001 [Audio then Video] [Originating from Solian Temple]

[kungfugeek]

 Oi! What's going on here!? 

[Well, someone's not entirely happy today, are they?  Then again, if you were just running with your buddies and suddenly found yourself waking up in front of a shrine, you'd be a little intrigued about it. Enough to half-heartedly listen to the robed beings explain the situation to you.  He wasn't sure if he believed them, either.  It's not like he'd met them before, and no one was able to vouch for them.  Really, what did he care about them?]

Deckerd! Duke! Are you there?

[They're the ones he was with last, after all.]

Anyone?? I'm by some weird shrine and these creeps came up to me and gave me this--

[Suddenly, it switches to video, showing a very confused Power Joe.]

THIS THING.  

[Glad to see you're adjusting well, PJ.]

Comments

[mccrane]

You aren't the first one to tell me that.

I've been trying to figure out how it will work out when we return, but so far the best I've come up with is that it'll be complex.

[Especially if Kagerou chooses to return with them.]

It has seen better days. Attacks from the badlands are not uncommon, and there have been...other...incidents as well.

I can think of no one who I'd rather have at my side than a member of Build Team, though.

Do you mean Blurr?

[kungfugeek]

So we just...accept it?? Just like that?

[Forgive him, McCrane. It's not easy to adapt ): But you know PJ, so it's not a total shock.]

...Other incidents. McCrane, what aren't you telling me.



Yeah, that guy. Told me to leave it to the others and stay inside. I told him I was part of the Build Team.

[mccrane]

Of course not.

We'll just have to work harder.

[They've managed to survive difficult situations, before. This one is harder than any other he's experienced, but he still can't help but believe that the Brave Police will eventually persevere.]

I am not telling you things that would be better told after the threat has passed. I...won't keep them a secret. You have my word.

[He needs the time to figure out how to say 'so I died' without sounding completely foolish, too.]

He is worried about you. The rest of us have been equipped with special engines.

[kungfugeek]

That's better. I like that plan!

[That was true. The Brave Police were known for coming through even in the most difficult of times, and this would be no different. Even PJ would attest to that.]

...You better keep it, McCrane.

[He knows you will, but reassurance is a powerful thing.]

He can worry about me after I help out! When I get low on fuel, then I might consider resting. But I'm not leaving you guys to fight alone!

[mccrane]

[He can't help but smile a little. Drill Boy may have the relentless optimism of youth, but Power Joe has the relentless optimism of stubbornness, and McCrane is glad to see it again.]

I promise that I will.

And you promise that you will inform me if your fuel starts to get low?

[kungfugeek]

[It comes naturally to him. It didn't always give him the best traits outside of confidence...like morals and foresight, but he was a team player until the end.]

Good.

...Okay. When I start to run low, then I'll sit out until I get my new engine.

[mccrane]

[It makes you unique, Power Joe, and able to keep going long after others have quit. McCrane needs that in his life. Hell, he even has admitted to missing your soaps.]

Then I'll be waiting for you.

[And he will be. This is now a good day.]

[kungfugeek]

[Before McCrane can wait too long, Power Joe's on his way to meet you. ...If he can find it. Don't worry, he's good at this. How hard can it be to find a Police HQ?

...A little while apparently.

When he eventually gets there, he transforms, looking around.]

McCrane?

[mccrane]

Power Joe!

[The place is...as close to a mess as three mechs who enjoy paperwork would let a place get. However, those three mechs have been busy trying to keep giant centipedes from digesting the populace, so it is still pretty messy. That doesn't stop McCrane from approaching.]

Do you need a gun?

[He knows that you are...less likely to use one, but he's going to offer, since. Well. Giant centipedes.]

[kungfugeek]

[PJ's all smiles when McCrane approaches. It's nothing really huge for him--he just saw you like 10 minutes ago, in his mind. But he can tell you're excited to see him. And he won't argue with that.]

It might help, seeing as we're up against giant bugs.

Again.

[IT WAS JUST SO MUCH FUN THE FIRST TWO TIMES.]

[mccrane]

I've salvaged a laser pistol from the junk yard, and there is also my old Shotgun.

[Since Gunmax had found him a nice, shiny rifle, he'd been using it more often than the Shotgun...but he kept both. Stopping at the supply closet, he pulled out the pistol, and handed it to Power Joe. Then, needing to assure himself that Power Joe was real--really real--he reached out and clasped him on the arm.]

...

[There. That...was better. Power Joe was here, and he had a Glyph.]

Better these bugs than the other adversaries we have faced.

[kungfugeek]

[Good, PJ would actually prefer the pistol. Two handed guns just weren't his thing--let alone guns at all. But he'd definitely use one when needed.

He took the gun, inspecting it a moment before--...hello McCrane. That gets a slightly odd look from the power shovel, like McCrane's just gone crazy or something.]

Are you okay?

[mccrane]

I will be better when the threat is gone.

[He dropped his hand, and glanced towards the garage door.]

There have been reports of the Monsters being thickest in the northeast regions. That would be the best place to start.

[But there's still the elephant in the room, and the way that Power Joe had looked at him.]

I can explain the rest on the way. How things have changed.

[It hadn't occurred to him before, that he might be different than he was when he arrived here. Now, the idea is unsettling.]

[kungfugeek]

Northeast? You got it.

[He seems a little too eager, almost getting ready to run out right then and there. Just the feeling of getting right to work...to help people. It was nice.]

Changed...?

McCrane...

[mccrane]

Then lets go.

[He sees Power Joe's eagerness, and he can't exactly blame him. When there is work to do--they do it. He heads for the door.]

I told you that I have been here for over seven months?

[Rolling up the garage, he steps outside.]

In that time we have fought monsters, lost friends, been forced to fight friends, lost Deckerd to the Badlands and Toudou to...something I do not wish to speak about.

I died, once.

[He transforms, and waits for Power Joe to close the door and join him.]

That is the short version.

[kungfugeek]

[PJ listens as he follows, getting a good look around the HQ as McCrane leads him to the garage and out the door. Fought monsters...lost people...--Deckerd and Toudou got his attention--but..that last part.]

You mean your body, right? They just replaced your A.I. chip in a new body.

[He transforms, rolling up alongside the crane.]

[mccrane]

My A.I. chip deactivated.

[He begins rolling, leading the way towards the northeast.]

I was dead.

[It had been his ultimate failure--being dead had prevented him from his duties, and caused undue stress on the others. It scared him, too.]

[kungfugeek]

[He slows to a stop. McCrane, you pretty much just stunned him into silence. If he'd died...how did he come back?]

How...?

That's impossible!!

[mccrane]

[McCrane drives on for a moment more, before slowing to a stop some feed ahead of Power Joe.]

I thought that, as well.

It happened, however.

I do not remember dying, but I remember coming back after being dead. The Firstforged revived me, somehow.

[He never had gotten the memories back, though.]

[kungfugeek]

McCrane.

[He scoots up a bit closer, completely in shock (not that you can see it)]

...

So these FirstForged guys can bring us back from death?

[That was...scary to think about. If they can give life, they can just as easily take it away.]

And you trust them?

[mccrane]

[McCrane idles in place, feeling horribly awkward about all this, but...he'd promised to tell. He'd promised.]

I...hope that I can trust them, given what they did.

When I have spoken to Prima, he has answered my questions...

but I don't know that we have a choice.

These Glyphs connect us to them.

[kungfugeek]

[PJ just can't take that as an answer. To him, this didn't seem right. It made them feel like robots. Lifeless machines destined to listen to orders. Like they didn't have souls.]

So we have to accept that we're pretty much under their thumb.

[Sorry McCrane, he's really trying to adjust to this. It's hard for him, personally. It goes against his nature.]

They'd better be as good as they're hyped up. I don't take to people I can't trust.

Boss is the only REAL boss for me.

[mccrane]

[McCrane doesn't particularly like it either.]

We do, yes.

[In a way, though, it wasn't different from Nanamagari. Their choices there were sometimes limited, without any real sentient robotic presence on Earth before them. Slowly, he starts rolling along again.]

Most of the time, we do not even interact with them. They have their own business to attend to.

...

It is probably best it stays that way.

[He finds them daunting and occasionally frustrating.]

[kungfugeek]

[And like clockwork, PJ follows.]

Seems like they don't really care enough to take care of problems, so it's up to us?

..

Yeah, I agree.

[mccrane]

Exactly.

Which I prefer.

We are best at handling problems when we can operate the way we always have.

[Which is together, and...well, not unhindered, but with a defined set of rules that can sometimes be broken for the good of humanity.]

I am glad you are here, Power Joe.