#iris tonia

It was a humid day. The Jon could tell a storm was just around the corner. Metaphorically, of course! They weren't in Kazooland! No, his siblings and him had decided to go to the park with Ma and the twins. To stretch their legs and breath some fresh air, even if they didn't need to.

Whatever! The Jon enjoyed his alone stroll around the park without his older brothers ordering him around. Not that he minded most of the time, but sometimes it was nice to be on its own.

A low rumble in the sky interrupted his thoughts. The storm was approaching. Fast. He probably should go back to his family so they can go home. Or maybe they went home already, but they would be anxious if he didn't comr back before the rain starts.

But before he could turn back, a quiet sniffle stopped him dead in his track. He immediatly turned his audio device to the maximum sensibility, because the noise had been very low, almost imperceptible.

The Jon and his siblings had been updated six months after their creation to protect anyone who needs it. And a sniffle meant that someone was in trouble.

After rummaging in the bushes for a while, The Jon finally found who was sniffling so pitifully: a child. A little boy with dark hair, a round face, and two deep green eyes. He was sitting in the grass, sniffling like he was trying to not cry, and was holding his left knee.

Wait. The Jon knew this little boy!

"Oh! You are Jack's little birdie!" cheerfully exclaimed Jon, walking through the bush.

The little birdie looks back, startled, but didn't fly away. The Jon waved at him.

"I am The Jon! Remember?"

Birdie nodded, once, his face neutral even if his eyes were watery.

"Here! Let me help with your knee!"

The Jack kneeled next to the little birdie - what was his name again? - and took out one of the band-aids he carried around in case the twins get hurt.

"All done! You had been very brave!" beamed The Jon after applying the band-aid, patting little birdie's head.

It was... exciting, how much birdie reminded Jon the twins. They were the same age, sure, but little birdie has this same strangeness in him, the same easiness around bots, the same curiosity deep in his eyes...

Oh! This gave The Jon an idea!

"Say, birdie, would you like to have a snack?"

Birdie immediatly perked up, nodding with his eyes going biiiiiiig. Apparently, this baby bird was motivated by food! Perfect! The Jon picked him in his arms and started to walk toward the Walter Manor.

Peter the second, nicknamed Dhà by his ma, wasn't sure about... this. Huddled up with his twin Peter the third - Trì - on the living room couch, staring at the... "thing" sitting on the carpet accross the coffee table.

The Jon had come home late, but Rabbit had reassured them that it was just The Jon being The Jon and he would come back. But Rabbit didn't warn them about, was the "little bird" he had brought back.

But the little bird wasn't a bird at all! It was a boy. With big green staring eyes and a bad tendency to munch on anything he could put his hands on, currently a dusty gear he had found amon the coal for the chimney.

The Jon had excitely told them he had found a "friend of the same age" for them, because Ma always complained they should have relationships outside the family. And then The Jon had disappeared in the kitchen to prepare some snacks, leaving the three boys alone.

But that wasn't a friend! A friend was nice and warm and played with them, like the bots. This strange boy wasn't like that. He looked more like... what was the story The Spine read them three nights ago... a shapeshifter! One of those monsters who take the place of kids kidnapped in the forest...

"So..." tentatively started Trì. "What's your name?"

The boy finally looked up from his task to munch on the gear. But he didn't answer.

"I am Trì, and this is my brother Dhà!"

The boy stayed silent, slowly blinking at Trì. Which was rude. Dhà hated rude people, his parents always told him manners were the first step to be a good gentleman.

So he threw a pillow at the boy's face.

"Peter!" gasped Trì when the boy fell flat on his back.

"He is rude!" protested Dhà, poutting.

It wasn't like the boy was crying or anything. He was just...lying there?Weird.

"What is going on here?" asked Upgrade, stepping in the living room.

"The Jon brought us a friend." explained plainly Dhà while Trì climbed down the couch to go check on the boy.

"And that's how you treat your friend, mister Peter Two?"

Ouch, Upgrade could be as silly as Rabbit, but also as serious as The Spine. And right now she wasn't laughing.

But before anyone could say anything else,the boy jumped on his feet and lunged at Upgrade to grab her hand and looked up at her with big curious green eyes.

"Hello!" softened Upgrade. "What's your name?"

The boy still didn't answer, too busy by studying Upgrade's hand likeshe was a miracle.

"Upgrade! You met Iggy the birdie!" pipped up The Jon, walking in the room with a tray of snacks.

"Iggy the birdie? Is he one of our fans?"

"Nope! Or I never saw him at our shows. But I found him at the park hurt and alone."

Upgrade nodded at that, like it was making perfect sense. And Dhà considered fetching his father in the lab even if it was a long walk for his tiny legs and he would probably be reprimanded for interrupting his work. But Trì took Iggy's hand gently, oh so gently like only him knew how to be gentle, and smiled at him.

"Nice to meet you, Iggy. I like bots too!"

Iggy blinked like he always done the last few times someone talked to him.But then he nodded, once, in some sort of agreement. Then, he grabbed a bun from the snack tray and eat it in two seconds flat.

This made everyone laughed. Except Dhà who didn't like to see HIS twin being all nice and friendly with some sort of... of...of racoon!

Trì liked Iggy.

It was the first time Trì made a new friend outside of the manor, and it was strange. Or maybe Iggy was strange. But none the less, Trì liked Iggy.

Sure, he didn't talked much, and growled when someone was too close of the food he had claimed as his, and was a bit scary when he was staring right at you.

But Iggy was nice! He wasn't scared by the bots like the other kids, which Trì knew it hurt the bots' feelings. He didn't mind Dhà's temper and grumpiness. He didn't mind the strange things happening in the manor because of the blue matter (he didn't even flinched when he was buried under a mountain of sandwhichs, courtesy of Hatchworth).

And Iggy didn't mind Trì being clingy.

Everyone told Trì that he was too clingy. Always holding, always hugging, always seeking...

Not Iggy. Iggy let him hold his time the whole time while they ate snack. Iggy let him hide with him during the game of hide and seek. Iggy let him cuddle in the elevator, holding their breaths every time a bot walked near their hiding place.

"Say Iggy... do you like music?"

Iggy nodded once.

"I like music too! Do you play an instrument?"

Iggy hesitated but noddded once again.

"Not me. I am not very good at it even if all the bots tried to teach me. Peter is better, he is pretty good with a guitar and he started to write his own songs! Well... they are a bit silly but I like them. You would like them too."

"What'cha doin'?"

The boys were startled by the sudden opening of the elevator's doors, revealing Rabbit grinning mischiviously.

Colonel Peter Alexander Walter, the first since a few years now, was a tired man. But he was never tired enough to stop working. Especially when The Spine and Rabbit needed respectively a maitenance and emergency repairs.

It took him all morning and most of the afternoon, but he was done! His darling Iris didn't even have to drag him out of the lab for dinner. Which was a win in his book, because it meant he could spend some time with his sons and the bots.

And he probably should do that quickly because he could hear a storm outside - where was The Jon? - and the twin bots arguing near the elevator.

"No Rabbit, we shouldn't hide with them. No one knows we are playing."

"But it would be funny! Come on! For once the twins have a friend!"

A friend? What friend?

Peter walked to where the bots were standing and was greeted by his son,most likely Trì, sitting in the elevator while holding the hand of another boy of his age. A boy who... wait.

Wait.

Wait wait wait.

Waitwaitwaitwaitwait!

"Boys. Who is this?!" half-shouted Peter without wanting to.

Everyone looked at him, falling silent. The boy lazily blinked at him like his outburst was normal.

Iris Tonia had participated to those "family urgence meetings" in the past. In fact, she was the one who created them and asked for them most of the time. But she never participated to one this chaotic.

She had to think about the facts first. First fact: she had pushed the twins to try make friends outside the manor for months now. Second fact: The Jon had found a "little birdie" in the park and decided to bring himto the manor. Third fact: the bird was in fact a very silent human boy. Fourth fact: Trì was awfully fond of the boy, staying glued to him. Fifth fact: the boy's name was Iggy, short for-...

"Ignatius Becile!" half-cried Peter, looking like he would have a panic attack any minute now. "You kidnapped Thadeus' son?!"

The Jon looked down, having the decency to look ashamed. Which wasn't the case of the rest of the bots. Upgrade was playing with Iggy's slight curly hair, Hatchworth was giving the boys so much food that Iris was sure that one of them will be sick at the end of the night, Rabbit was vibrating with excitement, and The Spine was trying very hard to not look too curious.

But Iris wasn't concern about any of them, her priority was calming down her husband and making sure her eldest sweetheart of son, who was sitting on her lap, doesn't strangle the little Becile for the crime of stealing his twin.

"Peter, dear, breath."

"I can't! This is... this is terrible! What if HE comes here?! What if he decides to take-..."

Peter choked on his words, shaking so badly that The Spine grabbed a chair for him to sit on.

"Love, if he wanted to come, he would be already there. We never saw him with his son either. Most likely, his nanny will come here or we will have to walk him back home. It will be alright."

"Oh Ma'!" interrupted Rabbit. "Can't we keep him? Petesy really like this bird!"

"Rabbit, Ignatius is not a bird and he has a family." And he shouldn't make friend with Walters because your father and his are ennemies. she wanted to add, but it was such a sad thing to say in front of the children that she held her tongue.

Rabbit was ready to protest when three short knocks on the front door made everyone froze, a thunder clap punctuating their shock.

"Who would venture outside under such an heavy rain?" asked Hatchworth, looking with confusion outside where everything was dark and rainy.

"Maybe it's just a walter worker..." tried The Spine.

But Ignatius had immediatly perked up at the knocks, there was no doubt that it was someone he knew. Someone who had tracked him down. Someone who probably wasn't happy.

A glance at Peter informed Iris that she had to go open the door herself. The poor man was white as a sheet. So, she stood up, put Dhà in his father's lap, and walked to the door before anyone could stop her.

"Evening." greeted a very tall man dressed in a black raincoat.

Wait, no... it wasn't a man. It was a bot. A very tall and large bot without a faceplat. His face was lighten by the furnace in his throat. And he was drenched by the rain, but didn't seem to care. Another thunderbolt lit him from behind, breaking the moment of stupor.

"Good evening, mister. I assume you are here for Ignatius."

The bot raised an eyebrow at her but only nodded once. Uh. Now Iris knew who Iggy's nanny was.

She stepped aside to let him come in. He didn't get far, only stepping inside to be out of the rain, staying on the doormat. He looked around for a second while everyone stared at him like he was a ghost, until his optics stopped on Ignatius.

"It's late." said the bot with a neutral tone.

Iggy didn't move, simply staring. The bot sighed, grumbling something about "Jack telling him silly stories".

"Iggy, it's time to go home. The dinner is ready, everyone is waiting for you." finally said the bot with a tone which sounded like an attempt at cheerfullness but failed miserably.

But it seemed enough for Ignatius who jumped off the couch, letting go of Trì's hand and ran to the bot, who immediatly caught him in his arms to carry him.

"What were you doing here anyway?"

Ignatius took a deep breath.

"I wanted to find some bird feathers for Jack because he said he would make me a hat with pretty feathers like the one I saw at your last concert but I slipped on a rock and fell and my knee was bleeding but I didn't cry but The Jon found me and patched me up then he proposed snacks if I was friend with Trì and Dhà so we played hide and seek and it was really fun and the robots are very interesting and smart and nice and they gave me sandwhichs and chocolate that I never ate before and I want more but when we were hidden in the elevator with Trì who is very warm and then Trì's father found us and freaked out and was scared you were coming! And I found a piece of coal for you, Bone Head."

"Don't call me Bone Head, it's The Skull."

Despite his objection, The Skull had soften while listening Iggy and had taken the tiny piece of coal with reverence.

"But it's time to go home, now. Jack was worried about you and Hare will start to scratch the walls if he stresses more. You really need to stop disappearing on us like that. You are lucky I can track down your signal."

Iggy giggled, clapping his hands on his mouth and kicking his little legs with excitement. The Skull sighed and patted his head affectionnately. Then, he turned his heels, ready to leave. But Iris caught his sleeve.

"Wait! You need..."

She grabbed and handed him an umbrella big enough to cover the bot and the child in his arms. The Skull hesitated for a second, then took it with his free hand with great care, like scared to damage it or of Iris to change her mind. He thanked her with a nod, opened the umbrella and left, the thunder still rumbling in the sky.

A moment passed, then hell broke loose. Everyone starting to talk at the same time about what happened and what they think about it. But over the chaos, Iris could distinctively hear Dhà on his father's - who was still stunned - lap complaining: