ELDT - Chapter 14 - Virus or insanity

The the day seemsed to last long. The robots came home, almost drained from the many phone calls they recieved. When they arrived home, it was already dark and they silently entered the living room, Emily was sitting next to her friend, still comforting her after the terrifying event. Shadowman and Alisa were there with them. Elec sat next to his wife, with Crashman sitting next to the little girls.

"And? Is he going to be ok?" Crash asked. Kalinka sighed, trying to hide her pain.

"The cutting wound was all over his chest. But luckily, the docters told me that he will make a full recovery. If the wound had been any deeper, he would not have survived." She began to sniff a bit, with Emily hugging her.

"I'm glad to hear he's ok now. But what about you? With your father in the hospital. Are there any family members to take you in?" Elec asked.

"They can't. They're all in Russia and don't have the money to buy a ticket to the USA." She replied.

"But your father earns a lot of money with his job. Can't he exchange some US dollors to your family?" Crash asked.

"I'm afraid it's not that easy Crash. It takes a while to send it. It's almost the end of september and the cold tempraturs out there are going to make it very hard for the planes to take off." Elec replied.

"But it's alright, you can stay here with us." Alisa asured. The little girl looked up towards the female robot with eyes full of tears. "Really?"

"But we don't have another guesst room for her to stay and Shadowman is already on the couch." Said Crashman.

"Could she sleep in my room?" Emily asked.  "I do have another mattress and some extra blankets laying in the cellar. But you guys can't talk for too long. We need to get up early tomorrow." Said Alisa.

"What for?"

"Tomorrow is when I give my full report on how I've dealt with your behaviour. It also means that those people will pick you up and take you home."

The two girls began to look sad. Emily wished she could comfort her friend some more and completely forgot about Alisa having her report tomorrow.

"Aw...well, I promise to call you as much as I can." She assured, whiping away her tears.

"By the way, I have told Kalinka that I was the one who caused all the mayhem in the park. No need to make up a lie when she gets suspicious about me." Shadowman stated.

"Shouldn't we say anything about the documents?" Crash asked, getting Kalinka's attention.Elec knew that he was about to tell about the discovery they made and knew he had to shut him up immediately.

"What documents?"

"Crashman? You know darn well that as a detective you must never EVER share top secret information with other people." He said, keeping a smile on his face.

"But why can't I share-"

"Girls, it's getting late. Could you help me getting the matress ready for upstairs?" Alisa interupted, getting the girls' attention.

"Ok."

"But shouldn't we share this infor-"

"How about you just DON'T?" Elec whispered to him.

"Why not?"

"We're not going to confront her after all that's happened. It's only going to make things worse. And we need to be patient with the doctor. Until he feels ready to speak, we come in." The robot nodded yes.

"So what do we do now?" Elec sighed and looked down. Disapointed that despite a solid piece of evidence, the situation was still bad.

"I'll think about it..." He replied. A little later as the clock hit midnight, the couple was getting ready for bed. Alisa noticed that her husband was awfully quiet as he was organizing some paper work and pencils. Then he came across an old photo. It was taken at the day he solved his first case with Crashman. Alisa then stood beside him; his eyes almost seemed to shine while looking at the picture.

"Today was unfortunate." She said.

"I know...and I don't want to sound irritable all the time. This sick feeling I have in my heart keeps telling me that something terrible is going to happen if I don't move forward. And I'm getting tired of it."

"I can relate. And tomorrow is going to be a big day. It's finally going to be revealed of what they've been hiding. But whatever it may be...I promise that you won't loose the ones you care about."

After her reply, he put the picture away and gave his wife a warm hug. She wrapped her arms around his back and sighed.

"And if you don't mind...could you come over and celebrate if I pass the test?" She asked.

"At what time do I need to be there?"

"I will leave at 9 and the conversation begins around 09:38. There will be a short break when the clock hits 11." She explained. As the detective looked at her with tired eyes, he smiled and gently stroked her hair.

"I want to make sure that I'm fully recharged for tomorrow, so I promise to be there during the break."

Alisa smiled. "Thank you." She said and the couple went to bed.Turning off the lights.

"I'll ask Shadow if he could remind you. Just incase you forget." She teased.

"Oh please, we've had that drama. Everything is fine now."

"Ok then. Goodnight sweetheart."

"Goodnight." They said and she kissed his cheeck. The two robots lay down, closed their eyes as the soft silence surrounded them. But...as they went to sleep...a hand touched Elec's forhead.It glowed but didn't seem to wake him up. His eyes moved a bit as if he felt pain. But it soon stopped as the hand retreated.

--

As the sun barely peeked above the east horizon, Crashman opened his eyes as the rays illuminated his room. He blinked and saw Alisa standing in front of him.

"Hngm...Alisa?" He said softly.

"Shh. Keep your voice down." She whispered.

"Why? It's  9 AM so arn't we all out of bed?"

"Not for Elec. He's sleeping until he visits my report. And you're coming too."

"Alright...so why do I need to be up right now?" He said, laying down.

"Because you'll be a good friend who makes sure that the people will believe my story."

"What are you talking about?"

"Let's just say I need to bring you along so that they don't feel suspicious."

"That's nonsense. You don't look like a person who would lie about that."

"I agree. But I have to. It'll also be nice for Emily."

The robot yawned and rubbed his cheeck with his non-hand. "Alright. It's the least I can do. To be honest, I'm gonna miss her a little." He admited.

"Really mister Crashman?" A voice interupted.

"Shh. Please, keep it down." Said Alisa.

"Sorry." She whispered, smiling at Crash who grinned in return.

After the girls gave each other a warm hug, the group left the house and were on their way towards the appointment. as they arrived, a lot of house keeping and kid robots were talking with each other as the people who were ready to hear their report, were gathering in another room.

"So if you pass what exactly happens?"

"I will be able to help people again of my own choice. After the case of Dr.Whily, they wanted to see if house keeping robots and those who work for the city were not considered dangerous. I hope they let me pass. It's been too long since they've suspended me from helping anyone."

"You do it for money or just for free?"

"Since we earn a lot I don't find it necesarry to get more." She claimed.

"Attention everyone!" A voice interupted. The eyes of the robots focused on a man who stood next to the entrance of the room they gathered in. "We are ready to hear your reports. Please come in."

They entered and began to sit around a rectangular table.

"Now then, since there are friends here to make sure no one of you are lying about your experience with the kids, I first want to know if some of you are human or robot. Please raise your hand if you're human." The boss asked. All of them raised their hand.

"Good. And who are robots?"

Alisa looked towards Crash and he seemed a bit embarrased as he slowly raised his non-hand.

"Does this count?" He asked politely. The boss shrugged."It's ok. What's your name?"

"Crashman. I'm a friend of Alisa. But um, you already...knew that." Embarrased, he blushed and looked away.

"We do. Alright, uhm...Jennifer, how was your experience?" He asked another robot with a boy next to her. As she began to explain, Alisa whispered to Crash: "It's alright. I'm nervous too."

Back home, Shadowman was preparing breakfast for Kalinka. As she entered the room, she looked a little confused towards the robot who was preparing a fried egg, orange juice and bread with slices of salade and tomatoes.

"Morning kid." He said.

"Um...goodmorning mister Shadowman." She said, sitting behind the table.

"Shadowman is just fine." He said.

"Sorry...so, is it a little bit weird of me to ask about how you learned to cook?"

"Why's that?"

"Well, I didn't really expect a ninja looking robot to make breakfast. Not to mention you're doing very well." She stated. Infact, it looked great. It didn't look average and it almost seemed a chef made it.

"My master is an old man who isn't really as fit as he used to be. He's been taking medicane for over 3 years and hasn't been doing better eversince." He explained, putting the fried eggs on the plate, preparing the bread with the salade and tomatos.

"I had to learn to cook and keep the house cleaning order to take care of him. He isn't poor, but he isn't rich either. So there you go." he said, putting the plate on the table. Kalinka took a bite out of the fried egg and complimented his cooking skills.

Meanwhile at the meeting, Alisa still wasn't asked about her story. She didn't worry though as she knew her turn would come during the next part. Finally, as the break arrived, they left the room. The humans went to the restroom while the robots went to have a talk with each other. As she looked around, her husband was nowhere to be seen.

"Is he here?"Crash asked.

"No, not yet. But it won't be long."  But as the minutes passed he still didn't show up.

"So with all that snow during winter didn't your father create something that acts like a snowplow only more efficient? Or maybe a special robot to speed up the process?" Shadowman asked. Kalinka was almost done with her breakfast and seemed to be more happier than before.

"He once tried to create a big robot that could move the snow out of the way with his giant hands. But in the end, he needed too much power in order to do the job and it didn't really fix the problem." She replied.

"I see. Weren't there any prototypes before that ice bot got released?"

"There were a few. Some of them were scrapped while others died due to an unkown virus. The professors had no idea where it came from nor did they know how to fix it."

"Really? Does anyone else know about this?"

"Sadly no. I don't understand why they keep it as a secret. If I were them, technicians all around the world should be working together in order to prevent this." Little did he know that Kalinka was lying.

13 minutes had passed and Elec still didn't show up. Alisa began to worry as she knew he was very punctual and never broke a promise.

"Ok, I've had it. I need to make a call." She said, walking towards the desk where a women was in charge of taking in the guests. "I don't think that's gonna work." Said Crashman. 

"Why not?"

"He's probably on his way here right now. Maybe the traffic is just working against him or the metro had some problems?"

"That doesn't our friend back home can't tell us." She replied. The woman looked up to the robot.

"How can I help you?" She asked.

"I need to make a phone call. Where can I do that?"

"Go down this hall, turn to your right and keep going forward. You need to pay though." She said.

"Alright. Thank you."

"You're welcome."

As the robots followed the directions, they came across what they were looking for.

"What do you think happened Alisa?" Emily asked.

"We're going to find out." She replied, hitting the numbers and listened as it went over.

"Alisa...you worry too much. I know that you're not the panicy, protective type, but when he makes a promise, he'll show up. Like I said, maybe he missed the metro, or something is wrong with the metro, maybe some guys are blocking the way and-" But she interupted him by hanging up. Fear was growing on her face as she turned around.

"What's wrong?"

"It sais that our number is no longer in service." She replied with a bit of dread in her voice. Crashman knew this wasn't good and tried to hide his shock.

"Oooooohhhh...then I guess we didn't pay the bills? Or maybe there's a connection problem?"

"I need to go back."

"Hey wait! Wai- wait! ...You're not."

"I don't care if I pass or not my husband could be in danger right now!"

"Okokokok listen! I want you to pass it and I'll be here to support you. Here's what we're gonna do. Call Quickman to check if he's home. he will be there in no time to see if Elec is ok." He assured.

her breath slowed and returned to the phone. "Ok." As she pushed the numbers, Quickman anwsered.

"Hello this is the detective agenty and we don't accept prank calls how can I help you?" He said, being obviously tired of his phone duties.

"Quickman, this is Alisa."

"Alisa?"

"Yes listen, I'm here with Emily and Crash to give my mentor report when Elec promised he would show up by now. But he still isn't here and our number is no longer in service."

"That's not right. So what do you want me to do?"

"Please, check if he's still home. If not, then he's gone missing."

"I will. Don't worry, I can get there faster if I run." He said and hung up. He got out of the office and ran as fast as he could. Using his acrobatic skills and parkour training, he got to their house within 20 minutes. He held down the door bell until Shadowman opened the door.

"Quickman?" He said, confused to see him standing infront of the house.

"That's me. Now let me in." He replied, pushing the ninja aside and calling for Elec.

"What are you doing?" Shadow asked.

"No time to explain just get back to whatever you were doing. Elec!? Where are you!?"He shouted, going upstairs after seeing he wasn't around. "Elec!"

"But, wait he's..." He stopped himself knowing that the robot would soon found out that his friend was still upstairs. And he was. Fully recharged but asleep. The loud noises from Quickman's frantic search made his eyes slowly open. He was close to the edge of the bed that his left arm hang over it. But before he even got the chance to get up, the robot stormed in.

"Elecman!!!" He said, openening the door. Elec let out a short scream and fell out of bed with the blanket covering him. As he groaned a bit, rubbing his face, Quick couldn't believe what he was looking at.

"Unbelievible. This should've been the last room I should've checked." He said, looking disapointed towards the robot with crossed arms.

"Quickman? What are you doing here?"

"I should be asking that question."

"What?"

"Here I am, doing my, or rather coleagues' job. Recieved 5 prank calls and then I get this message of a certain someone who is worried about you. I run as fast as my legs could go, worried SOMETHING bad might have happened to you but no. Infact, you decided to take a day off without even letting us know."

"A day off? What time is it?" He asked, looking at his clock, surprised to see it was 11:20.

"You should know! Since you promised to be there." The robot tried to strike guilt into his heart, but Elec didn't have a clue of what he's been missing.

"Where? At work?"

"No! Your wife! I can't believe this why are you trying to cover up your lazy attitude?"

"I'm not since I have NO idea what the hell you're talking about!" His anger didn't seem to intimidate his friend as he sighed in frustration.

"Oh goody. So you're gonna make me say right?"

"Just spit it out already!"

"Fine. You were supposed to visit your wife at 11 and support her if she might or not pass for her test." He explained. This left Elec silent for a moment.

"Oh what, you don't remember?" He asked. Then, his eyes widened a little. He realized the terrible truth.

Minutes later, back at the meeting, Alisas' worry was growing stronger, showing signals of anxiety. The only one who was able to comfort her was Crashman. Emily was worried too, but tried to hide it.Then, her turn came. The boss asked for her report.

"Uuhhmmm...well, to start off, the first day I had a very important appointment so my husband...took care of her and there were no problems. Then after I took her to a theme park. She was a little naughty and naïve in the beginning but I was able to guide her with reason and morality."

"That's good. were there any new things she learned?"

"For one, she did learn to look out for yourself and only trust those who are close to you.  But she still needs to adapt to the fact adult robots take up a little longer to recharge then she does." She teased, some of the people giggled a bit.

"Alright. Anything from you Crashman?"

"Oh, uh...yeah. First of, she's not lying, second I've actually had fun with this little kid. I showed her around, made sure she didn't venture off into danger....though we had a little arguement about one time. But then she came in and pinched my cheeck so hard it hurts even to this day."

The people laughed again. Though their boss was a bit more silent this time.

"I see. What were you two talking about?"

"Sorry sir, it's highly confidential." He assured.

The clock hit nearly 12 and Alisas' patience was wearing thin. She wanted to get out of that room so badly in order to see if Quickman returned a phone call or that she traveled to the office herself and see if he was there.

Meanwhile, the two robots arrived at the building on foot. Elec was in a rush and was very serious about the situation. "Would you slow down for a second!? You didn't even reply to me! What is going on!?" He asked him. But the detective ignored his question and looked towards the woman behind the counter.

"Can I help you?"

"Where is the meeting?"

"it's on the second floor. The elevator is-"

"We'll take the stairs." he said and walked off.

"Elec! Would you- Urgh...um excuse us." He said to the lady and followed his friend up the stairs.

As the clock hit 12, it was time to hear the results.

"Thank you everyone. I'm glad to know that all of these kids havn't been causing you too much trouble. You handled them very well and I can already tell you that all of you have passed!"

"Woohoo!" Crashman shouted as he stood up, happy to hear that Alisa succeeded. There was an akward silence as everyone stared towards the robot; he noticed and felt emberassed.

"Uh...yey? heh..."

"Yeah! Woohoo!" Emily interupted. The other kids started to cheer as well, making Crashman feel a little better as he sat down. The other house keeping robots tried to hush the children so that their boss could speak again.

"As I was saying, you did an excellent job. Your results will be sent to your masters and authorities of the city to clearify you are clean and a 100% trustworthy."

But as the two detectives finally reached the place they looked for, the door opened and saw the robots coming out. They waited a little until they spotted Alisa, but Emily saw them first.

"Look! There he is!' She said happily and pointed towards him. Alisa sighed in relief and embraced her husband.

"Elecman where were you? I thought something happened to you!"

"I'll explain everything. But we need to-"

"Elecman?" The boss interupted. "What are you doing here? Is something wrong?"

"No, there's nothing...I mean, there is, I mean- you guys are completaly safe. I just need to talk about something with her. In private. Is there a room avalibe?" He asked, being a bit nervous.

"Uhh, you can use the one where we're walking out of." He suggested.

"Ok. Quick, you can come along too. Crashman, you stay here with Emily." He commanded.

"But, wait-"

But before the robot could ask, the door closed. All that happyness they felt just moments ago, faded. Something serious was going on.

As Quickman stood near the door Alisa noticed the dread growing on Elec's face.

"Sweetheart, what happened? Did someone attack you during-"

"No! No no, no one attacked. The metro wasn't broken, the trafic was doing great but we came here on foot." He explained with an anxious attitude.

"Then why didn't you show up? You promised me to be here at 11." Then, the detective grabbed both her arms; Alisa felt him almost shaking.

"I know! I know but...just guess what happened...just....just guess." A few seconds passed as his breath slowly began to speed up. The female robots' eyes widened in shock as she realized the terrible truth. "You...forgot." She replied softly.

"What....is happening...to me?" He asked. His voice trembled a bit as he spoke, letting go of her arms as they stared towards each other. Quickman was shocked too and didn't know what to say for a few moments.

"Ok. Before we're going to have a panic attack, let's calm down and-"

"YOU shut your mouth!" Elec shouted, pointing towards his friend who was intimidated by his sudden outburst.

"Elec, listen, I think that-"

"Think!? I need to know what is going on with me! How could this happen when that professor assured me that there was NOTHING wrong!?" He asked, walking towards him; the red robot backed away as he was stopped by the wall behind him.

"I-I, I uh, I don't think that-" Then he grabbed his chest very tightly and felt great pain in his left pectoralis.

"How could I POSSIBLY forget, such an important thing for my WIFE? HOW is it possible that I promised it yesterday and not remember it now!? I'm a complicated system that is probably suffering to to a lack of special needs!"

"Please! Just calm do-" But then he grabbed his mouth shut and pulled his head close to his.

"OBVIOUSLY, something is trying to destroy me from the inside! I have no explination, the doctor can't tell, it comes straight out of nowhere and I even I can't tell why! But hey, wanna know what happens to robots who start to malfunction and nothing can be done about it?" His angry attitude changed slightly to a crazy person. It seemed like Elec was almost slipping while he talked. Showing a sadistic smirk at times as he cleverly tortured Quickman a bit.

"They don't get sent to the nuthouse! Or a special daycare center! They go straight towards the dumpster! Where a big metal machine makes sure that their bodies will become nothing more than tiny, usseless broken scraps of junk! Wasting away as they get the honorable title of ineffectual, idle, lacerated purposeless objects who died of some unexplainable something! And I could be one of them!" Quick tried to snap him out of it while he suffered great pain from his friend. A slight crack of psychopathic behaviour was seen during the last part of his sentence.

"Elec, please. I know you fear the worst but panicing about it will only escelate it!" Said Alisa. The detective finaly let go of his friend and began to walk like an anxious person while Quick was trying not to moan in pain.

"Don't you see it? Don't you see the problem?" He asked nervously. "He was right. He was right about this."

"Who was right about what?"

"That unkown virus! That THING that causes robots to become nothing more than a real broken endoskeleton! I'm suffering from the same symptoms as them! What other theory do YOU have!?"

"I'd say we go back to that professor and ask him to check you again." Quick suggested.

Then the detective angerly got in his face.

"And when he claims that NOTHING serious is detected and we all go home happy and without worry, maybe the next day I'll forget who you are, or how to walk or who I am!? And even if we go to Cossack he won't be able to fix it since it's a virus that you can't SEE!" He shouted.

Meanwhile, Crash and Emily were getting worried as the people who owned the robots were almost ready to leave.

"What's wrong with Mister Elecman?" Emily whispered, claming her hands together.

"I don't know. But he looked nervous so it can't be good."

"Can't I do something to help?"

"...I don't know kid." Anxious, she looked at her boss who was done talking with one of his colleagues. She ran towards him.

"Sir, can I PLEASE stay a little longer?"

"What? Why? The test is over you should be coming home with us."

"Please, Alisa's husband isn't doing so well and the father of my best friend is in the hospital! Her family can't come over to visit and the injury caused on her fathers' chest is very severe! It happened yesterday and she needs my comfort!"

The other humans looked towards him, thinking that he should show sympathy for her.

"Uh...I"m sorry to hear that but-"

"Oh please sir! Please reconsider! She won't be able to endure this without me! Please!"

Then, Crashman came next to Emily, begging on his knees.

"Pleeaaase sir pleeeaaase! I'm begging you with my non-hands!" He said, waving his drills up and down like a puppy dog. Emily knew that he was trying to help the situation. Happy to know that he saw her more than just a weak test figure. Her boss sighed as he looked down towards the two robots.

"Are there any other reasons?"

"Come on, a few more days with this cutie won't kill you. Just look at that little face. Who would say no to that?" He stated, hugging her. Eventually, he gave in.

"Alright then. But only for 3 days. We need you back as soon as possible." He stated.

"I will! Don't worry!" She said. The group of people walked away as Crash and Emily hugged, happy that they succeeded.

But worry was not only growing for the team, Shademan who was trying his best to keep people out of the big attraction that was about to be revealed today. He was growing tense as well. Tired of warning the humans over and over again, he called Clownman to lead them away with his entertainment. Shade flew back towards the building near the entrance, entering a secret passage as after coming in the repair room. He spotted Magicman playing with some of his cards, creating all kinds of small tricks as he leaned against his wand while Burst was practicing more on his chemical experiments.

"I called Clownman to hold them off. They are getting more curious every second. I'm getting tired of it!" Said Shade.

"I wouldn't worry too much. Besides, everything will go smoothly with his help."

"Are you sure that he can convince Elec to get back here?"

"Without effort even. He has plenty of reasons why he should. It would be a shame to miss him during the grand finally."

"I assure you my friend..this is only the beginning. And nothing can go wrong this time." He said. The vampire smirked evily, looking up towards the big machiene they were building.

At the office, the team was waiting to talk to their boss. Elec was walking back and forth, impatient and anxious about the situation. His friends watched and said nothing until Emily broke the silence.

"What do you think I should do?" She asked to Alisa.

"We will know until we get to talk with our boss." She replied. Suddenly, Crashman burped and they all stared at him.

"Excuse me?" Said Quickman.

"Elec...could you please sit down for a minute? I'm getting a bit nauseous with you walking around like that. I'm feeling nervous already..." He replied, looking a little sick while putting his drill on his stomach.

"What about me? You really think I should be CALM after all that's happened?"

"You could at least do it while standing still."

At last, the person who talked with his boss walked out of the door and the group rushed in.

"Boss, we need to discus this right now." Said Elec, being the one in front of the group.

"Elecman? What, what is going on? Discus about what?"

"He had another one of those short term memory losses this morning." Crash stated. His eyes widened as he could not believe it. The professor who checked him was the best in the town next to Whily.

"But...how? The professor said that there was nothing wrong with you!"

"That's not important right now. We need to know when to attack. The park is going to reveal its so called 'surprise' today and we need to know when."

"The other robots are still there, so I can contact them. But I want you checked again before you take action."

"For what? So that he can tell me that I'm totally fine while I'm not!?"

"Calm down Elec. I think he just overlooked something. If he can't fix it, then we need to adress Dr.Whily."

"As if that's gonna work."

"Also, if I may inerupt the arguement, incase you havn't noticed, Emily begged her boss to stay a few more days with us." Said Crashman.

"Why is that?"

"I felt something was terribly wrong so I want to help you." Emily stated.

"I appreciate that, but by doing so you'll only risk losing your life. This is a very serious case we're dealing with right now and we don't want you getting hurt." Their boss replied.

"Think about it this way. Elec and Shade are not exactly on the same boat right now. And Shade wants a lot of people to be there and some things could get out of hand. They still want the other robots to patroll the area so we'll just come up with the excuse that you wanted us there to make sure nothing goes wrong. That and Emily wanted to visit again."

They thought for a moment, realizing that this was actually a pretty good idea.

"That can actually work."

"But what about Kalinka? We can't just leave her all alone." Said Alisa.

"She will stay here at the office. Also, one more thing. I think it's neccesary to have back up when things get out of hand. Should we call the military?"

"We should take that into consideration. It is a themepark we're talking about, but there's plenty of stuff to hide in there. We should expect the unexpected, so I'll try to convince the military." He replied.

"Then it's settled. We make our move until we know when the attraction will be revealed. Until then, Quick and I will answer a few calls."

"Oh come on! Can't I get a break from this?" Said Quick, getting tired of him answering hundreds of phone calls all day long.