We Are Similar

Discovery pt2

That evening, they all arrived in the airport, where the Duck Shuttle was waiting for them. Hugo was able to convince Director Kaios in a swift argument. He was willing to take the responsibility of whatever will happen in the trip. Gouda and Sendou had decided to stay behind. The former had his gang to take care of, Mika and Ryuu included, while the latter had Kiyoka. Olivia, Izayoi and LCW didn't come either. Olivia didn't want her mother to worry, Izayoi had his job of being Prof. Oozora's assistant and Lillian, Susan and Philicia had their own things to do.

Jessica and Asuka were there to greet them when they all got on board. They, like all the others, were hesitant, especially with Mizel right there in the same room as them, but neither of them said a word about it.

That however wasn't the worst part for Eva.

"I've heard about what you've been trying to pull, kid." Cobra was along for the ride, and she knew well that, even before all this, he didn't like her one bit.

She sighed. "Why couldn't it be Mongoose..." When she worked with the two in Brinton, Mongoose was just as snappy as Cobra, but he never once insulted her for having that brain-chip. That itself made her like him more than the other.

She sat at the back corner, Hugo taking the seat beside her and Niara in front of her. Cobra was just across the aisle, watching her wrist carefully. She shook her head and decided to ignore them.

"I'm a little curious." Asuka suddenly spoke up. "How did that guy convince the director so easily?"

"Well for one thing, he was really persistent about it." Jessica replied from beside the younger blonde.

"Actually, I think the fact that I'm an Avalstone have more of an effect on it." Hugo commented from the back.

"You can hear us?!"

"Yeah, sorry. In contrast to the horrible eyesight, I have sensitive hearing." He shrugged. "Optima effects."

"What else does your Optima do?" Kirito asked curiously from in front of the man. Surprisingly, Niara didn't mind him sitting beside her at all. "Any special powers?"

"Does being unable to properly age count?" He said jokingly. "I'm supposed to be 28 this year, but here I am still looking like my 18 year old self."

"I thought you just shaved a lot." Niara commented, turning to look at the older male through the gap.

"Anything else?" Kousuke joined in. It was a surprise that he would come along, but he was extremely curious about the entire journey. Once he gets involved with something, he'd want to stay until the end.

"Nothing that you've never seen Eva do. Data manipulation, though I can already do that even before I have this... There's also machinery control... Actually it's just those two." He thought about it a bit more before continuing. "Well, I can also control electric currents."

"Oh! Eva did that too!" Niara cut in, remembering their Tiny Orbit break out just a couple days before. "She snapped those robots' wires by making them overheat or something that time."

Jin wasn't convinced. "Wait, I thought Eva could only do those things because of her AI. Not Optima."

"Eva uses her AI because that's the only part of her that's a machine." Hugo explained. "As for me," He rolled up one of his sleeves and lifted up his arm. It extended, showing metal parts, and from his fingers appeared small, barely-visible needles. "My limbs were all replaced. My head is the only part of me that doesn't have some form of tech in it." The parts retracted and it was back to looking like a regular human arm.

Everyone stared at him with either shock, awe, fear, or all. They didn't know what to think of this. Not a single one of them made a comment, too surprised to even react. But Eva was almost happy. Well, of course she feels bad because her own brother had to go through something like that, but she was glad to find someone else like her. Perhaps that's another reason why he didn't despise Mizel like the others did. It wasn't just because he owed him, but also because he too, was just like them.

~~~~~

The ride to the snowy side of Country A took a lot longer compared to their trip to NICS. Currently, most of them were in the bedrooms of the Duck Shuttle. It was the same as before, one for boys and another for girls. There was only four beds in each room, so they all had to squeeze together. It was past midnight and they were preparing to sleep, though clearly struggling. They just couldn't bring themselves to let their guard down, knowing Mizel is on board.

Jessica stared up at the ceiling of the room. She turned to her left and saw Asuka already out. Peeking over her, she saw Ami and Ran both wide awake, the two having a bed to themselves. Getting up a bit more, she found Niara on her side, her back facing the rest. Niara had picked the bed that was a little ways away from the rest and they knew that she was only gonna share with Eva. Jessica couldn't tell if she was asleep, but seeing her completely still for once made her believe she was. Turning back to Ami and Ran, the three exchange a look and decide to try and sleep. All the while, the Russian girl had her eyes wide open. She wasn't happy.

In the boys' room, Cobra had been the fastest to go out cold. The second he had reached his bed, the one that was also away from the rest, he had started snoring. Second to him was Hiro, who was sharing a bed with his former coach. Kazuya had taken the couch as the other beds were all taken. Kirito and Kousuke were sharing one and it was clear they both knew what personal space was. Jin and Yuuya were sharing too, and while the latter had also drifted off, the former hadn't. After twisting and turning for a good while, he got up with a sigh.

"Jin?" He turned to Ban, who was laying down, but still wide awake. "Are you going somewhere?"

He shrugged. "Maybe I'll go get a drink."

"I'll come too then."

The two walked out of the room without another word, careful to not wake anyone up. The Duck Shuttle is like an apartment in the sky. It was complete with a laundry machine, bathroom, and everything you'll ever need. The two headed for where the dining hall is supposed to be, but they stopped when they noticed the maintenance room still had lights on. This confused them as all the lights in every room was supposed to be off during the night to save power. They peeked through the glass on the door to find Hugo, Eva and Mizel, in his human form, all looking curiously at whatever the older brother was doing.

"All that's left to do is fix the antennae." They heard him say.

"Interesting." Mizel commented. "Sirius looks so simple on the outside, but the inside is much more complex."

"I based it off of Professor Yamano's very first LBX blueprints... Well, the inside parts at least. The outside parts are just like what you'd find in robots in old cartoons." He explained.

"But his AI is really smart." Eva complimented. "A tier four?"

"Not quite. It's still a tier three, but after a few more tweaks, it should reach that high." Hugo looked up from the desk to turn to Eva, letting Ban and Jin notice that he had switched out his contact lenses for his glasses. "Hey Eva, do you like Sirius' voice?"

She blinked, trying to process the question. "Um... I guess? I mean it's not that it's bad... Is there even such a thing as a bad voice? I mean, if it's singing, then sure, but talking is like...??" She shook her head. "Why do you ask?"

He hummed. "When I first programmed Sirius, I knew exactly what my aim was. I wanted him to help people. Help them talk, act, think, decide and much, much more. When it came down to it, I wanted him to have a voice that suited those objectives. A voice that sounded passionate, comforting and strong." Seeing her still confused, he smiled. "Eva. This is our father's voice."

~~~~~~~~~~

I may or may not have gotten the inspiration for that last line from Generator Rex :')