Broken Record

[13]

(Cw: Swearing)

Vanessa groaned as she walked around the Pizza Plex. "Where the hell is he?" She Muttered as she glanced around the area.

It was two hours before closing time and she needed to find him, before he left.

She had been looking for over half an hour. It's like he's not even here. She check around fazcade, she check around the atrium, and still he's nowhere to be seen. She made her way into the utility tunnels.

"Hey, heard you looking for me." A voice said from behind her.

She turned around to see Pj, he looked different. His eyes were dull, devoid of emotions. He bags under his eyes from lack of sleep. His hair was unkempt and was fluffed up. His bangs covered part of his eye. His mouth was covered up by a mask. 

What happened to him? Vanessa hadn't seen him in awhile, well it's been a couple months, but still he's almost completely unrecognizable.

"Yeah, I needed your help." She spoke.

He scoffed, rolling his eyes. "Like always it's someone who just needs me to do something for them." 

Vanessa frowned slightly, "This isn't about work, actually." She rubbed her arm as she watched him narrow his eyes.

"Then what is it?" He asked, impatiently tapping his foot.

"You remember that prototype model, well…"

He groaned, "Not this shit again…"

"I don't know anything about it, I have no idea where it went and I want no part of it." The male snapped.

"If that's all then good day." He turned on his heels walking away.

"I found it." 

He froze. His eyes widening in disbelief.

"You found it?" He asked, skeptical.

"Yes, well Monty did, but he's damaged and needs repairs."

"Monty did, huh?" He clenched his jaw.

"I think he knows something, and we need to find out-" 

A low chuckle rang out interrupting Vanessa, "of course he knows something, why do you think they damaged him that bad? Why do you think they disabled him from accessing his memory data? It's because he knows something that'll fuck up their plan if he reported it."

Her eyes widened in shock, "How do you know that?" 

"My good ol pal Sunny told me!" He confessed, turning around to face the woman.

"Wait, You saw Sundrop?" Vanessa questioned, she's definitely going to have a little chat with him.

"Of course! Sunny's the only one I trust and Sunny trusts me." He spoke brightly, his eyebrows raising.

"He even showed me where the little bot was!"

He glared down at the ground.

"I saw the damage, they broke his parts and replaced them with cheap replacement parts!" He growled. "That just pisses me off, Humans can be so cruel."

"You're not making any sense." She said, looking a little lost.

The male tilted his head, "I'm not am I." He spoke out loud, mostly to himself.

Vanessa sighed in irritation, "Can you help fix him or not?"

"Of cour-" he stopped talking and froze as he stared blankly.

"Pj?" She called as she approached him. He was staring off into space, it was really concerning. Vanessa waved her hand in front of his face.

He blinked a few times, snapping out of his trance, "Sorry I had to deal with some internal monologue."

She raised a brow, "What?"

"Now, what was I saying...oh of course I'll be able to!" He clapped his hands together.

"It's been awhile since I've done anything fun like this!" He seemed to be beaming with excitement.

Vanessa sweat dropped, "uh…" 

Pj then grabbed Vanessa's hand, "I have blueprints in one of the security offices!" 

She staggered a bit as he began pulling her with him. What's up with him? When did he start wearing that mask? Why does he wear it?

She followed along as they went to the security office. He let go of her hand as he went over to the desk and began shuffling things around. "Now, where did I place it?" He said out loud.

"Pj?" She called, but didn't get a response.

He continued looking. "Pj." She called a bit louder, still no response.

"I found them!" He exclaimed. "Okay There's the original blueprint and a couple of mock ones since they were going to give him a permanent place, but couldn't decide. Then here's the bot and the prototype in this blueprint." He rambled as he showed her the different blueprints.

"Pj!" The male jumped, his face turned red in embarrassment.

 "Sorry, it's been awhile since anyone has spoken to me, ever since that incident I haven't really been myself." He apologized, looking down at the ground.

"It's like I don't exist anymore, like I'm nothing." He spoke in despair.

"Monty, really cares about this bot. He was always caring, he just never showed it." His brows scrunched up.

Where is this coming from? "Pj…" she said sadly.

"Um, I'll let the manager know that there was a problem in the system that needs fixing and that I'll be staying late." 

"Hang on to these." He handed the blueprints to her. "I'll be back later, I just need to get a few things." He pushed past her. "I'll see you later." and with that he walked away.