Resson's new lab: Due Vendetta

[Rix]

One in such a position as Resson would be very unwise to not have a backup plan - and as such, he had retreated to a place that nobody but he knew about; not even his own sons, until he brought them there. He had a perfect functional replica of his lab already built in case the occasion would rise in which he'd have to abandon his old outpost.

Resson sat in his most comfiest chair, his arms folded and a leg resting upon his knee. He replayed the incident in his mind over and over again - what went wrong? How could he avoid it happening again? Of course, he had been far too forgiving and liberal - and worst of all, trusting - with the information on himself he allowed to escape. He needed to work in the background; he was probably officially listed as dead, or at least missing, and he wanted to keep it that way. Unfortunately he was running out of resources, and he needed to amass some more firepower, and as such he'd have to emerge sooner or later.

He raised his head and opened his eyes. "Rush! Could you come here for a moment?"

[Stoney]

The corgi wasn't able to hear the summons, however. He was in the second base's hangar, systematically dismantling the G.U.N. mech they'd stolen from that damned bee boy after leaving the ruins of the Hill Top base behind.

Rush wiped his brow with one arm as he finally finished cutting off one large chunk of plasteel armor with a low pulse from his plasma buster. He couldn't sweat, but the work was hot and he'd seen many organics perform the motion in such conditions.

The robocorgi frowned as he went to work prying the armor plating off and tossing it into a nearby pile. He kinda wished that his father had given them something of a heads-up about this place; the invasion of the previous base had been a bad situation indeed, but it wasn't anything near the worst-case scenarios he could think of, any of which would require a safe zone to evac to while Resson was unconscious or otherwise incapable of guiding them.

Still, they were here now and Resson was safe, which was all that really mattered. Rush wished these nagging questions about what other secrets his father was keeping from him would go away, though. He didn't really want his thoughts to be in any way connected with ideas of disloyalty after what had happened deep in the depths of that base.

Rush sighed, closing his eyes and leaning his forehead against the mech's beefy arm. He was still having a hard time dealing with what he'd learned, and had mixed feelings about whether or not he should tell his siblings. Bash in particular probably deserved to know, though the big lug might not understand the implications of it all. And the others had as much of a right to the knowledge as he did, being a part of this family and all.

But on the other hand...Rush hissed and jerked his head away as it finally occured to him that the part he'd been leaning against was still white-hot from his cutting. He touched the injured area above his eyes, where his paint had been peeled away to reveal shiny silver hull, and grumbled.

His mind was frazzled, as the organics would say. He was having a difficult time processing new data since a large portion of his RAM was devoted to mulling the current situation over. He was slower to react and paid less attention than he usually did to his surroundings, a fatal weakness he would have never allowed himself to have before.

If this new knowledge had been so debilitating to him, what might it do to his brothers and sisters? Rush didn't want to know.

Angrily he re-focused on his destructive work, attacking the cockpit door with fist and plasma. It felt good to take things apart, and this mech was no exception. It was especially satisfying when certain stubborn pieces refused to budge and he got to really use some of his strength in ripping them out. He rationalized his actions with the assurance that the scrap metal could be later used to build even more members of their family, or perhaps go towards the defensive and maintenance functions of the base. And he intended to keep certain parts of the machine intact for reverse-engineering purposes, anyway.

Besides, his robotic vision let him superimpose images of Imak's face onto each and every piece of metal, making the actions all the more enjoyable.

The door came off with a loud screech that sounded vaguely like an organic cry of pain, and with a small smile of momentary satisfaction, Rush tossed it onto the pile.

[Lans]

While Rush was busy venting his fustrations, luttle did he know that he had a small audience who had been drawn by the noise.

Nicole had been treated well since the escape from Hilltop, even though she was technically a prisoner, it was only because she wasn't alowed to leave because of what she knew about Resson's whereabouts...a problem that she'd need to solve eventually if she was going to be able to continue her mission.

So far, it seemed, they'd taken her appearance at face value, believing she really was who, and what, she had claimed to be...all except Rush that is. He'd nearly seen right through her because of an unforseen flaw in her design, though he hadn't made any mention if it since the initial one, she was still worried about it, though she was nearly finished rewriting her heat distribution programs to better emulate a normal anthro's heat pattern.

She wasn't sure what would happen to her if either of her true natures were discovered, and wasn't really all that eager to find out...

[Rix]

After waiting for a moment with no response but increasingly loud metal clanging, the professor sighed and got up from his chair, walking into the hangar to meet with him instead. He nodded to Nicole on the way in and stood at the base of the large mech, which was looking increasingly more dismantled as time went on. He watched Rush for a moment, a bit concerned about his frustrated behavior. "Rush, are you quite all right?"

[Stoney]

The corgi halted his actions and turned to stare at Resson for a moment. "Am I all right?" He echoed with a blank expression, before turning away. "Dad, you ask the oddest questions sometimes."

He straightened. "Systems are operating at 67% capacity. I took some damage while rescuing you in the base and my air filtration system got clogged during the escape. Your repairs to my right plasma buster were acceptable at the time but I'll need new parts to bring it back up to speed. Also, I'm low on energy, there's soot in my joints, and my paint just got chipped."

He frowned. "So no, I'm not doing all right. I really should be getting fixed right now, but you know what?" He ripped off the remains of the mech's arm and chucked it across the hangar, watching it crash into the far wall as he gritted his teeth and clenched his fists, ears laid back flat against his head. "I don't FEEL like it right now."

With a small groan, the half-gutted G.U.N. mech tipped over onto its side. Rush growled and gave the machine a kick, sending it skidding a couple meters away.

"I don't know what hurts more, Dad," He spoke in a bitter tone as he began stomping over to the mech's new resting place. "The fact that you've been hiding things from me, or that a near-death experience was required for me to find out about them."

He reached the mech and began attacking the feet next. "I keep wondering how I can trust you if you can't trust me, but such thoughts are treasonous and I refuse to abide them. Yet they keep popping up." He paused. "That's not the worst of it, though. I can't stop thinking about what I learned. It's driving me to distraction."

He turned to stare at his father again. "And there is a large part of me that needs, nay, demands to know all the details about what happened." He paused again, before his eyes darted past Resson to very pointedly glare at Nicole. "But not while SHE'S around."

[Rix]

Resson sighed, rubbing his temples slightly. "Rush, I don't hide things from you because I do not trust you. As I think the past events have illustrated, I trust you with my life. I have my reasons not to tell you certain things, but if there is anything you really wish to know, I will tell you; perhaps while you go under some much needed maintenance."

[Lans]

"Excuse me!?" Nicole said, stepping fullyinto the hanger, an indignant look on her face. "'Not while SHE's around'? What's that supposed to mean?" she asked, glaring at Rush, "I was there too, and I think I deserve a recap of what everything going on there was about as well!"

[Rix]

Resson glared back at Nicole. "What you do and do not deserve to know is completely under my jurisdiction, thank you very much. Might I remind you that you are a prisoner?"

[Lans]

"...I know..." she said quietly, looking chastised, "...but even a prisoner gets a newspaper now and then. I'd just like the equivelant of, for my case."

[Rix]

"It is in both of our best interests that you know nothing. Keep in mind that the more you know, the harder it will be for me to find some way to allow you to leave this place... alive." His words spoke a threat, but it was clear in his voice that this would not be a desirable outcome to him.

[Stoney]

Rush had to turn away and put every ounce of concentration and focus he could into not erupting in aggravated fury the moment Nicole spoke up. He just kept silent during the whole exchange, his back to them both as he shut his eyes and took deep breaths. Don't want to destroy her...want to find her creator first. Be calm. Be calm. Be calm.

He opened his eyes and blinked down at the scrap of metal he'd been holding; it was now molded to the shape of his fingers. He slowly unclenched his fist and let the mangled piece fall to the ground.

He finally turned around, his eyes burning fire and brimstone. "Lady," He spoke in a strained voice, "it would be in your best interests to listen to me when I say, NOW IS NOT THE TIME."

His left arm morphed into a plasma cannon, but Rush caught himself just in time and grabbed it with his right arm to keep it stationary at his side. Be calm. Be calm. Be calm.

With an effort that was almost painful, he changed the arm back to hand mode and flexed it, frowning deeply at the appendage and repressing the battle protocols his system was automatically attempting to initiate.

"If you've been standing there as long as I think you have, you should know that you do NOT want to piss me off right now." He bared his fangs at Nicole suddenly in a hostile growl. "Because I am already QUITE pissed."

He turned to glare at Resson. "And Dad...I'm glad you're being forthcoming, but I think it'll have to wait. I can't keep still long enough for repairs right now. You'd have to knock me out." His voice tremored, and he turned away to resume work on the mecha.

"Do you even REALIZE how upset I am right now?" His voice cracked as he began ripping pieces apart, no longer being careful about the task. He didn't even really see what he was dismantling; excess heat from his power core was turning his vision red. "It's not just at you, it's, it's...RRRGH."

He began punching the mecha with his bare fists, making huge dents in the armor plating and smashing the hydraulics in the legs to pieces. When they finally gave up the fight and fell apart into individual components, only then did he pause, covering his face with one grease-smeared hand as he mentally chanted his mantra. A minute or two passed in silence as he once again beat his emotions back into submission and locked them away.

"...I cannot calm down like this," He finally continued a minute later, after making sure his voice was under control again. "Your presences are aggravating me further. Please leave."

[Rix]

This wasn't good. Rush was being far too emotional - even for himself - and if he continued on lke this, he was likely to rip that mech to shreds and probably damage some of his internal circuitry.

The professor raised his arm. "Rush, you're being far too emotional right now. You're going to hurt yourself or someone else if you carry on like this. You should go into standby for a while and let your processors cool off. This is only a suggestion, but I would be pleased if you didn't make me turn it into an order."

[Stoney]

"Y...you're right, Dad," Rush uttered at last, taking deep breaths. "You'll...wake me when you're done?"

A tiny voice in his mind brought up the argument that his trust in Resson had been shaken, and as such, he couldn't guarantee his own safety with 100% accuracy if he shut down now. Rush promptly did the mental equivalent of beating the voice to death with a lead pipe as he stood straight and initiated shutdown procedures.

Rush never liked shutting his mind down. He figured it was the closest thing that he, an inorganic being made of metal and alloy, could come to experiencing death. It wasn't like going into stasis, the robotic equivalent of sleep; his systems kept running during those times, albeit with the absolute bare minimum of necessary operations going in order to conserve energy and perform internal maintenance on the inactive portions of his software.

Shutdown was different. It was colder, more lifeless, and if Rush was to be perfectly honest, scary as hell. A robot like himself could not restart his systems on his own after being shut down; he'd be completely at the mercy of outside influences to wake him up later. There was no 100% guarantee that he would ever wake up again should he turn himself off, and because of that, Rush always feared doing it.

Luckily, he didn't have to do it often. Stasis usually provided ample maintenance for his continued operation, as long as he used it frequently enough. Shutdown was only necessary for extensive repairs, such as what he needed right now.

As Rush's processes closed one by one, he wondered if organics felt like this while approaching the ends of their natural lives; a slow, creeping lethargy that gripped the body and mind in a steel embrace as energy literally drained out of them. He felt his eyes closing, and didn't fight the pull as his mind was wrapped up in cold, dark fog.

A millisecond before his personality matrix shut off, he felt uncontrollable terror as the usual fears about whether he'd be reactivated swam through the last shreds of his consciousness. It was too late to stop the procedure, however, and a moment later everything that made him who he was -- personality, feelings, thoughts -- vanished into a black abyss. He knew no more.

With a dying whine, his body slumped over and collapsed.

[Lans]

"He...certainly has a temper," Nicole remarked. She then let out a sigh. "I'm sorry...I didn't mean to cause an argument."

[Rix]

"Don't be hard on yourself. He's a bit of a drama queen." Resson snapped, summoning his floating platform. After hopping onto it, he extended a robotic arm from its base, which lifted Rush gently up from the ground. "He's very prone to overreaction. I am hoping that one day he does settle down. In any case, if he did overheat, I should let him cool down before I do any work on him regardless..." This last sentence was said mostly to himself.

[Lans]

"Yeah, probably a wise idea," Nicole agreed. "Is there...anything else I should be careful about around here?"

[Rix]

"Hide anything you treasure from Bash. That's all I can think of. And don't poke around too much."

He started to float away, but stopped for just a moment.

"I don't want to kill you, but I will if I have to. That's all you need to know."

With that, he wordlessly hovered out of the room, his over-reactionary son in tow.

[Lans]

Nicole...wasn't exactly sure what to say to that. "...Thanks for the warning...I guess..."