Hidden lab [RP with final_number, actiontrigger and shiningstarofmorning]

[variable_x]

They arrived by a special teleporting frequency — private, with security checks at beam-in and beam-out — in a small, cluttered, but still well-kept laboratory. Two metallic beds in the middle: one empty; another with an offline male reploid, arms, legs and face human-passing, with his purple armor disassembled on the counters close to the left wall. At the right wall, a peach-colored capsule contained an unfinished combat armor with the same color. There was also a large computer opposite the door and its smaller terminals scattered around the counters, together with memory storage cubes and some tools.

"We arrived at the right place, at least. It does not mean we are safe, so try to not talk or even use radio too much," said Alia, picking a clean white lab coat from one of the counter drawers, "I'll explain about everything here later. Do not worry about Gate," she said, pointing to the unconscious reploid, "He'll not wake up."

As for X, it was hard to not worry about a dead Maverick being reconstructed under his nose, but he remembered that Alia promised to take care of him after the Sixth. It was not the time to have an argument about him. "So, what to do?"

"Zero, keep guard at the door. Axl, you'll be first, since your transition was simpler. Douglas, take care of the mechanical procedures and vital states while I do the rollback. And X, check if Axl starts to act Maverick. Sorry, I know you have no weapons, but containing him for seconds is enough for me to get armed," said Alia, getting the backups from the trio's previous bodies.

"Understood." Damn, why X did to be the sabotaged one? Why he was forced to be dead weight until his turn? But then, what would he do? Even paying attention at the rollback process could be dangerous. Better to trust Alia; this was not the time to be the hero.

Comments

[final_number]

Zero hears Alia, but he has a hard time tearing his eyes away from the incomplete - and obviously in progress - form of Gate nearby. A shudder runs down his back, a miasma of foreboding. We keep trusting these people with our bodies, our lives and yet... But he just nods and follows the order, quiet and brooding as he retreats, systems extended and sensors fanned out, feeling jittery. Don't dwell on it. It can't be helped now.

Axl kind of shrugs, looks to Douglas, X, and then nods at Alia. "So, uh, you can reverse me, right? 'Cause... I'm not like those guys, y'know..." His nervous tension is obvious as he approaches the table; his childish face has a grin that's more uneasy than relaxed. "My body's pretty different... You're sure you can, right?"

Douglas handwaves. "Don't worry! We'll get you out of this." Somehow, he mumbles under his breath, and turns to start taking cables and hooking Axl into the consoles.

[variable_x]

"It's only software by now, Axl. Not that risky." Alia nods back to Axl, then interfaces her mind with Axl's old body backup, setting the files as read-only. Primitive protection, yes, but still surprisingly effective against overwriting. She wasn't sure of her chances of success, but if someone on the group needed to keep their head cool, this someone would be her. Alia knew that getting upset would affect the state of everyone.

As she sees that Axl is already properly connected, she picks an empty cube to backup his current body if something gets wrong with the rollback. That cube was a "dumb" one - no AI boot sector, so no risk of a storage device running amok. The process takes some minutes, and it's done without errors. So, Alia takes off the current backup cube and connects the older one.

"What I did, a current backup, was standard procedure, I will only start now. If it's successful, you will lose senses, as if you got your old body back. If it goes wrong, we'll revert it. You'll be offline when the rollback starts, online when it ends." She said, holding his hand. Even if she wasn't keen on sentimentality, it was obvious that it was a hard time to Axl and he needed a bit of comfort.

> SYSTEMRESTORE -AUTOTURNOFF
> SOURCE FROM DRIVE [F:\]
> THE PROCESS WILL TAKE APPROXIMATELY 15 MINUTES, ON WHICH THIS REPLOID WILL BE OFFLINE. IN CASE OF ERRORS, THE RESTORE WILL BE ABORTED AND THE REPLOID WILL BE RETURNED INTO THEIR CURRENT STATE. CONTINUE? Y/N
> Y

A progress bar and a file list appeared on the screen of the terminal Axl was connected.

"X, Douglas, I need you to keep an eye on Axl while I check the file transfer. If it's safe it'll work from drive F to drive C but never from C to F. If he wakes up before the transfer, contain him and call me."

X had nothing to do except nod. He was anxious, but knowing that Alia did not hurry and followed protocol made him less afraid of sharing a room with Gate.

"Good." Alia left Axl's hand to focus on the screen.

[actiontrigger]

Axl ulps once, but as needy as it might be, Alia's hand on his calms him down a bit. He sighs, staring up at the ceiling until the shutdown process takes him over.

Douglas nods too, keeping a close eye on the transfer and on Axl's basic vitals. Well, as the transfer begins, it all seems to be going well. Axl's body isn't reacting in any way. Although it might be startling when the bar hits 50%, Axl's eyes snap open and flash a couple of times before closing again!

Douglas handwaves quickly at X and Alia, speaking more for X's benefit. "Don't worry about that, some new gens do that when they do a soft reset."

[variable_x]

"Right. There were no abnormalities at the file transfer, too. Do tell me again if something happens," said Alia, not taking her eyes off the screen. 51%, 52%, the progress bar stopped for a while. That file was a big one, though, so it was understandable. However, if the rollback froze, it could be bad for Axl's mental integrity — corrupted personality files could cause a Vile situation on the poor kid.

As for X, with his core pulsing fast enough to look like a constant whirr, he almost activated his buster as Axl opened his eyes, except there was no buster. After Douglas' advice, his head fell down in guilt, realizing he would be capable of violence to subdue a friend — no, his fiancé — from a bad restore. "Oh, right. Good to know."

The progress bar went ahead, going faster after the 53% mark. In minutes it was full, the report on the screen accusing no errors. Soon Axl would be online again, if nothing wrong happened.

[actiontrigger]

Apart from the minor scare in the middle, as the progress bar hits 100 Axl briefly shuts down again, now doing a hard reboot, and comes back on line. He immediately looks... kind of puzzled? as he carefully sits up, with Douglas's help. "... I don't ... did you do anything? I don't feel any different?" He looks over at Alia, puzzled. "I'm flipping through my internal menus and I can't tell...did it work?"