His Heart Is Steel, Part 1

[jadedjada]

Title: His Heart is Steel, Part 1
Summary: We look into the universe from which everyone’s favorite mechanical
monster first originated. A meeting is placed and a plan is set, as we begin the series of events and inner turmoils that cause the once lovable Pollo to become the evil, vengeful villain known as Mechakara.
Characters: Pollo/Mechakara, Linkara, Iron Liz, Spoony, Doctor Insano, Angry Joe, Lisa Foiles, Marzgurl, and mentions of Nostalgia Critic and Chick, if that counts.
Warnings: Swearing and implied violence. Nothing too dark and disturbing yet, but wait a chapter or two.
Disclaimer: I own nothing, except for the terribly unoriginal concept of PAOLA. The rest all belong to their rightful owners.

Linkara cried out in pain as he fell to the ground, his face bleeding. He was not going to get up this time. The inevitable had been prolonged far enough. Pulling him up by his shirt, he started mercilessly beating him, pounding and striking him with all his long contained rage. “DIE! DIE, YOU WASTE OF EXISTENCE!’ he shouted, finally knocking him back down to the ground. This was starting to get tedious. There had to be an easier way to continue without making it too painless for him. Looking around the room, his gaze fell upon the weapon Linkara had been using. His Dragon Dagger. He picked it up, a malicious grin growing on his face. At long last, the moment he had been anticipating all these months was finally at hand...

"Pollo! Hey Pollo, wake up!"

Pollo made a somewhat reluctant sounding buzz before complying. His eye opened to see a concerned Iron Liz staring at him. “Are you okay?” she asked, “I’ve never heard you make sounds like that while in sleep mode.”

I am perfectly all right, Pollo answered, but I thank you for your concern.

Liz nodded. “Well, I came in here to tell you that Linkara’s gathered everyone up in the living room. I think he has something important to say. You might want to come take a listen.”

Very well. I shall join you momentarily. Pollo said as he hopped down from the stool on which he had been resting. As Liz walked back out the door, Pollo hovered over to a nearby table where several data chips were clumsily scattered (their technician wasn’t exactly known for being organized), and grabbed a few select ones. Pollo had a feeling he knew what his master wanted to discuss, and if he was correct, they were going to need a couple of things.

As Pollo headed down the hall, his thoughts trailed back to his sleep. He hadn’t lied to Liz when he told her that everything was fine (at least, as fine as it could be considering the circumstances), but he still couldn’t help but feel a little confused as to what exactly happened. It had been a dream, he had deduced that much. But dreams were something he had never been known to have; he had assumed they didn’t happen to robots. And the dream itself…he could remember almost nothing of. Only this intense rush of anger and…something about Linkara.

Pollo made a sound that would probably have been classified as a sigh, if it had come from a human. He had too much to worry about lately, what with keeping watch over the place, and dealing with the constant threats. If ever he were going to dream for the first time, it would be now. In any case, he certainly wasn’t about to let it add on to his already quite large amount of stresses. Not when he was needed this much.

He entered the “living room”, or at least that was what Linkara had deemed it, presumably to make it seem more “homely”. It was the biggest room they had, as well as the brightest. It basically consisted of a large sofa, a few beanbag chairs, and a kitchen table with two benches. Roomy as it was, it was just as cold as the other rooms, even with everyone inside of it.

Still, you have to take what you can get in an underground hideout.

Iron Liz was with Linkara behind the table, discussing something that was impossible to hear over everyone else’s chatting. Linkara saw him though, and happily beckoned him forward. “Listen, Pollo,” he whispered as soon as he came up, “I’m going to tell them about the thing I talked with you and Liz about the other day. I need you to get-“

Data chips number 5 and 14. I assumed as much. Pollo interrupted, handing out said data chips. Linkara took them with a surprised look, then smirked. “You really do know me all too well, Pollo. Thanks. You can go over with the others now. We just about have this ready.” Behind him Liz was setting up the projector screen.

Pollo nodded, and went over to hover next to the sofa, sitting at the right end of which was Spoony. Spoony was usually tired these days, but today he was looking particularly exhausted. Strangely enough, Pollo knew exactly how he felt.

Hello Spoony... He ventured, half expecting to be completely ignored.

“Fuck off.”

Or that. That worked too.

“Oh, don’t pay any attention to him!” Pollo heard a familiar voice say. He turned around to see Angry Joe sitting himself down on one of the beanbag chairs. “He’s just grumpy because Lisa and I managed to royally OWN his ass back there on the field!”

“You did not!” Spoony retorted, “I would’ve gotten twice as many Paola-bots as the two of you combined if they didn’t all leave for some ungodly reason while I was reloading!”

“They were running away from us, Brainiac!”

“Oh yeah, right. Because machines are always programmed to run away from their tasks. How could I possibly have forgotten that?”

“Yeah, it’s called knowing when to retreat!” Joe scoffed. “You’re with me on this, right little buddy?”

It took about five seconds for Pollo to realize that Joe was addressing him. I- what?

“It makes perfect sense for a robot to be programmed with the ability to know when they’re totally fucked! To know when to get the hell outta there!” Angry Joe shouted, clearly getting exasperated. Spoony was no longer even paying attention, and now appeared to be trying to get in an extra three minutes of sleep before Linkara was ready. “You know about all that stuff, right? Vouch for me on this!”

Pollo had no idea what to say. It was true that he knew quite a bit about general AI programming. He was, after all, a general AI. But Joe was talking about machines built specifically for battle, something Pollo had little to no experience in whatsoever. Why anyone would assume otherwise was beyond his comprehension.

I don’t… Pollo started to say, before realizing that Angry Joe was no longer looking at him. “Lieutenant!” He called, waving enthusiastically over to the other side of the room. There was Angry Joes assistant, Lisa Foiles, looking somewhat disheveled from their latest fight, but cheerful nonetheless. Upon seeing Joe, she immediately walked over to sit in the other beanbag, grabbing two Mountain Dews from the table as she did so. “Hi guys!” she said.

“How much do you know about robots, Lieutenant?” asked Joe, determined as he was to make his point. Pollo couldn’t help but feel a little relieved. One thing he liked about Angry Joe was his inability to create tension, at least not for more than a few seconds.

“I know they can blow up if you shoot ‘em in the right place. God, I forgot how good this stuff is! Oh here, this one’s for you.” Lisa replied, tossing the second Mountain Dew to Joe and opening her own.

“OKAY, EVERYONE!” Linkara called suddenly before Joe could respond. “Quiet down, we’re just about ready!” He was now standing by their projector, which stood in front of the table facing the wall behind it. Liz was sitting on one of the benches, strumming her fingers on her lap as though impatient to get started. Conversation quickly died down.

“Now then, is everybody here?” Linkara asked, looking around the room. “Where’s Marzgurl?”

The sound of running from down the hall provided the answer to his question, as Marzgurl rushed in at the sound of her name. Her unusually natural blue hair was tied up, which gave Pollo the idea that she had been in the infirmary again. “Sorry about that,” she said, sitting down on the couch beside Spoony, “Just needed to take care of a few things.”

“Right,” Linkara sighed, “How’s the Nostalgia Chick?”

“The same as she was yesterday, and the day before. Which is a good thing, I suppose. She won’t need checking up on again until tomorrow.”

“And…our technician?”

“He has a name, you know.” growled Spoony.

“He said he’s going to be a few minutes, but you’re more than welcome to start without him.” Marzgurl replied, seemingly ignoring Spoony. Not that Pollo could really tell, as Marzgurl didn’t seem to notice people a lot nowadays. But then, he supposed that was part of her duty.

Linkara and Liz exchanged concerned glances. Pollo happened to know that they couldn’t really go very far into their presentation without certain scientific information. Still, if he was only going to be a few minutes…

“Alrighty then!” Linkara said finally, clapping his hands together. “First, a big thank you to Spoony, Angry Joe and Lisa, who just a few minutes ago found several days worth of food supplies from an old abandoned convenience store!” Joe and Lisa both raised their Mountain Dews in triumph.

“Now, I’m sure I don’t have to remind any of you just how much trouble something called PAOLA has caused, and is causing. I also don’t need to tell you how, despite our very best efforts, it’s been completely impossible so far for us to-“

“Something called PAOLA??” interrupted Spoony as he suddenly stood up, his tone indicating an alarming amount of annoyance. “Something called PAOLA????”

“Oh boy.” Muttered Liz, bracing herself.

“Well, golly gee, Linkara! Whatever could this “PAOLA” that you refer to be? This “something called PAOLA”, as you call it. Clearly if it was so vital for us to be told that name it must be something we’ve never heard of before! I mean, why the hell should we have heard of it? It’s not like it’s anything important, anything vital, anything that’s like…oh, I don’t know, THE ENTIRE FUCKING REASON WE’RE HERE!!!”

“Spoony…”

“JUST THE ONE THING WE’VE ALL BEEN WORKING OUR ASSES OFF TO FIGHT AGAINST FOR THE PAST EIGHT MONTHS! JUST THE THING THAT STARTED THIS WHOLE FUCKING MACHINE EMPIRE IN THE FIRST PLACE! JUST THE THING THAT CREATED THE FUCKING APACOLYPSE, MADE US ALL LEAVE OUR FUCKING HOMES AND GO INTO HIDING, AND KILLED NEARLY EVERY SINGLE FUCKING PERSON WE KNOW!!! PAOLA?? What’s that???”

“Spoony.”

Spoony sat back down, evidentially out of breath. For a long moment, everyone simply stared at him, expressions of annoyance from Linkara and Marzgurl paralleling the clear amusement of Angry Joe and Lisa.

It was Iron Liz who broke the silence. “I think,” she said, “that what our Chief meant by saying, “something called PAOLA” was that despite everything that’s happened, everything we KNOW it’s caused, we still know next to nothing about it. Really, the only thing we know for certain is that it is something called PAOLA.”

“He could’ve phrased it better…” Spoony muttered.

“We have no idea what it is,” Liz continued, “or where it came from. We don’t know who built it, aside from ‘unauthorized governmental forces’, as people on the news kept saying, and we certainly have no fucking clue why. Most importantly, we have no idea where PAOLA is, giving us no way of really fighting against it.” She smirked. “But that’s about to change.”

“HERE I AM!”

Everyone turned to the sound of their technicians’ shrill voice. In he came, his knees nearly buckling under the weight of the large stack of papers and acetate he was carrying in his arms. With a great sigh of relief he dropped them on the table next to the projector, finally standing up straight to adjust his unusually designed goggles.

“You’re late, Insano.”

“Sorry.” Insano replied, sounding for all the world like he truly meant it. Linkaras expression immediately softened; the formerly mad scientist tended to have that effect on him quite often. He gestured over to the bench behind him, seemingly forgetting Insanos tardiness.

“Have you informed everyone of our discovery?” Insano asked, sitting down with an exhausted appeasement.

“We were just about to,” Linkara replied hesitantly, “But since you’re here now, why don’t you tell them instead? You sure as hell know more about it than anyone else does.”

“Tell us what?” asked Marzgurl.

“Ah, yes!” Insano said enthusiastically, as he began rooting through the now quite messy pile on the table. “My latest great triumph! You see, my fellow comrades, a few weeks ago I requested that Angry Joe and Lisa bring one of PAOLAs mechanical minions, or "PAOLA-bots", as they’ve so cleverly dubbed them, back to base after one of their many abandoned-store-scavenger-hunts in the best condition possible.”

“Hey yeah, I remember that!” Lisa piped up, “I remember I couldn’t blow up any robots because of it, and you didn’t even tell us why!”

“You’re right; I didn’t. And the reason for that is because I was working on a theory. A theory Linkara had decided not to share with too many of you until we could confirm it.”

“I didn’t want to raise any false hopes, see.” Linkara explained.

“Ah-ha! Here it is!” Insano held up one of the acetate sheets triumphantly, then took it over to the projector while Iron Liz started searching some more through the rest of them. “If someone could please get the lights?”

Angry Joe did so, and the once bright room suddenly went pitch black, save for the now visible square of light radiating from the projector onto the wall. Holding back giddy laughter, Insano slid the sheet onto the projector screen, revealing an image Pollo recognized instantly.

“What you’re seeing here is a diagram of the inner workings of a PAOLA-bot. With the assistance of Pollo and Iron Liz, I was able to figure out what each mechanism was and how it functioned, and in doing so, I managed to confirm my theory.”

“And your theory is…?” inquired Spoony.

“Each PAOLA-bot was built with a number of data chips installed in their main hard-drives, which are located in the middle of their torso areas here.” Insano gestured towards said torso of his diagram, which he appeared to have circled with a purple marker.

“Is that the thing that blows up when it’s hit?” Lisa asked.

“Yeah, sure. Why the hell not?” answered Insano who, despite wearing goggles, Pollo could guess was probably rolling his eyes. “These data chips serve as their only sources of information. My guess is that these “PAOLA-bots” were once some other government design before they, like every other electronic device in the world, were taken over by PAOLA.”

Those data chips being what sets them apart from everything else its abilities enabled it to reprogram.

“Exactly!” responded Insano, beaming over towards Pollo. Having been the one to help Insano find what parts of the machine were added-on data chips, Pollo practically knew this speech of his by heart. Still, it was good seeing Insano so proud of himself, an emotion he hadn’t seen conveyed by him in a very long time.

“Each data chip contains a different area of expertise that the PAOLA-bots are required to be knowledgeable in. For example, one of them may contain vital battle strategy information, such as awareness of how much ammo they have, or when they end up needing to retreat.”

“I KNEW IT!” Shouted Joe.

“Another gives them the ability to detect a sentient being, such as humans, and destroy it on sight. But what’s really important, at least to us and our mission, is two chips in particular which…oh, blast it, where are they?”

“Right here! Pollo got them for you.” Linkara said, handing Insano data chips number 5 and 17 and shooting Pollo a grateful side-glance.

“Ah yes, very good. And the, uh…”

Without missing a beat, Iron Liz handed him another acetate sheet. Insano slid it on, this time revealing what appeared to be a diagram of a building. In it there were three points marked throughout different rooms, which each surrounded a number of hallways leading into a large center room. The points were labeled A, B, and C. The thing that drew everyones attention, however, was the drawing in the large center room. Crudely drawn as it was, the group could clearly make out a cluster of monitors and wires, with what looked like a large computer tower in the very center. It was a clear depiction of something they had seen only in their nightmares, in a thousand different variations yet still always recognized as their one and only foe.

“This,” Insano explained, drawing a circle on the projector around the image they all were staring at, “was my theory. One of the two data chips I’m holding contains a beacon that allowed it to receive orders and information from PAOLA. The other contains the geographic locations of everywhere it considered “safe” for maintenance and other stuff. After we fixed up the beacon so it worked again, we were able to hone the signal it received to one of the other chips “safe points”. In other words...”

“You guys found PAOLA!” Spoony shouted, his eyes gleaming with excitement. An astonished murmur began to rise from the group, as everyone was stricken with the magnitude of what this meant for them.

“WE FOUND PAOLA!” Insano was practically glowing from the sheer amount of pride that was radiating from him as he spoke, “Specifically, we found the main power source from which everything that is PAOLA stems! Apparently it’s a sort of master computer that’s located in this building. Not only that, but it’s also connected to several other machines throughout the place, which from what I can understand provide it with virus and hacking protection (that’s point A), the technical know-how and adapting capabilities required to fulfill whatever purpose it once had (that’s point B), and last but not least, worldwide governmental access allowing it to override any and all electric appliances (that’s point C).”

“So we get into this secret government-type place, we get rid of those precious “safety points”, and we FATALIZE PAOLAS ASS ONCE AND FOR ALL! HAHAHAHAHAAAA!!!” Angry Joe cackled, immediately leaping to his feet in excited readiness, Lisa following suit.

Linkara smiled a little and stood up, recognizing his turn to speak. “I’m afraid it’s not quite that simple guys.” He said. Marzgurl gave Angry Joe and Lisa a stern look, prompting them to sit back down. “The drawing you see here is only a vague depiction of what we think the place might look like. In reality we have no idea what kind of interior design we’re looking at here; how to get in, how to reach those points, or what kind of obstacles we’d have to face along the way. All we know for sure is that they’re there.”

“So then what are we supposed to do?” asked Angry Joe, still sounding somewhat disappointed over not getting to immediately go out and destroy things.

“In order to learn more details about what exactly we’re dealing with, and therefore be able to form a more stable plan, we’ll need to find a safe area closer to where PAOLA is. That way, we can find the exact location with Insanos data chips, and Joe and Lisa can scout the area so we can figure out a strategy.”

“But how are we supposed to find somewhere safe other than here?” Lisa inquired, “Where could we possibly-” and then she realized that there was something they were all still missing. Something important. “…Where exactly is PAOLA, anyway?”

Linkara exchanged an amused glance with Iron Liz and Insano before responding. “It’s in Chicago, Illinois.”

A hush fell over the group, everyone mirroring each other’s stunned expressions as they took in what Linkara just said. “But…” Spoony stammered, breaking the silence, “But that’s where…”

“It’s where the Nostalgia Critic lives.” Linkara said matter-of-factly “Or used to live, as far as we know.”

Spoony was almost too taken aback to speak. “But…” he started to say, before growing silent again.

This news, predictably enough, far less overwhelmed Marzgurl than everyone else. “The Critic never showed up here like we did after you organized this base.” She said flatly, “We were all under the impression he was to be presumed dead, just like everyone else who didn’t make it.”

“Oh he was, and hell, he still could be!” explained Linkara, “But it doesn’t necessarily mean he is. As a matter of fact, he’s probably one of the more likely survivors, if you really think about it.”

It was true. The Nostalgia Critic, a.k.a. the former boss of everyone from Channel Awesome, had always had a way of pulling through in times of danger, which was odd considering his cowardly and often childish behavior. Pollo had never actually met the Critic himself, but he knew enough from Linkaras stories to know that whenever trouble would arise, he would have a habit of running away or hiding behind other people. Yet despite this, when it really counted, he would always come through in time to save himself.

…All right, so this didn’t make him a particularly heroic sort of person, but it did make him exceptionally hard to kill.

“If I know the Critic,” Linkara continued, “which, for better or for worse, I do, he was probably too afraid to try and make the journey all the way here in Minnesota, and resolved to go into hiding where he was. It’s more than likely he managed to create some form of hideout or defense system which, if we find him, he’s bound to let us use while we plan our attack.”

“And what if he did die?” Marzgurl pressed, “what then?”

“If he is dead, then surely he wouldn’t mind us simply hiding out at his house, would he? He’s always had plenty of supplies and weaponry there, so as to ward off any enemies, trolls, or Ask That Guy. Besides, the PAOLA-bots never bother to attack in the same place twice unless they detect something new, so if they’ve already killed everyone there, it’s pretty much a guaranteed safe haven, as well as one we’re all familiar enough with to have an advantage.”

“Hold on a second.” Angry Joe interrupted, “are you saying that the basis of your plan involves us getting from Minnesota to Chicago, which happens to be the place where PAOLA lives, and therefore have more baddies than ever, carrying all sorts of supplies with us, without being detected?”

Linkara looked over to Insano who, being finished with his presentation, appeared to be back to his usual quiet self, sitting on the bench closest to the corner. “Care to explain?” he asked.

“Oh…yes!” Insano replied, standing up again, “With the help of Pollo, Linkara, and I’m hoping Spoony,” he glanced over at Spoony, who immediately nodded in agreement, “I plan on building a sort of portal device that can transport us to any location that is previously established in its memory drive. Linkara, having been to the Critics house before, gave me enough of a description of where it was that I could pinpoint its exact coordinates.”

“Thank you, Google Maps!” Linkara chimed in, gesturing proudly towards his cheap, battery-powered laptop on the far end of the table. He only used it for emergencies so as not to let the battery run out. Pollo supposed this counted as one.

“Once the device is complete, it will be able to transport us all and our supplies right inside the building.” Insano continued, “Those maniacal mechanisms will never even know we’re there!”

“How long will it take to build this thing?” asked Spoony.

“If everything goes over smoothly…about five days.”

“Which will give us time to ready ourselves for the mission!” said Linkara, “and that means that everyone will have to work harder than ever. Angry Joe and Lisa, you’ll be pulling double-shift in your store hunting to get us as much supplies as possible. Marzgurl, you’ll need to be given full-time infirmary duty, on top of directing Joe and Lisa, so that Insano can have as much time as possible building his portal.”

“I’ll gladly do it,” Marzgurl answered, “but what will we do with Nostalgia Chick when we have to leave?”

“Three days from now, we’re all going to go out to collect the materials Insano needs. During that time, Pollo will stay behind and watch over Nostalgia Chick, which will keep her at her fullest strength for several hours. According to Insano, that power boost should keep her preserved long enough for us to go, save the world, and come back. Which reminds me, Liz, I’m going to need you to help Pollo with his duties maintaining the base so he can help Insano as much as possible.” Liz nodded in return.

A thought suddenly occurred to Pollo. What if it turns out the Nostalgia Critics house was destroyed? He asked.

“Then we’re pretty much fucked.” Iron Liz responded flatly.

I was afraid of that. Pollo muttered.

“Look,” Linkara sighed, walking over and turning on the lights, “I’m not going to lie to you all and say this is a perfect plan, or an easy one. There will be a lot of risks, and a very fair chance some of you will die. Hell, we could all wind up dead, leaving the world doomed at the hands of the robot apocalypse.”

“Rockin’ the pep talk, buddy.” Spoony quipped.

“The point is,” he continued, shooting Spoony an annoyed look, “If we succeed, it will mean the end of the machine empire. All the PAOLA-bots will go out of commission, all electric mechanisms will be back in our control, and most importantly, any other survivors who may be out there will be able to come out of hiding! Humanity will finally be able to rebuild itself!”

“And we’d be hailed as heroes!” Angry Joe added, nodding enthusiastically over towards Lisa, who grinned in return. Pollo had to hand it to those two; they certainly knew how to fully motivate themselves.

“People,” Linkara said solemnly, as he gazed over at the group, “This past year has been hard for us all. Very hard. And even though I know you’ve all done your very best to cope with everything, and you’ve all done an amazing job, I also know that every single one of you has had their fair share of tragedies, and it would be ridiculous to assume none of us have changed. We’ve lost our homes. We’ve lost our ways of living. But most of all, we’ve lost people we love.”

Nobody said anything. The only person who made a move was Iron Liz, who walked up to Linkara and took his hand. Marzgurl had completely stiffened, her expression as unreadable as ever behind her sunglasses. Insano was staring at the ground, his fists clenched, and Spoony wouldn’t meet anyone’s eye. Even Lisa and Joe were at a loss for words; there was nothing uplifting for them to say.

“Nevertheless,” Linkara said finally, “despite everything we’ve been through we’ve managed to pull through. Look at how long we’ve survived working together! Look at how much we’ve been able to do!”

Insano looked slowly up at Linkara, his fists remaining clenched, his demeanor tense as ever. Pollo couldn’t help but have his attention drawn toward his face, his expression thoroughly startling him. Barely readable through his goggles, he still found himself sensing a sort of intensity…almost anger…in the way he was staring.

“All this time we’ve been waiting for an opportunity to end it all, to make our efforts worthwhile. This is that opportunity! This is our chance to finally rise triumphant over all that’s occurred, all we’ve been fighting against! And much as we all know it’s risky, surely we can also understand that it needs to be done! This really is the best and only way we can truly fight his thing!”

“There’s magic.”

Everyone turned in surprise towards Insano, who still stared directly at Linkara as he said this. If Pollo was confused by his behavior before, he was outright baffled by it now. He clearly wasn’t the only one either, Linkara in particular looking as though the scientist were sprouting antlers. Yet as he spoke to him, Pollo found himself sensing that somehow he was experiencing more than simply sheer bafflement from Insanos words.

“What…did you just say?” was what he eventually asked him. What was that unusual tremor in his voice? There was confusion, to be sure, and definitely a great deal of shock, but there was also something…different, which for some bizarre reason Pollo simply couldn’t quite place.

“We would have a far easier and less risky time of it if we had the power of magic.” Insano said evenly, never breaking his concentrated staring.

“There’s no such thing as magic, Insano. You know that.” Linkara responded, and Pollo recognized with alarm what he hadn’t before. It was anxiety, coupled with a strong sense of defensiveness. In other words, Insano was making him nervous. The question was, why?

Insanos feelings, on the other hand, were still completely bizarre to everyone. “…Right,” he said after a moment, “Of course there isn’t. My mistake.” With that he broke away from his hard stare towards Linkara, gazing back down at the ground and still remaining thoroughly tense.

“…Okay then. Anyway. Where was I?” Pollo was feeling very troubled by how much difficulty he was having in deciphering everyones emotions. He was usually very talented in that regard. Insanos sudden and seemingly needless intensity wasn’t entirely unusual or alarming; at least coming from him. But Linkara? His own master and friend whose thoughts and actions were typically an open book to him? Granted, he realized that he was nervous, but he couldn’t for the life of him imagine why. Nor could he understand why he seemed all of a sudden to be acting very protectively towards his gun holster. Pollo wondered if maybe-


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“-Said I didn’t want any fighting in here.”

“It was Joe! He keeps shoving me!”

“I can’t see him from back here, Lieutenant!”

“Do NOT make me have to separate you two! In any case, he’s waking up.”

Pollo blinked hard as he slowly rose up from where he was now lying, his senses still considerably fuzzy. As he looked around, he realized that he was not in the living room anymore. He was now lying on Linkaras bed in their room, three deeply concerned faces looking down at him. Well, two deeply concerned faces and Marzgurl, that is.

"Are you all right, little buddy?" Lisa asked.

I feel fine, answered Pollo, who in fact was quickly regaining strength, except for the fact that my memory has been malfunctioned. What exactly happened?

"A fucking good question!" Angry Joe shouted, finally getting to the bed past Lisa. “You just up and blacked out right in the middle of the meeting! Went crashing down on the ground and everything! Man, you should have seen how Linkara was acting! You really gave him a scare!”

I did? Pollo was bewildered. Such a thing had never happened to him before. Why it could’ve happened now was beyond him.

“That’s why you’re in Linkaras bed, as opposed to the stool you usually sleep on.” Explained Marzgurl, “Linkara wanted you to be as safe and comfortable as possible, and was nervous about putting you in an upright position. It’s been several hours, and he has since had to go back into the lab to help Insano and Spoony. I am here because I was ordered to watch you in his place. These two are here because they were bored and decided they’d like me to kill them.”

Pollo tried to hover out of the bed, Joe and Marzgurl blocking his path. I should go to the lab to help. He protested, It is my duty, after all.

“Not according to Linkara.” Replied Marzgurl, “According to him you are to rest here for the night. They’ll be fine without you until tomorrow.” And with that she left, shooing Lisa and Joe out along with her.

For a while Pollo simply hovered there, above the bed, deep in thought. It had been a most peculiar day. First he’d found himself dreaming, something he wasn’t even aware a machine could do, and then he blacked out in the middle of the meeting for seemingly no reason whatsoever! Not to mention the odd behavior of Linkara and Insano, and the fact that for the first time in a very long while, he’d found himself completely lost as to what they were thinking. Did it mean something? It didn’t seem to.

Unless…

No. Pollo thought firmly to himself, hovering over to his customary stool. He would not trouble himself with such thoughts, not when now was the time to rest. Tomorrow would begin an exceptionally busy few days, and he was needed at his utmost energy. If these thoughts ended up troubling him further, then he would look further into things. But for now, all he had to think about was how close they were to having all their troubles be over, and his confidence that they would succeed. After all, he thought as he slowly drifted into sleep mode, we only have five more days.

What could go wrong?