The next morning once she had been sure everyone was awake Waya has asked everyone to assemble in the Entrance Hall once they'd readied for the day. She had contacted everyone but the twins considering that they already knew what was going on and she rather hated their guts at the moment. It was now roughly noon and everyone had assembled, waiting for Waya.
Phinagin was waiting around with the rest of them in his usual business attire. He was wondering when would be a good time to mention his trip proposal to the rest of the students. It would take a few days before they would be able to leave, but the sooner he got things rolling the sooner they could go.
Maribel was wearing a cute, blue sun dress with white flats and a matching white belt. It was one of her favorite outfits, but considering her current spidery appearance, it looked rather odd.
Rhydian was sipping a strawberry milk and yawning as he leaned up against the wall, as far from Phinagin as he could be. The guy still hadn't forgiven him for what had happened on Asteroid-M, none of them had really...not that he blamed them
Eliza hadn't slept. Again. She'd been using the new specs to try and modify her design a bit; if one kid could do this to people, why did she need such a huge machine? She had a list of numbers on a piece of paper, and several other pieces of paper in her pockets. She was scanning them frantically, hands shaking slightly as she tried to find something useful.
Jeremy was near the back of the room, behind the others. If he had to be there then he would be somewhere safe, somewhere where he could escape if they all suddenly turned on him.
'Feeling better?'
Maribel signed as she approached Jeremy. After speaking with Phinagin last night, she now had a better grasp on the torment the others went through yesterday.
"Little... sick"
Jeremy admitted with a weak smile at the girl "But I'm ok... Honest." She didn't need to know. It wasn't her problem to deal with.
'Well you know you can talk to me if anything is bothering you.'
Maribel told him. 'Though I will admit that I won't do much
talking back.' she joked a bit, smiling.
Jeremy tried to return the smile back and nodded to Maribel. Yes, he knew he could talk to her. He just needed some time alone to get over what he'd seen.
Maribel's smile lowered when she saw Jeremy hadn't reacted how she would have liked. It seems that it would take some time before he was back to his old self. The others too for that matter.
Junior came in yawning and asking, "Anyone know why the twins were curled up in the kitchen asleep? It's a mess in there and there's still nothing to eat." He'd woken them and told them Waya wanted to see everyone in the entrance hall.
"They're still in there?"
Eliza said, eyes not moving from her numbers "I think them being there late last night when I grabbed a soda. That reminds me. We need more soda."
Rhydian looked in the direction of the kitchen. Personally he didn't care whether or not the twins were awake, truth be told it was quieter with them asleep. He shrugged in response to Junior's question and stayed where he was up against the wall. He couldn't help but wonder what Waya had called them all here for in the first place
Finally
Waya joined the group. Rather than enter via shadow, as was her custom, she came by the stairs, which was rather odd. She scanned everyone and was glad the twins hadn't show up.
"The twins aren't here."
Junior told her as he saw her coming down the stairs.
"Fuck em."
Waya said abrasively. "They can go to hell as far as I'm concerned."
Eliza looked up, albeit briefly, to cast a small worried frown at Waya. What had happened between her and the twins? Realizing she had almost lost count her head bowed again and she said carefully "So... why are we all here?"
Wow-
Maribel knew that Waya always got annoyed by the twins, but never to outright say something like
that. She glanced to Rhydian and Eliza. They were probably the only three who didn't know what was going on...and everyone seemed reluctant to share.
Rhydian couldn't help but smile when Waya said that. Whatever had happened recently between all of them, it clearly changed a few things around here.
"Alright..."
Waya said a little exasperated once she reached the bottom of the stairs. She ran both hands through her hair, pulling it out of her face for a moment, which she NEVER did because she was self conscious of her tattoos. It was obvious she was about to unload something heavy on them. About a ton and a half of heavy. "OK we pretty much understood what happened yesterday right?... Rex zapped us into these extra dimensional riffs or whatever..."
Maribel kept her eyes on Waya. She sure was acting strange, like she was guilty of something.
Rhydian looked at her curiously. She was definitely about to tell them something big, maybe now he was going to find out what exactly had happened to them. If not all of them, at the very least Waya was going to tell what she went through.
Waya wasn't sure why she paused... probably because she was so used to being interrupted or she'd expected someone to correct her about what had happened. After all, calling it a universe; as the decoys in the "waiting room" had called it, just seemed to sound a bit dumb. She took a steadying breath and placed her hands on her hips. "When I left mine... something sort of... tagged along."
Oh, this could not be good.
Phinagin readied himself for some horrible thing to come bursting forth somewhere that would need to be quickly dispatched.
"Woah, woah, woah..."
Junior said suddenly. "Is this the thing that..." He trailed off. He knew exactly what her little world had consisted of. All of them that had been in the waiting room knew save Phinagin. He'd shown up just in time to miss all the fun. He didn't want to say any more because he knew she wouldn't want
everyone knowing what had happened to her.
Waya's response came in the stoic expression as Junior asked his question. "It's not dangerous..." She told them. "Well... potentially, but he's not going to hurt any of us because... well he kinda does exactly what I tell him to..."
Maribel was so confused. She had no idea what happened to Waya... but how could she bring someone back with her willingly?! She stayed put and waited for further explanation.
Rhydian unpropped himself from the wall and looked at her cautiously. "Waya, what did you do?"
"Let me get this straight"
Eliza said flatly, her eyes finally coming up from the notes in her hands "You have brought a possibly dangerous creature from another dimension through into this one?" She blinked a few times, then gazed piercingly at Waya "How?"
"I moved him from that place and into the shadow realm."
Waya said. "But he's not dangerous. I removed his sentinel programming."
"You... brought... a FULL SENTINEL... here?"
Eliza said, the page fluttering to the floor from her hand. Sentinel? What? How? "Why?" her brow creased as she sought for understanding. Waya HATED sentinels.
"Calm down Liz."
Waya told her. "Would I have brought one of those things here if it was dangerous? It's me we're talking about. And he's not a typical sentinel, I've never seen one like him before... He wants to meet you, but I'm not gonna let him if you guys are gonna try and scrap him."
Maribel wasn't sure about this. She somewhat trusted Waya...but how could she bring someone back with her...a giant robot?! What was the point?
"A sentinel?"
Rhydian asked her in disbelief. Waya, had brought a sentinel here, voluntarily? Waya??
"I'm not going to do anything unless it does first."
Phinagin said. In all honesty he was pretty interested to see this Sentinel, especially if it was one like they had never seen.
"If he goes nuts, fine, smash him to hell."
Waya told them. "But George isn't dangerous, not with his Sentinel programming removed."
"GEORGE!?"
Junior exclaimed. "You named it!?"
"No."
Waya said with an audible sigh. "He named himself... or whoever made him. He want's to make up for... He says he owes me... and I think he might actually be sentient... then again that might be a product of some underlying subroutine. I figured Rhyd and Liz could figure that out."
"What's the big deal? We had sentinels on the lawn yesterday, didn't we?"
Jeremy asked, looking around at everyone else and seeming obviously confused. He looked up at Waya, frowning slightly, and asked "So where are you hiding him?"
"Wait a second. His Sentinel programming has been removed?"
Rhydian asked her curiously, searching her face for an answer as to how. Sentinel programing was the core programing in any Sentinel...how could it be removed??
"I had to delete his core programming to get him to help me."
Waya explained. "He wanted to help but he couldn't override it on his own... So I removed it..." Something about Rhydian's expression worried Waya enough that she asked. "Why does it matter?"
"I'm guessing what Rhydian means"
Eliza tried very hard not to suddenly call him "the traitor" "is that sentinel programming is core to their mind and reactions. If you removed it, surely it should... shut him down. I mean, it's like someone took out your higher brain functions." Eliza sighed and chewed her lip "I'm guessing he's not a typical one at all."
Maribel kept her opinions to herself. The others seemed to be asking everything she was wondering about, so she stood aside and listened closely. In the back of her mind, she wondered about the twins. Waya was announcing this to everyone BUT them...did they already know about the robot?
"Precisely!"
Rhydian exclaimed as Eliza went over the finer details of what he was saying. "How in the world can he still function without his primary programming??"
"He seems fine..."
Waya told Rhydian, but he seemed so excited about the matter that it worried her. "I'd love for you to take a look at him, but I'm not letting him in till I know you guys aren't going to scrap him for parts."
Phinagin kept quiet since he had already told them that he wouldn't harm it unless it tried to harm them.
"If he's a sentient sentinel then I think we should try and preserve him... study him... in no way destroy him. I wouldn't dream of hurting another sentient being just on what can loosely be called it's race."
Eliza said with a firm nod to waya "Though... SHIELD..." She rubbed her chin slowly, looking thoughtfully dismal "They might want to have him."
"Exactly."
Waya told Liz. "I thought maybe we could find a way to give him another body. He's too big right now to really get around without my help and... you could always use his old parts." She knew how much Liz had been wanting to get her hands on a bit of sentinel.
"We'd have to look at this programming before we do anything. There has
got to be something in there that's serving as his primary programming. You just can't remove a sentinel's core programming without it self-destructi
ng...It doesn't happen." Rhydian explained, Eliza had worded it perfectly, it was like trying to function without your higher brain functions.
"I don't want to be responsible for his brain suddenly melting down." Waya told him and a heavy black blanket formed behind her from the shadows gathered in the room. "George..."
Just then Junior who hadn't said much at all, left the room entirely.
"I'll..." Jeremy said vaguely as he waved a hand towards Junior's leaving form, following after Junior a moment after. He seemed so shaken up by this, and Jeremy could kinda understand why. Junior just needed to talk to someone who knew as much as he did though.
Rhydian's heart was racing, a sentient sentinel? Not to mention one without sentinel mutant hunting/killing programming...the thought of a sentinel becoming a friend was absurd to him, but if it was possible???
Maribel flinched as the shadows grew. Goodness, that thing was THIS massive? She took notice of Jeremy and Junior leaving and frowned. Certainly that's not Waya was hoping for.
"They're not going to hurt you." Waya spoke into the darkness. "Rhydian wants to make sure I didn't break anything when I was in your brain."
"They... want to poke around in my brain?" George said, his head slowly sticking out of the darkness. He didn't come entirely out, just his head right now, the slightly human-esque features on a large long head. It was clear that he was quite large beyond the darkness, but he seemed reluctant to leave it.
"Just to make sure I didn't break anything." Waya told him. "Rhydian thinks I might have done something by deleting your sentinel programming. That I may have damaged the core or something." More like the pillar upon which all his programming was based, but whatever.
Maribel stepped forward when the robot emerged, curious. It didn't really look like the ones that had been in the yard earlier. He was smaller... and his head and body was much different. It had a body similar to that of a big cat, like a cheetah or leopard. Since no one was looking at her, she chose not to sign anything.
George stepped out slowly, his smooth metal body wasn't as smooth as it once had been. There were obvious tool marks, scratch marks and a few missing pieces; he'd taken damage, quite a bit of it in fact. He stood up straight now that he was in somewhere larger, looking down at the others with a faint whirring noise. He was scanning them carefully "I suppose... you did rather go at me rather roughly with that screwdriver."
"Ohhh dear... a screwdriver?" Eliza hissed as she gazed up at the robot, watching his movements with interest. Timidity was obvious there, and that wasn't exactly a normal trait in sentinels. "Waya... how the hell did you wind up picking him up? I mean... where the hell did you go? What the hell HAPPENED?"
"Please... don't tell them" George said at once, under his breath; at least, at such a low setting that it would be considered under his breath, if he breathed at all. He didn't want the others to know what he had done. He just hoped that only Waya had heard that.
"It's a long story Liz." Waya told her. "One I particularly don;t care to repeat." All she had to do was wait a few days and word would get around any way. It always did.
Maribel stepped forward and walked around George, looking at him curiously. He really had taken a heaping of damage, particularly on his chest cavity. She really didn't know anything about mechanics, so Eliza would have to help with that. As far as Maribel was concerned, she didn't really mind having a robot around. Granted, it was from one of those 'hell" dimensions, but Waya seemed convinced that he was fine now.
Rhydian moved forward and looked around the Sentinel's body. He stopped and looked up at it's face. "George, was it? What is your primary function?" He asked curiously. If the Sentinel's programming was still installed, then the answer would be something along the lines of 'To seek and destroy all mutants.' Since it was supposed to be gone...would he even have a primary function any more?
Waya stiffened, hoping George didn't say what she thought he was going to say...
George however, had had that part of him removed with a blunt tool. He looked thoughtful, at least his eyes flashed a hint of green as he thought, and he finally looked down at Rhydian and said "What's yours?" He was new to this, he didn't know what his primary function was, at least not now, so it was only fair to ask Rhydian his own question in return.
Maribel airily chuckled, though no sound emitted. She found George's inquiry a bit amusing just now. She stopped pacing around him and stood with the others before him.
Rhydian couldn't help but smirk at that. He thought for a moment and then gave his response, "To live and protect. Is that your's now?"
Phinagin let out a little "pff." when Rhydian gave his answer. "Protect yourself, maybe." he thought to himself.
"No. Don't think so at least. I've had my sentinel programming taken out for... about... twelve hours and forty seven minutes" George said with a small shrug "I don't really want to make philosophical and life judgements based on less than a day of free thinking and control over my own actions."
Good answer. Waya thought.
Maribel snapped her fingers to get Waya's attention, 'So he's staying here from now on?' she signed, just wanting to make sure.
"For now." Waya told her. "He doesn't have anywhere else to go at the moment."
Rhydian couldn't help but smile at George's reply. "That's a very good answer." He nodded and held out his hand to the Sentinel. "I can hardly wait to examine your code, George."
George's eyes flashed red for a moment, and he almost took a step back from Rhydian, but he managed to contain himself. "You must understand, that's like someone telling you that they want to poke around inside of your brain. It is not a comforting thought."
'If he isn't a threat....perhaps it is important for us to know his weak spot? Just in case his 'evil compartment' isn't fully removed? That way if something did happen, we could incapacitate him quickly. To figure out what's wrong, that is.' Maribel signed.
"Not comforting, no, but necessary unfortunately." Rhydian explained and looked down at his hand. He was holding it out in friendship, for a handshake. Clearly though, George was unfamiliar with this gesture, and his previous statement certainly wouldn't have helped matters either...He couldn't help but smirk at his own thoughtlessness. "It's a handshake, George. A sign of friendship."
George took his hand. He knew what a handshake was, he just hadn't felt like taking the hand of someone wanting to stab around in his head. He let his hand go quickly though, bringing his arms close to himself as if protecting his body "L-look... It's not... evil." He was looking a little insulted at Maribel's words "I wouldn't even say misunderstood. It was just... stopping Waya from getting free. So she took it out."
"Waya said something... about you wanting a smaller body?" Eliza said, her eyes scanning over George slowly, as if she was buying him at auction. "Would you mind if I... use some of your old parts for my machine? I'm trying to-" she was cut off by a yelp from George.
"C-cannibalise me?" George was practically whimpering, backing towards Waya slowly; he'd been here for only a few minutes and people had called him evil, talked about poking around in his brain and then taking him to pieces.
"How about we stop talking about him as if he were sitting in a junkpile." Phinagin said, seeing the worry in the robot's actions.
Maribel didn't really like that her suggestion was ignored. She simply crossed her arms, not bothering to sign anymore.
Waya agreed with Maribel but saying that in front of George wasn't a good idea. However she agreed with her telepathically. "Calm down George." she said trying to make him more at ease. "Rhydian just wants to make sure I didn't break anything and Liz just means some time in the future if you decide to downgrade to a smaller body."
George was staring down at his hands, obviously unsettled by what was going on but trying to stand still. "Kay" he muttered weakly to Waya as she tried to reassure him, not exactly completely happy all the same.
"It's not like I'm going to hurt you, George. I just want to make sure you're alright." Rhydian tried to assure him. The last thing he wanted to do was upset the robot killing machine. He just wanted to make sure that the 'guy' was alright. He'd feel much better about him being around if he knew that much
"Why wouldn't I be alright? Someone's already taken out the parts you don't like and thrown them away" George said defensively "I know... what my... people have done. But I'm not like that. I'm not mindless. Don't I have a choice in this?"
'Of course you do.' Maribel signed, 'But how can we garentee that Waya didn't damage anyhting else while she took that part out? It's just to double check that you don't go haywire one day. Eliza is very good at science and mechanics, she'll definitely be able to help you out.'
"It's gonna be ok George." Waya told him. "I trust both Eliza and Rhydian with my life. They won't hurt you."
Eliza smiled at the large robot, then patter him gently on the arm "Don't worry. I'll be gentle, and I won't do anything you're not comfortable with."
George whined gently, then leant over so he was right next to Waya's ear. "What if they... hit a control section by accident... and it... like... activates my water processing circuitry." She was probably the only one who would understand that, or why he would be nervous about it happening.
Rhydian stood back from George now and held up his hands defensively. "I only want to review your code, just to make sure there's no conflicting algorithms that may have emerged from the absence of the Sentinel programming."
"It'll be ok." Waya told George reassuringly. "Rhydian knows this kind of stuff. He knows the difference in the coding for a water filtration system and what's making you tick. even if something does happen he can control inanimate objects... It'll be ok."
Another small whine came from George as he looked down at everyone. "W-well... I'm glad that you all... accept me like this. But can... can I have a little bit of time to think? I would like to stretch my legs a bit, move around before you... poke around inside me..." He wasn't liking that idea at all.
Rhydian was in no rush, as long as he got to review the codes to ensure everyone's safety before something happened that was.
"You don't think his coding will degrade do you?" Waya asked Rhydian. If he;d been so concerned about it earlier she didn't want to take any risks. Then again, part of her still wanted to see George crushed in a recycling processor.
Maribel shrugged her shoulders and stepped back from George to let him have some air.
George shuffled out of the group carefully, moving away. He wanted air, even if he didn't breathe, he wanted to be able to occupy more of the air. He slowly unfolded himself from his frightened curl, seeming to calm himself as he uncurled and returned to a rather frightening height.
"I honestly haven't got a clue. I can't say anything until I take a look at it. But given that you just yanked the primary code right out of his head, literally...I can only assume that he'd be falling to pieces inside." Rhydian told her with a shrug. He had no idea what was going on with George's code, but like any other computer the code had to fail if it was missing vital stuff.
"I don't think he's going to let you look at him." Waya was talking to both him and Eliza. "At least not until things start failing and he has proof that something is wrong."
Maribel just hoped that it didn't have to come to that before Eliza and Rhydian had a chance to look at him. She didn't know much about being an X-man, but she knew enough about Sentinels to know they are deadly machines.
"No... if he's sentient like you say he is, he'll have a fear for death. He'll let us look" Eliza said, sounding sure in herself "Even if it takes a little while, he'll realize that we're trustworthy and it can only help him. Having people examine you is better than death surely?"
"Unless you have a fear of examines." Rhydian replied with a shrug. "I think given time he will let us."
Since robotic hearing can be sensitive, George looked around at the others and said gently "I'm just going to... go into... here." He pointed at a random door, which lead to the kitchen without his knowledge. He wanted a moment alone to himself, or as much as he could manage. He carefully opened the doors, which were bigger than usual thankfully, and tried to fit inside as best he could. It was still a bit of a squeeze.
Maribel looked over at Waya secretly, but didn't sign anything. She wondered what exactly happened to her yesterday in a place with robots like George.
Waya noticed Maribel glancing at her and looked away. It wouldn't take long for the news to spread and Maribel would find out what had happened. Not only Maribel but Rhydian, Eliza and Phinagin... Though considering what the twins had done and Junior's reaction, she didn't think she had to worry about them saying anything and Jeremy wasn't the sort to spread that kind of news... The only thing to worry about was what George had worried about. Some circuit being activated and revealing the purpose for his creation... he was the weak link in her secret... She almost hoped he'd let Rhydian and Eliza look at him. If they discovered his "sentience" was only a subroutine to make him act the way he did, he was a pile of scrap metal for Eliza to utilize.
Maribel, seeing that their meeting was over, decided to take her leave. ‘I’ll be in the rec room if anyone needs me.’ she signed, making sure everyone saw it. ‘I think I’m going to watch a movie or something.’ With that, she left the room with a wave, hoping someone would follow her.
The twins walked of the kitchen into the room a short while after George went in. It was no doubt they had crossed paths. Luckily, there was no fighting that had unleashed. They saw Waya and the others and put on happy faces. “Hello-” the boys said with big yawns. “Sorry about lack of breakfast...we’ll make up for it during lunch and dinner though.”
Phinagin had wished to mention this while Maribel was still in the room, but decided to mention it to the others even with her absence. "Before we all disperse for the day I have something I want to bring up to the rest of you." He stepped forward and turned to where he could address them without having to look to his extreme left and right. "How would you all like to go on a trip to France? All expense paid?"
Seriously?... it sounded just like Phinagin to throw money at something.
"I'll pass." Waya told him and looked toward the kitchen already feeling like she needed to be watching George to make sure he wasn't doing anything wrong.
"Really?" the twins chimed with bright smiles. Someplace out of the mansion would be great. This place held far too many bad memories and the only other place they could go was Aztentos, but they weren't due back yet. Stepping in front of Waya with their hands in front of them a bit, they both said, "Aww come on. Why not? It could be fun!" The boys both smiled at her like they had before their secret was exposed. "Paris is the city of love you know."
"And it won't be right away either." Phinagin said so they didn't think that he was talking about going today. "I still have to make sure the jet won't be in use and get all the arrangements made for us."
Waya reacted before she could really rein herself in. With her shadow she snatched both twins by the throat and for the briefest second they could see in her eyes the want to squeeze. She hardly ever allowed any inkling of her feral side to expose it's self, but at the moment, it was very hard not to act on instinct. Her grip tightened for a fraction of a second before she released them and brushed past them into the kitchen.
When the twins were released, they bent at the knees before coughing roughly, grabbing their own necks. They each took a deep breath and straightened up a little, letting out a few more hoarse coughs.
Phinagin just stood there, dumbstruck at what Waya just did. "You don't have to go if you don't want to Waya. Wouldn't want you choking anyone else over a field trip."
"We'll go if it's all the same." Jaden said to Phin, letting go of his throat.
"Anything to get away from..." Jayden held his tongue as his twin elbows him in the side. "What's this all about though? Why France?" they asked.
Phinagin was lucky Waya had gone into the kitchen, had she heard him she;d likely have given him a piece of her mind.
"It is a wonderful country that has something for pretty much everyone." Phinagin said, not wanting to out Maribel's personal business. "Such as the best food in the world as long as you don't mind a few snails."
The twins were already onto him. With their throats back to normal again, they stood on either side of Phin and placed an elbow on his shoulders. "Soooo.... no other reason we are going there?"
"You know... like maybe showing off to a little certain someone?"
"A quiet, buggy certain someone...?" They both smiled at him deviously. as if they had everything figured out.
Rhydian observed from his place by the wall. He knew the last thing Phinagin was wanting was to hear from him, even if he was for a trip to Paris.
Phinagin knew that the twins wouldn't let up, so with a sigh he said, "And Maribel wants to go home and break the news about her physical mutation to her father since it would be better then telling him over the phone."
"Oh- well.... that's kinda depressing for a first date, don't you think?" the twins asked. Maybe you should take her out somewhere nice before the trip?" they suggested wisely. From the sound of it, the boys had dated several women since before Phin even arrived at the school.
"Hm, you guys might be right." Phinagin said rubbing his chin in thought, "Maybe I shouldn't take anyone else and just be me and Maribel."
"Woah woah man... let's not get hasty." the twins waved their hands.
"Yea, and you can't un-invite someone. That's just rude. Besides, we can help you out, you know..."
"I'll have to get you our resumes."
The twins reacted pretty much exactly how Phinagin expected they would, "Just keep your resumes to yourselves, I won't need any help for something you're imagining."
"Well don't blame us when she breaks your heart, man." Jayden shrugged.
"We could have really helped you out, you know. Anytime you wanna change your mind." Jaden shrugged.
Eliza's frown was like a crack in a rock, and it just seemed to darken as she watched what was going on. When the twins looked towards her it would be obvious that she wasn't just wondering what was going on, she was wondering if it was proper to beat it out of them. Something was keeping her from shaking them for information however. Maybe because of how rough Waya already treated them.
from the rec room Junior's voice could be heard shouting "HELP!"
Eliza looked around, frowning, then started to move over towards the rec room quickly. Rex hadn't suddenly appeared back again had he?
"Oh shit..." The twins said before they were right behind Eliza, running up the stairs.
Rhydian shoved off the wall and quickly headed into the rec room after the others
Phinagin rushed in with the others, worried that maybe Rex had reappeared or a new threat had arisen.
Stumble!