Detective Elecman and the Case of the Boss Ch. 4

Flareon nodded, taking the tray, “Thank you.” She smiled.

“No problem,” The boy said with a wink of one brilliant blue eye, “Thanks for stopping by.”

The girl quickly turned away to hide her blush and headed to the two detectives, “So what’s our next move?” she asked. She popped the tab of Crashman’s E-tank and handed it to him after inserting a straw.

“We need to find Cutman.” Elec said, taking a sip from his E-tank, “He’s our only lead.” He added, seeing Crashman about to protest.

“Okay, so where do we find him? How do we find him?”

“Got it covered.” The electric type retrieved the file he had hidden away, dropping it onto the table.

“Is that what you were doing this morning?!?” Crash nearly yelled, “There’s no way Ringman’d let you get that file!”

“Why not?” Flareon asked, looking up from the file.

Crashman opened his mouth to answer, but closed it. “Just…nevermind, it’s not important.”

Elecman tapped the open file, “There’s a listed address here and it’s not very far.”

“Great, let’s go.” Flareon stood from her seat, heading toward the door with the detectives.

Crash grinned playfully, poking the human with a drill, “So, you gonna call your barista boy? He’s kinda cute.”

Flareon’s face went as red as her hair, “What?! I don’t even have his number…!”

“Yeah you do.” Crash chuckled.

The teen looked puzzled for a moment before her eyes fell to empty cup; in black marker the name Jolteon Perun had been quickly scribbled across it along with a phone number. “Thank for coming! Come back soon!” Flareon turned back to the voice, the barista smiled as he waved to the other human. The red head could only manage a small smile and a shy wave in return before she found herself hurrying after the detectives.

OoOoO

It was a short walk from the café to the listed address; the penthouse in a building Elecman knew he could never afford to even live near.

“He must be doing something illegal if he can afford this place.” Flareon commented, looking awe at everything as they made their way to the penthouse.

“Try not to stare too much, Flareon.” Elecman said, knocking on the door.

Cutman answered the door, Elec was surprised to see he was not wearing a suit as he had been during their first meeting. The orange robot smiled at his little brother, “Hey Elec. Didn’t expect to see you here.” The smile turned a bit sinister as he looked at the other robot master, “Hi Crashie.”

“Cutman.” Crashman scowled. Flareon and Elecman glanced at each other; obviously there was history between the robots the other two were missing.

The sweet smile returned as Cutman stepped aside to let the trio in, “Come on in,” he said, “Can I get you anything?”

Elecman shook his head, “No thanks.” He gestured to the human girl sitting next to him, “This is Flareon Keahi, she’s shadowing us.”

“Interesting name.” Cutman sat across from the three, “So, what’cha need?”

The electric ‘bot handed his older brother the same envelope he had shown the landlord, “What can you tell us about this symbol?”

“It’s my boss’ symbol.” Cutman answered, noting the simultaneous jaw drop of his visitors. “Well, one of my bosses, anyway.”

“Who’re your bosses?” Elecman asked, hoping his brother would tell as easily as he had with the symbol.

“The one you’re after, I can’t say; they prefer to stay in the shadows. The other one…” The orange robot drew a stylized W in the air, getting another round of jaw dropping, “I’m sure you’re familiar with his work.”

“You work for-?!?” Crash was interrupted midsentence.

“You dad. Yes.” The drill-handed ‘bot caught a glance from the human.

“So your other boss works for Wily, then?” Elecman asked.

“Nope.” Cutman answered, “In fact, they hate each other. Rival gangs and all that.”

“So what, you’re a double agent, then?” Flareon asked.

The robot shook his head, “Nah, they’re both aware. Guess you could say I’m a neutral party; if one wants to meet the other for some reason, I set it up, make sure things don’t get out of hand, ya know? Sometimes I tag along on, uh, jobs or they’ll just pay me to do the job for them.”

“You mean kill people.” Flareon growled.

The DLN grinned, “Allegedly.” The girl scowled.

“That explains this place.” Crashman grumbled.

The younger DLN interrupted whatever comments were about to be made, “Sounds like dangerous work.”

“Oh yeah, super dangerous.” The other robot nodded, leaning back in his seat, “And I don’t look like a robot that does well in a fight, right?”

“Not if your track record is anything to go on.” The other orange robot said, looking satisfied with the dark look Cutman shot at him.

“I appreciate the concern.” The scissor ‘bot said venomously, “But I’ve got a guy to keep me protected if things get too out of hand.” Everyone glanced up at the sound of the door opening and closing. Cutman grinned, “Speak of the devil. Hey Gutsy, c’mere!” The last part was shouted.

Heavy footsteps headed toward them, “Why?”

The gruff voice seemed like a shock the electric robot’s systems. He knew that voice...but from where?

The robot that appeared in the doorway was terrifyingly massive; there was no doubt he was significantly taller than any being in the room. His shoulders were very broad, forcing him to turn sideways to pass through the door. As he made his way into the room, the visitors got a better look at the new robot; his chest was black, adorned with a red hemisphere while the metal on his arms and legs seemed alternate between red and yellow. His head was tan with what appeared to be a yellow helmet, adorned with an elongated hemisphere similar to the one on his chest.

Cutman turned in his seat to address the new robot, “Elec came to visit.”

Elecman smiled weakly at the bigger robot. He had no time to speak before the big robot was across the room and nearly crushing him in a bear hug. “Ohmigod, Elec! How’ve you been, little bro? Cuts said he saw you yesterday, said you were a police ‘bot now.”

The youngest DLN’s answer was only strangled gasps, unable to talk. The orange DLN laughed, “Gutsy, you’re gonna deactivate him.”

“Oh…! Sorry!” The robot released the detective. He staged back to his place on the couch and sat. The other robot sat next to Cutman, “So, what’re we doing? …Why’s Crashman here?”

“Nice to see you too, Gutsman.” Crash mumbled, sounding less then genuine.

“Elec and his friends wanted to know about the boss.” The other DLN answered, both robots ignoring Crashman’s remark.

“What’ve you told them?”

“Not much. They wanted to know ‘bout her symbol.”

“So your boss is a woman.” Elec said, cutting the conversation short.

Gutsman cuffed his brother in the head, “You and your big mouth…!” he growled.

“Oh shut up.” The little orange robot growled back, rubbing his head.

The detectives and their shadow sensed a fight about to start. Elec stood up, the other two following suit, “Well, that’s everything for now…Thanks for the help, Cutman. And it was nice meeting you…um…Gutsy?”

“Gutsman.” The big robot answered.

“Gutsman.” The younger ‘bot nodded. “We’ll be in touch.”

As the three headed toward the door, Flareon stopped, taking sudden notice of a small, ceramic vase holding only a few small flowers. The flower had five pink-ish almond-shaped petals. The dark green leaves were spiraled in threes around the stem. “Oh, those are pretty.” She said, walking over to get a better look.

The oldest DLNs looked up from their glaring contest, “Oh, yeah.” Cutman said, walking over, “You want one?” He plucked one of the flowers from the vase and gave it to the red head.

She looked at it, turning it over in her hands, “This one’s fake…”

“Yeah, we had some real ones, but they never last long.” The robot chuckled.

“Why would you guys keep flowers around here?” Crash asked, waiting with Elecman by the door.

“Oh, you know. Keep the place looking nice.”

“’Cause his girlfriend said flowers would make the place look brighter or something.” Gutsman added, getting a punch in the arm.

“She’s not my girlfriend…!” Cutman hissed at the other ‘bot.

“She would be if you just asked her out.”

“Shut uuuuuuuuuuuuuup!!”

“Well, we should be going now.” Crashman said, ushering his friends out the door, “Thanks for your help guys, see you later!”

OoOoO

“So what was that all about?” Elec asked his partner. It was already starting to get dark, so the two police ‘bot thought it would be better to escort their human shadow to her home.

“What was what all about?” the drill-handed ‘bot asked.

“You know…whatever was going on between you and my brothers.”

“Oh. That…” Crashman paused for a moment, “See, me and my brothers were made to be improved versions of you and your brothers. So there was some bad blood between us, even when you were all working for Wily.”

“Yeah, about that.” Flareon cut in, “You’re a Wily ‘bot!?”

“I was.” Crash answered, “I’m not surprised you don’t remember, you must’ve been young during Wily’s second attack…and probably not even in the country since you still have your accent.”

“So what, he just let you go?”

“Not exactly…technically, he’s still my master, but with--” The orange ‘bot stopped suddenly, glancing at Elecman, “Well, with, um…with Megaman out of the picture, he really didn’t worry about us. I still go to him if I need serious repairs, though; he built me after all.”

“But what if he makes you evil again?”

“I doubt it. My prime directive was to destroy Megaman, and since that’s not exactly possible anymore, I’m really not useful to him anymore.”

“Sorry to cut in, but who’s Megaman?” Elecman asked.

The red head looked at him in shock, “You don’t know who Megaman is?! How do you not know who--”

“Hey Flarey, isn’t this your house?” Crash interrupted, gesturing to an approaching house, “You should probably get some sleep; it’s been a long day. Don’t forget to call your boyfriend~!”

“He’s not my boyfriend!” Flareon answered, sounding a bit edgy. She walked up to her front door with the robots, “I’ll see you guys tomorrow.” The two said bye and headed back to their own apartment.

OoOoO

“So…this Megaman guy…he sounds important.” Elecman noted an almost scared look on Crashman’s face at the name.

“Uh…yeah, I guess you could say that…” he answered, “He’s old news though, not worth looking in to.”

“Mm…what happened to him?”

Crash stared at his partner silently as they walked, his almost blank look giving away some inner fight he was having. A moment later it was replaced by a smile as he threw one arm around Elecman’s shoulder, “You know what? It’s not important. What’s important is that we’re finally getting somewhere on this case. Let’s focus on that. This is a robot gang after all, these guys are probably dangerous.”

“Right…focus on the case…” Elecman warily agreed. The two reached their apartment and turned in for the night.

Crash went into sleep mode right away; Elecman guessed it was mostly to avoid answering any more of the other detective’s questions. The electric one, however, stayed awake longer and thought about the day he had just had. He was glad to have gotten answers in both his case and mysterious former life, but with all the answers brought new questions.

Questions he was sure it would be difficult getting answers to judging from most everyone’s cagey reactions to his questions, particularly his partner. As his thoughts traveled back to the mysterious Megaman, he got up from his charge table and snuck quietly to the computer and turned it on. As soon as it booted up, he opened a window to a search engine and input the mysterious name.