Chapter Five: Meet the Bad Guys

Brandon sat staring at the recently uprooted computer. He had to think of an excuse for how this happened, or his brother was going to kill him. Maybe literally. Or perhaps he'd arrange a trip to the state penitentiary for him that would last, oh…maybe ten or twenty years. A grimace twisted his features. Tonight might screw up his whole life. It was the stupid robot. What crazy weird robot threatens to kill somebody? Everything had been ruined when the doctor was shot. Stupid man, struggling with someone who's holding a gun to his head, what did he think would happen? If the robot hadn't come in, though, Brandon never would've used the doctor for protection, and things would be running smoothly right now.

His thoughts were interrupted by a loud groan coming from the back seat. "Ugh…where am I? I think somebody hit me in the head with a sledgehammer…" Josh was finally waking up. They'd found him unconscious in the girl's bedroom, tied up with what looked to be a pair of her pantyhose, when they had chased after the robot. Friggin' idiot.

"We're heading back to home base," answered Mark, who was driving, or at least sitting in the driver's seat.

"So…we got the blueprints?"

"Nope. The Doctor got killed, is what happened. So we yanked the entire computer. The boss is going to skin us alive."

"What?" Josh sat up, unbelieving. "What happened?"

"Wha' do you mean, 'what happened'? What happened to you? You were knocked out cold, tied hand and foot!"

"I was tied up?

Mark didn't attempt to hide the insolent smirk, "Hand and foot…with women's pantyhose."

Josh frowned and looked down at his hands, thinking back to what had happened. Mark's subtle barb went unnoticed. His eyes widened suddenly in recollection. "It was…an NS5, guys. It came in as I was pulling the girl out of bed." He looked up, eyes still wide, and his voice held a little fear. "I remember now. It was so fast, I didn't have time to react."

"What did it do, exactly?" Brandon and Mark were all ears now, something Josh noted nervously.

"Well, it was like it knew Kung Fu or something! It got me in an arm lock, and then lights out." He fingered the tender spot on the back of his head thoughtfully. "It could've killed me. I thought it was going to kill me. It looked…guys, don't laugh about this, but it looked angry."

"We're not…"

"That robot…" Mark backed off, having spoken just after Brandon.

"We're not laughing at all, are we Mark?" Brandon said slowly, as they exchanged a dark look.

Mark started up again. "Josh…downstairs, that robot practically threatened to snap my neck. It was like a nightmare. Like when they all went haywire before." He paused, his voice going up in pitch. "Wouldn't it be funny, if somebody else had already come up with the boss's idea, and that robot was being controlled by some crazy genius…"

Brandon cut him off. "Mark. Shut up. Calm down. Get back to what actually happened."

"Yeah…um. Well, Brandon held his gun to the Doctor so the robot would back off…but it didn't work. That's why the Doctor got shot. The Doc started struggling…and Brandon's got a trigger finger." Mark glanced back at Brandon, who looked up from his own glum ponderings to glare at him, temper flaring.

"C'mon Mark! The idiot started having a seizure in my arms, practically! Knocked right into my elbow and set the gun off! Damn idiot practically shot himself!

Josh interrupted, curious to learn more about exactly what happened. "So he panicked. We were going to hurt his daughter, it was natural. So…"

Brandon cut back in. "Yeah right, getting himself killed did her a world of good." Brandon looked back toward the computer, having grown tired of glaring.

Josh glared instead his train of thought temporarily broken. "Panicking people don't usually think logically, Brandon."

There was a lull in conversation as everyone retreated to his own thoughts. Mark was the first to speak, after a few moments. "You know guys…maybe it was the robot." He'd been its captive, while it talked to them, and couldn't help feeling there was something creepy about it.

"What do you mean?" Brandon was all ears. Blaming the robot sounded good- maybe it could get him out of trouble with his brother.

Mark spoke tentatively. "Well...before the NS5 came in, the Doctor wasn't really being that uncooperative, aside from the obvious. Maybe…maybe he was afraid of the robot?"

Brandon frowned. Come again? "That's stupid. Why? Tell me that."

Mark paused for a moment. "I don't know, he just got so freaked out, so suddenly. And that robot wasn't normal. You all agree on that, right? So maybe he knew something about it, or knew it might…I don't know, it used me, a human, to protect itself! It skipped right over the first two laws! Never mind protecting humans! And it was so cold, the way it spoke. It didn't care, whether I died or not." He looked down at his hands, and his voice, dropping low, had an intense, nervous timbre. "It didn't act right, or sound right. Robots like that…aren't supposed to exist."

Brandon smirked at the emotional display. "Yeah, I wish it would drop dead too. But you're overreacting, Mark. You're the techno-wiz. All you were supposed to do was get us through security. You're not cut out for the violent stuff. I mean, you didn't even bring a gun, because you'd probably shoot yourself in the foot!"

"So what? I know robots better than you. Humans threaten people with bodily harm, not robots! The three laws, Brandon!" Mark had raised his voice in answer, which only served to tick Brandon off.

"Stop yelling, idiot. I wasn't saying…"

"Mark, you're going to miss our turn." Josh wasn't really uninterested in the conversation, but the raised voices were aggravating his already throbbing head, and his main interest had shifted to getting something for the pain as soon as possible.

He watched as Mark took control of the car and maneuvered inside "home base", which looked like a car lover's play pen. They passed various antique vehicles, and pulled smoothly into a space surrounded on three sides by the antique cars.

Headquarters was really quite amazing. On the outside, it looked like a rich eccentric's car shop. Enter inside, and one would see a gigantic garage filled with older vehicles, most in various states of disrepair. Brandon's father had been a car mechanic, so making the place authentic wasn't a problem. And when the occasional car fanatic showed up, they could do a decent job of showing him around and shooing him back out again. They even sold or purchased a vehicle every few months. The true business was located underneath the garage, however, and after a moment their car began descending on the hidden elevator down to the first level of Daniel's hidden subterranean lair.

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Daniel watched the screen as his brother and company returned. They were back rather sooner than expected. Had something gone wrong? He watched as they left the car and walked toward the elevator. Josh appeared to have hit his head. The man was moving slowly, apparently suffering from slight dizziness, and was holding his head carefully, never turning it quickly in any direction, or tilting it. Mild concussion, then. Possibly he was knocked unconscious? His gaze traveled toward the specialist in the group, Mark. He looked angry and worried. Rather too worried. He quickly glanced at his brother. Not that look. Brandon was doing a good job of being angry and petulant at the same time. Daniel had come to associate this with stupid mistakes and disastrously impulsive actions. They obviously hadn't returned with the blueprints, yet they didn't have the doctor, either. (Kidnapping had been planned as a last resort, only to be implemented if Dr. Chandler didn't crack after a few hours at his home, which was very unlikely.) So. He had either been killed, or had gotten away. He couldn't logically see the Doctor escaping, not with his daughter asleep on the second floor. Something unforeseen had happened, then? Or else they didn't follow my directions precisely.

He turned off the view screen, and swiveled in his large comfortable chair to face the door, from where said individuals would be entering in a moment. As they did so, he leaned back, steepling his fingers, and looked at them through half closed eyes. His face remained calm, expressionless. Inside, he was struggling with a rising anger at what he felt was probably his brother's idiocy. But first, he would let them talk, explain themselves. Then he would tear them apart.

"The doctor is dead, I assume." The men exchanged looks that served to confirm his suspicions.

"How did it happen? Start from the beginning, please."

Brandon chose to answer. His expression had deflated substantially. "Mark got us in with no problems, and we tied up the Doctor before he knew what was happening. Josh went upstairs to get the girl, which is where things started going wrong."

Josh stepped in, with a gruff voice. "I got attacked by their robot."

Daniel paused for a second. Attacked. "That seems highly unlikely."

"As I was pulling the girl out of bed, it came through the door and before I had a chance to react, it twisted my arm behind my back and knocked me out. I've got the bump to prove it."

"Did it say anything?"

"No, it just attack…"

"It said plenty, when it came downstairs." This was from Brandon. "It had a real attitu…"

Daniel cut him off. "Back up. I presume the robot went downstairs after knocking Josh out?"

"Yes. It stepped into the Doctor's bedroom. I ordered it to stop, but instead it came forward and grabbed Mark." Daniel's eyebrows went up. How…odd.

"Yeah." Mark picked up for his brother. "He used me as a shield against Brandon, since he had a gun. It was crazy. He practically threatened to kill me, boss."

Daniel focused his gaze on Mark. "You mean the robot, which is an it, of course, Mark."

Mark looked down as he answered. "It almost seemed…human. I know that sounds ridiculous, but something about the voice, and what it said. Like it was rationalizing its behavior." He spoke quietly, but very intensely, and with a sincerity Daniel believed was heartfelt.

Something was forming in the back of the crime lord's mind, and his previous anger was slowly dying down as a result. He needed more information about…things. First, let's get a few things straight about this robot, shall we? "All right, let's go back through your conversation with the robot, slowly. It let itself into the room, where you were waiting for Josh to return with the girl." Two heads nodded in his direction.

"Now. Where were you positioned in the room, exactly?"

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At around nine a.m. the next morning, Dr. Calvin received a call at work from one Detective Spooner. Frowning, she put him on.

"Detective Spooner, how may I help you?" They had agreed to keep their distance on tapped lines, so this call came as a surprise to her. What did he want, that couldn't wait until this evening, when she would be home?

"Hey, Doctor Calvin, long time no see. How are things?" Since he wasn't at a visual audio station, she only had his voice to go by. In her opinion, it sounded a little too light and airy. A casual chat for a not so casual reason?

"I'm doing all right. Yourself?"

"I'm good. A little tired. An unexpected friend paid me a visit last night." His tone switched from light and airy to concerned. "You know, Doc, your voice sounds kinda hoarse, are you sure you're not coming down with something?"

She cleared her throat. "Now that you mention it, my throat is getting a tad rough." This was a complete lie, of course, but Spooner had dropped the hint that he needed to speak with her, now, and he was one person she knew better than to brush off.

"That's too bad, maybe you should get something for that, before it gets too bad. Well. I was just calling to ask if you could send me a copy of your company insurance policy again." He sounded sheepish. "I seem to have misplaced it." Yeah right. Spooner needed that to be reimbursed for his bike and other damages done to his person by the NS5s. He hadn't misplaced it.

"No problem, Detective. Although if you lose it again you're on your own. I'll send it right now. Goodbye."

"Thanks, Calvin!" She sent it, and fifteen minutes later informed her boss that she would be taking the rest of the day off, since she seemed to be catching a cold. Half an hour later saw her on Del Spooner's doorstep. If she had guessed right, the "unexpected friend" was Sonny. But…how could that be true?

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Next Chapter: Spooner employs Calvin's help, while their unknown foe develops an unhealthy interest in Sonny.