The Academy of S.I.D.E.

No. 19: Maybe It's Personal

After the dance, everyone seemed to be more relaxed around each other. Virgil and Roman were barely arguing anymore, and while Roman and Janus weren't exactly friends, they weren't tearing into each other's throats, at the very least. Virgil was also getting along better with Logan, who'd put away the notebook for the time being. Patton and Janus had both assured him that Logan did that with the two of them, too, and it was really just how he was. He still hadn't really apologized for ditching him in the maze, but Virgil was pretty much over it at this point.

He still didn't really know what Augustus's deal was, though. None of the others seemed to like him that much---Patton and Roman thought he was a jerk (though Patton didn't go outright and say it), Logan considered him to be an idiotic asshole, and Remus would just roll his eyes and scoff whenever he was brought up---all of which Virgil could understand. But he still couldn't get Janus's reaction to him out of his head, and it had been bugging him for almost a week now.

Because if there was one thing Virgil knew from the weeks he'd spent around Janus, it was that fear was a foreign concept to him... except when it came to Augustus. Virgil could sort of see why you'd be uneasy around him---because that guy was a whole new level of unsettling---but that reaction seemed to go deeper than that.

He didn't want to ask Janus about it directly, though. He was pretty sure that he wouldn't get an answer.

So Virgil decided to try Logan again, since he knew Janus the longest (except for the twins, and they probably wouldn't give him a good answer, either). Patton had told him that Logan was usually in the robotics lab on weekends, except during the sound crew meets.

Virgil hadn't actually visited the lab before, so he was a little unprepared for what he saw. He'd been expecting little makeshift rovers, some building equipment, maybe a few loose circuit boards here and there.

Instead, he found himself in a space that looked straight out of a sci-fi movie.

The shelves were lined with boxes that were all neatly labeled, and all contained some kind of metal---even the rarer ones. There were wires and circuit boards, but instead of being strewn across a bunch of wooden tables, little robots rolled around with boxes full of them built into their backs. Glass cases lined the walls, each with a different kind of robot in them, and at the very back, a gigantic setup of computer screens was built in above a huge desk. Logan was sitting at the desk, typing away like mad.

"Um, hey," Virgil called.

Logan spun around in the swivel chair. "Ah! There you are. Patton told me you'd be coming."

"Well, here I am." He looked around at the lab. "Does being an Anomaly mean you've got access to more complex tech?"

"If you're a Jacobi who has the family powers, you get to create more complex technology, yes," Logan answered, wiping a stream of sweat from his brow. "But not everything here is for public use, you understand. The vast majority of what we create is still a work in progress."

A girl with a shiny black ponytail looked up from one of the tables. "Is this the new member of your group? Nyx? The one who helped your team win the last Fantasy Friday challenge?"

"Yes, but outside of the Field Skills building, his name's Virgil." Logan got up and led him over to her. "Virgil, I'd like you to meet my sister, Sophia---Mechanic on the field. She's a junior, and she's currently working on a project that could very well change the course of technology as we know it."

"It's not that important," Sophia said, standing up and shrugging. "I'm just figuring out how to make androids a universal reality, is all."