Positioned between the command center and the Data Room, this room is the laboratory is where Fleuve conducts research for the Guardians most of the time. It was an extensive room, with a small computer in the middle which the vice-commander used regularly. The computer also included the database, where Guardians could check information on a variety of subjects. In particular, the gathered data on different types of Mechaniloids has saved the Guardians numerous times in the field. The database is constantly updated as new discoveries are made.

Stairs on each side of the computer led to a platform which contained a large screen surrounded by four smaller ones, as well as four capsules; there were two of each object on both sides. A large circular light on the ceilling lit the laboratory, and like the screens and the capsules, it emitted a cyan light. Most of the objects in the room had a dark blue color with some orange trim complementing the gray walls, giving the room a darker look than the rest of the base. Purple cables behind the walls appeared to distribute power.

[Continued from Main Deck]

"Very well, let's get this underway." Fleuve entered the room with Vent following behind him with Vince, as well as Model R and Model ó. He proceeded to the main computer and stood on his toes as he typed into the keys to start the process. "Vent, please give me Model R."

"Right." Vent lifted his right hand in a gesture to grab the Biometal and position it on a panel located on top of the keyboard, which was actually made of a touch-sensitive screen with cyan lights marking the keys.

"By the way Vince, may I also scan your Biometal?" Fleuve asked the detective as he set up the data transfer.

From [Main Deck]

"Time to power save..." Model R said.

The blue gem on his head flashed. "POWER SAVE MODE." Model R stopped floating. He was only able to talk. He was unlike most Biometals who could continuously keep going. Probably due to being the opposite of Model X.

[From the Main Deck]

"That alright with you, Model Omic...?" Vince asked pulling the Biometal from his coat.

Model ó sighed. "Do I have a choice...?"

"Alright then. Here," Vince said, handing the gold Biometal to Fleuve.

"Very good. Let's begin..." Fleuve positioned Model R on the console for a moment, then did the same for Model ó. An image of each Biometal was displayed on the main screen along with a large stream of data. As promised, the process was fast; scanning the two Biometals did not take longer than ten seconds. "Download complete! Thank you very much, here is your Biometal." The vice-commander returned Model ó to Vince, placing Model R on the side for the moment.

"... So, what do we do now, Fleuve?" Vent had suddenly realized, there was nothing else for him to do at the moment.

"I'm afraid we can only wait until we arrive to the Arcadian Ruins or transfers are restored, whichever comes first..." Fleuve put both hands behind his back as he spoke. "Once we do, our priorities are to bring back commander Prairie and Aile, drive away the Mavericks and help the victims. Until then, I suggest you rest. You've been on the move for the last few hours, and you should take the opportunity to recover as much as you can."

"... I guess you're right. But I really don't like to feel so helpless." Vent sighed.

"I understand, Vent." Fleuve replied. "Don't forget though, Aile can take care of herself, and I'm sure that she is doing her best to ensure commander Prairie's safety."

"Yeah." Vent nodded. "I've got to admit, Aile is the only person I know who can keep up with me."

"To Aile, you're the one keeping up with her." Model X remarked.

"Hush, Model X." Vent replied in an annoyed tone; the boy would not admit it, but he and Aile did have a bit of a sibling rivalry. He did not know how he would compare to the new chosen ones, but he was not particularly interested in finding out. "Anyway, since we got a bit of time..." Vent turned his face towards the detective. "Vince, you said in Area A that you wanted to talk to me, right?"

Vince put Model ó back in his pocket. He rubbed his head, barely remembering that he had said that.

"Oh, right," he replied to Vent. "I almost forgot. Well, I was originally going to ask what all you knew about the Game of Destiny and such. I kind of wanted to know how many Model Ws you and Aile have smashed. You know, to get a perspective on how big this threat is... But that information just kinda came up anyway. Prometheus... Pandora... The truth about Serpent... I figure there's probably too many Model Ws to count, anyway. At this point, I don't really have anymore questions."

He paused for a moment. "Unless you guys have any questions for me."

"Alright. Now we can see how I was made... I'm a mystery to myself... That's pretty bad..." Model R said.

He remained motionless. His eyes still glowed.

"You pretty much told me everything I needed to know, too." Vent replied to Vince, remembering the explanations given in Area A. "So, I guess we'll just get out of here for now..."

"Wait, Vent." Fleuve interrupted as Vent made a step towards the exit. "Could you bring Model D for analysis as well? I'll inform Muguet that you're on the way."

Vent looked around his shoulder to reply. "Sure, I don't think Andrew is going anywhere right now... do you want to come with me, Vince? I can show you the base while I'm at it." Vent opened the door as he made the invitation.

The detective shrugged. "Sure, why not?" he replied. He started walking towards the door. Vince had never been on an airship before. His only method of travel until recently was his sleek, black motorcycle. The detective couldn't help but feel a little excited about taking a look around. And if they were going to the infirmary, he could retrieve his blaster from Kiriyama before he forgot again.

"Model R? You're coming, too." Vent still had promised to keep an eye on the Biometal, and now that Kiriyama was absent, he was not willing to leave Model R all by itself. There was no telling what it could attempt to do. But it seemed like a good idea to show the Biometal where its owner was being treated as well.

[Continued in Corridors]

"Well, since I've got no where to go and no way off..." Model R said.

It's blue gem flashed, and it began to float again. It floated into the [Corridors.]

Vince walked out the door into the corridors.

[To Corridors]

[Continued from Neo Arcadia - Ruins]

In the next afternoon. Current Time: 15:00

The events of the previous night left Fleuve quite weary. Prior to the return of Commander Prairie from the Arcadian Ruins, he was forced to interrupt his research to carry out his duties as the vice-commander. Between the incident in the Slither Inc. remains and the attack on the Arcadian Ruins, the elder Reploid had his work cut out for him. He only found time to rest at all around six o'clock in the morning, after doing a preliminary analysis of the computer chips Vent had taken from ancient "Preon" Mechaniloids.

Even then, he only slept enough to resume his research in the late morning, with a short break during lunch time. He was still interested in analyzing the data he had gathered from Model ó, Model R and Model D. However, a helping hand would certainly be welcome at the moment. Though Silure was a very capable mechanic, he needed someone who could help him analyze the actual data... and that was something Silure could not help him with. Therefore, he had recently contacted the only other person who could actually help him at the moment.

"He should be here soon... it's a good chance to find out if he made any progress of his own as well." He said as he looked at the Biometal data on his holographic screen.

"BE-BOOP!" A familiar Mettaur uttered from the side of the console.

"You think so too, eh, Vitesse?" Fleuve smiled briefly at the small Mechaniloid.

[Continued from Area C: Locke Technologies, Inc. Central Office]

"Fleuve?"

With a little more spring in his step than he'd had earlier that day, Malcolm stepped into the Grand Nuage's laboratory, looking around for the old reploid. He wasn't too hard to spot, and Mal approached with a smile when he'd been located.

A brief power nap at lunch had left him feeling a lot better, and he was happy to be back in the lab. Running his company was rewarding in its own way, but Malcolm was a lot more content when he was doing hands-on work. He gave Fleuve a friendly pat on the shoulder, then stuck his hands in the pockets of his lab coat. The green biometal he'd been working with was bouncing around in one of them as he walked. He put a hand around it lightly, for lack of any better way to relax his arm.

"Good to see you. How're things going around here? I heard you guys saw some action last night."

"Greetings, Locke." Fleuve stopped typing on the keyboard as the fellow Guardian approached. "And yes, I'm afraid we--"

"BEEP!" Vitesse was quick to interrupt, tackling the guest at the first opportunity with a look of joy on its eyes; Locke was no stranger to the small Mechaniloid, and it had no qualms about expressing what it perceived as affection.

"Vitesse! Not again...!" Fleuve hurried to pick up the Mechaniloid and set it down on his side. "My apologies. You know how Vitesse acts when it sees you..." The elder Reploid commented awkwardly.

"BE-BOOP!" The Mettaur uttered cheerfully as it hopped on the spot.

Malcolm laughed, and dusted himself off after getting back to his feet. "It's alright, Fleuve. Good to see you too, Vitesse."

If the mettaur had a mouth, Malcolm would've offered it a dog biscuit or something. God knew it acted enough like a puppy whenever he was around. Instead, he simply bent down to pat its top affectionately.

"What were you saying?" He returned his attention to Fleuve after he straightened up.

"To be frank, so much has happened I'm not sure of where to begin." Realizing just how much he'd need to explain, Fleuve took a second to adjust his goggles. "I trust you received the message about the Slither Inc. incident yesterday?"

"Yeah," Mal answered. "A lot earlier this morning than I would've liked."

He folded his arms, rocking on his heels a bit. "The report said the building's a total write-off after all the fighting. Not that it was in great shape before. It's a good thing we got the central database already."

"Indeed." Fleuve responded. "Maybe you should consider checking the energy furnaces, but I digress... what the report probably doesn't mention is that new Mega Men were involved in the incident... and not just in Slither Inc. either."

Fleuve paused again as he tried to figure out an abridged explanation. "We met three Chosen Ones in Area A yesterday. After learning more about them, we brought out Vitesse here to test them, as we do with Guardian volunteers. However... a Pseudoroid managed to control Vitesse and lure them into a trap in the Slither Inc. ruins. The Pseudoroid was defeated, although two of the Chosen Ones were injured... one of them being in a coma."

The elder Reploid sighed, resting his right hand on Vitesse's helmet. "As if that wasn't enough, there was a Maverick attack in the Arcadian Ruins... which is where we're docked right now. There were yet more Chosen Ones involved in the battle, one of them being a criminal called Anton Cordell. I'm sure you've at least heard of him; we found out that he was experimenting with the Model W in this area. He somehow acquired a Biometal and used it to escape prison. Aile destroyed the Model W, but Cordell escaped... with Pandora's aid. We confirmed her involvement along with Prometheus both here and in Slither Inc. I suppose this might be too much to take in at once... but we all had our hands full in the last 24 hours."

"Jesus Christ," muttered Malcolm. Three more biometal users in one day? Plus attacks in Cinq Ville and the Arcadian ruins almost simultaneously... the Guardians had their hands full, all right.

"What biometal does this Cordell character have? Do we know anything about it?"

Fleuve shook his head. "According to Vent, the Biometal is called 'Model G', but we don't have any data on it yet. And that's not all; two more Biometals were discovered here... Model J and Model T. Model J is in possession of an engineer from Legion named Sage, but Model T was also taken by Pandora. In total, that makes it six new Biometals on top of the other six we have, the one in your hands, and the missing one... I'm sure you know which one I'm referring to." He lowered his head slightly upon finishing the sentence.

"Mmmhm."

So they were up to a total of fourteen known biometals. The sheer number of the things was getting a little ridiculous, Malcolm thought; it was a small miracle that half of them were in Guardian hands, where they wouldn't be misused. The other half, now that was something else.

"They're popping up all over the place, aren't they?" Malcolm started to pace a short distance in front of Fleuve. The biometal in his coat pocket bounced against his leg, bringing his attention to it once more.

"Speaking of the one I've got, I finally managed to extract its ID data this morning. It identifies itself as Model K."

"Oh?" Fleuve raised his head, his interest immediately piqued. "So you managed to make progress? Excellent!" The elder Reploid replied with excitement. "Model K, eh? Did you uncover anything else about it?"

"In a manner of speaking." Malcolm took the biometal out of his pocket and sat it down on Fleuve's work bench.

"The biometal seems to be complete, but as yet I haven't been able to communicate with its consciousness through any means. It could be that it's suppressed somehow; I'm not 100% sure."

He paused to gather his thoughts, then looked back over to Fleuve. "While I was digging around to see if I could discover what's doing it, I accessed the biometal's MEGA System hardware."

The biometal sat pristine on Fleuve's bench, no indication at all that it might be a sentient being, or even anything more than a paperweight beyond the faint glow of its crystal. Malcolm regarded it for a moment before continuing. "There's something very strange about the way it's constructed. It isn't like the other biometals we've seen at all."

"The other ones," he continued, "all have a common design element in their transformation matrices. Even the ones that weren't built by the Guardians, presumably because they're all based on the Model W biometal data that the Guardians collected twenty some-odd years ago. Whoever built this one was working with a completely different design. The MEGA System drivers look functional, but they're... I don't know. Not as refined as the design we're familiar with. One might even say relatively primitive."

Malcolm glanced back at the green biometal. "Almost like this thing was some kind of alpha version."

"Hmm. This is an intriguing discovery, for sure." Fleuve rubbed his chin in thought. "If Model K's M.E.G.A. System is indeed a primitive version of the mechanism used in Model X, Model Z and others, could it mean...?"

It was then that the voice of an operator interrupted Fleuve's deliberation.

"Commander Fleuve." Gardénia spoke through the radio. "We are receiving a transmission from the Watchmen. They are in company of an agent from Taiyoh called Reala Thorn, and she insists on talking to the one in command.."

"... For crying out loud." Fleuve remarked in frustration. "I had specifically requested to not be interrupted unless it was very important. I apologize Locke, but since Commander Prairie is absent, I must tend to this matter."

The Reploid then made his way to the bridge with Vitesse in tow, leaving Malcolm to decide whether to follow him or wait in the laboratory.

[Continued in The Bridge]

"Taiyoh...?" Malcolm muttered. What could they possibly want with the Guardians?

Malcolm debated for a moment, then followed Fleuve out of the laboratory.

[Continued in The Bridge]

OOC: Even though Walker hasn't posted Malcom returning here, I am going to post under the assumption that he's been here since Vince left to aide Vent. If you want me to delete my post for the transition to work, I will do so. I will also post in a way that gives Malcom time to hide Model K if he needs to.

------

[From Corridors]

The door slid open, allowing the detective to walk in. The doors closed behind Vince as he looked around. He saw Malcom Locke, the founder of the Locke Industries inside.

"Mr. Locke," Vince greeted. "If you could come with us to the ship's deck, there's something interesting you'll to want to see." The detective carried in his right hand the polearm retrieved from Skoll. It was currently retracted to its more portable state. His Biometal still hovered at about eye-level near him.

OOC: You made the right call. I didn't post Locke coming back in here because it seemed pretty pointless with nobody there to interact with.

------

As he fiddled with Model K's internal circuitry, Malcolm found himself wondering who exactly had constructed the biometal in the first place. He was still fairly confident that the device was a prototype for some other biometal. However, it had appeared nowhere in Commander Ciel's original research--the parts of it the Guardians had since come across, at least. In any case, the green biometal being of Guardian origin seemed unlikely.

Nobody had been able to discover who built the other biometals that had been popping up lately either. The only ones the Guardians really knew anything about were X, Z, H, F, L, and P. But at least the handful of others they'd been able to study had common elements with the original six.

Model K's design was just... strange.

Malcolm heard the door slide open, but didn't look up from his work. He'd found a short circuit inside the biometal, and was just about finished repairing it.

"Mr. Locke."

He'd been expecting Fleuve. The voice he heard instead belonged to Vince, so Fleuve must've still been in the middle of something. "One second," he murmured, and finished rewiring the connections he'd had to dismantle to get at the short.

With that out of the way, he dusted his hands off and turned around, grabbing the biometal to shove back in his pocket. "The deck? Does this have anything to do with that hypothesis Vent was talking about after his little skirmish?"

It sounded like something interesting was about to take place, but Malcolm had one or two things he wanted to check before that. He headed over to the main computer and started to punch up the data for the recent biometal acquisitions.

"Yes," Vince replied. He walked over to the work bench and set the polearm down. "Kile Dragoon is here. He's someone who can transform like that Skoll guy Vent was fighting. We're going to the deck to see his ability first-hand."

"Oh, excellent. That'll be a big help analyzing the data from Skoll. And maybe with a more thorough scan, we can figure out what the hell we're dealing with here."

Malcolm glanced over his shoulder at Vince. The man was now standing where Malcolm had been a moment prior, setting Skoll's weapon down; undoubtedly, it would need to be analyzed in the near future. He turned back to the computer screen after a moment.

"If you'll give me just a minute, I want to skim the data on the new biometals we've acquired. I've only had time to look at a couple of them so far.

Unseen in his pocket, the blue crystal on the face of Model K began to glow faintly.

------

...Where am I?

His world was little more than a dull grey blur. He could sense others nearby... two in the immediate vicinity, and several more a little farther away. Light was filtering in from somewhere, but he couldn't see the source. He felt like he had a cloth sack wrapped around his head.

Or... perhaps he was inside the sack. He swiftly came to the conclusion that he was no longer in his own body. Whatever he was now, he was much smaller and had no limbs. This just wasn't going to do at all.

There were voices. He couldn't make out what they were saying at first, but the words gained clarity as his awareness slowly came back to him. Something about... "biometal" data. The word was familiar to him. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he knew what it meant.

...I'm in someone's coat pocket, aren't I? Bloody christ. Now I know what a calculator feels like.

"Uh..." Vince muttered while glancing over to the door. "Alright, I guess..." The detective rubbed the back of his head. He didn't know how long the others would wait.

Model ó sensed something at that moment. An energy signature seemed to come from Malcom's pocket. A very familiar signature.

That feels like... A Biometal? it thought. It feels similar to when Model R activated. It's as if it just woke up. The gold Biometal said nothing to his Chosen One about it. Was there yet another Biometal that had yet to be activated? It seemed odd that the subject wasn't mentioned before. But one thing at a time; Kile Dragoon. Model ó was sure Locke would reveal his intentions some other time. In the meantime, they all had their hands full.

"Well," Model ó said while turning to Vince. "We should go to the deck now. I'm curious about Kile's ability myself."

"I'll tell them to hold off a minute before starting," Vince told Malcom. He started to walk back towards the door. Model ó followed.

"I'll be right behind you," Malcolm replied. "I just want to go over the baseline dat... huh."

He trailed off as the data for Model R came up. Anybody who'd ever seen biometal sensor data would've been able to tell that something was wrong with Model R's. The cause wasn't immediately apparent, but if Malcolm...

No, there's no time to start investigating it right this second. Need to head up to the outer deck and collect data from Kile's transformation.

He figured he could deal with that, then report the anomalous data from Model R to Prairie and Fleuve. Trying to do too many things at once was just pointless. It wasn't helping that he was running on little sleep and a lot of caffeine; his attention span was dwindling and as a result his mind had started to bounce around like a rabbit on stimulants.

Whatever was wrong with Model R wasn't something they could deal with at the moment anyway, considering the biometal had been stolen by Chiba. It could wait a few minutes. It had distracted him long enough that there wasn't really time to go over the rest of the biometals for the moment, however.

He grabbed a portable scanner from near the main computer and turned around to follow Vince out of the lab.

------

Still more awareness was dawning on Model K, despite being stuck in some lab monkey's pocket. He could sense others like himself now... other biometals nearby. A considerable number of them, in fact, and the majority of them felt familiar somehow.

He wasn't sure how he knew them. His memories were vague and nebulous at the moment. It was vexing being conscious yet unable to do anything, all the while unable to remember how he'd even gotten into this situation to begin with. He had an indistinct recollection of fighting, and then...

Well, something bad obviously happened. He certainly couldn't imagine being put into a chunk of metal the size of a hood ornament by choice. The thought of it was already starting to make him feel bitter.

Maybe the other biometals would shed some light on the subject...

Vince looked at Malcom for a second, puzzled by his muttering. But when he saw Malcom start to follow, Vince put aside his curiosity. The door opened, and the detective stepped through.

Model ó hovered after his Chosen One. He was certain now that the Biometal in Malcom's pocket was a Biometal they had not encountered before. Perhaps the Guardians had more Biometals in their inventory than previously thought.

I guess it isn't a big deal, Model ó thought. Though I do want to know why the new Biometal just activated...

The two passed through the door and out of the room.

[To Corridors]

Malcolm jogged a few steps to catch up with Vince as he exited the lab. The group out in the hallway seemed to have dispersed...

[To Corridors]

[Continued from Deck]

The door slid open as Fleuve made his return with Vitesse and Malcolm. The elder Reploid immediately moved to the central console and accessed the the data transfer software.

"Connect the device to the console, Locke." He instructed. "We'll verify the Biometal data after the transfer."

[Continued from Deck]

"Alright."

Malcolm did as he was asked, once he'd entered the lab, and connected his scanner to the main computer. The transfer wouldn't take long.

"All set. Go ahead."

A stream of data flowed across the holographic screen as the information was transferred to the console. Only a few seconds passed before Fleuve moved on to the recorded data about Model R. Two screens were produced: one contained the original specs of Model R, prior to its delivery to the Watchmen; the other displayed Model R's current form, following Kiriyama's encounter with the Pseudoroid Bzzkrieg. He placed the data of each version side by side in order to compare the differences.

"You said there was an anomalous pattern in this data, correct?" The vice-commander asked Malcolm. "Could it be a result of the Biometal mysteriously changing its form when Kiriyama battled the Pseudoroid...?"

"Could be, I suppose," Malcolm replied. "What would have caused such a change, though? Something had to have affected the biometal at the core for that to happen."

Malcolm was starting to wish he'd been around for all of this stuff yesterday.

In response, Fleuve eyed the Mettaur with a cable on hand. "Vitesse, if you may...?"

"BEEP!" The Mettaur immediately entered sleep mode, allowing the elder Reploid to connect it to the console. Fleuve proceeded to search the Mechaniloid's memory data for the events it had witnessed in Slither Inc.

Another holographic screen appeared to display the Control Center events through Vitesse's eyes. The Pseudoroid stung through the Chosen One's left hand with his energy stinger in an attempt to finish him off, but Kiriyama retaliated with a lethal shot through the Pseudoroid's chest... just before Kiriyama was cornered by none other than Prometheus and Pandora.

Bzzkrieg's orders were simply to watch you and gather data on your skills... but I guess he grew impatient and decided to force you to use your Biometals instead. The Grim Reaper spoke to Kiriyama. "For all his smarts, that was pretty stupid. And now we need to deal with the mess. I'd say 'congratulations' for surviving, but I can see that Bzzkrieg left his mark..."

The playback continued as Model R cancelled the transformation and foolishly mocked Prometheus:

"So weak you have to rely on another power... I can take you the way I am; a floating hunk of metal that's not even perfect."

"Really, now...? Try it, then. Take me on, imperfect metal." The response was swift; the Grim Reaper's hand latched onto Model R and ignited his deadly purple flames. It seemed that the Biometal would become slag in Prometheus's hand... but then something happened; the Biometal shined, breaking free from Prometheus's grip.

"Took me awhile, but I'm now at full capacity. All that fritzing out I did before... Was my imperfect form adjusting..."

Following the Biometal's explanation, Kiriyama transformed again. The armor was visually different and his weapon had changed to a double saber. However, an imminent fight was quickly averted when Vent appeared just in time. Fleuve ran the video until the departure of Prometheus and Pandora before ending the playback.

"... And those are the relevant events." The elder Reploid finished.

"Hold on, I'm seeing a couple different possibilities here."

Malcolm mulled over what he had just seen, tapping his forehead with his index finger absently. "It's possible the attack from the pseudoroid or Prometheus did something to Model R, the obvious change notwithstanding. What do we know about that pseudoroid?"

"I didn't go far back into Vitesse's memory just now, but it seems that he perpetrated by incident by controlling the systems of several Mechaniloids. Even Vitesse was affected..." Fleuve eyed the Mettaur.

"BOOP!" Vitesse uttered with an upset look.

"Really?"

Malcolm furrowed his eyebrows and began to pace in front of the master console.

"Some kind of virus, maybe? Now that I think about it, Model R's user--Kiriyama, wasn't it? He doesn't look so good, either. I wonder if this thing with Model R might be related."

"A virus? How...?" As a researcher, Fleuve learned that he should not dismiss a possibility without due thought, or he would be blinded to the truth. However... that did not make sense based on what he had seen.

"Kiriyama was injured and ran off while still in medications... and he isn't displaying the symptoms of the Pseudoroid's control over the Mechaniloids. But before we discard the possibility, can you indicate where did you see the anomalous data?"

"Yeah, just a second."

Malcolm stepped up to the console and brought up Model R's analysis, quickly focusing on the anomaly he had noticed earlier.

"Right here... looks like it's contained within the biometal's CPU. Some kind of code..."

A deeper analysis was in order. Malcolm spent several moments fine-tuning the program as he went over the data. When he had finally isolated the string of code in question, he raised an eyebrow in disbelief.

"That can't be right. This code string looks like something from Model W."

Fleuve immediately accessed the Model W data the Guardians had accumulated in order to initiate a comparative analysis between the two Biometals, using the code indicated by Malcolm as a basis. Countless lines of data scrolled across the screen, wielding results linked to what appeared to be Model W's neural patterns...

"... This is impossible." Fleuve said in shock. "It's as if Model W's consciousness infiltrated Model R's systems...!"

"If that's the case, then what does that mean for Kiriyama? He's used that biometal since then."

---

Model K couldn't help but wonder what exactly "Model W" was, but he had already decided he didn't like the sound of it. He had a feeling he was going to find out one way or another.

In his current situation, all he could really do was continue to observe and learn what he was able. He resumed listening to the discussion between Malcolm and Fleuve.

"Oh dear..." The thought struck Fleuve like a punch; he did not know the answer, but depending on where Kiriyama's bionic parts were located, this could mean big trouble. "I must ask Muguet about her diagnosis...!"

"Attention all Guardians." An operator alerted via radio. "The Guardian Base will achieve lift-off in sixty seconds. Please make sure to secure yourselves until second notice. Repeat..."

Fleuve mentally cursed the bad timing. He was now anxious to investigate Kiriyama's status more deeply, but he could do nothing if he was thrown around as the airship moved. Through the console, he immediately activated a magnetic panel in a corner of the laboratory which Vitesse could attach itself to. The Mettaur understood the procedure and complied immediately, while the vice-commander buckled himself on his seat.

------

OOC: The seat is a new addition, but pretend it was always there.

"Damn," Malcolm muttered. He grabbed onto the railing around the raised upper section of the lab and held onto it as the ship began to ascend. The Grand Nuage's takeoffs would probably not be best described as "smooth," given the size and weight of the thing.

A couple of minutes had passed as the airship eventually reached the ideal altitude and stabilized. Fleuve immediately lowered the seat for his feet to reach the floor and stood up.

"We should see Muguet right away." The elder Reploid rushed to the door on the way to the medbay.

[Continued in Emergency Rooms]

Malcolm let go of the railing and followed after Fleuve quickly.

"Agreed," he replied, "the faster the better."

[Continued in Corridors]