[CLOSED] That was love and it's an ache I still remember

[looksfine]

Characters: Aya and Not!Razer Wally West
Date: Mid-June
Location: Wayne Enterprise
Situation: Wally comes for a visit to check out the place, and along the way, encounters a certain living robot...who might be thrown by the auditory similarities between him and a certain Red Lantern she used to know.
Warnings/Rating: W for Wally.


During the daylight hours, Aya made every attempt to put time into the laboratory at Wayne Enterprise. It was an inherited duty, with many recent disappearances. People she had known casually. People she respected, and would honor by taking up as much of the responsibilities as she was capable of.

Fortunately for their memory, Aya was capable of a lot of things.

Multitasking, for instance. Without the basic necessities most carbon-based life forms required, she could go for hours, non-stop, with little regard for the passage of time. Awareness, yes. Regard? No. She had far more important things to regard, including the multiple holo screens worth of data scrolling in front of her.  Which she was doing at that precise moment, cross-referencing and analyzing each and every variable.

"Yes.  I believe the probability of success will increase to 74.3 percent with these newest alterations."

Comments

[runrightround]

Adjusting to life here has been, well, slower than he would like. He's spent the majority of his time since he's arrived getting used to the layout of the place. Today will be different though, he'll make a point of it to actually go inside somewhere and check it out.

Wayne Enterprise seems as good a place as any to start. Especially since he heard there's a laboratory.

Once he arrives it takes him very little time to locate said lab. Wally walks in and is a little floored by the sight he sees.

"Wow, that's... a whole lot of numbers."

[looksfine]

That voice...

Had Aya taken a moment to analyze it more objectively, the differences would have been obvious. The pitch was higher. Younger, by several Earth Years. Cadences were different, as was the overall tone. And a noticeable confusion towards calculations that, to him, would have been a standard part of their regular activities.

But she heard none of that to start, eyes widening as she initially turned towards the speaker. Or, rather, who she thought was the speaker.

"Razer?"

[runrightround]

Apparently this room has no shortage of surprises. He's used to robots, sure, but he's never seen one quite like the one in front of him now. She doesn't look like anything Ivo or T.O. Morrow would design. She seems more... personable?

He walks farther into the room to get a better look at both her and whatever it is she is working on.

"Nope. Cool name though, very punk rock."

Once he's closer, he takes a look at the holo screens. There's so much data, what is it for?

"I'm guessing this isn't for a science fair." He turns his attention back to her. "Name's Wally, by the way. Sorry if you were expecting somebody else."

[looksfine]

Personable, yes...and also extremely expressive, as Wally will find out the moment he gets a good look at her face.

The surprise could not be hidden, nor could the disappointment when she realized this was...not Razer. Meeting visual duplicates of her surrogate father was one thing. At least they were still Hal Jordan. They looked like him. In some ways, the older one even acted like him.

But this? ...this just wasn't fair.

"What is...punk rock?" For once, Aya asked a question she had surprisingly little interest in learning the answer to. Her eyes were transfixed on the red-haired individual as his seemed to focus first on the data, and then her. "I am Aya. And you need not apologize."

[runrightround]

The longer he looks at Aya, the more questions he has because it's clear to him that she wasn't made with any tech he's familiar with. Really, the only thing keeping him from asking about a thousand questions is the look on her face.

Which, if he's being honest, is really strange. None of the robots and androids he's interacted with could really convey emotions that way.

"Music," he says, lifting his hands to mime drumming. "It's pretty much required listening if you're in that rebellious stage of your life."

He drops his hands to his sides.

"Are you sure you weren't expecting someone? You seem a little disappointed. At least, I think you do? I'm not exactly used to dealing with robot emotions."

It was always kind of hard to tell with Red Tornado. He winces, a little.

"That sounded less rude in my head."

[looksfine]

Truthfully?

The nonchalant way he acknowledged her emotions as not only existing, but being fairly obvious to him--a boy she had only just met--far outweighed any sense of offense she may have felt at the statement.

"I was expecting no one. But your voice...it is nearly identical to that of somebody I have not seen for a long time."

[runrightround]

Honestly, Wally has no idea what he expected to hear.

"Is that a bad thing? Because I can stop talking if you want. No guarantees on miming though."

There is also the possibility that he could just leave, but he really did want to check out the lab.

[looksfine]

She shook her head.

"N-no." Though her shoulder slumped with guilt at having been an initially poor host, she still attempted a friendly smile through the disappointment. "You do not have to stop. I am here to answer questions that any individual may have about our current projects. I would not be performing my job adequately if I were to turn you away for so insignificant a reason."

[runrightround]

As much as Wally would hate to make someone feel uncomfortable for any reason, he's glad that he's still welcome to ask questions about the work being done here. He returns the smile.

"Oh, you work here, awesome." He pauses, and then frowns. "Obviously you work here. Why else would you be in here?"

He clears his throat.

"What were you working on?"

[looksfine]

The corners of her lips lightly twitch upward, strangely relieved by the acceptance of a change in subject. There was a strange sensation stirring inside her. Something she could not yet fully identify. Each time she thought of Razer. It was not pleasant.

"Yes. I am currently the head of the Science Division here at Wayne Enterprise. It was a position bequeathed to me upon the departure of my former bosses." Mostly by process of elimination, although Aya knew she had gained her employers' trust with her knowledge and work proficiency. "As you can see from the current screen in front of you, I am calculating the latest data from our portable communication device project to ensure its continued frequency encryption from the enemy."

[runrightround]

He perks up considerably when she mentions the project. This is a thing he can understand, and any lingering feelings of awkwardness he might have felt over the similar voice thing are pushed aside. For science.

"Radios? Nice. I was wondering how we were all supposed to deal with," he waves his hand in the air, "you know." The data on the screens are about five times more interesting to him now. "Need a hand with anything? I'm pretty handy."

[looksfine]

"Do you have the mental capacity to comprehend these readings?"

A few taps of an advanced keyboard, and Aya pulled up the visual schematics of the radio. In one upper-right corner box, there were three major calculations. One involved the actual software running the hand-held device. A second provided the primary (encrypted) frequency used to carry the signal. And the third told of the unique signatures assigned to each.

[runrightround]

He studies the schematic for a moment before turning his attention to the calculations. It's all simple enough to understand, he points to the first calculation.

"Software looks good, might need to tweak it a little if you ever want to add other usable frequencies though. But you said you were working on encryption now, right? That's smart, wouldn't want to advertise unsafe radio channels."

[looksfine]

So he did understand. Good.

"My concern is not over additional frequencies at this time. It has been difficult enough attempting to conceal this one from not only hacking, but from detection altogether."

[runrightround]

This isn't surprising to hear, considering the whole he who shall not be named situation. He tilts his head to the side, looking almost thoughtful.

"What if there was something to distract from the main frequency?"

[looksfine]

...interesting.

"Like what?"

[runrightround]

"Well, you have the main encrypted frequency, right? And that's the only one." He holds up one hand, with one finger pointed and proceeds to do the same with his other hand. "But if there was another signal set up somewhere, with a dummy frequency it could make a decent decoy."

He rubs the back of his neck.

"It might give you a little time to work on the encryption for the main one in peace. Theoretically, anyway."

[looksfine]

A dummy frequency.

Something Aya had not previously considered. In fact, she could not recall any of her recent discussions with her fellow...science bros (as the colloquialism apparently went)...involving such a suggestion.

"Would the current frequency of the public local transmitters not be considered a dummy frequency, then?"

[runrightround]

The fact that his suggestion wasn't shot down right away gives him a little sense of pride. He's glad to be of some help, even if it's just tossing around ideas.

"I wouldn't think so. Not if everyone already knows about it. I'm thinking the dummy one would have to be semi-encrypted, to make it look legitimate. Kind of like a Trojan Horse, but more radio signals and less sweaty Greeks."

[looksfine]

Of course she wouldn't shoot him down right away. Aya didn't do that...usually...unless the shooting down was such an obvious response that it required very little processing on her end. Which was not this time, so...right. Actual processing.

"Interesting. You are suggesting we deliberately leave a frequency vulnerable to act as a distraction from a far more hidden encryption beneath it. But would it not be obvious that this frequency was being seldom used?"

[runrightround]

"Good point." He taps at his chin, thinking. "We could round up some volunteers to use it. Just enough to make it look like it's something important."

There's no shortage of people around here that are able and willing to help, surely.

"They'd just have to make up some convincing nonsense to say."

[looksfine]

"Would you be willing to take charge of such a unit?"

Since it was his suggestion in the first place.

[runrightround]

"Me?"

It's not often that someone suggests Wally be in charge of something, so he's a little surprised. At least at first, he snaps out of it quickly enough and smiles. He's happy that he has a chance to actually work on something.

"Yeah! Totally. You can count on me."

[looksfine]

"Certainly. It was your idea. I can think of no reason at this time why you should not be the one to implement it."

She smiled warmly at him. The sentiment was completely genuine.

[runrightround]

"Thanks partner."

He holds his fist out to her, expecting a fistbump in return. This seems like a special enough occasion for one. It doesn't occur to him that it might be strange to her in anyway, he just keeps blabbering on.

"Or co-worker? I don't want to assume I'm on the payroll now... Wait, do you even get paid?"