Fic: Fix You Chapter 2
It's a short one, just felt right to end it there!
Author: Roki
Title: Fix You (2 of 10)
Characters: Roxanne, Megamind, Brainbots.
Summary: While Megamind is recovering, Roxanne goes to do some reconnaissance to figure out her serial kidnapper a little more.
Thanks to my beta-ladies, Demishock, Valoscope, and Seiaa!
Previous chapter: Not a day goes by that I don't know that I'm dying.
Roxanne sighed when the brainbot brought back the wrench for the fifth time. It seemed to be tireless about the game, which was fine for a construct, but not so much for keeping her entertained. She glanced back at Megamind and frowned, noticing how he was curling up on himself in the chair as if cold.
She cast around for a blanket and was reminded that she really knew nothing about the lair. The brainbot nudged her hand again, making an inquiring electronic noise. "Oh hey, I didn't forget about you," she reached out and patted it on the dome awkwardly. It was warm and the static raised the hairs on her arm.
The bot made a kind of growling noise she took to be the equivalent of a purr. Roxanne kept her hand resting on its dome absently, looking towards the blue alien again to notice several brainbots gathering around him, including a larger one she had not seen before. "What are they doing?"
The bot just wiggled under her hand and curled a tendril around her wrist lightly, pulling her forward towards the gathering of floating robots. The variety struck her then; each was different in some way, whether by additional spikes or different paint. Each was also showing a different set of behaviors towards her. Some flitted behind the massive chair and peered around as if shy, some came directly to her and inspected her uncomfortably close, most just seemed to ignore her in favor of their unconscious master.
Had he really programmed and built all of these? At most she could recall having seen about fifty of them altogether, quite a lot to have such differences. She cleared her throat, drawing the attention of those inspecting her. "Are there any blankets in here? I think he's cold."
Several floated away in a hurry and came back bearing a couple ratty blankets which were draped over their master without pause. Roxanne felt a little taken aback that they had done it so quickly, not to mention without trying to tie her up or anything. She decided she might as well try something else, if only to see what they would allow her to do.
"Can you get me a drink?" Best to start simple. The large brainbot made a faint noise she could just barely hear, very high pitched. The smaller ones made noises in return and one left for a few seconds, returning with a warm can of Dr Pepper. Interesting.
"Thanks." She felt a little silly thanking constructs, but if they were intelligent enough to understand commands then it didn't hurt to be polite. When she looked back at the prone figure in the chair she could see sweat dripping down his brow.
She put the can on the console and reached over to touch Megamind's head, but was immediately blocked by one of the smaller brainbots. She held her hands up defensively. "I won't hurt him, I promise. I just want to see if his head is warm."
The bot made a sound she was sure passed for an unsure noise before moving out of her way. When her hand contacted his skin she inhaled sharply at the heat radiating off his scalp. It was uncomfortably warm. "Is this normal?" she questioned.
The brainbots around her bobbed up and down in assent.
Roxanne sighed. "Alright..." she glanced around. The interference of the machinery had caused the van's radio to be reduced to nothing but static as soon as they had entered the lair, so there wasn't news to listen to. The only controls she could recall how to work were the cameras, and she definitely didn't want their faces broadcast anywhere. That left her options of preoccupying herself to exploring the lair a little more, and God help her if she wasn't curious at least.
With a surreptitious look at the bots, she wandered away. The one that had been playing fetch with her followed her, coiling its tendrils around her wrist again. It was like having a child holding her hand. At least it let her lead the way, just acting as an escort. She pointedly avoided the 'exit-ing' room, though it did cross her mind how odd it was for alligators to enjoy plastic squeaky toys and disco music. Maybe Megamind just thought they did, or maybe they weren't alligators at all.
Things to contemplate later. For now it was easier to keep her mind off of the current events by using her so-called nosy reporter skills to try and figure out the man she may have just saved from death. The nearest section was the curtained off half of the building, which she recalled held the massive idea wall. She decided she would stop there last since she had already seen it and continued on past, where she reached what must have been the kitchen area. Cases of Dr Pepper were stacked in a corner and scattered on the counter were empty bags from Trader Joe's.
Roxanne didn't open any of the drawers, feeling that would be a little too much of an invasion of privacy. At least if things were out in the open while she was snooping, then she wasn't actively looking for secrets. At least that was how she justified it to herself, a little unsuccessfully, as she moved to the next section. As expected, most of the partitioned 'rooms' contained technology she was afraid to touch out of ignorance of their purpose. There was a robot that looked like it had a toaster for a head, a tiny headless tin can with a laser protruding from a crude 'chest', a spiked monstrosity that was somewhere between a spider and a cannon that looked vaguely familiar, and above all of that the dirigible was floating. When she looked up and saw the last one, she was taken aback. Overhead brainbots swarmed like thousands of fireflies, lighting the gloom with a dull blue light. They were so quiet, lurking among the rafters, that she had not registered the hum above the rest of the machinery around her. Now that she could distinguish their unique noise from the undercurrent of steady electricity, it was obvious to her.
When did he get time to build all of these? There were definitely way more than a thousand lights up there, it was completely overwhelming.
The answer came behind the next curtain. Brainbots paused in putting the dome on a shiny new model to study her with their singular oculars before continuing to weld. Roxanne couldn't help but wonder if this was some kind of birth and suddenly felt embarrassed to be watching, so she moved on from there.
The only other place she could spy to look around at was the door at the top of some stairs, which must have been the business office when the plant was still in operation. After a long climb, she reached the door and pushed it open cautiously. The door swung open with a slight creak, allowing her to see...absolutely nothing. The windows had been covered over with paper, and the lights were off. The only illumination came from the dim lights behind her, and it wasn't exactly enough to make anything out. She glanced down at the brainbot still 'holding' her hand and gently pulled her arm forward, using it as a crude flashlight so she could find the light switch. It seemed reluctant to enter with her, but allowed her to pull it along.
After some fumbling, she found a switch and immediately regretted her decision to come up there. In a corner of the room sat a mattress with what looked like five or six more ratty blankets piled on top - the topmost seemed to have a stars-and-moons pattern - opposite it was a large fish tank containing the largest fish-castle she had ever seen. There were even spikes on it, she noted with some amusement. There was a long table with a liberal amount of drafting paper left blank scattered on the surface, a cup full of pencils and what looked like half a doughnut gracing one of two stools in front of it. Decorating the walls were hundreds of drawings and newspaper clippings, almost like wallpaper. There wasn't much else to the room, but it still felt very intrusive. She turned to leave when something caught her eye. Just above the drafting table was a variety of both color and newspaper clipped photos of her. There were only five, but it was just enough to give her some slight chills up her spine.
One was from her first appearance in the paper, her with Metro Man giving her his famous first interview. The subsequent newspaper clippings were from when she had briefly grown her hair out, and the one next to it from when she had cut it short again. What struck her the most were the two photographs; one from high school, where she had first met him. It was taken out of the yearbook. The other was a candid photo of her smirking at something from the all-too-familiar hostage chair, a little grainy and marked across the bottom with a series of digits - BRAINBOT - SX-3 - 12032002. Each of the photos had notes scrawled carefully below them, but she never got a chance to read them.
"What are you doing up here?"
For once, Megamind had honestly gotten the jump on her.
Next chapter: I'll take you there.
Author: Roki
Title: Fix You (2 of 10)
Characters: Roxanne, Megamind, Brainbots.
Summary: While Megamind is recovering, Roxanne goes to do some reconnaissance to figure out her serial kidnapper a little more.
Thanks to my beta-ladies, Demishock, Valoscope, and Seiaa!
Previous chapter: Not a day goes by that I don't know that I'm dying.
Roxanne sighed when the brainbot brought back the wrench for the fifth time. It seemed to be tireless about the game, which was fine for a construct, but not so much for keeping her entertained. She glanced back at Megamind and frowned, noticing how he was curling up on himself in the chair as if cold.
She cast around for a blanket and was reminded that she really knew nothing about the lair. The brainbot nudged her hand again, making an inquiring electronic noise. "Oh hey, I didn't forget about you," she reached out and patted it on the dome awkwardly. It was warm and the static raised the hairs on her arm.
The bot made a kind of growling noise she took to be the equivalent of a purr. Roxanne kept her hand resting on its dome absently, looking towards the blue alien again to notice several brainbots gathering around him, including a larger one she had not seen before. "What are they doing?"
The bot just wiggled under her hand and curled a tendril around her wrist lightly, pulling her forward towards the gathering of floating robots. The variety struck her then; each was different in some way, whether by additional spikes or different paint. Each was also showing a different set of behaviors towards her. Some flitted behind the massive chair and peered around as if shy, some came directly to her and inspected her uncomfortably close, most just seemed to ignore her in favor of their unconscious master.
Had he really programmed and built all of these? At most she could recall having seen about fifty of them altogether, quite a lot to have such differences. She cleared her throat, drawing the attention of those inspecting her. "Are there any blankets in here? I think he's cold."
Several floated away in a hurry and came back bearing a couple ratty blankets which were draped over their master without pause. Roxanne felt a little taken aback that they had done it so quickly, not to mention without trying to tie her up or anything. She decided she might as well try something else, if only to see what they would allow her to do.
"Can you get me a drink?" Best to start simple. The large brainbot made a faint noise she could just barely hear, very high pitched. The smaller ones made noises in return and one left for a few seconds, returning with a warm can of Dr Pepper. Interesting.
"Thanks." She felt a little silly thanking constructs, but if they were intelligent enough to understand commands then it didn't hurt to be polite. When she looked back at the prone figure in the chair she could see sweat dripping down his brow.
She put the can on the console and reached over to touch Megamind's head, but was immediately blocked by one of the smaller brainbots. She held her hands up defensively. "I won't hurt him, I promise. I just want to see if his head is warm."
The bot made a sound she was sure passed for an unsure noise before moving out of her way. When her hand contacted his skin she inhaled sharply at the heat radiating off his scalp. It was uncomfortably warm. "Is this normal?" she questioned.
The brainbots around her bobbed up and down in assent.
Roxanne sighed. "Alright..." she glanced around. The interference of the machinery had caused the van's radio to be reduced to nothing but static as soon as they had entered the lair, so there wasn't news to listen to. The only controls she could recall how to work were the cameras, and she definitely didn't want their faces broadcast anywhere. That left her options of preoccupying herself to exploring the lair a little more, and God help her if she wasn't curious at least.
With a surreptitious look at the bots, she wandered away. The one that had been playing fetch with her followed her, coiling its tendrils around her wrist again. It was like having a child holding her hand. At least it let her lead the way, just acting as an escort. She pointedly avoided the 'exit-ing' room, though it did cross her mind how odd it was for alligators to enjoy plastic squeaky toys and disco music. Maybe Megamind just thought they did, or maybe they weren't alligators at all.
Things to contemplate later. For now it was easier to keep her mind off of the current events by using her so-called nosy reporter skills to try and figure out the man she may have just saved from death. The nearest section was the curtained off half of the building, which she recalled held the massive idea wall. She decided she would stop there last since she had already seen it and continued on past, where she reached what must have been the kitchen area. Cases of Dr Pepper were stacked in a corner and scattered on the counter were empty bags from Trader Joe's.
Roxanne didn't open any of the drawers, feeling that would be a little too much of an invasion of privacy. At least if things were out in the open while she was snooping, then she wasn't actively looking for secrets. At least that was how she justified it to herself, a little unsuccessfully, as she moved to the next section. As expected, most of the partitioned 'rooms' contained technology she was afraid to touch out of ignorance of their purpose. There was a robot that looked like it had a toaster for a head, a tiny headless tin can with a laser protruding from a crude 'chest', a spiked monstrosity that was somewhere between a spider and a cannon that looked vaguely familiar, and above all of that the dirigible was floating. When she looked up and saw the last one, she was taken aback. Overhead brainbots swarmed like thousands of fireflies, lighting the gloom with a dull blue light. They were so quiet, lurking among the rafters, that she had not registered the hum above the rest of the machinery around her. Now that she could distinguish their unique noise from the undercurrent of steady electricity, it was obvious to her.
When did he get time to build all of these? There were definitely way more than a thousand lights up there, it was completely overwhelming.
The answer came behind the next curtain. Brainbots paused in putting the dome on a shiny new model to study her with their singular oculars before continuing to weld. Roxanne couldn't help but wonder if this was some kind of birth and suddenly felt embarrassed to be watching, so she moved on from there.
The only other place she could spy to look around at was the door at the top of some stairs, which must have been the business office when the plant was still in operation. After a long climb, she reached the door and pushed it open cautiously. The door swung open with a slight creak, allowing her to see...absolutely nothing. The windows had been covered over with paper, and the lights were off. The only illumination came from the dim lights behind her, and it wasn't exactly enough to make anything out. She glanced down at the brainbot still 'holding' her hand and gently pulled her arm forward, using it as a crude flashlight so she could find the light switch. It seemed reluctant to enter with her, but allowed her to pull it along.
After some fumbling, she found a switch and immediately regretted her decision to come up there. In a corner of the room sat a mattress with what looked like five or six more ratty blankets piled on top - the topmost seemed to have a stars-and-moons pattern - opposite it was a large fish tank containing the largest fish-castle she had ever seen. There were even spikes on it, she noted with some amusement. There was a long table with a liberal amount of drafting paper left blank scattered on the surface, a cup full of pencils and what looked like half a doughnut gracing one of two stools in front of it. Decorating the walls were hundreds of drawings and newspaper clippings, almost like wallpaper. There wasn't much else to the room, but it still felt very intrusive. She turned to leave when something caught her eye. Just above the drafting table was a variety of both color and newspaper clipped photos of her. There were only five, but it was just enough to give her some slight chills up her spine.
One was from her first appearance in the paper, her with Metro Man giving her his famous first interview. The subsequent newspaper clippings were from when she had briefly grown her hair out, and the one next to it from when she had cut it short again. What struck her the most were the two photographs; one from high school, where she had first met him. It was taken out of the yearbook. The other was a candid photo of her smirking at something from the all-too-familiar hostage chair, a little grainy and marked across the bottom with a series of digits - BRAINBOT - SX-3 - 12032002. Each of the photos had notes scrawled carefully below them, but she never got a chance to read them.
"What are you doing up here?"
For once, Megamind had honestly gotten the jump on her.
Next chapter: I'll take you there.