[ASTA HQ] Just Part of the Process [Axel] [Saga]

Axel flicked through to the next page of files on his ipad. In preperation for today's procedure he'd been looking into the files he had on the current make of Sonya's supportive frame. While he wasn't a doctor himself he'd wanted to play a part in the procedure, knowing that as much as the doctors would be prepared to remove it, it would basically be his job to make sure the frame itself never got damaged or that it's removal didn't damage Sonya in some way that it couldn't be replaced. He'd also been working on some adjustments that should make future removal easier, but all in all... today was just a simple upgrade. There was risk involved, sure, but he... he was sure of himself. This would be fine, everything would progress well enough and Sonya would be more stable on her feet before she knew it.

Wandering through the halls he decided he'd check on Sonya before the big operation. Over his shoulder, a small eye like robot hovered about, shifting shoulders but remaining close to him, a new companion he'd developed named Rascal, designed to help him work on projects by giving him an extra eye on matters. She'd be helping with the operation by generating some holograms of the support frame to use as a referance but that was neither here nor there, right now the little thing was just flittering around more as an emotional support. Help keep him focused and stop him from fretting too much.

"She'll be fine master. She's a tough woman-"

"The fact she needs this frame means the opposite is true." He chimed with a cheeky smirk in his tone.

"Oh you know what I mean. Look. She's in that room up ahead, just take a deep breath, metaphorically speaking, and go see how she's doing. Im sure she'd love to get some support before everything goes down."

Axel gave a sound nod. Rascal's AI was based on the coding involved in his own quirk so the two didn't think too differently, there was enough differentiation to make them separate entities but it meant they still thought mostly along the same lines. Axel took that fake breath, and pushed in through the door, a soft smiling emote flashing on his screen as he and Rascal greeted the waiting CEO. "So. big operation today huh boss?" He chimed, just putting that out on the table as he walked over to her, folding his arms, ipad pinched between his finger and thumb in one hand. "... How you holdin' up? Nervous?"

With a metal frame for a body Axel didn’t have to worry too much about Modesty, but with the fact he still felt the sensations of cold and heat he at least opted for his loose bomber jacket most of the time, and maybe some cargo pants and a scarf if it really got cold. Still, seeing someone who did typically dress quite smart like Sonya reduced to the frumpy ASTA shirt and PJ pants, he was unable to resist a small tinny chuckle, not meaning to be rude but… well, Sonya of all people? Not someone he expected to be looking like they were wearing hand me down clothes of all people.

“Heeeey Sonya. Lookin’ daaaaamn fine~” The little droid hovering around him piped up in a sarcastic tone, Axel waving an arm in it’s direction and narrowly avoiding getting a wack in the face as it dodged to the side.

“Sorry… ignore her I’m still working the bugs out in her AI.” He’d tried to make her a little more ‘playful’ to keep his mood up on long jobs but he may have gone a little too far on the initial run. Of course the AI was just a facsimile of what he was made up of, so it wasn’t like tweaking the coding would actually do any damage to them at the end of the day, they were already pretty much just tweaked code. He let out a more awkward chuckle of his own when Sonya’s words about her situation hit him. “Well… don’t worry. Some of the upgrades I have in mind should make upkeep a lot easier in the future. You won’t have to go through this again, not for a long, LONG time at least…” He was pretty proud of that aspect of the design, sure, complications could always occur and Sonya’s quirk was a wild beast to try and tame but… he was sure he’d made a few key adjustments to the design that should help her standard of living going forward.

He rubbed at the back of his neck-like tubing between his torso and his head, a gesture common even for him who didn’t have a kink in his neck to rub out. Seemed like it was a natural habit for him regardless of his body. “Heh, there you go again, treating me like your most trusted ally… I know I was the first to work with you but sometimes I don’t know what I did to deserve all that…~” His tone was light and he wasn’t too sad or serious in his words but.. he knew he could be a coward, he may not be the most reliable when the chips are down so… he could be a little worried seeing Sonya placed too much faith in a coward like him at times.

When she mentioned her quirk kicking in… Axel shuddered a little imagining what that could be like. His own experience had been rather horrific but nothing like feeling your eyes die in your face.. “Can I… ask how old you were when it happened? I-if that’s not too invasive I mean, I know some quirks develop later than others…” Was it better it happened younger, or older? If she was younger maybe she could have just not fully processed it afterall. If she was older she could deal with it better but… the memory was likely much more vivid…

He chuckled a little nervously as she mentioned it just being nice having someone there to support her, tucking his ipad under his arm and waving his hands in a sort of ‘example’ gesture. “Welp. Here I am, made of metal. Quirk or no quirk I can probably do better touching you then most, eeheheh…”

Rascal’s singular robot eye narrowed. “Nice attempt at humor their genius.”

“Shut up.” He chimed back, a narrow stare emote appearing on his screen aimed in Rascal’s general direction.

Well at least Rascal was getting a laugh out of her, that seemed to be keeping her calm, from the compliment to sassing him Sonya seemed to be in a better mood about things, Axel definitely relieved to see it. Looking about he found an idle chair in the room and moved to take a seat, pulling it up to the side of the bed and trying to meet Sonya's eyeline where he sat, not wanting her to feel like she was being spoken down to or just had to awkwardly look down to meet him, laying his ipad on his lap and tipping his head back to relax his own tensions a little.

She started to talk about how and why she trusted him, his head dipped a little and he found himself idly toying with the diagrams on his ipad, even if he didn't have eyes he found it difficult to meet her gaze as she spoke about her reasons. "Coulda been anyone." He chimed in, shrugging idly as he lifted his head. She added about him knowing her reasons, the cycle she wanted to perpetuate so it never turned into anything worse. He took a tinny, slow breath, and didn't comment. He didn't want to see the extreme's the world could go to sure but... it never made the extremes they caused any easier sometimes. He was on board but sometimes it was hard for him to stomache the costs.

"I just worry sometimes that-" He stopped, and shooking his head, shooting a smile emote on his screen, though even as a robot it somehow felt forced. "Ya know what... nows not the time. You trust me and I appreciate that... and for this at least I can assure you it's not misplaced. You'll come out of this feeling better than ever, I promise."

She went on to share with him what age she was when everything happened with her quirk, he tensed up a little as she detailed it... 5. He doubted her memories of the time could be all that clear at such an age but it definitely would have been intensely traumatic, especially if she was blinded and disabled for so long after. He made no comment about it, it wasn't like he could say 'at least you came out okay', such a horrible thing he didn't feel there was anything that could lift such a topic... instead...

"I don't remember how old I was when my quirk hit. I've... kinda lost a concept of my age if I'm honest? I mean I was effectively in a coma for a few years and never developed so..." He sighed, he was getting off track. "My quirk, they think, let me put my mind into an electronic device... one way. Like someone who's quirk lets them produce fire, but dosn't make them IMMUNE to fire ya know? I found an old TV in my parents attic and... boop. The world went dark. It wasn't plugged in, I couldn't talk to anyone... My body just died without me.  But I just found this all out years later when they finally turned the TV on. They were gonna sell it, cleaning out the house cause they were getting divorced. I... lost my childhood, my parents are still on rocky ground years later because of what I put them through, I lose taste, my sense of touch has never been the same... and I spent years effectively just... a box, that blacked out whenever they had to plug me in somewhere else." He took another slow breath.

"The government built me this body due to some defunct system they had to help give disabled quirkers a standard of living. I have to do the upkeep myself though now, they stopped funding that program a few years back. I think they have other ones but nothing that covers the extreme costs of constant robot maintenance." He let out a weak chuckle and shifted in his seat, meeting her gaze.

"Sorry, I'm not meaning to steal your thunder or your reveal. You were just open and honest with me about something personal to you... I felt it only right that I do the same you know?"

Axel was thankful in part for Sonya's silence on the matter. At the end of the day it was a personal thing he shared and he wasn't sure how he could respond to any comments she had on the matter. Beyond that... he wasn't sure if he could be entirely honest with even her if she needled some of the finer points of his history. Still, opening up like that, it seemed to relax the two of them, his own nerves for the risk of the operation, and ever so briefly seemed to distract her from the same. He was happy to help.

With her stretching and getting ready for the doctors Axel picked up his ipad and bumped the hovering drone around his head to signal it to get moving,"Yeah, we'll er... see you once it's all done. I think you'll probably wanna sleep but when I need a break from the work I'll come see you... wouldn't want you having to recover all alone and.." He chuckled out a little. "Truth be told I think you can be a little more prideful than you'd ever admit so... I don't see you inviting your girlfriends over till this is all done.

Rolling his shoulders back her gave a gentle wave, chiming as he left. "Honest, don't worry... this'll all be over before ya know it."

---

About a day later, Axel found himself working his way through Sonya's apartment. He wasn't used to being somewhere so... clean and controlled. The place seemed immaculate. While his own workshops were never a ruin of a mess, they were typically coated in a fine layer of grease or a few loose wires he hadn't had the time to zip tie or run through the walls yet. With a tired sag to his shoulders he found himself pushing up to Sonya's room, his body tired, drained, he could probably do with a good oiling if he was honest but he'd definitely been pushing himself. The age of the components he was removing had lead to some complications but he worked through the night to make sure Sonya wasn't waiting any longer than she should. He was lucky he couldn't have bags under his eyes as he knocked cautiously on Sonya's door, shifting inside their room.

"Heeeeey ruler of the underworld." He teased playfully. "Been getting plenty of beauty sleep I hope..." He'd left Rascal behind this time, feeling like he could choke them if they made a sarcastic quip right now.

Axel chuckled a little as he was asked about his missing friend as he pulled up a seat beside wherever Sonya lay, just resting himself comfortably for a moment as he thought of an excuse. "They're just... they can be a little loud. I thought it'd be best to properly introduce you two once you'd recovered. Don't worry, it shouldn't be long." And as far as he was concerned it shouldn't be. Of course there were some potential issues that could arrise with re-installing the frame but... no. No he shouldn't think like that, he could always be quite the paranoid little creature but when it came to Sonya he wasn't gonna let that get to him. He glanced back to the door, recalling how she'd given him the keys to get in... probably him, Atalanta, and maybe a trusted doctor were the only ones who could get in. Weak or powerful, Sonya didn't like anyone to ever SEE her as the former, whatever the truth may be.

"Heh well good to see you can joke around a little at least... as far as the frame goes it shouldn't be too long. There were some complications, seeing the er... inside of the frame was a lot different than examining it while it was worn, had to get a few new parts to replace some parts that had begun to deteriorate but it's all overnight shipping, should be here in just a few hours actually so don't you fret... you'll be back on your feet before you know it."

He briefly reached out, thinking to touch her shoulder, reassure her... but he knew how frail she was right now and brought his hand back, a soft tinny breath like sound escaping his speakers. Effectively a robot's sigh. He was speaking the truth, she'd be back on her feet soon but... seeing her like this was definitely world changing, the greatest, most intimidaitng criminal in the world... probably also the most frail. "Thought I'd give your eyes a tune up while we're at it too. I... can't fix the twilight effect they give off but I'm doing what I can... and you know technology, always improving..."

He leaned forward in his seat, rubbing his hands together.. it was hard for him to think of what to say, how to reassure her or encourage her without just talking about the work he was doing... he was hardly a social creature, and this was throwing him in at the deep end.