bzarcher | (no subject)

Speaking of things hitting me in the back of the head...

Enker couldn't precisely explain why he'd chosen to keep his office in Sydney, other than the laid back, friendly nature of the city agreed with him. Plus, his office had a beautiful view of the harbor.

Located on the corner of one of the city's many high-rise buildings, the sign in the lobby simply said "International Logistics", since "Robot Master HQ" seemed like it might cause concern. Though he had appreciated Dr. Light's suggestion of "Monsteropolis Entertainment". Perhaps if he decided to set up a similar office somewhere else.

From the elevator lobby, the office appeared to be a fairly bland business concern, and he'd even invested in a pleasant, if small, reception area with a simple holographic auto-sec to handle anyone who came in off the street. (This, he found, happened surprisingly regularly. Mostly people who were curious or who wanted to see if they had any job openings.)

Past the reception area, though, he'd kept most of the 'office' as open space, with only a few small side rooms. A holographic planning table dominated the central area, with his main 'desk' at the harbor window, and several world maps and wall screens updating periodically with information as he saw fit.

At one point, it could have easily stood for a general staff office, or the nucleus of an invasion. Now, however, it did serve as a command and control office, but of a rather different sort.

Icons on the maps represented current known locations on the various Masters, and with a few taps, could present info on current activities, any known travel plans, and possible trouble situations. (The last had been added after an African safari trip by Cut, Slash, and Search had been graced by the Alpha master's notorious bad luck, and managed to get them caught up in a coup that swept through Zaire. That rather hectic night had ended with an impressive extraction by Blues and Bass, and the total removal of the hotel's entire top floor.)

Watching as dusk began to creep over the city, he smiled and looked over at his desk for his notes before dictating to the terminal, watching the maps and projections update as he did so.

"Last report on Napalm is that he's still in Texas, of all places. Sighting two days ago when he completed the "Big Texan!" steak challenge in Lubbock. No reported incidents, so apparently that's going well. Confirmed sighting on Top in Akhibara this afternoon - seems to be involved with the skater and tagger scene there. We should monitor - the police there are pretty lenient and it's harmless so far, but those sort of things can get out of hand."

Considering the map of Japan, Enker called it to the table and tapped onto an icon before continuing.

"Yamato is staying at a Ryokan in Kansai. Note to email him tomorrow and ask if he might have Top down for a few days if things look like they could get out of hand."

About to continue, a warm chime interrupted him, and the auto-sec's holographic face rezzed up over the planning table. "Excuse me, sir, but you have a visitor."

"Is it 6:30 already?"

"No, she's early."

With a mix of a sigh and a laugh, Enker nodded. "Please let her in, and add my notes on Plant's cruise ship itinerary to the overnight file to work on in the morning?"

"Of course!"

The auto-sec derezzed and Enker cleared the map, sending the table to standby mode as the door from the waiting room opened, and Roll entered, dressed for an evening out.

"I knew you'd still be working!"

"That's because you got here early. If you'd been on time, I'd have finished."

"Uh-huh. I've heard that before. Are you going to get changed before we go to the concert?"

"...that strikes me as less of a question, and more of a statement that I should."

"See? You really are learning."

Stepping into the side room where he kept a few spare items, including his old armor, Enker traded a simple set of slacks and an Oxford shirt for a deep blue suit with a deep grey vest and tie.

"Better?"

"Incredibly." Walking to one of the maps near the door, Roll tapped an icon and watched as it expanded. (TURBO MAN - LAST LOCATION: NURBURG, GERMANY. Confirmed 37 hours ago) "I keep wondering why you do this. Not that Rock and Dr. Light don't appreciate it, but it seems...odd."

"Well, it does keep me occupied, which is nice. I don't really have the temperament to go into business like some of the others, and I prefer to do something that engages me."

"I figured you might start helping Rock or playing Secret Agent Man with Blues."

Enker shrugged. "I'll keep in practice, but I was never Bass. I'm not driven with a need to constantly fight. The closest I've come was when I helped get Quint out of trouble."

"Interesting way to describe staring down a Neo-Luddite riot."

"Mm." Enker smiled, then got a bit more serious. "Really, I do it because it -does- help all of you, and it helps us as well. If there's some kind of an emergency, I have a fairly good idea of where and how to reach everyone, and I can serve as a co-ordinator for whatever is required. Plus, even though I'm not chronologically the oldest...it's the role I was built for, and we've all tended to fall into it. They all tend to let me know what they're up to, even if it's sometimes just post cards or showing up on YouTube."

"Still, it's a funny sort of job to have, Mr. Big Scary Elite Master."

Giving her a bemused look, Enker gently started to push Roll towards the door. "That's an interesting thing to say from 'Miss I build super colliders for fun'. And didn't you insist we had a concert to go to?"

"Hmph. That -was- fun. But we -are- going to be late if we don't get going."

Shutting the door behind them, Enker smiled. "Since we're supposed to meet the others there, I suppose we can't have that."

DIRECTOR'S COMMENTARY!

*It really wasn't their fault that General Mtebe decided to overthrow the government, but it certainly made things more exciting!

*Yes, he -could- use Ballade's tracking system, but A) that's cheating and B) he actually prefers the challenge of keeping up with them this way.

*News reports are sometimes better ways of keeping track of everyone than email/letters/youtubes/phone calls because, if nothing else, they tend not to embellish or edit out certain key factors.

*The Auto-Sec is a standard out of the box model named Melody, which bemuses Enker to no end because of the continuation of the musical theme. Her holographic icon looks like a blonde beach bunny. That was set out of the box, too, and Enker gets no end of teasing about it.

*No, they aren't really dating. Roll does consider him decorative, but it's mostly a case of striking up a friendship and getting dragged along by his heels from there.

*Speaking of being dragged by the heel, Plant and Roll took it upon themselves to take Enker shopping after they discovered he 'bought clothes' by ordering exact copies of the suit he'd had made for the funeral and leaving it at that. ("What's wrong with this suit? It's regal, and manly." -"NO!"-) Since then, he still tends to be fairly toned down.

*Turbo continually claims he'll get out of the Nurburgring eventually, but it keeps being a case of 'One last lap...' that leads to 'Well, let's see if I can beat that time...' and you can fill in the rest from there. Quick has a plan to knock him out and at least get him to go check out the Bonneville Salt Flats.

*After the Zaire incident, Enker asked to be (quietly) re-armed in case something similar happened again. He didn't actually use the Mirror Buster to break up the riot - just to intimidate the crowd long enough to get Quint out of there.

*Enker also keeps emergency files on the best ways to quickly and cleanly disable each and every one of the RMs, including himself, but Roll really doesn't need to hear about that right now.

*Beethoven's 1st, 9th, and other selections. The others they're meeting wouldn't care that much if they were late, but really, it's just rude...