Optics on.

Nervous system on.

Sound system on.

Motor control on.

Good morning, world.

Oh, Shock was just leaving?

“Hey,” I called out to her, noticing her leg was all patched up. “Where you off to?”

“Another Tangent case. Seeing as I know exactly how it's going to turn out, I shouldn't be longer than an hour or so.”

“All right.” How do you send someone off in a situation like that? “Take it easy out there,” was the best I could manage on the spot.

“Mhm.” She stepped around the spiral stairs, out of sight. Clunk, the lock of the main door to the hideout disengaged.

“Sorry I'm so la-ate,” Lavil's distinct voice slurred out from the doorway Shock was just leaving through. “Hey, don't go! Aw.”

Sounded like he had a few too many of those purple relaxation packets on the way here.

“I'll be back soon,” Shock dismissed him as the door slid shut.

“But I'm gonna need these, right? Right?” Lavil rambled to himself as he tip-toed down the stairs. “Probably, yeah, I'll need these. Oh shi-”

A bunch of sizable, yellow missiles tumbled down the stairs before Lavil was even in view.

“Noo! Aww, noo. Aw... noooo.”

He sounded so pathetic and sad; I couldn't hold back laughter. The juxtaposition between regular Lavil and this Lavil was too much for me to handle.

“Aww,” he continued whining, raising his arms to his side. “Noo.”

I walked over to help him pick the ammunition up, suppressing more snickers to the best of my ability (not very well).

“No no! Nah, no, c'mon now, I'm good, get outta here, you. Shit. Lemme clean up my own mess, man, shit. I slide around in pitch black and oh, no, but one stair and oh shit! I'm a fuck up.”

I walked away, still laughing. “Pitch black out there, huh?”

“It's the middle of the night, man. You gotta do things sneaky. Tip toe! Shit.”

I'd take goofy Lavil over conceited Lavil any day. But... middle of the night, huh? It must still be the same day as when I went to sleep. This pure power station must really charge us quickly.

“Is Trivo around?” I asked.

“She's sleepin'. Over in there.” He pointed to the hallway, in a room I hadn't noticed earlier. “Ohh, Au-ral Au-to-ma-ton, you should've seen her...!” Lavil's voice suddenly became excited, but quiet. He skated over to me and leaned close to my face, arms full of missiles. “Between us, I saw Trivo sitting next to you for a while as you slept. How cute is that!” Lavil snickered.

“A... wow. I guess she... likes me?”

Lavil burst out laughing. “She loves you, man, shit! Can't you tell, she fucking loves you, oh my god, that's cute. Look at that,” he paused to snicker a bit, “ah, that's cute.”

“Wh... y-yeah! That's cute, sure...” I didn't know how seriously to take him in this state. I stood up and looked around for something I could change the subject with.

“Geez, what a riot.” He skated off to the hall room with his missiles.

I didn't hear much else from Lavil that night. He'd hooked himself up to the pure recharge station in the hall room and gone to sleep shortly after hooting about Trivo's alleged love for me. As much as I enjoyed hearing his inebriated banter, I was hoping we'd be able to get down to business soon.

The lack of entertainment in this place became very apparent as I waited for everyone to either wake up or return home. I found myself absentmindedly plucking away at my guitar, planning out some gentle melodies in my head during my solitude. How long had it been? One or two hours?

Eventually, the lock to the hideout opened. I assumed it was Shock, but I stood at the ready, guitar in hand, just in case.

“Who goes there?” I yapped, somewhat playful in tone.

“That'd be me,” Shock replied, sounding quite weary.

Thought so. “Nice to have you back.” I sat back down, leaning my guitar back against the wall.

She nodded as she walked into the room. “Same case as always,” she sighed, taking a seat next to me. “Someone's been attacked! Can you help them, Shocky? Sure, I'll be right there. Oh, no... their drive's been destroyed by Tangent's claws! Guess I have to do some data entry now, sorry everyone.” She grumbled quite loudly. “It gets tiring.”

“Ouch. I'm sorry.”

“Not your fault. I'd really like to hurry up and kill this fucker.”

It was one of the first times I'd heard Shock use such drastic language.

“Kill? Not, like... subdue him, or...?”

She slowly turned and locked eyes with me. “I'll give you a bit of clemency since you haven't been to each of these murder scenes and seen what this thing can do. Tangent is a soulless murderer. Nothing more. There can't possibly be any compassion or empathy in that machine, and if there is, I don't care if it's destroyed.”

“A-ah. My bad.” I wasn't aware of how emotionally charged Shock was about this mission. “I figured we might want to, maybe, not outright kill him, but... see if we can get any kind of information from him? Or... well, I don't know. Just not jumping straight to murder.”

Shock turned away, allowing me some needed relief from her steely gaze. “We're not going to accomplish anything by letting Tangent live.”

“Y-yeah. I guess you're right.”

“When you're as old as I am, you'll start seeing things the same way as me. I'm sure of it.”

“Think so? Well... exactly how old are you?” It'd just occurred to me I never knew how old Shock was.

She delayed her response, tilting her head to the ceiling. “Old enough.”

Huh. Well, okay then. With that answer, I opted to drop the subject.

We sat in mutual silence for a while before Shock eventually walked over to one of the computers and started typing away on it. I resumed strumming my guitar when–

“Good morning!” Trivo greeted us as she stepped out of the hallway room.

“Morning, Trivo.” Glad somebody finally woke up.

Shock kept furiously tapping the computer's keys for a few moments before finding the time to shoot her a quick “hey.”

“I think Lavil is almost done charging,” Trivo seemingly read my mind as she walked beside me and took a seat where Shock had just been. “How are you two doing?”

I looked over to the hallway room. “Not too shabby. Just waiting for everyone to get together so we can discuss our game plan.”

“Been better,” Shock said, typing even faster than before.

I chuckled after hearing Shock's typing increase to a ridiculous speed on the clickity-clackity keyboard. “What the hell are you doing?”

“Writing an e-mail back to someone. Work stuff.” Her focused expression turned into an all-out death glare. She almost looked like she was about to smash the computer at any moment, but her tone of voice was as calm as ever. “Almost done.”

Trivo looked back and forth between me and Shock with concerned eyes. I dismissed her worry with a quick hand wave.

Shock overdramatically threw her hands in the air before bringing one down on the keyboard with a conclusive tap. “Done. I can't wait until I don't have to deal with any more of this Tangent crap.”

Neither Trivo nor I moved an inch until Shock barked “what are you looking at?” after noticing our stares. We'd been freed.

I stood up and hopped over to the hallway room, peeking around to find Lavil. There he was, sitting on the floor, surrounded by boxes and other recharge stations.

Get up, you lazy ass. I wouldn't dare say it, but it was fun to imagine it. My impatience knew very few bounds.

Unexpectedly, he turned his head to me. “Oy, oy,” he drawled.

“Ah, morning! You're awake.”

“Thanks, tips.”

Well, I enjoyed goofy Lavil while he lasted. Sounded like he was back to normal.

He unplugged himself from the recharge station and hopped to his feet with one swift motion. “I'll be out there in a sec. Is anyone else around?”

“Yeah, we're all here, all awake.”

“Sick. I can't have you all slacking off in here. Gotta get down to it.”

“Nice, I'll be waiting.” I walked back to my spot in the main room, eagerly awaiting our mission briefing (or, at least I was hoping that's what Lavil was talking about). During my short conversation with Lavil, Trivo and Shock had swapped positions: Trivo was tapping away at one of the computers while Shock looked over the miscellaneous items arranged on the shelves scattered around the room's perimeter.

“...H-hey, you guys, come look,” Trivo beckoned us, sitting at the same computer as earlier. “Someone's talking to me...?”

Shock and I walked over to her left side to see what was up; Lavil immediately skated out of the hall room, standing on her right.

.CONTACT_LOG You are the one known as Trivo, yes?

“Should I answer that? What do I do?” Trivo asked.

“Don't say yes,” Lavil ordered. ”Your name is still at large, remember? This person probably thinks you're the serial killer.”

“Ask who that is, maybe? Turn it around on them,” I suggested.

Trivo did that, typing in, “who are you, first?”

Without any delay whatsoever, Trivo got a reply.

.CONTACT_LOG My name is Lacuna. I cannot remain connected to ZyNet for long. Are our transmissions secure?

Trivo looked back at us. Lavil shrugged, and neither Shock nor I knew either.

“What if you said yes?” Lavil suggested.

Shock said nothing. She just stared at the screen, wide-eyed.

“How easy is it for someone to eavesdrop on this conversation between Lacuna and Trivo?” I thought aloud.

“Personally, I have no clue how to do something like that. But I guess if you knew what you were doing... bah, I still don't know,” Shock rambled.

Trivo typed, “yes.”

She received a response immediately, once again.

.CONTACT_LOG Please answer me: you are Trivo, correct?

This didn't sound like someone trying to track her down or expose her. “I get the feeling this person isn't malicious,” I openly voiced my thoughts.

“You're far too trusting,” Shock remarked.

“You said that before.”

“Well, it's true! That said... I agree, Aural.”

“Hmm...” Lavil quietly interjected, “what harm could be done if you say yes? What's the worst that could happen? If Lacuna checks to see if their transmissions are secure, first, well...”

“This might be a good lead on Tangent. Who knows,” I added.

“Okay, okay,” Trivo repeated, quieting us down. She typed, “yes, I am Trivo.”

Another instant reply.

.CONTACT_LOG I am located in the derelict MSE vessel in the desert, not far from the city. Once you have arrived, access the main computer terminal immediately. This is of utmost importance. It would be wise to bring an escort, if possible, in case you are followed. Godspeed.

And with that, Lacuna disconnected from the network. We all stared at the screen for a moment before talking.

“So... this Lacuna person wants you to go to the main computer in the MSE ship out in the desert. You specifically, Trivo,” Lavil recapped. “That's... suspicious.”

“This is vaguely similar to when you got that message from Trivo after you were attacked,” Shock mentioned.

I nodded in agreement.

“But Lacuna said I should bring an escort,” said Trivo. “That's not too suspicious, is it? Lacuna wants to make sure I'm safe.”

“Or, it could just be a big trap to fuck us all,” Lavil retorted.

“Whatever the case may be,” I began, “how would Trivo get there? The ship Lacuna's talking about isn't exactly close to the city. Not as far as Grilith, sure, but...” I started trailing off into my thoughts.

“There's someone I know who would almost definitely give you a ride if I ask her,” Lavil told us.

“Yeah? Who's that?” Shock asked. “Don't you dare say Dukes of the Desert.”

“Nah. Chill. I'm good pals with a shopkeeper in Verdin Square. Her name is... fuck, man, I don't know how to say it. Zytah? Zeta? Ecksata? Hhhaytah... ecks, ecks...”

“Uhh...” Shock and I felt the same way listening to Lavil try to pronounce this person's name.

“X-A-I-T-A!” he spelled out. “What the fuck kind of name is that? Damn. Anyways! She's got an open booth in one of the buildings that faces the plaza. Maestro Bar, it's called. She mostly sells metal and machinery, but she's also got one huge behemoth of a truck she cruises around the desert in to get her wares. Hate her name but love her to pieces.”

“Was that the big vehicle we saw driving out of the city when we were coming here from Grilith?” I asked, recalling our trip back to the city.

Lavil shrugged. “Could've been. That one looked a bit longer than zzz... eh... Xaita's.” Clearly, he still couldn't figure that name out.

“Okay, well, let's keep that in mind. But what other plan did you gather us here to discuss? You mentioned you wanted to get to it before Trivo was contacted.”

“Right.” Lavil held up a finger, posing against the wall. “Long story short, Trivo theorizes that Tangent uses a different grade of processor than all of us have. Us, as in, the general population. If that were true, Tangent would be able to do things much faster than us, whether it's computing, murdering, or being a sneaky little shit, which would explain how he's so fucking elusive.”

“Uh, Trivo built Tangent, right? Wouldn't she know all about Tangent, no theorizing necessary?” Shock butted in.

“Memory wipes,” I whispered to her.

“Ah, damn. Right.”

Lavil started slowly sliding around the room on his skate-feet. “That, and she didn't make the parts to build Tangent with. She was supplied everything by Ups. Neither of us know how to craft anything like that though, and I doubt either of you two would know.”

“I appreciate the vote of confidence,” Shock scowled.

“Well? Do you, miss Shock?”

“No! And even if I did, you're doing a great job of convincing me to help you.”

“Stop,” I shouted, stepping forward. “Chill out.”

“Yes, please,” Trivo reaffirmed with audible worry in her voice.

Thank you, Trivo.

“Going along with this theory, what should we do in order to get an upgraded processor to fight Tangent with?” I stated very clearly and calmly, trying to bring back some semblance of objectivity to our conversation.

“I dunno,” Lavil halfheartedly answered, “ask Xaita. She might know.”

“Well, it's morning right about now, isn't it? It's worth a shot, if we don't have any other leads,” I suggested. “We were gonna go ask her about her truck anyways, right?”

Nobody else seemed to have much input. It was pretty clear none of us really knew what we were doing.

“Is Xaita's shop open this early?” Shock broke the silence.

“Should be. She's open all day.”

Trivo meekly raised her hand. “Well... I'm ready to go whenever you want,” she quietly announced.

“Should you be going out in public if you can help it, though?” Shock asked. “People still think you're a murderer.”

“I'm almost certain most bots don't know what Trivo looks like,” Lavil explained. “And, I was told by one of my pals in Grilith – maybe a year or so ago? – that they suspected Trivo was part of a “series” of robots. If that's true, there could easily be more bots out there that would have the exact same model as her. Though I haven't seen any myself... I still think it'd be okay for her to be out and about.”

“All right, if you say so.” I picked up my guitar bag from the wall and slung it over my shoulder. “Should we head out?”

Trivo and Shock were both standing at the ready.

“I'm gonna stay here this time around,” Lavil declared. “Not my most favourite task, but I'm going to see if I can do a bit of research on robot processors, or maybe see if I can verify Trivo's model type. Just to be on the safe side.”

I'd have loved to accuse him of being lazy, but searching for leads through two different mediums would probably be an effective way to carry this out.

We said our farewells to Lavil and walked up the spiral stairs single file, Shock taking the lead, Trivo watching our six.

The hideout's location was incredibly convenient. Verdin Square was no more than a minute away, making our trip wonderfully short.

“It's gonna be nice to get some time away from that whack,” Shock exclaimed as we walked down Verdin's quiet side road, just barely illuminated by the morning light.

“I'm sorry about Lavil,” Trivo suddenly spoke up. “I know he's abrasive... but he means well.”

“No need to apologize,” I reassured her, “it's not your fault.”

She awkwardly hummed in response.

Even if Verdin was normally packed, arriving early gave us the advantage of being some of the first robots to arrive. It was pretty nice not having to swim through crowds hungry for material goods.

Once we entered the main plaza, a building with a sizable open window and Maestro Bar written above it in green letters jumped right out at me, just to the left of our side road. I pointed it out to the others, in the off chance they hadn't noticed it. There wasn't anyone at the window at first, but as we approached it, we noticed a bot shuffling around in the back of the booth.

...

Something didn't feel right.

Out of nowhere, I started feeling painfully apprehensive.

As if something was suppressing my will to speak.

What was this feeling?

...

I waved a hand in front of Shock and Trivo, briefly retracing my steps, hoping they'd get the hint to follow me back the way we came. Trivo followed immediately; Shock waited a moment before coming with me.

The apprehension dissipated as I walked away from Maestro Bar. I stood still for a moment, looking back and forth between Shock and Trivo.

“...Did you feel that?” I sternly asked them both.

“Y-yes,” Trivo answered. “That was freaky.”

“What? What's going on?” Shock apparently didn't feel the ominous aura.

“You didn't feel it? I... I don't know what that was. When I walked up to the bar, I just felt... really really anxious. Almost as if I was too scared to speak.”

“I couldn't talk. I tried, but the words just... wouldn't form,” Trivo added.

Shock gave us a strange look before taking a few steps back towards Maestro Bar, still keeping an eye on us.

She shrugged. “I don't feel anything.”

Without a word, I cautiously walked up to where Shock was standing, just a handful of steps closer to Maestro.

...

There it was again.

There was absolutely something strange in this area.

The overwhelming apprehension, the inability to produce any audio – it came rushing back to me.

...

I rapidly shook my head at Shock, displaying a pair of round, frightened eyes on my visor. I hopped back to where Trivo was standing.

Just like that, the sensation vanished almost instantly.

“I don't like this. There's something weird going on here.”