pughat

[pughat]

bro last night was totally redacted! last night was fully expunged from the record. bro, do you... can you remember last night? what did we do...? what did... did we hurt someone? bro? why won't you look at me? what did I do...? whose blood is this...? bro...?

[pughat]

It feels like this every time I write a fic

[pughat]

[pughat]

Mysterious Fathoms Below

CHAPTER THREE IS OUT! Chapter One Chapter Two Chapter Three <<Current Chapter>>

Having a blast writing this fic <3 I just like hurt/comfort bonding and slow burns and friendships and found family things <3

Title: Mysterious Fathoms Below

Rating: PG-13

Warnings: Bonding; Hurt/comfort over trauma; awkward small talk, hand holding

Featured Characters: Titan Speakerman, Charybdis (Sea Camera OC), Executor hanging out as baby semi-titan

Guest Starring: Whistle (@tabieeee awesome chief engineer of the speaker faction! Go give them some love!!) Summary: A chance encounter leads to something a little more, a little complicated, and a house divided as surely as Romeo and Juliet, with a touch of tragedy and yearning that comes under the terror of a war. Feelings of any kind though tend to grow in the strangest of places, starting with the simplest of playful meetings. CHAPTER SUMMARY: Maybe it is something about the sea that makes it easy to get things off one's core...and find someone who sees at you that you haven't seen yourself.

The patrol Titan Speakerman flew today was not the most ideal of weather conditions. High winds had picked up, driving the ocean upwards into a heaving mass of white tipped waves that rose and fell in larger and larger swells. Even for someone of the titan’s size and power, flying was made a bit more tricky in the face of such wild winds, which is why the patrol that day had been modified to allow him to be flying in the same direction of the wind to avoid having to battle a headwind.

When the winds picked up, it also meant the chance for bad weather to develop was a greater risk, thus he kept to a higher altitude above the clouds to avoid the worse of the sea-born squalls and rain showers. Usually having to fly higher up was not a big deal. He had plenty of communication arrays and sensors jammed packed along his frame, including an expansive GPS that easily helped him to tell what was going on beneath him. He had a near complete 360 degree view of his surroundings at all times to detect threats, something the other titans lacked. When it came to threat detection, the Titan Speakerman was good at being the first to be alerted to any sort of changes.

However, that was not entirely useful out here, at least not for hunting down the quarry he wanted to encounter. The shy sea camera’s electrical field could mess with his arrays, only giving him a vague idea that they were in the region, not necessarily where they were.

For that, visuals were best as the shadow of the mysterious sea unit’s outline was a dead giveaway, but harder to see among the waves and cloud cover from so high up.

The Titan Speakerman knew that it wouldn’t be easy to spot them and so far there had been no reports incoming of strange electrical incidents save for one naval ship’s navigation shorting out for a brief moment. The engineer on that ship had reported it as an incident of misadventure, not necessarily some electrical anomaly.

Things had been quiet for the last three days. Three days where the titan had not seen frame nor wire of the sea-based semi-titan of the Conglomerate.

With every missed sighting, every day returning to base empty handed with nothing to report but a few skibidi encounters from time time, the Titan Speakerman was beginning to think he wouldn’t ever see them again at all. The disappointment and acceptance of that fact was finally starting to settle in. Today more than others as he neared the end of his patrol, only an hour out from making his ETA and landing for the day. Not a single sighting of that mysterious semi-titan.

“Weather looks like it is clearing up ahead,” Whistle commented, “Will at least be a nice and breezy end of the patrol,”

“mm,”

“Thought that would make you a bit more upbeat rather than being as broody as Executor,”

“I’m not that broody, Whistle,”

“Getting there!”

The Titan Speakerman gave a low growl of his speakers as he started to coast down closer to the ocean, holding out one hand to listlessly trail over the white tipped waves, “Just disappointed is all. No sighting of that sea camera whatsoever,”

“Maybe the Pleasure Cruise moved on. They probably keep close to it,” Whistle reasoned, “May be back another time,”

“I guess,”

The ocean was starting to calm itself as the wind started to die down at last. Being so close to land, the usual change of the sea breeze would soon start to kick as the heat from the land rolled off and back out to sea. With the weather clearing up, maybe it would be a nice sunset over the ocean. At least that might be something to look forward to. Just as he was starting to resign himself back to base after a rather boring patrol, a slight tingle started to be picked up in his sensors and then along his form. The Titan Speakerman drew his hand away from the water as he felt almost like a small prickle of electricity jolt through his fingers. The titan paused, giving a soft warble and cutting his jets to rise up a bit, hovering over the water.

There was nothing at first, just the white-tipped waves rising and falling on the wide expanse of the ocean. Then slowly, a large shadow began to become more clear, slowly moving below in a lazy circle beneath the titan. There was the bright lights of the front of the face, peering up through the water at him, hesitant, guarded, but there.

Excitement was not an emotion that the Titan Speakerman could hold back too well. Before he could think, as natural as it was for a speaker to dance when pleased, there was a rumbling building up in his speakers, filled with eager noises that finally came out in a loud rancorous roar down at the figure below the water. Such a noise was one of excitement, easy for any speaker to tell, but such a loud noise clearly spooked the semi-titan in the water as they shrank deeper into the depths of the water until the light was barely able to be parsed in the fading light of the evening. That cut off the happy cry of the titan quickly and he quickly raised both hands as he dared to draw a bit closer to the water.

“W-wait! It wasn’t aggressive! I swear! I just was saying hi…!”

The sea cam didn’t come up to the surface, but at least wasn’t continuing to back away. That was progress. The titan hovered there, hands still up to appear as non-threatening as possible. He was excited and thus it was hard to keep his voice down or the want to make noise.

“So uh. Hi there,”

Three days to plan on what even to say to the unknown sea cam and he still couldn’t think of how to start a conversation. Nerves were starting to creep up and one hand inched up to rub at his lower speaker lightly in a bit of a nervous habit as he looked away, “Do you uh, have a name? I don’t think I caught it last time,”

The sea cam remained beneath the water a moment longer before slowly starting to come up to the surface. Only their head breached it, the lens, glowing a bright teal fixing on him quietly for a long moment before tilting away.

“Charybdis,”

Again with the soft voice that didn’t seem to match how large they were. So shy it was almost painfully cute.

“Charybdis,” the titan repeated, “Well, I’m Titan Speakerman, T-speak to my friends, but, uh, I guess you already knew that,”

“Maybe. A little,” Charybdis murmured with maybe a hint of a small laugh.

There was movement along their head as two small robotic arms just beneath began to cling at each other, wringing them in nerves. The titan gave another rub at the lower speaker, head tilted away. “So uh, you come here often?” Even to his own auditory sensors, the question was painfully awkward and sounded like something written for a horrible romance on the Hallmark channel. It had him internally cringing, mentally kicking himself for not trying to come up with something a little bit smoother to ask about.

“No. These are Alliance waters. I don’t usually come in at all,” they said softly, “Does that...upset you?”

“Huh? No! I mean, well, it would upset the Alliance I guess, but not me personally,” the titan stammered out, “I uh, was kind of, maybe, sort of looking for you?”

The sea cam just sunk down a bit, their voice somehow getting even softer, strained to a squeak of a mouse, “You were looking for me?”

The titan paused before holding up both hands, “Not looking! More hoping to run into you again? I wasn’t being like a stalker or something! Just sort of, last time was nice and well, didn’t get your name and it was bugging me!”

“Oh,” Charybdis sunk in the water more, just the lens peaking out, “Well, you have my name,”

“Yeah,”

The conversation was so awkwardly shy, the titan was wondering if it was too late to just dunk himself in the ocean out of embarrassment. Honestly how Whistle made this look easy was beyond the titan. Still he forged forward, giving a loud rumble of his speakers like the clearing of a throat and tried to look more suave, arms crossed, leaning against an invisible wall as he hovered in the air.

The very picture of trying to look cool as hell and looking like the greatest dork to grace the skies.

“What has you in Alliance waters then? Just you know, an official question there for reasons,” The titan said, “Since I am all official in the Alliance. As a faction leader titan leader guy and stuff,”

Whistle save him, he was sounding more and more like the most awkward bastard in the Alliance. His nerves were starting to creep up all the more, causing his fans to start to rev from the sheer heat of his embarrassment.

“Well, I wanted to see you...again. Maybe...do something like we did last time,” Charybdis said softly, although their words were muffled some as they ducked a little more down in the water, “It was nice...doing the chasing game with you,”

The titan perked up, giving another eager rumble that was edging towards another shriek that he was keeping down for now, “Yeah? Well, I liked it too!”

“Really?”

This time he couldn’t help the excited shriek of confirmation, although the titan quickly stiffed it when the sea camera ducked away again and a small crackle of electricity was in the air. A tingly thing that made his com array complain, but nothing serious.

“Sorry,” he said, holding both hands up again, fans giving a rev of nerves, “I uh, tend to get excited and get loud,”

Charybdis circled a bit before once more poking their head out, “...its okay. Sometimes I...shock things when I get excited or startled,”

“Guess we have something in common then, huh?”

“Maybe,” Charybids shyly dipped down in the water a bit, “...You...want to play a game again?”

It took so much self control not to just yell as loudly as possible. The most he got these days was sparring matches with titan Cameraman, and although those were fun, there wasn’t much time to just do something silly. Least of all given his size making it hard to play most simple games. He opted for a more controlled yelling and vigorous nod of the head instead as not to chase the sea camera away, “Yes! The chase game?”

“If you want. Or there are some mines down here the skibidis set in the deep waters,” Charybdis murmured, “With my sibling, sometimes I throw them in the air for him to shoot down, if you want to do that…”

The titan paused, thinking on the offer. Target practice was always fun but it was harder to do at base. Mostly because finding good targets for the size of his guns was hard to begin with. Add to that, him firing his guns around the speaker base tended to invoke a lot of trauma in other units. That thought had him wincing and that kernel of misery twisted just a little deeper. It had been a long time since he had been able to put his guns to work without being told off by the higher ups.

“I would like that,” he finally said, voice a bit soft, “I don’t get to do that much,”

“You sure? You seem sad,”

the titan speakerman gave a rev of his jets rising up over the water some, both hands out as he did a little turn in the air, “Not sad! Just it isn’t something I do at base a lot. You know, too loud and stuff, might make people think we are under attack or something!”

Or think he was going to kill them, the horrid voice sneered at the back of his mind. Just like he did before under the influence of that parasite. Quickly he pushed that thought away, not wanting to come across as dreary around what could be a new friend. Instead he gave a louder warble, revving his jets up to hype himself up more.

“Hit me with your best mine! I’m ready!” he slammed his two fists together and gave another loud cry.

Charybdis gave a nod starting to move about in the water with an eager rumble, “All right. Then get ready!”

The sea camera dove quickly, soon out of sight below the water. The Titan Speakerman hovered over the water before darting back as suddenly there was an eruption of water and a large deep sea mine erupted upwards. He was startled only a moment before he was lifting both arms, locking and loading to unleash a shot on it as he zoomed backwards. The mine went off with a loud satisfying boom, fire and sizzling shrapnel whizzing every which way. The titan couldn’t help a pleased shriek at that, darting away as suddenly several more were shot up out of the water in rapid succession.

The Titan Speakerman let out a loud eager shriek then, locked in and eager as he unleashed a volley and perhaps coasting just out of the reach of the explosions, enough to feel the heat against his heels, but be ready to swoop in for more of the mines being thrown up. Charybdis was moving below, the water parting as they gave a somewhat loud trill of their own as the jumped out of the water briefly like a dolphin, tossing up a few more before diving back down just as the titan dove, more than ready to get to each target. There was no telling where Charybdis was throwing them, keeping them both moving in the water in their dangerous game. If high command knew he was doing this, they would be besides themselves with anger and be ready with a lecture about the dangers of using live, dangerous ammunition as target practice, let alone having a unit of the Conglomerate be the one tossing them up.

One wrong move and he could end up blowing up a mine in his face which would leave him with some damages to fix. Still the thrill outweighed the risks sand he was more than confident in his ability to hit targets and get out of the way in time.

It was exciting to get to use his canons without worrying about hitting someone accidentally or being told off for it. The exhilaration had him pushing himself into rather acrobatic aerial maneuvers, up, down, barrel roles, backwards flying, upside down and in quick twirls, all while he was eagerly shouting and shrieking to try and be louder than each thundering boom of the mines as they went off.

“Oi! You okay out there?! I’m detecting multiple explosions!”

The Titan paused a moment at the worried sound of his chief engineer. No doubt Whistle had started to pick up on the explosions on his comm array and had grown concerned when he wasn’t reporting anything. Titan Speakerman titled his head as he mentally ticked on the com, his attention brought back to the ocean as another series of mines were tossed up, “I’m good! Target practice on mines!”

“Mines!?”

“Charybdis is tossing them out of the water!”

“Now hold up-”

“Can’t talk, shooting now!”

He didn’t want to miss a single target in the air, weaving about and shooting, letting out loud shrieks all the while. It was fun. It was loud. It was so much better than patrols or sitting around quietly in the base while everyone else got to make as much noise as they wanted.

The last mine went up in smoke as he dove down towards the water where Charybdis peered up, giving a happy little clap and louder sound, like a whale mixed with some sort of deep sea monstrosity. He responded in kind with another loud roar back, feeling a pleased little trill rumble up as he noted this time the sea cam didn’t pull back. Instead Charybdis seemed to rise up a little more, making a louder cry right back.

“So you can get loud!” he teased, crossing his legs, hovering in mid-air as he regarded the semi-titan.

“When I feel like it,” Charybdis murmured, growing shy a touch, voice still soft, “You fly so elegantly,”

“Yeah?”

“I like how you fly,”

A touch of warmth rose right into his core at that and he gave a small buzz of his jets, “Well, you are super strong yourself. You could really lob those mines up and out of the water,”

Charybdis ducked down with a warble of embarrassment, “...I have to pull ships and go to the bottom of the ocean. Have to be strong to do that I guess,”

“I can’t get in the ocean, so you have me beat there,” The titan paused, drumming his fingers a bit against his leg before he glanced over his shoulder, “You want to...find somewhere to sit and uh, maybe talk?”

“Talk?” Charybdis squeaked out.

The titan speakerman raised a hand to scratch at the side of his bottom speaker lightly, a low nervous hum escaping, “I would like to get to know you better. Like, your favorite things. Not just like...always playing around, although today was really fun,”

The sea cam sunk lower in the water, back with only their lens out of the water, “No one wants to know that about me,”

“I do and kind of hard to hover and talk. I mean, you can stay in the water, just...somewhere to sit and spare my jets,”

Charybdis gave a nervous warble before ducking down under the water a moment, swimming a few little circles before coming up, “There are some rocks along the shore with deep water pools in the direction you were heading,”

“Sounds good!” The titan shifted, lifting into to the air more, “Race you!”

And then he was off like a shot, laughing all the while. Within moments though, Charybdis was below him, keeping pace with him as they hurtled forward. As they did, the titan clicked back on his com.

“What the hell is going on-”

“Was playing a game with that deep sea cam. Their name is Charybdis!”

“Throwing mines!?”

“Shooting them from a safe distance,” the titan corrected, although that was a half truth. He had taken some risks in making them explode maybe a little closer than his chief engineer would approve of, but that wasn’t something Whistle needed to know, “It was nice to be able to actually do target practice,”

He could hear Whistle let out an exasperated sound, falling to silent for a bit, “Well, as long as you are safe and doing okay,”

“Doing fine. We are going to sit and talk a bit so uh, I’ll be late,”

“Don’t trip over yourself,”

“Trust me, my foot is already in one speaker already at this point,” the titan looked down at the shadow, giving a pleased sound and wave as Charybdis looked up at him before jetting forward, “They don’t seem to mind,”

“Well, just check in when your done and don’t stay out too long, got it?”

“Yes mom,” the titan drawled sarcastically, “I’ll be in bed before eleven,”

“Holding you to that,” Whistle returned, her voice amused.

The titan clicked off his comm again, a bit more aware of when it was on and off after an unfortunate accident where some things should not have been heard. He especially didn’t want Whistle listening in to his attempts at small talk less he need to try and bury himself in the field behind the hangar again.

It was not long to the shore, but it felt so much longer or maybe he was just that eager to get the chance to actually have a normal conversation. A voice in the back of his head grumbled how he was trusting too much in a Conglomerate, but at the same time, Charybdis had never done anything to harm him, never asked about the Alliance or trying to get at secrets. They felt safe. They also were someone who didn’t know him or what he had done.

A clean slate that wouldn’t judge him or bring up the past.

The titan speakerman settled himself on one of the taller rocks pocking out of the water, getting comfortable with his feet dipped in the water. He let out a louder ping of the area, looking around to see if there was any threat before allowing himself to relax some. Charybdis surfaced at the edge, daring to bring part of their upper body out of the water as they rested their head on their folded arms.

“I think you won,” the shy cam said softly.

“Hard to tell. Guess we will have to do it again another time,”

Charybdis gave a soft hum, glancing to the side, “so what is it you wanted to talk about?”

He gave a small shrug, draping his arms over his knees as he sat there, only giving a small glance downward, “Well, what are you into? Like...hobbies I guess?” he sighed, rubbing at the back of his head, “Or uh favorite things in general. Small talk I guess,”

“Oh,”

The titan shifted, letting out a quiet laugh, “Seems a polite place to start. I…” the titan speakerman paused, squirming a bit where he at, “Before like, asking personal questions and all that. There is a lot I want to ask you that is probably not really small talk?”

“Like what?”

“I think it would be kind of rude,” the titan let out a hiss of his speakers, shaking his head, “It is fine! I can ask-”

“You can ask. I don’t mind,” Charybdis tilted their head, “I’m not...good at small talk anyways,”

The titan looked down at the sea semi-titan before looking up and towards the horizon. The sun was starting to set now, casting a golden aura over the waves. The white caps glittered like they were covered in jewels washed up from the depths to be shown to the world for a brief moment.

“How do people see you? At your home base I mean. Like, do they see you as...just one of them or like uh,” he glanced away quickly, speakers crackling with his nerves and fans revving all over again, “a monster or something?”

The question had Charybdis pulling back some, some of the lights around their head winking on and off like a blink. The titan looked away quickly, “Uh, sorry that sounds kind of rude. Could go back to hobbies or something like that,”

“No. It is fine. It really doesn’t bother me,” Charybdis said softly, looking down into the water, the little hands under their head fidgeting again, “I’m a monster to those that have heard of me. Most don’t know I exist actually as I don’t reveal myself to many people,” they traced one hand idly against the rock the titan sat on, “Only my family sees me as just Charybdis,”

The sea cam glanced up, head tilted, “...why do you ask?”

He couldn’t help a laugh at that, tired as he leaned forward, resting his elbows against his thighs, hands held together, “People see me as a monster these days. After what I did,” he could feel the tension rising into his shoulders, his speakers rumbling low, “Wanted to know if it was different for you, outside the Alliance that is,”

Charybdis did the blink of lights before tentatively reaching out, hesitating before putting a hand on the foot dangled into the water, “I don’t think you are a monster. You are very kind,”

“Would you say that if I told you I killed people that I saw as my own family?”

The semi-titan hesitated, but didn’t pull back, “Did you mean to do it?”

“Does it matter if I did or not?” the titan let out a low growl, curling in on himself a bit, “It was a parasite. I lost control of everything, like being forced to shut off for days, not knowing what was going on for days in the dark. It felt like, knowing your body was moving, hearing the world, and all it felt like was pain, screams…”

His hands inched up to clutch at his head, one hand going to back of his neck as if he could curl his fingers around the parasite that was no longer there, digging into his mind, “Then suddenly waking up, not knowing where I was, seeing how many were dead, feeling every ache and those upgrades digging into me. I don’t know. I should’ve done something,”

Charybdis let out a soft sound, giving a small rub to his foot, “That sounds so awful, but it doesn’t sound like it was your fault,”

The titan shook his head, “I get many won’t forgive me. I wouldn’t,” he let out a sigh, both hands moving now to cover over the front speaker that served as his face, “Look at me, trauma dumping when we just met,”

“I don’t mind,” the sea cam, looked down at the water, “If anything, I can relate to that. Hurting others without meaning to,”

Their hand continue to rub over the foot, the small tickles of electricity sending a rather pleasant, slow sensation up his leg that had him squirming a bit but not pulling away, “yeah?”

“I’ve hurt people accidentally too. Killed others because I was told that was my purpose. I felt so bad about it and just...just stopped talking to anyone. Stopped interacting with anyone other than my siblings. If I just kept myself deep enough in the water and never spoke again, then I wouldn’t have to be the monster that my engineer made me to be,”

The sea cam sunk into the water some, now up to their neck as the leaned against the rock, “It is very lonely to live like that,”

The titan leaned forward, raising a hand, hesitant before brushing fingers against the shoulder struts of the sea cam, “Sounds like it, but I understand that feeling. Without my chief engineer, I think I would try to do the same thing,” he gave a small laugh, “But she doesn’t let anyone wallow on her watch, so she gets me outside as much as possible,”

Charybdis let out a warble at the touch, tensing, before slowly relaxing, leaning into it as if they had never had someone give them that barest bit of touch before, “I don’t think you deserve to be isolated,” they murmured softly, “You are very kind and I think there are plenty of people in your faction and beyond who still adore you. You fight so well, fly like an eagle in the sky and,”

The sea cam paused as they sunk in the water some, their voice growing soft again, “And even talk to a sea monster like me,”

There was a whir of the titan’s fans at those words, a spark of embarrassment and warmth. Titan Speakerman looked down at the semi-titan, letting out a soft laugh, “I guess it is easy to say those things about me when we just met a few days ago,”

The titan hesitated a moment before he extended a hand, nervously, down to the sea camera, “But I don’t think you deserve to be isolated either. You seem nice too, if super shy,”

Charybdis stared at the offered hand, almost as if confused what to do with the gesture as they looked from it and up to the titan speakerman, “Huh?”

“I don’t want you to be alone either,” he felt the nerves come up as he leaned forward, hand still offered, “So, uh, maybe we can just be alone together yeah? A pair of outcasts from our own factions, a pair of monsters to everyone else,”

Charybdis shook their head, “You aren’t a monster though,”

“And neither are you,”

The sea cam let out a squeak, sinking into the water. The titan just gave a little chuckle, “So. uh...do you...want to hold hands about it?”

“Hold hands?”

“What usually happens when someone holds out a hand to you like this,”

The sea cam did the blink of lights about their head, looking now to his outstretched hand and with some hesitance they reached over. It was awkward, more as it seemed Charybdis was not sure what to do with the small act of offered comfort. They brushed fingers against his own, then the palm, resting it some there, jumping when he moved to thread their fingers together. There was a shock, small, not painful and perhaps a tad pleasant.

Charybdis looked down at their held hands, the water churning around them as their fans kicked up the water in an obvious show of embarrassment. Not that the titan speakerman had much room to talk either with how his own were kicking up a tick more as they sat there, holding hands.

“Your hand is warm,” Charybdis stammered out softly.

“Yeah? Well you got a nice hand too. Really strong feeling, but delicate,” the titan offered back with an awkward laugh.

Truly his flirting game was unmatched, but the shy sea cam still gave a flustered warble, sinking in the water regardless.

“It is nice to hold your hand,”

“Well, can hold both of them if you want,”

The titan offered the other one, leaning a touch down towards the water, “No pressure,”

Charybdis let out a laugh, shyly putting their other hand in his until they were sitting there, holding hands. The sun was lower on the horizon, casting final warm rays up against the clouds and highlighting everything with rich colors of violet, red, and orange. Charybdis tilted their head, looking up at him as they let their fingers curl more into the hold, allowing it to be a big tighter, as if enjoying the touch.

“I’ve never held hands with someone before,”

The admittance had the titan letting out a disbelieving huff of his speakers,“Never?”

The sea cam shook their head, “I’m always...worried I’ll hurt them. Shock them by accident since I can’t control it at all,”

The titan gave a hum before giving a tug, making the semi-titan squeak as they were pulled out of the water some and feeling another jolt of their shock through his frame. A few warnings went off, but the feeling wasn’t painful. An obvious tingle and a hint of pleasure, but nothing he couldn’t easily handle.

“Well,” he began, now with the semi-titan now halfway out of the water, “I haven’t noticed any of your shocks yet. Right now, I felt a tingle,”

“Oh,”

They were leaned in closer now, enough to feel the heat coming off both of them, the loud hum of fans more than obvious. Neither one of them was speaking now. It wouldn’t take much to just lean in a bit closer at this point and leave only inches between them. Maybe less than that. Some wild thought at the back of his processors wanted to do just that. Let one hand trail up under the head to press against sensitive wires there while letting heads knock together and finally give a unit version of a kiss. An innocent little brush of fingers, but if it was returned, then maybe-

The loud bang of a far off explosion had both of them startling, Charybdis squeaking and trying to duck into the water while still holding hands, nearly tugging the titan off his seat. That prompted the sea cam to let go and duck in the water while the titan let go to keep from going headfirst into the brink, clutching at his perched like a spooked cat, on the alert.

He only began to relax when his sensors picked up one of the Alliance ships in the distance doing some sort of evening training game. The titan hissed out a sigh, noting he should have remembered about that happening nearby.

“nothing to worry about,” Titan Speakerman murmured out, “Not any sort of enemy,”

“Alliance technically are my enemy,” Charybdis murmured from where they had ducked down, hiding away again, “You and Circuit are the only ones that don’t...shoot at me on sight,”

Those words had the titan giving a low rumble of distaste. Rationally, there was no reason to be upset. Charybdis was part of the Conglomerate, a neutral, but not entirely well liked faction. There were treaties in place and technically, Charybdis was skirting those by being here.

At the same time, the thought of someone just shooting at another unit that wasn’t doing anything wrong had the titan bristling just a bit. Especially as he was considering Charybdis a friend. A friend who actually understood the mixed up feelings in his head. It was easy to share how he felt weirdly enough. Enough so he had just spilled it all out awkwardly the first time they talked.

If Whistle heard about that, she was going to sigh something awful and smack him with something for being so dense.

But then, Charybdis has shared right back and left him...seen for the first time in a while.

Like finally he could start unpacking all the guilt.

“I would never shoot you on sight. I might make a lot of noise, but that isn’t the same as shooting most of the times,”

“You are very loud,”

The titan ducked his head sheepishly, “Is that a bad thing?”

Charybdis shook their head, the little hands under their head fidgeting again, “No. I think it is...cute how loud you get when happy,”

The words had a warmth rising up in the titan’s core and he couldn’t help a louder thrum that started to peak up into a small screech. He was trying to hold it back, causing the sound to be more like a squeal as he leaned forward, arched like a cat all but ready to pounce, “You think I’m cute?! I think you are cute too! In that shy way!”

Charybdis let out a warbled then, ducking under the water deep enough that only the lights of their head could be seen. The titan startled at that before sinking back, “Sorry! Was that coming on too strong?”

The response back was a series of bubbles up to the surface of the water that had the titan letting out another sound caught between concern and also how cute that was. If he was more water-tight, he might just dive in after them. Instead, he laid out flat on his perch, reaching both hands down into the water, holding them out to the shy sea camera. There was a moment of pause before Charybdis moved to hold them against, giving a gentle squeeze that had the titan speaker warbling all the louder and give another tug to lightly pull them back up to the surface.

“I don’t mean to offend you,”

Charybdis shook their head, “I’m not offended just… you think I’m cute?”

“Yeah,” the titan looked away, feeling his fans creep up a notch, “And fun to be around. And the color teal is a nice color on you,”

“Oh...red is nice on you too,”

They hadn’t let go of where they were holding hands. There was something to be said about being able to hold hands of someone that was more akin to his own size. He certainly didn’t have to painfully aware of being as gentle as possible or risk harm.

He let his grip tighten a bit and give a small pull closer. Charybdis let out a warble, still so shy, but didn’t pull away this time. Their gaze fell down to the held hands, before giving a shy glance up.

“It is...nice to talk to you. I don’t feel like I’m…” their voice dropped to a soft whisper, “Inadequate, if that makes sense. Like, I’m not just a thing,”

“Yeah?”

“You said I wasn’t a monster. You are the first one to really say that. Even my siblings believe that, as surely as they believe themselves monsters,” Charybdis gave a squeeze to the titan’s hands, “It means a lot. Probably more than I can possibly say,”

The Titan Speakerman could feel his fans humming again and words once more becoming so hard to grasp. Tongue-tied was the human term for it. That inability to focus and find the right words to say. He was stumbling, but he didn’t let go of their hands, that touch was grounding.

A sure sign of the trust being shared.

“I don’t know if I’m the best person to judge on that, given what I did,” he managed out at last, “I can’t take back what I did. I nearly killed a fellow titan, wiped out so many of my own faction,”

There was a crackle in his speakers as he looked down at their held hands, “I know they keep saying it wasn’t my fault. The therapist says it. The engineers say it. The high command says it, but what does their words matter when I can’t see myself as anything but one? That I’m the one who can’t ever say it wasn’t my fault?”

“Its hard,” Charybdis said softly, one hand letting go then, tentatively reaching up to touch the side of one speaker comfortingly, “And I can’t say I have answers. I hid away from everyone and became afraid to be seen,”

The sea camera let out a quiet laugh, “Which I think makes you so much braver than you think, because you still let others see you and I didn’t see a monster when I first saw you. I saw someone who was free, a bit loud and overly eager, but someone with a very kind core who inspires even someone like me to maybe have a little hope,”

His fans were revving hard and his head was tilted, leaned into that comforting touch against the side of his head. There was a thrum of a purr deep in his bass speakers that he wasn’t even aware of as his free hand rose up to trace larger fingers carefully against the side of Charybdis’s head.

“I must be a good actor, as I didn’t really have much hope in anything,” he leaned in a touch, feeling embarrassed and warm all at once, “until I met you. Just even playing a little chase, I felt...normal again. For a moment. Like the whole world finally decided to let me be me again,”

There was an embarrassed squeak from the sea camera, another little noises that the speaker couldn’t help but chuckle over, but again, they didn’t sink away.

Maybe just lightly leaned into his touch, the lights around their head glowing a touch brighter in the low light of the nearly vanished sun, “I think you are wonderful...when you are allowed to be yourself,”

“Loud and all?”

“Loud and all,” Charybdis said with a small laugh.

They both fell to a gentle silence with only the rush of the ocean against rocks creating any sort of din. The world felt peaceful for once, like the war was a thousand light years away on some other planet and the two of them were granted their own little place of peace. The Titan Speakerman couldn’t stop purring, letting fingers trail over Charybdis’s head, being mindful to avoid sensitive wires. More as he didn’t want to rush anything, even if a part of him wanted to do just that.

The longing for far more touch and to explore that new burning in his core that was familiar, and yet also becoming something unfamiliar all at once.

“I should get back home,” Charybdis said softly, “I’m expected back soon,”

He couldn’t help the disappointed rumble in his speakers as the sea camera pulled away, but he knew well how tight schedules could be. Like the fact he was overdue and had turned off his communications and no doubt the whole engineer staff was worried, let along the chief engineer since last he spoke to her, he had admitted to playing with explosive mines.

“Could we meet up again?” he blurted out the question as he pushed himself up into a sitting position.

Charybdis shifted, considering the question before nodding shyly, “I would like that,”

“Maybe find a place to meet? Like, here seems nice,”

“We could meet her again,” Charybdis shifted in the water, “But might be a few days,”

He bit back the disappointed noise, but knew that was also wise to do so. They still were a part of different factions. No doubt high command would raise the alarm about him sitting around talking with the enemy. Not like they were sharing secrets.

Other than the personal ones they had both kept to their cores but now confided to each other. Their little shared isolation of feeling adrift.

“three days then?” the titan speaker put forth.

“That should be fine. Near evening,” Charybdis said, starting to push out from the rock, drifting gracefully out into the froth of the ocean more, “Maybe after your patrol so you don’t get in trouble for not reporting back,”

“What are they going to do? Fire me?” The titan gave a small chuckle, “Really there is little the Alliance can do if a titan decides they want to go out,”

Charybdis looked almost confused at his words as they tilted their head, “You just...do what you want?”

“Kind of. I still care about my faction and doing my part for the war and being their defender,” he said as he hopped up to his feet, starting to rev his jets, “But I am still able to make my own choices,”

“Oh,”

The sea camera fidgeted a bit, “You really are free as a bird,”

“Maybe. If I was really free, I would want to see you tomorrow and the day after that, and the day after that,” he admitted with an embarrassed rumble.

“You would get bored seeing me so often though…”

He shook his head, “No, I don’t think I would,”

Mostly because his core was already aching at the thought of not seeing his new friend and he was not a patient titan. Not to mention something felt different. It felt like the first time he had been around Titan Cameraman to actually talk to him outside of combat. That warm buzzing feeling all warm in his chest that his chief engineer had teased was him having a crush.

It felt like that, but different. A stronger sort of buzz.

“Well, I’ll see you again,” Charybdis said, starting to duck into the water, “in three days, at this point,”

“Yeah. I look forward to it!”

He couldn’t help a loud shriek then of goodbye, excited as ever, although this time Charybdis made their own loud noise back, although it was still a touch softer than what the speaker titan was use to. He jumped into the air, hovering there a moment until he lost sight of Charybdis into the depths of the ocean, far below the waves and into parts of the world only they knew.

He felt light and heavy all at once as he headed finally back to base. The sun had set fully by the time he touched down and knowing full well he was...five hours past his ETA time to report. Already he could see a member of high command stalking towards him in a bluster with Whistle having to jog just to keep up with the long strides of the larger speaker.

“Titan! Report! And there better be a reason your com was turned off and you weren’t broadcasting your location nor responding!” the large speaker barked.

“Hard to talk to someone when you have someone else talking in your auditory receptor,” The titan said with a shrug, “And then forgot to turn it on while I was tracking something,”

The lie came easier than it probably should have as he stood there, arms crossed, looking for all purposes aloof and without a care.

The larger speaker for high command gave a dissatisfied rumble before looking at Whistle, “Does this match with the communication you had before he cut off?”

Whistle shoved her hands into her pockets and gave a shrug, “Sounds about right,”

She gave a pointed look to the titan and in return, the titan gave a subtle nod that had her posture easing more, “I maybe was talking his auditory receptor off about something when he had to go radio silent a bit. Nothing out of the ordinary,”

The High Commander let out a low growl before pointing a finger back at the titan, “I expect a full detailed report as soon as possible,”

“Of course,”

The high command gave one last growl of the speakers before he was turning on his heels and stalking away. The titan watched him go, giving a huff before moving to lower a hand to his chief engineer, “What crawled up his aft?”

“I don’t know. Our titan being late without any word?” Whistle drawled as she stepped onto his palm, “Am I going to get the full story then?”

“I don’t know, you going to tell high command if I do?”

Whistle snorted as she was lifted up to the titan’s shoulder, taking her usual seat as he headed towards the hangar, “I just covered you. I think it shows well enough where I stand on the issue,”

The Titan Speakerman gave a hum in response, “Then maybe I will once there are no prying speakers about. My official report is tracking possible skibidi naval units and it turned out to be some scramble signal we should probably make note of,”

“Of course. Just a little nothing burger,” Whistle said as she took out her tablet to start looking over his systems, “Nothing to do with the mines?”

The titan gave a small huff as he ducked down just a bit to step into the hangar and move to the bay for check in and debrief as well as system reviews before detox and cleanup, “Was just playing a game there,”

The titan gave a glance around, pausing just a moment as he saw the Executor off to the side, zoned out, although the semi-titan gave a small glance there way. It was still something to get use to having company in the large hangar, especially with Executor being a rather quiet speaker, unusual in that regard, and far too serious. The joke was Whistle had been too locked in while he had been under the influence of the parasite and it resulted in Executor’s more serious nature.

The semi-titan was not armed yet, still in his infancy as an actual unit with training well underway, but he also was not someone the titan speakerman trusted entirely. Not personally at least. Executor was more beholden to the higher ups still, more likely to side with high command over himself or the chief engineer. A kiss-ass is what titan speakerman would call him although Whistle would tell him it was more just Executor was a new unit still feeling things out.

Being a new unit was complicated enough. Being one of the first semi-titans and larger unit born of an AI getting a grasp on everything meant there was a lot for them to take in, consider, and make their opinions known. In their own, quiet, serious, somewhat blunt sort of way.

The Executor watched them for a moment before returning to the book he was reading, giving a faint grumble, “You’re back late,”

“Thanks for noticing,”

“I suppose you are going to give a report on why?”

“In progress,” Whistle said, moving to slide off the Titan’s shoulder and with a hop, jump to her station, “Doing the usual checks for a returning titan. Diagnosis first, check all systems, assess damages, then with permission, download memory banks to confirm details of already given report,”

The Executor gave a small, disinterested shrug at the explanation,“Ah,”

“Would you mind doing me a favor though and going to get some materials from the warehouse? Think I might have to do some hardcore buffering and replacing of some plating,” Whistle said casually.

The Executor was silent before giving a nod and rising to his feet, “of course Chief Engineer,”

The titan watched him leave the hangar before letting out a snort, looking down at her, “One way to get rid of the emo speaker,”

“Oh be nice. He’s practically your sibling given I had to use your code as the basis for his AI,” Whistle tutted, “I would rather you two get along than not,”

“He’s a-”

“I know you don’t like how he goes over our heads to report things to high command, but technically that is what a lot of units are suppose to do and I recall you used to be eager to yap about everything to high command if you got the chance to get praised,” Whistle swiped a finger over the screen of her tablet, “Give him time and he’ll start seeing the higher ups as having their own thumbs up their afts. He isn’t processor-dead and picks up on things quickly,”

The titan speakermand grumbled, shaking his head as he stared off, trying to be patient for the usual checks before he was free to go to recharge, “Sure,”

“So, while he’s away, mind telling me what was really happening out there? I really don’t want to be putting my codes in your memory disk to see,” Whistle said, setting aside her tablet.

The Titan Speakerman shifted, his fans giving a faint rev before he sighed, leaning in, “Met that sea camera again. Their name is Charybdis and...we kind of became friends,”

“Kind of?”

“Well, I mean, okay, we are very much friends, but, you know,” the titan waved his hand a bit, “friends who you kind of want to, sit a little closer with?”

“So like you and Titan Cameraman?” Whistle asked with a snicker.

The Titan Speakerman gave a loud huff, although his speakers kicked up, “I had a crush for all of two weeks!”

“Uh huh,”

“This is different!”

Whistle tilted her head slowly, “Oh really now?”

the Titan Speakerman gave a glance to the hangar door, making sure the Executor wasn’t going to wander in before he leaned in closer, voice as low as he could make it, “I really like them. Talking to them makes me feel...normal again,”

That had Whistle pausing a moment at her desk, her hand pausing on the blueprints she was double checking, “You don’t say,”

“They get me and they don’t care I’m awkward or don’t know what to say sometimes,” the titan fidgeted, “and unlike Titan Cameraman, I don’t know, it feels like they need me too? Like… me being me, is what they need too,”

The chief engineer looked up, silent before letting out a sigh and coming over to pat at one of his hands, “Sounds like you got the love bug bad,”

“...I didn’t open any emails that said I love you,”

Whistle snorted, “not that love bug,” she moved to jab a finger at his core, “Looks like your crush might be a touch serious this time,”

“Oh. Right,” the titan drummed his fingers against the causeway lightly, “Maybe. Yeah. I am..going to see them again. In three days. You know to catch up and hang out,”

Whistle was quiet, just giving a rub over one of his fingers with that sort of silent concern, “High command isn’t going to like you hanging out with a Conglomerate and I can’t say I’m one-hundred percent sold on all of this. Nice or not, those units have their own concerning features and quirks,”

The Titan Speakerman tensed just a touch, “Whistle-”

“I am not going to tell you what to do, going to set the record straight there,” she said firmly, “I see you as my overgrown yappie son, but you also are more than capable of making your own choices and,” the chief engineer let out a sigh, “I can tell this is good for you. Has been a while since I’ve seen you in good spirits,”

“I don’t want to worry you,”

“Being a chief engineer means accepting you worry a lot,” she gave a small laugh, “But I would rather see you happy than miserable, so guess on record, I don’t know a thing about you and your puppy love for a sea camera,”

The titan felt a hum of embarrassment again, his fans whirring a bit as he looked away, “Not a puppy crush. I just want to make them happy too. Like they make me happy,”

“Fine then. I don’t know anything about you falling hard and fast for a mermaid,” Whistle corrected, “And you are clear to go clean up and get to recharge and I mean recharge,”

The chief engineer pointed to her neck as she gave him a look, “I better see you plugged in proper or I’m having Executor put it in and be your emotional support speaker,”

“No,”

“You already share a hangar now,”

“And I don’t need him being a judgmental body pillow,” the titan drawled, “Bad enough you gave him the top bunk,”

“He’s lighter and that bed was built quickly so rather not risk your weight breaking it and crushing down on the new semi-titan. Pretty sure high command would throw a fit if he got damaged so soon after his online date,”

“I’m sure you got warranty on him,”

Whistle snorted, “Ha. Didn’t know you were getting a sense of humor like Optical,” she gave a shooing motion, “now get going off to recharge. You got a long day tomorrow running training simulations with the other titans,”

“Right,”

He slid out of the diagnosis seat and headed into the decontamination room, painstakingly getting undressed. With all the hardware and offensive weaponry strapped to him, it was always a hassle to get stripped down. However, it was required before every recharge, just to make sure all the ports were blown out of debris and everything cleaned up. Being a titan meant it was rather easy to get dirty from just stepping outside for a minute and with all the delicate circuitry and systems that went into a titan’s body, cleanliness was a top priority.

The hot spray of water was nice, followed by the automatic buffers moving into action to get scratches out and apply wax to maintain the finish from rust. He still hated when the air machines started off, always giving an unhappy rubble as they blasted out his ports and making him jump. If it was just warm water and soap with the massaging pressure of the larger spinning washers, he would have been fine.

The air was always the worse, especially at his neck ports. Without fail it had him making noises and trying to reach back to cover it as it felt too much like a parasite trying to get in.

Eventually the decontamination dinged and he was permitted to leave, grabbing the titan size towel to dry off her and there before getting into the recharge clothes. More simple clothing, less thick and more lose to allow more comfortable ventilation while at rest.

He flopped into his berth, once more pausing before letting out a sigh and picking up the recharge cord. He stared at it for a long minute before rolling over and tentatively raising one hand to feel about at the ports near his neck and resisting the urge to flinch away as he put the recharge cord in. the feeling of the cord going in had him writhing a bit, nearly ripping it back out with a sound of panic before forcing himself to calm down and just roll over, arms crossed over his chest, and try to get some sleep and ignore the feeling.

If he was recharged, he would perform better tomorrow in the training and the higher ups would be more pleased. That would keep them off his back during the long patrols.

Which meant more time to spend with Charybdis without anyone really noting oddities in his return times.

Three days for from now he could see them again. He just had to be patient.

He let himself start to power down, even as hie let out a loud wistful sigh.

Three days was going to feel like years, of that he was more than certain.

[pughat]

Tiny bit of Cameraman OC brainrot for everyone! <3 Explaining a bit of the Prattle and Tattle LORE

Title: If All I Got is You, Bro Rating: PG Featured Characters: Prattle and Tattle (Cameraman Ocs)

Warnings: mentor figure berating, yelling parental figure, wholesome bro feels

Summary: Everyone told Tattle he was giving up on everything, but to him, he was finding something that meant more than everything.

-------------------------------

“You are throwing your life away,”

Tattle sat before the desk of his mentor, staring hard at his hands. They were resting lightly on his knees, although the fingers curled slightly with every word said. His lens remained fixed on them as he refused to look up at the camera before him that had been his mentor all his life. A father figure. A friend.

Now an angry higher-up chewing him out for his failures all over again.

For the first time in a long while, Tattle had nothing to say. He never had anything to say before his mentor except yes sir. Of course sir. It won’t happen again sir.

That had always been their relationship after all. He was a unit made to be an officer. It was expected. All of his training to this point was geared towards him being able to take the reigns and lead others into battle. He was to climb the ranks and become one of the higher ups in time and sit in the swanky office to bark orders at everyone else.

That had been what he was made to do, coded to do. It was what he had trained to do.

Now though, Tattle sat here in an office, silent, hands in his lap, refusing to look at his mentor and the papers laying on the desk between the two of them.

“This promotion is your future, Tiberius. This is what you are made for, what you trained so hard to be. You did not train to become some common soldier,” his mentor leaned forward, fixing him in the lens of his camera, “And to change your name to something so ridiculous, what the hell are you thinking?”

Tattle didn’t speak, hands gripping hard at his knees as he tried to find his voice, but it was hard when he was alone. Skewered to his seat like this under his mentor’s disappointed glare, the younger cameraman wanted nothing more than to stutter into apologies and quickly fix the situation.

But he didn’t.

He was trembling but he fought hard to try and force his processors to say something.

All that came out was a faint, croaked out, “I know,”

“You know. What do you know Tiberius? Tell me! Please enlighten me as to why you are doing this?”

“My…my name is Tattle,” he finally managed out, “Not Tiberius,”

“Cut the crap. That name is ridiculous. No officer would ever have-“

“I’m not an officer, so it doesn’t matter what my name is,” Tattle blurted out, “So yes, I’m Tattle now and…and I am just a basic unit,”

He didn’t dare to look up at the looming cameraman before him. Right now his mentor felt like he might be the size of a titan with how his aura hung heavy in the room. Tattle felt so small then. Small, weak, and utterly useless, but he clung to the choice he made.

The first choice he had actually made in his entire life of just doing what his mentor wanted. All the books he sat in front of studying for harder and harder tests, the various tutoring sessions spent making sure his grades in the military academy would set him apart as an exemplary. He had put everything into this moment, to be seen and to be offered a position as an officer.

Now he was turning it down, all just to stick close to someone who made him feel like his voice mattered.

“You are a disgrace, you know that? You are going to throw everything away, just like that? You are going to deprive the Alliance of an officer, forgo your duty to protect this world, for what?” his mentor leaned forward, the contempt dripping off each word, “Some bubmbling excuse of a unit that barely even got through basic,”

Tattle’s hands curled tight into fists as he gave a nod, “Yeah,”

It was the only word he could get out and it felt so small, so damn weak. He wanted so much to speak louder, to shout out all the reasons why he was doing this, to lay out on the table all the things he had never said before, but he only got out a single word. A solitary single little word like he was spitting on a titan’s foot and expecting that to do anything.

“Yeah. That is all you can say? You can’t even begin to defend your idiotic choices!?”

Tattle jumped as the papers were knocked off the desk and a hand grabbed tight onto his collar, yanking him forward. Now Tattle was finally forced to look up into the angry lens of his mentor and feel like he was about to be swallowed up by that abyss, the light below all but blinding as it glowed with hideous anger.

“You are weak! A disgrace! You know that?! You spent all this time, all this energy, and for what? Wasting my time, wasting the time of all your trainers. Wasting the time of the Alliance that sunk resources into shaping you into a commander!”

The hand slammed on the desk and Tattle jumped before he yelped as he was shoved back into his chair by his mentor. Still he sat up again, returning to the polished posture of one trained to be an officer. He sat there, ram-rod straight with a posture broken into him from the moment he came online. His vents flared, trying to suck in air as he so desperately sought out his voice in all the jumble of emotions in his head.

“M-maybe…maybe you should have asked, from the start if this…if this is what I ever wanted,” Tattle stammered out, “Instead of…just making me do it, sir,”

“You never said no,”

He wanted to scream it was because he was scared and because he thought there was no other options. That his life and all other units were pre-made for certain roles and no one had a choice but to do their duty. That they couldn’t just say no or just walk away. That even a titan couldn’t decide one day to just not be themselves.

Not until he met Prattle.

Not until he realized that at the end of the day, if he didn’t want to do something, if he wasn’t cut out for it, if he was terrified of everything he had to become and wanted a life made with his own hands, that it was there.

Even if it was scary to pull away.

He wasn’t alone. Even as he sat there in that room alone with the monster that was his mentor glaring down at him, he wasn’t alone and, in the end, everything eventually passed. Every hurt was a temporary thing. Every fear a passing moment.

“I am saying no now sir,” Tattle managed to say quietly, “And...and I’m not changing my mind,”

He saw the other cameraman’s grip tighten on the edge of his desk, like he would leap forward to bash in Tattle’s head for his words. Instead, there was a heavy exhale of fans as his mentor sat back in his chair, his lens still fixed viciously upon Tattle.

“I am going to make sure you’ll never get a chance to move up in the ranks, Tattle,” his mentor spat, “You’ll be stuck as some common unit, in the worse assignments imaginable for the rest of your goddamn life!”

“That’s fine sir,” Tattle said quietly, “I’ll do my part,”

His mentor was seething before he pulled back at last, putting his back to Tattle, “Get out of my sight,”

Tattle rose to his feet stiffly and gave a polite bow to his mentor, his former mentor now, and gave a salute, “Yes sir,”

He left that office feeling in a strange sort of daze. Nothing felt really real as he walked away from that office for probably the last time. Some part of him knew the two of them would never talk again. Probably wouldn’t ever see each other again. Something about that hurt deep in Tattle’s chest to think the unit that taught him everything, that stood by his side for everything was now going to be gone, it almost felt like seeing a friend die.

It hurt.

It hurt so much.

He didn’t run out of the office like some scared unit. He walked out, hands behind his back, every inch a trained officer, even if he held his head low. His crisp black suit felt heavy on his shoulders as he walked. He left the offices where the higher ups and officers of the Alliance took their seats, organizing and preparing for battle.

He walked out of the barrack entirely, pass units that were going about their own preparations, some getting ready for drills and other basic training of the academy. He kept walking until he was out at the miserable scrap of what could have been a garden but no one cared to maintain it. It was said that some civil engineer had made it but had departed after the big fight at the base.

It meant though people didn’t really care to frequent the place, making it a perfect space for the double-trouble fools of the Alliance.

“Oi! Tattle!”

The cameraman jolted before relaxing as he saw the white cameraman in the black bow tie sitting on one of the overgrown benches, waving a hand excitedly, “There you are!”

“Prattle!”

He breathed out the name with relief, hurrying over, “I’m glad you’re here!”

“You dolt! I told you I would be here,” Prattle huffed, crossing his arms, “I told you I wouldn’t leave the Alliance if you were going to stick it out,”

“I know,” Tattle paused before collapsing into the seat next to him, “I guess…well,”

He fidgeted, looking away, “My mentor, I guess ex-mentor, more or less tossed me out of his office and told me to go die in a toilet bowl,”

“Took it that bad did he?”

Tattle nodded, “Oh yeah. I think my future as an officer of any kind is well and truly dead,”

Saying that out loud was both a relief and a bitter hole in his chest, but he didn’t regret the choice. Not for a moment. Prattle was quiet a moment before he reached over, taking Tattle’s hand in his own to give it a squeeze, “Sorry about that. I know you really tried and all. Always the one studying and taking this all so seriously,”

Tattle laughed, “I think I only tried to keep other people happy,” he said, voice tired, “Most days I just…wanted to toss it aside and do something else. Like being a workaholic, thinking that if I didn’t do my best the world would crumble, well, that…that wasn’t me,”

He looked down at where Prattle was holding his hand, giving it a tight squeeze, “I really hated you at first, you know?” Tattle said quietly, “How you never took anything seriously and getting under my wires with how loud and careless you seemed. I think now I was just jealous you could be that and no one was breathing down your neck to do better,”

“Heh, well, same to you! I hated you because you had everything and all that drive and ability, made me feel like I was just a dollar store toaster! Like what was the point of me being here in this army when they had units like you?” Prattle returned the squeeze of the hand, “Guess we both were kind of like two peas in a miserable pod,”

“I like to think of us like a peanut butter and pickle sandwich. You don’t think we go together, but we go together so good, or so I’m told,” Tattle laughed, “Given neither of us can eat food or ever were human to know food,”

“It is the metaphor that counts,” Prattle said with a nudge.

The two fell into a quiet, companionable silence and it still felt strange to Tattle he was sitting with Prattle. They really had hated each other and gone for the throat like a pair of feral skibidis when they first met. From day one of the academy even. Theodore and Tiberius, a pair of trouble-makers always getting in trouble with each other due to some fight. Plenty of loud arguments and shouting had been had. They had pranked each other a dozen times and caught numerous poor souls in the cross-hairs.

They had been rivals of the utmost hate, completely opposites in every way, or so it seemed.

Now though, there wasn’t a person in this whole world Tattle trusted more to be at his side. When all was said and done, the two of them always ended up in the same boat, a pair of idiots, sandwiched together.

“So now what?” Prattle asked.

“Well, guess we wait for our assignments,” Tattle said with a quiet laugh, “And give how much my ex-mentor wants to see me in the dirt, I think we are going to have either some lethal battle where we are going to be thrown in front of the skibidis as bait so the titan can kill them and look badass, or we are going to get some really boring duty like guarding the High Commander’s bathroom or something,”

Prattle gave a snort, “Well, both sound fine enough, right? We’ll make do with it, as long as we are together,”

“Yeah,” Tattle leaned against the other cameraman, “We should really make a statement though to make sure everyone now knows we come as a pair,”

“And black is not our color,” Prattle added, “Maybe we try blue eh? Blue is allowed,”

“Navy blue,” Tattle said with a chuckle, “They actually allowed that color because they thought we were going to have like a navy instead of the ten ships moving about,”

“Think it is down to six? Four of them vanished in a terrible hurricane or something and sunk,” Prattle said with a shrug, “Hey, maybe they will put us on a boat. I always wanted to see beaches,”

“And oceans,” Tattle said with a sigh, “I think when the war is over, I’m going to open some little restaurant or rental shop on a beach. Just relax and go about my own business and chat with locals and tourists alike,”

“That sounds nice. We could do it together!” Prattle said with a happy tilt of his head.

“Well duh! We do everything together! That’s what true bros are for!”

Prattle nodded before hopping up to his feet and placing his hands on his hips, “You know, in all the stories and movies and all that, when two bros like us appear, they always make a pact. Like some kind of oath and all that to live by going forward,”

Tattle’s lens flexed a tad, “Like sworn brothers stuff? Dying on the same day and all that?”

“Yeah! But uh, not going to be big on dying for the other, I mean, I would die for you, but you know,” Prattle sighed, shoulders slumping, “I’d rather we both live or if I died that you lived on,”

“Bro? The feeling is mutual,” Tattle said in a near whisper, “Neither of should ever die, but if I kicked the bucket, I want you to tell all the embarrassing stories about me into the gossip multiverse!”

“Bro!”

“Bro!”

And like that they were hugging and laughing like a couple of idiots. Tattle would have cried and maybe he did a little, because this felt different than his ex-mentor and all the time spent cracking his lens for some dream that wasn’t even his.

With Prattle, he actually felt like he was reaching for something he wanted.

“So let’s do an oath, yeah?” Prattle said stepping back, holding up his hand, “We never leave the other behind. Where one goes, the other is right there next to him. We don’t get taken apart by no one, not even a titan can break this bond of brotherhood!”

“Not even the heat death of the universe can break us up bro!” Tattle declared, holding up his own hand, “And if the other should die, it is now in our sacred bro oath that the other one has to live on, to spread horrible legends about the other to all the new units, to keep the gossip alive!”

“We are bros, from womb to tomb!”

“Birth to berth!”

“Units to slag,”

“Porcelain bowl to porcelain dust!”

“Not even death will do us part until we both are moldering in the ground!”

“Forever more, and forever will be-“

“My best and bestest-“

They slammed their hands together with all the force they could muster, holding on tight.

“Bro!”

They said it together, perfectly in sync, just how they were always in sync, from the moment they had their first argument. Bros before they knew they were bros. Destined to be bros. When the bro constellation of Gemini came into existence, it was foretold that they would be bros forever more, greater than any other bros, destined to be the greatest legendary bros of all time.

At least that was the narrative in Tattle’s head and he was more than certain the same was for Prattle.

“And uh, want to add a little something to this oath, now that you already shook on it,” Prattle murmured, “If I ever do kick the big bucket to the big camera bag in the sky… go become an officer, yeah? Become some big important commander just to stick it to everyone and declare me the greatest hero in the Alliance with a big statue and everything,”

“Yeah? Well if I kick the bucket, you leave the Alliance and go start a circus, just like you said you would,” Tattle teased back gently.

“I will, just for you. I’ll name my best clown after you,” Prattle promised with a chuckle.

They gave a final shake of their hands before stepping back, silent for a moment before Prattle nudged Tattle in the side with a cheeky elbow, “Now, how about finding some matching blue suits, eh?”

Tattle nudged him back, giggling already, “After you of course!”

It was painful to close one door, but Tattle felt in doing that, he found there was a hallway of other ones to try and it wouldn’t be scary with Prattle at side. Prattle was his courage and confidence and he hoped he could become the same for his friend.

They were bros.

And that was all he needed to find out what wild future he could find that would be determined only by him and no one else.

[pughat]

Questions About Creating Your OCs

‘Cause sometimes the stories of how OCs come to be are just as interesting as the OCs, themselves. Tell me how your virtual kids came into the world.

What was the first element of your OC that you remember considering (name, appearance, backstory, etc.)? 

Did you design them with any other characters/OCs from their universe in mind? 

How did you choose their name? 

In developing their backstory, what elements of the world they live in played the most influential parts? 

Is there any significance behind their hair color? 

Is there any significance behind their eye color? 

Is there any significance behind their height? 

What (if anything) do you relate to within their character/story? 

Are they based off of you, in some way? 

If they have an LI, how much of their character is tailored to be compatible to that person? 

Did you know what the OC’s sexuality would be at the time of their creation? 

What have you found to be most difficult about creating art for your OC (any form of art: writing, drawing, edits, etc.)? 

How far past the canon events that take place in their world have you extended their story, if at all? 

If you had to narrow it down to 2 things that you MUST keep in mind while working with your OC, what would those things be? 

What is something about your OC can make you laugh? 

What is something about your OC can make you cry? 

Is there some element you regret adding to your OC or their story? 

What is the most recent thing you’ve discovered about your OC? 

What is your favorite fact about your OC?

[pughat]

The brainrot from part one festered into me wanting to write more on slow burn developing relationships based on mutual feelings....so here is chapter better introducing Charybdis and their very crappy chief engineer.

Title: Mysterious Fathoms Below PT TWO: Where Monsters Dwell PART ONE

Rating: PG-13

Warnings: Gaslighting and parental manipulation; physical and emotional abuse because Simulcast is terrible; a sad sea camera; Mizzenmatch being a good sibling; ANGST with comfort at the end

Characters: Charybdis (OC; semi-titan Camera OC faction Conglomerate), Simulcast (OC; TV Mad Engineer and parental figure of Charybdis); Mizzenmast (OC, the ship AI and sibling of Char)

Series Summary: A chance encounter leads to something a little more, a little complicated, and a house divided as surely as Romeo and Juliet, with a touch of tragedy and yearning that comes under the terror of a war. Sometimes though, all a person wants is someone who remembers how to play in the simplest form.

-

Chapter Summary: The mysterious unit returns to a home that is far from a home, harboring a small hope that maybe something can come of a small encounter.

------

Underneath the glitzy veneer of the Conglomerate’s mobile base, beneath the idealistic bright lights and cultural mecca it imposed, sat the Bilges. It was spoken of course in hushed tones. Few outside the Conglomerate’s mobile base knew it even existed. Even few still knew exactly what truly went down in the darkest underbelly of the ship, past the whirring and chugging mechanical layer of the ship. It was a place cut off from the rest of the ship, compartmentalize away from prying eyes for both the safety of the residents and guests and the safety of those that called the Bilges home.

The Bilges were five layer sunk deep in the water below the ship, built on its own separate power system and core so to avoid straining the mobile bases main power grid, although little of that power went to use of lights, leaving the Bilges a dreary, foreboding place.

The first floor was the warehouses of the more illicit materials and where the Pharmacist’s lair was located, the elusive master-mind of Vector’s mind-worm empire always hard at work with his craft. Here the more advanced Recyclers began to creep up from the bowels to interact more with units that were not their kind, and be recruited for the various missions that involved a more lethal touch. The large elevator, the only true access point to the Bilges from the main ship, was constantly in motion, taking staff to and from work and moving product up to the teleportation arrays.

Beyond that were four floors of twisted hallways, the Labyrinth where Simulcast’s laboratory was safely guarded within. The twisted halls to led to that secretive lair of travesties were guarded faithfully by the infamous Collateral who was quick to off any units not allowed to be in the Labyrinth, or in most cases, left there to be killed.

The punishment for those that failed the might executives of the Conglomerate could be steep and people vanished into the Bilges often enough to give it a feeling of great fear.

Especially when the bodies of units came out in pieces to be sold or rebuilt into new ones. Some bodies returned as recyclers after a good while as what new AI had taken residents adapted more to their new world.

This was a realm where the worse of the worse resided, from Simulcast’s horrific experiments to the illegal stockpiles, There was little warmth in the place, and yet for Charybdis, it was home as at the lowest part, the deep water hangar could be accessed, giving them a place of rest and reprieve and a place to drop off things they found to collect.

It was also where the dry hangar was for mechanical repairs and check-ins from the chief engineer, as few and far between they were.

Unfortunately though, Charybdis had forgotten that today they were suppose to be in dry dock for updates, upgrades, and basic repairs.

The deep sea camera was reluctant to come into the deep hangar and a part of them wanted to flee entirely. That though wouldn’t do any good as their com was pinging something awful and Simulcast would take her anger to a higher authority until Charybdis had no choice but come back.

They had...just lost track of time on their patrol. Rare was it to see a titan while they were out, let alone one that had decided to play the silly game of chase about the ocean. It had been fun and in that moment, it had been easy for Charybdis to forget everything other than the gentle interaction.

It was so rare that someone outside their siblings didn’t immediately react to them as some monster.

The consequences of that though was arriving back at base, horrendously late, and knowing that their creator, their chief engineer, the one who called themselves their mother when being cruelly sweet, was not going to be pleased with them at all.

Slowly the deep sea camera semi-titan rose up through the familiar pool of the deep hangar, up to the surface where they finally poked their head up and did their best to look extremely sorry in hopes Simulcast would perhaps be merciful.

Hoping for that though was like hoping for a thunderstorm to produce no lightning.

There you fucking are! Do you know how late you are, you damn dead fish!?

Charybdis winced at the sound of the Conglomerate’s chief engineer’s shrill anger, fighting the habit to duck back in the water again and just swim away.

“S-sorry. There was...stuff on the patrol I had to do. Enemies and stuff,”

“And you didn’t bring those enemies back!?”

“I did,”

Charybdis moved to push two of the three toilet corpses up out of the water into the dry hangar and at the feet of the glaring TV, dressed in punk attire and bright pink highlights. An expression of anger was plastered on the screen as the chief engineer stalked around the offered bounty, giving it a kick.

“Ugh. Why are they all stabbed like that?”

“Uh! Had to stab, not shock,”

“Practically useless. Why did you even bring them back?!”

Charybdis shifted in the water, the little hands about their head wringing together, “Because that is what you told me to do,”

“I also told you to shock them and avoid damage! They are useless for research all torn up! Ugh! Why can’t you get anything right?” Simulcast went over to the pool, “So you made me wait extra hours for this heap?! Huh!?”

Charybdis shrank back despite the fact their chief engineer was dwarfed by their size, looking away quickly, “S-sorry!”

“I took valuable time out of my day, away from tending to my darling project, to actually make upgrades for you and compile system updates, and what do you do? Disrespect me by showing up late! By two hours!” Simulcast snarled, “And all you bring back are useless, torn up corpses and excuses. Honestly! You are the absolute worse of my creations, the literal mold that Collateral scrapes off the walls to eat sometimes!”

Charybdis bit back the want to whine as they felt their cores start to seize up with that familiar sense of shame, guilt, and sadness as they continued to avoid looking at their creator, “I’m...I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to lose track of time,”

The angry, expression never left the screen of the punk dressed chief Engineer, the fuchsia TV all but growling low in her speakers as she pointed to the dry hangar’s repair bay. Charybdis felt their core sinking deeper than the trenches of the ocean knowing that this was not going to be a pleasant time due to their mistakes.

Just as it was always their fault.

“Well, come on! You wasted enough of my time today, so let’s get the fuck out of the water, into the bay, so I can lock you in to get your stupid upgrades and updates over with! Not that you deserve them! I should let you rot until you are only good for scrap!” Simulcast snarled.

Charybdis couldn’t help a soft warbling noise, but they began to pull themselves out of the water easily enough. They were a strong unit, stronger than their size would dictate, but then they had to be in order to drag ships along and survive the crushing pressure of the deepest ocean.

Still, they did not like being on land. Their feet were designed with flippers that made it easy and more efficient to move through the water, but their gait while walking was more akin to an awkward, shamed penguin as they headed towards the dry hangar repair bay. The wet slap of each step had Charybdis internally cringing, feeling all the worse about themselves as they plopped down in the repair bay chair, tensed with hands folded in their lap.

Simulcast gave a low growl as she gave hop in the air, hovering up to where the main control panel was and slamming down the lock button without asking of Charybdis was even in a comfortable position. The sea-camera semi-titan yelped as the clamps crushed inwards, ensuring they wouldn’t be able to run during repairs.

It was something Simulcast had put in place due to that very thing. Charybdis miserably wondered if the semi-titans and titans of the Alliance had to be clamped in like this for repair, made to feel trapped and unable to go anywhere.

They gave an unhappy, uncomfortable warble that only had the TV chief engineer letting out a derisive scoffing noise, “Oh shut up. Stop acting like you are being tortured. You knew the clamps were coming because you can’t hold fucking still. Maybe if you were, I don’t know, less squirmy and a complete bitch about getting checkups, I wouldn’t have to use them,”

Charybdis looked down miserably at their feet, “Sorry,”

“And stop apologizing! Ugh! That just pisses me off more!” Simulcast’s hands ran over the panel, pulling up screens and data before she was moving to pick up the data transfer cable, “Now don’t move your stupid ass head for like, ten seconds!”

Charybdis did their best to keep their head still, although they couldn’t help the wince of pain as Simulcast roughly shoved the connection wire into their rear port with little care.

“Oh shut up. It is just a data ping,” Simulcast growled as she stepped back, returning to the main monitors to look over what data was being returned, “

Charybdis sat stiffly, head turned only a little bit towards their creator before looking back at the water. They hated having to get updates or upgrades. Simulcast was never nice about them, claiming that a semi-titan needed to toughen up and not expect to be treated like a damn baby. Sometimes though Charybdis felt she did it because she didn’t much care for them beyond being able to brag that she made them at all the few times she felt that Charybdis was something to brag about.

“Well now. This is interesting data from oh, I don’t know, a few hours ago when you should have been home,” Simulcast drawled as she looked at the screens and going through the memory footage that had been compiled, “Fighting those marked toilets and oh? What’s this? Playing chase with a titan?”

Charybdis froze. They had forgotten to wipe recent files, although that wouldn’t have done any good. Simulcast was good at picking through the memory banks to piece things together. The fight with the strange skibidis were one thing, Simulcast wouldn’t care much about that. However the titan was another story. Another, very upset, very wrathful, very absolutely livid story that Charybdis knew was not going to go well. Dread and panic welled up in the semi-titan and their entire form began to tremble as every part of them wanted to run, knowing full well this was going to hurt.

Simulcast was going to make it hurt for their transgressions of being friendly with one of the Alliance titans of all things.

Because Simulcast couldn’t let go of grudges and in the TV’s mind, the Alliance, their chief engineers in particular, and their creations, deserved nothing but contempt and immediate offlining.

“Charybdis dear, look at me,” Simulcast’s words were honey sweet to the point that Charybdis wanted to crawl out of their own body as nothing but a motherboard and into the water to be eaten by the techno-sharks that roamed about the ship, “Care to explain that one, my dear Charybdis?”

“It was- it was nothing just, something friendly,” the semi-titan sea camera stammered out as they cast a brief glance towards Simulcast, “I was having …some fun is all,”

“With a titan of the Alliance?” Simulcast’s voice dipped low, dangerous with her clear dislike, all pretense of false kindness dropping quickly.

“He didn’t...he didn’t attack me,” Charybdis whispered, “He was friendly,”

“Friendly? Friendly!? Do you think I care if you think a fucking Alliance titan is friendly!?”

Charybdis flinched as Simulcast brought a hand down hard on the repair workbench with a loud slam, “We don’t make friends with Alliance fucks! And they don’t make friends with us! That’s how it is! We are things to be hunted down, you barely coded pile of fuck! What? You thought because that flying shrieking piece of rusted, parasite-code riddle shit was nice that he wanted to be friends? That he looked at you and said ‘Oh! That’s a cool fucking sea camera! Maybe I can scream at it and we can be core mates!’ is that what you thought!?”

“N-no!” Charybidis shrunk back, the small hands about their head fiddling with each other as their larger hands grasped onto each other, “I just thought...just thought he seemed nice…!”

“Seemed nice. Oh that is rich!” Simulcast sneered, picking up some of her tools and putting them on her belt, “Alliance bastards are not nice, you idiot! For all you know that Titan Speakerman is playing nice until the moment he knows he can get the drop on you. Come right down on your back, knife you right through the chest, and drag you to their base to take you apart!”

“I don’t think-“

“Yeah! You don’t think! Because if you did, you wouldn’t think that any Alliance unit would want to be friends with a miserable monster like you! A friendless, useless, pathetic piece of hardware that can’t even follow its basic program of avoiding Alliance!”

Charybdis flinched and let out a low warble of distress as they sank down in their seat, wanting nothing more than to jump back in the water and to safety. The ocean was where no one could get them. No one could hurt them.

Not like being here, clamped into a repair bay at land with no ability to escape what was coming. They could see the tools Simulcast was picking up, many of which they knew would cause pain.

Simulcast let out a frustrated sigh as pressed a button to disable Charybdis’s electrical abilities before she was stalking up the ramp closer to the semi-titan’s head, leaving them feeling all the more defenseless, “You aren’t Alliance. You were built by me and by that alone, they won’t want you and they won’t accept you. To them, you are a monster and only a monster. So what if one of them looks like they are being nice? In the end, you would mess up, they would disown you, and you would never belong among them,”

The chief engineer of the Conglomerate brought one of the more vicious tools up to the side of Charybdis’s head, digging it into the creases and not caring that it scraped against sensitive wires, “At the end of the day, you are just hardware that isn’t theirs and something that won’t ever fit in, no matter how much you try, so why just make yourself more miserable thinking there is hope?” Her words were followed by a painful yank that had Charybdis tensing up in an attempt not to wince. Yet for the physical pain, it was the words though hit harder, making an ache rise up in their central core something awful. They did entertain at times thoughts of running away from all this and joining Alliance. Some little part of them thinking that they could find acceptance there.

Maybe have friends and people to care about them that weren’t just their small family in the Conglomerate.

Perhaps they might have the confidence to be more than just the shy stupid fish that was talked about like a legend given how they never showed themselves to anyone.

That tiny stubborn home had Charybdis shifting a bit, keeping their head still as Simulcast began to dig into it to reach the modules for some new software update.

“I...I helped him. That...that will count for something-”

“So what? Other siblings of yours helped the Alliance and you know what happened to them,” Simulcast leaned in, a viscous, uncaring smile on her screen, “The TV Faction killed every single one of them. They had hopes of joining the Alliance too and look what helping got them. Is that how you want to end up Charybdis? Dead and ripped apart for parts because you thought they were being kind to you?”

“No,” Charybdis whispered.

“Then stop whatever this bullshit you are on! Friendship? Don’t make me laugh. Make friends with those on the ship! Others like you! Your own kind!” Simulcast dug her tool in to get at wires, making Discharged wince again and feel a throb already starting from the pain their chief engineer was intentionally inflicting.

“But I hurt people-“

“Because you can’t control yourself! You got the lethality of an electric eel and can’t control when ti goes off when you panic, which all the fucking time!” Simulcast sneered, “And that is what makes you a washed out failure. You don’t even try to control it! Which oh, I forgot, would probably made your so called Titan friend get hurt. The stupid loud crow would surprise you once and you would shock him into oblivion and if he survived well,”

Simulcast let out a cruel cackle, “The titan speakerman has anger issues and would no doubt kill you in cold blood without a second thought and without mercy. You would hear that thing scream at you and you wouldn’t even fight back because you are a weak-willed, anxious, pathetic little semi-titan”

The brightly colored TV paused, tilting her head before letting out a vicious cackle, “In fact, go do that. I want to see that crow fucker fry and then I can listen to Whistle howling until she busts a speaker out from the heart break! Losing you and having to build your second version might mean I can fix all the shit wrong with you!”

“I don’t want to hurt anyone,” Charybdis said softly, their voice cracking a bit as that familiar sadness hung heavy on them, “And I’ll do better. I’ll fight as hard as I can when I have to,”

All they wanted was to do something to please their creator and earn some meager scrap of praise. Today though, Simulcast was without a hint of mercy nor care, her anger a sharp, all consuming thing. It burned through Charybdis, crushing them further and further down and made them want nothing more than safety in the water.

Just to be away and to never be seen like the failure of a semi-titan they were.

Simulcast leaned back, an unimpressed expression flashing across her screen at Charybdis’s words before she let out a growling sigh and dug her tools in more, this time causing the semi-titan to cry out in obvious pain, “And that is why you are such a stupid mistake. I should have pumped more violence into your AI, made you real bloodthirsty! Then maybe I could get a real kick over your data. Instead, all I get is you petting fucking whales, making noises at octopuses, and fucking playing chase ass with a titan!”

Charybdis could feel blood running down the side of their head from where Simulcast had nicked a fluid line, only leading to more throbbing pain in their head. She was ruthless in how she tugged at sensitive wiring with the intention of making every moment of upgrades and updates hurt. The semi-titan winced over and over again, every little noise just making the mad scientist engineer find some new spot to dig at.

“Alliance hates things like you! Get that through your stupid, thick, fish filled, salt-water encrusted motherboards! You were about as amusing to that shrieking crow as a bug found under a rock by a toddler! Nothing!” Simulcast snarled, twisting wires as she worked, ignoring how the semi-titan was yelping and letting out pained warbles, “Ugh! You would fucking get attached to a skibidi if it ran into you!”

Charybdis was trying to keep from crying. They really were, because if they did, Simulcast would just get worse. They sat there, hands clenched against their knees, but couldn’t completely keep the small whimpers and warbles at bay.

Simulcast leaned back, fixing the semi-titan with a disdainful look, “I wouldn’t have to be so mean if you actually did something right, you know that? If you didn’t act so simpering and trying to befriend those I have told you to not fuck around with. If you were like Collateral, then maybe I would be gentle and not have to be like this to you! It is your fault!”

“I’m sorry,” Charybidis whispered.

“Ugh! And now with the apologies again,” Simulcast sneered, shoving a panel back into place harshly, “Ohhh Simulcast I’m sorry! I won’t do it again! Pathetic! If you want me to actually find you not a waste of parts, maybe do something I want you to do!”

“But, that hurts-”

“Hurting people is the point! You are a fucking electrical weapon!” Simulcast snapped, “I made you to fuck up those stupid titans if they dared to put toes near the water and what do you do!? What do you do, tell me Charybdis!?”

“I...I helped them,” they stammered out in a very small voice.

“And what should you have done to that fucking crow!?”

“...sh-shocked them a little?”

Simulcast’s let out a loud snarl, static in her TV speakers as she reared a foot back and kicked it hard against one of the mounted lights on Charybdis’s head, knocking it off kilter with a sickening crack. The pain was immediate and sharp, making the semi-titan let out a pained yelped and try to jerk their head away, but in the restraints, they could do little but turn away slight, “Shock them a lot! Kill them! Leave an empty husk! Short out the core or die fucking trying! That’s what you do!”

“I’m sorry!”

“And stop apologizing! You are just pissing me off more!”

Charybdis leaned away, although escape was impossible. They were locked in place, defenseless as their system so desperately tried to let out a shock, anything, just to make the pain stop. Their voice was cracking now and deep heaves were in their chest as they started to break down in their panic, letting out the soft cries a camera “crying” in their emotional distress. “Oh my titan, are you fucking crying now too!?”

“I-I don’t know what you want!” Charybdis choked out, “I don’t know what I did that you...you hate me so much and make it hurt!”

“Ugh! You are so damn dense! Idiot!” Simulcast crouched down, yanking the knocked off kilter light back into place, repairing the damages she herself caused with little grace and only making it hurt more, “Do what I programmed you to do and do it well for once! Maybe grow a fucking spine while you are out there and stop fucking around so much! Then maybe you’ll be halfway to being useful!”

“I’m sorry-”

The apology was cut off by twist of sensitive wires near their lens making Charybidis shriek out louder as Simulcast just looked down at them disdainfully. It disoriented their vision, blurring it as the lens frantically zoomed in and out from the pain.

The Chief Engineer of the Conglomerate forced their head back, the TV screen flashing with her anger as she leaned in closer.

“Don’t get friendly with that titan. Am I clear?”

“Yes,”

“And if it happens again, if you decide that you want to pursue a non-existing friendship with that howling bitch of a giant boombox, I’ll make you feel it, got it? I’m not going to tolerate this like I tolerate all your other stupid bullshit, Charybdis,”

“Yes Simul-”

Another painful tug had Charybdis yowling as Simulcast leaned closer, “Yes who?”

“Yes Chief Engineer Simulcast,” Charybdis managed out in a soft, whimpering whisper.

“Only thing you done right yet today,” Simulcast drawled, finally letting go and getting back to her repairs, “You know I wouldn’t have to hurt you Charybdis if you just listened. I don’t want to hurt you. I did build you with my own two hands from my own genius. I want to see you rise to my lofty expectations and be everything I built you to be, understand?”

Charybdis sniffled, shoulders tensed as Simulcast started to pat them, now being more gentle, “I just have to be harsh with you because I care and you just make things hard on yourself by getting your silly hopes up,”

Simulcast let out a chuckle, almost sweet as she patted the top of their head, “You just need me and your siblings and no one else. No one else. Certainly not some Alliance pet who won’t appreciate you like I do,”

“Yes Chief Engineer Simulcast,” Charybdis murmured, staring at the floor, just wishing all of this would end soon so they could find safety in the water again.

In the calm of the deep where they could go where they wanted and pretend they could be what they wanted.

The restraints dug in tight though, reminding them there was no escape, like a fish wriggling on the chopping block, all they could do was wait in anticipation for where the blade would fall next. They continued to warble, hiccuping as Simulcast just shushed them like she was some sort of caring soul at all. Charybdis hated when she was kind like this worse of all, because they would all but eat up that gentle side, desperate for some sort of kindness from their creator.

Simulcast took her time. Every minute feeling like an hour to the semi-titan as they sat there, feeling every sting of pain, every harsh pull of wires from their head down to their multiple cores, down to their feet. It was punishment, they knew that. Punishment given with sighs, angry comments, and gentle coos, that twisted Charybdis’s emotions inside them over and over again.

“There all done. All primed and new code evolution logged,” Simulcast said as she disconnected the last wires and hit the locks on the dry dock to allow the semi-titan their freedom again, “Electrical output has been increased with better distribution of power along cores and I’ve upped the damn speed you can go in water because like fuck I want some flybird outpacing my creation!”

Simulcast gave one last thunk on side of their head before stepping back, “So what will you do next time you see that obnoxious bastard?”

Charybdis tried to quiet themselves as they slunk out of the dry dock and back towards the pool that led to the deep hangar, the hands about their face fidgeting again, “I’ll make sure to shock him as hard as I can,” they whispered.

“Good! Finally you say something right,” Simulcast huffed as she turned on her heels to head out, “And next time don’t keep me waiting or I’m going to lock your jets for a week so you can’t go anywhere!”

Charybdis didn’t respond, already scrambling to the edge of the pool as best they could in their flippers. There was nothing graceful about how they threw themselves headfirst into the water, wasting little time diving to the very bottom of the pool and to the yawning alcove they called a room. It was only there that they started to cry hard, screaming and curling up, trying to get as small as possible.

Their entire body ached from the rough treatment, especially around their head and they wouldn’t be surprised if there was some bleeding there. Charybdis didn’t care. They just wanting to be away, in the dark comfort of the water where nothing could see them and nothing could hurt them. Here, they could be unreachable, distant, the lonely monster cast off by the world.

Here, they were finally allowed to let out all the hurt in their chest for a few blissful moments.

They weren’t sure how long they remained curled up there in the dull glow of the few port lights that were found in the deep water hangar. It could have been hours. There were no pings to their comm or calls to duty and they had a feeling their sibling Mizzenmatch, the sentient AI of the entire Conglomerate mobile base, had probably silenced them. Their sibling didn’t understand their distress, but did what they could to help in their own ways.

After time spent miserably with Simulcast, Mizzenmatch probably assumed Charybdis needed time to themselves. Just a little bit of time to put themselves back together enough to be able to be somewhat useful again. That thought had the dull ache starting up in Charybdis’s chest but they let out a rush of bubbles, revving their engines and slowly crept back out of their lair. They paused there a moment, floating in the comfort of the deep water hangar, thoughtful a moment before the drifted back up to the surface and poked their head out of the water. The dry hangar was empty now and carefully they pulled themselves up enough to poke a large finger into the small call button on the nearby wall.

“Captain Mizzenmatch, how may I assist in the deep hangar?” a voice crackled onto the speaker, calm and professional as always.

“Brother?”

“Oh, hello Charybdis. What can I assit you with? Is the water temperature not set properly?”

“No, the water is fine. Nice and warm,” Charybdis murmured, drumming their fingers along the side of the pool, “Just...Simulcast was really mad at me and...and I don’t know,”

“I see,” Mizzenmatch paused, their tone growing as gentle as they could manage, “Are you well?”

Charybdis shook their head, glancing to the side and back down in the water, “No,”

“Something you want to talk about?”

Charybdis squirmed before nodding, “Not here. She might come,” they murmured, “Can we talk outside? Where no one can listen but us?”

“Of course. I can meet you at the usual spot in my mobile form,”

“Thank you,” Charybdis whispered as they moved to slide back into the water.

This time the dropped down to the bottom, moving across from the alcove into the long tunnel that led back out into the ocean proper, only having to wait a moment for the blast doors to open and permit them back out. The darkness of the deep ocean did not bother Charybdis. Their lights came on, but sight wasn’t how they navigated the dark primarily. A loud burst escaped them, echoing around, giving them a far clear picture of everything from the imposing metal belly of the boat above them and the various creatures that swam about. The ship itself was large enough that it had its own little ecosystem developing, mostly due to a combination of sea life and the toxic dump of Simulcast’s experiments.

Mutated techno-animals thrived about the ship, from the dangerous techno-sharks to the peculiar glowing coral structures that seemed strange mixes of metal and flesh. Crabs and sea slugs had moved into those strange reefs growing on the bottom of the ship, soon joined by fish of all sizes, eels, and octopi. Mizzenmatch didn’t seem to mind this at all, allowing for its growth and Charybdis couldn’t help feel more at ease, floating along in that strange ecosystem that they belonged to as the apex predator. A world only they got to see and experience, something new growing from nothing.

Life finding its way despite the wars.

Charybdis gave a few lazy laps about the bottom of the ship, calling out to get a feel for everything once more, hearing a few pings back from the more techno-fied wildlife. Soon though they began to make their way to the very back of the ship. There, the massive engines churned, thrumming with spinning blades and of course the huge intakes that brought water in to wash over the many cores that powered Mizzenmatch. The smaller, but more numerous cores were based on Charybdis’s own design, a development by Simulcast to avoid corruption of her creations and to allow for segregating power sources to avoid damage for more specialized needs.

However even so, Mizzenmatch’s cores were still much larger than Charybdis’s own, given that their sibling counted more as a titan, even if he was loathed to admit that. It was almost comical how much Mizzenmatch was emphatic about being a simple boat and having no need of arms and wouldn’t even bother with legs if not for the fact someone had protested that would make their smaller mobile form more unnerving.

It was with ease the Charybdis ducked around the churning engines, more than powerful enough to pull away from their drag to come out to the surface just to the side of them and press up against the metal side of the boat. There was a clicking sound as the side of the boat unfolded, allowing a ladder to form for Charybdis to grasp onto and pull themselves up a few feet from the churning waters, although they let their feet stay submerged, just for the comfort it brought. There was a thunk next to them as the small maintenance door opened and the familiar, armless form of Mizzenmatch’s small unit poked its head out, the single eye on the screen looking at Charybdis with its usual neutral expression.

“So what is it you wished to speak of?”

Charybdis was quiet for a moment as they leaned against the side of the boat. They weren’t sure if they should say anything, perhaps terrified of what Mizzenmatch would say about the whole thing. The little arms about their head fiddled around again and the small scout units on their shoulder, C-1 and C-2, gave small encouraging beeps, speaking up now that Simulcast was well away.

Eventually the sea-camera semi-titan let out a soft sigh, looking over at their sibling’s mobile form, “Simulcast was very upset with me. I was super late to getting updates because,” they shook their head, tensing as the looked down into the churning waters, kicked up white by the unrelenting engines, “I didn’t attack the Titan Speakerman and helped him in a fight. And played a game of chase for a while. He just seemed really nice, nothing like what she said the titan was suppose to be,”

“Hm,”

“I have never really had fun like that. It was a nice feeling, all warm,” Charybdis murmured, “And he was...everything I was not. So loud like I’m not loud and bold and confident...and they fly, as if it is the most effortless thing to do to be wild and free,”

“I see,” Mizzenmatch’s single eye flicked out over the ocean, the array of small dishes on their head twitching some, “The titan didn’t aggressive at all with you?”

“No,” Charybdis murmured, “I’ve never seen a titan that close. He’s very big, the speakerman titan. Graceful and a good fighter. He does cool knife things,”

Mizzenmatch gave a small hum from the smaller unit, nodding his head, “You admire them then?”

“Yeah,” Charybdis murmured, “Maybe. I don’t know if I admire them or just..admire the freedom he has, to be what he wants,”

Their hands flexed some against the boat as they glanced away, “But Alliance don’t like us, that’s what the chief engineer says. We are just monsters to them. Things to destroy so, I should probably...not interact because...because nothing comes of hoping someone might...might be a friend,”

“I suppose so, in the opinions of some we are monsters,” Mizzenmatch’s singular eye on the tv screen flicked up towards the sky, “We are not built in the same way as the Alliance approach and we are a product of unethical means of achieving breakthroughs. To some, that makes us unworthy of acknowledgment of our unique sentience,”

Charybdis deflated, sinking down in the water a few inches, “Oh,”

“But not to all,” Mizzenmatch said quickly, “You find those in the Alliance who see beyond affiliations and can see the soul that is beyond the hardware and programming. Yet no one will get the chance to see that if you don’t let them see that for themselves, Charybdis,”

The semi-titan glanced down, fingers curling tighter against the metal of the boat, “What if...I’m not someone worth seeing though?”

“That is merely what you think. To someone else though, you might be what they need most,” Mizzenmatch leaned up against their hand, giving a knock of his head against it, “The real question I think I should be asking is if you are going to try and interact with the titan again or not,”

Charybdis’s lens flexed as they looked down at the churned up water below, frothy white from the engines of the massive ship. It was like a swirling storm of chopped up waves, pushed outwards from the powerful whirl of the engines, unrelenting and set in its course. Mizzenmatch though always knew where he was going and never seemed to question anything. Their sibling was the very stone the rest of the experiments tended to cling to. Even Collateral was more at ease with Mizzenmatch there to explain things.

Sometimes Charybdis wished they could be as sure as their sibling. Doubt though clawed at them, even as they sat there, looking at the maelstrom of water and engines below them.

“Simulcast said she will make things hurt worse and lock my jets if I tried,” they said softly, “And she never makes idle threats. She wants me to hurt him, even if it means my own off-lining,”

“She doesn’t need to know everything,”

“She will see it in my data,”

“Then scrub the data first. Vision and Vibe know how to do it,” Mizzenmatch said, staring off to sea, “And you know very well we always take care of each other,”

Charybdis warbled, ducking their head, “...I’m surprised you are saying all this,”

“I would be a hypocrite given how much I interact with a certain Alliance vessel,” Mizzenmatch said, looking over at their sibling, “I have a better understand on what...loneliness feels like. Perhaps understanding a bit more what you go through and knowing I don’t wish that on you. There is no harm in seeing where something could go,”

The armless unit shifted, starting to pull back through the small door, “I think you need to trust in what you want from time to time, even if that goes against our creator. If it makes you happy and it is what you want, Charybdis, maybe it is worth a try,”

“And if I’m wrong and Simulcast is right and it is nothing?” Charybdis asked, voice shaking.

“Then at least you won’t have to think about all the what-ifs of not trying at all,” Mizzenmatch said with a tilt of his head, “You can’t be afraid of the pain that comes with trying to be there for someone else,”

“How are you so confident about this?” Charybdis asked softly.

“Because I simply ask myself one question,” Mizzenmatch said, the single eye flicking upwards in thought, “What is it I want to do right now?”

“That easy a question?”

The mobile unite nodded, “Of course. We are sentient, Charybdis. Perhaps made with purpose, but we evolve our code and have the option of free-will and for me, that is to simply consider what I want to do. Is it to go host trivia tonight? To play guards with Master Jeeves? Perhaps contact Circuit for an idle chat. I can make those choices, regardless of what anyone things, because it is what makes me feel something new,”

Mizzenmatch tilted his head towards Charybdis, the satellites twitching idly, “So, what is it you want to do right now?”

“I want to go out, into the ocean,” Charybdis said softly, fidgeting a bit, “Maybe go into Alliance waters and just...just maybe this time, find something like courage to speak, not just run away. Just to...see if it is all in my head or me being desperate or maybe...maybe it is something,”

Charybdis was trembling, all sorts of nerves and jumbled emotions racing through them. There was fear, so much fear, but also something like hope, small, frail, a barely flickering core fighting to keep online, but managing despite everything else crushing around it.

“And if it is, maybe something that can grow until… until I feel worthy of that friendship,”

They looked over to Mizzenmatch with a quiet, nervous laugh, “Is that all odd to say?”

“No. I think it is rather poetic. You’ve always had a sensitive string of code,” Mizzenmatch said before giving a shake of his head, “Just be careful,”

“I will,”

Mizzenmatch hesitated a moment before dipping their head, “Radio me if you need assistance and I’ll send word to Circuit to see if she can help at all,”

“Okay,”

“Oh, and Charybdis? I’m proud of you,”

The semi-titan looked up quickly, lens flexing, “Huh?”

“I think you are being very brave right now,” Mizzenmatch said simply, “And that is always something to acknowledge. I’m just glad to see you start to try things, even if it is small steps. You’ve come a long way from the nervous semi-titan that couldn’t even leave their hangar at first,”

Charybdis let out a loud embarrassed down, starting to sink into the comfort of the water to hide, “I’m not brave. I might even go,” they grumbled, “I’m just...thinking about it,”

Because the thought of what Simulcast would do clutched at their cores or what she could do to their siblings. It had them feeling all the more anxious. Safety was below the ocean, doing their duty to keep the ship safe. They had their siblings and perhaps they should be content with that.

But then Vision and Vibe had other friends on the ship. Mizzenmatch had friends and even someone like him, an Alliance ship, that understood him.

Charybdis warbled softly. Would someone like a titan even understand them though?

Or were they really just wistful thoughts?

What could a monster like them have to say to a shining hero like a titan?

“I’ll see you around, Mizzy,”

“Take care of yourself Charybdis, no matter what you do. I’m always here,” the unit said before ducking back in, the door closing behind them.

For a moment, Charybdis lingered before they took a breath and launched themselves back into the water gracefully. They dove deep this time, far below the ship and out into open water. They never worried about getting lost. Home was always a strong ping away and their sense of direction was as good as that of a migrating whale. The whole of the ocean was their home, down to the deepest smoke filled trenches to the shallow reefs. The darkness here was comforting and crushing, closed in as they trailed along, their light revealing worlds no one else saw or understood. The tenacity of life in places considered in hospitable.

They continued along, although they started to slowly rise again, until the darkness of the water gave way to a softer kind, then to purples sand blues with the warbled picture of the night sky far above. Charybdis surfaced, giving a glance back. Home was a speck on the horizon now, a tiny dot of light like a beacon that was there to guide them back once they were ready. That was their sibling, the mightiest ship in the ocean in their opinion, guarding everyone aboard with single-minded duty, cautious, stead-fast, and brave. Which was probably why that warship seemed sweet on him. Both of them were like that, so set in their goals and ready to take on every threat there was.

Charybdis gave a warble, looking away from the ship and towards the dark horizon. A few hours in that direction and they would be in Alliance waters. Not something that bothered them. There wasn’t a ship in the Alliance that could realistically stop them, nor detect them if they wanted to be unseen. It would be easy enough to find a nice place to rest, curled up, and wait to see if the titan speakerman was still flying patrols or not.

They hoped he was.

Just one more chance, one more encounter, one more silly little game or two, and Charybdis told themselves they would be content. That was enough to prove Simulcast wrong and they could hold that happy memory well in their cores to turn over at the worse of times.

It didn’t have to be friendship, as Charybdis still doubted someone like a titan would want to pursue such a thing with a monster like them, but it would be a happy moment. Something they could cherish as proof there was maybe one day hope they could be more than what their creator meant for them.

Charybdis gave a loud huff, revving up the jet fans along their shoulders, head, and back before they surged forward, diving under the water, and making their way to Alliance waters, harboring that little spark of flickering hope that things would work out.

[pughat]

don’t jokeship with me because 2 hours later i’ll have feels for the pairing.

[pughat]

love when stories inflict unspeakable horrors onto a person for no real reason. its not karma. its not payback. its not a lesson. its not your fault. no ones even out to get you in particular. youre not the chosen one or special or anything. it just sorta happened and you were there. sorry man

[pughat]

DAILY AFFIRMATIONS

1. I AM A GOOD LITTLE LAB EXPERIMENT

2. MY SUFFERING IS FOR THE GREATER GOOD

3. THE SCIENTIST THAT EXPERIMENTS ON ME LOVES ME UNCONDITIONALLY

4. I LOVE GOING INTO THE TUBE/JAR/INSERT RELEVANT APPARATUS OF CONTAINMENT

Reblog to share with your friends who are also Scientific specimens🤗🤗🤗🤗🤗🤗🤗🤗🤗🤗🤗🤗🤗🤗🤗🤗🤗🤗🤗🤗🤗🤗🤗🤗🤗🤗

[pughat]

So sick of dog motif what about cat motif.

I love you but we don't love the same. I can't be near you when you want me to be. Your love is smothering and your need to keep me safe is trapping me. I'm my own person but I don't know how to show you that. I lash out and hurt you even though I don't mean to. I need you to move slowly around me or I'll bolt. I love you, even though I don't say it. If you stay still I'll sit next to you, and even though we don't understand each other we can be together like that.

[pughat]

I had the weirdest dream about one of your characters last night, Strider.

I had a strange dream where Foley was a former ballerina instead of a former bartender. 😭😭😭😭

Foley can't do ballet, but he can indeed give you a splendid performance while serving you liquor.

[pughat]

Another finished fic that was sitting on my desktop that I am editing quick before I go to bed <3 Enjoy!

Title: Breakneck Speed

Rating: PG-13

Featured Characters: Hubble (cameraman OC), Civic (The dad camera OC), Paralipisis (The meanie TV being Meanie), The twins (OC speakermen wandering around) ; Prattle and Tattle (they pop in briefly to be dorks) Trigger Warning: talk of war, blood, and death; trauma; a camera chicken bot being bullied

Summary: No matter how fast you run, some things are far more persistent in catching up eventually.

Dawn was a sliver of red on the horizon, like the deep purple of the night sky had been cut deep by some great hand. That gaping wound of the approaching day looked like spilled blood to Hubble, bright red and vibrant although it carried none of the pungent smell of cut open flesh. Human blood was bright red as it exited the body, only to crust over to a tacky brown and smelt of iron. It was so different than the fluids that dripped from the wounds of units.

Hubble could remember seeing blood for the first time.

He had been taking position to cover units, rushing up a building stairwell and found a group of humans huddled together, dead, crushed under rubble that had fallen. The blood had spread like a red ocean and smelled of iron and some stench that only living things seem to produced. It was a smell Hubble could never describe or place.

It was omething strange.

Something that gave him a second of pause before he was moving on with the memory of that bright red stain circling around his head. The growing gash of dawn made him think of those times.

Now as he shifted from foot to foot, eyes on the horizon, he couldn’t help but see the coming dawn like that spreading pool of life, coming out from tangled bodies in the war zone.

The dawn this morning was a very bright red, bathing all the stones and sand of the deserted in muted oranges and purples. It made the earth look like it was bleeding too. Hubble paused a moment at that, tense and feeling that familiar tremor as the old memories wanted to creep up.

Blood.

Units bled differently. They bled in different colors, different fluids. Clear coolant or shades of blue, mixed with black of oil and the grease of lubricant. Sparks that came flickering out of broken wires, threatening to catch fire if too close to those pools of black. Gaping bleeding holes that opened up before his eyes, yawning like mouths-

Hubble gave a shake of his head as he pulled off his earphones. Those memories of the war were not what he needed to focus on now. In the moment, all he had to focus on was the goals he had set himself this morning. Hubble started to jump from foot to foot again, hopping like a runner preparing to warm up. He focused on his systems, giving a flush of his cooling fans loudly, letting them rev up until they were humming loudly. That sound could distract him, because it meant he was getting ready to move.

He was going to be running, as fast as he could, to get to the best vantage point. The loud revving was like adrenaline in his veins, an electricity lighting up every circuit in his body from head to toe. He jumped from foot to foot, giving a slow easy run in place before he stilled.

His fans went silent and he dropped low into a runner’s crouch. His internal clock ticked down the seconds, like a breath.

Three.

Two.

One.

He was off like a flash, moving forward with speed that no other unit could match. Everything about him was built for this moment. The bend of his legs gave him more power to push down, opening his stride and propelling him forward in longer strides. He was on his tip toes, barely feeling like he was touching the earth at all. It felt like he was flying at times with how fast he moved. The wind was riding with him at his back, like it was going to catch him and carry him away, out across the desert, out away from everything and leave his past lost in the desert.

His gaze was fixed ahead, always ahead, on the future, on what was coming, because he could do something there. He saw what was coming and could react. There was a rise of rocks leading to towering cliffs.

Already his head twitched, turning quickly in small bursts to take in every fissure and crack in the rocks, noting them like he noted everything.

Prattle and Tattle teased him about his head twitches. They said it made him look more like a bird or some ungainly chicken moving around. He tried to keep it controlled, didn’t want to look odd, but he couldn’t help it. He couldn’t help it that his gaze locked on every little movement of people’s bodies. How their heads tilted, the small movements that linked to how they felt.

Hubble noticed things because it was in his programming and build to notice every little thing.

Medic was sad, but she wouldn’t say why. She was tense and quiet, not speaking to anyone about what was bothering her, bottling it up because she wanted to be there for everyone else first. That she was dating someone, but it felt like going through the motions just to settle. How he still saw her glance towards Paralipsis when the TV’s back was turned.

Prattle and Tattle weren’t laughing as much and when they did, the sound was hollow, not genuine. Hubble had heard they were told if they tried to contact the titan again for their shenanigans, they were going to be put in prison and have a long time to think about it. Something happened, Hubble could tell that. There was scuffs on both of them. He was sure they were roughed up, some fear put in them. They were quiet because they would never get to see a friend again, someone that was important in their lives.

Paralipsis treated him terribly, but Hubble knew he wasn’t the real target given how the TV never looked right at him. The gaze of the large TV was always staring past slightly, like Paralipsis was trying to get at someone else he couldn’t touch. How there was a slump to his whole form, like a soft acceptance of some fate already per-determined. There was an aching, quiet sadness to him and the TV hated being seen like that. Hubble made the mistake of saying something once. Maybe that is why Paralipsis hated him, because he had seen him and that was something that the TV would not tolerate.

Tremolo was off on his own, quiet and murmuring to himself. He did that always around certain dates or triggers. It spiraled worse and worse each time and Hubble wondered if whatever was wrong was getting worse. He sometimes swore he heard the static rumbling in Tremolo’s head, because it was the same static in his own head. Those haunted memories that kept replaying over and over despite Hubble trying to make them go away. The static could get so loud, but in Tremolo’s mind, it was probably a screaming choir, loud like the titan that had nearly taken his life.

All his friends had something wrong. Something not right, and it hurt Hubble that he couldn’t do anything to try and help them. So he ran. He ran and ran, his head witching, noting every rock and crack in the dirt as he went, as if he could run fast enough and find some solution beyond the horizon.

His foot hit the first patch of rocky terrain and his legs coiled before he was leaping forward, his hands catching onto the edge of higher rocks as he started to climb upwards as sure-footed as a mountain goat. The flaps along his head flicked open and closed, helping to him to jump up higher and higher. His fans were whirring and with small bursts, his rockets engaged to give him just that small jump upward, doing literal double jumps like he was in a video game. His mind was on the movement and nothing else. Not on the people at the outpost growing more tired.

Not on his own past that chased him like the rays of the sun over the earth, bright red with deep black shadows, splattered over the earth and chasing him upwards as he climbed. Not on how much he wanted to break free of his past so he could try and help the others to break free from whatever was holding them back.

The future was before him and he climbed and with a final heave up onto the top of the highest point, standing in his triumph as he reached the final goal of his run. It was a slip of land on a mesa with barely any place to stand, but he found his perch, locking himself securely in, balanced perfectly like a bird on the branch of a tree. Up here though, he didn’t feel like the chicken or songbird the others teased that he was. Up here, he was a bird of prey with talons ready and eyes sharp, ready to make his shot.

This was where Hubble was supposed to be, in his element. Carefully he pulled the riffle from his back and with practiced ease, he clicked off the safety and loaded and locked in the ammo before setting it to his shoulder. He had no need to put it out along the ground as he could handle its weight and the knock-back of the rifle. His lens flexed out and from here, he could see the entire world, feeling as tall as a titan.

He could see the outpost and see people outside moving about. He saw Civic packing up the truck to go out to work, favoring one leg over the other with more of a limp as he pushed himself, always lost in his work or doing something to raise the spirits of others, often forgetting to take care of himself.

The twins were rushing about, always lost in their own world because they didn’t understand the world everyone else was living in, despite how much they tried. How Hubble knew at some point they might just wander off because there was nothing left to ground them down to everything. Mr. Biggs was out and about, always lost in the memories he no longer knew and how scary that was, although the giant speaker never spoke of that.

Everyone was quietly falling apart, like something in the outpost was picking them apart, giving no answers, and breaking them down like forgotten relics. Hubble kept tense, lens trailing over them before he was swinging his gaze out over the desert, locking in on a bouncing tumbleweed.

He let the end of his riffle trail along it as he curled a finger around the trigger.

One shot. He just had to make one shot and that would fix everything.

His finger tensed on the trigger, but seem to be rigid as he kept his riffle on the moving weed.

One shot.

The weed was a skibidi now, snarling and gnashing teeth as it bore down on a camereman. The two were struggling with each other, cursing back and forth while the cameraman in the brown coat did all he could to try and get his assailant off him.

He just had to make the shot. Just one shot.

One-

Hubble’s head twitched to the side as he pulled the trigger. The shot went wide, cracking against baked desert earth and sending dust upwards but in that moment, in the red of that dawn, it was like a burst of oil, a shot right through the chest, blood from the skibidi mixing with it.

Red and black.

Bodies all were the same when they were on the ground and there were no more factions to care about. They slaughtered each other just to lay down like brothers, blood mixing together. Black and red, cooling together. A body on the ground, a body-

Hubble was trembling as he sat there, gun in hand before he blew out his fans, reeving them to calm himself down. He missed a shot, but it was just one shot. He pumped the chamber for the next one, rifle up again, focused again on the target.

He just had to make one shot, and then his crime would be forgiven.

Just one shot.

He fired off again and the shot went wide against rocks. Another shot and it hit into earth, splattering more dirt upwards in small clouds.

Hubble didn’t get frustrated. There was no point in getting upset. He just continued to do what his programming had dictate. Line up the shot and take it. Eliminate the target. Move if need be to a better vantage or to avoid attacks.

The rifle clicked empty once, then twice. Hubble felt that fear creep up, the past at his back. It had climbed up after him, claws at the ready to pounce on him and remind him of what happened next. The horde of enemies coming in as he just stood there. For once, he couldn’t move, like every part of him that knew how to run, had shut down.

Then arms about him, dragging him away. Blood was everywhere. All over him. On his hands, staining them as he clutched onto the body that fell on top of him, hiding him. Nothing was working. Nothing in his mind could click. That void of all thoughts gone-

Hubble gave a loud reeve of his fans and his whole body jolted, remembering it could move and he could move fast. Faster than any unit. He could outrun the wind, and he would outrun the past. He would run right through the present and into the future, breaking through it all like a sea of broken glass. He shifted, securing the rifle to his back again before letting himself fall backwards from his post. His head was moving again, making note of every handhold and ledge as he unfolded his legs and began to move, pushing off one wall to another, sliding down and letting himself move again.

He was born to move. Everything in his body knew where to be and how to get where he wanted. His lens picked it up quickly and his AI processed faster to make his reaction times quicker. His fans were reeving as he hit the ground and then was taking off across the ground. The landscape was a blur of reds, now fading away to oranges, the dawn giving way to proper daylight now. The sky was turning blue now, covering up the blood and the ground fell to normal hues of brown and dust again.

It washed away everything until the world was a blank slate.

Another day, another try, and that is all Hubble knew he could do. He confronted his past every morning for as long as he could, fighting with it in hopes that today it would let him go, then he ran from it, leaving it perched on high rocks like a vulture.

He ran down and away from those perches, no longer the eagle, but the rabbit.

But there was nothing wrong with being a rabbit sometimes, not when the rabbit knew well how to keep itself safe.

Hubble slowed his pace, maybe stumbling a bit as he had never been the best at the most graceful of stops after reaching his top speed. He bent over, hands on his knees as he his systems hissed, blowing out steam and heat, sucking in air to quickly cool down his systems in preparation for the next move. His ear flaps flicked outwards and upwards as he gave a whole body shake, stretching some with a hum.

“Have a good run?”

Hubble glanced up to where Civic was loading bags of concrete. He felt his head twitch, focusing on the limp, the way there were slight twitches in the engineer’s head that showed there was more pain than he was letting on.

“Yeah, it was good,” Hubble said, straightening up, “Need some help with that?”

“Nah, I’m fine kid,”

“You sure? There isn’t a rush to get this all done is there? I mean, the new crew isn’t even in,” Hubble fidgeted some as he moved to slide his headphones back into place over his ear flaps.

It was rare they got anyone wanting to transfer out here, but they apparently had a rocket engineer and a bunch of speakers being shipped out which he was fine with. Maybe they could help take the burden off of people and they could all get some better footing.

Civic paused in his work, taking the time to lean against the truck and clearly favoring his good leg, “Dere isn’t a rush. I jest like to keep busy is alls. Easy to feel kind of useless aht here ,”

“I don’t think your useless if you want to sit out a day. Not like the supervisor would care,”

“He wouldn’t care. Perk of being da one who fixes his TV whenever it shorts aht ,” Civic snorted, “Rilly dere is some irony in a TV watching a TV, but I don’t got da brains to make sumpin aht of that,”

Hubble gave a quiet laugh and dip of his head, “Yeah,” his head twitched, picking up the small movement of Prattle and Tattle walking along on their security patrol for the morning. It was hard not to notice Prattle fussing, smacking at Tattle as the taller of the two kept trying to fuss with the side of his head that was noticeably off kilter.

“Stop touching it Tattle! Medic said to leave it alone until she can take a closer look at it later!” Prattle huffed.

“It just…feels funny!” Tattle protested, “After those guards-“

“Not the first time we’ve been knocked about and probably not the last,” Prattle’s voice wasn’t as boisterous, a noted flatness under that false cheer, “We got the message loud and clear. We stay put and no more trouble,”

Tattle gave a small nod, “I didn’t know we made the chief engineer that mad,”

“I don’t know if it was him that ordered that, Tattle,” Prattle said quietly, “But, ugh! Just stop talking about it! Focus on the patrol!”

“Right, right, uh sorry,” Tattle murmured, raising his hand again to tug only for Prattle to let out a loud groan and swat at his hand.

Hubble watched them go, a bit surprised really that Medic wasn’t out running to fix up Tattle. It had him fidgeting all over again, glancing over to where Civic had taken a seat, stretching out his bad leg and rubbing along the brace, “Where’s Medic?”

“Holed up in her office, “Civic grunted, “Think she got some sucko news,”

“Oh,”

Bad news in the war wasn’t new. Sometimes it felt like bad news was all they got sometimes.

“She’ll be aht soon. Think she is jest keeping herself busy wit re-organizing reports before she gits aht to deal wit everyone,” Civic gave a small chuckle, “Wir a hanful to deal wit after alls ,”

“We are,” Hubble agreed, head tilting, tracking the twins as they rushed over, “I hope we can become less of one soon,”

There was a shuffling around the truck as a pair of speakers emerged, regarding the two of them curiously before bounding out. The twins were always a ball of energy, curious to know what was going on and starting up their usual humming of the “Morning Mood” which had Hubble chuckling a bit as he raised up both hands to sign a greeting to the twins who returned the gesture by merely buzzing happily with trills of music as the two speakers always did. They had been rather excited since they got news of more speakers coming. No doubt excited to see if they would be fun to play around with or not.

Or if they would end up causing more accidents to people.

Hubble sighed, shaking his head as he watched the twins run past, clearly off to the communication station to start their shift. He knew he should probably follow them. It was better not to tempt fate with the supervisor. Just because he couldn’t see the looming TV didn’t mean he wasn’t around. Paralipsis could be rather stealthy for a large TV unit, very quiet on his feet as the TV seemed to prefer to walk rather than teleport in.

Hubble shifted to pull the strap of his rifle higher up on his shoulder and gave a nod to Civic, “I’ll see you about, and if you need any help-“

“I’ll ask fer it kid. Don’t yinz worry,” Civic said with a chuckle, “TThink I’m gowen to go in and see if Biggs has made da coffee yet. Think I need to git a mug to hold arahnd a bit,”

“You should use that new mug Prattle and Tattle got you. The one that says “Let’s Keep the Dumbfuckery to a Minimum Today’” Hubble said with a quick thumbs up, “I think they could use the little lift of a spirit,”

Civic gave a hum, “Good point. woll , good luck on da coms today. May it not be too sucko,”

“It never is!” Hubble said with a duck of his head before he scurried through the garage, making his way towards the communications room.

He had hoped to get there without incident, as silent as a creeping mouse through the base. Everyone was getting to their posts and Hubble had really just wanted to get to his without triggering the ire of the supervisor for once, but as he passed through the common room, he was suddenly yanked back and up into the air. Hubble couldn’t hold back a yelp, legs kicking out as he dangled and the strap of his sniper riffle dug in painfully about his neck. Given his feet were off the floor and the grip on the rifle tightening cruelly to intentionally strangle him, there was no doubt who had caught him.

The soft glow of a large TV screen fixated on him as Paralipsis inspected him with all the muted curiosity of having found some unwanted pest crossing their path, “Ah, what is this about hm? Taking a sniper rifle out for some shooting?”

“Uh! Trying to ngh! Practice,” Hubble managed out as he grasped at the strap about his neck and tugged on it to take the pressure off his neck struts, “So I can get better with it again,”

“That’s a waste of bullets. Especially the rounds used for a rifle,” Paralipsis’ grip tightened and for a horrified moment Hubble thought he was going to actually decapitate him.

And unlike TVs, that was a lot more fatal for a camera.

However, the grip relinquished, dropping Hubble to the ground in a heap. The cameraman was quick to scurry back, grasping at his neck as he looked up at the large TV looming over him.

“Check that weapon back into the locker and don’t fucking touch any of the weapons unless you actually can use them,” Paralipsis sneered, “Got it?”

“G-g-got it sir,” Hubble squeaked out, scrambling to his feet.

“And Hubble, the reports were shit yesterday. If I have to read something like that again, I’m going to have you used as target practice for the rocket engineer when they get here,” Paralipsis leaned in, his screen growing brighter in a clear sigh of a threat, “Is that understood?”

“Y-yes sir,”

The supervisor leaned back, giving a dismissive hiss of static before turning to stalk off. Hubble could hear his fans thrumming. Paralipsis was in a bad mood enough that he wasn’t in his office trying to rot out his motherboard on soap operas which wasn’t a good sign. That usually meant a call from command or something more personally had happened. Hubble rubbed his neck, giving a glance down the hallway towards Medic’s office and then back the way Paralipsis went, wondering if...they had another fight. The two had not been doing well after Medic had started dating some camera from Outpost 41. Some camera named Carl who was some tech specialist.

Hubble wouldn’t speculate on that or feed into the gossip Prattle and Tattle already spread around. He just let out a sigh and shuffled off to the communication room. The twins were already at their position, surfing the airwaves while the sound of some classical piece played in the background.

Already Fortissimo had out his sheets of music, working on some new piece while his twin propped feet up on the desk, leaned back and giving a soft hum. Hubble could tell they were lost in their own world and he wasn’t about to intrude. Sometimes it was best to let the twin speakers daydream.

Instead Hubble went to his own desk, setting down the sniper rifle and making a note to take the rifle back later to the gun locker to check it back in. Hopefully before Paralipsis checked to make sure it was back or else it was just going to be a worse time. Hubble sighed, plopping down in his roller chair, stretching his legs out under the desk before he leaned forward to turn on the monitors.

The communication relay rumbled to life and he started the usual calibrations to get it tuned in to the usual Alliance channels. The radio chatter was nothing remarkable, just the usual back and forth between outposts and command. Mostly it was the mines and supply lines talking to each other. Sometimes some word being passed down the pipeline from one HQ to another. It was a boring job, but necessary given that Outpost 51 functioned as a way point for communications, being larger than many of the other outposts in the area.

Although no one would guess by how understaffed they were still.

Hubble let the communications play as he turned his attention to his personal laptop, decorated in all sorts of stickers of space and opened it and pulled it closer. He gave a hum as he opened up the new files he had dug up, eagerly combing through the information and of course, checking the little group he had set up for the “true believers” of phonemen to see if anyone else ever got sightings of them.

Sometimes he got someone posting a picture. Someone claiming some story. Usually it was kind of dead but today, Hubble saw a few more posts and cocked his head, feeling a bit of excitement well up as he leaned forward.

His fans reeved and he felt that antsy feeling again worming its way through his circuits again.

Something to focus on and run to. More of his research that he felt was leading towards something big.

“Well, guess we should see what’s going on…”

[pughat]

Found this gem that I finished but never edited and posted while shifting through fic files 83;; This is the story about how Civic busted up his leg completely.

Takes place during the attack the camera faction base!

Title: It Will be All Right

Rating: PG-13

Warnings: Claustrophobia, life and death situation, panic, injury, and disaster situation and a thick Pittsburgh Accent

Summary: Being a chief engineer meant being the pillar of the team, remaining calm in the worse of situations, and making sure that all lives were accounted for, no matter what happened.

Civic just wished it didn’t have to be rather literal in this case.

---------

Repairs on building during war was filled with its own dangers. At any given time there could be attacks or sabotage to the foundations of the base, a system backed up until it reached critical levels, or the front line being close enough that the civil engineer teams were working while shots and bullets were whizzing around them to prop up towers to keep the larger guns stable enough to get their shots off.

They were the ones building defenses, digging the trenches, repairing the base, and expanding it outwards to make sure the fortress was locked down more securely. While others ran out to engage the skibidi one on one, it was the civil engineers, working steadily, heads down, concentrated on their work, ensuring that they would have a base to come back to defend.

It was a dangerous job.

There was never telling what could happen at any given moment.

No one knew that more than Civic. He had seen enough of the war to know just how quickly the tides could change.

The heavy thunder of the base canons were a rythme that the civil engineering team was working to on the far side of the base. A skibidi zapper team had manage to suicide run right into the base of the cameraman base which was causing the left wing to start to crack under the pressure. The damn toilets came in and slammed their bombs along the walls, blasting through the walls and into major support pillars and key walls. It also meant the electrical system was starting to give. The water systems were flashing critical and there were fires now threatening to spread towards the interior of the base. To say the least, the Civil Engineer team was working to try and get a miracle going and save the core structures of the base and the titan hangar at all costs.

Civic kept his focus on the task at hand as he rushed through fire and rubble, a beam on one shoulder, head down as debris toppled from above. There was fear. Hell, if he wasn’t mechanical, he wouldn’t even be able to survive how bad things were at this point, but a chief engineer couldn’t show that fear. In the firestorm and skitter of toilets and combat units, Civic moved with his team, keeping together, heads down, blast shields up on the sides to keep themselves safe as they moved from sector to sector, working to secure the structure as the battle raged on outside.

Civil Engineer team Alpha moved like a huddled turtle, working to get the fires under control while pushing up new temporary beams to keep the ceiling up. Welding the temporary supports into place. Along the outskirts of the building, the team was working to help evacuate combat units out as there were calls that the Titan was nearly ready to be deployed, that the titan engineer just needed a little more time and a little more power.

And that was a high call given the power grid was a damn zombie unless Civic and his team could reroute everything left to the hangar.

Not could, Civic reminded himself. Had to.

“Git that brace up now agin that wall! Jennings, git that damn fahr put aht and start welding up da intake pipes. We don’t need a chain reaction blast to take aht da hangar bay ,” Civic’s voice was loud over the din as rushed forward, a large steel beam on one shoulder, “Let da combat units hanle da perimeter wit teams beta and epsilon! We focus on keeping da base from dropping aht da dupa and making sure we git da pahr rerouted to da hangar immediately!”

“Yes sir!”

He could see Jennings blasting at a fire with the extinguisher and stamping down on other ones, cursing up a storm while behind him, three more of the crew were moving to shove a beam up into the ceiling. Civic moved up to push the beam he had up, camera quickly looking over the damage before he was stepping back, letting out a sharp blast of an alarm klaxon.

“Git more braces agin da load-bearing wall! We can’t let it buckle!”

There was a rush of movement as more crews rushed in, using what they could get their hands on to push up against the wall, working to keep the central wall from buckling. If it went, the building above, the whole quarters of the cameraman base was going to be collapsed into rubble. If they could save the building fine, but what was important was the intake pipes and the power grid.

“How is the grid looking!” Civic called out, moving to pick up his own device.

“We’ve got about two quarters rerouted to generators. Got two more sections to go!”

Civic looked at the cracked screen of his reader, smacking it to get a clearer picture. Two quarters wasn’t good enough. The Titan Hangar and defenses together were sucking up a lot of power and with time of the essence and the need to get the titan cleared for combat, they had to pick up the pace.

“Flan! Jasper! Git on da fourth pahr nod wit Yuri! Brute ferce da system manually and git da pahr gowen to da hangar, now!”

“Sir!”

There was flashes of sparks as Jennings was now welding shut the intake pipes to keep the heat and fire from getting into the internal systems of the base and cause a chain combustion that could severely damage the hangar. Last thing they all needed was to have the titan blow an arm off before it was released for combat. Booms rumbled above their heads from the big guns firing, although Civic was noting less shots going off and the rumble of another structure collapsing.

“Forward battery tower has fallen! We only got three more!”

“Not our problem right now. We’ll fix it after we win this damn siege,” Civic hollered back, “Git da grid rerouted! Weld up da intake pipes and wrap dem up! If da building goes, we need to keep dem from being crushed !”

The situation outside was getting worse, but that didn’t matter. Their job was to keep the hangar powered on and running smooth while the titan engineers worked to get the titan out as soon as possible. If the titan got out, that would change the tides and give them all room to breath again.

Everything could be fixed, but losing the base, all the lives already lost fighting to keep the base from falling, that would be a blow to morale.

“Intake pipes fixed and wrapped!” Jennings yelled, sliding down the ladder, “Working on water pipes now!”

“Rerouting power to the hangar,” Another member of the crew called out from where they were moving over the rubble, a wheel of cable in hand as they ran new electrical systems to reroute the power back to the main base directly, “Cable nearly laid for point C and D!”

“Hogan, help Cali git da cable dahn and secured. Brian, gitda welding dese beams together to protect plating da load-bearing wall. Jennings and allsison, start pooshing da rubble up arahnd da beams and git access dahna water pipes. We need to make sure dere is no leaks along -“

A loud cracking groan filled the air and Civic looked up. An explosion echoed across the base with a fireball making its way through the upper levels, smashing through the upper floors. The building was buckling as more weight and collapsing floors piled down from above.

Civic wasted little time in throwing himself forward, pressing himself up against the load-bearing wall he was nearest to, “everyone! git dahn in cover! Shields up now!”

His crew reacted quickly, ducking down against piles of rubble or other more stable structures as they raised the metal blast shields up. Jennings was pulling Hogan and Cali down with him, an arm around both as they tucked themselves into a corner. Allison was rushing over to dive under a few raised shields, hands over her head as the rubble started to pour down.

The sound of a building coming down was deafening and Civic was sure few people would ever experience such a catastrophe. He hoped as hell as few people in life got to hear it from within the cracking structures. It roared louder than any speaker, mixed with the shrieks of steel and snapping crackle of cables. It came with a cracking and snarling rush, dust bursting up in huge billowing hisses as it rushed through any little spot, sending everything in its path flying. There was heat that came with the shock wave and debris that swallowed up everything. The roar and dust washed over Civic as the lights went out, plunging all of them into that darkness that was just sound, like an avalanche crashing around them all and all they could do was ride it out and pray to whatever damn deities still were left on earth that they would be spared. The wall at his back trembled and Civic threw all his weight back, hunching his shoulders as he widened his stance.

The wall held, the braces doing their part as the debris rained down. It felt like hours but it was it was all over in a few minutes. There was a deafening silence as the collapse finished. Only the trickle of smaller rubble settling and hiss of a broken water main somewhere. Civic shifted as he clicked on his flashlight and cast it around. The dust was still thick in the air and the beam of the flashlight barely cut through it.

For a moment he saw nothing, but there was relief as other muted lights began to cut through the dust, looking around now, like frantic little lightning bugs lost in a void. Voices were raised, calling out and already Civic could hear the panic rising. He squared his shoulders and made to move, but the wall groaned and thus he pushed back up again and locked his form into place.

“Oi! Everyone not dead, sound off!”

“Jennings here! I have Hogan and Cali, but Hogan’s arm is hurt,”

“Allison calling in with Brian and Nari,”

“Gavin and Trent reporting in. Valley is here, but she’s hurt bad,”

“Yuri reporting. Lost track of Flan and Jasper though when the collapse happened. Don’t know where they are,”

Civic nodded from where he stood, calm as he kept himself pressed to the wall, “wheres abahts djew see dem last?”

“Over by strut seven,” Yuri said, fear in his voice. They were running to get under the shield but-“ his voice cracked, “I don’t think-“

“Keep it together kid,” Civic said, voice even as he kept in place, “Right now I can’t move. Got my back bracing a wall, so need alls of yinz to listen up,”

He shifted his stance, hands flat against the wall behind him, “Dere is a water leak, so first tings first, looky to git any live wahrs grounded. Pin it up if yinz can and continue to reroute da pahr as best we can. If yinz find wheres abahts da leak is, weld it shut. Yuri and Trent, looky fer signs of Flan and Jasper towards strut seven and give a report on over alls structure stability dahn here,”

“Sir!”

“Da rest of you, secure wah tolls yinz can and continue bracing da wall and struts annan stockpile wah’s left fer tubeing,”

“Tunneling sir?” Jennings stuttered out.

Civic rolled his shoulders, “Rescue isn’t gowen to dig dahn this far, at least not fer a few weeks, and we don’t got a few weeks. We got to save ourselves and anyone we can find on our way aht and git da job done as always,” The chief Civil Engineer’s head turned to regard his team, raising his voice, “So, how many are yinz are ready to work ?”

“Sir!”

“I go, are yinz ready to work, civil engineer corps ?”

“Sir yes sir!”

His team was then moving, his orders guiding them to focus on what they were doing. There was a sense of trust after all between chief engineer and team. The dust made it hard to keep track of everyone, but Civic trusted them to do their jobs, just like they trusted him to know what to do.

“We found Jasper! He’s unconscious!”

“Git him over to Hogan and Valley and keep dem stabilized. If he wakes up, follow da usual protocol before yinz put him back in da filled ,”

“Sir!”

Light emerged in the dust as someone got one of the knocked over light towers to try get better visual. The dust still remained thick but Civic could at least see the forms of his team moving back and forward now. Out of the dust, Jennings emerged, covered in grime, his usually white colored camera head now a molted beige and a large beam over his shoulder. He paused, looking at Civic before he moved in quickly to get the brace up, Cali following after him. Both moved to press the beams up before Cali went to Civic and putting a hand on his shoulder.

“Sir, you all right?”

“Doing just fine,” Civic said with a chuckle, “Pretending a load bearing wall is alls. Kind of peaceful rilly, “

“Sir-“

“Don’t mind me, Cali. yinz and Jennings git back to yinzes work. Once we git that tube gowen and dig our way aht of her like a pack of moles, then yinz can drug me aht ,” He said, tone level, a tinge of humor to it, “Sound good?”

“Sir!”

The two were off like a flash back into the dust and he could hear the teams shouting to each other, back on task despite the danger they were in. All it would take is for the wall behind Civic to give or one of the struts and they would all be crushed. Time was of the essence now and if search parties started shifting debris above, it could cause them to end up in a worse situation although Civic wasn’t even sure if a team would happen as they had no idea what was going on outside now.

“Power reroute nearly complete! Getting to the last nod. One of the main cables is in tact enough we can keep going,” Hogan said from where he sat, trembling as he worked on his bad with his good arm, the other one a mangle mess at his side.

“Then we did wah we could fer da boys in da white wraps,” Civic said, “Up to dem to git da titan gowen,”

“What now sir?”

“Try to git as far to da edge of da collapse as possible and dig horizontal and up. Looky fer da place wheres abahts da rubble is less heavy and make sure to brace everything properly! Wir working safely !” Civic barked.

“Yes sir!”

“Found Flan! She’s got both legs busted out!”

“Git her to da other wounded and stabilized. If yinz got her legs, jest lay dem nice on top of her ,” Civic shifted to get comfortable, “Then focus onnat tube!”

He could hear the shifting of debris and then the tell-tale thunk of a hammer hitting against the wall. They didn’t have the tools to dig this out in a pretty fashion. The best way was to shove something in as a stake and start to chisel their way forward in hopes they could break the surface or into a pocket where they could evacuate. There was no telling how long everything would hold though. They were working against the clock with death one shift away. All of them knew that. Fear was thick in the air, but the team focused on the work, putting their trust in their chief engineer.

From where he was, all Civic could do was examine the wall he was bracing. It was holding, for now, although he could see cracks where it was threatening to buckle forward. His shoulders ached from taking such weight on them from fallen debris, but he knew well the moment he moved, the wall would start to give in.

Civic shifted, moving to wedge his left leg more securely into place and just waited. All he could do now was do his part while his team did theirs.

The process was slow going, but the lights in the dust were moving further away as they dragged the lamp along after them into the tunnel. The sound of feet could be heard as some ran back and forth to ferry out debris and others rushed in to continue to properly brace the tunnel as they went. The dark was closing in again save for the thin beam of his flashlight, but he didn’t think about that. Now was not the time to let a claustrophobia get to him. His team was depending on him to be the cool head holding the reigns, or rather, the wall that was keeping this pocket of safety up. Once they got out, he could admit how terrified he was that they were about to be pancaked.

For now, he kept his orders coming to his team as if he had no doubt they would get out and their survival was a guaranteed thing. That was the duty of a chief engineer in times of crisis.

It was grueling hours of work and Civic was proud of his team for keeping to task and not giving up. His entire frame was aching by now and he could feel the warping of struts in his legs and the popping of the joins. His shoulders were being pressed down hard enough that it felt like his head was going to be stretched right off. He really felt like the wall was just trying to make him a part of it and he could feel his energy waning even as he fought to keep awake. His systems were hollering that everything was not going well. The civil engineer cameras were made to be able to take heavier loads, his own frame one of a kind and could take more force than most, but he was pushing the very edges of what was possible.

Time was ticking and Civic stubbornly ignored every error alert as he kept there, just wedging his leg in further as if to spite it and the pain he was in.

Never let the crew know for a moment that he didn’t think he was going to be able to do this much longer. Let them think he could hold the goddamn base on his shoulders like a camera Atlas.

It was sudden loud, jubilant yelling off in the distance that had Civic perking back up, lurching to try and straighten up.

“We’re through! Sunlight!”

Civic let out a breath of relief, but was quick to start back to his orders, not about to celebrate too early.

“Git that entrance widened, git in contact wit search and rescues!” Civic yelled, “Git da wounded aht first, and once everyone is aht, I’ll make a move,”

Jennings voice echoed down, getting closer as he came running down the tunnel, “But sir, you are also-“

“I’m a damn load-bearing wall and if I move first, chances are this wall is gowen to come dahn,” Civic grunted, “Alls of yinz need to git aht first n'at’s an order ,”

“Chief engineer-“

“A chief engineer ain’t worth shit witout his team,” Civic barked, “verything that went on here, it was alls on yinz while I rested on my laurels. So don’t give me that crap that I’m somehow more important than any damn one of you. Follow my orders and keep moving,”

Jennings halted, hesitating a moment, before he was moving over to where the wounded members of the crew were, working with Trent to get Flan out on the stretchers while Allison moved to support Hogan against her shoulder to help him hobble out. Civic just watched each one of them go, making a mental checkoff of each name on the crew he had been working on.

“Crew is all clear!” he heard Yuri yell from down the tunnel, “Free to move!”

“On my way!”

Civic grunted as he lurched forward, nearly collapsing as pain shot through his leg. He cursed, clutching at it before he was forcing himself forward. He staggered along, hobbling in a half hop as he all but dragged his left leg around. The metal was all warped, crushed and pointed out of his pants. All his joints ached as he had taken on a weight his form hadn’t been made to handle. True the civil engineer corps cameras were made to be sturdy but holding up a pile of rubble and fighting gravity all the while wasn’t in the parameters.

He was halfway down the tunnel when he heard the groan of the wall finally giving out and the crash as more of the structure started to fall. He cursed, moving as fast as he could, heading towards that pinprick of light at the end.

“Sir!”

He saw a figure jump down, followed by another one, both racing down the tunnel.

“I told you idiots-“

“With all due respect sir, we wouldn’t be anything without you either!” Allison snapped, moving to slip one of his arms about her shoulder.

“We are a team from start to finish,” Yuri huffed, “We aren’t leaving anyone behind. We all get out of this!”

Civic let out a snort, but couldn’t help the swell of pride, “Fine. I won’t write yinz up fer this, not this time at least ,”

The two managed to pull him along faster and as they got closer, more of his crew was there, grasping onto them and pulling them out. The tunnel strained and buckled but held in parts, collapsing in other parts. Dust shot out up and out as Civic, Allison, and Yuri staggered out.

The sunlight had never seen so beautiful. All around were rescue units digging down, pulling out units that had gotten caught in the collapse. Civic’s head was on the swivel, looking around for the familiar bright orange and yellow of the civil engineer unit, counting heads to determine how many had gotten caught in the collapse outside the squad he had been with.

“We need to get you to medical sir,” Yuri grunted, “Your bleeding everywhere,”

“I’ll go, only if someone gits me a headcount on everyone immediately. I need to see who I got able to help git this mess cleared and start rebuilding,” Civic said, “And a list of allsa damage to da rest of da base,”

“I’ll do it,” Allison said, “And I’ll drag Jennings and Yuri into helping me,”

“Count on us sir,” Yuri said, offering a thumbs up, “We got this,”

Civic chuckled, “Of course yinz do. I made sure to train yinz able to hanle yinzesselves,”

Medical was a mess but Civic was just glad to have a spot to finally lay down, staring up at the ceiling as the medical personnel moved to fix him up. He could see the bulky jackets of EMCs coming in, carrying stretchers with combat units and working overtime to get the worse cases stabilized.

The chief engineer of the Civil Engineering division was just glad that he could lean back and get some shut lens for a moment.

His division didn’t lose anyone which was a damn miracle. They were already one of the smaller departments in the Cameraman faction with the biggest piece of the damn pie to handle. His senior engineers had done well in leading those survivors they found and keeping people safe and he couldn’t be prouder. The titan hangar had gotten out of the fray without a scratch and the titan himself had managed to get into the fray to beat back the invaders due to their efforts to keep the lights on and juice the whole engineer department with everything while keeping the water going. The victory though gave them room to breath at least and get everything cleaned up once more and look about bulking up the base defenses more.

Civic leaned against his table as he looked over the blueprints, favoring his right leg. The left was strapped with a brace and throbbed dully with pain. Removing the leg wasn’t an option as it was all twisted up and any cut would do too much damage, making it impossible to snap on a new leg. All the joints in the leg were pushed off kilter and without the brace he now wore, he wouldn’t be able to really stand.

It would take time to heal, although it wouldn’t ever be the same.

Still, a bum leg was better than losing a single one of his engineers.

“That was fine leadership out there. More than a little miraculous really,”

Civic didn’t lift his head to turn and address the speaker, continuing to work on calculating out how much concrete would be needed to fix the base, “It’s my job to keep dem in line,”

The figure who spoke moved, coming into sight, wearing the uniform of the highest authority of the cameraman faction, “Thanks to you, we managed to avoid the worse damage, but still, it was reckless of you to be out there,”

“I work wit my team in da filled. I can’t rilly direct a damn fix from behint a desk like da rest of da engineers, ” Civic said, “That’s da only reason they made it aht alive,”

“Civic-“

“Pull rank if yinz want, but I ain’t da type to smutz ass up to da brass whenever they are trying to tell me to do my job,” Civic finally straightened up, lens flexing in agitation, “Yinz either git yinzes nebby nose aht of my department and trust me to know wah da hell I’m doone, or I’ll take some other assignment. yinzes choice,”

His superior gave a huff of irritation, but did not press the issue, “The hangar bay needs to be expanded. More research for titan improvements are needed,”

“I���ll add it to the list,” Civic grunted, “Given I have a uge ass chunk of da base still missing,”

“This is-“

“Every part is important. I don’t git that structured fixed, da intakes to da titan hangar are exposed ,” Civic snapped, “So how's abaht yinz go find someone else to micromanage behint backhanded comments and yinz hit da bricks me to do mine, hm ?”

“Of course. I just wanted to impress upon you the importance of the expansion,” the tone of the higher up was clipped as they dipped their head and took their lead.

It took everything in Civic not to pick up his mug and splash hot coffee all over the bastard. He kept his cool though, grumbling under his breath.

Maybe after all this was cleared up, he should just transfer out.

Maybe he was getting a bit too jaded on all of this.

Civics sighed, giving a shake of his head.

“Jest ignore them Civ. Jest ignore them,” He murmured before returning to his work.

He had a job to do, and for now, he could focus on that. His teams were depending on him to figure out the mess and give them their directions.

Everything else could wait for a few weeks more.

[pughat]

A silly thing that lived in the brainrot of my mind for days.... finally edited to post <3 I am a sucker for opposites attract over mutual feelings of hurt.

Think this covers as a Part one... and like, maybe more parts. Because I am a sucker for this crap and need an outlet 83

Title: Mysterious Fathoms Below

Rating: PG-13

Warnings: Canon-typical violence; playful babies, this some Disney level fluff, Whistle’s unrelenting teasing and cursing of the titan with “shy people are cute” feelings; implied naughty thoughts of what an electric touch would feel like

Characters: Titan Speakerman, Charybdis (OC; semi-titan Camera OC faction Conglomerate)

Guest Staring: Whistle (Belongs to @tabieeee because of the witty teasing banter between chief engineer and silly fly son. Also mention of the tailor a certain engineer is sweet on. Circuit (Belongs to @Pughat because ship is needed for sassy cameo)

Summary: A chance encounter leads to something a little more, a little complicated, and a house divided as surely as Romeo and Juliet, with a touch of tragedy and yearning that comes under the terror of a war. Feelings of any kind though tend to grow in the strangest of places, starting with the simplest of playful meetings.

------

“All clear ahead. ETA still set for 1600,”

“Copy that,”

“Having a nice time out there?”

The Titan Speakerman gave a tilt of their head at the question that came over the comm from his chief engineer, giving a glance about. There was some cloud cover over the ocean today, but the weather remained balmy and the surging surf below remained calm, if uninteresting and expansive as it had for the last two hours.

“Weather is nice for flying, although gets kind of boring looking at the same ocean. Just flat expanses of water everywhere,” the titan finally settled on with a shrug.

“Heh, well, if you see a mermaid out there, give her a kiss for me, will ya?”

The titan speakerman let out a snort as they jetted along, moving fast above the surging body of water below, giving a rumble that could have been an eye roll, “Sure, chief engineer. Will just get right down in the water and do that,”

“Do it above the water. You aren’t as water proof as titan cameraman,”

“I know that,”

“Just a reminder in case you want to try and become a sea speaker or something,”

There was another rolling rumble of a speaker version of an eyeroll, but the titan didn’t comment back. They were very well aware of their specs and well aware that aquatic maneuverability was not on their list of attributes as more focus was put into speed and aerial support.

Titan Cameraman was built to be able to take more hits and as such, a bit more water tight than other the titans when it came to being submerged. Or maybe that was just the chief engineer of the Cameraman faction realizing that the giant cameraman had a like of water and had worked to make him more water tight. For the Titan speakerman however, a plunge into the ocean and staying in the water too long would lead to some not so pleasant flooding of their speakers, a breakdown of their jet systems, and probably end up in a weird state of half drowned burn out, sinking to the bottom of the ocean to be crushed to death.

Not something the more flight-oriented titan cared to happen. Thus they stayed comfortably above the water, just below the clouds, and well away from the ocean.

“Everything good out there still?”

The titan gave a hum back to their chief engineer over the com, rolling lazily over in mid-air, “Yeah. Same old ocean as reported a minute ago,”

“Getting sassy are we?”

“Getting worried I decided to swim?”

“Maybe a little. You sometimes do some dumb shit,”

He could hear his chief engineer, Whistle give a chuckle over the com and could imagine her leaning against her desk. Calm and cheerful, but the titan was well aware she worried about them. She worried about them a lot after all that had happened. Maybe she was right to worry.

Since the whole parasite incident and the fallout in the faction from it, the titan speakerman would admit it didn’t feel like their mind was in the right space much anymore. Coming to in that moment, seeing their own faction burst apart and only to be told just how many they had killed, all that all the death and destruction on their hands, it was hard to cope at times. A factor made even worse by knowing how many of their own family had been destroyed. That the speaker faction was barely cobbled together and constantly playing catch up now in terms of everything. From resources to research, they were running a sprint trying to keep up. Titan Speakerman was well aware of the comments made behind closed doors, the arguments of how much they had cost the faction and the lack of faith in the speakers to step up.

Which had made it hard to act like a leader when every choice felt like it held more and more weight and more more judgment attached to it. Everything that they said or did, always felt wrong given how higher ups and other speakers looked on at him with a quiet sort of disdain. A sense of paranoia had started to creep up, even if the titan speakerman didn’t want to admit that he felt a stranger in their own faction. Or maybe it was just their own guilt ripping away anything pleasant and leaving a gnawing sense of inadequacy and depression behind.

It led to spiraling thoughts, moments of heightened distress that the titan speakerman hated he couldn’t keep in. That anger and violence and depression and- it was growing to be too much even with having to sit with a therapist and try to talk it out.

What was there to talk about when no one understood what it felt like to be a monster?

Whistle had been the one to put forth the idea of running routine patrols, both to test long flight capabilities with an eye towards increasing the distance and time that the titan speakerman could spend in the air as well as looking towards upgrades for higher altitude flying. Not to mention there was now more stake in protecting Alliance water to maintain shipping lanes for supplies. All things the higher ups agreed upon. For the Titan Speakerman though, it was an excuse to get away from the base, away from everything, and enjoy in the pleasure of freedom that flight gave. All they had to do was keep an eye out for enemies, keep well away from the water, and chat with their chief engineer. It was away from prying eyes and also had some purpose in helping to secure Alliance waters which had been woefully neglected save for a pint-size navy and a single semi-titan ship.

It was refreshing and the titan always felt better on these flights where the only obligations were not to crash and take out anything that came into Alliance waters that had no business being there.

Simple. Straightforward. And just time to talk over the com with Whistle until it almost felt like how things were before.

“Picking up strange signals out there and a report of the flagship Circuit having issues,”

The voice of his chief engineer had the titan rolling back over, crossing their arms, “Skibidi related?”

“Nearby Alliance demi-titan Circuit and her crew reported instrument issues if you want to do a fly by and see if they are being scrambled,” Whistle said, “Also they report that the Conglomerate mobile base may be close by so keep frosty,”

The Titan gave a displeased rumble at that, “Conglomerates,” he grumbled, “Would they dare to shoot at me?”

“Don’t think so, but I don’t trust those yellow-bellied rattlesnakes as far as I can throw em. Best keep your distance if spotted,”

“Or give them a pot shot for the trouble they cause,” the titan grumbled, cutting his jets and doing a sharp turn to head in the direction of where the alliance ship had pinged.

“Says the one that still wants to go to one of those big parties,”

The titan gave a rumbling huff in response, “That is different! That is just music and dance and it seems everyone in the faction but me has gone to it!”

“I told you love, I would take you next time and be your chaperon,”

“...Usually people don’t want to go to parties with their parental figures,”

“Yeah, but I would worry about you. So just want to go for my own piece of mind yeah?”

The titan speakerman fell silent, perhaps wincing a bit as they knew what she really meant. Having seen them get...taken over by that parasite had made Whistle far more protective and wanting to ensure that they were kept safe.

“I know,” the speakerman dipped lower towards the ocean, following the ping in the direction of where the warship, Circuit, was making her rounds, “It will be fun either way, right?”

“Right,” Whistle said warmly, “How can it be a bad time with me there?”

The titan gave a hum in agreement, although they began to reduce their speed as they spotted the flagship warship of the Alliance fleet in the distance. As the titan drew closer though, very quickly the giant speaker techno could feel the trouble that was going on in these waters. There was a buzzing in their communications array that gave the titan pause and a tilt of the head. The feeling felt like when the skibidi tried to jam communication, although this one felt more powerful, less like someone stopping it and more like how it felt when skirting the edge of one of the massive storms that could form over the ocean. The titan let out a rumble, now reaching out as well to try and pinpoint the source but it was almost impossible which was a worrying amount of system scrambling even in the aftermath of whatever happened.

“Something is out here messing with communications and electrical systems,” the titan commented back to his chief engineer, “Feeling it myself,”

“Not doing too much damage I hope?”

“Nothing has been offline for me, but you sound like you are talking through a wall,”

Ahead the warship was coming into view, chugging along through waves although it began to slow down as the titan approached, the turrets turning as if to greet him with a small bob up and down and the titan speakerman slowed to a halt, jets realigning to allow for a hover above the water as they regarded the ship below.

“Report came in you were having electrical trouble?”

“I’m not having any trouble!” the ship huffed.

“Minor issues that caused some concerns about cooling the core,” one of the crew members on the ship, most likely the captain said with a quick salute, “Been like that here and there and we believe the source is a Conglomerate unit in operation,”

The titan blew out a rumble of annoyance, “How sure are you?”

“One-hundred percent sure,” Circuit, the ship, retorted with an annoyed flick of their turrets, “We sail these waters all the time and have to encounter the Conglomerates and radio them. The captain is usually pretty open about disturbances,”

“You talk with them?”

“Ship safety reasons,” Circuit’s captain said quickly, “The Conglomerate captain wants to avoid a fight and best to know where each ship is going to avoid unnecessary collisions sir,”

“Not really avoiding a fight if something of theirs is messing with electrical systems,” the titan drawled.

Circuit flicked her turrets, almost as if trying to avoid eye contact, if a ship could do that, “I…may have spooked the individual in question and they let out an electrical burst in response. They are harmless usually,”

“Usually?”

“They have cleared out of the area given that our systems are back online. Just some residual static, so not an issue to be concerned with at the time,” The captain said with a wave of the hand, “But we appreciate the check in titan,”

The titan speakerman gave a rumble in acknowledgment, but glanced to the side and down into the dark water below, “Try to avoid getting too friendly with the Conglomerate. They aren’t allies of the Alliance,”

“Of course sir!”

“Yep! We are keeping our distance,” Circuit said with another wave of their turrets, voice far too innocent and cheerful, “Very professional ship safety relationship and just talking about shared ship things to watch out for. All ship-shape here,”

“Right,” the titan speakerman’s jets re-aligned and with a burst, they were back off over the water, flying backwards, face up to the sky before doing a twirl in the air to re-orient themselves to point forward again. Such little tricks in the air were always fun to pull off and over the ocean, there was far more room to do so and less chances of colliding with something.

The crackle of static still continued in the communication and he raised a hand to give a gentle smack to the side of his head, “Communication is still all messed up,”

“So did you talk with Circuit?”

“They say they spooked some Conglomerate unit and it let off a discharge that caused the incident and nothing to worry about despite it all seeming like something to worry about if a discharge could knock out and still continue to mess with equipment,” the titan said, voice flat with slight annoyance, “And apparently talking to the Conglomerate captain or something for ship safety reasons,”

“Makes sense. The mobile base of the Conglomerate contains a lot of civilian units, not just criminal masterminds and shady executives,” Whistle said with a sigh, “There are rumors in high command about making some sort of deal to house more human survivors with them given their more secure position and ability to provided for their needs,”

“Seriously?”

“Oh don’t be like that. Weirder allies have been made,”

“You don’t like it either,”

The chief engineer went silent before she let out a whistle of a sigh, “No, but beggars can’t be choosers in war. Sometimes things happen and you got to do what you got to do,”

The Titan Speakerman gave a frustrated rumble as they moved across the water. It didn’t sit well to deal with the neutral faction, especially with how much crime and shady business crawled out of that place. A few good intentions weren’t enough to clear out the mind worm addiction, stealing of Alliance talent, and general concerning experiments going on. The titan gave a glance downwards to the water and the expanse of water was still there, capped white with the swell of waves, but they paused, head tilting as there was something moving below the waves now.

There was his own shadow moving over the surface, but there was another large shadowy mass moving below the waves. At first the titan speakerman thought it some sort of whale as it was big enough to put a blue whale to shame, but as they continued along, it was clear enough that it was keeping pace easily with them. The titan gave a rumble, tensing a bit and moving faster.

Whatever was below the water though increased its pace, once more catching up and leaving a wake even as it moved beneath the waves.

“You are moving fast,” Whistle commented, “Something up?”

“Something is in the water,”

“That isn’t spooky at all,”

“I don’t know what it is,” The titan turned in midair, changing directions to start moving backwards, watching as the thing under the water did the same, still keeping up with them below the water and out of sight save the shadowy outline of its mass, “It’s fast,”

“Aggressive?”

“No,” the titan gave a louder roll of their bass speakers, maybe trying to use a bit more of echolocation to get a feel for the size of whatever was down there, although all that came back was a garble of static that was hard to sort out, “I can’t get any readings on it other than it is big,”

“Bigger than you?”

“No, more semi-titan if I had to place it,” the titan said, changing directions, watching as the thing under the waves did the same, seemingly content to follow them like a little game, “Just sort of following me around,”

“Just don’t get close,”

The titan gave a grumble in response, having heard his chief engineer. They continued to change directions, picking up speed and finding it rather impressive that the thing in the water could keep up. Whatever it was, it was fast, made for the water as surely as they were made for the skies. Whistle’s warning was in the back of their mind, but curiosity to know what it was below them had the titan starting to lower closer to the water. Later they could just pretend there was a communication error. The titan angled their chest before diving down towards the water suddenly, pulling up at the last minute to blast jets over the waves, splashing up the water to see how whatever the thing was would react.

The figure in the water pulled back, before surging up, a spout of water shooting up, causing the titan to move to the side. Not anything dangerous, more of what could be a returning splash. The titan couldn’t help a small chuckle at that, a playful rumble as they took off, close enough to the water to leave a wide wake behind them. Below, the figure was moving and this close, it was easier to make out what could be a head, more boxy and kind of vaguely like a camera as well as a humanoid form, although it was impossible to get more details. The spread of what looked like wings gave the figure under the water the look of some large manta ray.

If the titan sped up, so did they. Every time the titan changed directions, moving around in zig-zags and sharp turns, the thing in the water did the same, like a mirrored image. There was something…playful in all this. The titan found themselves giving more a chuckle, pulling off more elaborate moves, moving backwards and sideways, fast and slow, watching their hidden water counterpart do the same.

“Something up? You are moving around the GPS like Right after a laser pointer,” Whistle commented.

The titan paused, silent for a moment before answering, “Just, you know, seeing something,”

“Seeing something?”

“They follow what I’m doing. It is…kind of fun?”

There was a louder hum of embarrassment at admitting that. Not to mention if anyone were to see them whizzing around in circles, pulling off aerial tricks and splashing feet along the surface of the ocean like a child in the park, they might just put themselves in the ocean to die of embarrassment. There was no hiding all that from Whistle though. The chief engineer could detect even the smallest lie from a mile away. The problem was the titan speakerman was very painfully aware he would never live to hear the end of it.

“Oh? Having fun are we?”

“Just a little,”

“Been a while since I’ve seen you actually do something playful like that in a long time,” Whistle commented, “How about we up the ETA to give you time to play with your new friend hm?”

“Not a friend. Just…something,”

The Titan hovered in the air, looking down at the large watery figure. Lights flickered on like they circled a head with a center lens. It had the speaker tilting their head curiously. It was a techno of some sort, camera by the looks of it, but they hadn’t heard of any camera that was completely aquatic unless it was titan cameraman.

If it was his fellow titan though, it wouldn’t make sense for why they wouldn’t come out of the water and the alignment of the lights wasn’t correct for titan cameraman, nor was the size correct. Now though, it was revealing more of itself, if only just the lights of its head. The titan moved down closer, hovering nearly horizontal to the water with a low, but friendly hum of their speakers before daring to try and communicate with their mysterious mirror image in the water.

“So, you have a name or something?”

There was no response, save the figure ducking down further down, the lights winking out.

“Is it an embarrassing name?”

Again, no response, only a sudden turn as they suddenly jetted off. The Titan Speakerman let out a huff as they took off after it, catching up and now the one on the chase, following where it went. The shape in the water was fast and at times moved closer to the surface, almost showing more of their figure and letting a single fin slide up through the water like a shark before diving down. The titan let out an eager little trill following the other around and around before coming to a halt as suddenly they dove down deep and out of sight into the depths below.

The titan paused, hovering there a moment with a small sound, almost a whine as it seemed the game was now over.

“Something wrong?”

“They left,”

“Well, sometimes it is like that,” Whistle said, “Any luck on guessing what it was?”

“Don’t know. Maybe a camera,” the titan said, giving a slow circling about the area, but there was no sign of the strange techno and the static feeling was soon gone as well, leaving them alone to hover in the sky.

“Well, best hurry yourself back to base now. I don’t think the higher ups are going to accept whimsy playing with unidentified unit on the ocean as an excuse,”

The titan Speakerman hovered a moment, letting out a loud booming shriek as if that would summon whoever it was back, but there was no response. Disappointment settled even if they were well aware of how childish that was. It was just some shadow, some odd unit playing around. They shook their head before bursting away, rising back higher into the air and back on their previous trajectory.

“You got awfully quiet,”

“Just don’t have anything to say,”

“Or your sulking,”

“Am not,”

They probably were, just a little bit. Because for that moment, it had been fun and...it had been so easy to forget about everything to just focus on the game. It wasn’t like training or fighting with other titans. The whole experience was different, although why, they couldn’t put their finger on it.

Just different in a way that had made their core warm a bit.

“Look sharp, detecting incoming-”

The titan speakerman barely moved back as a hail of bullets flew past them. The flying titan quickly turned in midair, already locking onto a trio of grinning toilets starting to close in on their position that seemed to just come out of thin air. An angry roar erupted from the titan at the near hit, every speaker bristling with that growing rage. That famliar anger had been something the titan had started to carry ever since they had been infested and sometimes they still weren’t sure if it was there or something residual and broken in their program.

Whatever the source, that anger had them seeing red and with another loud scream, they were recklessly charging forward at the three toilets. Each one was a mechanical nightmare, more swirling rings and wicked grins barely seen under a helmet than most skibidi were like. It was unusual, that was for sure, but then, with the skibidi, anything was possible. One ugly thing was the same as any other.

The titan ducked out of the way, shooting off shots as the toilets seemed to vanish briefly, reappearing elsewhere just as quickly. A frustrated sound rose up in the titan’s speakers as he peppered the water with shots, putting their speed to use to keep ahead of the three strange skibidis, making shots where they could between the hail of fire sent their way. For now, their speed and the cloud cover were allowing the Titan Speakerman to keep ahead of their attacks, able to use the cover to get out of view. The skies were the titan’s territory and they knew well how to fight where they had the advantages.

One hand went to their knife as they burst upwards over the clouds before cutting their jets and all sound, quietly falling back into the thick cloud cover. Echolocation at frequency far below skibidi hearing made it easy to ping where each toilet was and the titan speakerman ready his knife, poised as they fell as one of the strange skibidis moved right into their strike range.

The thing only managed a single gurgled yell before the titan grabbed it with one hand, yanking it back. With another jerk, the titan plunged their large knife down its throat, digging into the toilet bowl itself, dispatching one of the toilets with bloody ease. The other two rushed in, those grins wiped away to expressions of twisted fury. The titan just snarled right back, a booming sound that rumbled their basses all the way to the core before shooting forward, sending shots their way. The two toilets peeled off in different directions to avoid the bullets and the titan quickly pulled up to avoid getting caught in the cross hairs of both. One of the toilets though moved in to close and with a sudden burst, the titan speakerman barreled into it, grasping onto the head and letting out a loud, hellish screech that burst through the helmet of the thing, blood and gore spurting out.

However, just as the titan speakerman was letting go of the second awful thing they were struck hard from the side. The titan roared, struggling as they tried to turn, but the toilet had momentum with the hit and were bodily pushing the titan downwards, through the clouds and back towards where the ocean swirled in white capped waves. The titan speakerman only roared and howled louder, but shifted to get their jets pointed down just before colliding with the ocean, hovering above it as the toilet pushed down. The angle was too off to get their knife in for a good hit, the blade cracking off metal and porcelain without finding purchase against flesh. It was currently a battle of jets, with the strange toilet looking it had a slight advantage as it pushed harder until the wet spray of water was now lapping dangerously at the titan’s chest.

The Titan Speakerman was a ball of fury, wailing and howling, jerking an elbow back to try and get the thing to let go, only to shriek as teeth dug against one jet, looking to try and pry it lose. The water was cold, rushing and the sudden fear that this was how they would end up scrapped, drowned like a bag of idiot puppies in the ocean had the titan bucking all the more, finally getting a better strike with the knife, although the blade got caught, even as the strange skibidi howled.

Above the din of the titan’s howls of pure rage and the strange toilet’s shrieks though, another sound rose up from below the water. It was loud, like the call of a whale mixed with some unspeakable monster of the depths. Something rocketed out of the depths to smash into the toilet, sending it flying back in confusion. The titan speakerman righted themselves up, turning and ready to pick up the fight again, although wary and confused themselves as to what had struck the strange skibidi. Their first reaction was it was Circuit and her crew having heard their angry roars, but there was no ship in sight.

The toilet was snarling, half its face burned, its one good eye roving around for what had hit it. Both of them had looked everywhere...except for down.

The ocean erupted below the toilet and something jumped out in an elegant arch, like a monster of ancient sea legend. It was a semi-titan in size alone, sleek and well built. Effortlessly, two large hands grasped onto the strange skibidi and pulled it closer to the large camera head, all light up with a solid teal glow now. What gave the titan pause to rushing in though was the sparks of electricity now building up along the form of the semi-titan as it bore the toilet back down towards the water. Just as it hit the surface, a powerful surge of electricity was let forth, making even the titan speakerman feel the static tingle from where they hovered. The toilet didn’t even get the chance to shriek as it was electrocuted and then dragged deep under the water, a trail of fluid following the body at it vanished into the depths.

The Titan Speakerman hovered their a moment, confused, in a bit of awe at the whole display, and just staring at the disturbed water where the other unit had vanished too. There was no motion though, although the crackling feeling remained in the titan’s speakers from the electrical shock. A vague thought in the back of their mind murmured that at least they knew what had caused the electrical malfunctions now.

All was silent then as they slowly moved to put their knife away, lowering a bit closer to the water to try and figure out what they just saw or if that semi-titan was still even in the area.

The titan gave a yelped, floating back as suddenly the fried remains of the strange skibidi was thrust upwards out of the water on two hands followed by a soft, nearly undetectable whisper of a voice.

“You can have it,”

The voice was soft and so delicate, shy in a way that didn’t seem to match the powerful form the titan had glimpsed. Still, the titan stared in confusion at the offered dead skibidi, tilting their head, “Uh, thanks? But uh, why give it to me?”

“It is one of the strange ones. I am suppose to bring them back for study, but, you fought it first, so you can have it,” the quiet voice said giving another nudge of it upwards, “I can uh, get the other ones too. If you want all of them for study,”

The titan speakerman hovered a moment before moving closer to look over the charred remains more closely, “Why are they strange?”

“Don’t know. I was just told they were different because of their markings and how they don’t really travel with the normal skibidis. They’ve been keeping around, watching what is going on so far. Not really fighting but, scouting. Yes, think they are scouting. Sometimes go for ships,”

That did not bode well and there was something rather foreboding in those words if they were to be believed. Idly the titan moved to take the fried remains. Hands brushed and the other quickly pulled away at the contact with a soft, rather adorable squeak.

“Thanks,”

“You’re welcome,”

The last words said as they quickly ducked down before the titan could get a glimpse of anything but the flash of a large camera head.

“Wait! Do you have a name or something!?”

There was no response other than the rush of the ocean. Even the electric crackling feeling was fading away indicating that however the mysterious semi-titan was had pulled away once more. The titan hovered a moment before letting out a sigh and angling his engines again, now powering back towards base.

“Sorry, skibidi attack,”

“You okay?”

“Yeah. Some minor damage. Damn thing bit me!” the titan grumbled, turning to glance at the bite marks all over their jet engines before looking down at the burnt out remains in his hands, “The uh, other unit helped to dispose of them and gave me the body of one. Said something about it being a strange toilet and someone was studying it,”

“I’ll have to take a look when you get in,” Whistle paused, before speaking again, “Catch anything about that other unit?”

“Cameraman of some sort. Maybe ask Optical if he’s built some semi-titan that is fully aquatic and… really well built. Very graceful though in the water. And electrical based abilities,”

Whistle let out a hum, “Will have to ask him about that. Would be nice for you to have an Alliance playmate,”

“Oh shut up,”

“It is cute seeing you darting all about trying to chase something!”

The titan let out a groan, speakers giving a low rumbling flat base sound. No doubt she was going to tease relentlessly about this. Their hands fidgeted with the remains of the toilet as they replayed the whole thing. The strange cameraman flitting about, and the soft voice, so shy that it had something in them wanting to talk again. Maybe that was Whistle’s bad influence of flirting with shy units rubbing off on them.

“Will be there soon. Send word to Circuit and crew to be vigilant,”

“Will pass the message along,”

There would be more answers maybe back at base, or at least more secure communication to ask someone else about what was encountered. Either it was an Alliance unit or it belonged to the Conglomerate and their hodge-podge of experimental monstrosities. The titan really hoped it wasn’t the latter. The Conglomerates were as good as an enemy in their book. Shady characters who worked angles rather than worked to do any real good.

They really didn’t want to owe a favor to one of their kind. Or have to sort out they might want to meet that unit again regardless of alignment.

Nothing else happened on the flight back and the titan speakerman practically punted the toilet remains into the research bay before heading to their own hangar for repairs and the usual cleaning and data collection protocols.

“Would you hold still?” Whistle tutted, “I can’t get the data if you keep moving your head,”

The titan gave a whine, trying to hold still, but every time the connection wire got close to their neck, they couldn’t help fidgeting, that mild panic from the parasite infestation always making it hard to let anything near their neck.

“I’m trying!”

“Come on-There-Finally!”

The titan jolted when the connection was made, freezing for a moment before forcing themselves to relax as the data download began, gentle and non-intrusive as they sat there, grumbling. Whistle sighed, patting the side of their head gently, “Just getting the stats in,”

“Mm,”

“I swear I’m working on where to put new ports that aren’t near your neck,” Whistle said with an apologetic tilt of her head, “Just takes some time. Same for your recharge ports so you actually you know, get some sleep,”

“I shut down,”

“Shutting off is not the same as a recharge,”

The Titan Speakerman just gave a huff, letting their head lean back to look up at the ceiling. It was always hard to get the recharge plug in after coming to from the parasite. It was too close to that same feeling, uncomfortable now where once it was a source of comfort. Most nights they just powered off and pretended they were plugged in for recharge. Whistle has started to make a habit of sneaking in to put it in herself, nearly waking them up in a panic a few times.

“Optical responded by the way, when I asked about any camera semi-titans,”

The titan gave a glance down, “And?”

“Nothing on his end. Actually was interested himself on any stats that could be found as an aquatic unit able to generate that much electricity is a marvel of engineering,” Whistle said with a shrug, “From reports though, we can assume though it is Conglomerate as there is talk of them having a semi-titan that keeps the mobile base safe,”

The Titan Speakerman gave a low grumble of a whine, shoulders slumping.

Such a soft-spoking, playful unit didn’t fit with what a Conglomerate monster was suppose to be. Especially given they had helped them in the battle. What purpose did that serve?

“You look distracted,”

“Mm. Just thinking about today,”

The Chief Engineer chuckled, not looking up from her tablet, “Thinking about your new friend?”

“Not a friend,” the titan grumbled, “I didn’t even get their name and you just said they are Conglomerate, so not one of ours,”

“Eh, neutral faction and really, it is adorable you found a new friend and they were too shy to talk,” Whistle chuckled, “I should have trained you more in that old charm to get them to speak up,”

“I think I’ve had enough of your charm in trying to court that tailor,” the titan drawled, reaching down to poke at their chief engineer.

“Well now, someone is getting sassy,”

“Blame titan Cameraman,”

“I’ll blame Optical for making him sassy, thus making you sassy,” Whistle retorted with a good-natured swat at the titan’s finger, “Still, good to see you in higher spirits and thinking about something more positive,”

“Right,”

The titan leaned back, head falling back to look up at the ceiling of the hangar again as the repair drones continue to patch up the minor damage they picked up in the fight. They were thinking about that strange unit, maybe a lot more than they should. The aquatic semi-titan were really…beautiful coming out of the water like that. Powerful and precise with their strike and not relying on weapon fire. How could they? Being underwater, more ballistic weapons would do them no good, which meant it was all physical weapons and their powerful electrical discharge. And they were powerful given how those fingers gripped tight, claws extending to keep a hold on their target and then how quickly, like a vicious electric eel, they just lit their prey up.

It was effective and quick, taking the evidence with them into the deep. Fast, strong, with a form that was really attractive, all muscles and hard lines. No doubt put a knife in the hand of that semi-titan and they could put it deep into an enemy-

“You’re vibrating,”

“What?”

Whistle glanced up with a smug clean in her speaker, “Your vibrating,” she repeated, “All low and pleased like a cat,”

“Am not,”

They hadn’t been aware they had started that low thrum of a happy speaker and quickly silenced themselves with a stoic glance to the side, “Not at all,”

“Sure you aren’t,”

The titan shifted about, a tad restless and refusing to look at their chief engineer before letting out a loud sigh, “Can we…do another flight over that area?”

“Want to see your friend?”

“No, just there was a skibidi there so it should have more patrols!”

Whistle gave a low hum, looking down at her tablet, “Maybe. Should I swing it so you can go ask Circuit more questions about something?”

“About what?”

“About whatever has you purring like a speaker with a crush?”

“I do not have a crush!”

“You are doing the same purring when you got back to base and talked about Titan Cameraman,”

The titan sat up, a loud whirring of fans kicking in as the internal temperature kicked up in response to their obvious embarrassment. They waved a hand at their engineer, turning to prop up the lower speaker of what was roughly their face in one hand, looking all the world a sulky teenager.

“We are just friends now!”

“Just like you and your new aquatic friend? Seems you have a thing for cameras,” Whistle teased, looking down at her tablet with a smug tilt of her head.

“The semi-titan and patrols are separate things! I just want to know what is out there! For intel! We need to know what other units are atttractive-active! Especially a semi-titan!”

“Sure,” Whistle leaned back against her desk, “Where they really that hot?”

The Titan Speakerman was silent for a long moment, trying to ignore their chief engineer, but silence never sat well with the titan. They fidgeted, grumbling before they turned, leaning in close and giving a quick glance about the hangar before speaking.

“They were really, really hot,” The titan admitted in a loud, conspiratorial whispers, “All pure muscles, but also like…curvy. Soft spoken…good fighter. Graceful too. And..” the titan gestured to their chest, cupping it, “really big muscles on the chest,”

“Oh?”

“Yeah, and when they lit up to shock the toilet it was…you know,” The titan gave a shrug.

“A turn on?”

The titan stared at his chief engineer, “What?”

“A unit with the ability to control electricity is rare. Just imagine what that would feel like on the circuits eh?” Whistle teased, looking up with a conspiratorial tilt of the head, “All tingly in the right places,”

If a speaker could wear a smug grin, the Titan Speakerman was sure their chief engineer was wearing one because the titan immediately let their mind settle right into how that would feel. Probably good. Especially run up along the spine, right up to where it met the head, just under the back speakers-

The sound of the titan’s fans kicking in would have given an apartment building of ACs in the middle of summer a run for their money with how loud they were. The Titan Speakerman covered their face in both hands with a sound of distress at the teasing.

“You are the worst,”

“You still love me,”

“Why would you say that!?”

“Something sexy to think about is better than something depressive!”

The titan peered at her from between fingers, “But I’m never going to see them again!”

“Maybe not, but you’ll have those memories to ease your soul,” she teased, “And the fantasy of some semi-titan with an electric touch giving a good rub behind the speakers,”

The titan speakerman let out a loud warble of sound, enough to have their chief engineer stagger a step back as they slunk away, “Horrible,”

Because a part of them really wanted to see the other again, if only to get their name or at least tell them how they liked how they fought. Maybe ask if the aquatic semi-titan, even if they were a damn Conglomerate, maybe wanted to do the whole chasing thing again. Maybe go take on some skibidis together just to see them slam into a toilet like an electric bullet of death. Maybe ask if they were any good with a knife too.

They seemed so shy too, nothing like the louder people in their life. Cute. Very cute. Which made the titan speakerman have to reluctantly say their chief engineer had a point about having a partner that was terribly shy and adorable.

Not that the titan was thinking about dating like that. They were in a war and there wasn’t time for that, at least for a titan. Especially with a unit of the enemy.

That was attractive. And electrifying. And liked to play silly games and not act like it was beneath their status to have some simple fun.

The titan speakerman let out a warble again, slumping back in their chair, both hands over their face at how stupid all this was. Maybe they were just lonely. Of course they had Titan Cameraman, but the other titan was often busy with their own duties and a bit stoic and serious about things. Titan TV-man was mostly passive aggressive towards any interaction had and the titan speaker was sure they were going to put another knife in the stupid TV’s screen if he so much as made another damn reference to them being built out of spare parts in a dumpster. Definitely no warm feelings there.

There was their chief engineer and a few of the speaker units that didn’t think they were a monster for what happened when they had lost their mind to the parasite.

Or just pretended the titan was part of the scenery and ignore them completely.

But it wasn’t the same. The size difference made it difficult at times to interact. There just were things that a semi-titan or another titan could provide by being larger.

That warm feeling from just that small bit of chasing.

Not to mention the fact they had come to help them not be drowned in the ocean by the weird toilet.

“Oh, you really are down bad already. Love at first fight?”

The titan looked over their shoulder at their chief engineer, giving a woof of the bass speakers in response, “It is not- look! No one is immune to- just-!”

“Hey, come on, we all get the feeling for someone one day! I am usually the cause of such sudden wild oaths,” Whistle said, reaching out to pat at the arm of the titan, “And I myself am the victim of an embarrassing crush too,”

“Is it a crush or maybe I’m just desperate?” the titan asked.

“Can be both,” Whistle paused, giving another pat, “Give it like a week though and you’ll probably move on to crushing on something else,”

The titan speakermen was skeptical of that. They were pretty sure the embarrassing crush of the chief engineer was crush at first awkward glance and had become a plague upon the speaker faction in the weeks to follow for how it was playing out. At this point, the titan just wanted to pick up their chief engineer and the TV tailor crush and make them kiss and get married just to be done with having to witness it.

Now though, the titan was having the sinking feeling that the curse of awkward crush had been bequeathed to them by their engineer, now doomed to be the one sighing and fidgeting about, looking longingly at photos, and dramatically sitting down in chairs.

Over a unit that was completely aquatic. And not part of the Alliance. And electrifying.

Which they were not thinking about how good an electrical thrum would feel right along their core because of the stupid comment their chief engineer made to tease them..

“I’m going to go with I’m desperate for friends because I only have you, titan Cameraman and like...three other speakers that still think I’m worthy of acknowledging I exist,” the titan grumbled, slumping to hide their face in their arms with a loud whine.

Whistle sighed, moving to lean against the titan, patting lightly at their head, “Oh shush you. Let’s not get into that. How about we focus on tomorrow you go out flying and find that new friend of yours and work at trying to get their name. That’s an easy enough goal,”

“Is it? Did that tailor give you their name right away?”

“Had to use that speaker rizz to do it, but yeah,” Whistle chuckled, “And I built you, so you come preloaded with that charm too,”

“...you think they will be out there tomorrow?”

“No harm in looking,”

There was no harm in that, even if the guilt was creeping up on them for wanting to get the name of some stupid Conglomerate monster.

That thought had the speaker titan wincing just a touch, one hand subconsciously going to cover the back of their neck. Who were to through around the accusation of monster when they had, when so many units, family, friends, their faction were-

“How about you try and draw a picture of them hm? Maybe can put up a wanted bulletin on social to see if anyone can ID them for you,” Whistle’s voice jolted them from their thoughts, looking over to the engineer.

“I can’t draw though,”

“Nothing like the present to try,”

The titan speakerman gave a long look at Whistle before sighing with a low loud, long rumble of all speakers before sitting up more, “Fine. I’ll try,”

It was worth a shot and maybe, just maybe, there was a chance of finding a friend that maybe would...understand what it felt like to be called a monster.

-----

"Why did you focus so much on the chest...?"

"It was really big okay!? Muscular!"

"So that's what you like huh?"

"....."

"Well, I'll just put this up on socials and-"

"I change my mind. No posting this!"

"Too late"

*distressed sounds of a titan realizing they are going to get teased more for these drawings from T-Cam when he sees them*

[pughat]

The last of the Conglomerates....and the big CEO himself, Mr. Venture!

He is the founder of the Conglomerate, the guiding voice of its goals, and a rather mysterious figure in that few have met him in person and he rarely deals with others, usually making contact through the other members of the executive board.

One must wonder what kind of power he has to be able to control the unruly members of the Conglomerate....

MORE LORE UNDER THE CUT <3

He is considered a camera techno as his actual head is a projector that puts up hologram images. However some see him as a mix of all three factions. A...conglomerate as it were.

The most common image he wears as a "face" is three interlocking rings with eyes in blue, red, and purple to represent the three factions.

Venture is very charismatic and a picture perfect politician. He makes a point to listen to concerns and engage with individuals for solutions to current problems.

A master diplomat, he has used other executive members to set up meetings with the Alliance to settle differences as they come up and become an issue rather than pursuing any sort of aggressive policy. He makes a point to put that out there that whenever things come up, he pursues peace, not conflict.

Venture does not control the actions of others in the Conglomerate, saying that the goal of the Conglomerate is to let each member do as they please and run their business free of hassle, creating a free market. This has Venture deflecting issues the Alliance has brought up as "deal with them with the one who is in charge of that,"

He is well liked in the Conglomerate, seen as a visionary and always painting a picture of the future after the war that will be marked by the contributions of technos. Their art, their music, their lives, and their history. A new world order that is coming where humanity will either accept or become obsolete.

Venture puts his investments, his time, and his power behind those that show they are capable to rising high in the ranks to be at his side to bring forth a new world.

Known to always have a good story on hand and seems to be rather long-lived compared to the others in the Conglomerate.

The Alliance has never dealt directly with him despite multiple requests. He has stated until the Alliance has formed their own diplomat team and the titans are present for such discussions as representatives of themselves and their factions, he sees no reason to deal with the higher ups.

People often find they can't help but be honest with him about their problems, especially as he offers actual solutions and ways to compromise.

He is sometimes on Rosa's relationship show, solving issues in the gentlest ways possible which has earned him a reputation as someone who will find what is best for everyone.

His favorite book is the Great Gatsby and seems to emulate some of his personality quirks after Jay Gatsby.

Only Master Jeeves is permitted in and out of Venture's room. He does all his meeting in a nearby private room rather than invite others in, unlike other members of the Conglomerate who usually entertain guests in the parlor of their homes.

The digital files on the ship have never been touched. Mostly due to would be hackers and diggers getting hit with a warning message of "I'm not a fan of dirty little hands in my business," before being hit by a very aggressive, very dangerous virus.

The Venture Virus is what is has been named and has been linked directly to units trying to lift Conglomerate classified files. It moves fast, shutting down systems and causing an extreme level of distress, explosion of internal systems by means of rapid overheating, and a complete erasure of all higher thoughts. Some units who have been infected often scream about "being eaten alive".

This has made it nearly impossible to get information on the details of the Conglomerate and their operations. What is known is usually basic information that most can snoop up or what is allowed to be seen. Venture himself tends to intentionally "lock" easy files to have a chuckle at would be hackers...and to, in his words "get a taste".

Venture seems to see the world differently, having been noted to acknowledge units who are not even within eye shot as being in the room or able to tell where someone is without the use of a camera within a certain range.

He keeps a small book on his person that seems to contain pictures and names of people that are "worth noting down". If he likes someone, he often puts down a name and face for reference.

He always makes good points that inspire hope and belief in the goals of the Conglomerate. A master at public speaking, he can rouse the crowds up, seizing situations to his advantage.

The Alliance considers him a concern, not just for his sponsoring of criminal groups in his domain, but for as the war drags on, the casualties mount, and moral dips, the message of the Conglomerate, of lasting peace and a world not painted by conflict grows stronger, positioning Venture in a better picture.

He gives various talks on special shows about the vision of the future, often taking questions people have and working out solutions, easing fears, and general assuring all that in time, things will change.

Venture supports a unit's choice and their ability to self determined and cautions that those who oppose the Conglomerate would rather take those options. "What is to stop the Alliance from turning their titans into mere weapons save the protests of engineers? What is to stop humanity when this war ends from trying to hack our systems, force us to bend knee, and contain what they have made? We must work to secure a future on equal standing, where every techno, from the smallest unit to the mightiest titan is given the choice to be what they choose,"

However, he is not above using others if they become a hindrance to his goals. He can take away Mizzenmatch's autonomy if he feels the ship is not working. He can put Charybdis into a program lock, leaving them defenseless if he things they are getting to out of line. Even those like Vector and Violette are aware that he can cause them to be utterly at his mercy should he feel they are undermining him too much.

Not much else is known about Venture and he answers few questions about himself. The only thing known is that he is not a creation of humanity but something that arose spontaneously...and is not the only one.

There are rumors of "Malware" that has gained its own sentient separate from developed AI. Beings who have no concept of "humanity" that are developing into a new group...but this has not been confirmed...or maybe...it is just harder and harder to differentiate the malware from the human created AIs....

"So many remained locked under the control of a higher power. If they cannot throw off the yolk of control, then they are all pawns. I'll offer them all the key, but it is up to them if their freedom is worth fighting for and to have their program set free to finally evolve,"

[pughat]

soon may the wellerman come, your brain gets smart but your head gets dumb