“Here, here, pick out which ones you guys want.” Lucas has a clearly enthusiastic tone as he manages to smoothly pull himself up into a crouch out of his previously leisurely seated position, leaning forward a bit as he holds the boomer-bouquet out before him. There is a grand total of zero percent chance that he could have managed this little maneuver without his enhanced proprioception.

While he had addressed both Jonathan and Dan as well, his positioning makes it quite clear that his main focus is on ensuring that Willy gets first dibs.

Not one to disappoint, Willy does take the offer seriously, putting careful deliberation into his selections. After a bit of a delay, he leans forward, gently biting and tugging out one of the longer yet more slender wooden weapons.

Dan has a greatly amused expression as he watches Willy’s process. Once Willy’s done, Dan reaches over and grabs the sturdiest looking one from the remaining available options.

“I give it three throws tops, but Franz is gonna love this.” While Dan is saying this, he’s vigorously shaking the boomerang back and forth, gauging its pliability. The expression on his face seems indicative of the fact that it is rather lacking, and that the estimate of three may be a bit bold.

Once Jonathan claims one of the middling models, only really noteworthy for its normalcy, Lucas steadily stands up and steps over toward the still unarmed supervillains nearby.

While this exchange was going on, Mark had continued silently staring at the door to the elevator which 23 had recently used to escape the conversation.

Mikah, however, has been staring at Miss Calculated, clearly in shock. Around the time that Dan was laying his claims upon his chosen boomerang, Mikah had started gently-but-rapidly tapping on Mark’s arm with two fingers, trying to get his attention.

After a bit of a delay, Mark finally pulled his attention back from the doors and turned to look at Mikah with visible annoyance. Before he managed more than a slightly cranky “What?” Mikah also turned to face him directly, wide-eyed with a distinctly excited expression.

“It’s more than that! This is a big deal! Oh, oh, should we go around and buy all the used extra-limbed bots we can find before this is common knowledge!? I bet we could even convince some people to trade, say, two of our basic models for one of their advanced ones, and even make it seem on paper like a deal for them… Ha!

“Ah, and we can start publicity on the dolls early, then no one will even think twice about the fact that we’re mass purchasing used bots to set up a production assembly line! They might even come to us with offers!” While Mikah was practically bouncing thanks to his enthusiasm, all he really accomplished was managing to further confuse Mark, due to the lack of context.

As Lucas stops walking, now standing before Josephine and extending the wooden weapons array for her perusal, Miss Calculated chuckles a bit and adjusts her glasses.

“Yes, well, an important detail he neglected to mention is that we have determined that it seems 23 has developed what may very well be full-fledged sapience. You saw just now how it was able to draw its own conclusions and act accordingly, and it had further demonstrated such abilities during many other similar incidents while we were previously at the restaurant Lucas bought it from.

“My current hypothesis is that the advanced machine learning designed for the additionally-limbed models, such that they can much more optimally utilize said limbs without requiring exhaustive in-depth pre-programming, may have also turned out to be sufficient for laying out the groundwork for a significantly more advanced AI. This probably was not apparent in the initial test runs, as the stress factors from its workplace led to the perpetual need for it to constantly learn and adapt, notably more so than any controlled experiment would have demanded while it was under preliminary observation.” As Miss Calculated proceeds to geek out, she seems to have forgotten all of her previous nervousness about speaking with Mark, and her head is lifted high with obvious pride.

Josephine has not only selected her own boomerang with amusement, but she has also chosen one for Mark as well, as he is obviously far too distracted at the moment. Throughout the process, she maintains a thoughtful expression, occasionally looking over at Miss Calculated giving her lecture regarding 23’s sapient state.

Mark’s confusion from Mikah’s antics not only clears up, but he also becomes equally delighted, thanks to her clarification.

“Oh, we absolutely need to grab as many as we can, if they’ll be anywhere near as useful as 23 seems to be. Huhuhu, accounting will certainly be earning their paychecks this month. Ah, I assume you wish to hold back on publicizing this finding just yet, Mary, correct?” Once Mark asks this, as soon as Miss Calculated nods, he continues his line of thought aloud.

“In that case, do you wish to handle the refurbishing of some of the bots we acquire, instead of us bringing in another technician? If we do bulk parts orders; it could prove profitable to purchase units that many people consider past their prime, at a mere fraction of what they’re truly worth… The heavily worn-out units that most people normally wouldn’t be interested in buying would most likely be the ones that are the furthest developed as well, ha!” With Mark now not only fully on board, but even extending the proposal further, Miss Calculated has developed a radiant smile.

“Oh certainly. James, er, one of my coworkers has been complaining about his hours being cut, I can send a few of my shifts his way and spend that time here performing upgrades instead, for an appropriate fee, of course. Ah, though I must admit, I know of at least five other people besides those present that are aware of 23’s advancement, so it’s not entirely fair to consider it a secret. But, yes, I believe that it would be best to capitalize on this knowledge before openly sharing it, for sure.” Miss Calculated barely pauses after saying this, beginning to pace back and forth while speaking.

“Hmm, making it openly known that we have a working arrangement on, say, modifying a series of customized bots specifically for the assembly line, should serve nicely as a cover for my time spent here during my initial setup for the lab, before it is truly secure. And, that would doubly serve as a good excuse as to why you’re willing to buy such old, worn, and damaged units. You only truly want the core, as a lot of the shell will be a new custom design anyway, so why waste the money on a whole brand new bot?” Miss Calculated has crossed her arms during her pacing, now tapping her right index finger against her forearm as she thinks. After a few more steps she finally stops, turning to look directly at Mark.

“Ah! And, of course, we should make a point of announcing how efficient this assembly line will be, hence why we are only looking for units capable of utilizing additional limbs already. This should make it all the more understandable as to why you’re trying to save as much money as you can by salvaging old ones. Outwardly, it will even seem that you’re only buying some of the ones in a questionable state of functionality just for the chance it will be sufficiently usable, and, to at least encourage people to continue making offers even if that one, in particular, wasn’t necessarily worth it for you.” Miss Calculated’s excitement by now is borderline palpable, and Mark, Josephine, and Mikah have been nodding along intermittently.

“Right, speaking of security. Lucas, you have the Thieves of Elsewhere’s business card, do you not? Perhaps you should consider taking them up on that offer sooner than later, and maybe even request a run-through for Faunahorde as well?” As Miss Calculated wraps up her contemplative contributions, she turns her attention from Mark over to Lucas when bringing up the calling card.

Someone should probably start stockpiling caffeine in advance for her, there is going to be an alarming quantity of quality robot time in the foreseeable future for her.

-----

Lucas total kills: 7

Lucas total deaths: 11

Lucas total assists: 1

Lucas current GDV: 16.91

Lucas's fame level: 5.0* (Already beginning to receive authentic global attention. His local levels are effectively maxed.)

Lucas's hero suspicion level: 2.5* (More than just passing suspicion for many paranoid individuals, numerous people have realized he's an impulsive idiot.)

Jonathan total kills: 7

Jonathan total deaths: 2

Jonathan current GDV: 5.79

Jonathan's fame level: 2.5* (What fame he does have is predominantly local.)

Jonathan's hero suspicion level: 3.0* (More than just overly-paranoid people are suspicious at this point.)

Willy's fame level: 1.5* (Anonymous meme fame, local fame primarily as 'Xenoclast's dog', but some strangers know him as William/Willy now.)

Supervillain social circle size: 14

-----

Little character theater:

Jonathan lifts himself up a bit to slide his newly gained boomerang into one of his pants pockets. As he goes to lower himself back down, so as to be level with Willy once again, he notices Miss Chievous grinning at him with a dangerous air. Upon realization as to exactly what joke she’s clearly planning on making, he takes the boomerang back out of that pants pocket, tucking it into the chest pocket of his dress shirt, sorta. It’s sticking out at a weird angle, but at least Miss Chievous lost interest.

Willy gently set his boomerang down among the three supertoys, then went right back to his conversation with Dan.

Lucas, caught off guard from suddenly being addressed by Miss Calculated: I uh, yeah? Oh, yeah!

427, becoming enthusiastic about his findings so far: ‘Oho, experimenting with infusing superpower-type properties into various materials you say? These toys are merely a pilot run of one of your MANY products, hmm?’

Author, laughing at the clear look of disappointment on Miss Chievous’s face: Yes, you know damn well what kind of a response you would have gotten out of him. You really are lucky that he doesn’t just straight up stab you for intentionally embarrassing him so damn much.

Mr. Quacks, supervising 23 as it systematically wakes up and chats with the various bots scattered about the 15th floor, enlisting their aid in designating a workspace for Miss Calculated: Quack!