6/3 Instance: Tech-Heads

[Starfish]

Timeline: After "Unrestroom".

Broo: Broo squinted at the piece of machinery he dissected on the worktable between him and Perfect Sized Danger. "Why on earth would they route this through her? It only causes the dampener to work at half efficiency. You know I'm rather glad I wasn't the one to design this, otherwise I can't even imagine how the sentinels would have easily beaten all mutants." He said as he looked up from the magnifying glass.

Danger: "I'm rather glad about this, as well," the downsized Danger remarked, her advanced optics not requiring any external aids to magnify the circuitry on the chip she was holding up between two metallic fingertips. "I don't think I'd want to be friends with the people who designed these."

Danger: "The power dampening technology installed in these Sentinels appears to be functionally identical to the one used in other devices meant to subdue mutants," the robot girl continued to share her findings. "They use the same principle as the suppression collars and electric fence pylons."

Broo: "Now look at this, no wonder it only works within a vicinity of two meters. They completely made a mess of this circuitry. This can easily be boosted up to at least twenty meters." Broo complained.

Broo: He looked up again, "If I were friends with the people who designed these, I would definitely click on the dislike button if they uploaded schematics of this." he added. "Looking at the way they're built, they didn't even consider the idea of our hypothesis of an unknown energy source powering mutants. They're jsut blindly stumbling through to make these horrible machinery."

Danger: "Which would explain why this design appears so unrefined and crude," Danger commented, while she compared the innards of a partly disassembled suppression collar with the salvaged parts of a Sentinel. "Their idea of improving upon their invention seems to be limited to simply routing more power through it and hoping it won't overload."

Danger: "It's puzzling how they managed to make this discovery in the first place." Focusing on the fine circuitry gave the female machine the appearance of a squint. "Perhaps it happened simply by accident."

Broo: "Much like many discoveries in the world." Broo replied, smiling. "I think I figured out how to reverse this technology. Well, not actually reverse, but instead use it to detect the energy."

Danger: "I would prefer this explanation to the idea that they simply subjected some unfortunate mutant to any kind of radiation they could think of and hoped one of them would have an effect." Danger asked, before turning towards Broo. "This makes sense."

Danger: The slender machine stepped up to the squat mutant. "After all, the Sentinels' sensors somehow allow them to detect mutants. Those who use their powers around them, anyway."

Danger: The slender machine stepped up to the squat mutant. "After all, the Sentinel's sensors somehow allow them to detect mutants. Those who use their powers around them, anyway."

Broo: "But not as far as what I can make it." he said with pride. Broo quickly rummaged through a box full of parts and skittered across the workshop to a pile of scrap, waddling his way back to the bench with bits and pieces. "Just give me one moment," he said.

Broo: In that one moment, the insect boy welded, pieced, connected, screwed and glued bits together. In the end he held up a handheld machine with a small visual display along with dials and buttons. "That should do it."

Danger: Danger tilted her head sideways, her articulated eyebrows arching upwards as she watched the proud boy presenting his latest invention. "It's done?" she asked. "Good, I thought you'd never finish. I was getting bored waiting for you already."

Danger: The condescending tone was all Danger. The smile playing across the corner of her metallic lips was not.

Broo: "You sound serious, yet your facial features suggests otherwise. You are getting rather well with sarcasm. Well done." Broo said. The little mutant's little clawed fingers tapped and turned dials and buttons. The screen flickered and a clicking sound started as he calibrated the machine.

Broo: "Strange, I would have thought it would pick me up at a hundred percent, will have to look into that. It's definitely picking up other mutants perfectly." he said, holding it up and finding energy signatures towards the dorm rooms and class rooms.

Danger: "Perhaps it needs to be calibrated properly first," Danger suggested. "Clearly we need a larger sample size to test it thoroughly. And thank you - I was practising in private." The robot girl remained silent for a moment, before she spoke up again, this time a hint of concern in her voice. "You didn't laugh, though."

Danger: "Were you offended by what I said?" she asked, a clinking sound echoing through the workshop as she tapped her fingertips together. "I really hope not. I assure you I didn't mean to actually insult you or your invention. It's very impressive, really. I was merely trying to practise my sense of humour."

Broo: "Oh no! My apologies, I should have laughed, however the fact that you achieved sarcasm so well actually impressed me more." Broo replied. He adjusted the settings on the scanner some more.

Danger: "Thanks again, and this is relieving to know," Danger replied, sounding far more cheerful already. "Please try to remember that the next time I will accidentally offend you. You also have my word that should I ever wish to intentionally insult you, I will make myself perfectly clear beforehand."

Broo: "Excellent. Now that we have gotten that out of the way, I would like to direct your attention to this unusual reading." Broo said, holding the scanner for Danger to see, but keeping it directed half way towards the floor. "There appears to be something in the basement."

Danger: "Interesting." Danger's metal hands came to rest on Broo's shoulders as she leaned over the little mutant's head. "If our theory is correct, these readings can only be caused by one or more mutants actively using their powers. However, the detected emissions seem unusually fluctuating for that to be the case."

Broo: "Well, there's only one way of knowing for certain. To the basement!" he said, grabbing Danger's hand and heading straight for the door with her in tow.

Danger: "I was wondering when we would get to the real science," Danger replied, cheerfully allowing herself to be dragged along.