Serry had leaned against the wall next to Zu's cell, waiting for Val and Zascent's return. All that needed to happen was some paperwork before they were finally allowed to be let out of here. His role in this was having copies of the evidence that they gathered in his systems, but they didn't even need most of it. This has resulted in a lot of waiting.

A yawn had resounded next to him.

"For being in jail, that was a surprisingly comfortable nap." Zu tiredly said.

"Oh... It seems to be just you, robot. Where did the lizard and cross headed man go? How long has it been?"

"Three hours. Val and Zascent just need to do a few things before we can all leave the Space Center tomorrow." Serry clarified.

"Also, again, my name is "Serry". Not "robot"."

"Right... I must say, you all have very strange names. They are hard to keep track of." she commented.

"You'll get used to it." Serry retorted.

"Well, then, robot..." Zu said, Serry's eye twitching underneath his goggles. "What will happen from here on? Were they successful with the High Courts? I notice that you said we can "all" leave."

"The verdict was to let him take you in." Serry explained. "So you don't have to worry anymore as long as you behave well."

Zu hesitated, thinking on his words. Then, she'd hang her head low, her eyes closing with a smile on her face.

"I'm... very glad." she muttered.

There was a period of silence between them as Zu had continued staring toward the floor, contemplating everything. Serry had remained still. She then looked to Serry a bit nervously, before looking back. After a few more glances... she'd start to twiddle her thumbs.

"Um..." Zu murmured with a sudden meekness.

"What?" Serry asked. She hesitated a bit more due to Serry's straightforward tone, but finally, she'd build the courage to ask her question.

"It's good that I'm allowed to join your team..." Zu said.

"But... there's something that I want to attain as well. Something dear to me."

"So, tell me..."

"Do you really think... that someone like me could join the Star Patrol?"

"I can't achieve it without doing that, at least."

Serry had leaned his head further towards the wall, looking up towards the ceiling.

"Well, the whole banished species thing aside, I'd say that you wouldn't stick out that much." Serry explained. "The Star Patrol hires all kinds of wackos. Government agents. Bounty hunters. Cowboys. As long as you have a clean record and have the basic requirements, they pretty much let anyone in."

"A goody two shoes like you? That would be the least of their worries."

"I'm not... entirely a "goody two shoes" as you say, however. Do you not remember? I threatened to take your lives." Zu said.

"Well, it's not like you were actually going to do it." Serry commented.

"Of course, but... does that really make it okay?" Zu asked.

Serry paused, before giving a sigh. Zu stared at him, wondering what sort of anatomy could allow a robot to exhale like that. Serry then gave his opinion.

"Val probably wouldn't say this due to his own feelings, but if you want me to be honest..."

"What you said to us WAS pretty messed up. That's just a clear as day fact."

"But even if you didn't mean it, you already got your butt whooped as a direct result of what you pulled back there."

"So at this point, I don't really see it as anything really worth getting hung up over."

"At least, that's what I think."

"That..." Zu paused. "That is a fair point." She's only recently stopped having to limp everywhere from the soreness.



Zu took a moment to think about his words thus far. Things were grim and hopeless before. But now, she couldn't believe how well things were working out. "I give you my thanks for reassuring me, robot."

"Serry." he said in a deadpan tone.

"You seem to have a knack for correcting the record, robot." Zu said.

"Okay, now you're just doing that on purpose" Serry replied, unamused.

Her earlier meekness went away as soon as she got an, in her view, incredible idea. Ever since she got more accustomed to these two and started opening up more, this robot has been correcting her on this and that multiple times. Val said something relating to a "purpose" within him, from what she recalled. And considering his nature, what if...

A mischievous smirk grew on her face.

"If you enjoy doing so, then tell me..." Zu started in a foreboding tone.

"What happens in Issue #54 of Plate Rangers?"

"Huh? Out of all things, why are you asking that?" Serry said, that being enough to get him to fully turn towards her.

"Do you not have a great urge to look within your systems and answer me?" she teased.

"Do you feel temptation within your many wires and chips to show off how smart you are?"

Serry grit his teeth. This devious girl was pulling at something that was clashing against his unwillingness to humor such shenanigans.

Unfortunately, Serry couldn't quite really suppress it.

"Ugh."

Quickly parsing through what he could find on the Network, he gave her the awaited answer. "Plate Three defeats Machine Serpent and gains the third Glow Ruby. The heroes get ever more closer to gathering enough to find and defeat Chaos Hellad, who I assume is the main villain."

"How?" Zu prodded.

"He cleverly leads Machine Serpent into his own homing attack." Serry explained.

"Hmph. That's quite predictable. Sad, I was fond Machine Serpent's design. Was it cool, at least?" Zu pushed further.

"Many say that it was a somewhat good moment for Three." he said.

"It's good that the creators are finally giving Three some time to shine. I believe he is quite underrated." Zu remarked.

"I guess?" Serry had zero context to know what she was yapping about.

"Might you tell me what happens next? Just a small tidbit with no big spoilers." she asked.

"You can just look all this up on the Network when we get back!" he exclaimed.

"Yes, but I'm bored." Zu admitted.

"Plus, I enjoy physical media more than the digital type that is apparently commonly used."

Serry grumbled, querying the Network once again and processing the information. "Apparently, they enter the Vim Dimension that they've been building up to for the entire arc."

"I see, I see..." Zu repeated with her eyes closed, a hand underneath her chin as she gave a grin. Serry did not like this expression. Zu turned to him, and pointed at him in a dignified manner while setting her other hand on her hip.

"You, robot. I declare you as a useful asset to my endeavors! You shall fetch information for me whenever I command!"

"Shut it, you brat. If you want that, then just use a tablet or something." Serry snarled.

"Of course, but for some reason, despite your reluctance... you are strangely eager to answer my questions. That is why I see great potential within you." Zu observed.

"Plus, I seem to recall, robot... When Val was giving me a tour of your base, he mentioned that you were built not that long ago. Therefore, it would be hypocritical of you to call me a "brat" in this scenario."

"That's totally different! I'm a Gizmo with a highly advanced artificial intelligence installed from the jump! I have multiple prototypes!" Serry objected, holding his hands up.

"Would you call a calculator, or a refrigerator a "brat" too?! That's stupid!"

"Wait a minute-- You just called him "Val", but you're still calling me "robot!" he pointed out.

"That does not change what I said." Zu refuted, ignoring that second part.

"Wh-- Why are you asking me any of this, anyway?!" Serry demanded.

"I needed to catch up, and you did not possess the issue yourselves. And earlier, I felt too wary to ask you to get it for me." Zu clarified.

"Yeah, but... I never really expected for someone like you to be so into comic books of all things." Serry questioned, now simply curious on her nature. "Wasn't CALCOR trying to turn you into a weapon?"

"They were. But they gave me them so I could increase my reading ability. Not to mention, I asked for comics specifically. I liked them." Zu remembered.

"Huh..." Serry said, a bit confused.

"Did it just kind of... click for you? Or..."

"I suppose it did." she said.

"Something about the characters... and the things that they could do."

"I enjoyed immersing myself in their stories. So I grew attached."

"It may seem strange, but, at that point..."

"It felt nice... to be absorbed within a place that is away from our own." she stated with a melancholic tone to her voice.

After that, there was silence between them. Serry couldn't really gather anything else to say, and Zu seemed to be thinking about something. The Gizmo would turn and lean back into the wall, the sound of the humming lights being the only thing that they heard. Finally, Serry would break that silence.

"You and Val will be released tomorrow." he reminded. "So I trust that you'll be able to hang in there until then."

Zu gave him a long look, acknowledging his shift in attitude.

Then, she smiled with a confident expression.

"Definitely. You can count on me."

As opening hours turned to closing hours, everyone left to rest up for the coming day. Zascent and Serry would rent a room at a nearby hotel within the constructs of the Space Center, Valryn would return to his cell after a long day of legal strife, and everyone else returned home. The Detention Facility was merely a temporary, highly guarded holding place far underneath the High Council building, so both Zu and Val could hear the happenings of the above floors slowly deafen to a whimper, and then total silence as working hours ended. The only remaining sound were the footsteps of security. It was quite an isolated feeling. Both of their cells were apart from each other, so they could not even talk. While this was familiar to Zu, Val had never been detained in a place like this before. For the both of them, it was a short period of an uneasy, foreboding peace.



For sure, they hoped, that tomorrow would be the end of this.