Mechanical Minds

I Know You Are, But Watt Am I?

Meta seriously considered skipping his own meeting. He had finally awoken almost five hours past when he had intended to start it. He was now acutely aware that the entire crew would probably partake in the favorite pastime: aggravating their dear leader. He steeled himself and decided he could deal with swallowing a little pride along with his morning tea.

"Look at you! Up at the crack of noon!" Captain Vul chuckled, addressing the admittedly haggard looking knight as he wandering into the room. He gave only a bleary glare in response. Vul was a capable and loyal captain, but he was also aggravatingly loud.

"Good mor- afternoon, my lord." Sword said stiffly. He was much too formal, even for Meta's taste.

"Hey boss!" Blade chirped. She inhabited the opposite end of the spectrum. Javelin simply nodded, ever the charming conversationalist.

"Mornin', Meta Knight!" Mace chirped. He was a very loyal and kind hearted follower, but he could also be a tad excitable. Finally, Sailor Dee caught his eye and sighed.

"I told you to get some sleep, not to sleep the whole day away" she chided. Meta was thankful that his helm hid his embarrassed flush. He cleared his throat.

"I... apologize for the delay, but I will commence our meeting now" he said, adopting his booming commander tone. All chatter ceased, and all eyes slid to him. He waited for complete attention before proceeding. "As you already know, the rogue agent of Haltmann Works, Susie, is within our custody." A few angry cries echoed around the room. They loved their leader dearly, and loathed any who hurt him even more. Meta waited for the noise to die down. "However" he continued, "she holds valuable knowledge of the inner workings of the technology seen aboard the Access Ark. Technology that is, admittedly, far beyond our capabilities." There were murmurs of grudging agreement.

"We can beef up the Halberd with it, is what you're saying?" Vul asked. Meta nodded.

"I wish to prevent a repeat of similar attacks. This event has shown us that we are, indeed, potentially vastly outclassed by possible invaders. In the interest of our own protection, and by extension the defense of Dreamland itself, I believe it is vital we implement these technologies." He paused, allowing he words to sink in. "Therefore, we will glean whatever information we can from our guest to achieve that goal. If necessary, by force" he finished. A wave of affirmative answers washed over the room, though it fell silent as one person continued clapping.

"Very well spoken, Sir Meta Knight" Susie said, halting her clapping and holding her hands pressed together in front of her chest. All eyes went to the door.

"You picked the lock" Meta said, not even bothering to ask. She shrugged.

"It was no problem to get through such inferior technology. After all, you are outclassed" she chirped. Meta bristled, but quickly calmed himself. If she wanted a reaction, she was going to be disappointed. Susie noticed the multitude of weapons Meta's followers were brandishing at her. "Oh my, I had no idea someone as impressive as you would associate with such brutes" she said, feigning surprise.

"At ease!" Meta barked, and all weapons were simultaneously sheathed.

"You impudent little-"

"Sword" Meta said. The man fell silent. Susie only giggled.

"How well trained they are-"

"I've had enough of your childish instigation" Meta growled. He strode over to her and eyed her up and down. He suddenly placed a hand on each of her shoulders.

"What are you-?" she squealed.

"Searching for weapons" he deadpanned.

"Y-you?" she squawked, stopping him before his search could travel any lower. He froze, realizing what he was doing, and stepped back.

"Blade-"

"Not gonna cop a feel, huh?"

"BLADE" she started at that, and promptly got to searching Susie for any weapons under Meta's glowering gaze.

"Not like you have anythin' to feel anyway" she muttered, causing Susie to choke slightly. She completed her search and returned empty handed, save for the bent hairpin that had served as her escape. Meta had already regained his composure.

"I there a reason you came here? It would have been a simple matter of exiting the front door to escape" he asked. Susie shrugged.

"I thought you might want to take a look at these de-encrypted blueprints" she said, holding out the holo-screen. He resisted the urge to eagerly snatch it, and instead calmly took it from the woman. He gave her a look, and seemed to reach within his cape for a moment before producing a second holo-screen and handing it to her. Susie blinked. Where had that come from?

"Begin work on the second set of blueprints promptly" he intoned. He turned to Mace, who rapidly stood at attention. "Mace, escort her back to her room and take the first watch" he continued, before striding from the room. He stopped momentarily. "And to all of you..." he began, fixing each person in a piercing gaze "Do not bother me." The door closed behind him with finality, and Mace glanced nervously at his new charge.

Mace had decided the best way to keep watch on Susie was to remain in the room with her, to prevent any trickery behind closed doors. The fact that is was far comfier to sit in a chair than stand in the hallway was entirely irrelevant to his decision. Susie didn't actually seem all that concerned with working on her assigned task however, and had been badgering Mace with questions about Meta. He'd begun to answer a few out of exasperation- he wasn't really that great under pressure.

"When he pulled this out. Where did he get it from?" Susie asked. Mace blinked.

"Some Access Ark wreckage, probably" he said. She shook her head.

"No, no. I mean, he pulled it from thin air! How did he achieve that?" she urged.

"That's his Dimensional Cape" he replied nonchalantly. Susie perked up. Dimensional Cape, huh? That seemed interesting.

"Dimensional Cape?" she asked innocently.

"It's an extension of Sir Meta Knight's magic" he said.

"His... magic?" Susie said slowly. She had very little grasp of any sort of magic, let alone one so strange.

"Yeah, he has pretty powerful magic but he doesn't use it much. Except his cape, of course. That's dimensional magic, really advanced stuff! It's like a pocket dimension" Mace explained. He smiled mischievously before adding, "I'm telling you this because that's all I know. I don't really understand it."

"Pocket dimension" she repeated. Even Haltmann Works had failed to produce a stable pocket dimension, and this man was gallivanting about using it as a glorified pocket? Truly he just kept getting more interesting by the minute. She smiled at a sudden thought.

"I do know something about your dear leader that you do not" she teased.

"Like what?" Mace said slowly. He really didn't want some dark fact of Meta's gleaned through torture.

"What he looks like under that mask" she answered. Mace widened his eyes.

"And...?" he urged.

"He looks just like pin- Kirby. Big doe eyes, cheek marks, everything" she giggled. She waited to see any sort of mirth at Meta's expense from Mace. He only tapped his chin thoughtfully.

"Cute AND powerful...? Wow" he sighed wistfully.

Susie considered stabbing herself with her pen.