Rogue

[Albert Wesker]

It was certainly unnerving to watch the ease with which the wrecker navi went about his work, and how nonchalant he was about the earthshaking strikes of his massive fist. He reduced chunks of rubble and garbage data the size of a man to fist-sized shards and rubble with all the effort Cricket might have put forth to swat a fly, had they been in physical space. It made the digital assistant feel just that little bit less confident about his own lack of physical capability.

He was very good at finding information, as that was what he had been designed for by his operator. But the design process had been far from perfect, and while Cricket had been designed to be more than capable of handling himself in an emergency, he was very far from a fighter. Even the few viruses he'd busted were almost too much for him, and had dinged him up quite badly. Really, he should have spent some time to tend to his repairs and re-energize before he bothered with cleaning up the aftermath of his ordeal. That would have been the smart thing. It would've even made his cleanup afterward that much easier!

Ooooh, but he really hated hindsight, sometimes. And he was far too nice to hate much of anything. He'd been specifically programmed not to hate things!

That particular paradox made his processors plea for anything else to occupy them, to which he quickly acquiesced, bringing up a line of thought that had been bugging him. "You said your name was Crunch, yes?" he spoke up to the wrecker navi.

"Yep. That it is, chum," the hulking navi answered jovially, scooping up another load of the mostly-smashed digital rubble.

After debating how to phrase his query for a few moments, Cricket finally just opted for the straightforward. It would be easier to apologize for any offense caused after the fact than worry about causing it to begin with and fry his processors even more. "I do not mean to be rude or pry into anything you consider personal, but might I ask whether you happen to be a prime or a secondary?"

The wrecker just chortled, pausing briefly in his work. "Ah, I don't mind y'askin, really. Though I would'a thought it'd be obvious, given what I'm here doin' and all." He resumed his work, shoveling more of the garbage data into his trundle. "Secondary, as it so happens. Summoned her to do the glorious work o' cleaning up after folks what don't clean their data themselves. Old data, deleted bits of this and that, viruses and bugs what crop up out of it all. Someone's gotta smash it and get it out o' the way so people with actual business can get on with it, eh?"

Slowly the little helper program (who felt considerably smaller the longer he spent in the company of the cyber-garbageman) processed that bit of information, nodding his head slowly. "Yes...it sounds like a thankless job, I have to say."

"Completely thankless!" Crunch confirmed, his tone all too cheerful despite the particularly potent blow he levied upon a chunk of detritus, reducing it to a cloud of fine binary dust, scattering in a swirl of bright green. "One of the many joys of being programmed to do a specific task and not having any say in it. Thanks and appreciation don't really factor in. Enjoyin' your job don't really factor in. Just gettin' it done is all what factors in, y'see?"

Now Cricket was downright nervous, fearing he may have unintentionally touched a nerve. "I...I apologize if that was a sensitive subject to bring up. I am still trying to get a handle on the topic of tact and social conventions. I am still only a few days old, by my reckoning."

The burly garbage disposal program just laughed. "Hey, hey, hey, don't worry 'bout it none. Y'had no way of knowin' it's a sore topic, and din't mean any harm by it. So don't go worryin' yer processes over it." The last of the to-be-disposed-of data was loaded onto the trundle cart, and Crunch turned to regard the smaller navi. "Well, that'll be my work done, and I'll just be gettin' on off to finish another day. Was nice havin' someone around actually willin' to talk for once. Most folks just ignore me outright, thinkin' I'm just part of some automated system, y'know?"

"They are not entirely wrong, in a certain sense of the word, I suppose," Cricket mused aloud, though he very quickly caught himself. "But...I suppose it is never a pleasant thing to be considered just another piece of the background there to fulfill a task and nothing else."

"Oi, I already said stop worryin' so much, kiddo." Crunch just shook his head, taking up the handle of his cart again. "Right, well I'm off now to drop off this mess. Be seein' ya around, maybe."

"....one last question, if I might," Cricket spoke up quickly. "If it isn't too personal a topic, and you are aware of the answer, would it be possible to know who it was that summoned you?"

The cyber-garbageman's expression was quizzical as he turned to regard the much smaller navi, eyes slowly narrowing. "....mmmm. Well...guess you seem like an alright enough sort...so it's a bit disappointin', really. But he likes to keep himself a bit secret, y'know? Doesn't care to get known too much. Keep to himself and work on his own stuff. Doubt he'd mind much a meeting with someone from his own world, though." He slowly nodded his head, a faint rumbling rising up from his chest. A puff of steam erupted from a crevice behind his head, and he tilted his head to one side. "....right. Tell ya what. Next time I'm set to report direct to him, I'll come by and grab ya, take you to see him personally. Sound good?"

Somehow, it was just a little concerning (not to mention suspicious) but it didn't seem malicious or...overtly dangerous, at the least. It didn't seem to be intended as anything nefarious. Hindsight would no doubt tell him later on that he was very bad at reading people, and should have seen whatever was to happen coming. But at the moment he was only wary for the usual dangers as he agreed wholeheartedly. "I am a bit stagnant without directives from my operator. I suppose gathering new information to present him with — especially the presence of others from our world — would not be unwanted." He nodded. "I believe that a meeting with the one who summoned you would be a very good thing, indeed, Crunch!"

The wrecker just chortled, giving a crooked grin. "Right-o. Settled then. Shouldn't be but a couple days or so, at most. Be seein' ya when I see's ya, kiddo." And he set off, hauling his load of garbage and refuse behind him, off to do...who knows what, really, with.

Cricket just thought It was hard to see how anything that smashed could be used for much.