TBoB - Book 8 - Chapter 6 - Alive (Patreon)

“I’m pretty sure you didn’t have all this equipment here the last time I visited,” I grumbled as I waltzed into the maintenance area, ready for Heavy’s awakening ceremony. Previously there had been a small open space between the vehicle lifts and the Beaver’s workbenches, but for some reason Heavy was now strapped to a massive reclining table and there were some giant electrodes hanging above him. “Was all this really necessary?” 

One of the beavers who was standing nearby, staring at an old-fashioned monitor connected to the setup by huge, bulky cables, turned its head towards me. “Spectacle,” it declared.

“Mhmmm… gravatas,” another beaver grumbled. 

“Have you guys been watching old monster movies or something? It looks like the set of Frankenstein in here,” Dusty said as he wandered in behind me. 

“Research,” one of the Beavers called from across the room. 

“For what? Making everything look old-fashioned and out of place?” I asked sarcastically. 

“Nah, large and imposing. Make a situation memorable,” the first beaver declared before pulling down a massive switch on the side of one of the electrodes, causing both to spark to life. 

“That’s not dangerous, is it?” I asked, stepping away from the contraption.

“As long as you don’t lick it,” the beaver at the control panel grunted.

“Why would I…” I started before Spooky walked over and patted me on the back.

“Just let it go, boss. If they want to make a big deal out of Heavy’s rebooting, let them,” he said.

I stepped back and took a deep breath in before turning to the rest of the squad, who were gathering behind us. “You’re right. If I tried to stop all the insane things that happen around here, I’d exhaust myself before dealing with even half of them,” I said.

“Half?” Deadbeat snorted. “Try a Fifth.”“I’d go with a Tenth,” Bob declared right after.

“Anyway,” I said, raising my voice before the other bears tried to rightfully one another. “How much insanity occurs on my ship isn’t the point right now. We all came here to give Heavy our support, so let’s focus on that.” 

I turned towards the Beavers, who had apparently already lost interest in our discussion and gone back to what they were doing. “Is everything prepared? Can we boot him up now?” I asked.

“Ahhh yup,” the beaver on the console said. “Just got to flip the proverbial switch, and he’ll be up and running again.”I glanced at the team, took a deep breath in, then looked back at the Beaver. “Do it,” I declared.

The beaver nodded, then wandered over to a second switch located on the electrodes. 

“I thought it was a proverbial switch,” Dusty muttered.

“It is, this is just for show,” the beaver replied, before slamming the switch downward. Bolts of electricity jumped between the electrodes, and the large cable emerging from the back of Heavy’s head pulsed for a second; Then everything went quiet. 

The table slowly rotated forward, and as it did Heavy grogilly opened his eyes.

“It’s alive,” the beaver said, in the most deadpan voice possible before unengaging the first switch and shutting down the electricity. “Now that we’re done here better shut this off, it’s a safety hazard.”I just stared at the beaver, who immediately wandered off to work on something else, and shook my head before rushing over to Heavy. “How do you feel? Any… pain? Discomfort?” I glanced back at Deadbeat. “Do you guys experience that sort of thing?” 

“Not really. Our systems detect any malfunction and alert our primary processors of the damage, but it’s not really pain per se. It’s more of just a system alert,” she explained.

“Uhhhhh… are you experiencing any system malfunctions?” I asked Heavy awkwardly.

“No, everything’s running at peak efficiency. Actually higher than peak efficiency… Did I get an upgrade? The last thing I remember was gathering a squad so I could provide you with some backup.”

“Well then, that’s awkward,” Bandit muttered.

“What’s awkward,” Bob asked, elbowing the fox and nearly knocking him over. “Why doesn’t Heavy remember getting wrecked?”“I beg your pardon?” Heavy exclaimed. “I got what now?!?!?”

“You, ummm, took a spike to the processor when we were fighting the Gene Tender,” I explained. “ You were a total wreck, so we needed to build you a new frame and install your network backup.”

“Did you at least get the bastard this time?” Heavy asked.

“It nearly cost me an arm, again, but yeah, we got it,” I said. “Took a UHR round right to the dome, ripped it to pieces.” 

“Well, good. The bastard deserved it,” Heavy said casually as he pushed himself off the table and began to stretch out his shoulders.

“Uhhhh… That’s it?” I asked. “You’re not going to grumble about how I dragged you down there to die, or how I was too slow?” 

“Why would I do that? I’m sure you tried your best, and it wasn’t your fault,” Heavy said.

“But it WAS my fault. I was busy dealing with something else when the Gene Tender took a shot at me. I’d probably be dead if you hadn’t pushed me out of the way,” I exclaimed. 

“Well, then, it was worth it. We both ended up walking out of there, in a manner of speaking,” Heavy said.

I leaned back towards the rest of the group, and brought a hand up to my mouth. “I don’t think Heavy’s personality made it through the reboot process,” I whispered to them.

“I dunno,” Bob declared loudly. “He seems pretty normal to me.”Heavy glanced back and glared at me. “Something you want to share?”“I, uhhh, was just saying that you seemed a little off, and maybe certain personality quirks were taking a little bit longer to come online than others,” I said.

“I’m fine,” he grumbled. “I appreciate that you all gathered to, assumably, greet me when I woke up, but you didn’t have to do that.”

“You’re right, we didn’t HAVE to do it, but we wanted to,” Spooky said as he walked over and threw his arms around the larger bear. “It’s good to have you back.”“It’s good to be back, I guess,” Heavy replied, hugging him back. “Although from my perspective I haven’t really left, so… a little awkward.”

“Hey, even if you don’t remember, it doesn’t hurt to show a little affection, right?” Bandit asked, throwing his arms around Heavy the instant Spooky stepped away. 

“Alright, that’s fair,” Heavy grunted. “Everyone, get in here and let’s do a group hug; otherwise, I’m going to be here all day.”

I was carried forward as the others rushed towards Heavy, and thankfully I managed to dodge slightly to the side before Bob threw a bone-crushing hug around everyone else. Still, it was a nice moment. 

“Alright, that’s enough,” Heavy grumbled. “I just took stock of the manufacturing area and the priorities are a complete mess! Who’s been managing things while I was away?”“That would be me,” Spooky said, raising his hand. 

“Well, in that case, you’re forgiven,” Heavy said, turning on the rest of the squad. “You have enough on your plate as it is. One of you should have picked up the slack instead; You know how busy Spooks is.”“We literally got back an hour ago, after managing the ground forces around Great Falls, and then performing a bug hunt in the mountains,” Deadbeat shot back.

When Heavy glanced in my dirrection I threw up my hands. “Don’t look at me! I may have hundreds of bots at my command, but I’m an organizational idiot!” I exclaimed. “If I had tried to manage it the entire manufacturing bay would be on fire right now.”

“I hate knowing that’s one hundred percent accurate,” Heavy muttered. “Well, I’d love to stay and catch up with everyone, but I’ve got a processing area to unfuck. Once that’s done we can sit down and talk about our experiences, fair?” 

“Fair enough,” Dusty replied lightly. “Take care of yourself.”

“Yeah yeah,” Heavy muttered as he wandered back across the room towards the assemblers. 

There was a moment of silence as everyone watched him go, and when it was over, I snorted. “I guess I was worried for nothing. It’s good to have him back.”