--accessing...

And right then, Orion wanted his take on the situation.

"Do they do this often, brother? Herd us in and shut us down?"

His hand rested on Leo’s arm, moving a step closer. All of their brethren had perfect audio sensors, of course. But Orion was still gathering information. Comparing it to experience. Formulating his opinions. He wanted to know without the rest of the group hearing.

"Why?" It was the one question burning in him, over and over again. "What did it gain them?"

They had died for all intents and purposes. And then switched back alive as if it didn’t matter. As if they were tools.

Leo was upset, but he promised himself at that moment he wouldn't let his anger deter his opinions of the humans that he'd grown to love.

"Often? No, Orion, I've never had it happen to me before. The only time I've ever been shut down is for updates, but then I had warning and reason to be shut down...this time I'm not really sure..."

He thought about it harder. Why did he think the humans shut them down? What would it gain them to shove them out of the way like toys in a toybox? When the humans were ready to play with them again, they'd be dragged back out. He sighed. The Agents didn't have anything to do with this...they couldn't.

"Orion, before you make any rash assumptions I'd like to say that I don't think our Agents had any say in whether or not we were shut down and stowed away." Though he was still a little rocky with Dover, he'd like to think his Agent cared enough about him to not let him be man-handled.

"The Director is the one who made the decision to do this to us."

Yes, that was perfect. Leo had to shove his feelings of betrayal off on something else other than the humans as a whole.

He wasn’t really the person to wear any kind of jewelry. Aside from his dogtags, Dover’s repertoire of accessories was somewhere near nil. And yet, he liked it. Maybe an expansion of his collection (dare he call it that) wouldn’t be too bad of an idea. After all, if he was going to try and get on good terms with Leo, he had to prove that the gesture meant something. And it did. There wasn’t much effort required in showing Leo how much it meant.

In Dover’s life, gifts had been few and far between. Even birthdays were sparse. But he didn’t waste his energy thinking too much about it.

Then Leo was talking about Deactivation, and Dover became incredibly uncomfortable. Deactivation? Was that even a possibility? Dover didn’t— couldn’t— imagine it becoming a reality. Leo was just entirely too much to him. God, come to think of it, Dover would fight tooth and nail to keep him. How long had he felt that way? Leo was, if anything, a good comrade. He was a fighter and a friend, and there was no way in hell that he would be Deactivated.

"Yeah, it’s-" He turned his wrist over, not quite sure what to say. "It’s thoughtful, Leo. And kind of cool."

Kind of cool? Dover would have shaken his head, had he not been in Leo’s presence.

"The thought is, uh… it’s appreciated."

Kind of cool. Interesting phrase.

Leo contemplated on what the phrase meant coming from Dover. He'd heard the phrase used many times before, all in different contexts. Did Dover mean that it was only a little bit cool? Did he mean that it was cool in general? Was he being sarcastic? There was a small twitch in between his brows that made it look like they were furrowed, but it faded as soon as Dover added that the thought was appreciated.

The A.I. beamed at his Agent. Straight teeth revealed by a charming smile, bright blue eyes to match the expression. Approval wasn't something that Leo yearned to hear from many, since his confidence was still programmed the way it was the day he was activated, but ever since he had started to realize what feelings were, approval from Dover was something that he seeked.

"I'm really happy to hear that you like it, Dover! I recognized my constellation immediately and had to buy it. I've never seen anything like it... I hoped to find something that represented your name, but I was without luck." He frowned for a moment, but it didn't last long. "All that matters is that you like your gift."

Reaching forward without really weighing the consequences, Leo grabbed Dover by the wrist and pulled his arm up (gently, unlike what he'd learned from Orion!) and examined the piece of jewelry on his companion's wrist. It looked better than he could have imagined. "It matches you perfectly, Agent. It looks badass, if I do say so myself." He laughed softly. Being around his Agent was something he'd truly missed.

"Glad to see you didn't get sick, either...It may be an opportune time to start training again."

"Well, I am aboard and getting settled in. And I’ve met some of these A.I., they’re actually quite fascinating. Nickname, huh? Mind if I call you Leon then? If not I can work with Leonard."

"I am happy to hear that you are fascinated by the rest of the A.I. I don't really consider myself a part of the majority, as I surpass the rest of them by a longshot, though there are a few that I would consider as being 'decent' and 'having potential'. Some of them, however, you should watch your back around."

The nickname made a genuine chuckle fall from his lips. Leon? That was something he hadn't heard before. Oh, how Leo loved nicknames, though. They made him feel so...human.

Can I see the picture that you took?  I'm interested to see how damn good looking I am.  

There had been the struggle. The pain. The fight.

And then…simply nothing.

When humans slept, when they were unconscious, their brains still worked. They dreamed. They existed beyond the scope of their bodies, beyond simple things like consciousness.

Not so the mechanoids. Time passed. The universe continued on. But they did not. When their power had been switched off, all of them had simply ceased to be.

And then they came back to life.

Eyes flying wide open, Orion awoke in his Restoration Pod. Around him, his brothers and sisters were doing the same, their existences restarting. His internal clock told him that it had been days. Days where he simply had not been. Where he had been, in all intents and purposes, dead.

They had killed all of the mechanoids. Why?

Because it was convenient.

Swallowing back his own rage, Orion began to move around, from pod to pod, checking all of his brethren.

Shut down for the first time since his activation for purposes other than upgrades.

Shut down for no reason whatsoever.

It was frightening.

He, like some of the others, protested against the shut down. Why couldn't they just go about their business on the ship? Why couldn't Leo watch a movie while he waited for Dover to return? He wouldn't bother anything or anyone...

The A.I. were being shut off without prior consent. Leo wanted to live and wanted to be real. The fact that he could so easily be shut down whenever a human so pleased was a harsh reminder that he was nothing but a machine with artificial skin covering him, no matter how much he evolved and learned.

His blue eyes finally opened after a long phase of darkness, and he was staring at the restoration room. The rest of the Artificial Intelligence surrounded him, facing a similar fate...and there was Orion, fiesty as ever, and probably not happy about the fact that he'd been shut down.

Stepping out of his pod, Leo stretched his arms over his head, lifted each foot off the ground to ensure he was still in working order, and did a few hops. He felt out of practice. Rusty.

I-I-I wish-wish to begin vi—-visually re-record-recording ever-ever-everything. 

Agent, I left something outside your bedroom door.

Oh. Leo and him hadn’t spoken in a while. And, in some sick and twisted sense, Dover had been okay with it. He had been trying hard to distance himself from Leo— the A.I. meant entirely too much to him. Hurting his feelings, although not a pleasurable experience for either of them, was a necessary thing if Dover wanted to make sure that nothing bad came of it. Alas, they were paired up, and communication was something that had to happen between them if Dover wanted to remain on the leaderboard, much less advance his position.

He considered ignoring Leo. He really did. But curiosity got the best of him, and with a final and decisive bite of grilled cheese, Dover replied, allowing himself to enjoy the technologically-enabled telepathy. Technopathy? What a ridiculous term!

But Dover faced a larger issue: he had no idea how to respond to Leo. Any cordiality would ultimately nullify the effort he had put into distancing himself from Leo whilst in Meridian, but ignoring Leo’s message would harm their relationship to the point that it would likely affect their battlefield performance. So he put down the grilled cheese, glancing up and down the hall to make sure no one was coming (he took his grilled cheese fucking serious— no one would live to see the next day if they stole his grilled cheese) before strolling back to his room.

It was a bag. Dover’s first thought was, He got me a bag? And his second thought was, The present is what’s in the bag, dumbass. He picked it up, holding it with an unusual delicacy. Leo had thought to get Dover something, and he had jack shit to offer in return. Leo was being sentimental towards the person who had not only said he didn’t care, but that he had to be drunk to even begin caring. Was that guilt tugging at Dover’s gut? He didn’t take the time to find out, reaching into the bag and pulling out—

A bracelet? It was leather, thick and sturdy, but with markings etched into it. A constellation. A horse? Leo gave him a horse bracelet? A horse constellation? Dover stared blankly at it, before finally it clicked. It was Leo. The constellation. Leo had given Dover the stars. Will, not literally the stars, of course. But a depiction of the stars. On a bracelet. Which he was intended to wear. Right. Dover contemplated wearing it for a few moments, weighing the choice in his mind. He liked Leo, he did, but he didn’t like liking him. It was insane, but as were most things.

So Dover put the bracelet on, clasping it and turning his arm, looking at it from various angles. He liked it. Shit. He liked it.

I didn't think you had a sentimental bone in that body of yours, Leo.

A smile cracked upon his features. He opened his eyes, stared at the ceiling, and laughed softly. What was this feeling? Happiness? The note that they'd left their relationship off on had been a rough one, but he was sure that this would help patch things up, if not only a little. He may have been an Artificial Intelligence, but he knew what friendship was.

Another moral he'd picked up from Forrest Gump.

Without further ado, Leo stood up from "his" couch and made his way out of the recreation room. He started off down the hallway towards Dover's room, determined to see his friend in person for the first time since their shore leave. Coming up from behind Dover, Leo placed his hand on his shoulder. He'd done this numerous times before and it'd always been a mistake. Maybe this time it'd be taken the way he wanted it to be. The A.I. left a smile across his features, eyes softer than usual as he looked down at Dover's wrist.

He was wearing the bracelet.

"While I don't exactly have bones, Dover, I will admit that I have picked up on sentimental values by watching other humans since our time on Meridian. It was a great learning experience for me, actually." He laughed softly and waited for Dover to turn around to look him in the eye. Part of him was afraid of rejection, but the excitement of Dover actually wearing the bracelet and understanding the reference (hopefully) had overtaken this fear for the time being.

"I thought it would remind you that I'm always with you even when we're not on the best terms. With all of the losses lately, I deemed it necessary to let you know I will protect you until the day I am destroyed or deactivated."