Moved

“Perish? Ehh…” Well now, didn’t this conversation just take an uncomfortably dark turn. “Um, I don’t think you understand. I don’t make anyone perish or anything like that.” she started explaining. “It’s just that if a bad person tries to come into the Foundation and hurt anyone, it’s my job to make sure they’re removed from the building before they get that chance. And if they’re bad enough, I have to keep them from hurting anyone until the police arrive to help me.”

“Yes I am.” she nodded. “But that doesn’t mean I don’t have a family. All it takes for people to be family is for them all to agree to be family and treat one another like it.”

Piano nodded her head. “Ah, I understand now. You do not punish people in a deadly fashion, you just prevent them from causing anymore harm. Much like a Sniper Joe would do to protect Wily Fortress, yes?” Only without the police. Piano, of course, did not see anything wrong with this comparison. After all, she was more familiar with Wily than anyone else.

“Well, I’m head of security.” she explained. “I make sure all the nice people who work there are safe and secure while they do their jobs. And when I’m not doing that, I help to take care of my family.”

Piano nodded her head. “All the nice people, you say? and I suppose the bad people perish? That is a unique way of running security, but I cannot say I do not admire your sense of justice.” 

What a polite little bot this Piano was. “Well, since you asked so nicely, my name is Scimitar Woman.” she said with a bow of her own. “I’m head of security for the Prescott Foundation.

Scimitar was just minding her own business, heading home after getting herself a chai tea from the local barista. Waiting at a corner for the crosswalk light to change, she found herself being approached by a small fembot in black armor. “Oh, hello there, little one.” she greeted her. “Is there something I can help you with?”

She would recieve no answer, but instead a rather flattering compliment. “Oh, um, thank you!” Scimi replied, blushing ever so slightly. “What a sweet thing to say!”

Piano smiled. So far this was a great success, but she paused. How did one casually recruit someone like this into their army who wants to take over the world? She guessed for now she would just have to wing it.

Piano eyed the note in confusion. She read it a few times, before a small smile came to her face. Ah, she understood now! It was a chocolate kiss and kisses were meant to be done under a mistletoe. She hadn’t seen Tundra since the national kiss day, it was too bad they missed their change to celebrate holidays again.

The Wily Fortress didn’t have a mistletoe as far as she knew, but she would plop the small chocolate into her mouth anyway.

—

Two days later, Tundra would find a small present in the mail. It was sent to their creator, but addressed to Tundra himself. It was a box of chocolates along with a small note.“Thank you for the gift. Here is something in return. -Pia.”

Piano didn’t run into many robots she considered cool, but once glance at  Scimitar Woman and she was already impressed. Aesthetically she was slick, and she quickly decided that this was someone she wanted on her side.

Piano looked at Rock, and back at the gift.“I do not understand. From what I have seen, Christmas is celebrated with friends and family. Shall I officially mark us as friends?” She asked as she pulled out a tablet, beginning to type on it. Instead of waiting for an answer from Rock, she continued. “Very well, do not fear for now I will get you a small present. Still, we should work on your time management. This way we will know to get each other presents.”

Formalities out of the way, she opened the gift. “… I see.” She was silent for a while. Before… was that a smile on her face?“Thank you.”

——-

It was obvious that Rock had just given Piano quite the surprise. There was no way for her to guess that Bass had been absent from wherever they were stationed in order to spend time with the boy he’d been made to defeat. He was pretty sure Wily himself wasn’t aware of what his unruly son was up to. “Well, I mean, all the time might be an exaggeration,” he replied with a little shrug. “He’s got other friends that he hangs out with too.” And they were all probably Light bots. Well, at least technically.

Rock was glad to listen to her question, but it made him frown and rub the back of his neck awkwardly. “It’s not like we don’t take him seriously,” he answered after a moment. “I mean, he’s posed some serious threats in the past, including his last attempt to take over, and I certainly worry about the day he comes back with a new plan.” No one worried about that more than him. “It’s just that…everyone else figures after all the times he’s been stopped…it’ll end up the same way every time.” He didn’t want to lie to Piano, but it didn’t feel good saying this to her. No one wanted to think they’d been built into the losing team, but given the current score, that’s exactly what Wily’s side was. Rock himself didn’t want to underestimate the evil scientist as much as others did. He knew too well how dangerous that would be. Still, as it was, history told a pretty clear story of how successful Wily and his robotss schemes ended up.

Piano nodded, clear disappointment in her expression as he lowered her gaze. “Unfortunately, I can answer that. I have seen the database of his plans and their turnouts, nothing he is coming up with himself looks to have a better ending.” She could have put it together herself without Rock’s confirmation, but she had previously been in denial about it.

1. ANIMAL: Owl 2. COLOR(S):  Purple 3. MONTH: August 4. SONG: To be honest I think of her when I listen to these x x x 5. NUMBER: 3 6. DAY OR NIGHT: Night 7. PLANT: Purple lilac  8. SMELL: Anything sweet 9. GEMSTONE: Fluorite 10. SEASON: Winter 12. FOOD: Dark chocolate 13. ASTROLOGICAL SIGN: Leo 14. ELEMENT(S): Water, metal 15. DRINK: Tea

Tagged by: @thelightofpeace

Once Piano reached the very top, Rock broke out into applause and cheers for her. “Yaaayy Piano! You did an awesome job!” Perhaps all of his encouragement would sound patronizing to her, but Rock only wanted to express how genuinely happy he was to see her succeed at something. He didn’t exactly hang around Wily’s base, but he knew the man and his robots well enough to hazard a guess that neither Piano’s creator nor her big brothers gave her a lot of positive encouragement. Whether she liked it or not, Rock saw her as a young girl because of her recent creation. He wanted nothing more than to be the friend and maybe even the big brother he believed she needed. 

Piano was fairly high above Rock by this point, but he could see the smile on her face clear as day, and it only made him cheer more. He had a brief heart attack when she jumped and nearly dived forward to try and catch her, but he realized he could trust in Piano’s judgement and Wily’s engineering to stand up to a jump like that. Sure enough, she landed on her feet without trouble. It reminded him of doing the very same thing on his first trip to a playground.

He felt a bit disappointed at what Piano had to say next next, but he waved his hand. “You say that like we can’t hang out just because your dad’s Dr. Wily. That doesn’t stop me and your big brother from hanging out all the time.”

Rock’s cheer’s probably would be patronizing to most, and part of Piano felt as though she should be insulted, but it also gave a certain determination and pride. Sure, Piano had been proud and determined before, but this time they felt like they had a better meaning. 

For a moment her eyes widened and brow furrowed in confusion, before turning into suspicion. That sentence alone seemed to take everything she was programmed to understand and turn it upside down. She tried to think of a response, searching the ground for answers, before looking back at Rock.