Kessie's Short Stories

[MNo9] Epidemic vs Disaster

Originally published 11/13/2016

If there was anything Beck hated more in the entire world, it was wearing human clothes. They itched, they rode up in very uncomfortable places, and this red tie that Dr White insisted he wear had been tied too tight.

Of all consideration, this was Mighty Number Nine's first black tie event. So a bit of uncomfortable arrangements were to be expected. He didn't leave Dr. White's side, however, not that anyone expected him to be social immediately any way.

"This is the worse part of these kind of things," the professor idly told Beck at some point, "Standing around, looking pretty, and shaking hands with morons you have to keep business with to have a respectable name behind you."

Beck had nodded, unsure of what to say.

Eventually, someone called out, "William! William White!" drawing both Beck and the professor's attention to the source. Coming up to them was a man with black -but graying- hair with a single strip of white across the side. At his arm was a little girl, no more than thirteen or twelve, who refused to look up at anyone.

"Ah! Bernard Blaise!" Dr. White greeted the older looking man with a firm handshake. "It's been awhile!"

"It has. I see you're doing quite well." Mr. Blaise greeted as well before taking notice of Beck. "Finally built yourself a proper son, then?"

"Aha, no." Dr. White smiled, "This is Mighty Number Nine, Beck. My finest work if I do say so myself. And who do you have with you?"

"This is my daughter." Mr. Blaise then said, motioning to the young girl next to him. She didn't look up and only gave a stiff nod.

"She looks a lot like Leliana." Dr. White observed with some degree of approval before becoming more somber. "I'm... sorry that she was a casualty during the Trinity epidemic. Leliana had so much to live for, it was a shame that it ended so shortly."

"Yes..." Mr. Blaise sadly agreed. "I wasn't there when it happened, but Leilai... she still has nightmares about it."

With this thought, the girl shyed away from the professor and her father and went elsewhere. There was something about their tones, and the way Lei had left, alerted Beck to the idea that he was missing some part of the conversation.

"How was Sanda doing with his little project?" Mr. Blaise then asked, steering the conversation in another direction, "What was it? Callista? Was that what he was going to dub it?"

"Oh, it's just Call now -though quite a few of her design notes still refer to her as Callista- and she's completely operational. In fact, she even helped Beck during the Trinity epidemic. I was pretty impressed with Sanda's work on her in all honesty, didn't think he had it in him to create a bot that powerful."

"But she's Navigator class, right?"

"Yes, yes, but an incredibly smart one."

"Oh?"

This was when Beck decided to leave, casually alerting Dr. White that he was going away. Upon getting (a rather offhanded) approval, he left to find Lei. She couldn't have gone too far, right?

As the youngest Mighty Number went along, he found a few of his siblings in passing. Dyna and Cryo were having a rather light conversation about something; Dynatron was wearing a rather pretty, embroidered Mexican poncho over black dress pants, while Cryosphere had refused to dress up- she had compromised, however, in taking her helmet off for the occasion, revealing a vivid blue bob cut with seashell-like bangs. Beck liked seeing Cryo's real face, but he wouldn't dare call it cute in front of her (although it really was) in fear of being doused unmercifully with water.