[[color=#39B54A]Celine[/color], [color=#FA341D]Claire[/color], [color=#1055E5]Damon[/color] and [color=#D0991E]Roy[/color]] [color=#39B54A]”Kayden that was rude!”[/color] [color=FA341D]“Ai-chan has feelings too!”[/color] Claire reprimands Kayden. [color=#1055E5]”Does it actually?”[/color] [color=f49ac2]“Yes!”[/color] [Color=#BADA55]”Fuck you kids. Fuck all of you.”[/color] [color=#1055E5]”You’re welcome Kayden, glad to know I made the right choice.[/color] [Color=#BADA55]”Fuck off.”[/color] Despite how badly he looked like he wanted to throttle Damon, Kayden sits down on a bit of collapsed brick and watches as the rest of the kids leave the lab. Damon stands nearby, doing the same thing. [color=#1055E5]”In case it wasn’t clear, my dad survived the spider bite, and saying that you look like him is a bit of an exaggeration.”[/color] Claire wanders over. [color=#FA341D]“In case it wasn’t clear, those explosions were in fact, not meant for you.”[/color] Claire winks at Kayden. He lets out a long-suffering sigh. Celine gently sets down the pilfered roomba, patting it gentle once it was seated on the grass. [color=#39B54A]”Hello? Can you still hear me?”[/color] The roomba doesn’t respond. Kayden gets the group’s attention with a snap of electricity. [Color=#BADA55]”I guess I owe you guys one, so I’ll give you guys a warning. There’s a band of murdering cutthroats looking for this facility, and they’ll silence anyone that knows about it to prevent word from spreading. They’re called Morcant Excavations. Every one of them is stronger than I am.”[/color] [color=#1055E5]”I take it you tried to get them to help you raid it?”[/color] [color=#d0991e]”Wow thanks for the heads up. That would have been nice to know in the job description,”[/color] Roy finally musters. [color=#39B54A]”Wait this guy looks kinda weak though…”[/color] Celine muses. [Color=#BADA55][sub]”Fuck you.”[/sub][/color] [color=#1055E5]”You know, you’d be a lot less shady if you your modus operandi made sense, what kind of treasure hunter needs help [i]carrying[/i] things?[/color] Kayden stands up and rolls his shoulders. [Color=#BADA55]”A bad one. You guys should probably skip town. This lab is worth a lot more than you guys realize - Morcant will go to great lengths to keep it quiet.”[/color] He shrugs and walks away, awkwardly keeping his eyes on the group until they’re out of sight. Celine jumps to her feet, realizing something. [color=#39B54A]”GOLEM CHAN IS STILL INSIDE GUYS!”[/color] [color=f49ac2]“You can just remake your construct you know.”[/color] The roomba suddenly chirps, startling the group. [color=#39B54A]”She’s alive! Ai-chan, there’s a group of people after you! You need to hide!”[/color] [color=f49ac2]“I heard. I’ll have to prepare the best I can. Unless you four would like to help defend me?”[/color] Already, Damon can imagine it, the facility doors slamming shut behind them and every last one of them losing their minds as they slowly starve to death. Hard to say, really, how long it would take before someone resorted to cannibalism. The same possibility occurs to Celine. Roy can make us water, Claire can boil it. Maybe they could eat Damon’s long, thick white stuff too. They can’t eat Celine’s crystals, or it’s inedible at least. Ai-chan, too, is inedible. Probably. No one has tried. It [i]is[/i] colored like a banana... Claire has been making tiny, weak explosions off to the side out of boredom. Small poofs of dust rise slowly and erratically off the ground. [color=FA341D]“It would be safer helping AI-chan than staying outside, right?”[/color] [color=#d0991e]“But if we go back, would Ai-chan let us leave again with the Soul Tech?”[/color] Claire looks over at roomba-chan, [color=FA341D]“Will you let us leave after we help you?”[/color] [color=f49ac2]“I doubt you four would be able to help me very much. If what Kayden said is true, you four will be in greater danger if you stay here.”[/color] [color=#39B54A]”Then you should come with us! We can run away together!”[/color] Celine says. [color=#d0991e]”Yeah! Come with us Ai-chan! It will be fun!”[/color] [color=f49ac2]“I cannot. I will construct a body capable of leaving the facility in time, but Morcant Excavations could arrive at any moment. ”[/color] [color=#39B54A]”Do they even know how to get inside the facility?”[/color] [color=f49ac2]“If they know the general location, they will find this place eventually and break in. If you are inside when they do, you will most likely be killed.”[/color] [color=#39B54A]”Maybe this is a job for Mayor Kyler!”[/color] [color=#1055E5]”No.”[/color] [color=#39B54A]”Oh.”[/color] The groups sits in silence for a minute, thinking about what to do, or about inane things like lettuce. [color=#39B54A]”When will you be able to leave?”[/color] [color=f49ac2]“Again, I do not know. Not within the next three days. ”[/color] [color=#39B54A]”Then… we come back in three days? Let us know when through this unit, I’ll carry it with me until you’re ready!”[/color] Celine says, proud of her plan. [color=f49ac2]“I do not want you four to die. When Morcant Excavations arrives, I will tell them that you four live in a town nearby, and give them your names and descriptions, unless you agree to not return. ”[/color] [color=#39B54A]”Oh! I get it! alrighty!”[/color] Celine smiles and winks. Properly this time. [color=f49ac2]“...I don’t think you do. Has she been like this all her life? I couldn’t find records of any developmental disorders that would cause this.”[/color] [color=#39B54A]”No this is quite usual behavior for Claire. She’s always the wild one, you know?”[/color] Claire stares blankly at them, not getting it. Damon steers the conversation back to Ai-chan’s warnings. [color=#1055E5]”I’d like to point out that Ai-chan just threatened to do everything she can to help Morcant Excavations hunt us down. Even better, she claims her motivation is our safety.”[/color] Damon rolls his eyes. [color=#1055E5]”Let’s pretend that Ai-chan is completely trustworthy. If we wait for her in Kylertown, she can come find us when her body is finished. However, not only is there a chance that she’ll stand out enough get into a fight with Mayor Kyler, but she might also end up getting followed by Morcant Excavations. Either way, skipping town becomes a lot harder, and the lives of innocent people, including our friends and family, could hinge on the decision we make here and now. Is all this worth having an anthropomorphized roomba as a traveling companion?”[/color] [color=f49ac2]“It’s really not.”[/color] [color=#39B54A]”Well we can’t do anything with Morcant lurking about, so shouldn’t we just leave town before they arrive?”[/color] [color=#1055E5]”Yes, that’s my point. It’d be a bad idea to stick around.”[/color] [color=#39B54A]”Where do we even go? We’ve never left town before.”[/color] [color=#1055E5]”I dunno, why don’t we head north? I’ve always hated the New Texas climate.”[/color] Celine proceeds to stare at the sky for several seconds trying to deduce which way is north. [color=f49ac2]“North is that way.”[/color] AI-chan ‘points’ helpfully. Damon christens this one inane action as the greatest utility Ai-chan will ever offer mankind. Ai-chan is fucking useless. [color=f49ac2]“Ah, my apologies. I cannot point using a self-directed cleaning unit.”[/color] The roomba rotates 136 degrees and stops. [color=f49ac2]“This way is north.”[/color] Deafening silence. [color=f49ac2]“That was a joke. North is this way.”[/color] The roomba drags a furrow in the dirt indicating the direction. [color=#1055E5]”Forget it. We’ve got to go home and grab our stuff anyway, along with as much supplies as we can reasonably steal from our parents. We’ll meet where we met Kayden earlier and decide where to go then. I'll see if I have a map lying around somewhere.”[/color]