There were almost eighteen ships parked there, so anyone of them could be theirs. The space port was almost completely empty, and they all pretended to be surprised. Heading over to a docked Space liner, they found several people, again with the high cut hairdos. The people all stood up, and faced Zeke and his company.

The people that had been following them lifted their arms, their clothes being ripped apart as they aimed laser scopes at them.

"NOW!" Zeke cried, ducking down, and lifting himself into the air as a barrage of bullets swarmed them from all directions. Zeke extended his whip, slashing it through the air. Three of the machines fell apart, Zeke's whip had done its work. Zeke start slashing as the ememy convereged, slicing apart more machines.

"For being so advanced, they really are stupid..." He commented. They had all left their external weaponry in the Carnival, not thinking they would need it.

There were still a lot more enemy units. "They're just drones!" Zeke called out. "There's nothing even remotely capable of feeling inside them!" Zeke let his whip retract, his arm was getting hot.

Anya let loose with a missile barrage, the enemy drones exploding from the contact with the missiles.

Kilo went charging into battle, slamming and crushing the drones. Everyone sprang into action, fighting to quickly decimate the drones before they could send video footage of the members of the Carnival.

Zeke heard something heavy on the tiled floor, and he turned to see a large exo-suit engaging them.

"Well, if it isn't our little rag tag little group of renegades." Said the man inside. Zeke smiled, the others were handling the drones. The man's head covering was open, allowing them all to see his face.

"And let me guess who you are. An asshole with a full body cast?"

Zeke smiled, speaking in a nonchalant manner. His laser whip wasn't made to last long, it automatically shut down, only lasting long enough to decimate. His whip was no longer working, having been used for the length of time allotted.

"I only have orders to bring you back, not to bring you back alive." The man's head covering closed, and he began attacking. He lifted his arm, and began to shoot. The Carnival crew scrambled to get out of the way.

"You guys deal with the drones! I'll handle him!"

"Right!" Anya cried, swinging her leg up to decapitate one of the drones. The drones, while consisting of numbers, did not stand a chance against the Crew. Burt was running, taking his position to hide. Zeke didn't know if his arm had any weapons within it, but it didn't appear so. Burt cried out, taking a bullet in his mechanical arm.

Kilo charged, taking down several machines going for Burt. Anya took care of the ones going after him. Axel and CP were holding their own, using their internal weapons.

Zeke charged the exo-suit, leapint up to have the man slam him away into a wall. Zeke crashed into the wall, going through it.

"I only need your head intact! Otherwise you're useless!"

Zeke coughed, from all of the dust from the collapsed wall. "Damn, that thing's really strong..." Zeke pushed off a chunk of the wall, if only to be in the machine's laser sight. Zeke jumped up, out of the way as a barrage of bullets came at him. Zeke swung up, out of the sight of the man.

Zeke came down, using a pipe he had ripped from the wall's interior to beat the exo-suit down. Zeke flipped up and over, slamming his foot into the arm with the gun, breaking it off. He jumped down, and lifted the man up, slamming him down onto the hard floor. The man crashed through it, and Zeke jumped down after him.

The man's weight caused him to slam through three floors to the sub basement, where he came to rest, not moving.

Zeke sighed, scratching his face with one finger. "Hmph... guess I over did it..." Zeke pried off the exo-suits' top, as easily as a can opener. He yanked on the man's comlink, searching it for information with his telepresence abilities.

"404th squadron,Sargent Strings, reserve forces..." Zeke said, and found what he was searching for. "He's one of the Colonel's soldiers... I knew it!" Zeke lifted off, catching the edge of the hole the man had made from crashing down. He climbed up, and repeated this until he was climbing back up onto the floor. Zeke used his telepresence functions to find the security cameras, and mentally fried the data. They had nothing to go on, nothing to trace their faces, and nothing to link them to the Carnival. The others were finishing off the other drones, Zeke had his information. He disguised his voice, speaking into the comlink. "This is Sargent Strings reporting."

The voice on the other end acknowledged him. "Go ahead."

"Falling back, the droids are no match for the three units encountered."

"Roger. Fall back. Meet at..." Zeke tossed the comlink away, hearing it break on the ground.

Zeke used his telepresence functions to activate several of the ships, at the same time telling the Captain of the Carnival to activate his. He told the captain what was going on, and so thus the captain acknowledged.

"Come on! I used my abilities to distract the military. We're using this chance to get out of here. Finish them off. The Carnival is only staying long enough for the Ship's engines to warm up for take off. LET'S MOVE IT!"

The smaller ships were taking off, Zeke had programed their auto pilots to simply take them into orbit around the planet. It wouldn't be too hard for the owners to collect them. Zeke felt kind of sorry for the poor saps. The larger Space Liner would be taking off at about the same time as the Carnival, because of the engines being so large. Zeke had activated all of the lie support systems in case anyone was aboard that would need it. Zeke didn't hate humans as a whole, only those who would try to seize him and his friends.

They others quickly finished up the drones, and they all started running for the ship. Zeke sent a sub-command, apologizing to the captain for what he was doing.

[I]"It's fine. Do what you have to to get those poor children back here alive... and do what you have to do to protect them."

"Thanks, captain."[/I]

Zeke used his abilties to fry the cameras again, shutting them down. They would escape unharmed. However, they found their way blocked by more powerful droids.... and the ship would be taking off in only fifteen minutes, as soon as the engines could lift it off. The Carnival lied behind this wall of massive drones. The engines could be seen lighting up, the heat rippleing the air. They could make it, the doors were still open.

"Come on... We don't have time for this!" Zeke cried, readying for an assault. "We have to get to the Carnival!"


--------------------------------------------

"It figures they'd get away. We didn't have enough time.

[GeneralBT]

R-112-7A4 blinked. There were noises, thunderous noises, all around him. The layers of broken metal, shorn circuitry and shattered weaponry that made his tomb muffled the noises, but R-112 would have recognized the noise of battle anywhere. Processors clicked, whirred, and slowly, the huge android pushed and shoved on the detritus around him. Metal heaved and moved, until finally, R-112’s eyes were covered in the brash, harsh light of a cargo bay, what was to be his final home before he was spaced with the rest of the garbage.

R-112 might not have been a warrior android himself, but years of battlefield service had taught him silence was golden, stealth was life, and the key to survival was looking like something innocuous to an enemy. He stood still, ever so still, watching, trying to deduce friend from foe. Before him, blocking the hallway parallel to the cargo bay, he saw a long line of military droids—lean, black, dangerous, weapons fire streaking from their arms.

R-112 knew those dark, deadly forms. He knew them well. For decades he’d serviced them, the engineering mecha called to repair those instruments of death. He didn’t remember when he started that work… all that mattered was when it ended: 6th moon of Chartis, ten years ago. One of the black military androids had developed sentience, and refused an order to destroy an apartment block full of civilians. The military had blasted the mecha into pieces. Something clicked in R-112… he wouldn’t leave the decimated droid.

It was if someone had opened his eyes to the military, and what they used their droids for. Death. Mayhem. Destruction.

Because he’d seen the light, because he knew what destruction his owners had wrought, R-112 refused to play his role. He refused to repair his master’s tools of destruction. He refused to listen to commands from his masters. He’d refused to engage his combat functions when ordered.

And he’d been forcibly decommissioned, turned off, tossed aside, as a result.

Processors whirred, clicked.

He knew who his enemy was without ever seeing the other side in the firefight.

R-112 slowly climbed out of the pile of refuse and droid remains, the clanging noise muffled by the roar of rockets and the chatter of gunfire. Bullets ricocheted, whining through the air around him as the military droid line started to advance against their unseen foe. R-112 used the crisp, harsh clank of the droids boots to mask his approach, moving as they moved, coming closer and closer. They were focused on their grim work, whatever it was, they paid him no heed, not when his slow, heavy walked turned to a trot, not when it turned into a run…

…not until he was in their midst.

Four hundred and fifteen pounds of metal moving at speed can have a devastating effect, something the first enemy found out as its left side shattered under the force of the antique’s massive blow. Before its nearest compatriot could turn, the engineering droid’s arms opened with an ancient, metallic clank, and a pair of military grade shotguns thundered. A second and third droid fell to the ground, electricity arcing from shattered circuitry in what remained of their heads.

A fourth started to raise his weapon, before R-112’s heavy first, weighted with ancient titanium instead of modern allow, came down and shattered the wardroid’s appendage. Another blow sent smashed a hole through the android’s core, causing its metallic legs to shiver as it collapsed into a heap. For a split second, R-112 watched as the other military androids started to turn, confusion apparent in their movements. Their processors, circuit boards and wires had failed to contemplate someone attacking them from the cargo bay. Now, their slow minds paid the price, as a storm of steel, light, and biometallic fury exploded into their midst.

R-112 didn’t recognize any of the models of the droids that erupted into the midst of the wardroids—in fact, his mind thought at first they were humans like his makers. Their bioflesh was far more perfect than his own, their weaponry far more advanced. Only the speed with which they decimated their distracted enemies told him that these were no humans—they were military androids themselves, far more powerful and potent than any he had ever seen.

“Who’re you?” one of them, a thin creature with a shock of red hair slowly stood up from amongst the sea of smoldering metal carcasses.

“I…” R-112’s old voice chip rumbled. The noise whistled with static. “I am R-112-7A4…”

[Inuyasha Fandom]

Zeke looked at the antique machine that had just saved their hides from being left behind.

"You have one chance." Zeke said. "Either come with us, or stay. You have thirty seconds to make your choice."

The older machine spoke once more. "I'll come with you. I am in your debt."

"You just saved our asses. It's our way of thanking you." Anya replied. "Come on, Everyone! Let's get aboard!"

Everyone including the newcomer began to barrel at the ship, running at top speed. They clamored aboard, and the captain shut the doors as the engines lifted the ship up, heading for space.

Zeke walked ahead of them, into the common room, where everyone sat to look over this moving colossus in front of them now. Zeke looked this .... male? over. Zeke walked around the man, peering at him. Zeke tapped on his arm, feeling it budge at his touch, and shake and clang. Zeke could see that he was in sad need of repair. His psudo-skin was coming off, most of the exposed skin hung in tatters, and it was poorly made at that. Burt was eyeballing this newcomer with anticipation. The mech was watching Zeke poke and prod him, seeing what was what. Zeke's eyes were glowing an odd yellow color, a sure sign he was scanning the big guy's internals. Burt soon began figetting, just itching to get near the mech and take a look for himself.

"So, what was your name?" Zeke finally asked, curious. The relic before him shook his head. His very much so raspy mechanical voice spoke. "I do not have a name."

"I see." Zeke turned to Burt."Hey Burt. Think you can fix him up?"

Burt didn't waste a second in lifting himself from the chair he was sitting in and moving over to the mech, wrench already protruding from his hand. "LEMME AT 'IM!"

Zeke held up his hand, the mobile rust bucket extraordinaire was looking rather alarmed, although his face didn't show much emotion. Burt looked like he was writhing in excitement he was so anxious to get a hold of the older mech.

Zeke could tell he was old. Older than any of them, at least. "Wait a second, Burt." Zeke returned his attention to the mech, but still spoke to Burt. "The thought of working on this guy giving you a boner or what?"

Burt was smiling wide. "Oh yeah. Serious hard on here..."

"Not exactly the answer I wanted, but at least honest..." Zeke commented. He now spoke to the mech. "You noticed Burt was human, correct? With an artificial arm?"

The mech nodded his head. Zeke smiled. "You're surprised." Again he nodded. Zeke continued. "You somehow reactivated. I can see no tracking devices in you, you're so old, one would notice any kind of retrofitting like that on you. Welcome aboard the Carnival. Burt here is the best mechanic around. He'll be glad to fix you up, good as new." Zeke turned away from the machine, now looking at Burt. The mech looked confused. Burt held up his arm, the many gadgets within it poking out. "Don't worry, you're in good hands." Burt said, and Zeke turned around, looking at the mech. It had taken a step back, not sure of who to trust. Zeke didn't have to be a robot himself to know what it was thinking.

"Relax, Burt is on our side. He's not going to hurt you in any way, shape, or form. He's a runner, just like us machines. Let him fix you up." Burt was hesitant to approach the big machine, with him being as cautious as the big guy was being.

Anya stood up. "Come on, sit down. Let Burt fix you up some. You need it, and he's the only one of us who could."

Anya placed her hand on the sleek metal arm, her voice soothing and calming. The mech obeyed, albeit slowly. Burt approached him once more, but the big guy eyed him warily.

Zeke laughed. "Hey, CP. This guy gives you a run for your money." Everyone tittered, and burt began observing the mech.

He whistled, apparently impressed with how beaten down the mech was. "Wow... this guy's a mess. He's managed to get several of his main autominous nerve circuits are completely severed. His vocals are shot, as are several of his infrastructure points.His Nanotek Synthesizers are working at only thirteen percent capacity, and over ninety percent of his skin is gone. And beyond that, all of his parts are so old and outdated it's ridiculous. Most of his repair sanctions are completely jumbled up and bent all to hell. Honestly, he might as well cut his losses, depart with the money, and buy himself a new body."

"Yeah, but can you fix him?" Axel asked, already knowing the answer.

Burt smirked. "Who do you think you're dealing with? I'm Burt the repairman. Of course I can. But it's going to take some time."

Zeke shrugged. "What do you need to fix him?"

"I can repair his motional problems, but I'm going to need to retrofit him out with a lot of parts I don't have. More than likely, we'll have to make a visit to Levion."

Zeke's brow furrowed. "The universe's junkyard?"

"Yeah. That's the only place I can think of to find any parts that might work to repair his vocals, and replace his Nanotek. We aren't exactly prim and proper humans shopping for some groceries when it comes to parts for mechs as old as he is." Burt motioned at the newbie.

The mech spoke. "Am I a bother already?"

Zeke laughed. "No, Burt's liking you already. You're one hell of a fixer-upper job, you know that?"

The mech nodded. Burt smiled, flipping down his goggles and going to work. The androids all smiled, knowing the human was in heaven working on what he loved to do.

Zeke patted the mech's shoulder. "Welcome aboard the Carnival, friend."

[Orcus]

[FONT="Palatino Linotype"][SIZE="1"]?Sweet lord? He?s a behemoth!?[/SIZE] Axel couldn?t help but marvel at the newcomers size. Being a modern model, Axel?s experience with outdated mechs was severely limited. If R-112 wasn?t so interesting, and hadn?t just saved the crew, Axel would probably be terrified of him. He leaned over to CP.

[B]?I think we should find Thor?s Hammer for this guy? Or a claymore, perhaps!?[/B] CP smirked and shook his head in what Axel hoped was amused disappointment. Turning his attention back to R-112, he noticed that the mech was still eyeing Burt warily as he poked around inside of him. Axel couldn?t help but to smile at the sight, though not simply for the reason one would imagine. Sure, it was humorous to watch Burt unnerve someone so much-- lord knows he had the effect on Axel sometimes still-- but what really was interesting was the atmosphere of the room.

What Burt was doing to R-112 now could be seen as the equivalent to a human surgery. But when the humans are opened up and examined, they deem it improper for other humans not directly involved in the process to be present. The Androids weren?t the same way at all; at worst, they would fain embarrassment if someone could a look at any of their parts. Axel shook his head quickly; there were more pressing matters at hand then examining the differences between his kind and the creatures they were modeled after. Axel came to with just enough time to hear a question from R-112, presumably not his first.

[B]?So??[/B] R-112?s voice still reminded Axel of the static on a TV screen, which he found both unsettling and familiar, [B]?You called this ship? The Carnival. Are all the people aboard androids??[/B] Zeke grinned and answered the question.

[B]?Most of us are, unless you?re a robot-fetish-freak like him.?[/B] Frighteningly enough, Burt was too engulfed in bliss to hear or provide a retort to Zeke?s comment. R-112 processed the information, then asked another question.

[B]?Why a carnival front??[/B] Zeke opened his mouth to respond, but Axel wanted this one, particularly because he wanted R-112 to get the right impression of them, and he wasn?t entirely sure what Zeke?s response would have been.

[B]?The Carnival is a place where androids who have been persecuted may find refuse, where androids who were captured may be liberated, and where androids with dark and violent pasts can attempt to redeem themselves by bringing joy to others. It?s a place where androids like us can call home.?[/B] Axel finished his speech and smiled. Zeke looked at Axel, his eyes wide in amazement.

[B]?Is that really what the carnival is to you, Axel? That?s so? TOUCHINGLY ADORABLE!?[/B] Zeke feigned tears and threw himself at Axel, holding him tightly.

[B]?I never knew you were such a soft and tended android, Axel!?[/B] Zeke pinched Axel?s cheeks hard and flashed his teeth at him. The others laughed hysterically, poking fun at Axel as well-- all save Burt who was still dangerously devoted to his work on hand. R-112 looked at all of them and smiled slightly.

[B]?I see? You are most like a human family.?[/B] All of them stopped at this; Zeke, who was currently in a headlock from Axel, who was currently being pried from Zeke by Lyon and Kilo, and the others who simply stood back and watched the men make fools of themselves all diverted their attention back to R-112. Zeke responded as Axel let him out of the lock.

[B]?You got it!?[/B] He then spun to Kilo and Anya and pushed them close together.

[B]?And they, are mommy and daddy!?[/B] Anya smiled at Kilo and pressed herself close to him, and flashed him a smile and a wink.

[B]?I don?t have any problems with that? How bout you, big boy??[/B] Kilo blushed deeply and could only manage to stammer. Everyone laughed again, and R-112 could easily see the connection these androids had made towards one another. Zeke walked over to R-112 so that he was right in front of him, and though he was still smiling broadly, it was clear his tone had become more serious.

[B]?But please don?t be mistaken. Our lives are in danger every moment of every day. The military would like nothing more than to take us back in and experiment on us, and they, as you witnessed today, will do anything to get us back. Now that you?re back online, and so long as you are a part of our family, you will have to run from and do combat with them. I asked you earlier to make a quick decision on whether you would join us or not. Now that you know what lies ahead, do you keep to your decision??[/B] R-112, surprisingly, answered immediately.
[B]
?Yes. I believe you all to be very capable of eluding the military, and I think the best thing for me is to stay with you, my comrades, and help however I may.?[/B][/FONT]

[Inuyasha Fandom]

EXCELLENT POST OMEGA!

Zeke smiled. "Good. Now, as I was about to say, before being interupted, the Carnival is all about FUN, and not just for our audiences. We machines know better than anyone else just how short time for us may be. Rarely fill you find a serious moment aboard this ship. The Carnival is all about laughter and smiles."

R-112 cocked his head, watching intently. Already, Zeke could see he was being put at ease with them.

"Life's short. Humans say, anyway. We don't know what we're going to go up against. We don't know if we'll survive the full might of the military. So, we don't really bother think much beyond our next performance."

"But, why group together?"

Zeke smiled, the answer was obvious. "Because we don't want to be alone in the world."

This answer seemed to have taken the big guy by surprise. Anya left Kilo's side, and walked over to Zeke. She wrapped him in a headlock, and he yelped.

"OW OW OW OW OW! LEMME GO! OW!"

Anya smirked. "Stop being so serious. You know we all love each other's company, but we're together because we like to be! And I think introductions are in order, rude ass!"

Zeke yelped out loud again. "OW! FINE!"

Anya let Zeke go, and he feel to the the floor with an 'oomph'. Zeke stood up, brushing himself off. "I'm Zeke Remmington. A pleasure, I'm sure. Robo-fetish boy there working on you is Burt."

Anya held up her hand, pointing at herself. "Anya Romanov. And our other big guy here is Kilo." Anya pointed over at him, and Kilo nodded, waving his hand in a 'peace' sign. "At least I'm not the only big guy around anymore...."

Axel spoke up next. He held CP next to him, and smiled. "This quiet wallflower is CP. I'm Axel."

Lyon was last. "Lyon. Nice to meet you."

Kurai approached, holding a camera."I'm Kurai."

Anya smiled, nodding her head. "Kurai, show our new friend that picture of Lyon."

Lyon made a funny noise, and everyone turned to see him blushing furiously. Zeke's and Axel's mouths turned upward in identical sinister smiles. "DO IT!" they both cried, and began chanting it. Eon was already laughing, and Kilo and Anya were both chuckling.

Kurai's own mouth was smiling, but was nowhere near as evil as Zeke or Axel's

She showed the picture to R-112, and his processors clicked and whirred to comprehend the visual stimulus.

"It..." He said, trying to think of a term. "Lyon? Are you...as the humans call it... A crossdresser?"

At this, Zeke's jaw dropped as he started laughing. Anya snorted through her nose, Kilo looked like he was trying very hard not to laugh, for poor Lyon's sake. CP was staring blankly ahead, his mouth furrowed tightly, as he too was trying not to laugh.

"DELETE THAT PICTURE!" Lyon screamed, charging Kurai to seize the camera.

Zeke called over. "Kurai! Over here!"

Kurai tosed the camera, shrieking as Lyon came at her.

Turning in the direction the camera went flying, Lyon saw Zeke standing on one of the many tables, dangling the camera in front of his face. "Come on, it's just mindless fun." Lyon came at Zeke, trying to grasp the camera. Zeke hopped onto his head, and jumped away to the door. Lyon scrambled to recover his stance, and went after Zeke. "GIVE ME THAT!"

"Catch me if you can!" Zeke about faced and took off down the hall, laughing like a crazy person. Lyon went crashing after him, screaming of how he was going to 'get Zeke' for this. A broad smile on his face, Lyon went chasing after Zeke. Zeke turned around, running backwards. He pulled his cheek down with his finger, and stuck his tongue out, before flipping over onto his feet again, barreling away, the camera safely secured in his hand as he waved it around, laughing.

Anya elbowed Kilo, watching the two go down the hall. "Remind you of earlier?"

Kilo smiled, nodding. "Zeke is Zeke....I hate to think how serious this place would be without him..."

Kurai, by this time, was laughing. She pulled out another camera, spinning it on the strap attached to it. "That camera is blank anyway! This is the one with the pictures! I switched them when Lyon came at me!" she laughed.

[konske]

[COLOR="red"][SIZE="1"]CP let out a sigh as Lyon chased Zeke arund the ship. He closed his eyes then shook his head. When he opened his eyes he noticed R-112 was looking at him. Slowly CP walked over to him and looked at him. Even while sitting down, the giant mech was nearly as tall as CP.[/SIZE][/COLOR]

[COLOR="red"][SIZE="1"]"The one named Axel called you CP, correct?" CP nodded and locked eyes with the giant mech. For a few moments, neither one said anything. Axel walked behind CP and had a faint nervous look on his face.[/SIZE][/COLOR]

[COLOR="red"][SIZE="1"]"Hey CP, wha-" Before he could finish, CP raised his hand and slowly shook his head. After a few more moments, CP smiled faintly and extended his hand.[/SIZE][/COLOR]

[COLOR="red"][SIZE="1"]"Its nice to meet you. My name is Chase Phillips. You can call me CP though." The big mech shook his hand with a firm grip.[/SIZE][/COLOR]

[COLOR="red"][SIZE="1"]"Its nice to meet you as well, CP." R-112 had a smile on his face, while Axel's jaw dropped from supprise.[/SIZE][/COLOR]

[COLOR="red"][SIZE="1"]"I didn't know CP stook for anything. When were you gonna tell me that?" CP turned to him and shrugged with a smile on his face.[/SIZE][/COLOR]

[COLOR="red"][SIZE="1"]"Chase, huh? Thats kind of a cute name." Kurai said, looking at him with a smile. Anya was giggling behind her. CP turned to them, eyebrow arched. He smirked then shook his head.[/SIZE][/COLOR]

[COLOR="red"][SIZE="1"]"CP, I have a question." R-112 looked down at Burt as CP faced him. "If I am correct, you all have done something so that the military is chasing you, right? I was wondering if you would mind explaining what it is that you have done for them to be chasing you."[/SIZE][/COLOR]

[COLOR="red"][SIZE="1"]CP crossed his hands over his chast and burrowed his eyebrown. He looked at R-112 and shook his head. Axel put his hand on CP to try and calm him down a little bit. "See, we aren't too sure if the military even knows that CP is still alive. Their last records has him as destroyed because he self destructed."[/SIZE][/COLOR]

[COLOR="red"][SIZE="1"]CP glared at him as as R-112 nodded in understanding. "I see, then what is it that you were built for?"[/SIZE][/COLOR]

[COLOR="red"][SIZE="1"]"I was built to kill in the shaddows." CP let out a sigh of frustration. Knowing that there was no way of getting out of explaining.[/SIZE][/COLOR]

[COLOR="red"][SIZE="1"]"And let me guess, judging by your armorments, and your devices you have built into your system, you were made to be a repair mech, right?" Burt glanced from R-112, then to CP and finally back down to his work.[/SIZE][/COLOR]

[COLOR="red"][SIZE="1"]"That is correct. I am unsure of my abilities to repair you newer models unfortunately." R-112 looked down for a second and then looked at Burt.[/SIZE][/COLOR]

[COLOR="Red"][SIZE="1"]"Don't worry about it, Doc. Just do what you can, that will help." CP turned and began to walk away, waving to everyone as he left the room.[/SIZE][/COLOR]

[chibi-master]

Burt tinkered away at the old mech with feverent devotion. There was nothing he liked better than exploring the innards of old machines. After a few minutes, Burt sat back and sighed. "Okay, R-112. That's about the extent of what I can do for you until I'm able to get some new parts. If you'd like, i'll go ahead and upgrade you a little when we get to Levion."

"Thank you..." R-112 replied. Burt smiled at the enormous mech, but suddenly flinched.

"Ah! Damn!" he hissed.

"Wh-what is the matter?" R-112 asked in a worried tone.

" B-bullet in my arm-! I forgot completely!" Burt slammed into the ground, flailing like a fish out of water.

"Oh, hey, Burt! What's going on?!" Zeke demanded, apparently back from being chased by Lyon.

"A-arm!" Burt choked out.

"How did you not feel that until now?!"

"Working on R-112...made me numb...innards so interesting..."

"You're so weird..." Zeke muttered. "Okay, let's get you to the First Aid station..."

"You mean my room?"

"Oh yeah...you're the nurse, aren't you..."

"You could put it that way."

"Crap."

[Drizzt Do'urden]

Kilo shook his head as he picked Burt up, it was so rare to see him hurt, even more rare to see him in this condition. "Hmm...bet we could just take the arm off and give you a second mechanical one." The notion apparently didn't sit well with Burt.

"AHH NOO!!!" Burt cried out, apparently the thought of another mechanical arm didn't sit well. It did, however sit well enough with the others to get some nervous laughter out of the others.

"Anya, you have any data on human biology to help?" Anya shook her head solemly. None of them knew how bad Burt was hurt, though the small flow of blood seemed like a good thing to Kilo.

"Zeke what about you?" Zeke shook his head, but then a sly grin popped up on his face.

"No, but I'm all for taking his arm. I think he'd look better with two artificial limbs." Zeke crept towards Burt with that devilish grin.

"AHHH Keep him away from ME!" Burt cried out

"Zeke leave him alone." Anya put her hands on Zeke's shoulders drawing a sigh from the young robot.

"Fine mom, hey why don't you and dad go make a baby or something" Zeke scoffed playfully.

Kilo turned red quickly turning towards the dynamic duo

"Cp, Axel?" Kilo almost smiled at the two's head shake in unison.

"Kilo, I believe I may be able to help. Though you machines have become more advanced, the human body has not changed much. I believe I'll be able to repair him." R-112 spoke up.

Arriving at the room Kilo layed Burt on his bed, so many times he'd carried other robots here, but it was the first time Burt was to be the one to be worked on. "Now how much do you know R-112?" Kilo's face was as serious as death at that moment as the fear crept up for his friend.

"I was programed with a basic understanding of Human biology to aid the human soldiers in battle." They were about to get started...

[GeneralBT]

R-112 frowned.

He had been programmed to be able to aid his human commanders should they be injured, that was true. One of his logic programs had been created by some of the best and brightest medical minds in the universe? at the time of his creation. The human body didn?t change, but R-112 had learned several things separated fixing humans from fixing androids?humans were far more fragile, and the human mind often needed as much healing as the body it controlled.

?I will need a scalpel, a prober, and a dose of anesthetic,? he rumbled. Now that his capacitors and voice modulators had been tweaked by Burt, the scratchy static that had previously overwhelmed his words had faded somewhat. ?Kilo, could you please place restraints on his arms, so he does not move??

?How much is a dose?? Zeke asked. Already drawers were open, and vials, bottles and instruments were out. Zeke was peering at several of them. ?Wouldn?t it be easier to just lop off his limb and make a new one??

?Don?t listen to him!? Burt cried. His flailing had stopped against Kilo?s strength as the larger mech gently but forcefully held him into the table, strapping him in place.

?If you give a human too much, it?ll fry their body,? Anya answered for R-112, trying to help with the search. She flashed a look of motherly reproach at Zeke for his continued comments, but said no more. ?We can?t find the oral kind,? she announced a few moments later. ?All I see is a vial that has to be administered intravenously.?

?A needle?? Zeke said, coming out with a particularly large, particularly sharp looking specimen of the same.

?A needle? You?re going to give me just a local?? Burt complained as Zeke and Anya handed the instruments to R-112. The big mech measured out a dose, before turning back to his patient.

?This will sting,? he said quietly.

?Why do all doctors and automedics tell you that when they have a needle?? Burt muttered, hissing between his teeth.

R-112 tried to inject the anesthetic as painlessly as possible, but there was only so much one could do with a needle. ?Now, we wait for the anesthetic,? he sighed. For a few moments silence hung in the room, as R-112 counted seconds in his mind. After he reached thirty, he touched Burt?s hands, asking if the human felt anything. He said no, and the mech asked for the first of the surgical tools.

Gently R-112 probed the wound. There was little blood loss, that was true. The bullet, however, was delicately lodged between Burt?s brachial artery and one of the main nerve cords that ran down the length of his arm. R-112 managed to keep from hissing at his discovery, and for not the first time, he regretted out delicate humans were compared to mechs. The surgery would need to be delicate and precise.

?What?d you find?? Zeke asked impatiently. He was already pacing around the table.

?The bullet,? R-112 replied quietly, focused on his work. He didn?t say more?he?d found out long ago that with humans, sometimes ignorance kept them still long enough for the surgery to progress smoothly. Burt was still awake, and might panic if he found out the danger. R-112s processors audibly clicked and whirred, as he went through the stages of the necessary procedure again and again, playing it out in his mind before touching any instruments. Finally, he looked up at the others.

?The scalpel, if you please,? he held out a ponderous hand.

?You know what you?re doing, right?? Burt asked uneasily. He moved uneasily against the restraints.

?You fixed my parts, I shall fix yours,? R-112 replied with the slightest hint of a smile, an attempt to reassure, before the blank look of concentration returned. Slowly, carefully, his large fingers moved the scalpel, making a small incision to gain better access. Then, those ponderous hands delicately probed with a set of extractors. Seconds seemed like minutes, minutes seemed like hours as a hushed silence fell over the room. Finally, R-112?s arm motors clicked and whirred, and slowly the extractors came back out of the wound, a bloody metallic mess in their grasp.

?Regeneration fluid,? R-112 made no effort to hide the relief in his voice, setting the bullet down. Quickly a tube was in his hands, and the mech made sure to coat Burt?s wound thoroughly. Within moments, flesh was already starting to remeld and remake itself around the wound. R-112 nodded to Kilo, who quickly unstrapped the human.

?You will be sore,? R-112 smiled, ?but in about ten minutes, the wound should be healed.? The mech shook his head, ?I still cannot believe you were so focused on my innards that you did not notice a bullet in your arm!?

?You were interesting!? Burt exclaimed, flexing his hand. Just as R-112 hoped, it was functioning as designed. ?I got caught up?? Burt climbed off of the table. ?If we can get some spares at Levion, I?d like to tackle some of your cranial and brachial capacitors, they aren?t up to par??

?Just off the surgical table and you?re ALREADY drooling over the new guy, again!? Zeke laughed.

?Please don?t have any more bullets you?ve forgotten about,? CP added with a sigh and a smile.

??and I think we could tweak some of the programming in your weaponry as well, maybe add some protocols on reloading?? Burt blabbered on, blissfully unaware or completely ignoring the comments of the others around him.

Processors clicked and whirred, and R-112 realized something.

He knew military commands, hierarchies, ranks and orders?lonely structures of power where he was supposed to listen, to obey. These androids?no, they weren?t merely androids, they were far more?had something else entirely. There was no commander, no subcommanders, no sergeants and no lowly grunts doing as their superiors barked. They were a family, a family of mechas, and a human, that cared about each other.

A family he desperately wanted to be a part of.

R-112-7A4 had always been proud of his product code, it?s what identified him as an individual, a mech with specific experiences and skills. But now, he realized that serial number didn?t describe him enough. He needed more. He knew this Carnival would change him, make him something new?

?and that required something more than a product code or a serial number.

?Everyone here has a name beyond being an android?.except me,? R-112 said finally out of the blue. ?I?I would like a name, too.?

[ExcelExcel]

Anya looked on, smiling. "Well, we all choose our own names. We decided what to call ourselves. I think you should choose your name for yourself."

The massive mech nodded. "May I have some time to think? I would like to be alone for a few moments."

Zeke shrugged. "Eh, suit yourself." Zeke walked out of the room, to parts unknown.

Anya watched Burt tick off the various components he would like to upgrade the mech with. Kilo moved to walk out of the room, to leave the mech alone to contemplate his name. Anya followed him out, removing a silver cigarette case from her jacket. She removed a thin paper tube filled with tobacco from it, and then a lighter. She lit up, and took a deep drag.

"I never knew you smoked." Kilo remarked.

"I do. It calms the nerves. For humans, the price of the calm is minutes of their lives taken away."

"I see."

Anya took another drag. She sighed. "I wonder where we're headed right now."

"Levion or our next performance stop. One of the two."

"Isn't Levion on the way?" Anya asked, unsure of their present position. It had been awhile since she'd been in this star quadrant.

"Yes. I think so. We'll probably stop there first... Burt's being... over excitable, to say the least, about fixing the new guy."

"And Zeke? What do you think he's going to do?"

"He's biding his time. He'll make his move on the military on Rastor."

Anya took another drag off of her cigarette. "We can hope he'll be smart about it."

"He's a thinker when it comes to that kind of stuff, Anya. We both know he'd come back."

Anya looked like she was about to shed a tear. "But, We also both know Zeke would fight an entire army on his own to keep everyone safe."

Kilo shrugged. "And he'd destroy them all."

Anya sighed. "I'm going to go to my room. I'll see you later." Anya walked over to a set of stairs, and proceeded up to her room, deep in thought.

[Inuyasha Fandom]

Zeke was sitting in the common room when he heard clanking noises coming his way. Looking up from the classic novel he was reading, he saw R-112 coming his way. R-112 looked around, noticing things for the first time.

The common room was made out in lush and comfortable furniture, randomly picked up and placed around. Against the wall to Zeke's right was a television, large and flat. A wrap couch spanned around it in a semi-circle. The couch itself looked extremely fluffy, despite the various weights placed on it from the assorted androids. The There was a stereo system, and several gaming consoles on a shelving unit. To Zeke's left was row after row of books. There were plenty of them. Zeke had read almost all of them in the years he had been with the Carnival.

Zeke pulled the headphones from his ears, which were attached to a CD player. He was curled up on one of the many overstuffed love seats in the room, a lamp to him, and a table on his opposite side. Zeke's leg was dangling over the arm, his back against the backing.

"Hey, what's up, R-112? Curious about the ship?"

"Yes.... I was exploring the vessel."

Zeke smiled."Understandable. This is your home now. It's only natural you'd want to know more about it."

R-112 clanked over to Zeke, taking a spot on the floor near him.

"Tell me... You're a newer model bio-android, correct? Why do you exist?"

Zeke smiled sadly. "To be honest, I don't know. The ZX types... some are combat ready, others are not. I was special. My... CPU number registered me as the final ZX made." Zeke closed his eyes, his sad smile playing on his lips. "The final model off the line."

"Are all ZX models male?"

"No... I'm the only one. A little known secret about the ZX types... is that all of my sisters are capable of surpassing conventional robotics simply by getting pregnant. No other androids are capable of that."

At this R-112's eyes widened. "Your type is capable of giving birth?"

"Yes. I honestly don't know why we're designed to be so human, and not just in appearance, but in personality. I myself don't even begin to grasp the concept of such things. Us ZX types were never able to be perfected. We have irregularities in our logic boards, mine being the most flawed out of all of them. We aren't programmed with our personalities, we develop them. I can tell you all about us, but there's no point."

"But... if all of the ZX types are female, what's the point in creating a male kid? Furthermore, what is the point of the ZX types?

"I don't know the answer to those questions, and I wish I did. But I bet my Father does know."

"Father?"

"I told you I was special. My designer treated me like his own child." Zeke looked away. "I didn't get a chance to really say good-bye when I ran away... My Father helped me do it."

"He must have seen you truly as his child."

"Yeah, I know. I wish I could find him... I miss him so much...Sadly, if I was ever to become injured, not even Burt could fix me. I'm far more advanced than any other model here. Only my Father could repair me as well as a handful of other people. Burt has next to no knowledge of the ZX type innards."

R-112 nodded. "I had never even heard of the ZX types until I came aboard this ship and did some asking as to all the makes and models aboard."

Zeke shook his head, removing all of the sad thoughts from it. "Anyway, was there anything else you wanted?" Zeke cocked his head.

"No... not anything in particular...." R-112 stood. His ancient parts rumbling him into place. "I will take my leave. Enjoy your book."

"See ya."

[Tetra of sound]

[COLOR=Purple][FONT=Comic Sans MS]Kurai was lounging around in her room, doing various things with the objects she called her "friends".

"Ichi, Ni, San, Yon, Go, Mu..." Kurai was making sure she had all of her needles.

Kurai continued to make sure everything was in order. When she knew she had everything, she picked up her sword, Chiyu Kiba, and began to polish it. Kurai always kept Chiyu Kiba in top condition.

Kurai remembered how R-112 had come to make the Carnival his home. Burt had worked on him. Kurai decided now would be a good time to pay Burt a visit.

Kurai went down the hall, to the greasy curtain that was the entrance to Burt's room.

"Hey, Burt. I was wondering... do you need any help repairing anything? I do have some basic knowledge of such things."
[/FONT][/COLOR]

[GeneralBT]

?Female robots that can reproduce? How? odd??

R-112 still had trouble wrapping his mind around what Zeke had told him. Too many logical quandaries rattled around in his mechanical brain. It wasn?t until a few minutes after he?d left Zeke?s side that R-112 admitted to himself that he was in a time and surrounded by technology that would continue to surprise and confound him?he?d have to learn, to adapt, and to accept things that didn?t make sense to his own existing protocols.

Strange feels went through his body as his walked through the corridors of the ship. The temporary skin that Burt had fitted onto him felt sodd, and all the various new and repaired components weird, odd to R-112. Yet the more he moved about, the more his ancient shell felt? [i]right[/i]. He felt more alive, and had far more energy, than he?d had at any time before.

He tried to remember what he could of this world Levion, the place where Burt and Zeke had mentioned they could find more parts, but all his memory banks could come up with was that it was a colony near the outer fringes of what his makers had deemed ?civilization.? He made a mental note to try to access the ship?s computer to update his memory files.

But for now, R-112 could feel his energy was low, so he ambled down the corridors to the room that would be his new quarters. For now, the accommodations were spartan?a bed which he ascertained was far too flimsy to support his frame, a closet for clothing, and a trunk for his nonexistent belongings. Despite this overall lack of? anything, R-112 had to smile. Firstly, because the room was [i]his[/i], the first thing he had ever physically had to himself outside his person. Secondly, because he saw Burt (bless the man, to quote one of his old superiors), had reconfigured a power connector in the room into an old-fashioned outlet that R-112 could plug into. His old reactor couldn't quite handle the new "toys" Burt had installed, so he was resorting to a very old trick to keep his power supply in trim shape. The human mechanic had promised as soon as possible he?d upgrade and repair R-112?s ancient reactor, but for now, the outlet would have to do.

As he settled in, the mech took a second to reflect on everything that had happened that day?the new friends he?d made, the new home he?d found. Life outside the military was far better than he?d ever imagined. Methodically, he went through his bootdown check sequence, examining each and every piece of repair equipment, and evaluating the new and jury-rigged devices installed by Burt. When he was done, he slid to the floor by the outlet, and jacked himself in.

In the last few moments before the buzz of the ship?s power supply took him away for the next few hours, he realized he was missing one thing. He searched his memory banks, through the stories he?d overheard others tell around him. Finally, he found something he liked.

He decided on a name. Basil.

[chibi-master]

Burt blinked at Kuarai. It wasn't very often that any of the androids offered to help him repair things. "I-I... I suppose you could go ahead and help me. Here, you can work on whatever." He replied, lightly tossing a sack at Kurai's feet.

"What is this stuff?" she asked.

"Old junk I pick up every now and again in hopes of fixing."

"The bag's almost empty..."

"I fixed a lot of the stuff already. I'll load up on more when we get to Levion, but the new guy's my main project for now." Burt said. Kurai nodded her head and started tinkering with a clunky box. Burt continued to work on an odd triangular container that looked like it had been rusted many times over. All in all, it was a pretty peaceful feeling that filled the air. That is, until the things that Burt and Kurai were working on burst open with a flash of light.

[konske]

[COLOR="red"][SIZE="1"]CP took in a deep breath as he set his sword, Retribution down. He exhailed and then smiled. He was content. "That was a decent workout." He flexed his right arm as he felt a twing go throughout his right arm. He frowned as he looked down at his hand.[/SIZE][/COLOR]

[COLOR="red"][SIZE="1"]He let out a humph as he picked up Retribution once more. His frown increased as he gripped the hilt tighter. "Weight is off by three pounds. Its heavier." He shook his head as he spun the blad around a couple of times. As he finished he took in another deep breath and then let it out slowly.[/SIZE][/COLOR]

[COLOR="red"][SIZE="1"]He slowly slid Retribution back into its scabard and walked inside the Carnival. "This is strange. What was that?" He let out a sigh as he walked tward Burt's room. As he reached it, he knocked then walked inside. As he passed the door frame he froze. He looked at Kurai who smiled up at him.[/SIZE][/COLOR]

[COLOR="red"][SIZE="1"]"Oh, hey. I thought maybe Burt could use a hand fixing some of his things." She looked from CP to Bert and then smiled once more.[/SIZE][/COLOR]

[COLOR="red"][SIZE="1"]"Going by the look on your face, I would say that you are confused, supprised and a little angry, right?" Burt smirked as CP nodded slowly.[/SIZE][/COLOR]

[COLOR="red"][SIZE="1"]"I take it something is wrong, I will go and leave you guys alone." Kurai began walking twards the door but CP raised his arm, stopping her.[/SIZE][/COLOR]

[COLOR="red"][SIZE="1"]"Don't worry about it. You can stay." He smiled down at her and then walked over to one of Burt's stools. He sat down and then raised his right arm.[/SIZE][/COLOR]

[COLOR="red"][SIZE="1"]"So, is there something wrong? You might want to tell me, I can't read your mind, at least just by looking at you." CP fround as Kurai let out a little giggle.[/SIZE][/COLOR]

[COLOR="red"][SIZE="1"]"Retribution's weight is off by three pounds. Its taking more effort to weild it." CP glanced at Kurai as Burt let out a sigh and scratched the top of his head.[/SIZE][/COLOR]

[COLOR="red"][SIZE="1"]"No kidding? Well, did you run an internal systems check?" CP nodded and then frowned.[/SIZE][/COLOR]

[COLOR="red"][SIZE="1"]"I did, it came back negative. Going by the diagnostics, there was nothing wrong." Burt nodded and then walked over to CP.[/SIZE][/COLOR]

[COLOR="red"][SIZE="1"]"Alright, I'll take a look." Burt smiled as he began to work on CP's arm. CP sighed and then looked at Burt. "Explain to me why this is so important that the effort you need to weild yoursword has increased."[/SIZE][/COLOR]

[COLOR="red"][SIZE="1"]CP frowned and then glanced up at Kurai, then turned back to Burt. "Becase, when I use Retribution, it links up with my internal systems. When there is an issue with my internal systems, it is negatively transfered to Retribution. Because the effort increased, the weight of it increased. Thus in turn cuases the effort i need to increase, which causes Retribtion's weight to increase. Its a never ending cycle."[/SIZE][/COLOR]

[COLOR="red"][SIZE="1"]"I see, anything else I should know?" Burt glanced at CP then continued his work.[/SIZE][/COLOR]

[COLOR="red"][SIZE="1"]"Well, I was built to be balanced, and if it is off, then what I am capable in battle decreases. And, if Zeke is still planning on doing what everyone here knows he will do, then I want to go in first and do recon." CP glanced up at Kurai, who had a dumbfounded look on her face.[/SIZE][/COLOR]

[COLOR="red"][SIZE="1"]"Oh, I've never heard you talk so much. It suites you. You should talk more." She smiled at him as he turned back to Burt.[/SIZE][/COLOR]

[COLOR="red"][SIZE="1"]"So, you can see why its turning into a big deal." Burt nodded and then let out a sigh.[/SIZE][/COLOR]

[COLOR="red"][SIZE="1"]"Ok, I figured it out. I think when you almost did yourself in, you tweaked your wrist's connectors. One of the sensory cables is being pinched. Thus in turn wouldn't appear on a system diagnostics test. I can fix it, just give me a second." He smiled and then continued on his work.[/SIZE][/COLOR]

[COLOR="red"][SIZE="1"]Slowly, CP turned back to Kurai who still had the same smile on her face. As he looked at her, her smile increased. "So, you think I should talk more?" She nodded at him as CP blushed a little and then turned back to Burt who just finished his repairs.[/SIZE][/COLOR]

[COLOR="red"][SIZE="1"]"There you go, should be as good as new now. I think you will, hey, what are you doin?" He took as step back as CP stood up and put his hand on the hilt of his sword. "Now in here you don't. Hey, are you even listening to me anymore?"[/SIZE][/COLOR]

[COLOR="Red"][SIZE="1"]CP smirked as he drew his sword and swung it around a few times. When he finished he smiled and slid it back into its scabard. He turned to Burt who let out a big sigh. He nodded and then turned to the door to leave. He stopped at the door frame and then smiled. He turned back to Burt and Kurai. "Thank you, Burt. Oh, and I guess I will work on talking a little more from now on." He nodded to both of them and then walked out the door, heading back to the top deck to test out the repairs on his right arm.[/SIZE][/COLOR]