Chapter Text
“Ain’t your fiancée comin’ to town, Ben?” Alton spoke, breaking the silence that ensued between the two, as they sat in the lobby of the L.A.A.s office.
“That’s true, she told me in her last letter.” Ben replied, his bell letting out a delighted ring.
“Wonder why someone like her would even visit this town, especially considerin’ she just finished university.” Alton let out a sigh. “Y’all rich folk aren’t usually interested in the affairs of the lowly peasants like us. I wonder why ya guys started talking to me at all.”
“Oh, don’t say it like that, you make it seem like we aren’t in touch with reality." Ben laughed.
“Well she definitely seemed like it, the first time we met, can’t believe it was 5 years ago. She was holding onto your hand like her life depended on it, while walking to the Boardbot lecture-hall. We bumped into each other, it was like some cheesy sit-com and after that we just started to hang out as a trio. Still remember dat like it happened yesterday. Remind me why she comin’ here?” Alton asked, sounding genuinely curious.
“She is looking for Chip, apparently he is her lost cousin that she’s been trying to find for a long time.” Ben responded, disinterested.
“Oooh, well if dat is true this might be one heck of an adventure. Ya think I should introduce her to Holly?”
“ They’d love each other so much, they’d leave us and move to Suitopia .” Ben replied, his tone dripping with sarcasm. “In all seriousness, you really should. She doesn’t like when her close ones keep secrets from her… especially after the incident.”
“What incident?” Alton squinted his floodlight-eyes at Ben.
“Slamming the door one…”
“...”
A moment of silence instilled after the mentioned. Alton uncomfortably shifted in his chair, as Ben stood up.
“I… got to go and you prepare to meet her, I’m pretty sure she’s going to visit you tomorrow afternoon.”
Ben disappeared into the elevator, leaving Alton to clean up his desk and make sure it looked neat for the higher-up arrival.
*Next day.*
Siya quietly peeked through the door, looking for the Chairman, who seemed to be buried in his work, flipping through some folder labeled “Top Secret”. Opening the door fully with her free hand and slipping into his office, she approached his desk, adjusting the documents she's been holding this whole time. “Achem, Mr.Saggs?” Siya exclaimed, trying to get his attention.
Robert looked up from his work, looking for whoever dared to call him that name. “Who do you think you are calling me that na…” He noticed a tall cog wearing ushanka and a silky white coat that was glinting under the dim light of his office, his gaze stopped at the red lightbulbs on the sides of her head.
“Lady Ren!” He let out a nervous chuckle. “You came earlier than expected. Sorry about the previous, could you please use Mr.Cyger?”
“Exceeding expectations is my duty and yes I could address you as Mr.Cyger.” She coldly answered, placing the documents on his desk. “I’m expecting to know what to do with that.”
“Right, right…” He quickly flipped through the paperwork, placing it on the side of his desk that wasn't occupied by the folder. “Your office will be at Daffodil Gardens . Visit Land Acquisition Architect on Anchor Avenue in Barnacle Boatyard .” He looked at her, remembering she doesn’t have a map yet. “Board a train that goes to the Lawbot HQ, it’ll get you right to your destination. Get off once you see the sign with the street name on it. Also here is your department badge.” He handed her a pin with boardbot sign on it.
Siya put it onto her coat and turned around, keeping her cold expression on the way until she was out of there, after the door shut behind her, her face returned to its neutral expression. She liked to intimidate higher-ups, but being placed in a position with less control was annoying. At-least as long as she could stay stone-faced they remembered their place. She headed towards the station, waiting for the blue colored train to appear. Soon enough it showed up, she boarded it, taking a free cabin. As the conductor came up, she requested herbal-Oil tea. As she waited a light-blue Scelecog sat on the seat across from her, cashbot insignia on its badge, it looked weirdly familiar and it took her a few moments to recognise it as Nix. Though Siya wasn’t fully sure it was her, she decided to start the conversation anyway.
“Nix? Pleasure to meet you again.”
Nix looked up at Siya, a smile forming on her face. “So you do remember Uncle Nix, I thought you forgot me. It’s been years since the last time we saw each other.”
“Forget you? How could I forget any of you guys? Especially after your performances at the dinner table.”
“Don’t even mention it, sweetie.”
“By the way, what in the world possessed you to go to Lawbot HQ? You guys hated the Barcrows back at Suitopia.”
“Oh that… I used to be in their ranks here, made connections. Just make sure to keep that from others, will you, sweetie?”
Conductor walked in with Siyas cup of fresh hot tea, placing it in front of her and quickly walking out, not to interrupt the conversation. “Sure, sure. You know I’m not the one to spill the tea.” Siya continued, picking up her cup and taking a sip. “Oh, look, we're here.” She gestured towards the buildings outside as the train screeched to a halt.
“Well I got places to be, see you later, sweetie, make sure to visit us, we’ll be at Mozzarella Styx on Sleet Street .”
With these words Nix popped out of his seat and disappeared as he moved towards the exit. The train driver announced the next and the train sprang to motion once again. Time flew fast as Siya finished her tea. * Anchor Avenue * , the sign read outside the window. She stood up from her seat, exiting at the station the sky was light orange as afternoon approached, she entered the tunnel in front of her. The place was filled with shops with goofy names and colorful animals that she presumed to be toons, she was instructed to beware of. Dodging them she walked the street back and forth looking for an office or something she presumed would be owned by a cog. As the sky changed to a more saturated orange with some hints of purple, she grew frustrated, until she finally noticed some gap behind the toon HQ. Walking down an alley she finally saw an office, with a sigh of relief she stepped into the elevator. Quickly ascending a polished door appeared in the gap in front of her. As it opened, she walked into the office, carefully dodging the wires hanging from the ceiling. She stopped in front of the desk, seeing the outline of the hat that belonged to a cog turned away from her, looking at the window behind. Wait a minute is it who I think it is? That scratchscrew was here all along? she quickly thought to herself.
Alton spun around in his chair, looking her up and down. “Well… look who we’ve got here, long time no see, babe.” He said in a deep southern accent, standing up and extending his hand.
Siya took off one of her velvet gloves and shook his hand, producing a silent-clank of metal colliding with each other. She slid it back on and leaned onto his desk turning her head towards him. “I see you got a pretty high position. Never thought you would move so far from home.”
“And ya I see didn't change a day. Still see me as an old-fashioned country-guy who’d never leave his ranch.”
“And you, as I see, still think I’m a rich spoiled brat.”
They stood in silence for a moment before bursting out laughing, Siya sighed with her sirens accompanying whistle.
“Ye were sent here for business matters, right?”
“Yeah, the Chairman sent me here after briefing about the place at which my Office would be located.”
“Mhm, it’s prolly about the residence. Ya need a place to stay after-all don’t ya?”
“Well I could always crash at yours, or Bens if I find him here.” Siyas siren twisted into something resembling a grin.
“Ay, ay, not so fast. I gotta introduce you to someone before we’ll have a chance to even think about arranging that.”
“Really? Ben didn’t tell me you got someone. Thinking about it he didn’t even tell me about you being here, so I guess it makes sense.” She scoffed. “I guess I’ll have to have a little talk with him.”
“Well, you two are fiances, you don’t need to bother him with some guy on the side.”
“You really think of yourself as some guy on the side? You were the one who got me... us through the three years of University, you got us through our troubles when we needed help. This whole time, you really thought of us as some higher-ups who were just using you to gain advantage?”
“Hey no need to get like this, I didn’t know it was such a touchy subject for you.”
“No, no I knew it, I just hoped you’d see us in a better light after all the time we spent together.”
“Well ye guys were truly better than most I’ve met.” He made an apologetic expression. “Oh, almost forgot, here is your map, it’s pretty easy to navigate, if ya need a specific street just turn it over and you’ll get the shape of each one.”
She grabbed the map and folded it, putting it inside her inner pocket. She briefly glanced outside, it was significantly dark outside, to the point that the street lamps were on their max-brightness.
“I think it’s time for us to get going.” Siya remarked, still looking outside.
Alton followed her gaze. “You’re right, fluffy-coat.”
They walked into the elevator as the doors behind them closed and it started to descend. Standing in awkward silence Siya decided to break the tension that seemed to come out of nowhere. “You will be leading so I guess you’ll need it more than me… You can give it back once we get there.” She said as she tried to hand Alton her map.
He pushed her hand away. “Oh, I won’t need this. I know this place like the back of my hand.”
“Really?” Siya looked at him skeptically, tucking the map back into her coat.
“Of course, I'd be pretty terrible at this job if I didn’t.”
“Huh, not something I heard from my father after the annual checkups.” She signed. “But most things he said were that the employees were a bunch of unqualified fools, except for a few bearable ones. You might be one of the ones he liked.”
“Dat’s true. He wasn’t as harsh on me as he was on others. He once mentioned he respected country-folk for our hard-work.” He chuckled. “I definitely see where ya got your character from, not to say you’re a copy of him, but It is noticeable.”
“Heh, don’t worry about it, you’re not the first one to figure that out.”
The door in front of them opened with a click revealing the cloudy sky of Barnacle Boatyard. It was dark, the only thing lighting up the alley was the moon. They walked past the HQ and onto the street heading towards the train station. As they walked through the tunnel they were greeted with a lonely trait that could depart any minute, as soon as they boarded it started moving, most of it was empty, with occasional lights in some cabs that were occupied by night-shifters or those who worked too late due to something that happened during their day. Siya decided to pick the one closest to the exit, so they wouldn’t waste too much time navigating the wagon. The conductor seemed to be too exhausted to go out and check what was going inside the train.
“Where do you think the conductor is?” Siya asked as they sat down on the soft cushions of the train bench.
“Probably asleep inside some janitor's closet or somethin’ like dat.” Alton answered, not sure why this was relevant.
“By the way, where are we headed?”
“To the Cashbot HQ.”
“Why?”
“The manager residences are closest from there.”
“There, really, weren’t any other locations that could’ve been picked?”
“Well nobody wants to be on the border of Brrrgh so it was the second best choice.”
“Fair, by the way, when are you planning to introduce me to that “friend” of yours?”
“Probably tomorrow once everyone will be awake. Unless we bump into her today, which could happen but that would be a sign of somethin’ not being right.”
“Hmm, what's her name?”
“Holly Grayelle, you’ll find her dressed in a knight helmet most of the time.”
“Huh, so a knight and a cowboy? How cute.”
“Ya really gotta judge?”
“Oh I’m not judging, just saying as it is.” Siya chuckled.
The train screeched to a halt. They walked out onto the station, filled with boxes and bags of money. Walking towards the exit they carefully crossed the tracks that had no railing. Walking onto the almost empty cog-street the lights worked brighter than on normal nights with an eerie quietness that seemed to drown out all the noise. Silently they walked down the street, getting closer to their destination.
As they were approaching the turn, a sudden noise of someone running by made them stop in their tracks.
“What was that?” Siya tightly gripped Altons arm as the silhouette passed by them.
“Hopefully just a flunky that got lost or forgot to turn in his report.” He winced as she squeezed it harder. “Could ya… Would ya please let go?”
She put down her hands as soon as she noticed she held him. “Sorry about that.”
“Ya are still a scaredy-cat I see.” He chuckled.
“I was just startled, I’m not scared of some flunky.” She scoffed. “The Chairman was more terrified of me this morning, compared to my reaction to this.”
“Sure, sure princess .”
They approached a tall grey building, Alton moved forward, holding the door and gesturing for Siya to come in.
“Ladies first!” Announced Alton, in a tone that made her wonder if he was mocking her or being genuine.
“So… which floor am I on?”
“Oh, your place will be done tomorrow. So your two options are either to wake up Ben or sleep in the lobby.”
“Well I guess we’ll have to disturb Ben then. He wouldn’t like it but considering it’s me I think he’s going to be fine.”
“Well, whatever you say. If he makes us deaf, it would be your fault.”
“I dare him to try.”
They went into the elevator on the left. Turning towards the door-frame, Alton clicked on the button for the second floor, after a few seconds the door opened with a click and they walked into a hallway with 6 doors, 3 on each side.
“Ben’s 2nd on the right. Ya gonna knock, I had enough yelling to hear today.”
“Ok.”
Siya walked up to the door and knocked 3 times. It was all quiet until finally annoyed ringing came out from the back of the door. The steps followed and a door swung open, Ben stood in his nightgown rubbing his eyes and glaring at the cog who dared to disturb him.
“Don’t knock like that, you're gonna wake up the whole house. Bloo-” He stumbled on his words not sure if it was really her in front of him. “Siya?!” Ben squeezed her in a tight hug, standing like that for a moment, before looking at Alton from behind her shoulder. “Alton, go back to your apartment, please.” Alton turned and walked towards the elevator, mumbling to himself, complaining about the treatment he gets after they get together.
“You look exhausted, let’s go inside.” Ben said, looking over her more thoroughly.
“Riiiiiiiight.” Siya answered, her speech slurred as she ran low on energy.
Ben led her inside, holding her by her waist while using his other hand to close the door. The insides were decorated with flower patterns and other ornaments, but at the moment she couldn’t care less, as she spotted the bed in the room to her right. Stumbling towards it she collapsed onto it, face-forward, immediately shutting down. Ben adjusted her position so her port would be connected and put a blanket on top, laying down next to her.
“Goodnight, love.”