Chapter Text
Phil set the last box down on Technoblade’s workbench. “I tried to find all the parts, but this was all I could find. I actually had to search for nearly two hours just to find the parts I did find.” The blond man wipes away the sweat dripping from his brow. “It’s almost like whoever threw him away was trying to make sure that no one could piece him back together again. Which, mind you, they almost managed. Nothing I couldn’t handle though.”
Technoblade rifled through a few boxes. He took a hand out of one of the boxes and looked at it. It was still connected to the forearm, but not the rest of the arm. He inspected the joints and under the ‘fingernails’. All of the joints were in perfect working order and not a single speck of dirt under the nails. Which meant that whoever had owned this bot had either never taken it out of the manufacturer's box, or it had been extremely well loved and looked after. Either way it made his job both easier and harder. The bot was one that had been released only a few months back. Meaning that the parts needed for repairs were going to be rare and expensive. Unlike previous models, it didn’t look like many parts were backwards compatible. Technoblade groans at the mere thought of how much this restoration was going to cost.
“This looks expensive and… extremely pristine.” He turned it over and ran his calloused fingers over the smooth cool metal before looking back up at Phil. “And you said you got this from the dump? It must’ve come in on the most recent dump. It’s too clean to have been sitting in the garbage heaps for too long.”
His…friend, hums in acknowledgement. “Yeah. Found him earlier today while I was scavenging.” Phil leaned on Technoblade’s workbench. “Can you fix him?”
“Of course I can. It’ll cost you a lot, but give me enough time and credits and I’ll have it fixed up like it just came off the shelf in the factory.” Technoblade said as he put the arm back in the box.
“Great! Send me an estimation of how many credits I owe you for the first payment. I’ll get it to you as soon as I can.” Phil started leaving Technoblade’s workshop. “Bye mate.”
Technoblade grunted a goodbye back as he started pulling bits and pieces out of the boxes and laying them on his workbench. He found the upper arm for the hand and forearm he looked at. Technoblade started to rifle through another box when he caught sight of something gold. He carefully pushed things around in the box before pulling out the head of the android Phil gave him. Luckily it was in amazing condition and still attached to the neck, shoulders, and upper chest.
If he ignored the fact that it was completely detached from the rest of its body, Technoblade would’ve mistaken it as a teen boy that was just taking a short nap. It was amazing what the capital could make nowadays. The androids were becoming more and more humanlike with every new wave that was sent out. Of course he wasn’t being paid to theorize and grow philosophical over androids and their likeness to humans. No, he was paid to make them work again. He gently set it down on his workbench before grabbing his laptop. He hooked the android head up to his laptop and started running diagnostics.
“Why would anyone scrap you?” Technoblade muttered to himself as he ran his rough hands over the smooth metal of the parts on his workbench. He pulled another arm out of a box. He stares at it and runs his fingers over the shredded metal from where the upper arm and shoulder were supposed to be connected. “You look brand new. If anything, you probably are brand new. It almost looks like you were torn apart on purpose.” He mutters under his breath in the silence of his workshop.
He set the arm down on his work bench and started looking for the rest of the abdomen and the legs. Technoblade frequently checked his laptop as he pulled parts out and laid them on his workbench. He was missing a thigh, the lower part of the other leg, the rest of the chest cavity, the joint for the shoulder, a hand, the midsection, and some of the exoskeleton plating. All in all, fairly workable but it was going to be stupid expensive to get a good chunk of these parts and his normal suppliers probably wouldn’t have what he needed. Technoblade scrunched his nose, making his glasses slip a bit. He would have to tread lightly and buy things legally for once.
There was a ding from his laptop as it finished up the diagnostics test. Technoblade rolled his chair over and tapped on the keys for a bit. He looked over all the information on his screen.
“Code’s still intact. Systems look to be functionable still. Huh. That’s interesting.” He moved the mouse to hover over a file. “What’s this?”
The file shook and a little lock popped up over it. Technoblade hummed, but started checking on everything else. He can work on it later. Right now he was being paid to get this android up and running. Which was exactly what he was going to do. He reties his hair up so that it was actually out of his face and got to work.
~~--~~
“The credits should have been sent over.” Phil said from the other side of the holophone. “Let me know if you’ve got them.”
Technoblade reloaded his screen. “Yep. There they are. I’ll get this part and a few others ordered now. Sorry for the disruption. Enjoy your date night with Kristin.” Sure his tone was kurt and to-the-point, but that was the whole reason why he’d called. It wasn’t like Technoblade was going to call just to be social or anything.
Phil chuckled. “Will do. Thanks.”
“You’re welcome.” Technoblade said before he hung up.
He focused his attention back on the screen in front of him. Triple checking that this was the part that he needed before he moved his mouse to the confirmation button and clicked it. Technoblade watched it process the request for a moment before going through and taking the credits out of his work account. The shipping information said that the ball joint for the shoulder would arrive tomorrow. How something so basic was so damn expensive was beyond him, but it wasn’t like he was the one that was paying for it. Luckily the other parts he’d ordered were somewhat cheaper. Not by much but at least it didn’t look like the company was price gouging too much.
While Technoblade waited for the parts to arrive, he might as well start soldering and welding what he could salvage back together. He set up his tools and started putting the upper arm and the shoulder joint together.
~~--~~
“Come on. Come on.” Technoblade shook his leg as he waited for the android to power up and turn on.
The eyes of the android flickered open. One of the irises turned on and glowed a bright blue. The other one flickered before going out with a small ‘pop’ noise. Technoblade groaned and added that to the mental list of parts that needed to be replaced sooner rather than later. There was a grating sound as the android opened its mouth slightly. Another problem he had to tend to.
“Ugh. I don’t even know if it’s your voice box or jaw hinge.” Technoblade said as he tried to get a better look at the android’s vocal track. He set his tools down with a groan when his holophone started ringing. “Break already?”
He turned off the alarm and went to pick up his tools, but then he immediately got a call as soon as his hands touched his tools again. Technoblade looked at the caller ID, it was Phil. If it was anyone else he’d let it ring and get back to work, but he couldn’t ignore Phil, especially not when he’s paying for Technoblade’s living expenses with this project.
“Hey Phil.” Technoblade greeted in his normal monotonous voice.
“Hey Techno. How’s the droid coming along?” Phil asked.
“I got it to power on. Which is good, but it’s also revealed even more problems and things to fix.” Technoblade said as he poked around the android’s faceplate. “Looks like an eye needs to be replaced. Which also won’t be cheap because it looks like if I don’t get the exact same make and model the system will just reject it as malware. After that’s sorted out, I’ll have to figure out if the voice box and jaw hinge are working properly. As well as which of the two need to be replaced. Or both. I might have to replace both of them, and that’s just what I’ve started on.” He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose after powering down the android. “Phil. This is looking to cost more to fix than it’s worth.” He dragged his free hand down his face. “Are you sure you want to waste your credits on it? You’re not having a manic episode that you’ll hate me for allowing when your mind clears, right?”
Phil’s laugh comes in over the line. “I don’t have manic episodes. But yes, Techno. I’m sure.”
“Some of my other clients do.” Technoblade says as he fiddles absentmindedly with something and spins around in his chair to face the other way. “I swear, no matter what field you go into, as long as you interact with clients, or just people in general, you’ll always have someone come in, demand you do something for them, and then get mad when they don’t like it the next day. It’s quite emotionally and mentally draining, you know.”
“Guess that’s just the way of life, mate.” Phil said with a soft chuckle.
Technoblade snorted. “Isn’t that the truth.” He sits in the semi-quiet of his workshop. “I’ll send you another list of parts I need ordered soon. I’m going to see what I can get away with replacing here in the shop before I go looking into buying more stupidly specific parts. Hopefully I can get this thing up and at least somewhat running by mid next week.”
“Thanks mate, I’d greatly appreciate it. I appreciate everything you’ve done for me over the last who knows how long.” Phil says, soft fondness coming through his tone.
Technoblade scrunches his nose in disgust. “Ew. No. We are not close. We are not friends. You and I are strictly contractor and client. Nothing more, nothing less.”
Phil hums. “Sure mate. Whatever makes you comfortable. Anyways, I’ll let you get back to doing whatever you were doing. I’ll talk to you again soon Tech. Bye.”
And with that Technoblade was left alone in his modest workshop with a dismantled and severely damaged android. He sighs and looks back at the android’s face. It still looks just like a sleeping teen, which kind of freaks him out a bit so he throws a somewhat clean shop towel over its head and continues his work.