Enter the reflection

[darkerstripes]

The first thing he notices is that he's no longer plugged into his charger base. He wasn't asleep- he doesn't have the need- but he'd set his senses to 'hibernate'. It passes the time faster than being alert all night, when his (caretakers? friends?) humans are asleep. He has his danger alert system on, so if something entered the apartment he would know.

Apparently the same was not true of exiting the apartment. His eyes come back online with a soft green glow and he starts in surprise. Dust, cobwebs... stone. Nothing is familiar. That isn't possible. He doesn't dream, and he sensed no change, no movement. Hesitantly, he stands, glancing around, poised at every joint to run or dodge.

No danger is apparent, no matter how many times he scans. He can't trust his sensors, though, because they didn't even detect his arrival here. How could he have been moved without noticing?

"Kotetsu?"

He calls to his host. His own voice echoes back through the room, sounding eerie as it returns to his ears from the outside. They buzz with light feedback. He frowns. If anything has happened to Kotetsu... The android feels his eyes flash red for a moment at the thought.

He can feel the anxiety rising in his wires, sparking circuits and making his voice box feel squeezed. He remembers what Barnaby taught him, about controlling fear. Breathing in three, out five. In three, out seven, in three, out ten. Focus on your physical form. Take stock of what you know is true, toss out what you're assuming. Start over.

He is in a throne room. There is no immediate danger. He is unsure how he arrived. He is unsure of Kotetsu's whereabouts. The android takes out his phone and attempts to send a message. No signal. He does another breathing exercise. He doesn't actually need the air, of course, but his body requires the pressure change to speak, and the rhythm of it soothes even his synthetic body.

All other options exhausted, he must explore and search. He opens his map program and begins with a fresh, empty blueprint. He estimates the dimensions of the room, adds in the doors. He chooses one of those doors, and begins his exploration.

Comments

[darkerstripes]

Toshi should have known that denial would be the result. He knows Barnaby well, or he claims to, he should. The haunting memory that the H systems were designed to protect heroes... to protect Barnaby jr. He has failed in his most basic, original purpose. He failed his secondary, manipulated purpose.

He has failed the purpose he chose for himself. He's failed every single purpose he's ever taken on. He's a failure. A destructive, broken tool. All he ever does is hurt the humans he's meant to care for.

Glancing up at Barnaby is a mistake. Toshi doesn't have the capacity or a reason to vomit, but he thinks he understands the meaning of nausea, after that sight.

His voice is so, so small, and cracking and broken. "He did..." He did go after Barnaby. After years of planning, with the perfect plot to replace him. Toshi whimpers.

[ojisankink]

The admission Toshi makes next is a mistake. It only makes Barnaby falter for a moment, shocked and horrified by the implications of what a psychotic, forgotten twin would do once he got his hands on his brother, before it turns right back into rage.

"If he did, then he must have used you to get at me, right? He used you to trick me. How am I supposed to believe you now? You could just be waiting for a chance to attack again!"

He looks furious. He doesn't know what he's really feeling, so he just focuses on the fury, not on his confusing infinite circle of logic, going around and around like a snake eating its tail, not on the fact that he's turning on someone that moments ago he inherently felt he could trust.

He's shaking his head, stepping back, ignoring the dizziness in his head and the pain in his heart.

"I have to get away from you."

[darkerstripes]

Everything Toshi has done in the last ten minutes is a mistake. Toshi is a mistake. The calm before the rage storm only brings with it an icy cold feeling of terror.

Then the rage does come, and with it words that cut right to his robotic non-beating heart. Of course Barnaby's assumptions are correct, all of them. Toshi was the major tool of that plan. Adam used him to get to Barnaby more than once. Toshi is the reason, the weak link that made all that pain possible.

And now he's bringing that pain to a Barnaby that may never even have had to face it. Destruction, pain, failure. That is all Toshi brings and does and is. A dry, raking sob shakes his whole body.

He's way ahead of you, Barnaby. He needs to be away from you, you need to be away from him. He needs to protect all humans from himself. Wonderful, incredible humans. All he ever does is hurt them.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry...."

He springs into action from his curled position, taking off at a speedwalk in the opposite direction of Barnaby. He will take himself far, far away where he can't hurt anyone else again.

[ojisankink]

Barnaby's anger has never been a good sign. Toshi's only blessing is that it's less hurtful and violent than Adam's. He doesn't try to rip the robot apart, doesn't use him or abuse him. He just... leaves. Even before he walks away, he's sealing himself up, stopping himself from speaking or sobbing, plugging his ears to the apology, closing his eyes so he doesn't have to look the copy of Kotetsu in the eyes anymore.

He does hear the footsteps, though, head farther and farther away. He waits until things are silent and then waits even longer, before turning and heading towards Kotetsu's room. There's got to be an answer, there has to be an explanation.

And he did not leave that answer to hide away from him.