FSE

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Preparations

By Greyhound1211

Hess had let Chief Bonn choose his own recruits when it came to who was getting trained to run routine maintenance and perform low-level repairs or updates for Wulf. Bonn, in turn, had put feelers out among those who were already aware of the situation and made it available to others his subordinates could nominate. Bonn hadn't expected a great amount of interest and he was more than correct.

Ultimately, only two individuals within the department or academy came forward. Whether they were lured by the pay rise, the safer assignment, or due to the intrigue of the situation, he didn't know. Wulf's performance had been received by the Directors and Chief Inspectors below him with reserved approval. They could not dispute the outcome as it was, save for one small caveat, overwhelmingly positive. They, however, harbored the same concerns as everyone else. Some far less than others.

The first candidate was that wolfdog from the academy, the one that had asked Wulf if it could kill people. His name was Alexander Garland, 24, a graduate with a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering, specialization in robotics, from the Technical University of Berlin. Bonn found the recruit unusual as he had had several violent run-ins during his college years. He expressed no remorse as he never instigated the altercations, though the police reports state that he did nothing to defuse them either. Troubling.

The second was a whitetail doe named Elise Oldham. 26, a graduate of Humboldt, another university here in Berlin, with a bachelor's degree in software engineering, she specialized in virtual intelligence programming. After working for several years for Bernwerk themselves, she left after finding the work unengaging and the atmosphere sexist to some extent. She came to the PB, lured by an equal opportunity hiring program that sought out candidates of minority status and ones with educations.

Alex also applied under this program, stating he was bisexual. Bonn wasn't certain of that but didn't care to verify it as it didn't matter anyways. Everyone else lost interest very quickly and not even a promotion and pay raise would sway them. Most didn't want their career tracks sidelined by what some stated was a boondoggle. Others found the concept too morally ambiguous for them. Others outright said they'd eat their arm first as they knew it'd end up on the news eventually for something horrific.

He had hoped for at least three, if not four or five. Instead, he had to settle for two.

He sent their paperwork over to Hess who received them warmly. Alexander was granted a preliminary graduation from the academy a week early as his intellectual aptitude was stellar, even if he was physically middling and had trouble with impulse control. Elise was transferred from her role in hardware support and technical repairs. Both were told they would spend forty to fifty hours a week for four weeks to get up to speed on maintaining their latest 'boondoggle.'

Both found the work unusual and engaging, at least. Hess kept himself scarce, delegating training to his own technicians as to keep up appearances. But he took reports on them almost daily as they acted as a barometer on how the program was advancing on the other side of the curtain. Results were glowing.

They understood the textual concepts well. Both were quick and thorough, though Elise was far more interested in details than Alex was. Alex was, on the other hand, much more enthusiastic, to say the least. They were not even introduced to Wulf himself until the third week, when their training transitioned from rote knowledge and theory to application and hands-on work.

Wulf had spent the weeks following its mission having its body repaired, though the injuries were minor and easily rectified. During this time, its positronic brain was scanned and its memories analyzed. It was well accustomed to this since its first activation in February of 2038, though the early months were little more than a blur as it had to be reformatted several times and certain sectors of its mind rewired.

Still, it did not anticipate these sessions. It also was relieved when they were over, even if it meant returning to standby and entering what qualified for Wulf as sleep. It was informed on a Friday, early in October, that it was to be introduced to two technician trainees from the PB who would be responsible for it during its tenure there, however long or short that would be. It reacted little as many technicians had come and gone since its first activation. However, when Lexi told it that it had already met one and did not inform it of who, its mind stewed on it over the weekend.

It was the closest it had come to excitement.

—

It was activated sometime early in the morning in its usual maintenance chamber, deep in the bowels of Bernwerk's research facility on the sprawling campus it maintained west of Berlin. After the usual battery of tests and checks, it was left alone for hours with neither commands nor expectations of it. It simply stood in its charging station patiently.

When the door to the maintenance room opened, it turned its gaze towards it expectantly and watched as Lexi entered, the white coat she wore contrasting brightly against her red fur.

She smiled at Wulf and then said, “Well, here he is."

Wulf's gaze shifted towards the door as two other humans entered. The first was a tall, thin whitetail doe. She wore rectangular glasses and looked at him with subdued surprise. Ears perked, her tail flagged slightly, these signs of shock were plain to the android as it scanned her. After her entered a wolfdog. Shorter than the whitetail, but wider and stronger, he met Wulf's gaze without a hint of surprise.

In fact, it was almost like he was looking at a friend again. Wulf understood why. This human it remembered. He had asked it of its capabilities to inflict harm and death on humans and it answered, causing emotional turmoil among some of those standing on the academy grounds those weeks ago. However, the wolfdog expressed no horror or even hesitancy during those questions. His body language instead communicated a spike in interest or desire.

“Wulf, this is Elise Oldham," Lexi stated and gestured towards the whitetail who nodded plainly, “and Alexander Garland—"

“Alex," the wolfdog interjected without even looking away from Wulf. “Just Alex."

The door closed with a hiss in the awkward second which followed and Lexi just scoff-chuckled.

“Right. Alex," she corrected, a tinge of frustration on her voice. “Anyways, this is Wulf, for the one of you who has never seen him. For those of you who have, I'm sure it is rather interesting to see him again."

Wulf had not broken eye contact with Alex as Lexi spoke to the pair. The wolfdog's gaze was inscrutable in ways, soaking up the sight of the white, furless android standing in its charging station across the room. Its eyes burned the usual bright blue and its face offered no emotion or reaction whatsoever. Still, Alex stared, like he couldn't look enough.

He suddenly realized the room had fallen silent and tore his gaze from the object of his interest.

“Oh, uh, yes," he said. “It very much is."

Lexi's lips tightened slightly, Wulf perceived, but she relaxed and moved on.

“For the next two weeks, you'll be trained on how to maintain him," she said and stepped sideways towards Wulf, her face still addressing her pupils. “This will include operation of his charging equipment, operation of his terminal systems, commands necessary to enter him into standby or a mode meant for maintenance and firmware scans, as well as basic repairs and updates using Wulf as an actual person of study."

She stopped walking about ten feet from Wulf and all the equipment around him. Wulf followed them each with its eyes, its muzzle declining as they approached stride by stride.

“Most should be familiar to you if you've ever worked with any Bernwerk androids," she continued, gesticulating with the hand that wasn't clutching a clipboard. “Others, far less so. Accessing Wulf's mind is not like interfacing with a common domestic unit. It is like watching a movie or a game being played. It moves and shifts and reacts, even when in low-power mode. We rarely halt power from his brain entirely. Mr. Hess is against it and it would put him more at risk should an emergency occur."

“Do the usual prompt commands still hold true?" Elise asked.

“Those which go to his body via his lower processers, yes," Lexi answered with a nod. “Those directed at its brain, no. This is where Wulf diverges so cleanly from VI-directed androids. For things that require higher processing, you cannot necessarily interact with him via the terminal. You must speak to him as a person, asking him to, for example, hold still. Mr. Hess, and we as technicians by extension, have generally avoided using his terminal commands except for during actual maintenance even when it only directs his body."

“Hess treats him like an actual person, then?" Alex asked. “I mean, considering the rules he's able to break that no other android could, that isn't necessarily a shock, but…"

“Yes," Lexi answered, looking to the wolfdog. “It's of his opinion that it's better to treat Wulf as an equal as his brain is unlike any other. And, happy people make good people."

She chuckled, but neither students laughed, leaving her to dry swallow awkwardly and clear her throat. Alex looked to Wulf instead with intrigue. Elise cocked an eyebrow at her tutor, cheeks tensing beneath her fur, either suggesting concern or lack of understanding.

“Anyways," the red panda stated, “let's get started. It's already after noon and I don't want anyone staying past four."

The red panda stepped forward and began a rundown of all the machinery around the android it supported. It covered the energy supply unit which charged Wulf and the cords which ran to its head, neck, and spine. She explained only the largest, which ran to its back between where its shoulder blades were, transferred actual electricity. The rest were for its console access. She explained what it needed, how long it took to charge its batteries, and the dangers of overloading either the console or the android.

Then they moved on to the console and she spent quite a long time explaining the prompts on it. Wulf, conscious and alert, watched the whole time. It had never actually heard most of this information conveyed, though it knew most of it inherently. It was strangely interesting, it thought, hearing a human learn about it as told by another human's imperfect words. Lexi was doing her best, but was obviously not a strong tutor. If the pupils noticed, they didn't let on.

“Ok, that's all jolly good. Now let's run a few simple tests," she stated and then looked to Wulf. “We're going to send some commands to your body, Wulf, is that alright?"

Elise cocked her eyebrow again but Alex looked on expectantly. Wulf looked back to Lexi.

“Yes," it answered.

“Good," she concluded, smiling demurely. She then looked to Alex and Elise. “We're going to do some simple things. Movement, statements, access commands, the deactivation and disengagement, and then reactivation and reengagement, of limbs and bodily sectors are going to be most of what you should be concerned with. So."

She turned and opened the console. Wulf's eyes flickered as it felt that pathway open, saw it before its own eyes. Lexi typed a very simple command and hit enter. Wulf's right arm jerked upwards at the elbow and it splayed its hand out palm-up as if expecting to be handed something. The command passed and Wulf looked to its arm. It had been commanded things like this many times, but this time it felt… different.

It looked to Alex and Elise. Neither looked impressed, but at least Alex seemed rapt. It didn't understand that at all.

“Elise," Lexi stated. “Why don't you enter a similar command?"

She stepped back and let the doe approach the console. The whitetail's fingers glided across the keyboard and then she stroked enter.

Wulf's right arm lifted again, all the way up to the shoulder, and turned before it, showing off the rough rubber pads meant for gripping, as it twisted at the wrist and splayed and relaxed its fingers for a viewer before it that wasn't there. The command passed and Wulf brought its arm back in, looking to its palm as if never seeing it before.

“Alex?"

The wolfdog stepped up and then intensely typed for almost half a minute before finally hitting enter. This time Wulf's left arm gently lifted. It came up to its cheek and then began urging its head to turn and look at the three. Wulf, somewhat confused by this, allowed it to happen, moving its head as its own arm guided it. Its neck stopped rotating as it looked between the three. Its automatically-moving arm then reached up and stroked between its ears before the command ended, as if as a reward for cooperation.

This struck Wulf in a way nothing had before and its eyes flickered to and fro between Lexi and Alex, unsure what to do and its processes spiking as it ran over what just happened multiple times. Alex stepped back, proud of himself, and Lex approached the console.

“Wow," she stated, “here, look here." Lexi turned sideways, pointing at the screen as the other two leaned in. “These readings here show activity in Wulf's positronic brain. After completing that command, his brain activity spiked steeply."

Elise leaned forward, squinting.

“And what's this readout?" she asked and gestured towards the screen Wulf could not see.

“Activity in his memory," Lexi explained. “Wulf's lower processors use RAM the old fashioned way. These processors can be engaged even when his brain is asleep. Memory within his mind can sometimes spill out to them if the space is needed, but the brain, one of Quincy's designs, is so dense that this should rarely happen. And middle-to-long term memory storage is contained completely within his brain. That brain can store more information that most computers in this entire state combined can. This readout shows activity in both, sequestering them. Blue is in his positronic brain, red is RAM. As you can see, his positronic activity is quite high. He's thinking about that a lot."

That was no mistake. Wulf was playing that on repeat. Elise took detailed notes on her tablet while Alex simply looked up at it with interest. Wulf, finally, was unable to maintain eye contact and looked away. It understood the command. The physical input to control its arm was a simple one. But why have it manipulate it in that way instead of simply commanding its head to turn in that direction? And why… and why reward it with physical affection after?

It didn't ask, even though it wanted to. It felt doing so was… unacceptable. The group moved onto other simple commands as well as how to handle its activation and deactivation protocols. Most steps were easy and accomplished by Wulf itself. Others were more about making sure all statuses were nominal, that it didn't require any additional fluids or materials for self-repairs, and that there weren't any errors or problems charging its battery. This took quite some time.

After this were emergency commands such as the cutting off of power to certain sectors of its body to prevent further damage. Turning off power to one of its limbs was done twice.

“We, unfortunately, cannot do the same with him mentally," Lexi explained as they restored power to its right arm once the test was done. “Should anything happen there, he has to be shutdown entirely and hopefully recovered. This shouldn't be likely as his brain is too organic-like to suffer from the same problems as can common virtual intelligences or simpler robots. Still, the ability to do so is there."

“Can he resist any of this?" Elise asked, gesturing towards it with her tablet pen.

“In some ways, yes," the red panda answered with a nod. “However, emergency overrides using codes only certain technicians, and Mr. Hess himself, can suppress even that."

The students both nodded.

“Let's move on to the last thing for today, which will be the actual ports on his body," she explained. “Wulf, step out, please."

Wulf did as instructed, stepping off of its charging plate but not disengaging any of the cords running to its spinal column. Lexi commanded it to turn with a gesture and the android complied.

“So what you see here," Lexi proceeded, “are the three main ports running to Wulf's systems. This largest one is for power only. The one in his neck is for monitoring and issuing commands to his body and lower processors. The one running into the back of his skull feeds into his positronic brain. This is more for monitoring purposes than anything else. While Wulf can have certain updates or upgrades done to his brain, Mr. Hess has kept us strictly to providing him with more information."

“So, his brain is pretty much the same as it was as when he was first activated?" Elise asked, somewhere behind Wulf as it could not see them.

“No, not quite. He's been… restarted a few times," Lexi explained, her voice strained slightly. “However, his last was done over 15 months ago and he has not been altered since. Mr. Hess has been sparing in these instances as he fears for Wulf's mental and emotional development if it were altered too many times."

A tap-tap-tap on a tablet and the scratch of old fashioned graphite pencil on paper.

“What's his emotional profile like?" Alex asked. “And personality? I'm sure they've reused those from other units, right?"

A very short pause before Lexi answered, hesitantly, “Wulf has neither. He was not preloaded with any preexisting profile for emotions or personality. Mr. Hess has desired a completely organic growth curve for him. He has been given some exposure but primarily professional in nature. I won't lie, many of us technicians here aren't the strongest when it comes to imparting that sort of thing."

“So, you're telling me he's been doing those tests… without any personality profile?" Alex asked.

“In a way, yes," Lexi answered. “Wulf has learned to trust the words of his technicians and those around him. He follows what humans tell him to do, not because he's required to, but because he agrees to it. In turn, we try our best not to abuse him."

“Are we sure about the definition of 'agree' here, miss?" Alex asked, an edge to his voice.

Lexi sighed. “Oh, trust me, I know," she sourly said and groaned slightly. “Either way, he has the ability to say no, even if he's not accustomed to it. He is bound to certain overarching directives, like he said to you at the academy, Alex, but has been taught to obey any reasonable commands given by humans with authority that do not break those directives."

“Right, the old Three Laws," Alex observed, somewhat sardonically.

“Kinda," Lexi answered, voice shaky.

“And what about his growth?" Elise asked. “Is that something we're accountable for?"

“No, we will be monitoring that and, hopefully, watching as he develops organically. Ba-dum-tiss." A long pause before Lexi exhaled, embarrassed. “Anyways, you just need to focus on keeping him running, that's all."

“Are we…" Alex began before faltering momentarily. “Are we able to try to contribute to that effort at all?"

Lexi thought intensely before answering, “I don't know. I wouldn't say no, however. You might have to ask people above me. I'll pass on a message." A pause. “Shit, that went off the rails longer than I expected." A sigh. “Anyways, these are your primary ports. There are others on his torso, skull, and waist that give localized access in the case of damage to the primary ones. Once removed, these ports close automatically for safety. Go ahead and pull the power cable out, Alex."

After a second and hearing the click of shoes off the tiled floor, Wulf felt the touch of hands on its back and it stiffened reactively as those fingertips strayed across its skin. It wasn't accustomed to having many humans grab at it like that. The hand stopped short and stayed there.

“Can he feel me?" Alex asked, surprise tinging his voice.

“Yes," Lexi answered. “His epidermis is actually quite sensitive. It's a feature derived from the RealTouch option on high end Artemis units, though significantly more advanced. He can feel everything and does register things like pain, tickle, and pleasure, in his own way."

“Holy shit," Alex whispered, quiet enough only Wulf heard him.

Alex's hand resumed moving after that expletive and grasped the plug firmly. He pulled it free, the metal spike dragging against the edges on the way out of Wulf's neck. Wulf twitched, sensations running up its spine. It usually pulled it out cleanly, the spike never brushing against the edges like that. A second later, its body automatically closed that port like a camera iris, the flexible metal becoming flush with the top of its dermis.

“Good," Lexi stated. “Now, reinsert it." Wulf stood still as it felt the jack hover above the matching port. Its dermis opened and then Alex eased the spike back inside, this time doing so gently. Energy coursed. “Good." Scratch-scratch-scratch, tap-tap-tap. “I think that'll about cover it for today. We'll meet up tomorrow and handle basic maintenance and problem shooting. Wulf, you may return to your charging pad and enter standby."

“Yes, miss," it flatly stated.

It turned around, facing student and teacher alike. Then, it withdrew into its charging pad and stayed there. It closed its eyes but did not shutdown. It only pretended to, hoping the humans would not pay attention to its terminal screen.

“Good job," she complimented the two. “I know Wulf can be…"

“Intense?" Elise finished for her.

Lexi did not answer that, instead saying, “Either way, it'll be your responsibility to keep him working, intense or not."

“There won't be any problem," Alex reassured her. Wulf could imagine him shaking his head and waving a hand. “He doesn't bother me. In fact, I find it… charming, I suppose."

“Then consider yourself unique," Lexi concluded.

Someone began stepping across the room at a leisurely pace. Lexi, Wulf believed. Another set followed, hooves. Elise. Only reluctantly, Wulf believed, did Alex ultimately follow six seconds later.

“Will we get any time to interact with Wulf?" Alex asked as they neared the far side of the room. The door hissed open. “Outside of this, I mean."

“I can't promise anything," Lexi answered. “But I'm sure there will be time after Wulf is introduced to the world and relegated into your care."

“How long will that be?" Alex asked.

“I'm thinking a few weeks."

The door shut and sealed the room. In the silence, heavy and impenetrable, Wulf opened its eyes again. It looked to the door and blinked. It was alone again. It found itself alone a lot now, especially since it found it needn't immediately complete every task as commanded. There was no harm in making the humans believe he was asleep if it meant a few more minutes of uptime.

It turned its gaze towards the terminal beside its charging station. The android leaned forward and reached over the railing separating its body from the computer. It placed its textured rubber fingertips on the screen and closed it. Then, casting its soft gaze down, it picked up the golden ring found at the center of the puzzle box all those weeks prior.

It took it gently into its fingers and stood straight once more. It rolled the ring around between its fingers and held it in its palm, gently so it wouldn't be damaged. Gold was an exceedingly soft metal, able to be crushed even by human hands of enough strength. It was a very plain band. Its surface was smooth and the way it caught the LED light beaming down from the recessed lighting in the ceiling above, it made Wulf turn its head to and fro in fascination.

It could sometimes make out its own reflection in it, something it was very rarely granted. The ability to see itself as others saw it. The android ran the rough pad on its thumb over the smooth surface, its skin able to pick up the sensations even through those grips, the minute imperfections, its rapidly-warming surface. Its jaw set as it was such a unique thing compared to everything else it was allowed to interact with.

Wulf treasured the little ring, even though it knew it had no true value beyond a few dozen Euros. Maybe a hundred at most. But how smooth and blank it felt, how ready to be molded and personalized and made one's own made it special all the same. Mr. Hess had told Wulf it was allowed to keep the ring. For what reason, Wulf did not know and could not speculate.

A few weeks until the world knew about it?

After so long, a few weeks felt too soon. It hadn't had enough time to truly process everything that had happened in the past five going on six weeks. The words of that wolfdog had rattled around inside its brain, how the other humans reacted to them, to its answers. And now the man had returned as its PB-employed technician.

“You offered comfort," it said to itself, replaying that sensation again. “Why?"

Why…?

Reluctantly, it repeated the stroking action, running its palm and fingers over the skin between its tall ears. Its brow twitched and its ears folded, letting its rough pads study its perfectly smooth skin. It didn't understand why it wished to sense that more and yet it did all the same. It closed its eyes, trying to savor the sensation. That of being shown affection, of being praised in such a human manner.

Its servomotors hummed as its arm repeated the stroke again and again and again.

—

“No, no, I'm glad to hear it," Bonn said into his phone. On the other end was Director Constantine of the Administrative Services department. They'd be the department that took ownership for Wulf. “I'm thankful that they're taking to it. God knows we need someone to."

Bonn stepped into the elevator as the doors opened and a few administrative staff exited before letting him board, alone. The Basement Level 1 button glowed as he punched it. The door trundled shut and the elevator descended. He listened as Frederick explained the reports given to him by Bernwerk's staff on the progress of his two trainees. All good, though Alexander had taken to it in a much more personal way.

Truth be told, Andre had checked out a few sentences ago as he watched the number on the digital display drop from six to five to four to three to…

“What?" Bonn asked as he realized Constantine had stopped speaking. “Oh, I'm sorry, Freddie, I'm in an elevator and I think its messing with the signal, can you repeat that again?"

“I said we're taking delivery of the maintenance equipment tomorrow," the boar on the other side of the line reiterated, voice creaky from a lifetime of hollering over loud noise and general stupidity. “Should have all the necessaries set up before the week is out. Bernwerk is having their people do most of the heavy lifting."

Andre nodded, though he didn't know why he bothered. Freddie never took a video call, said he was too old for that crap.

“Good," he concluded as Constantine trailed off, muttering. “Then let them handle it. Don't touch anything unless they ask you to. No need to involve yourself otherwise."

The elevator rocked to a stop and five seconds later the door opened. The warm, yellow-tinged LED light spilled out into the comparatively dark subterranean parking garage floor. Immediately across from where the elevator let out was Bonn's plain black BMW 5-series, one he'd had for close to eight years now. And leaning against its boot was an inspector, tossing his keys up and down in one hand.

Jangle! Toss. Jangle! Toss. Jangle!

The cougar lifted his eyes to Bonn, hard and sharp, and caught his keys in his palm. The pair exchanged a knowing glance and Bonn cleared his throat.

“Call me when you have another update, Fred," Bonn concluded. “I'm being dragged into another meeting."

The steer didn't wait for an answer before he ended the call. He caught the elevator door before it could close and exited. Inspector Peaks stepped away from the carbon fiber bumper and drew his free hand from within his coat's pocket. Bonn stepped down off the curb and casually crossed over to him, stopping a few paces distant.

The cougar was a good four inches shorter than Bonn. Bonn was a big man from hoof to horn and from shoulder board to shoulder board. And still Peaks could stare him down like he was nobody. His eyes glanced down and he realized that Peaks' free hand wasn't so free. He held in it a document, creased from where it was stuffed into an intradepartmental envelope and then dropped on his desk, probably around lunchtime today.

“Inspector Peaks—"

“Not even coming to talk to me yourself?" Peaks interjected coolly, not even raising his voice a decibel. “Just have the mail robot drop a missive on my desk and hope I didn't look at until it was too late?"

He faux-clucked his tongue and looked to the ground. Bonn wanted to snap something sarcastic back at the cougar, but stopped short of opening his lips. Peaks could be known for his temper, for his inability to know when to shut up and be diplomatic, or when a situation required politics and not force. This felt… forced?

“I don't hear a 'no,'" Bonn concluded.

Peaks' jaw visibly clenched. His eyes looked to the filthy macadam beneath their boots and said nothing for the longest time. He let his hand drop and then shoved the letter back down into his pocket. Bonn cocked his head, ears flickering and eyes trying to discern what was going on here. If Peaks hadn't come to fight, then what?

“I'll do it," he softly said, shoulders loosening. “I wish I had been granted the courtesy of a heads up first, though."

“The letter was that."

His eyes didn't even lift when he firmly, but with control, retorted, “You know what I mean, Bonn, don't give me that." Bonn pushed his hands into his own pants pockets and waited. If Peaks wanted to explode, it was well within his rights. Yet he wasn't. Did he… actually want it? “When is everyone else going to be told?"

“Next Friday," Bonn said as Sean lifted his eyes to meet Bonn's cold gaze. “There's going to be an… unveiling ceremony. Schulz will be there. As will Minister Espenshade and, if rumors are true, Interior Minister Fraiser, among a who's who of movers and shakers."

When Bonn's muzzle closed, the silence that ensued was almost oppressive. The sounds of car motors humming and tires whisking over macadam reverberated through the garage. Even without combustion engines, automobiles could still be rather noisy.

“Will I get to at least… meet… it? Him?"

“Him," Bonn confirmed with a nod, shoulders heaving as he sighed. “And, yes. I at least want you to meet him before the ceremony. So if anything goes tits up that he'll have at least had the pomp and circumstance of believing he was partnered with someone with a pulse before it all went to shit."

Peaks, despite his usual abrasiveness, was shocked to find Bonn returning it in force.

“Do you expect a circus, sir?" the cougar broached.

Bonn nodded and answered, “I pray for the best and prepare for the worst."

“As is tradition."

“As it forever tradition." Bonn watched as Peaks looked to the ground again. “This isn't a punishment. You were chosen for your skill and the fact that every partner ever assigned to you has left in better shape than you found them. Hell, you instill lessons in them you pointedly refuse to heed yourself." Peaks cringed because he hated the word 'partner.' For him, it had a dual meaning, and both were painful. “If you can't handle this, there isn't anyone this side of BPD that could. And I trust you to handle it without turning it into another Warsaw Event."

“Don't hold your breath, sir." Another lapse of silence. Peaks drew his right hand out again and tossed his car keys. Jangle! “I… I want to talk to you before then. I want to know what to expect."

Bonn answered. “That, I was hoping to come to you about myself. Once you cooled yourself off." The cougar snorted but said nothing. “Then, is that all?"

Sean straightened his back, before wandering off, concluded, “Goodnight, Chief. And good luck."

The steer watched his far subordinate retreated into the lowlight of the garage, shoes clicking off of the macadam.

“Goodnight, Sean," he replied, too quiet and too late to be heard. “Luck is all we can pray for."