While Willy is walking over to join Jonathan and Miss Chievous in the elevator, he stops and turns around when he hears another service bot approaching the carefully curated component compilation he left behind. Before it upends its box into the gap between the two piles, he barks twice.

23 immediately issues a warning beep at the service bot, and it stops in place, holding its box slightly tipped but not dumping anything quite yet. 23 looks at Willy briefly, then over at the two piles of service bot equipment. After a slight delay, it issues a series of high-pitched beeps and clicks.

The service bot moves over to the side a bit and then begins a new, third, pile and walks away. Before that bot has even gone very far, another bot has come over, adding to the new pile.

Willy makes a content bark and then resumes his trek to the elevator.

Miss Calculated is distracted out of her musing state, looking over to see where 23’s attention lies.

“Hmm? Oh, were you sorting it for me, Willy? Thank you, you’re such a good boy. Actually, now that I think about it, I assume that you, 23, had a hand in the fact that the bots are apparently going around collecting all of the mechanical parts they can find, and bringing them here, correct? Perhaps it would be appropriate to say that you’re a good… bot? ...Something about that feels demeaning.” When Miss Calculated praised Willy, he started enthusiastically wagging his tail, like the good boi he is. When it was 23’s turn for praise, however, both Miss Calculated and 23 felt that it fell flat.

“...It does seem rather lackluster. Regardless, I do appreciate the intent behind it. Yes, after seeing the… state of this floor, I knew it would be entirely unsorted. Attempting to provide the nuanced instructions of useful versus unusable would have probably consumed more time than it will take to just sort it ourselves. Doubly so, as they would systematically compare the entire instruction set to every single piece they collected.” As 23 is saying this, Miss Calculated is nodding repeatedly in strong agreement, but she stays quiet so as not to interrupt its explanation.

“I left it as the broad instruction of ‘gather every service bot-related object,’ as that should at least serve to bring everything of interest over to one place. Removing the compacted trash that Lucas or Marsha have… handled is a higher priority than continuing to gather components. Therefore, there shouldn’t be any need to issue a fresh set of commands once they are satisfied with George’s state of being and finally begin their work.” When 23 lands a pot shot about the two powerful idiots’ newfound hobby, Miss Calculated gains a sneaky mask-hidden smile of amusement.

The two fools in question are too occupied with building a new friend for George to notice the crack about their priorities.

“Perfect, thank you for taking the initiative and getting all of this into motion. While I know at least Marsha won’t be completely reckless about what she rearranges beyond recognition, having the potentially useful things out of harm’s way is better for everyone and thing involved. ...Speaking of work, we’ve been standing around chatting quite a bit. I can worry about theoretical upgrades later, we should get started on that full maintenance inspection. You said I could use your office, right, Mark?” As Miss Calculated was wrapping up saying this, Jonathan realized that meant she and 23 were probably going to be joining them in the elevator, and hits the hold elevator button before the doors completely close.

He’d rather wait to have the extra company than be left almost alone with Miss Chievous, having only Willy to turn to. Not that there’s anything wrong with Willy’s companionship.

Mark straightens up a bit after being addressed. He glances over at the second mismatched mannequin in the making, then back to Miss Calculated.

“Certainly. I doubt 23 would appreciate having internal components exposed to… this. Ah, I should probably go update Erik about the maintenance situation. ...And to ensure all the currently scheduled maintenances are canceled.” When Mark finishes talking, a nearby bot stops in place, not fully upright after adding to the unsorted component pile.

It looks at Mark, then 23, issuing a series of clicks and beeps.

23 looks back, similarly communicating for a few seconds before turning to Miss Calculated again.

“...There are three bots scheduled for maintenance tomorrow, and they want to know what to do, as one of them needs to have its core tended to. Would you be willing to make an appointment to begin remounting some of their cores tomorrow, Mary? You already have enough on your plate for this evening, and I imagine you have tools you would be more comfortable with using at home.” When 23 makes this request, Mark, who was walking towards the elevator, stops to turn and look at it, then Miss Calculated.

“Ah, of course, I’ll pay you for your time. You may have said that those responsible shouldn’t even charge me for fixing their mistakes, but, having you correct those issues is more than deserving of compensation. ...I imagine it will be tedious to perform that one task repeatedly for the large number of bots in service here, it’s only fair I make it worth your while. I’d certainly prefer that the money went to you, rather than to those scam artists, that’s for sure.” Once Mark makes a monetary offer, Miss Calculated sucks in a sharp breath.

She was already about to accept, just perforce of the fact that it was 23 who requested it. Realizing that the money Mark seems apparently accustomed to throwing around may be about to be directed her way, she pauses a moment to swallow a mouthful of saliva before responding.

“I… Ahem, of course. Thank you. We can discuss rates later on. However, I do have a few things I need to tend to first thing in the morning at the MCAC. Once everything is settled, among a few other plans I have to set in motion, hmm… Would first thing after lunch work for you? I imagine Marsha will be accompanying me, to resume… to begin her work here.” Miss Calculated subconsciously looked over at her sister when mentioning her, and upon seeing the third mannequin being built, she gives up any hope of anything productive occurring tonight.

She firmly believes that any progress on clearing this floor today will most likely be accidental and/or a secondary effect from some other goal. As is often the case with most things that she is this confident about, she’s not wrong.

Mark also looks over at the mishmash model manufacturing and snorts, then resumes walking toward the elevator. Glancing over his shoulder at Miss Calculated, he tilts his head so as to motion his chin in the direction of the door in a fairly clear expression of ‘come on’ and answers her while leading the way.

“That’s perfectly fine. For just about anything, you don’t need to ask if it’s an acceptable time as long as it is within business hours. I know you can’t possibly tend to every single bot in just one day. Simply do what you can, when you can, and document it all accordingly. Especially on such short notice. It’s no secret that you have standards and live up to your word. I understand that you still will honor any of your prior agreements, and that you take your job seriously. It would be ridiculous to expect you to drop everything and come rushing over to do nothing but service my bots all day. ...Your level of integrity is rare nowadays, I would be remiss to ask you to abandon it on my behalf.” While Mark is talking, Miss Calculated gains a proud grin.

She, too, heads to the elevator.

23 is lagging behind, still communicating with the service bot. Given the amount of time their exchange is taking, there must be more to it than just discussing scheduled maintenances.

-----

Lucas’s total kills: 7

Lucas’s total deaths: 11

Lucas’s total assists: 1

Lucas’s current GDV: 17.39

Lucas’s fame level: 6.0* (Local fame is completely maxed, he’s creeping up on minor celebrity status even on a global scale. Thanks, internet.)

Lucas's hero suspicion level: 2.0*

Jonathan’s total kills: 7

Jonathan’s total deaths: 2

Jonathan’s current GDV: 6.09 (+.01 net change)

Jonathan's fame level: 4.0* (Local fame is near-max, but everyone thinks of him via his affiliation with Lucas, and not often just for him, alone.)

Jonathan's hero suspicion level: 2.5*

Willy's fame level: 4.5* (With how popular he’s become, it’s only a matter of time before people start realizing just how smart he is.)

Mr. Quacks’s fame level: 5.0* (His local and global fame are nearly even, he’s a full-blown internet sensation.)

Supervillain social circle size: 15

-----

Little character theater:

Jonathan, nervously glancing at Miss Chievous, even though she isn’t doing anything, yet: ‘She’ll behave in front of Mary and Mark, right? ...Please?’

Willy is patiently sitting in the elevator, watching Miss Calculated and Mark taking their sweet time in joining them.

Lucas, belatedly realizing he mounted everything on the fourth mannequin backward in relation to the torso: ...Oopsie daisy. The other ones didn’t have pecs, so I didn’t think to check!

427, at a bit of a loss for words: [Shouldn’t the fact that everything wasn’t sitting right be your first clue that something was wrong?]

Author, standing near 23 and the service bot it is click-chatting with: Mmhmm. Mmhmm. Oh, don’t forget… yeah. Be sure to specify… exactly. Ooh, nice touch.

Mr. Quacks, already down in the spa, getting the mineral bath ready for Jonathan in advance. He even has a little towel ready for himself, like last time: Quack.