B-DataLore

by MomoCraft97

Summary:

Lore and someone else both go missing from Bruce Maddox’s lab, who leaves it to the Enterprise crew to find and recover them, when they recover the two how will Data and the crew adjust to two older brothers on board? Well, Lore isn’t happy and hates everyone, but Data doesn’t think he’s never happy, the other brother however, surprises the entire crew with his, well, ‘unique’ personality.
——
Just a not so short fic of the crew interacting with Lore and B4, mostly fluff, some mentions/descriptions of violence but nothing too much past the early chapters (I will alter the tags/warnings if need be)

Takes place after Generations, Nemesis never happened, with some alterations to the lore surrounding the whereabouts of Data’s older brothers post the Descent episodes.

Chapter 1: Awakening

His eyes slowly opened to a binding white light shining directly into his face from somewhere above him, moving his hand to try and block the light, he found himself still too tired from his awakening to move. He blinked his eyes a few times, trying to wake up a bit more and again tried to move his hand, this time however he managed to move it in front of his eyes. He keeps his vision in the dark for a moment, allowing himself a moment to readjust his eyesight so he can possibly see whatever was happening above him that isn't that damn bright light. He slowly moved his hand away from his face slowly to not blind himself in the light again, taking in his surroundings for the first time.
He's currently sitting down, staring at a monitor of a bright light shining into his eyes, not actually laying down staring up at the light.

-What the fuck-

Lore stands up from his rather comfortable chair and takes in his unusual surroundings. Directly in front of him are 2 large monitors side by side, roughly 2 meters wide and 1 and half tall each, they are suspended on the wall with several hundred red cables plugged into the back of them. There's a large computer station in front of the two monitors, a bit wider than the monitors, flashing all over with the same stupid computer layout he saw back on the Enterprise. To be fair, it was pretty aesthetic and practical to work with, he ignored them for now and returned to studying the monitors on the wall above. One is flooding with a trillion lines of codes every second, flowing down the screen like a never ending waterfall of boredom, small boxes occasionally popping up and disappearing for whatever reason. He moves his gaze to the second screen, which he assumes is his actual view into the world, to see nothing but a blinding white light filling the screen. He was currently in what his father Dr Soong once dubbed as ‘his mind space’, he'd been here before, very early on in his development, before Soong had properly fused his positronic matrix into the body, leaving him stuck into his own mind temporarily. The room existed to keep his mind active when his body wasn't, making it easier to resolve whatever was causing the issue. Looking at the screen, he tried to focus his eyes to try and pick up more than a blinding white blur of light, but was unable to identify anything of note, nor could it seem that he could do anything to change the view on the screen, his mind was completely separate to his body, he was unable to even blink away thay fucking light, lovely.

Frustrated he turned back to study the rest of the room, behind him in the centre of the room was a large glowing pillar, the centre power core for his impressive mind, looking similar to a warp core on one of those stupid starships, although his was obviously much more impressive because it was his and he was better. Surrounding it were more computer stations in a circle around the central column, the walls were filled floor to ceiling with monitors of all sizes, there were thick red wires running from everything to everything. The overall atmosphere of the room was chaotic, very fitted for his mind. Noting and mapping the position of every wire and cable running across the floor, up the walls and hanging from the ceiling, he stepped carefully not to trip over or move any of them.

He walked around the room studying the layout and anything interesting. It was a circle surrounding the central column, pretty boring layout but effective, about 10 meters in circumference and the ceiling 3 meters above. The column pulsed and glowed with his artificial heartbeat, sending power through his body to his systems. The room was entirely black, every piece of technology, the floors, walls, ceiling, everything was a dark metallic black. Everything except for the displays which glowed a soft red, the text and the visuals a gradient of the colour, and the wires which often passed a deep red glow from beginning to end, transferring something from somewhere to elsewhere. The chaotic room reminded of his previous most precious Borg followers, their black and green aesthetic clearly had a lasting impression on him, but at least he chose a nicer colour, green was probably one of the worst colours. He missed them, they worshipped him and he missed that about them, a lot had happened the last time he was active.

He tried to shelf the emotional rant he was currently processing about the emotion chip and the events with the borg, the chip essentially making him more emotionally unstable then he already was, how it heightened every base emotion to such extremes to the point he couldn't even think anymore, anger took over his brain and all he wanted to so was feel happy again, but everything was wrong and he needed to fix it, except he didn’t know how. How he desperately tried to convince himself that he had a reason for being made that wasn't just being a failed prototype, that he had a higher purpose and there were people who needed him, that he could do something good in this universe. A long needed rant on the tragic series of events that ended with his own pathetic defeat at the hand of his brother, he wanted to talk about how he couldn't even be mad at Data for doing it, for killing him, how he could only stare at the floor and try not to breakdown in tears as he told him he loved him because he really did and he needed him to know before he never saw him again- ok, he slowly tried to breath and calm his nerves, now he had shelved the rant, and then burned the shelf, and ejected the ash into the void of his soul, and did not think about it, ever, at all.

After a moment to not catch his non-existent breath, he went back to examining the room around him, watching as the screens around the room light up, processing code sent from the main monitor into different sections of his mind responsible for different functions, then went black before lighting up again and again. It was relaxing here, as he had complete control of the environment here, it meant he could control the amount of stimuli, unlike in real life where his processing was often overwhelmed with different senses, here was quiet, still, the only noises were the ones he made and the slight hum from the power core. He didn't completely relax, not forgetting that outside of this room he had no idea where he was, or what he was doing wherever he was.

He walked over to sit back in the chair in front of the monitors, eyes fixed on his unmoving external vision, hoping that at some point something would show up that would give him a clue as to what's happening. He sits there for a while, a few days, months maybe, he doesn't bother with counting the time in anything specific, he doesn't care, he never really does, he reads through the library of novels and scientific papers in mind to keep himself occupied, always having half his attention on the monster just in case . His body is still, both in his mind and in real life, he can't hear anything nor can he access any other senses to give him any clues to his surroundings. Occasionally he thinks he sees humanoid blurs moving in the light, but they pass much to his disappointment, giving no clue to his situation except that there were people here with him every now and again. It seemed if anything was happening to his physical body he would never know, as he couldn’t get any readings or inputs from any part of his body, making him uneasy at the thought of people touching him, violating him. He thought very briefly, very briefly, at the possibilities of what they were doing to him. It was unlikely they were simply observing him, the most likely candidate being some kind of research and testing to understand his systems better. It was at this image in his mind of his physical body being prodded and taken apart, that he was glad he couldn’t feel anything at the moment. Unlike Data, Lore could feel every physical sensation on his body, his body felt and reacted to every single pressure point, every single false hair. Soong made the sense actions as realistic as he could, he was very proud of his work, initially, until they both realised that the only way to work on Lores systems was internally. He remembered every time Dr Soong had to open the panels, his chest, his legs, his arms, the one on his head hurt most of all, having your actual skull pried open and your brain proded. His brain started to fill with the memories of pain and pain and pain and pai- he stopped those thoughts as quickly as they appeared. Within a fraction nanosecond going through intense spirals of paranoia, anxiety, panic, terror and about 1,483 identifiable distinct emotions, all negative, before banishing these memories and feelings back to where they were before, hidden and forgotten.

He stood up and walked towards the other side of the room again, deciding to look into his motor functions. This section takes up the whole wall, completely full of monitors and displays, his eyes looking through the millions of codes flowing through the monitors to try and figure out why he was trapped inside his own mind and not ripping the person who had him captive to shreds or disassembled in a box somewhere.

The search takes him ages, but at least he's doing something, which was actually nice even if he was bored the entire time, it was definitely better than the alternative. When he was deactivated, first by his father and then by his brother, he stayed in a state of complete sensory deprivation the whole time, trapped in an eternal black void, with no idea of time passing until he jolted awake, eventually, whenever someone decided him worthy of temporary life. At least in whatever state of consciousness this was he was aware of time passing and was able to barely entertain himself inside his own subconscious. He spent another few weeks on a very thorough and disapointing search through his motor functions before moving back to sit at his chair, defeated after finding nothing of use, staring again into to white light, watching, waiting for something, anything to happen.

Chapter 2: Imprisonment

Summary:

Lore’s time at Daystrom following his defeat by his brother, ending his glorious reign as Borg King, very quickly changes as a certain Doctor decides to relocate him into a hidden lab for further research.

Lore had been in storage for Daystrom for just over 3 months before Maddox was confident that no one would notice he was gone.

At first, the storage compartment containing the android was monitored and checked regularly to make sure he hadn’t found some way to reactivate himself and escape. Several guards were posted at the door, and a team of the station's top cybernetics checked the contents of each crate carefully, twice a day for over a month, but it soon became apparent that the several limbs placed in separate boxes were completely lifeless. So they slowly lessened the security checkups, as the resources needed elsewhere, and eventually just left the vault with minimum security, a single security guard at the door, as is standard for any weapon in Daystrom's possession, completely ignoring the inspections all together. If they had suspicions anything had changed in the containment, they would perform an inspection into it, but they figured that was never going to be needed, as to be honest even with minimum personnel assigned, the remains of Lore were the most secured weapon out of everything in the building, and they doubted anyone wanted the android that much.

Lore’s body was in a total of 4 storage crates, which were in turn locked and contained within another locked crate; each one housing the legs, arms, torso and head respectively. The crates were then locked in 4 different cells behind separately powered force fields, in a room behind another 3 locked doors, in the deepest, most secure part of the institute where the most dangerous weapons and technology was held. Starfleet took no risk when it came to making sure the deactivated android couldn’t get out, nor could anyone get in.

Starfleet and the cybernetics at Daystrom knew the sheer strength and intelligence that LtCmdr Data possessed, and were fearful of the android or anything that was similar, definitely including Lore. They kept a very secure document detailing Data’s terrifying, albeit impressive, feats of power over their years serving for Starfleet. As the full extent of the android's capabilities weren’t known initially when they had found him, they had to learn and record as they went, finding out new and horrifying things every year the android was on board any ship, building up a reference as they did with any species that the Federation encountered, outlining strengths and weaknesses that could pose a threat to the Federation.

LtCmdr Data’s, and any other androids made by their Dr Soong, strength was unmatched by anything or anyone in the entire known galaxy, their intelligence was quite literally limitless and improving constantly faster than the entire federation could keep up with. Their processing power was enough to run every ship in the fleet at the same time and still beat everyone on the bridge at chess simultaneously, this one being could take over the quadrant before anyone had a chance to see what was happening. It was a great concern within the Federation as a whole, nearly every ally in the quadrant recognising the power of sentient androids and the threats they proposed to the galaxy, the danger that androids like Data presented.

But Starfleet loved Data.

Humans had a tendency to ‘humanise’ even inanimate objects and creatures who were clearly not sentient or possessed any form of intelligence, the Vulcans often pointed out how strange this behaviour was, disapproving of the sympathy displayed towards small animals and broken machines. So from the moment Data was activated, everyone who met the android seemed to love them, treating them like a lost puppy; teaching, training, caring for them. When they took over the ship, no one got mad, when they apologised after, no one even batted an eye, forgiving and forgetting the incident as quickly as it had happened, ignoring the danger and risks. Any time they were responsible for an incident, it was due to some form of possession, or unintended altering of their programing, so no one ever really blamed Data. Data's actual personality was, simply, nice. Machines and AI often interpret their programming and orders differently, Data took theirs often leaning more towards the polite and friendly side, going out of their way to care and look after any humanoids they met. They utilised every bit of knowledge they had to serve every person they met to the best of their abilities, and that meant they were the perfect officer, as their knowledge was limitless and their abilities infinitely growing every day as they constantly adapted and upgraded their systems to better serve the galaxy and Starfleet.

Starfleet really wanted more Datas.

So, years ago within the first year of Data being posted to their flagship, the newly constructed ‘Enterprise’, when the cybernesists at Daystrom saw the title of a report from Data in their inboxes, regarding the findings and following incident on Data’s home planet of Omicron Theta, which the android had very creatively titled ‘Soong Type Android L0-R3: The Finding and Subsequent Actions of a Previously Unknown Soong-Type Android Known as L0-R3, or ‘Lore’, Resulting in the Unplanned Relocation and Disappearance Following Unethical and Immoral Actions Taken Upon the Crew of the Starship Enterprise’, they were beyond excited. Another android meant the potential of learning more about how they functioned, how they worked. Excitement broke out immediately at the potential for new knowledge. The creator of the android had vanished off Starfleet's radar, and they had left none of their research behind for anyone else to look through, and frankly, no one in the entire galaxy seemed to understand even the basics of what this man had managed to achieve in the basement of his cottage in the middle of nowhere, on a plant whose colony refused to use replicators for food, let alone how to replicate it. The title wasn’t catchy, but it was a ‘very Data title’ as the cybernetics called it, the prospects were groundbreaking, exciting, they didn’t even pay attention to the bit about the disappearance because they were all so focused on the first part, the finding, holding meetings and seminars to examine and review the report.

Reading through it however, was disappointing, even before they got to the ending.
‘Lore’, was insane. Literally, insane, reports from the ships counsellor, who to her surprise could feel this androids emotions from the other side of the ship because of how intense they were, told of how surprised she was to find him so emotionally unstable to the point that, if he were human, she would have him recommended to be locked up in a straight jacket far, far, far away from anyone else. Over the course of less than half a day, he had managed to lull the entire crew into a false sense of security, tricked his ‘brother’ and deactivated them, taken their identity, successfully fooled everyone on the ship and managed to summon what was only called ‘The Crystalline Entity’ to the ship, nearly killing every single living thing on board for no other reason than other than because he felt like it. The entity was known to Starfleet, having been responsible for the destruction of the Omicron Theta colony, it was in these abandoned ruins they had found Data, and it seemed it was his predecessor who was responsible for its destruction, and had the intention of using it to further his outright murder of everyone he didn’t like.

According to the report, Data described their fellow android as ‘nearly identical to myself, except for one apparent difference in programming resulting in emotions that present as unstable and often extreme. The knowledge of being superior to most humanoid life forms gives Lore, as human psychologists would call it, a ‘god complex’, or the idea that he is ‘simply better then everyone else’. He displays an intense desire to end all life he deems inferior, which is unfortunately every life that isn’t on the level and power as me and himself, which is every biological life form and nearly every form of known artificial intelligence’. Lore, it seemed, was the prototype for Data, and as such, wasn’t up to standard in terms of his personality and emotional programming, hence why they had found him in pieces locked away on the planet. Some at Starfleet were often disappointed in Data’s lack of emotions, as they were basically human in many other aspects, but after this report came out, it seemed everyone was very grateful Dr Soong removed them from the newer model after reading about the previous.

The second encounter, a few years later, in a report titled ‘Dr Soong’s Broken Heart: The Summoning of Both Current Soong Type Androids via Homing Beacon to their Previously Presumed Dead Creator Known as Dr Soong, the Following Reveal of a Specially Created Emotion Chip For the Android Known as D4-T4, and the Following Attack and Theft Taken By L0-R3 resulting in the Chip Being Taken Under the control of His Programming and the Unfortunate Death of Dr.Soong’ was even more disappointing. Data refused to tell anyone where this secret lab his creator had set up was, and refused to let anyone see the body of his creator before it was cremated and stored in his own possession. Data also had no idea where Lore had disappeared to, having been deactivated when the other android escaped. The report was useless, and read like a terrible sit com family drama.

The third encounter, ‘Borg: How L0-R3 Manipulated and Took Control of a small Personel of Borg, and Used the Previously Stolen Emotion chip to Manipulate D4-T4 into Aiding in Ethical Experimentation on Borg and Starfleet Personnel taken Captive, Resulting in his Permanent Deactivation once D4-T4 Regained Control over their Ethical Coding and Confronted Him’ had outraged many in the cybernetics community, as again, despite the overly complicated title which promised more knowledge, it didn’t help further any cybernetics research and was just more family drama.

But at least they had Lore now.

Or the cybernetics at Daystrom thought they did.

Until Data had managed to convince those highest up in Starfleet that he was never to be removed from his confinement, never to be used for any research purposes and never, ever be even considered for reactivation, even viewing the body was to be under supervision and with very limiting restrictions in placs. As Data was, legally, the man’s only ‘living’ relative, and both were considered ‘sentient beings’ granted the same rights as every other humanoid within Starfleet, Data had final say on any matter regarding Lore’s treatment. It was questioned whether it was ethical to keep him deactivated but Data simply replied that ‘no facility you could construct would be able to keep him under control and detained if he was active, it would be too great a risk to anyone responsible for his care’.

But after those 3 months, it seemed everyone forgot about him, leaving him quietly in his eternal death, moving onto the constant stream of new additions to Daystrom’s station, the scientists excited about the next new and dangerous thing they could take apart and analyse.

Everyone except Dr Maddox.

Who took advantage of the lack of attention on the captive android to take it for himself. It was easy as the station's head cyberneticists to book an appointment to view Lore, alone without anyone watching him, he was trusted not to tamper with the android, a trust he earned over the years working there, a trust he was happy to take advantage of.

He entered the vault when the station was quiet, during a science conference happening on Vulcan, when 90% of the staff had left for a few days, leaving mainly security and those responsible for making sure the station didn’t fall out of orbit into the planet below, behind.
Maddox walked past the guard, nodding in a small greeting, before entering his security codes into the 3 locked doors, each closing behind him automatically, before he arrived in the small vault housing the android. There were 4 small cells behind force fields housing black crates, 2 on the walls left and right to the entrance, 2 on the back wall. He had bought 4 small devices with him, one for each crate, which would transport the crate away and transport a replica crate at the same time into the exact position of the original, making the swap instant and undetectable.
Always taking advantage of his status as head of cybernetics, he had access to all the codes needed to open the cells. He opened the first cell on the left, placing the first of the 4 small devices onto it before pressing a button on the device, watching as the beam of light appeared and disappeared with no visible change to the crate, he scanned it to confirm the crate was the right one. Satisfied with the swap, he reactivated the forcefield and moved onto the next crate. It took a while to carefully swap all the crates, about half an hour in total, before he walked out the vault, nodding to the guard as he walked by, returning to one of his newly constructed labs to play with his new toy.

Notes:

Thank you for reading !!!!

Please leave feedback if you can so I can improve and I hope you enjoyed reading !!!! <3 <3

Chapter 3: Research and Discovery

Summary:

Maddox spends some time with his new toy, which isn't as fun and fruitful as he hoped it would be. He decides to head to the androids home planet to see if he can find any of Dr Soong's writing to help him with his research but finds something much, much better instead.

Despites his initial excitement of finally having an android to disassemble, Maddox tried to be realistic. He couldn’t do much externally to damage Lore, as eventually he would have to put him back into the vault, and if years in future someone inspected him and found any damage, it would likely be traced back to Maddox as the only one who had ever accessed the android.
But first, he had to reassemble Lore.
Which was surprisingly easy, clicking the limbs and the head into place on the torso took no time at all.

He had replicated Lore a standard issue science blue jumpsuit, to replace the stupid black outfit he wore. It was also easier to modify for his needs, he added a few zips running along each limb, giving easy access to wherever Maddox wanted to cut open and look into. The front of the jumpsuit was standard button up, from the neck down to the crotch, where there was a zip. He left the buttons open, all the way down to the black briefs he was thankful the android was already wearing, in order to give him full access to the main internal systems contained within the torso.

He spent a few months simply observing the internal mechanisms within each part of the body, the limbs cut open in one clean cut from top to bottom showing the fake muscles, copy veins carrying bio fluids and every other delicate secret hidden within. It was all exciting to the Dr who’d only dreamed of getting to see this kind of craftsmanship up close. Filled with servo and mechanisms he didn’t know the purpose of, the limbs were definitely interesting for Maddox to examine. He spent a while taking them apart, putting them back together, taking them apart again before cataloguing every part in detail and putting them back together again.

He had to make several large incisions into the torso before he found out how to open the chest and stomach panels, trying his best to close up the wounds invisibly with threads matching the skin tone as best he could, he didn't know how else to repair the fake skin.
The torso was the best part, filled to the brim with wires, connecting various unknown mechanisms and systems, the main core of whatever powered the android. He took notes of everything, what and where every piece connected to. He spent countless weeks? Months? Just in the lab with his two current assistants, he didn’t know their names, taking detailed exams of everything, building up his own schematics of the internal systems, trying to backwards engineer the construction of the main systems without taking apart and risking damage to the delicate components.

Once he got bored of simply looking at the external mechanics of a Lore, he decided to try and take a look inside his brain, which would be difficult to do with a corpse, so he came up with a plan.

He spent another few months designing a small device, he was proud of it at the end of the sleepless weeks spent building it. He had designed it to be attached to Lore’s neck, just above the spine, where it would cut off all bodily sensations and mobility to his brain. Rendering him, in theory, in something similar to a coma in humans. His brain would be active, letting Maddox analyse his internal coding, which couldn’t be accessed when he was deactivated, but Lore wouldn’t know anything, feel anything, he wouldn’t be able to move or do anything but lay there unmoving without a clue as to what was happening.
When finished and installed, he hooked up Lore via a thick cable inserted into the access panel he found on his head. Opening up the files on his computer he is able to access everything within, able to see the trillions of lines of code as they are processed by his brain in real time. He’s able to look into and inspect every folder and file that made up the entire matrix that his creator had lovingly created to emulate the human brain. He spent a lot of time over the next few months just reading, and reading, and reading through his memories, his emotions, his thoughts. He analysed subroutine after subroutine, there was even a sexual one, why on earth would anyone program a sexual subroutine into what they considered to be their son? Dr Soong was a weird man apparently.
He paid close attention to Lore’s emotional subroutines and programming, no wonder the man was apparently unstable, he was processing emotions and sensations, not at a human rate, but at the full processing speed his matrix was capable of, trillions and trillions of emotions and sensations every single second. He essentially could go through hundreds of lifetimes of emotions in a single second, every second of the day. The thought of it hurt Maddox’s head, he almost felt pity for the android, almost, until he remembered he didn’t really care about the tin man.
He made copies of everything he deemed important within the matrix, keeping it stored on about well over a thousand pads in his main lab upstairs. Mostly subroutines involving general processing, the storage and understanding of information, and everything to do with personality and independent thought that truly set him apart from any other AI the universe had created so far.

Eventually he got bored of that too, when it became apparent just how long it would take to decipher what every line of code did, he estimated it could potentially take hundreds of years of non stop work by whole teams of people. However while he loved the idea of dedicating his entire life and that of several generations to the project, he wanted to be the one to make another android, not his great great great whatever.

So what could he do?

He did have an idea, a theory that there was something that could make it easier for him to achieve his goal, much, much quicker.

The theory was that maybe, just maybe, when Starfleet found Data and searched Omicron Theta, that they had hopefully missed something. When Data had later returned to find Lore, that he had missed something also. No one ever found anything in the labs there as no one cared to look further into the labs, focusing on nothing but the androids. Maybe, he would be able to look deeper inside the laboratories winding mazes and room to find something else, a secret storage unit filled with the late dr Soong’s research that he decided to keep hidden, that had been spared the destruction of the Crystiline Entity, that would help him to decipher some of the inner workings of the android on the table. Hell, even a small book with some of his notes used when constructing the androids would be amazing to have, to give him a direction to go when it came to his understanding. Soong designed and built his androids all on his own and was the only person who even slightly understood how they worked, Maddox needed to find something by the man that would help him in his research, and he needed to find it now.

He could dream, but he could also go to Omicron Theta to have a thorough look through the laboratories.

He booked one of the station's private shuttles and took his two new assistants with him on a short field trip to the distant planet. The other two assistants had recently left at some point, apparently he was ‘a nightmare to work with’, whatever. He made the younger one fly, the other sit at ops, while he laid down in the back of the shuttle, resting and making a plan of attack for when they arrived.

—

 

They arrived on the barren planet a few days later, easily finding the not so secret entrance to the underground labyrinth of the laboratory, just behind the slab where Starfleet had had found Data all those decades ago.
The three men methodically looked through every hallway and room, cataloging what was in each room via photos and videos in case it was important later on. In one more interesting rooms filled with machines and computers, they found a large empty storage vault that Maddox suspected was where they found Lore, judging by the empty slots for the various body parts. One of his assistents made a comment on how cruel it was, even if Lore was deemed mentally unstable, for a man to essentially kill and dismember his own ‘son’, Maddox laughed at the comment because he'd probably do the same if his child wasn't up to his expectations.

Every computer was destroyed in the Crystalline attack, and it seems Soong had come back to relocate his traditional writings to that new laboratory he had after this one, as all they found were empty shelves where Maddox assumed used to be books. Talk about frustrating, he needed to find something to make this trip worthwhile, something, anything useful in his research.

In the labyrinth they find one more door, tucked right down in the deepest least used part of the lab. It was the only door this deep into the maze, the rest were relatively close together near the entrance, but this was at the end of a long hallway that led to nothing else. It was the same as the rest of the doors in the place, solid metal, plain, with a screen on the wall next to it that controlled it. But it also had a large padlock on the door handle, securing a chain that connected the handle to a metal ring secured into the wall next to it.
Now this seemed promising.
To the Dr's surprise, both the padlock and chain were still in good condition, he had to get one of the assistants to blast it with a phaser to remove it, falling to the floor with a thud and simply pushing open the door. Why was this room locked differently to the rest? Soong clearly wanted to keep whatever was inside safe, so why the ancient locking technique? Unless whatever was inside was so important that he needed to make sure the only way in was a single key that he himself held, instead of an easily hackable computer lock, which made little sense but the man was eccentric so it wouldn't be out of character.

Madox walked into the black room, ordering his assistants to stand at the door holding up torches to light up the room. It was small, barely wide enough for someone to spread their arms out and touch the walls either side. But it was slightly longer, and right and the back was a stack of black crates. Interesting. There were 2 piles, stacked 3 high, locked again with padlocks and chains, the labels in them simply read ‘Test 1’ and ‘Test 2’, which definitely piqued Maddox's interest.
He moved one of the tops crates down to the floor, it was heavy but he was just able to pick it up. He was about to order one of the assistants to open it when he spotted something behind it, what looked to be something much larger, he couldn't see as the piles in front blocked the light from reaching it.
He walked out of the small space and ordered the others to move the smaller crates to the hallway so he could reach what was behind. It took them a while to slowly and carefully move the crates, but when they were done Maddox walked back into the room to see a roughly 6 and half foot container, very similar in appearance to the one that housed Lore, just a lot smaller. He noted there was no lock on this one like the others, just a small screen on the side that only had 2 commands on it for ‘open’ and ‘close’, and a label that read ‘Do not open’.
He carefully tapped for the thing to open, backing away slightly in case whatever was inside fell out or exploded.
When the smoke cleared, because of course there was dramatic reveal smoke it was Soong, the three men stood in silence at the sight in front of them.

Standing upright, held in place by several wide metal bands, was another android, looking almost exactly like the other 2 made by Soong, albeit a bit fatter, joked one of the assistants. Maddox moved closer to inspect the new find, it seemed to be complete, maybe it was functional like the two he knew. But then why was it in such a strange place? Locked away with whatever tests were in the smaller boxes? Was this an early prototype?? Maddox hoped so, that would be an amazing find.
The android wire a simple yellow jumpsuit, Maddox noted a small label on the left chest area, shining his own light up to read it, he was surprised to find this one had a name, or at least a label.
‘B-4’
Well that, like Data and Lore, was a dumb and eccentric name for a robot.
Maddox had the container with this ‘B-4’ inside, moved to the shuttle, he left the rest of the crates and frankly he didn't care for whatever was inside them now he'd found something much more fun to play with.

Notes:

As always thank you for reading, please leave any feedback in the comments because I'm still not thay confident with my writing skills and frankly this took like a million rewrites so it would be nice to know if its any good xxxx

Love you all, have a great day 🩷🥰🩷

Chapter 4: Plan L

Summary:

After some disappointing results from the two androids in his ‘care’, Maddox has no choice but to use up his last resort plan to try and get one of them awake and not mentally insane.

Maddox spent the next year or so fully analysing the new android, taking it apart, testing and running programs and parts of its systems, similar to what he did with Lore. Except he's much less careful about leaving permanent damage on it, cutting and leaving large open slits on the various body parts that dripped a deep golden yellow all over the table and down to the floor, pooling in deep puddles underneath the table until it seemed the android ran out. It lay there nearly completely naked, he had it stripped down to its underwear to make it easier to access everything, because he was annoyed at how limiting the clothing that Lore wore made his work, so this one doesn't get that luxury of such things. Plus, Maddox had to admit, Sr Soong most certainly did a good job with the sculpting on his androids…and the restrained, cut and bloody appearance was definitely…something, Maddox did not complain about walking into the sight every morning, did not think about it late into the night during his own private time.

This android is brilliant to study compared to Lore. The systems inside are a simpler version of Lore's, crude and primitive, but clearly the prototypes of everything that made up the superior model, this helped Maddox to understand what they did, as the simplicity of the older android made it easier to understand how each system worked. Why they were placed where they were, how and why everything connected together, where power ran through its systems, it was brilliant and Maddox spent many sleepless weeks in his lab with the android. He was able to get a very basic understanding of everything inside, and honestly he just had a lot of fun dissecting and performing his own little experiments on it. What happens to this system if it gets shocked by a jolt of electricity, what happens if power is run through this, if this is connected to that or if they're swapped places, he documented and recorded everything, even if it was something done for his own curiosity rather than for research purposes.

 

However, according to Maddox's extensive and thorough testing that took place over the past month or so, the android that laid on the table before them should be awake and talking to them. Despite their many, many attempts, it lay completely still and non responsive, It was frustrating Maddox beyond words, hence the need for his newest assistants because his temper and frustration with his work was slowly making him come undone and prone to anger. They had spent weeks carefully putting everything back together after he completely wrecked the insides, he was 90% confident he put everything back in the right place…ok maybe more like 50% but still, it should work.

His team Qanalysed its brain the best they could, given the cybernetics communities limited knowledge on positronic matrixs, which was basically nothing. The knowledge on Soong type androids especially was basically non existent, limited to guesswork and theory, and to the brief and frankly nearly useless information Dr Maddox received from his conversations with Lt.Cmdr Data. Data himself didn't understand his own inner workings very well, so it wasn't much help to converse with him about it, but Maddox did so anyway to keep up the professionalism and friendship with the android, just in case Data made a discovery one day about his inner workings so that Maddox knew he would be the first to hear about it. He would have preferred to have Data on the table in the lab though instead of the two he had currently. Disassembling him, the most successful being the final model of the three, would have been a literal goldmine of information and research that would have leaped cybernetics forward centuries. But no, he was a person and that would be ‘mean’ according to the new federation law on androids. Maddox still held a lot of anger towards the disappointing results of the trial held years before, as he still firmly believed that Data wasn't a person and therefore it wasn't up for debate if he could take him apart for study or not. In his opinion, even if he was a person, why would he want to stop Maddox’s research that could be literally universe changing. The replica lifeform felt no pain and no suffering, so why did it matter if he got dissected when it was in the name of science? Yes, there was the chance of irreparable damage and permanent deactivation yes, but aren’t all great scientific endeavors plagued with risk?

-Maybe it's matrix simply doesn't have anything programmed into it, meaning we cant turn it on because there's nothing there to turn on, like its an an empty shell that was used for testing-
The shorter of the two assistants spoke, the only distinct feature he had being his blonde hair that set him apart from the other assistent and Dr Maddox.

They had tried every way to turn it on, Data had briefly mentioned a physical manual on/off switch but refused to tell anyone where it was for ‘personal’ reasons, and after a thorough search when they first bought the android here, they had found it, only for it to do absolutely nothing. Data didn't know about the android on the table when Maddox asked discreetly about the way of activating and deactivating him, and had promptly shut down the idea of that information being spread around and potentially falling into the hands of people who would use it against him, so Maddox couldn't really ask for more help about the situation without raising suspicion.

-That is a unfortunate possibility we must take into account-
The other assistent was Vulcan, his short black hair in the signature haircut that plauged Vulcan society, setting it aside from Dr Maddox’s mess of unruly hair on top of his head. Maddox remembered his hair was once tidy and professional, back when he first started working at the station, he would spend ages in the morning slicking it back, making sure every hair was in place, taking pride in his appearance. His hair slowly coming undone was, ironically, a good physical presentation of his declining mental state as his time at Daystrom went on. His cybernetics research had continued to decline, hitting dead end after dead end, it was his entire life, his reason for being, so it angered him to no end, knowing he was failing at the only thing he was supposed to be good at.

Maddox sighed, he was really hoping this would work, that the android on the table would just work, and he could spend the rest of his life working with it, eventually creating a new type of androids he would call the Maddox-type androids. He dreamed that the universe would simply give him a win for once in his life, allowing him happiness and success.
But it wouldn't.

-We’ll have to attempt plan L-
He said it part angrily and part defeated, it was dumb name that was part pun because he was definitely losing, part the fact he actually lost track of what plan he was on several years ago and now gave them whatever random names he could think of and part because that was the android’s name.
They had Lore laying on an identical table, immobile but mentally active thanks to some clever inventing on Maddox’s part, in an identical lab just down the corridor. They had had him there for the past 3 or so years, ever since his defeat at the hands of his younger brother. Maddox didn't know the exact details as to his defeat, but he knew it had something to do with Lore leading the Borg. He was disassembled in Daystrom storage for 3 months before Maddox snuck in and stole him without anyone noticing, and as no one had bothered to open the containment to check on the android since then, no one would ever know. As far as anyone was aware the Daystrom institute only had one android in their possession, securely locked up behind three separate locked doors. Actually, as far as everyone outside the three people in this laboratory was concerned, there was only one android at Daystrom, as he made sure to erase the memories of his work from any assistants after they quit on him, which was often so we was quite good at it

The testing they'd done on Lore had repeatedly come up with nothing, despite Lore being the better model and actually working compared to the one on the table, Maddox couldn’t find out anything they didn’t already know, or he was given test results they couldn’t possibly understand. Maddox didn't know the specifics of the programming difference between Lore and Data, but it was obviously immense given the very distinct personalities between the two otherwise identical androids, and this created a dangerous problem in trying to replicate or test any of the older androids programming into the new android. But after months and months with no results, plan L really was his last idea of what to do with the apparent shell on the table in front of him. He just needed one of Soong-type androids, active, one who was not going to kill him, and who was willing, or easily programmable to be willing, to help him with his research. Getting the one on the table working was the only way to get all three conditions in one model, assuming the solution to fix the whole ‘mentally unstable’ thing actually worked.

-Shall I retrieve the necessary equipment while you set up everything in here sir?-
Maddox nodded and the Vulcan left to gather the supplies from the other lab, while he and the other assistent set up the necessary equipment in this one. Which consisted of Maddox going over to the computer at the back of the room, getting the program up and running ready for the transfer and the assistant moving the table around slightly to make room for the other.

All they needed to do, it was easy and simple and not complicated at all, thought Maddox, was to copy Lore’s entire matrix, minus his terrible personality, memory and emotional subroutines, and paste it into the other android. He knew the different sections that made up the matrix and how to isolate them so it was just a case of doing it, somehow. In theory, this would result in a basically factory reset Soong android ready for activation, study, testing and, hopefully, training to be a perfect little assistent. Easy as pie. He smiled to himself, easy. The reason they hadn’t attempted this before was due to Lore being well, Lore. The risk of the second android going insane with a copy of Lore's matrix inside its head was too high, but if this idea worked he would have the perfect android on which to run his testing and research.

The Vulcan returned, rolling a table covered in a white sheet, eventually placing it next to the other; they removed the sheet to reveal the android known as Lore laying unbound to the table as well as some additional cables and pads. They began connecting the cables, after carefully opening the access panels on the sides of both their heads underneath their hair. The first cable ran between the not working android and the computer at the back of the room, and then another cable ran between Lore and the computer. Maddox tried to be careful not to damage any of the ports or flashing lights while connecting them into the delicate machinery on Lore, but basically ripped the panel of the first android, shoving the cable in quickly because frankly he hated the thing. The heavy cables ran down the tables and along the floor, creating a mess that wasn't noticeable, as the mess that was already on the floor hid any new additions. Maddox sat in the chair in front of the computer and began typing orders away into the program. Maddox had no idea how or if it would work, so he and the two assistants crossed every fiber of his being and watched with held breath as he tapped the enter button and the loading bar on the screen began to slowly creep towards its goal.

Notes:

We’re getting to the good part now! The chapters are getting longer and more interesting so I hope you’re still enjoying the story!! <3 <3

Chapter 5: B-Lore

Summary:

Maddox’s ’Plan L’ seems to have made an addition inside Lore’s mind, connecting him to…something? Walking down a dark hallway he finds another room, and someone inside who definitely takes him by surprise.

Lore was still sitting in his chair, watching the unchanging screen staring into that damned white light. He was on his 147428th failed idea on how to escape and murder everyone who dared to think they could hold him wherever he was, when the screen suddenly changed. He was moving somewhere, he watched as it looked like he had excited a room, and was taken down the world's longest corridor and then into a different room, it was the first excitement in who knows how long, he’d lost track of how long he'd been staring at the same white light on the screen. He watched as the movement stopped, seemingly coming to whatever location was his designation for now, cursing as it seemed he was placed underneath another damn light. He tapped away at the pad in his hands, replaying the previous footage to look for any clues as to his location or condition, but to several loud swear words, found nothing useful.

He felt something jolt into the side of his head. A sudden electrical current entered his access port on the side of his skull, then ran throughout the rest of his body, his head involuntarily twitching to the side of the jolt, before it stopped as quickly as it started. He cursed at the pain and scanned the main monitor on the wall, going through all the code being processed hoping that something would stand out and be useful. He found something about an access port being open and then another about a new connection being made, before he got distracted as he could most certainly see moving fuzzy black shapes above him on the second screen out of the corner of his eyes. He turned to fully focus and try to study the figures, there were two of them above him, doing…something.

Suddenly the figures above were gone and the entire room went dark, all of the red lights and displays going off, leaving him in pitch darkness for nearly a full second before everything flashed back on. He tried to calm himself from the sudden shock of something invasive appearing in his programming, a sensation that left him dropping the pad and gripping the armrests of the chair, breathing rapidly. After a minute or so his breath returned to normal and he stood up, turning round to examine the rest of room for an explanation, or something, anything to help him understand what the fuck just happened.
As he scanned around the room everything seemed to be exactly the same as before, except for the door on the left wall that had appeared out of nowhere.
Wait.
A door?
There shouldn't be a door.
This was the only room, his room.
A door leading to another made no sense, then again, having a literal control room in your brain didn't make much sense either, but that's not the point.
He shrugged off his quickly spiralling anxiety of his mindspace being violated, and mentally shoved it into a folder labeled never to be processed ever, and walked over to the wall to examine the new addition. It was black, so at least it had the decency to try and match the decor, but was otherwise out of place by the simplicity of its design, as everything else in the room was a chaotic cyberpunk dystopian mess, this door had a smooth polished surface, with a single button to the side on the wall to open it. How dull, he thought as his finger hovered over the button. He never hesitated on anything ever, and after a few minutes of thinking, he pushed the button before he could stop himself again. Peering inside, he saw a long hallway adorned with walls that were the same smooth black metal as the door, it seemed to stretch on forever, taking winding turns into darkness.

He stepped into it, turning back to look into his room before pressing forward, he used a hand on the wall to guide his way through the never ending hallway, and after what felt like eternity, or about 2ish minutes of walking he reached the end, staring at another door. Underneath a small light that hung above it, he could make out that it was a white wooden door, with the metal fixtures being tinted with blue, painted with blue butterflies in the centre, which was an…interesting design choice definitely. He grabbed the round doorknob and hesitated, before turning around and heading straight back down the hallway to his room.
He wasn't scared, he just couldn't be bothered to deal with whatever nonsense this was. Definitely. One hundred percent.

He got halfway back before he heard it, a loud screaming from behind the other door.

It was an agonising scream, sounding like whatever it came from was being ripped apart, it sounded in pain, whatever, he didn’t care.

He turned around, walked quickly forward and slammed open the previously locked door. He obviously didn't care about the thing that was screaming, but now he was curious, he liked a good mystery, he thought of those dumb Sherlock novels that his father used to read with him before returning his attention to the room before him.

The room was a smaller mirror of his own mind, central pillar and all, although this was much less impressive, there was only one large monitor and a few smaller monitors on the wall next to it hooked up to the central core. The walls were an off cream white, soft blue colouring for its displays lights and the cables that ran between them, the room was box shaped and not even a quarter of the size of his own. He chose to ignore the screaming coming from behind him for now, distracted as he walked over to examine the screen on the right side of the room. Looking at the monitor on the wall he recognised the lines flowing down the screen immediately, it's his own coding being copied and downloaded to whatever this computer, machine, android or whatever was. He doubted whatever they were trying to do would work, as even if the copy was successful, there's no way anyone but his father was capable of creating anything to house even a pitiful copy of Lore's magnificent brain. Trying to incorporate Lore's coding into anything else would likely cause the accepting machine to explode from the sheer amount of information being fed into it, there simply wasn’t any machine created that rivalled the capacity of the positronic brain that his father made, well obviously except for Data.

He turned back round, looking for the source of the screaming that had now turned into a not so quiet sobbing. He surveyed the room cataloging properly the contents: wires on the floor connecting everything together, two central computer station around the central column a figure hunched in the corner, several monitors randomly on the wall showing different-
A figure hunched in the corner?
A figure hunched in the corner??

Huh

Ok?

He looked at them closely, they were squatted down, knees up to their chest, head in their knees, hands intermixed with an unruly mop of hair.
A person, a being, someone who this mind belonged to.
There's no way anyone had actually created something sentient, and if they did why were they copying Lore’s code into it? None of this made any sense, none of it could be computed and understood while he was missing so many key variables and information, and the sobbing was getting on his nerves, making the situation more and more irritating, overwhelming his senses which until now had gotten used to the quiet in his own mind. The monitor on the screen flashed red behind him, he turned to see error message after error popping up on the screen and it became obvious that whatever someone was trying to do with this new android, wasn't working. Just as he thought, this mind was simply too small and simple to accept Lore's coding, it was literally ripping itself apart from within, about to explode at any moment.

Lore turned back round and carefully took a few steps towards the other person in the corner, he wasn't sure why he needed to check on them but he did. When he was within a metre, he tried a small fake cough to get the others attention, this seemed to work as the figure slowly moved their head upwards to look at Lore. What he saw was pain in golden eyes and yellow tears flowing down…
His own face?
Or Data's face?
No this wasn't either of them, Lore never cried and Data deciently wasn't this simple minded. So this was a completely different android that for some reason looked like them.
He considered who had created the android, but after thinking for a second, a third party making him was immediately out of the question. Soong only made him and Data look like himself to boost his own ego so he doubted anyone making their own androids would make it look the same, and even though the matrix was simpler it definitely used the same design principles as the one invented by Soong. So this was a third brother that Soong had made at some point, which was interesting. But when? Did his father create this new android after Data? Unlikely, as Soong spent his last remaining years working on the stupid emotion chip for his favourite son and nothing else. Was he created between himself and Data? Again that was unlikely, as he remembered when Soong began working on Data a few days before the traitor had deactivated him.

That left one option, that he was created by Soong, before Lore was. Lore cursed at his fathers spirit as this now meant that Lore was officially the middle child of the family, easily the worst sibling in any family.
He remembered overhearing his father talk of the three test androids that he had constructed before Lore on a few occasions, but he had said that they were all featureless test bodies, never reaching sentience or even having positronic brains installed, being left as empty shells to be used to test and perfect various aspects of the body he had designed.

In the second he processed all this, the sobbing had increased again by too much and was now really annoying him, he needed it to stop before he could continue with whatever he was planning on doing here. He spun round and headed for the monitor, he tapped away at the panels beneath and in a few seconds had fixed the issue causing the apparent pain to the other android by simply sending back the copied code through the computer acting as a middle ground between the two minds, and promptly having it thrown in the trash.
He needed answers from the other, and if he simply cut off the connection copying the code it's likely that he'd head back to his own room alone, staring at that damn light again, and he’d never get a chance to talk to the other to try and find out what the fuck was happening. He made sure that his alteration wasn't noticeable to whoever was doing this, and made sure that everything that had already been copied was also moved and trashed, as if he'd left it intact it could slowly degrade the matrix it wasn't designed for until there was nothing left.

He waited until the sobbing had quietened down, smugly grinning at how easy it was for him to fix the issue, before turning back around and walking back towards the figure. He had his head back in his knees, and Lore could still hear the occasional muffled sob from the other pulling at his non existent heart strings. The figure must have heard him approach this time and didn't like it, because he jumped onto his feet and backed himself into the corner, hands to his side leaning on the wall, eyes on Lore. The look of pure fear and confusion on his own mirrored face was unsettling to say the least, and downright creepy to say the most.

His eyes looked around the room briefly before looking at Lore then back around to the room, as if he was just now noticing where he was. He had finally stopped crying, of which Lore was thankful for, but was still trembling, holding himself up on the wall behind him with shaky hands and wobbly legs. The other looked back to him again, tilting his head and burrowing his brows. The common trait between this one and Data was interesting, he didn’t remember ever doing it himself, unless he did and he wasn’t aware of it? He made a note to keep an eye out for it. After a painfully long time, or well over a minute of silence and staring at each other, the others' eyes opened up in surprise and recognition, a small smile on his face as he spoke.
-Father!?-
His voice was just above a whisper and Lore could hear a little bit of excitement in it.
-Excuse me?-
Lore snapped at the other, he stood with his arms folded in front of the other, glaring at the increasingly more and more annoying being who had insulted Lore by comparing him with his father.
-No, definitely not-
-You … you are not my father??-
His eyes were wide, and he looked like a child, confused and lost, he looked like he was going to start crying again.
-No fucking shit Sherlock, try again-
He noticed the other wince at the curse word, tears once again flowing down the already tear stained face, he almost felt guilty for snapping him, almost.

This was now even more confusing to him, new questions being brought up at ten times the rate old ones were being answered. Who was this, why were they connected in their minds, how were they connected in such a way, where were they outside of their mind, his thoughts continued to spiral into paranoia before being interrupted.
-Who….what is your name then?-
The other asked at a normal volume this time, and Lore was able to notice why his voice was so annoying to him, he assumed it was the sobbing and whimpering, but it was actually because the voice itself was slightly grainy and modulated. Unlike his and Data’s silky smooth rendered voice this one seemed to have sand in his voice box.
-Lore, yours?-
He sighed, replying plainly at a normal volume, he really didn't have the patience to entertain this simpleton much longer, but he had to know something about what was happening and he was the only real option to find out anything useful, even if it was something small. The other opened and closed his mouth, trying to remember his words. Lore stood not too patiently for over 3 minutes this time before the other finally spoke.
-My name is…B4-
The other, beamed a small smile towards Lore, a beam of pride at remembering his oh so complex and confusing name.
Ok yeah, he was definitely one of his father's androids, no one would give his child such a dumb name. Lore was an ok name, evoking images of myths and legends, but Data and B4 were downright stupid. Now he had something to work with, he looked through his internal files that had downloaded from his fathers lab when he last visited it before he died, looking for anything about the so-called B4 android. He'd never had a reason to look at any of Soong's old files, because frankly who gives a shit, he just took them because he liked stealing stuff, stuffing them into the back of his mind alongside all the shit he took from the Enterprise’s computer.

He found a single log, made well over two or so years before his own creation, which mentioned B4 briefly. It mentioned what Soong had hoped would be his first success towards his goal in creating his own sentient androids, but had instead ended up being a massive failure. It simply stated that the android suffered a near complete cascade failure after an undetermined time being active, meaning he had no choice but to deactivate them permanently before the android was completely unrecoverable. The problem apparently, was that his matrix was too simple, and was unable to form and create new codes and subroutines as he learned and grew, meaning essentially he was stuck with only what was manually programmed into his matrix and could never be anything more unless it very slowly inputted by hand. However, his mind still tried to take in new information constantly, absorbing it into his matrix but never integrating it properly, causing him to constantly have the equivalent of panic attacks and moments of complete mental shut down as his mind tried to process the new information presented to him at speeds his matrix simply could never process.

The final note in the log simply said the android was ‘disposed of quietly’, in an unlabeled, secured box somewhere on his property so no one could steal it, and somewhere Soong never had to see or even think about such a failure again. This pissed him off, as even with Lore, after all he did and everything that was wrong with him, there were several dozen logs on just his storage unit as it was being constructed and eventually used to keep his body stored safely in its deactivated state, let alone the thousand of logs on his time being active, detailing everything that happened during his early years. Clearly Soong didn't care enough for his first son to give him the same treatment, which Lore had once thought was the worst way to treat an android, and simply shoved him in a box, deleted everything about him and forgot about him entirely. Lore's anger continued to grow, as the issue with the matrix should have been an easy problem to fix! After creating Lore it would have taken Soong no time at all to compare the two and figure out the cause of the cascade problem and fix him. But no, instead he chose to kill him and stuff him a box to work on his better son. Which was ironic because he then repeated the act, disposing of Lore and trying again as soon he showed signs of failure! He felt he should have been more happy to find out that Soong had other failures, that he wasn't alone, that someone understood his hate towards Soong and his pain at his own broken and unfixable existence, but all he felt was an intense anger at the unfeeling treatment of the two by the supposed kind and caring father.

His deactivation made some sense, he was unstable and literally killed several dozen people, but this guy? B4, who was cowering in the corner, who couldn’t understand what he was or anything that was happening around him? Crying his eyes out in pain at the pain of simply trying to understand and process the world around him? He deserved better than death. His wide eyes staring at Lore, welling with tears, made even his uncaring heart start to feel protective of him, how on earth could Soong be so heartless?. Their father really decided that his older brother wasn't up to his standard, he was disposed of as easily as one would any other meaningless broken computer parts, not even seeing him as deserving of preservation or dignity.

 

He decided in those very long and emotional few seconds, where he felt he went through about a million different lifetimes of emotions and thoughts, that this was his brother, and he’d be damned if he let anyone hurt him ever again.

 

After a few more seconds in silence, B4 spoke again, bringing Lore out from his spiralling rage and anger as he continued to over-think what could have possibly led Soong to be such a terrible father to them both.
-Are…you Lore?-
-I literally just told you that-
He gave a small smirk at the other, his anger dissipating and becoming mildly amused at B4’s lack of understanding, it was endearing in a way, like a lost puppy.
-I...remember father speaking of...a brother he was making…before he said I had to sleep…I helped pick the name Lore…he looked like you…it made me sad that I never meet him when he woke up-
B4 spoke slowly, only a few words at a time, he held himself up to the wall with one hand and used the other's pointer finger to tap at his chin while he spoke, eyes darting around the room at nothing in particular, he genuinely looked like he was struggling to form his thoughts into words.
-Wait a fucking second, before you went to sleep?-
Lore ignored everything else instead focusing on the weird statement of going to sleep, he felt a spiral of thoughts starting before the other spoke again, breaking it before it began.
-Father said, I was…broken…that I needed to sleep so I wouldn’t get worse-
He looked at Lore with such innocence he actually made Lore want to throw up from the sweetness. He tried to understand the meaning of his words, 'sleep', and when he realised what they likely meant he felt anger rising up inside him again. On top of everything, the bastard Soong couldn't even tell him the truth, that he was deactivating him forever with no intention of activating him again, essentially killing him. No, instead he told a lie, he told a lie to what was essentially a child, who should have been a child to him, just to make the job easier.
He remembered his own betrayal before Soong deactivated him, he had lured Lore to a false sense of security by talking about how he wasn't going to let the colonists tell him what to do, that he wasn't going to listen to their demands for his deactivation. He even pulled Lore into a hug for fucks sake, talking about how he was sorry for everything Lore had to go through with the colonists before killing him on the spot woth no remorse. He could feel himself starting to boil over with rage now, taking bigger breaths to try and collect his thoughts before he completely lost it.

-Lore? Are...are you ok brother?-
B4 was still pressed into the corner, terrified of everything happening, still understanding nothing, face stained with tears, his hand moved from his face to clutch his chest in an attempt to slow his own ragged breathing. Despite this, Lore heard genuine concern in his voice and felt his heart melt a tiny bit at the sound, no one had ever spoken to him so...genuinely and caring, literally ever. Even before he ‘went insane’ as his mother so kindly put it, he was only ever spoken to with slight disgust by the stupid colonists and his supposed loving parents. He couldn’t relax anymore, couldn’t control his own panicked brain and the spiralling anger rising within him, making his breath short and his chest hurt.
-Oh I'm just fine! Everything’s fine! I don't know what's happening, I can't find anything out, my mind is filled with a million fucking questions that I haven't been able to answer for years and you. aren't. helping. anything!! This whole situation is stupid and confusing, I hate not knowing anything!!! And I hate not being able to find out anything even more!!-
He shouted, exaggerating his words with arms pointing around at the room, his sudden outburst scaring his brother, causing him to whimper and make another attempt to push himself further into the corner. Lore looked at him, feeling an intense flood of guilt stopping his rage in its tracks and began pacing the room in order to use up his excess energy, hoping it would calm him down enough so he could talk without scaring B4 again.

 

-I…do not know…I am sorry-
B4s voice was quiet and pained, Lores heart actually ached as he heard his brothers voice break into a cry, fresh tears flowing down his cheeks. Seeing the other crying again, for some reason made his mind stop, everything stopped, as he just looked at him for a moment trying to process why he felt guilty for making him cry. After a moment to calm himself so he could control his volume, he spoke to his brother again, this time reducing his voice to a softer whisper.
-Look, I’m sorry, I'm not going to hurt you ok? You don't need to know anything, especially since I don't, I'm just angry at whoever else's doing this, I'm sorry it was directed at you, I’m not gonna hurt you ok?-
He rambled on for a moment, trying to comfort him. Seeing that his brother didn’t believe or understand him made his heart ache further, though he didn’t quite understand why.
-Also if I wanted to hurt you you'd be dead already, considering I just stopped you from dying-
He pointed over to the screen that was now running normally, code flowing smoothly with no issues.
-I fixed whatever they were doing to you so you don't hurt anymore, you can trust me ok? I'm your little brother, I'm not going to do anything to hurt you because that's not what brothers do, ok?-
Lore tried his best at a reassuring smile, why was he trying so hard to comfort him? Who cares! Stop babbling, it's embarrassing, but he wanted to try and talk for however long it took to make his new brother understand him.

B4 looked at him for a while, he eventually stopped crying and wiped his tears on his sleeves. He stood still, silently, Lore felt he could almost see the smoke coming out his ears as the clearly much slower android tried to understand what he was saying to him.
-I understand…I think…Lore will not hurt…his brother-
He looks at Lore and smiles, a wide lipped goofy grin, taking pride in understanding him.
Lore genuinely relaxed and smiled this time at his brother, no, wait, why would he smile? Why did his smile make him smile? Why was he acting so sappy?
-Good, we're going to figure out what's happening together and get out of here together ok?-
Again, he felt the need to reassure him, he needed B4 to understand him so they could figure this whole stupid situation out.

B4 looked at him right in the eyes, a look of confusion on his face as he was clearly trying to remember something important. Before Lore could even process what was happening with his own ever rapidly changing emotions and confusing thoughts, let alone his brothers, B4 had run over to him, wrapping his arms around Lore's waist and arms, lifting him into the air into a death grip of hug, spinning the two around a few times, much to the younger androids’ stunned horror at the sudden strange physical contact. B4 stopped spinning and buried his face into Lore's chest, he could feel the wide grin on him as he did so.
-You’re my little brother!!!!-
Lore’s immediate anger at being touched, disappeared entirely at the sound of the genuine happiness and excitement as the other hugged him and the sounds of a muffled giggle as he spun them a few more times. He was mildly annoyed at such a strange display of affection, but realising he’d never been hugged before, he weirdly wanted it to continue forever.
-Ok, ok, I get it you're excited, put me down now please-
B4 simply responded by a few chants of -little brother- over and over, swaying the two side to side. Lore felt at ease around the other, but his own mind was a conflicting mess of emotions that wanted him to be miserable and alone. He tried to be mad at B4, but he was too stupid to have any negative intentions with anything he did and that made his actions almost funny instead of infuriating. He didn't want the hug to end, but he felt his body slowly being crushed by it.
-B, seriously, please put me down-
B4 gently put Lore back on the floor, keeping his arms securely wrapped round the other, trapping Lore in the hug still. Lore looked up at B4 to see a big goofy smile on his face, he went to speak about something else but immediately forgot when noticed something that made his mechanical stomach turn and his anger boil back to the surface.

-Ok what the fuck, how are you taller than me?!-
Lore didn't shout but his voice was raised enough to make B4 give a face of shock.
Not even by a little, the top of his head barely reaching his brother's eyes, more on level with the tip of his nose, he didn't want to know the exact measurements of the difference, he was already mad enough. It seemed that their father had made his first likeness a bit more exaggerated in their appearance rather than accurate to his own, what a shock. Lore made a mental note in his mind to visit his father's grave and kick it a few times for not only making him the middle child, but now the shortest as well. Adding to his anger he remembered when he first saw Data at the Borg base he summoned him to, how his time floating in space had shrunk him, how he didn’t realise until he looked at Data and measured him to be a full 2.45cm taller than himself. He made up for it by adjusting his hair before Data noticed, but most humanoids got taller when in a low gravity environment, why did he get shorter! His anger continued to boil before immediately disappearing when B4 looked at him wide eyed and shouted happily.

-Tiny brother!!!-

B4 was giggling, swaying lore in the embrace from side to side, Lore wanted to punch him in the face so much, but he also stored and logged B4s giggles and smiles in a new secure folder in his mind to preserve them forever. He then noted that it seemed the other had just a bit more strength than him, as he was unable to even budge in his grip, great, just great. He couldn't bring himself to be more than mildly annoyed and amused at B4, he really did have a way of breaking down the walls within Lore. He unconsciously started to relax into the embrace, lifting his arms to wrap round his brother's back before he even processed what he was doing, he leaned his head comfortably on the other brother's shoulder with a sigh and a shake of his head. B4 was definitely happy with this, relaxing his grip and hugging him more gently, moving from swaying them both to simply nuzzling up against the side of Lores head
-Tiny adorable baby brother!!-
He giggled, again, which seemed to a constant thing for him, Lore sighed and gave a small laugh in return
-Shut up that's mean-
He didn't mean it, he could feel himself smiling into B4’s shoulder. He actually liked this brother, he felt welcome and loved, which was weird but nice. He really just wanted to stay like this forever, he spent too long in misery to not have some time feeling happy.
They stayed like that for 8 minutes 52 seconds and 37 milliseconds before B4 quickly pulled away after hearing a loud clicking sound fill the room around them, moving back from Lore slightly to try and see what it was.

Lore sighed at the sudden lack of attention, and was about to open his mouth to protest when he felt a sudden familiar sensation flow through him, it felt like an electric shock coursing through his body, the room started to spin and he tried to steady himself to stop from falling over. He couldn't control his gasp as he looked down, his arms were beginning to fade, literally fade, he could begin to see the floor through his arms. He looked up to B4 who was already panicking and crying, his hands grasping at his hair as he tried to process what was happening in front of him.
-Hey, I’m ok, everything’s ok, it seems I have to leave now ok? I'll come back for you ok? Might take a while, but I promise we’ll get out of here-
He tried to reassure his brother, but suddenly felt himself spiraling down the most intense bout of paranoia he'd ever experienced, the thought of leaving B4 alone again, with the near certainty of him being hurt again by the still unknown beings wherever they were being held captive, it made him freeze up, he couldn't breathe, he couldn't think, he just knew he needed to keep B4 close to him, to keep him safe, keep him with him, but he couldn't move, he couldn't keep him safe, he couldn't do anything, it was painful, it hurt it hurt it hurt-

He watched as B4 moved to grab him, reaching out his arms to keep Lore with him, Lore wanted nothing more then to be in his arms again, but he only heard a loud thud somewhere behind him as he blinked, and was back again in his own room, standing in front of the wall where there was no longer a door, were there was now a few monitors and cables, alone, alone, alone-

 

Fuck.

Notes:

The boys finally meet !!

As always thank you for reading, I really hope you enjoy it, and if you can please leave any feedback you have in the comments xxxx <3 <3

Chapter 6: Escape

Summary:

Now that Lore has a reason to, he finds a way to finally escape from Daystrom, taking B4 with him…for…some reason, he can’t really explain why, he just knows neither of them can stay here.

Lore fell to his knees in front of where the door used to be. He needed to calm down, he needed to get back, he needed to help B4 before he got hurt again by those assholes- his breath gew shorter and faster, as he continued to overthink every single thing that had happened, what could happen, and what he needed to do next.
He needed to escape, needed to get back to his brother, but how? how, how, HOW? He needed to get out of here, he needed to find B4 and take him far away from these people who were hurting him. He wrapped his arms around himself, closing his eyes he tried to calm down, he tried to think about something, anything else but he couldn't, he couldn't stop the never ending stream of images of B4 being subject to more testing, more pain. The brother clearly felt pain as Lore did and the thoughts of him being experimented on was too much for his processing to handle, where was B4's physical body? What were they doing to it? Lore thoughts continued to spiral deeper into paranoia, repeating the same thought over and over until he couldn’t think of anything else.

The thought of B4, crying in pain, alone in his mind, with no one to help him.

Why did that upset him? Doesn’t matter, it did.

He sat there, hyperventilating, unmoving, for 46 hours, 35 minutes and 28 seconds, before his breathing had begun to slow enough to be considered normal, before he stopped shaking, before he suddenly felt the intense pain in his legs from being still for so long. He closed his eyes and simply tried to breathe steadily, for another 47 minutes 14 seconds, until he had his breathing fully went back to normal and he could think a bit more clearly.

He sighed at such a pathetic show of weakness over something so stup- important, B4 was important to him now. He spent 73 agonising seconds willing his body to stand up before it did, slowly, leaning his hands on the wall. He climbed his way up 2 monitors on his right and 1 on his left, using them as support and leverage before he finally stood upright, waiting 83 seconds before he sighed and opened his eyes that he didn't even know he closed. He turned around and leant his back against the wall to stop himself from falling down again. He surveyed the room, everything was the same as when he was here last, before he saw the door the hallway the door the screaming, the screaming, the never evening screaming and crying, before he saw the tears rolling down the face of his precious brother, before-

His hands rushed to his ears to try and stop the sound of screaming and crying looping in his mind, to try and stop his thoughts, he again tried to focus on his breathing and on the room around him. Taking in every single detail to keep his mind distracted from thoughts he wanted gone, he couldn’t get them to simply fuck off into the back of his mind, they stayed at the front demanding attention.
He slowly counted a total of 1,002 monitors, the 2 extra large monitors, 300 large, 300 medium, and 400 small on the 1 continuous circular wall, all fitted together on the wall in a chaotic pattern similar to an old arcade game he saw his father playing once, Tetris? There were an impressive total of 16,638 wires connected between them all, each monitor having an average of 10 cables, some had as many as 12 and as few as 7, connecting them to surrounding monitors and computer stations. The 2 main monitors had an impressive 2735 between them, with 78% of those on the monitor that ran the coding, running between them and the other monitors and displays in the room. There were 8 large computer stations surrounding the core, equally spaced in a circle, plus one underneath the 2 large monitors on the wall, each of them had 147 cables running from open panels on the bottom of the stands to the walls behind them and to the various monitors around the room. Lore tried to focus on the hum of the core and slow pulsing light, trying to steady his breath. Another 3 hours 6 minutes 3 seconds passed, before he felt stable enough to move.

He slowly walked, being careful to step over the cables running the floor, holding onto several stations on the way to steady himself. When he got back to the chair he nearly threw himself into the comfortable familiar safety of it. Leaning his head back he took a deep breath and sighed. What a fucking day, week? Month? Year?? Either way, he needed to leave, wherever this was, and he needed to leave now. He needed to find B4 and he needed to leave. He sat for sometime, watching the screens but not taking in any information, simply being there, trying to empty his mind of all thoughts and feelings, focusing his attention to trying to figure out an escape plan, which seemed to work as he spent a while going through several dozen simulations, trying to think of something useful.

Suddenly he had an idea and his mind flooded with pure adrenaline, running through calculation after calculation, testing his theory, simulation after simulation until he was sure it would work. He jumped up from his chair and ran over to the computer station responsible for his senses. He tapped away a bit too aggressively, nearly smashing the screen as he tried his plan to get his auditory sensors back online. He needed to hear something, anything to help him come up with a plan to escape and get back to B4, quickly, quickly, back to him, to keep him safe. He rebooted his entire sensory system, quickly rerouting his auditory processing to elsewhere in his mind before it got deactivated again after the reboot.

After a painful 94 seconds, he nearly cried with joy as a loud white static filled the room, and the hum of the core near him was slowly replaced with the aggravating sounds of someone typing away at a keyboard, who still used a manual keyboard? Weren't they all touchscreen now? He walked back to his chair shakely, still rushing with adrenaline, to sit and stare at the white screen and listen for clues, for anything. He sat there for sometime focusing on every little sound that could be a clue, typing, a chair moving across the room, breathing, rustling of hair, before he heard a door open, and the sounds of someone walking towards where his body was, the sound of the keyboard finally stopped typing to pay attention to the whoever that had just walked in.

-We just finished the 15th attempt of Plan L with the B4 android, nothing has changed and as with the previous attempts the code seems to be sent back to the computer we sent it from and then deleted before we can do anything about it. With the first test there was promise as it appeared the coding was being integrated, but it seems that whatever self defense program it developed during that first test is permanent and will most definitely prevent us from succeeding in any other attempts of this plan-
What? Lore steadied himself at the confirmation of his new worst fear, they were still testing on B4, only being calmed slightly by the knowledge that whatever he did before seemed to stay and help deter anymore attempts to integrate Lore's coding into his unsuitable matrix. He started to panic but forced himself to calm down just enough to continue listening to the conversation.
-Honestly, given what we know now of this thing and its workings, it's no wonder Dr Soong had it buried in his basement, I'd be embarrassed have created such a failure, I’d want it buried forever too-
He heard the two mysterious men laugh over their mockery of his brother and had to stop himself from smashing the monitor in front of him in anger. Wherever B4 was, it seemed likely that he wasn’t active, meaning he wasn’t hurting physically, which was good news.
-It'll never be any use to us since we can’t activate it, might as well scrap it for parts at this point and focus our efforts on something else-
Lore noted them referring to his precious brother as an ‘it’, the image of his brother being torn apart and tossed in the trash pile flooded his mind and he inhaled deeply, having to constantly calm himself, stop himself from spending the next month in a mess on the floor again, instead focusing his mental capacity on writing up as many ways that he could to rip out their vocal chords and slowly kill them for daring to hurt B4, keeping his mind busy.
-Yes sir … How's Lore doing? It's been a few days since he was hooked up to B4, we had to stop the initial test quite suddenly and this is the first time I've seen you in here since then, was he damaged in any way?--
-Seems fine, honestly I just couldn’t be bothered to come in and check on him, figured his program wouldn't even notice anything, and could self repair any damage done anyway. Plus, since we had a copy of his matrix to use with B4 we didn't really need him for anything else, therefore no need to visit. I ran a diagnostic when i got here a few hours ago and he's fine, but I really just wanted a change of scenery to type, so i could stop looking at that damned stupid, useless robot while I typed up some reports-
-Makes sense sir, honestly the effort we went through to get the B4 you'd think it would have been at least somewhat useful to us-
-It's been completely useless! You'd get more information from just looking at Data's matrix for 10 minutes then we got from thousands of hours of testing on this thing!-
-That's true sir-
He heard a slight laugh, a few seconds passed before the man continued.

-Was the program for Lore's immobility affected? I don't have to worry about him waking up killing us in our sleep, do I?-
-Not really, the device I installed that’s putting him in an android coma is separate to his matrix, running alongside rather than from within it. Thankfully that means it was unaffected by the attempted transfer, plus the fact it's stored in his chest cavity rather then his skull meant that it was nowhere near where we were working, so the risk of the test affecting it is practically non existent-
-That's good sir, do you think …-
The voices cut abruptly as Lore smashed down at the console in front of him, turning off his hearing processors, it was distracting him and their voices were annoying.

So, a device?

A device, installed within him to block all senses and motor functions. That was pretty clever actually, he'd never have thought of that and he definitely wouldn't know where to look if he didn't just hear them.
For the first time in what felt to him like months since he was with B4, he smiled happily at the news.

He got up and walked over to a more elaborate display stand near the back of the room that was responsible for monitoring his current physical condition. He flipped through the different programs responsible for each area of his body before coming to his chest. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, so he began running an in-depth diagnostic to look for any anomalies or damage to the systems there. After a few minutes he got the results, looking through the feedback until he found what he was looking for, an unauthorized, unknown device had been wired into his main spinal column just underneath his neck, effectively cutting off all motor and sensory functions and disconnecting his mind from his body. He had to give this man some credit, the idea was impressive, the execution however, wasn't that great. It looked, and was, very easy for Lore to type in a few lines of code to send a large pulse of energy into the small device, shorting it out and causing it to shut down.

He waited a few moments for something to happen. He blinked and he was suddenly aware of his body, laying on a cold metal table, looking up at the same damn light, it worked.

 

He lay unmoving for a while, listening to the room around him. It was empty, the men seeming to have left while he was busy with his escape from his mind. He slowly bought his body to a sitting up position, moving to throw his legs off the edge of the table he was able to properly take in where the fuck he was.

He was in some sort of research laboratory, judging by the computer behind him, and the shelves and shelves of books and monitors lining the walls. Next to the table where he was laying he noticed a small trolley filled with pads, cables and small tools such as screwdrivers and scalpels. He looked down to visibly check his body for signs of damage or tampering. He was wearing one of those damn awful star fleet maintenance jumpsuits, they appeared to have updated them since he last wore one aboard the Enterprise, looking and feeling like denim overalls with the weird black stripe across the shoulders, this one was the awful colour of science blue for the main colour, he personally preferred the command red. He noted that the suit was open down to his hips to reveal his torso, he saw a giant stitched up cut where they had obviously put in that stupid device, alongside several other similarly poorly treated cuts. He sighed at the damage to himself, the golden soaked cuts with their terrible slightly off colours stitching stood out to him from his otherwise perfectly crafted skin, he could feel similar stitching up his arms and legs, he’d have to spend ages fixing them up when he got the chance. The jumpsuit felt awful on his skin, thick, scratchy, the front caked in dried bio fluid, the stiffness of the fabric made his entire body cringe at the touch of it, the sensory input was overwhelming after his time of controlled nothing.

Lore missed his previous outfit. He had spent so much time designing the black body armor he wore when leading the Borg, he liked the sense of power and authority it gave him. Thinking about it a bit more, he realised how uncomfortable that outfit actually was, it was too tight, he found one piece outfits were frustrating and confining, and the armor wasn't exactly heavy, but it was noticeable. Why hadn't he noticed this when he was wearing it? Right, that damned emotion chip, he was too high on emotions to notice small things like uncomfortable sensations. Thinking of other clothes he'd worn, he liked the paklad outfit he stole, it was comfy and loose, although the colour was terrible. He also liked Starfleet's uniform, not the terrible jumpsuit he stole off Data the first time, but the jumper and slacks combo he stole the second time. If he could get one of those in red …

His thoughts were interrupted by muffled speaking outside the door to the lab. He went back to the exact position on the table as before and waited. Whoever it was opened the door, and walked over to the computer, passing by Lore, looking down into his eyes briefly, giving him a chance finally to see his captor. It was a male human, a bit shorter than himself judging from the surrounding room, his hair was pitch black and it was a mess, sticking out in all directions like he'd just woken up inside a tornado. His face was plain, except for the deep purple under his eyes and the awful stubble adorning his lower face. It gave Lore a small sense of joy knowing this man's misery was most likely his doing. The man went over to the computer, Lore heard him rustling around, clearly in search of something.
The door opened again and the other voice from before spoke.
-Sorry for intruding, but you have another message from LtCmdr Data here, Dr Maddox sir-
He heard the man stop his search and walk to the side of the table joining the other
-Oh goodie, it's probably another way too long essay on something stupid he thinks is relevant to my work, pass it over-
Lore heard tapping on the mentioned pad before the man now named Dr Maddox continued, his voice was familiar from previous, but the other was new, maybe a different assistent to the man?
-Oh? No it's his monthly email checking on the status of Lores confinement, making sure he's all tucked away safely and that we've been reading him his bedtime stories-
They both laughed, Lore had to put way too much effort into not reaching out and grabbing both men by their throats to shut their annoying pretentious laughter up.
-Why does Data care so much about Lore? He's always checking up on him, making sure no ones gone near him, that his containment is secure and he hasn't moved, you'd think he'd stop at some point and move on-
-Honestly I don't think anyone understands his weird relationship with his so-called brother. You know when we first got Lore to the station he sent me a 100,000 something page document simply titled ‘Proper Storage and Care for the Long Term Confinement of Potentially Dangerous Soong-type Androids’. I read the summary and binned the rest, where does he even find the time to write such crap?-
-Oh god that sounds awful, I heard someone mention when he came in to check the vault for Lore after it was finished being constructed, that he was in there for well over 18 hours before he left, apparently only mildly satisfied with the work. Seriously though, why bother going through all that effort for the safety of someone you literally shot in the back?-

Lore thought about that for a moment, Data was confusing, he doubted he actually cared for his safety and was simply hyper fixating out of pure interest rather than an emotional attachment. Dr Maddox spoke again.
-Well the past few years he's had that emotion chip, since then he's upped his concern for Lore by about a million percent, I swear some days I come in here to at least 50 messages from the man-
-Wow really? From what i've heard of him, he doesn't seem like the emotional type-
-Oh god he is, he's just got a really good poker face. If he heard we had Lore on a examination table and not safely tucked into his box he'd be furious, and given what Lore apparently did I'd rather not find out what Data's capable of when mad-
-True, anyway, shall we get lunch sir? I believe the mess hall is serving like, actually food today, apparently they got shipped in yesterday as a treat for everyone-
-I got what I came here for and that, sounds nice for a change, let's go-
Lore heard their voices move towards the door as they finally decided to leave, chatting away about something stupid, he heard the door open and close, leaving him alone in peace once again to unpack that weird conversation.

Data had installed the emotion chip, Data apparently cared enough for him to advocate that he not be used as a test subject, and he had made sure he was left alone and cared for the best you can be when you're essentially dead. These assholes had gone against not only rules and regulations, but also Data's express wishes that Lore be left alone in his confinement, that could be useful information later, he made sure to store a recording of the conversation in the folder he was slowly assembling titled ‘Blackmail: Madox’.

Knowing they'd be gone for a bit while eating, he decided it was probably the time to make his escape from this stupid lab, whatever time it was now. He threw his legs over the edge of the table, and slowly moved to stand, holding the table for support as he did, he felt like he hadn't stood up in years. After a few moments he felt solid enough to move, he walked straight for the door to see if they had bothered to lock it, they hadn't, obviously confident that since Lore hadn't moved in so long that he was likely never going to.

But first he needed info, he moved to the computer, easily bypassing the lock and gaining access (who works at a high security research facility and used Password123?, it was insulting how easy it was to break into) He downloaded all the information into his own matrix regarding the testing on himself and B4, and then deleted it from the computer. He liked stealing, and he needed a form of revenge that wasn't killing everyone on this station, as that would simply alert the entirety of Starfleet and lead to him being deactivated in a different station, so he settled for ruining his entire life’s research and making sure they’d never gained anything from his time here.

Pulling up a map of the station, he mentally mapped a route between his current lab, and the shuttlebay. Thankfully it was midday so most of the active personnel would be in the mess hall having lunch at this time, so it should be relatively easy to sneak around unnoticed.
Wait, fuck.
B4
He searched where he was being kept and altered his route to pick up the older brother. Lore felt a weird warmth within him at the idea of actually seeing the idiot in real life, quickly brushing it off as a weird glitch in his system after being inactive for so long. He needed to get B4 out of here, he had no idea what to do after that, but Lore needed to know that he was safe, and is there a safer place than with family?
He had to help B4, how he had tried to help Data, to take them far away from those stupid organics that could never really be their family as he was. He was the only one who could understand them, that could help them become better and grow, he wanted them to help him the same, wanted simply a family that cared enough to try and fix things. He didn’t want to be left alone.

He moved over to the door, opening it and peaking out before heading into the corridor. Thankfully the lab with B4 in was only a few doors up the corridor. He made a note of how much nicer the hallway looked when he wasn't staring at the ceiling while casually walking through the empty corridor. Once he arrived he opened the locked door to the second lab, wondered briefly if anyone bothered to lock anything here, before he walked inside, closing the door behind him and studied the room in front of him.

The lab was equipped the same as the one he had been held in, but this one was obviously used a lot more, a mess covering every surface with tools, pads, wires and who knows what other crap. He walked toward the table, ignoring the mess on the floor and silently stood there observing his brother for a moment, trying to make sense of what he saw.
B4 lay on the table, arms straight by his side, wrists and ankles bound, with his eyes open to the light above. He immediately reached up, grabbing the light and ripping it from its stand, before throwing it into the corner of the room. He looked back down at the poor state of B4, he hadn't even been given the decency of the shitty jumpsuit they had put him in, just a pair of black briefs more for their comfort then for B4’s.
He was suddenly very aware of the yellow that was literally everywhere, all over B4’s body, the table, in half dried puddles on the floor where he stood, originating from 53 individual cuts on his front side, cross over each other at some points, obviously from Maddox opening him up to see inside, not bothering to seal them up after. The amount he saw, Lore could easily calculate, was every drop of biofluid that should be circulating around his systems, spilled onto the floor like it was nothing but water, and not B4’s literal blood, sweat and tears. He wanted to scream and find Maddox, going quickly through over a million ways to make him feel the same pain he inflicted on his brother until he begged on his knees for forgiveness that would never be given until he slowly slipped from this world forever.
His chest and lower torso panels were cut open, revealing the absolute mess of his internal systems, broken and mangled like someone had put a fucking blender in there. Looking at the lights flashing slowly within his systems, he could tell he was active.

Wait

No

He was active?

Lore checked the systems carefully, the lights were indicating inputs being sent from the connected systems to the brain for processing…sensory…inputs…

He was semi conscious while they did this to him, he felt everything, but he couldn’t move to stop them.

He didn’t see the same device used on him to immobilise B4, maybe his motor functions were broken for another reason?.
He didn't know what they had done to his internal systems, but it didn't look good, it looked like someone had taken a blender to a human's guts, or at least the android equivalent, he'd have to spend days fixing this before he could even think about reactivating him. He suddenly felt like crying, the broken and tangled systems of a machine usually meaning nothing to most people, with 99% of androids or robots not feeling pain, but he knew B4 was like himself, burdened with feeling, from the screaming and crying when he saw him inside the idiots head, he could tell that much about him. He knew how much it hurt when anything touched his own internal systems, remembering the times when Soong had to check or adjust anything, he tried not to imagine the pain of having them exposed and treated like a jigsaw puzzle constantly. He ran his hand over B4s back, feeling around before finding the familiar indent and pressing, just to make sure he was deactivated, seeing the lights inside him flicker off confirming he was. He moved his hand up over the now sleeping man to reach up and gently stroke the side of his face, and then he did cry.
Only a little, just for a few minutes before he forcefully stopped the subroutine, wiping his face on his sleeve and pretending that it didn't slip out without his control.

He carefully spent 18 minutes and 36 seconds trying to put any loose wiring back into place before closing up the panels, making sure everything was sealed before not so carefully ripping the restraints off him, throwing them over in the corner with the fucking light.
Walking over to a nearby storage locker to see if they had any clothes for him, Lore found nothing but an old yellow jumpsuit, he recognised it as similar to the one Song made him wear when he was with him, Lore’s was black however, this must be the same in B4 wore when he was with their ‘father’. After checking it was intact, he spent a good 10 or so minutes awkwardly slipping it onto the sleeping figure, spending time to make sure it was done up and looked like it was sitting comfortably. He didn’t know if B4 got as annoyed with certain fabrics twisting on him as he himself did, but he hoped it would be ok until he could find better clothes for them both.

He decided that a fireman's carry would be easiest considering the others' taller stature. Picking him up, he nearly dropped him immediately at the weight of him, he calculated he weighed 24.5% more then himself, likely due to his substandard mechanics he was constructed with initially, as he didn't see any additions by the scientists that accounted for the extra weight.

Very, very slowly, he moved his way through the station towards the shuttle bay, one left, six floors up in a turbolift, two left turns and one right turn away. He passed a few people, hiding around corners and in rooms when they walked by, thankfully, despite the extra weight he was still agile.
He had chosen the smallest and least used shuttlebay, reserved for three small shuttles that were hardly used. In the system it said they were reserved for when personnel needed them for personal use, currently there should be two parked within.
The plan was simple; open the door, a short five meter walk to the shuttle, open, hack the shuttle, leave, done. He listened at the door for any movement inside that could alter his plan and found none. Just like every other door he had encountered in this very secure station, this one was unlocked and took one whole button to open and close it behind him. He gave a heavy sigh before approaching the shuttle, he had to place B4 down, sitting him down on the floor with his back supported by the side of the shuttle, while he walked over and opened the back door. Walking in, he did a brief visual run through to make sure it was in working order before going back to retrieve his brother, for some reason being separated even for a few seconds while B4 was so vulnerable made Lore nervous. He picked him back up and laid him carefully on one of the beds in the back before shutting the door. Returning to B4, he secured him in place with a few of the straps on the bed over his chest, arms and legs so he didn’t fly onto the floor when the shuttle took off.
When he was satisfied he was secured, Lore walked over to the front compartment to sit at the helm. He didn't know exactly how to fly one of these things, but there's a first time for everything, especially when it only took 1.26 seconds to look up, download and read through the manual on the ship's computer. Using his new found knowledge, and a short phasor blast to ‘open’ the bay doors, he flew the shuttle out and into the vast eternity of the universe, anyone who noticed that a shuttle was gone would assume that it was simply stolen by a random scientist hoping to make a quick latinum bar, no one could even begin to suspect what had actually happened, and it was likely that Dr Madox would do his best to cover up Lores’s escape.

Notes:

Thanks as always for reading !!!
Poor baby B, I almost felt bad for hurting him so much, almost. He’ll get better soon though <3
Wonder how long it’ll be before Starfleet finds out about Maddox’s research

Chapter 7: Admission

Summary:

A urgent message sent to Captain Picard in the middle of the night brings the senior staff into a meeting in the early hours of the morning, waiting for Doctor Maddox to arrive and brief them on what is apparently a top level security mission, but what could have happened that was so important it couldn’t wait until everyone had had their morning coffee?

According to the message Data received from Captain Picard, the Captain had received a priority message from Starfleet in the middle of the night on the top security channel, all Picard told Data and the senior staff in the message he sent immediately after, was that they’d been given a top secret mission for the Enterprise to carry out, to be given to the senior staff only in a short briefing in the morning, and that it needed to be completed as soon as possible.

The mission was important, and Data theorised it had something to do with the Daystrom Institute, as Dr Maddox was being flown over immediately to give the mission briefing. The secrecy and urgency of the meeting meant that the mission did not look like it would be easy, and the fact that only the senior staff were allowed to be in the meeting on the mission, meant it was going to be complex, and likely dangerous.
The meeting was set up for as soon as Maddox had arrived on board the ship, so here they sat around the briefing table at 5:24am in the morning, waiting for Maddox to arrive, a coffee in everyone’s hands, except for Data who nervously tapped their fingers on the table while waiting, and Ca-Tain Picard who of course had his favourite Earl Grey tea.
As it was supposed to be an uneventful day, most of the senior staff had been looking forward to a lay in, Geordi and Will, who’d been working night shifts for the past 6 days were especially annoyed at the early start. Data didn’t really mind, as although they did activate their dream program every night, it only lasted a few hours and was easily interrupted with no ill side effects, but they were disappointed at missing out on a ‘lazy’ morning lying in bed with Geordi.

Dr Maddox walked into the room, a briefcase and pad in hand he dropped to the floor at the head of the table when he stumbled and hit himself on the corner, before picking them up and placing them on the table. Data spent the time he was walking to analyse his overall state of being: ‘bags’ of a deep purple underneath his eyes indicated he’d not been sleeping, his hair and overall aesthetic was a mess, clothes untucked, scuffed and dirty, he shuffled rather than walked, likely the reason he fell into the table, which supported the man’s lack of sleep recently and suggested he was potentially overworking himself, leading to physical aches and pains.
From where Data sat they could make out his heartbeat, which was fast and irregular, the likelihood of improper diet and fluid intake was high, but also it could be the subject of the meeting making him nervous causing the increase in heart rate. Maddox picked up a pad and wirelessly connected it to the main monitor to display information regarding the mission, a brief overview currently of what they knew so far, and 45.93 seconds after he’d entered the room he spoke.

-I know you have a lot of questions about why we’re all here, but, but I need you all to be silent while I….while I speak because it’s important you all understand correctly, um, what the mission is-
He stopped and took a deep breath, Data was confused as to why he seemed so reluctant to speak. He seemed nervous, scared, worried, anxious, he was mumbling and stuttering his words, it did not fill the room with confidence for their upcoming mission.
-And, and if you don’t let me explain so you all understand I’m scared you’re going to dogpile me…so please be patient while I talk and then you can yell at me after, ok?-
Data heard Will and Geordi muffle a laugh at the idea, which they thought was a bit extreme, surely whatever had happened wouldn’t elicit that kind of reaction?
-You’ll have to get to the point soon before we do so just for waking us up this early on our day off-
Will spoke calmly, a smirk on his face indicating he was making a minor joke in order to help Dr Maddox feel better about the situation and help alleviate his nerves, it did not. Maddox in fact, was more scared.
-Get to the point Doctor, I may be the Captain but even I cannot control what my crew does when woken up at this hour-
Picard was not happy, he had expressed his dislike for the Doctor many times ever since he tried to take Data away.
-Yes sir, well, you see-
Dr Maddox fiddled with his hands and looked down at the floor.
-Lore escaped-

It was barely a whisper, spoken quickly, but they all heard it.

The room was filled with gasps and intense stares at the man who’d just confirmed one of everyone’s worst fears, an unstable maddened android on the loose, again.
-I’m sorry, who escaped?-
Picard was professional, his voice calm, but Data could hear the 37.8% increase in his heart rate indicating he was as shocked and tense about the idea of Lore being free as the rest of the room.
-Lore, Sir-
-How? He’s deactivated, in pieces, behind several sealed and locked doors, inside the Federations most secured research and storage facility, how on earth is there any possibility he could have escaped?-
Picard's tone was getting more tense, Maddox suddenly spoke, speaking quickly and without taking a breath the entire time, clearly wanting to get the whole thing out before anyone had a chance to speak.

-Ok, so I’ve been messaging Mr.Data since after his trial right, to help with my research on cybernetics and androids, and he’s been really helpful and im grateful he takes the time out of his day to talk to me but, but, it’s not really all that helpful in some way because, well mainly because I’m a visual learner ok, I need to see things not just read about them, and we don't have much written on Soong Androids anway, and Data doesn’t know much that’s useful to me I don’t already know, which is why I wanted to disassemble Data for research, so I could get an inside look at how he works right, and after I lost the trial I couldn’t do that, so my research kind of hit a dead end, until, until, Lore arrived at the station and I saw an opportunity-
Data looked at the man, they internally checked their messages to Maddox over the years, to confirm that they did in fact specify Lore would never be removed from storage, and found it to be true. A small anger began building up inside them at being betrayed by what they thought was a close friend, who they thought saw himself and his brother as equals. They thought Maddox had learned from the trial and truly saw them as human, but they now realised it was obviously a lie to gain their trust.
-Because the information I could get from taking apart and analysing one of the two would be literally universe changing in terms of android construction so I kind of…stole Lore from storage-
Their emotions got a bit too much and they clicked their head to the side to quietly turn off the emotion chip.
-I needed to see, to understand and I did a lot of testing and research and it was really good, but I decided I need to reactivate him to get more out of him, and before you all shout at me that that’s a terrible idea, I managed to find a way to have his brain be active for study, but have his body completely disconnected, so I could analyse his mental pathways and coding with no risks, the chip I designed basically cut of all sensory and motor inputs into his brain which I thought was pretty clever, and since I installed it separate to his matrix it meant he had no internal way of accessing it without knowing exactly where it was, or so I thought since he apparently broke it and literally, I saw him on the security footage, he just got up and walked out!-

Maddox finally stopped speaking and took in a deep breath, a tense silence filled the room as everyone processed what they’d heard.
-You went against Data wishes, and Starfleet regulation for your own personal gain, and now we’re expected to clean up the mess YOU created?-
There was anger in Picard's voice, if only slightly and he raised a hand to rub the sides of his face in a common posture he often took when stressed known as a ‘facepalm’.
-It was for the good of scie-
-That’s not relevant Dr Maddox, if you honestly thought anything you uncovered from this, illegal and immoral testing was going to be taken seriously by the scientific community, you are more delusional than we thought-
Data was surprised at Picard's interruption, his patience clearly wearing thin with the man.

There was a 11.38 second silence before Will spoke.
-So I assume the mission were being sent on is to find him and return him into storage before he does something insane-
-Yes, that’s one of main parts of the mission Sir-
The main part, that indicated there were several parts to the mission that weren’t the recovery of Lore.
Data looked to Maddox who avoided their gaze.
-Sir, what are the other aspects of the mission that are not the recovery of Lore? I am also confused as to the secrecy of the mission, Lore’s dangerous nature is well known and would having more starships on the hunt not make locating him quicker and more efficient? Is there a reason why only the Enterprise is being used for the mission?-

-Well, um, you see, it’s because, um the secrecy is because of what Lore…stole from my labs when he escaped, it kind of, was a secret to me and my assistants while we researched it, and Starfleet doesn’t want any information about it to get out before they can investigate my…improper conduct…properly-
-I do not understand sir, please specify-
-Well, um, while studying Lore I didn’t want to do anything too evasive or destructive because frankly if I broke him I had no way of putting him back together, so my research was mostly focused on his positronic matrix, but after a while it became apparent that isn’t wasn’t enough for my research-
He stopped only for 1.35 seconds to take a deep breath before continuing.
-So I had an idea, you see, because you don’t understand your construction well Data I knew I couldn’t get anything useful from you, um you see, but I had an idea, the one man who knew every single thing about both you and Lores construction, was Dr Soong, so…so me and my assistants visited his laboratory on Omicron Theta to look around and see if we could locate any of his logs or any of his writings about you two, I thought maybe we would find something someone missed, hidden away somewhere. Well, um, we didn’t find anything of course, the whole crystalline entity attack completely destroyed all his physical notes and it seemed he didn’t like using a computer to record anything-
Maddox stopped to catch his breath again, picking up the pad he had placed on the table after setting up the monitor.
-But, we found something even better than anything I could have ever hoped for, and I kind of…stole it as well-
The room was in silence, Data was confused
-Sir, what could be more useful to you than my fathers notes on his research? And how would stealing this be much worse than stealing his writings?-

To everyone’s surprise, Maddox finally changed the monitor, sliding a single image from his pad to the large screen in full view of everyone.
On the screen was what Data assumed to be a photo from their investigation on Omicron Theta, a large cylindrical storage container stood upright, its doors open to reveal the contents inside.
Data.
Or another android that looked like Data, except Data noted he was taller and had a bit more mass on his frame.
It was not Lore, obviously, as he was stored in separate pieces both on Omicron Theta and in Daystrom, so who was this?

-And this is?-
Will spoke this time, he was angry at the new development, as was everyone else in the room. Not only had Maddox not told anyone that he’d found another Soong-Type android, another brother for themself, but he’d likely been using this new android the same as he had used Lore, as a lab rat for his own research.
-The, um, label on the jumpsuit it was wearing, designated this one as a ‘B-4’, I assume by the age of it that it’s a slightly older prototype, I would put its age as just over 2 years or so before when we know Lore was constructed, there wasn’t any information stored with it, it was just, um, hidden away deep in the lab amongst other rubbish and what looked like discarded experiments-
-That would make him the 3rd of 5 total androids I know my father constructed, I know from my mother the first 2 weren’t even fully finished, mostly being skeletal frames for testing, before Dr Soong disposed of them…but she did not mention the third, to be so…complete-
Data was glad they’d already turned off their emotions, even so they could feel a slight ping of anger at the sight of a new older brother being discarded by their father in such a way. Lore was found in a secure specially designed holding cell, had Maddox really found B-4 in what looked like a coffin, in the basement of Dr Soong’s laboratory?
-Exactly! One of the three prototypes made before you and Lore, I figured if I could get it up and running it would provide more information helpful to my research, and so I took the chance to more closely study all of its circuitry and systems. The thing is, is I could never get it working, it just didn’t seem to respond to anything we did to try and activate its matrix-
-Lore took him when he escaped-
Picard spoke, he needed the man to stop rambling so much
-But why would he do that?-

-I figured that the model was complete, but, but I had a theory that it was just the empty shell, that it was missing the programming within the matrix to make it sentient, so all I needed was to put something inside it, and it should work right? So what I did, was I hooked the 2 together, and I copied Lore’s programming, minus his emotional instability and terrible personality, into the other android in hopes it would kind of like, kick start its mind right, I’d have a brand new android ready for study-
Maddox was rambling again, not giving anyone time to interrupt before he could finish.
-Literally the next day Lore escaped and stole it, I have no idea as to why, as the transfer didn’t work, and the model remained completely inactive-

-Unless it did not work because there was already something in there-
Data spoke softly, to counter Maddox’s rising volume, trying to bring the meeting back on focus to get information from him.
-That’s ridiculous I checked the results a dozen times, the transfer failed and I couldn’t read any signals in the matrix to indicate there was anything there before the transfer, hence why I did it in the first place-
-It is possible, that the different design of his matrix meant you were unable to get a proper reading, which would explain why your attempts to activate him didn’t work, as he was already active, but unable to move or communicate for other reasons-
-Oh, shit really?-
A look of shock and realisation spread on Maddox’s face as he listened to Data.
-The most likely chance is that through the transfer the two were able to meet, communicate and coordinate their escape-
Data did not like the thought of the two working together, but the chances of anything else were low, the most likely scenario was the two had worked together to escape.
-If Soong considered Lore an improvement I don’t want to know what this one’s personality is like-
Will attempted a joke, a slight laugh as he spoke, the room was tense as the idea of a more unstable android then Lore on the loose. Maddox ignored this and spoke again.

-Well anyway, your mission is to find them and return them to Daystrom, I’ll have probably lost my job and be in a cell by the time you return so I wouldn’t worry about me doing any further research on them-
He gave a small smile at Data who didn’t return it, before his com badge pinned, someone told him it was time for him to leave. He slid the briefcase he brought with him to the middle of the table.
-Here’s all the information on the both of them, everything I’ve gathered in the time I’ve had them both, it might be of help, Lore tried to delete it all but thankfully I have backups-
-Thank you-
Data nodded, politely, waiting for the doctor to leave.
-Well then Dr Maddox, it has been pleasant to have you here, I’m sure Starfleet will send you the results of our mission to your cell-
Picard stood, leading Maddox to the door, which opened to reveal 2 security guards ready to lead him away.
-We will update Starfleet as and when it’s appropriate during the mission, and if we need additional information from you, I’m sure it'll be easy to find you-

Picard couldn’t get Maddox out of the room fast enough and by the time the door closed the room erupted in a never ending torrent of questions, demanding answers for the doctor's arrogance for his crimes and how he expected them to clean up his mistakes.
After 5 minutes 34 seconds, according to Data’s internal clock, the room quietened down, it seemed everyone got the initial anger out of their systems and Picard sat down to address the room.

-I’m sure Maddox will be punished properly for his actions. We do not need to concern ourselves with that for now, our priority is to focus on the mission we’ve been given, as it is urgent we retrieve the two androids before they manage to cause any harm.
As he spoke Data read through the 12 pads that had been contained in the briefcase, reading them 2 at a time taking 1.73 seconds on each pair.
-Anything useful on those pads Mr Data?-
Data had finished and looked to face the Captain as he responded
-No Sir, the results of all his testing isn’t useful in this context, and the pad that contained the mission briefing was also of little use. The only information of use is that Lore escaped yesterday around midday, took B-4 and that we need to find and return them. It does mention B-4 being found 1 year 3 months and 17 days ago, and that Lore was taken from his storage over 3 years 10 months and 28 days ag-
Picard slammed his hand on the table, everyone was in shock at such a display of anger from their calm Captain, especially since it interrupted Data as they spoke.
-That means that Lore wasn’t even in storage for 3 months before Maddox took him!-
Data had to take a moment to gather themself, not used to the Captain’s anger being directed anywhere near them.
-Yes Sir-

-I suggest we change our course to Daystrom to see if we can find anything helpful there, perhaps the shuttle he escaped from left a trail to follow, although I doubt it, we can also search the lab for clues, check the security footage for anything that might help and do some questioning to see if anyone noticed anything-
Geordi sounded hopeful, it was comforting to hear him speak with confidence, and the possibility of a mystery made it less intimidating for Data.

-The game, it seems, is afoot Sir-
The senior crew smiled and sighed at Data, their love for mysteries would hopefully make this god awful mission more bearable, or at least Data was hoping it would do.
-Well then, set a course and we will reconvene when we arrive, I expect a plan of action for our investigation Mr Data on my desk as soon as you can Data-
-Yes Sir-
-And remember, no one outside this room is to know anything, well use cover story … Theta 372 for this one, haven’t used that in a while-
The room nodded in agreement, everyone stood up and went to leave, except Deanna, who pulled Data back into the room, waiting for it to be clear before speaking.
-I noticed you deactivated your chip during the meeting, I would like to see you at some point today, to have a proper discussion about your feelings on the mission, in order for you to be able to proceed properly-
Deanna gently stroked their arm as she spoke, when finished she pulled Data into a small hug
-I will come to your office when my shift ends at 1500 hours if that works for you-
Deanna let go and smiled at Data, she had told them many times that she would clear her entire day for them if it was needed. Data did not accept counseling often so she was always very keen to start as soon as possible, but right now they wanted to process things in their own mind before speaking.

-Of course Data, I’ll see you then-

Notes:

Finally we get to the Enterprise! Dr Maddox gets fount out pretty quickly because all they had to do was look at the security footage to see who was at fault for the missing shuttle
This one isn’t the strongest chapter I’ve written, but I wanted to get it out so we can get to the next few chapters which are a lot better xxxxx

As always, thanks for reading!! I’m glad people seem to be really enjoying the story so far, reading all the nice comments makes me smile xxxx <3 <3

Chapter 8: Road Trip

Summary:

Road trip with Lore/B4 after their escape from Daystrom

Once they had cleared the system Daystrom was in, Lore set up the shuttle on autopilot for Omicron Theta, at the shuttle's max speed of warp 3 it would take over 4 days to get there. Frankly, he didn’t know many other places in the galaxy to go to, and he figured that after the crystalline entity attack, that the planet would be barren of all life, including any annoying humanoids trying to send him back into storage. Besides, he actually liked the planet, the small home above Soong’s laboratory where Lore remembered him and his mother living was nice, the best word he could find was ‘homely’, he wanted to return there and hide away forever. His mind slipped into memories of walking up the pathway in the garden out back, surrounded by flowers and botanics of all types, he could vividly smell the vegetable and fruit patch at the back of the garden, his mother always used to take him there to spend time together, before she-

He stood up, bored of staring out the window, and moved towards the back of the shuttle. It was a standard shuttle with a front compartment with the controls in and a larger back area containing 2 beds either side and a small replicator at the back next to the door. He stood above B4, who remained asleep on one of the beds, laying on his back up the ceiling. Lore turned off the lights above him and set up a few lamps he got from the replicator on the tables next to the two beds. He stood for a while, simply observing his brother, why did he care for B4? He literally just met the man, and had one conversation with him, which was mostly crying on B4’s part.
He decided it was stupid brother stuff, not meant to be understood, just meant to be. He despised Data and everything he stood for, but he went through so much to try and get him onto his side, and Data had apparently gone through a lot to care for Lore even after they had basically killed him.

What was his plan here anyway? All he wanted in the universe was to be left alone, and yet he bought someone to accompany him in his self imposed loneliness, it made no sense. Wait, would B4 even want to stay with him? Would B4, after spending time with Lore and getting to know him, leave him alone as it had happened time and time again with everyone else, would he hate him? Realising Lore to be too unstable, too much effort to be around? He slid to the floor beside the bed, back leant against it while he tried to silent his ever downward spiralling thoughts that were leading him into a bout of depression and misery. He just sat down when a light flashing from within B4 out the corner of his eyes snapped him out of as quickly as he got into it, he needed to fix his brother, fix all the damage done by that stupid doctor, then he could mope around about his insecurities.

First things first was to replicate something to clean up all the not-quite-blood that covered poor B4 from head to toe, Lore did the best he could after carefully removing the jumpsuit and throwing it in the replicator to be recycled. Armed with only a few small towels and several bowls of warm soapy water he spent a good hour cleaning up B4’s frontside, not wanting to turn him over or move him too much until Lore had fixed up his internal systems.
He removed the blanket from the other bed and placed it over B4’s lower half when he was clean enough, in his mind it was just in case the idiot got cold or wanted comfort. Lore was not thinking clearly when it came to the welfare of B4 it seemed, he made a note to look into it later when he wasn’t busy elbows deep trying to rewire the idiot’s organs.

It took a while to repair the damage Maddox had done in his ‘research’. Lore had to replicate several dozen wires and components after finding them to be beyond repair, he eyeballed the materials and measurements when he programmed them into the replicator, with a 98.74% certainty they would fit correctly and be compatible. Thankfully, B4’s systems were more simply constructed then his own and Data’s, meaning it was laughably easy for him to figure out how everything fit back together, that ‘scientist’ was really stupid if he hadn’t figured anything out after all his trying.
Lore had to constantly put aside his own emotions while he worked, trying his best to keep his breathing and hands steady to not ruin any of the delicate systems. It was difficult, his anger, sadness, frustration, all fighting to be expelled from his mind into the world, he had to take several breaks from working on B4 to pace around the room, leaving a few dents in the wall between the two compartments to get rid of the excess energy within him before returning to his work. There was something morbid about being elbows deep inside what looks like your own chest, and despite the fact he rolled up the sleeves of the awful jumpsuit he was wearing, he found his arms being drenched in bio-fluid anyway and it made him sick. When he went to replace the fluid that B4 had lost, it took a while to circulate into his system but Lore was filled with pride as it settled into rotation, as he guessed the ratio for the mixture based on his own fluids, not sure if B4’s systems would accept it or not.

He spent a total of 57 hours, 29 minutes and 25 seconds playing doctor on his brother, before he felt confident enough that he’d repaired everything and it was safe to awaken the other, he carefully closed up the panels and admired his work. He had connected a small pad to B4’s matrix to check through the code being processed, constantly checking to make sure everything was ok and nothing had popped up that needed attention during his repair work. He did one final diagnostic to check that there wasn’t any lingering damage he hadn’t noticed, the results were ok at best, he would need proper treatment to fix the more delicate systems at some point but for now they weren’t important, they worked enough for now and Lore was impatiently pacing the room reading through the results, wanting nothing more than to get him online and awake.

But first, he had priorities, he put the pad away and went over to the replicator to got himself another bowl of warm soapy water and towel, setting them on the table next to the other bed. He stripped down to his briefs and put the awful jumpsuit in the replicator, recycling it and hoping to never see another one again, before sitting on the bed and spending some time cleaning himself up. He was covered in biofluid, his own and B4’s, and the sensation made him want to rip off his skin, the warm soapy water was relaxing and he wished the shuttle had a shower. When he was clean he recycled everything and turned on the screen above the replicator to look through clothing options. Being a basic replicator on a shuttle craft, he sighed in annoyance as the only options available were standard Starfleet uniforms and those damn awful jumpsuits, all in the three main colours as well as a dark grey intended for civilians. He decided on the standard Starfleet uniform for himself, in the dark grey because the primary colours were a bit much. He retrieved the uniform after typing in his own measurements, and moved into the front compartment to get changed. He didn’t care, but he didn’t know if B4 did, even if he wasn’t awake he didn’t want to make him uncomfortable. He quickly replaced his briefs with a new pair, before slipping on the rest of the clothes. Feeling properly dressed he walked back, and put his previous briefs in the replicator for recycling.

He replicated one of the blue science jumpsuits and socks/briefs/shoes for B4, he didn’t know why, but he felt the idiot would prefer the jumpsuits, they were simple and easy to wear, not too overwhelming and easy to dress himself in. He spent a while slowly changing him, being careful not to move him to suddenly…for some reason, it just felt like the right thing to do.
He paced the room for a minute to rid himself of excess energy that weren’t nerves, before he walked over to the inactive B4, rolling him on his side to face the centre of the room, before spending a moment feeling around his back looking for the indent of the activation button. He pressed into it and knelt on the floor in front of him, eyes fixed on B4’s as he waited for the other to wake.
He was surprised, he awoke instantly, and was sure Data did the same, but B4 took a total of 2 minutes and 54.39 seconds to slowly open his eyes. Lore watched as his eyes squinted, his pupils darting around the room as he tried to process where he was and who was in front of him. He stayed like that for another 1 minute and 27 seconds before his eyes suddenly shot open in realisation
-LORE!!-

He flinched at the sudden shouting in his face, but it quickly changed to a smile while he moved to stand up, helping his still wobbly brother into a sitting position on the bed, feet on the floor, facing Lore.
-Hello to you too, you see? Told you I’d be back for yo-
Lore found himself once again unable to react in time before B4 suddenly jumped up, capturing the shocked android in his arms. Unlike last time, Lore felt the full strength of his brother as he felt his exoskeleton slowly being crushed in the hug. They had hugged before when they first met, but this was different, it was real, but Lore reacted the same. He did not smile at all as he slid his own arms round the other and did not give a sigh of relief as he buried his head into B4’s neck, relaxing into the embrace as B4 weakened the death grip he had on him.
He could feel the hug this time, the sensation was nice, he made a note of every single sensory input he could feel, putting it in the same folder as B4 giggles from before, renaming the folder to simply be titled with the older brother's name. Despite feeling like he was being crushed, he felt safe.
-You did!!-
B4 nuzzled up against Lore’s head and honestly Lore felt himself melt a bit on the inside at the feeling of B4’s face squished against him, messing up his hair that he was grateful he forgot to tidy up.
Lore gave a huff when B4 pulled away, still hugging him, his head looking around the room, only just now noticing the different environment they were in.
-Where…where are we?-
-Good question, we’re currently on a shuttlecraft, heading for home-
-Where is home?-
-Far away, that’s why we’re in the shuttle, we gotta fly there-
-Why are we going there?-
-Because I hated that damn lab, I needed to leave and I bought you with me, is that ok?-
Lore wasn’t sure why he needed permission for something he’d already done, but his behaviour around the other made no sense anyway.

-I did not like it either, the men were mean to me-

The men?
B4 looked down at Lore’s chest nervously, he probably didn’t want to talk about it but Lore needed to know. He needed to know if B4 knew they hurt him, and how much of it was he aware of?
-They were? Can you tell me about it?-
B4 took a deep shaky breath and Lore felt like screaming, flying back to that damn lab and ripping everyone to shre-
-I woke up, I didn’t know where I was-
Lore went silent, silencing his thoughts as well to fully listen to everything B4 was saying,
-I could not move…they opened me up-
B4 raised a hand to poke at his chest before continuing
-It hurt-
B4’s breathing was steadily increasing at this point, and Lore felt like he really shouldn’t have asked.
-And…and…I tried to move…I called out to father…but I couldn’t…I couldn’t talk or move, I was in a room…on a table I think…alone, it was scary-
B4 started to cry, golden tears running down his face onto his chest, staining the jumpsuit Lore just put him in, he wasn’t annoyed but he did make a note to replicate him several jumpsuits if he was going to be such a crybaby.
-It hurt Lore, I couldn’t move, I couldn’t move, I needed to escape, but I couldn’t move and it hurt so much-
B4 began to hyperventilate, he continued to ramble for a few minutes before suddenly collapsing, ending up knelt on the floor, his head in hands, as the panic continued to escalate. Lore knelt down in front of his brother and held his arms around the shaking shoulders, gently stroking the messy hair in an attempt to soothe, he knew nothing of how to be comforting but tried his best anyway.

-Hey, it’s ok, everything’s ok, you’re safe, you’re here with me ok?-
He figured B4 wouldn’t hear him in this state but he continued to repeat anyway, keeping his voice low and gentle, continuing to caress the idiots back. After a painful 7 minutes 45 seconds of the same, B4 had calmed enough to stop crying and looked at Lore, who moved an arm from around him to his face, using the sleeve to wipe the tears off his brother's face.
-You…will keep me safe? From the bad men?-
His voice was weak, barely a whisper and Lore felt a sense of something inside him that made him want to keep B4 in his arms forever, keep him away from the world.
-Always, promise-
B4 returned the embrace finally and nuzzled up to Lore’s chest, they stayed like that for 24 minutes and 34 seconds before a small alarm sounded up from the helm. It was the sound of the autopilot needing assistance to clear an obstacle in the path of the shuttle raft, Lore sighed.

-B, I need to go check on the ship, can you let me go for a while?-
Lore didn’t want to move, but he also didn’t want to crash, he gently pushed B4 away, who reluctantly complied and whined on the floor while Lore stood up and moved over to the helm controls.

It was just as he thought, the alarm of a potential collision, this one was a small asteroid that he easily flew around before reinitialising the autopilot. For some reason he chose to stay in the helm seat, his mind distracted by trying to process his new emotions presented by his closeness to B4, he’d liked people, but loved? Never. Especially this way, maybe with Data, but that wasn’t this intense, his mind looking through the millions of psychology textbooks he had inside him trying to understand the difference between the many kinds of love and affection. He was interrupted by the sound of B4 walking up behind him, scaring him suddenly out of his thoughts when he spoke.
-What is that-
Lore turned to see what he was talking about, there was probably nothing in the cockpit that his brother understood so it would take a while to explain anything, but instead he saw B4 staring out the front window.
-What are you talking about?-
-That-
B4 pointed at the window in the front.
-Out there-

Ok?

-That’s the sky B-
He looked more closely at B4 as he stared in awe at the stars passing by them outside the window.
-The…sky?-
Lore gave a nod
-What are the lights?-
-Those are the stars, we’re flying by them pretty quickly hence, why they’re go by the window so fast-
-Pretty-
Lore continued to take in the pure amazement in B4’s eyes as he looked upon something so simple.
-Pretty? Pretty boring definitely-
B4 stood behind Lores chair in silence for nearly 4 minutes, simply watching the stars fly by. Lore had turned to face the window as well, enjoying the silence before he suddenly had an unpleasant thought.
-Have you…ever seen the sky before B?-
He turned to look up and face his brother again, there’s no way you forgot what the sky was, even B4 couldn’t be that stupid, surely.
-…No-
The answer was quiet, B4 looked down at Lore with a sad smile before looking back up. Lore wanted to dig up his father and kill him again, he had been active for 12 days before his mother dragged him outside for an entire day to show him everything she could, the sky being the main focus. He remembered his mother loving the sky on Theta, she showed him the sunrise, the sunset, and stayed up late into the night to show him the galaxies, stars and moons above. How little time had B4 been active if he didn’t even get to go outside?

-B, come sit down-
Lore leaned over and patted the chair next to him.
-Why?-
-So you don’t get tired from standing too long, plus you’ll be able to see everything better from there-
B4 did as he was told, slowly sitting down into the chair, nearly falling off as he misjudged his movements, but pulled himself back up, sitting cross legged on the chair.

B4 remained quiet for a while, watching the windows as Lore watched him. He leaned his elbow on the chair's armrest, and had his head in his hand as he watched with great fascination at the sight of B4 experiencing something for the first time. He smiled to himself thinking of all the things he could show him when they arrived home, as the skies on Theta, in his biased opinion, were easily the best. He suddenly wished he hadn’t let the planet be completely destroyed, thinking of the garden that was once outside the family home, the farms in the village filled with all kinds of crops, the forests and meadows he used to get lost in for days. B4 would never see them, and that filled him with a looming sadness, weighing his mechanical heart down with a guilt for his actions he'd never experienced before. They sat in silence like this for the rest of the time it took them to arrive in the system Omicron was in. It was good that neither of them had to eat or sleep because B4 didn’t move an inch the entire time, Lore's mind was unnaturally empty for a change, he found himself simply watching B4.

-Home!!-
He was snapped out of his daze by B4 suddenly grabbing his sleeve, he turned to look where he was pointing to see Omicron Theta out the window, they were about 3 or so minutes away from needing to switch to manual to land the shuttle.
-Home, yeah, how’d you know that?-
-I saw it before, in a picture! Mother said it was home!-
B4 gave another one of his big goofy grins, Lore made sure to save the moment inside his head, with a million other images of B4 smiling, ok not that many, but more than a few hundred at this point.
-It’s called Omicron Theta, it’s where we were made B-
B4 gave a soft ‘oooo’ noise before returning to watch the planet as it came closer to them.

-I’m gonna have to land the shuttle now so I need you to be quiet for a bit ok?-
-Ok-
-Also I’m gonna put your seatbelt on, the last thing I need is to have to repair you again when you go flying towards the back of the shuttle-
He gave a small chuckle before tapping a button on his computer panel, prompting the mechanical seat belts to extend out of B4’s seat, working their way over his shoulders down to connect to a second belt that had worked its way across his waist, securing him in place, B4 made a few soft noises in amazement as he watched it. Like a toddler in a car seat thought Lore at the sight of him all buckled up, it was kind of adorable…he didn’t need one so he didn’t bother, fairly confident he could stay in his seat.

It took Lore about 20 minutes to slowly descend the shuttlecraft into the atmosphere, B4 was on the edge of his seat the whole time watching the new visuals out the window, making Lore glad he chose to secure him. The shuttle glided across the landscape, it wasn’t as grey and miserable as the images he saw when he looked up when he was on the Enterprise last, which was a pleasant surprise. He tried not to get distracted looking around at the ever so slightly green landscape as he guided the shuttle into a not so soft landing on an empty field in front of the Soong home.
-Come on, let’s go make sure everything’s still intact-
Lore stood and moved over to unbuckle B4, before walking to the back of the shuttle, stopping at the door to wait for B4 to join him. He stumbled a few times before reaching Lore and grabbing his hand, firmly intertwining their fingers together and giving Lore a smile, who decided against a sarcastic comment about how much he hated it just in case that made the idiot let go. The door opened up and they both walked down the ramp of the shuttlecraft, Lore led B4 through the small empty field they landed on, over towards the front entrance fence of the house.

It was a mess, the vines and flowers that grew up the side of the house, had obviously been completely wiped out of existence, making the home look sad. Everything surrounding it, that Lore remembered always being a bright green filled with pinks and blues of flowers, was no longer there, even the house which was previously a bright white was now a dull grey. The home was a small, two floor cottage, pretty stereotypical for a farmers planet. The home was topped with a thatched roof, a stone path that led up to the front door, wooden shutters on the windows and a chimney on top of the roof. Lore didn’t love it, but he didn’t hate it either. It had been home, it could be again. He wished for the first time in his life that he hadn't destroyed it.
He opened the door, and led them both inside.

Notes:

Road trip, you know Lore’s playing edgy 2000s emo songs the whole time

Thanks for reading !! <3 <3

Chapter 9: Counselling

Summary:

Data speaks to Deanna about the recent news of Lore and B4’s escape from Daystrom, awaiting their arrival there tomorrow to investigate.

Exactly on the hour, Deanna heard her office door chime, she walked up and permed it up to see none other than Commander Data waiting patiently outside.
-Good evening counsellor, I hope I am not late to our meeting-
She smiled and shook her head, of course they weren’t, they were exactly on time, likely down to the second knowing Data’s keenness for scheduling.
-You right on time Data, please, come in and sit down, I’m sure w heave a lot to discuss-
Standing to the side, she waved her arm over to the seating area in the centre of the room, Data nodded before walking over to sit down on the sofa opposite Deanna armchair. Deanna then walked over sat down, they both mirrored each other's posture, sitting with hands clasped on their legs, each silently trying to think about how to start the conversation. Deanna had spent the whole day trying to think about how to approach the subject of Data’s brothers. She had made sure to monitor their emotions the entire day, she was worried for them and wanted to make sure her closest friend was coping well with everything.
-So-
She decided to speak first, after a few minutes of silence from them both made it clear Data was wanting her to lead the conversation today.
-There’s a lot to unpack isn’t there-
She kept it open, leaving it for them to expand on what had happened which would lead the conversation from there. They sighed, and nodded slowly.
-Indeed, the news of Lore’s escape, a new brother, the potential of him being similar if not worse than Lore, the two working together, there is, as you said, a lot to unpack from today-
They spoke plainly, with no emotions, but Deanna could feel the sadness within them. With the emotion chip turned off the feelings she could sense were dulled and quiet, but still there none the less. Their emotions chip merely allowed their programming to express those hidden emotions, in her opinion as a counsellor, she thought it functioned fairly similar to old anti-depressants in humans, not giving Data fake emotions, but allowing their real ones to flourish and thrive.
-Data, I believe it would be best if you turn on the chip, I know it will be painful for you but I cannot help you unpack process your emotions on the situation if you do not allow them to be expressed freely-
They looked down to their lap at the suggestion, although the two had been working together for the past few years on how to healthily process emotions, Data was still not the most willing to allow the full extent of their feelings out. They had deep trauma that couldn’t be shaken from when Lore had force feed them nothing but hatred and anger, she remembered it well, and Data remembered it exactly as it happened, playing over in their head over and over every time they got even slightly emotional, convincing them all emotions would have the same results.
She sighed, before moving over to sit next to them on the sofa, turning to face them and placing her hands over theirs, looking down at them with gentle eyes to try and assure them it was safe.
-Data, please-
Listing his chin up slightly with her hand and turning it towards her so she could look into their eyes, she smiled and spoke softly.
-You’re safe here, it’s ok to let it out here, I won’t judge nor can you hurt me or escape to hurt others-
Data was always worried, that if they got too emotional that the same would happen as before, they would hurt those around them, betray everything they held dearly, lose control of themself and not be able to return to normal.
It wasn’t true of course, most often they would just cry from the overwhelming emotions or punch a wall if they were too bad, but the fear from their past held onto them tightly, affecting their usually critical and methodical judgement, making them paranoid and fearful.
They took a deep breath, seeming to understand her, before she heard a small click sound from their neck.

-There you go sweetie, now we can talk about what’s happened-
She went to move her hand from their face to give them room to speak but as soon as she saw tears filling their eyes she chose not to. They flowed down their face slowly, hitting her hand before she moved her thumb to try and wipe some of them away. Data turned to hide their face in her hand before she pulled her hand back and carefully pulled them into a hug, leaning them down so their head was resting on her shoulder, wrapping her arms around their shoulders. They spent a while like this, Data silently crying into her shoulder, her slightly rubbing the androids back in comfort, speaking softly to him of nonsense just to fill the silence which she knew would help ground the other.
After some time had passed, and Data seemed to be all out of tears, they pulled out the embrace, wiping remaining tears on the sleeve of their uniform, Deanna held onto their shoulders in case they needed to go back again.
-I…I am Deanna, I got your uniform wet, I apologise for my carelessness-
She smiled and laughed slightly.
-Data, if that’s the height of your current emotions, I think I can forgive you just once for ruining my uniform, it could have been much worse-
Data smiled at her, thankfully they had spent enough time together for them to understand her kind of humor
-Do you feel a bit less pent up now you’ve let it all out?-
They nodded, good, Deanna thought, sometimes all the therapy you need is a good cry and a hug from a friend.
-I believe I will be able to discuss the matter now without my emotions causing too much distress-
She nodded and moved back to her chair opposite them, picking up her pad in case she needed to make notes for later sessions.
-Well then Data, tell me your thoughts on todays…news-

 

-I wish for a family, but every person I find that could be family to me, is…less than ideal in terms of morality, so I find myself without one-
Ok, that took her by surprise, putting down the pad to look at them confused, they picked up on it as they continued before she could ask.
-I have a family on the Enterprise, but I wish for a family as any other humanoid has. Parents, siblings, family that are alike myself so I can share life and experiences with them in a way I cannot do with biological humanoids. My father, mother and daughter are all dead, and the closest beings I have to brothers are…-
They sighed, looking down again to their hands fiddling in their lap.
-Well, Lore is Lore, and I do not have much hope B4 will be much different or better. If Lore was considered an improvement, that does not speak well of him-
Deanna didn’t really like the sound of that, Lore was, to put it simply, unpredictable and unstable, so if this B4 was really worse than him she didn’t want to be anywhere near the two when they found them.
-What I wish for most in the universe is to no longer be unique or alone, to share the feeling of belonging among people similar to myself-
She hurt for them, as much as she despised her mother’s overbearing personality and never ending tormenting, she loved her dearly and wished Data had someone they could share that kind of love with.
-I want nothing more for you to have the family connection that you seek Data, but please don’t hurt yourself over thinking it’s your own fault for other people’s poor life choices, you are a golden haven in the sea of blackened hearts that make up the Soong lineage, but you will always have a family here on the Enterprise, even if it isn’t exactly what you wish for, you have made your place amongst the crew’s and your closest friend’s hearts and I hope that is enough to provide some comfort-

They both sat in silence for a moment, letting everything process before Deanna spoke again.
-Although, there’s always the chance that this B4 isn’t what we expect, could be he’s a lovely person, more like yourself than like Lore-
Data pondered this for a moment, Deanna thought it wasn’t likely, but wanted to provide some hope to the situation.
-There is the possibility that the reason for his deactivation and hiding by my father was the result of system failures. According to the testing Maddox did on him, his internal mechanics and positronic matrix, although similar, are vastly different to myself and Lore’s, he is likely a…prototype for Lore, meaning he could very well be mentally stable but physically unstable-
-That would be funny, as Lore is mentally unstable but physically stable, and you’re stable in both regards-
-I believe the right thing to say here would be, ‘third times the charm’-
Deanna laughed at that, Data was clearly feeling better if they were making jokes-
-Well, hold onto the hope and idea of B4 being an adorable confused baby that’s currently pissing Lore off and making him regret his escape-
-That image is much more amusing than the more likely scenario, I shall try my best to keep in ‘high spirits’ as they say-
Deanna placed her pad down again, after making a few more notes, before leaning over to place a hand over Data’s on their lap
-I think it would be best if you took the evening to relax and try to distract yourself, maybe watch a movie or two with Geordi?-
-I have already looked over everything Maddox gave us with the briefing, so there is no use in repeating my analysis of them any further unless I wish to cause further stress upon myself, so I agree that spending the evening relaxing with my dear Geordi would be best. When we arrive tomorrow I will have a much better chance to analysis more clues that could actually give us information to complete our mission, such as camera footage and the physical laboratories my brothers were held in-
Data gave a soft smile, adorable as always Deanna thought, they had made good progress and she was confident Data wasn’t hiding or lying about anything.
-That’s really good to hear Data, I hope you have a pleasant evening and I’m sure we’ll talk tomorrow when you finish up playing Sherlock at Daystrom-
She smiled and stood up, holding a hand out to help Data up, even if they didn’t need help she always offered, and they always accepted.
-Thank you, I wish the same for you as well-
Data pulled her in for a hug, she easily fell into it, wrapping her arms around their waist and leaning on their shoulder. They stood for a minute, before Data leaned down to plant a small kiss on her cheek and pulling back entirely.
-I believe the correct saying would be ‘sweet dreams’ Data, hopefully you don’t have any nightmares about 2 older brother tormenting you too much-
Data smiled and she led them out the door, bidding one final goodnight before she closed the door behind them.

——

When Data walked into the living quarters that they shared with their husband of 1 years 3 months and 25 days, the engineer was laid on his back on the main sofa in the living area. They placed their shoes near the entrance and walked over, Data noted a black and white detective movie being played on the main monitor on the wall in front of the sofa, they recognised it from Geordi’s list of 28 ‘Number 1 Favourite Movie Ever’. They noted their love’s slow breathing and slight snoring, leaning over to confirm he was asleep before walking quietly to the bedroom to get out of their uniform. They got changed into some ‘comfortable loungewear’ as Geordi called it when he gave it as a gift, apparently it was ‘more appropriate’ to wear when relaxing inside their quarters. Content, they carefully folded the uniform of the day up and placed it into the wardrobe, alongside 6 other uniforms on similar shelves above and below, one for each day.

They carefully lifted their dearest slightly, sliding onto the sofa so they were leaning back against the armrest, with Geordi laying in between their legs with his head on their chest. They laid together for 29 minutes and 23 seconds before Geordi stirred, waking up and noticing Data for the first time.
-Hey love, when did you get back? You missed the movie-
He turned over onto his stomach to see Data more clearly, leaning up to press their lips together in a welcome kiss before pulling back and smiling up at them for a moment before it turned to a frown.
-You’re really nervous about all this aren’t you? you’re not hiding it as well as you usually are-
They were, speaking to Deanna had calmed most of their nerves but they were still there, threatening to build up and overtake rational thought any moment, the chose not to answer instead pulling Geordi up more into their arms and burying their head in the man’s shoulder to avoid the conversation.
-Alright, I won’t mention it until we arrive tomorrow, but you gotta stay here and re-watch the movie with me, deal? I’m pretty sure I fell asleep for most of it-
Data laughed at that, genuinely, into his shoulders before nodding and pulling back to look at his lover in his beautiful blue eyes, forever grateful for the implants that allowed them to gaze upon such beauty everyday, no longer hindered by the visor that blocked the view.
-I believe that is an agreeable arrangement Geordi, I would like to request I pick the next movie after this one, I have one I wish to re-watch as well, then I would like to go to bed for the night-
Geordi agreed and they did just that, Data didn’t activate their dream program and spent the night going over the information that Maddox gave them, just in case they missed something important, trying to piece together a basic idea of this new brother and how he functioned, and if he needed to how much force would be required to subdue him and Lore.

Notes:

Data has my heart, Deanna and Data being bffs has my heart and soul

Thanks for reading as always !! I hope you enjoyed and feel free to leave any feedback in the comments xxxx <3 <3

Chapter 10: B-fore

Summary:

Soong accidentally creates life, but it isn’t what he wanted it to be and he regrets it immediently.

It was an accident, it wasn’t supposed to happen.

Its name was B4, well, its designation was B-4, it was the 4th test of the B-type systems he’d designed.
Dr Soong had spent years working on the A-types, which were mostly small components that would eventually make up the full models which were the B-types, before he was confident he could proceed with testing.
The first was simply the internal systems laid out in the shape of a body on the table, the 2nd and 3rd were complete grey featureless bodies, the 4th was special, he gave it a face, his own face of course, he wanted to try out the new bioplast design for the skin. It had gold in every part of it; the tint of its skin glistened in the light, its eyes glowed even in full brightness, it was beautiful and perfect in every way, but it was just a test for the real thing, the 5th would be the final one, his ultimate creation.

B-4 wasn’t finished, it was supposed to remain empty like the previous two. He’d only installed a very, very basic positronic matrix just to test the connections, just a test to see if the body had enough power to even make it work, it wasn’t hooked up properly, the matrix wasn’t fully finished, he didn’t even turn it on, just connected it to the power.

B4 wasn’t meant to be alive.

But Soong had left the room for a moment to grab something, and when he came back it was walking around the lab, making an utter mess as it crashed and stumbled into everything.

It wasn’t supposed to be like this! His first, his son was supposed to be magnificent, meaningful, it’s activation a glorious occasion to be celebrated and remembered!

Carefully Dr Soong walked into the lab, placing the pad he retrieved onto his desk, looking at the sight before him, not believing it, he refused to believe it. It turned around to look straight at him, straight into his eyes with its own unblinking gaze, he turned away before speaking, he had to believe it now.
-So…hi-
He glanced over occasionally, it hadn’t moved, blinked, breathed, it just stared. It tilted its head and continued to stare, it was…creepy. To be looked at with your own face, stare into eyes that weren’t really real, nothing behind them, did it even have a personality? Thoughts and opinions? The framework in its mind was so simple, he was sure the household AI had more processing power, could it learn? He doubted it, he needed to run some tests to be sure as to what he had accidentally created.

Slowly, carefully, he walked over to the android, who continued to stare, following his movements with wide eyes and a gaze he was sure could kill. Grabbing its arm, Soong lead it over to the table where it was before, guiding it back to its previous laying position before utilising the restraints there to hold it in place, a thick band around it chest and arms, another round its waist and wrists, another around its ankles. He was fairly certain he wouldn’t need these for a few more years but oh well, they were made of strong enough material to withstand the androids full strength…in theory at least, he never confirmed it. It just, continued to stare at him while he clicked open a panel on the side of its head, connecting a wire to the nearby computer so he could try and figure out what was going on.
It was as he figured, he had connected the power source to the wrong, well technically the right, port and it had jump started its mind, activating the first ever Soong-Type android about…3 or so years too early. He slammed his fist on the desk and shouted to the room his frustrations, clawing at his face with his hands and then trying not to trip his hair out while he thought of what to do next.
Deactivate it? Maybe, but he could also use this as a good excuse to test out the matrix, figure out how certain subroutines worked and interjected with each other, might as well make something good out this situation.

Keep it a secret, use it to improve his design, and the next android, the real first, would be perfection.

Moving over to stand above it, looking down into eyes that looked unblinking to the ceiling above, he wondered what it was thinking, before turning the computer screen to see what it was thinking, which wasn’t much judging by the slow trickle of code being processed. He sighed and looked back down to it, he really needed to work on a blinking subroutine because it was creeping him out.
-Can you understand me?-
Nothing
-Can you hear me?-
Nothing, not ideal. He turned back to the screen before he caught it out of the corner of his eye, a slow nod.
-Is that a yes?-
He turned to face it again, another slow nod. Like an old fashioned computer that needed to load up when turned on for the first time, its responses seemed to be getting quicker each time, at this rate he’d have it talking by the end of the year.
-Do you…know who I am?-
It shook its head slightly, before furrowing its eyes and frowning. The emotions seemed to be working, or at least confusion was, a good sign he hoped.
-I am Dr Noonien Soong, I created you, gave you life, on accident, but to be fair that’s how most life is created-
He smiled and laughed slightly at his own joke, it didn’t respond but continued to stare, confused.

He spent a few hours running tests on it, to see how stable it was, to see if it even was worth keeping it active or if it would just collapse on him, the results were…not helpful in the slightest. He was sitting at the computer reading through the last test results when he heard it, the sound of static filling the room, causing him to hold his hands over his ears to try and block it out. It went on, slowly turning to a more cleaner static before a series of muffled sounds and almost word sounding scrambles came out.

-S……sssss…..Soo……Soong-
He stood up and walked over to the android, still restrained to the table, who had spoken! He wasn’t even sure it could speak as it hadn’t even made a noise so far.
-Yes, my name is Soong-
It nodded, and blinked! Finally, it seemed it systems were waking up a bit more now.
-Soong-
It looked up at him and smiled, a wide, closed mouth smile that squished its eyes closed and made its nose crinkle, did he look like that when he smiled? He was certain he didn’t, or at least according to Julianna he didn’t, she said he had a smile that looked like it could kill, it looked like…her smile.
-Name?-
-Name?-
-My….name…do I…have a name?-
Oh, he didn’t, not really, he hadn’t gotten that far into planning his androids to have pulled out the baby naming books yet.
-B4-
-B….4?-
-Yup, not a very glamorous name to be honest, you can always change it later if you want, but for now it’s good-
It nodded.
-Can….can I get up now?-
Oh god no, Soong did not want an android of its strength and abilities walking around unattended, he didn’t want Julianna to find it, she’d latch onto it like a newborn son and Soong would never get ‘him’ inside his lab again.
-Not yet, maybe later, are you uncomfortable?-
It thought about it for far too long, staring up at the ceiling before shaking its head and looking back at him, good.

 

Soong leaves it alone for the night, returning in the morning, much to Julianna's disappointment at being ignored for his work. When he walks in the lab in the morning, he stands in the doorway again, looking at the sight before him.
‘B4’ seemed to have gotten…bored…in the night, and was sitting on the floor, surrounded by piles of broken computer parts, books, ripped up books, papers, ripped up pape- you get the idea, it had completely trashed the lab and was fucking playing with the pieces, he ignored how it could have broken the restraints for now. Soong stormed over and grabbed the book it was staring at, it was only his fucking life’s work, he tried to calm down…before he saw bright red scribbles all over the pages and he may of….lost it a bit,
When he’d finished shouting, about half an hour later, B4 !looked up at him with tears pouring down its face, eyes swollen and puffy, lips trembling.

Like a fucking toddler being scolded for drawing on the wall.

He laughed slightly at the sight, before massaging his aching temple with one hand.
-How about, I get you some toys hm? Ones you can destroy and ruin all you want hm? You’d like that? My lab certainly would-
-I would!-
Holding out a hand Soong helped it to stand up before wagging his pointer finger in its face, which only got a confused look from it.
-You’ve got to clean all this up though if you want them-
He gestured to the floor, it looked around and nodded, good, it was understanding more as time went on. They both spent the morning cleaning up the lab, it took even longer than Soong expected because B4's hand eye coordination was…less than ideal, constantly dropping things, being unable to properly grab onto others, and sometimes needing physical guidance when it didn’t seem to be able to control its own limbs. It gave Soong time to study its behaviour, its movements, how its mind processed and solved problems presented to it, he wasn’t impressed but still, it was better than anyone else had created so far in terms of an intelligence.

It did everything with the mind of a child, slowly, carefully, like everything was a first time experience. Which it was, technically, he had planned for his first android to have pre-programmed all the knowledge he would need to function properly without guidance, essentially being born fully grown up and matured.
B4, obviously, did not have that, it was a newborn baby in the body of a 30 year old, with the processing power of a galaxy class starship, learning how to walk so it didn’t crash into furniture constantly. There was something amusing about how…carefully it picked up things, considering it had enough strength to rip apart metal like paper, it had learned that it had broken the papers and machines somehow and was trying not to repeat whatever it was. Trying, not doing a good job, but trying, Soong made a mental note to install some…baby-proofing in his lab, to try and protect his more valuable work, maybe he should just remove them into a separate lab actually.

Once everything was cleared, he rewarded B4 with its own set of books to rip up if it wanted to, as well as a few interesting bits and bobs similar to the technology around the lab for it to destroy, and some crayons, hoping they would keep his lab safe and its mind entertained. Once it was all set up on a small table next to Soong’s main desk, he told B4 to lay back down on the examination table and to stay there for a few hours while he did some work on it, it whined! It whined in protest!
-But…it’s booooooring-
It was slowly developing a personality, actual independent thought that wasn’t just code and routines. It was a whiny, childish personality but still, progress is progress.
-Life is boring, you’ll live-
It sighed and laid down, arms crossed in a huff as Soong spent the next few hours checking over its systems and internal coding, making sure it was still stable. He noted a few errors that had popped up in the night and corrected them, when he was finished he moved B4 to sit at the desk set up for it so it wouldn’t break the restraints again, while he worked away at his computer on other projects. It sat there scribbling away, humming to itself nonsensical tunes, Soong looked over and saw nothing but scribbles, there was no semblance of anything solid, just abstract lines and squiggles.

That’s how it went for the next 3 days, he would walk down to the lab in the morning, finding it a mess after B4 had broken whatever security Soong had spent the previous evening installing, and they’d spent an hour or so cleaning up the mess before starting the day, testing in the morning with b4 laid on the examination table, the evening spent with Soong at his computer with B4 sat next to him at its own desk, no improvement was made on its drawing skills, still filling page after page with lines and chaos.
Soong kept him there in the lab, he didn’t want to take it outside, didn’t want anyone else to see it, running test after test on the matrix that wasn’t meant to be, it was valuable information that he would never have gotten from an empty shell. He almost felt bad, when it whined and twitched in pain from the occasional shocks sent through its mind and body while being hooked up to the computer, almost. It laid still and was good, it didn’t really speak much, answering in short words or simple yes and nos, which was fine, it was decent company, better than silence.

 

On the 5th day it was active, he woke up in the early afternoon, the past day's constant work demanding his body rest and catch up on his sleep.
Julianna had demanded to know what he was up to, refusing to let him leave until he had no choice but to tell her, taking her down with him to the lab, explaining to her that B4 had activated one its own suddenly yesterday, and he hadn’t told her just in case its matrix collapsed, that he didn’t want her to get attached to something that wasn’t going to live, to not get her hopes up, but now he was confident after all the testing and examination he’d done yesterday, that it was fine. She believed him because of course she did, and he opened the door and walked her inside the lab. Where, as usual, B4 was sitting on the floor, this time in a pile of wires and cables ripped from the wall…that would take so long to fix. He needed to find something that could actually restrain it overnight, because telling it not to break everything in sight wasn’t working. Julianna squealed in delight, running over to capture it in a hug that looked like it would have snapped Soong in two.
She spent the day fusing over it, after helping it clean up the mess it had made during the night, they sat at the table and coloured. They spoke of the outside world and how much it wanted to see of it, of humans and how there were more than mother and father, of everything and anything in between, it wasn’t a lot of information, but it was. It was curious, wanted to learn, listening intently to everything, watching with care at everything she did, but slowly throughout the day its speech became worse, stuttering, repeating, its reactions slower and slower.

Until it happened.

Julianna was showing it something unimportant in the lab, when it stopped, book falling to the ground with an echo as the room went silent. Soong had walked over to it in an instant, but was unable to do anything as it stood there shaking, twitching, unresponsive, for a painful 3 minutes and 27 seconds before it fell to the floor with thud and a loud cry from Julianna.

Deactivated.

——

He spent the next 7 months trying to figure out what went wrong before he finally understood what had happened. The matrix was accepting new information, but had no way of processing or storing it, so it built up in the main processors until there was no room for anything else to be inputted. Like a dam without a spillway, slowly filling with water before it could do nothing but burst, destroying itself in the process.
It couldn’t be fixed, he didn't know where to even begin trying, he tried to explain this to Julianna, the main issue lied within the actual mechanics, it would need a completely new matrix and at that point it wouldn’t be B4 anymore, it’d be someone else, she hated him, she wanted B4 back. He could make her a better one anyway, it was just a prototype that was never meant to be. She cried, she screamed, she locked herself in her room and refused to speak to him for weeks. She had grown attached to it in such a time frame, immediately calling it her son, and hating Soong for taking ‘him’ away from her, for not trying hard enough to fix it.

He knew how to fix the issue, build a new android, a better son for Julianna, one that he could actually be proud of creating. It would take a few years to get the parts and build up his internal systems and his positronic matrix, to fully re-design and upgrade them to be better and guarantee their success. He spent the next few weeks working on the exterior body though, carefully crafting the separate parts, making them a bit more accurate to himself this time as he was certain he could make everything fit inside the smaller frame.
He had all the parts laid on the new examination table in his lab finally, looking over them with joy as he planned out the next few years he would spend filling them up, crafting the most perfect creation known to the universe.

Looking over to the first table where B4 was…he felt guilty. It hadn’t moved since the shutdown, remaining strapped to the table, wires and cables coming out of every socket connecting to a computer set up nearby specially for it. If he reactivated it, the same would happen as before, it wouldn’t live long.
He figured though, it might be safe for one evening…he felt it important that B4 understand what Soong had in mind for it was kindness, as well as a chance to meet its replacement, to die with happy memories.

——

"He's going to be your little brother" Dr Soong spoke proudly "I'm really quite proud of him so far - the designs I have for his internal body circuitry is more efficiently laid out and constructed than yours, and his positronic brain will be much more advanced and capable of .."

He continues to speak, but B-4 doesn't understand and he isn't listening anyway. It gently holds in its hands, golden eyes looking onto golden eyes, quite literally, its own head. Or as Soong has explained more than a few times, its brother's head.
He woke B4 up in the early evening the next day to see its brother, he told it it had only been a few hours, not over half a yead, since it was last awake, it didn’t need to know.

"Where is the rest of him?"

B-4 looks up at his father with the same blank confused expression that nearly always decorates his face, awaiting an answer. Soong sighs, placing a hand on his forehead to calm himself and tries yet again, for the 5th time, to explain to his first android that his second needs a few more years to build completely-
He stops talking again, and walks over to the other, after realising he's not listening to him, again, and carefully takes the head out of his hands, B-4 watches closely as it is laid on the table alongside several limbs and a torso.

-I don’t understand, why is he not together yet?-
-He will be soon, don’t worry-
-Do you have…a name for him yet?-
He hadn’t thought about it yet, it could be years before Soong activated him, he’d think about it then.

 

-I like…Lore-

 

-Lore? That’s not a name-
-I heard it in a…in a book-
He didn’t know it could read, must have been one Julianna read out loud.
-I like it, I think…I think it will suit him-
B4 looked over to Soong with wide eyes, a soft smile and honestly it wasn’t a bad name, might as well continue with unconventional names, and after ‘B4’, Lore didn’t seem that weird.
-Hm, well, it does provoke images of myths, legends and gods doesn’t it?-
B4 nodded
-And he will be! Little brother…will be perfect-
B4 stood over the table, gazing down at Lore’s empty face with a smile on its face, before moving to stroke its hand through his hair.

He still longed to create something better, more complex, a son yes, but a more powerful being than B4, the most powerful sentient ai in the universe, he wanted to prove to the world that his family wasn't limited to theory and could in fact deliver on their generational promise of complex artificial life forms, more powerful and intellectual then even the most genetically enhanced human could ever be, Lore was that. The ultimate life-form, perfection in every sense of the word.

-Can I…can I be here when he wakes up?-
No.
-Of course you can, it will be important that you help in his development, it’s what big brothers do-
B4 smiled again, leaning over to plant a kiss on Lore’s forehead, Soong almost felt bad, almost.

-You’re still not…quite fixed up yet, you will need to go…back to sleep for a few more days before I can be confident I’ve fixed up what caused you to shut down before-
He lied, a big lie, he didn’t want to explain it to B4, he wanted it to die happy, even if it was a lie. B4 looked down and its face turned sad, sighing before walking over to Soong, looking down at him with tears in its eyes.
-I promise you’ll be fine, I’ll fix you up, then we can work on Lore together ok? You’ve got to…sleep for now-
He led B4 back over to the second table, who reluctantly laid back down, staring up at the ceiling as it had done for most of its short, painfully short life. Soong didn’t need to hook anything up this time, he just needed to remember where he put the off switch.

-How long will I be asleep for?-

-…Indefinitely-

-How…how long is tha-

He clicked the switch on its back, he didn't want to hear it speak anymore, didn’t need to feel guilt at ending the life of something that wasn’t meant to live in the first place. He had deleted everything about it from his logs and files, burnt all the books with the notes about it as well. Soong did not want anyone to know about B4, his failure of a creation, it was an embarrassment to his legacy and reputation if anyone were to find out about it.
Looking over at Lore, some part of it would live on, even if only in the destroyed parts of his lab he couldn’t be bothered to fix and the name chosen for its brother.
He hid it in the lab down below, deep within the labyrinth where no one had ever ventured except for himself, in the same cupboard as the rest of the failures that were never to be spoken of, forgetting about it immediately as he headed back upstairs to work on Lore.

 

"Computer, play 'Soong Work Playlist: Relaxation, Version 6.74, normal speed, low volume"

The room is filled with slow, peaceful classical music and the sounds of keys typing away, it stays that way until the moons of the sky shine through the skylights hours later, illuminating the room with their soft slow, reflecting silver off gold as Lore lays in waiting to be brought to life.

Notes:

Soong spent the next 2 or so years building up Lore, he turned into less of an ass in that time.

Thanks for reading as always !! Kind of a sequel, because we never really got an explanation for B4’s existence in canon, so here’s my take on what happened to him during his time with Soong, what lead up to his deactivation and the reasoning for why Soong never told anyone about him.

Chapter 11: Elementary

Summary:

Data and the Enterprise crew visit Daystrom to see if they can find any clues to help them find the escapes.

The Enterprise arrived at Daystrom station early the following morning, it was a massive orbital station above an abandoned and empty M-class planet, ships visiting took a higher orbit and had to teleport onboard as there were no docks for safety reasons. Immediately from just a quick scan of the surrounding system it became apparent that the coming and going of ships and shuttles had destroyed their chances of being able to follow the warp trail of the tiny. shuttlecraft Lore stole.
The personnel allowed the stationary was limited to senior members of the crew, so Data, Geordi, Will and Worf beamed aboard as soon as they were approved.

They split into two teams to work on their respective tasks. Will and Worf were tasked with the tedious job of interviewing the personnel on board, including Maddox’s assistants and all personnel who were awake during the hours of escape who could have seen anything, the station had limited personal, mostly security for the storage facilities or scientists conducting research so it would only take the day, rather than weeks if it was any other normally run station. They set up in an office near the cafeteria, and had a security guard call people one by one until they were finished.

Data and Geordi, were tasked with searching for any ‘clues’ to aid the mission, to see if there was any indication of Lore’s motives or something to hint at where he might have gone. They planned to check the labs where the two androids were apparently kept, and then with the computer to check the security footage of the escape.
The lab where Lore was kept was relatively normal, except for the table in the centre clearly being person sized, surrounded by what Geordi described to Data as ‘android torture devices’, or equipment for use with androids that he said were ‘so medieval it was like using a lumber axe instead of a scalpal’ on humans, Data had to muffle a laugh before continuing to look around the room.
-There is concerning lack of restraints on the table for Lore-
-Damn, talk about putting all your eggs in one basket, they really had no backup for when Lore figured out their plan of immobilising him-
Data spent a moment, searching up the term ‘eggs in one basket’ before smiling and nodding.
-Yes it would seem so, Maddox always did appear to me to be very, biased towards his own work, often holding it in high regard-
It seemed as though Maddox hadn't spent a lot of time here, and after trying to search through the computer to find it wiped of everything relating to Lore's confinement they moved to the second lab, located a short walk down the hall.

Inside the second lab, immediately it became apparent that Maddox had spent a lot more time here. There was a lot more equipment around the room, on tables, small wheeled trolleys and the floor, not to mention the state of the back wall above the computer, which was covered in post-it notes and papers taped up. Data spent a lot of processing power trying to stop themselves from cleaning the mess, trying and failing not to look down as they waded through the trash that flooded the floor, it was…awful.
-Geordi, would you be able to get access to the security footage from this room on that computer? It is likely the deletion of the information regardings my brothers time here was deleted station wide so that is not a worthwhile avenue to investigate further, but we may be able to access the security footage and see what Lore was doing in here-
-I’ll see what i can do-
Geordi moved to sit at the computer, facing away from Data and the room. Data walked over to the table to analyse it, a few broken restraints, a light above that had been ripped out, in certain spots the table had been covered in a thick layer of a familiar golden bio fluid, likely from B4 if he had been cut open, it was disturbing to look at, they made a note to delete the images from their memories later so it didn’t flood their dreams with nightmares.
-Whatever they were doing, it does seem to have been pleasant-
-Seems like they went all out trying to get this guy online-
Data nodded, moving to the computer after Geordi gestured to them to walk over and look at the screen.
-I got the security footage from the labs, but no where else, according to them its ‘high security’ and cannot be accessed by anyone, even us, even though we’re investigating a break out-
-That will be sufficient, it could tell potentially tell us something about Lore's intention of retrieving B4-

Geordi hit play, and they watched Lore lie on the table in the lab, the first time Data had seen him since they had locked up the storage compartment containing Lore’s body parts over 3 years ago. It was, unnerving to see him motionless on an operating table, Data paid close attention to the opening in the jumpsuit on his chest, making notes of the large cuts to access his internal systems that had all been poorly stitched up, still leaking biofluid. They looked…painful.
They watched as Maddox and his assistant walked in, they couldn't hear them talking as there was no audio, but after they left they were shocked when Lore sat upright not even a minute after, looking around to view his surroundings. Maddox returned a moment later, and Lore laid back down, Maddox retrieved something, his assistant appeared and seemed to show him something on a pad and the two left again. This time however, when Lore got up, he moved toward the computer, tapped away for a moment, confirming that he was the one responsible for the deletion of files, before easily bypassing the doors locks and leaving.
-Even if we spent the next hundred years I don't think we could come up with a locking system that would get past the two of you Data, but it was like they didn't even try to keep him secured! They must have known he’d regain mobility eventually, surely they're not that stupid-
Geordi sighed in frustration and Data agreed, Lore's ‘escape’ was more of him walking out the door casually, than an escape from the highest secured science facility in Starfleet.

Geordi tapped and the screen flicked over to the second lab, immediately Data took note of the sight. B4, it seemed, was deemed more of a risk, as he was restrained to the table, and also for some reason not wearing anything but a pair of black briefs, Data tried not to get too emotional as he was…in a much worse state than Lore was, covered in open cuts, golden yellow, his torso was open and even through the poor camera Data could tell Maddox had made a mess of everything. Lore casually walked in the room, before stopping at the table staring down at the other, strange, Data noted he seemed upset at the sight. Data saw Lore's face twitch into a snarl before he moved and ripped off the light above the table, throwing it across the room before he did something unexpected. He reached out and, after pressing the switch on the other's back which seemed to achieve nothing, he…laid a gentle hand to B4's face, caressing slightly clearly to provide some comfort to the obviously injured android, Geordi paused the video.
-You saw that too right?-
-Indeed, strange to see Lore show such affection, it seems the two did in fact meet before this escape, perhaps they were both active on Omicron at the same time? though that does not explain much, I was not aware Lore could be…nice-
-Yeah but it's weird that Lore’s being nice, if they meet while they were connected during that weird experiment Maddox did then B4 must have made quite an impression, if they already knew each other it’s weird Lore would never mention it or try to find him before this-
Geordi hit play, and Data tried to study Lore's movements and his expressions to try and understand this unusual behavior. After Lore had carefully placed all of B4 wires and circuitry back into him and closed his torso panels, Lore ripped off the restraints, dressed him in a black jumpsuit retrieved from a nearby storage locker and spent a moment in thought before picking up B4, hauling the clearly much heavier than expected android over his shoulder before turning and leaving the room.
-Even weirder-
-Going by Lore's facial and body expression it also seems he has a, affection for our oldest brother-
-Its creepy-
-Indeed-
They had no access to the rest of the footage, Geordi figured it wouldn't be much help anyway. They rewatched the lab footage a few times, but all they found was Lore's behavior being more and more confusing as they thought more about it.
-We have found everything we can, which amounts to not a lot, unfortunately-
-Except that Lore is even more confusing than we originally thought so-
Data nodded and Geordi sighed, they found nothing that hinted to where Lore had gone after he escaped, nor an explanation for why he took B4, except for apparently liking him, which was just creepy and not useful.

-Well, we learned that the two have meet, at some point, and that they seem to get along and honestly, if Lore likes him, he must be insane, so we know that much-
-That is true Geordi, we should reconvene with the rest of the team and see if their interviews came up with anything of use-
-Doubt it, but I need to get out of this torture chamber for Soong types before I throw up-
Geordi stood up and Data made sure not to obviously stare as he stretched his arms upwards, lifting his shirt slightly at his waist. Geordi gave them a slight punch on the shoulder when he saw them, and they left.

Worf and Riker had found nothing during their interviews, no one had heard anything out of place the day of escape, except for the alarm going off in the evening when someone finally noticed a shuttle missing.

They had a meeting in the briefing room when they all returned aboard the Enterprise, to discuss their amazing findings of the day, before Geordi and Data returned to their quarters. They sat together at the dining table while Geordi had his evening meal, Data sat opposite and sipped on an Earl grey, Picard had gotten them into them, and they enjoyed them while Geordi had his meals.
-Where would Lore go if not to the Borg?-
-I do not understand the question Geordi-
Between mouthfuls of food, Geordi pointed a fork to Data.
-We can’t pretend to know anything about this B4’s reasoning, but Lore? We know him very well, he won't go back to the Borg because surely that'd be too obvious right? he'd want to lay low, stay out of everyone's way so he’s not caught, until everyone moved on from the search-
-He would likely find somewhere he knew no one would look or no one could look for him and stay there for a while until the search was stopped-
Data had their elbows on the table, resting their head on joined hands while;e they thought.
-It’d have to be somewhere know for sure no one would be able to get to right, probably thinking if we can't go there we won't follow, plus he's not exactly been around much so there's not many places he'd know well enough to hide-
-Very likely, but where Geordi?-

-You don’t suppose he'd be feeling nostalgic and headed for Omicron Theta do you?-
Geordie laughed but that was actually a very good suggestion.
-It is a possibility my love, it is a planet that is very isolated, currently uninhabitable to humanoids in the long term and familiar to Lore if he needed for some reason to feel safe in a familiar location-
Geodie stuffed the last few mouthfuls of food into his mouth before tapping his com badge.
-LaForge to Captain Picard-
-Picard here, how can I help you Geordie-
-We have a crazy theory as to where Lore might be sir-
-Well come up to the bridge and tell me, a crazy theory is better than nothing-

Notes:

As always thanks for reading !!
Notes: I wanna write a full Sherlock mystery adventure with Data/Geordi but I need to read them first so I know what I’m doing, so give me like 5 years XD
Lore being nice freaks everyone out

Chapter 12: Home

Summary:

Lore and B4 arrive back on Omicron Theta after their escape from Daystrom, spending some time cleaning up the mess and watching terrible movies.

The house was quiet, obviously, everyone and everything that ever lived in the house was dead thanks to Lore.
Still, the familiarity of it felt comforting, somehow, he wanted it to be home again, he wanted to feel safe and like he belonged somewhere, this was the closest thing he’d ever had to a home. Lore wanted a home, he wanted to belong somewhere, feel safe, surely that wasn’t too much to ask for right?

Lore walked himself and B4 into the house, entering the small entrance hallway and stopping to take in the state of the place; to the left was the kitchen and dining room, the right led to the living area and conservatory that led onto what was the garden, in front was the staircase to the second floor with the two bedrooms and the bathroom. It was a decent sized house, small, but big enough for what Soong needed it for. The labyrinth underneath the house, now that was something else. Lore had it mapped from his early years here, 12 labs, and a seemingly never ending maze connecting them all to make it harder for anyone to find Soong’s work and leave before he could stop them. Soong was…a very paranoid man, always hiding something with a million plans and back-up plans for everything.
B4 didn’t speak much, just looked around like he’d never seen a house before…which was actually very likely considering what little Lore did now about his older brother's time with their ‘father’.

The house was a fucking mess, even if you ignored the whole…’planet wide destruction of every living organism’, Soong was a bit of a slob, and although mother tried her best, she couldn’t keep up with the housework and her own job at the same time. Lore would have to spend a day or so cleaning up everything so he didn’t want to rip off his skin just looking at all the dust and god knows what else had accumulated on every surface in the house over the past 30 or so years.
In the blink it took him to analyse the state of the home and come up with a plan of action regarding cleaning, B4 had walked into a side table in the hallway, knocking everything off, Lore could only catch the glass vase before it fell, everything else fell to the floor with several loud thuds and crashes.
-Sorry-
He put the vase back, shaking his head slightly at B4’s complete lack of spatial awareness, dedicating some processing power to guiding him more carefully around the furniture in the home from that point on. Lore walked them both to the kitchen, slowly, before sitting B4 down on one of the stools at the bar, telling him to stay still, and walking over to the replicator to see if it was working. To his surprise it was, the fuel in the backup generator wasn’t organic, so it must have survived the attack, hence why there was still power, that thing had a half life of about a million years.
Lore replicated all the cleaning supplies he would need to get the house to a more livable state, placing them all inside a bag he handed over for B4 to hold onto.
-You wanna help me clean up this shithole?-
B4 nodded enthusiastically, Lore was glad he was so keen, cleaning was boring and he needed someone to talk to.

Lore led them both through each room one at a time, cleaning while he would ramble on about whatever topic he was thinking about in that moment: space, startography, maps, spatial anomalies, books, movies, plans of murder, that weird cluster they passed on the way here, his thoughts on cybernetics, normal things. B4 didn’t really help clean, mostly just listened to Lore’s rambles, but he held things and occasionally made more of a mess by walking into everything, and even more of a mess by trying to clean it up after. Lore would snap at him, B4 would cry and Lore would have to quickly mumble out an apology to calm B4 down, which seemed to work thankfully and the incident would be forgotten.
B4 was everything Lore hated about humans, he was slow, stupid, clumsy, always confused, still, Lore…likes him for some reason, he feels a weird sense of calm around him. B4 seemed to always be happy, and this made it hard to be angry at him for more than a minute or so.
He thought that was weird, but to be fair, Data's constant neutrality pissed him off, the complete opposite to himself. B4's emotions seemed to be as unstable as Lore’s were, but since he was a bit more…simple minded, his tended to stay nearer the more positive/anxious side, whereas Lore’s tended to stay near the negative/paranoid side, almost cancelling each other out in a weird way.

 

After spending a day or so cleaning, getting rid of trash, putting the mess away and giving everything a wipe down, Lore finally felt satisfied enough with the house enough to relax. He moved into the main living area and collapsed onto the sofa face up, leaning his back against the arm rest to try and have a moment's rest. To his surprise B4 ran over and jumped on top of him, knocking the wind out of him before wiggling around getting comfy. He laid to rest with his head on Lore's shoulder, nuzzling up against his neck, he had grabbed a blanket and wrapped it around them both.
Adorable?

No.

Ok, Maybe.

Just a little bit.

He looked down at B4 and smiled at his innocence at such a…intimate position, not usually held between friends, let alone brothers. He tilted his head as he wondered if the other really understood the meanings of different relationship types, making a note to explain to him…later…definitely…that he shouldn’t hug him this way again.
Wait, he tilted his head? He deleted the previous note to keep an eye out for the weird behavior, amused that the three of them were more similar than he thought, did he and Data get it from B? It would make the most sense since he was designed first, so Soong must have kept it in their programming.
Anyway.
-Hey B, wanna watch a movie?-
-A…what?-
Right, he was talking to someone who hadn't even seen the sky.
-Well it’s… no, I think it'll be easier to show you ok? They're fun don't worry-
He reached over, grabbing the pad on the coffee table that controlled the main monitor on the wall in front of the sofa. After searching through the library Soong had downloaded, he pulled up a 20th century movie called ‘Silence of the Lamb’. It was one of his favourites, he had a thing for terrible horror films, he found them all terrible but still, B4 watched the whole time, asking questions which Lore was glad to answer with his own theories and speculations on the movie, and several repeats of the names of characters and the overall plot. Lore found himself relaxed, it was strange but nice, he was actually glad he brought along the other, if he didn't no one else would listen to his rambles. No one else ever cared enough to listen to him, even his mother would politely tell him to be quiet when he would go on a ramble about a movie or book he liked.

For the next movie, Lore spends a few minutes thinking about something the other would enjoy, and chooses one of the good awful ‘muppet’ movies he remembers his mother watching occasionally. She told him that they were her favourite as a child, bringing her comfort during stressful days as an adult. His mother never really seemed to care for any movies post the 21st century, and Soong didn't care much for movies at all.
He wasn't surprised when B4 asked to watch the movie again, Lore could see him watching intently, his brain working overtime to fully take in every scene and line, Lore didn't mind as he let himself fall asleep during the second rewatch, telling B4 which buttons to press to loop the movie before he did, he woke up during the credits when B4 poked at his face repeatedly.
-Lore, Lore, Lore, Lore, Lore-
Every repeat of his name was accompanied by a poke to his cheek, he checked his internal clock to see B4 had watched the movie 4 times now, and opened his eyes to see he had sat up.
-What-
-The sky is crying-
-I'm sorry what?-
B4 pointed to a nearby window, Lore looked over and sure enough, it was raining. It was likely acid rain, but it was just raining.
-That's called rain B, don't go outside because it'll hurt you, and be quiet for a bit and let me sleep-
B4 nodded, returning to lay back down, Lore didn't know why this position was making his body demand he catch up on 30 years worth of missed sleep, but here he was, wishing that he never had to move again.

He awoke again a few hours later, obvious;y after a few more repeats of the movie, when he felt a weight lift off himself, feeling the blanket being draped over him very carefully by B4. He kept his eyes closed to not startle the other android who was clearly trying his best to be sneaky in his escape. He tried not to be disappointed at the sudden lack of weight before shutting up that thought process because of how stupid it was.
After B4 got up he heard him pace around the room for a while, mumbling about if the muppets killed someone how would they catch them, with no DNA or fingerprints to lead the case, Lore thought it was hilarious and adorable, that he had so much energy and seemed to enjoy his dumb theory crafting as much as Lore did his own, remembering the hours he himself spent doing the exact same thing in the kitchen, much to his Mothers annoyance and his Soong’s amusement.
He spoke up to confirm that the blood would be soaked into the muppets, who were made of felt, making it impossible to completely remove even after a thorough washing, so the police would be able to detect and use that as firmer evidence then fingerprints to convict them. B4 nodded and they went back and forth for a moment, B4 seemed to be blending the 2 movies together in his memories and honestly the thought of that little green shit being Hannibal was hilarious.
When B4 seemed to have gotten most of his energy out he moved back to the sofa, laying back down on Lore again, continuing to ramble on about what he could remember of the movies while he simply listened, his voice was actually…pretty…nice, grainy still, but nice.

After a while, the rain had stopped and Lore noticed it was nearly sunset. He remembered B4's excitement at the view outside the shuttlecraft, he interrupted the others' ramble.
-Hey B-
He went silent, looking at Lore with a small hint of annoyance that he found amusing, saving it into his memories forever. He had dedicated a lot of storage to keeping B4s many faces and mannerisms in. That was normal, totally, right? Yup. Totally.
-You wanna go see the sky?-
B4s face immediately lit up, doing that weird flappy thing with his hands he had done several times during his ramble, it seemed to be a way of letting out the androids constant excess energy. Lore took the reaction as a yes and stood up, leaving the blanket on the sofa, motioning the other to follow him to the front door, B4 followed, blanket in one hand and grabbed Lore’s hand with the other. Lore did not take the hand, intertwining their fingers, and did not hold it even tighter, and he did not enjoy it, not at all.

He led them slowly up the front garden, across the main town and up a small hill at the outskirts of the colony, on top of it there was a bench that faced out towards what was once the forest that surrounded the settlement. It was built by the first colonists a few decades before Soong arrived and it used to be his favourite spot to hide away when he didn’t want to see anyone, which was often. Lore sat them both down and pointed up at the setting sun, just as it began to throw a rainbow of light across the otherwise colourless environment. B4 looked up to where he pointed, in shocked silence as Lore stared at him, taking in the absolutely adorable face of amazement and joy while he stared up into the sunset for the first time. The colours that reflected off his face and his eyes…were…definitely something.
After a while, the sun had set and the night sky was in full motion, the 2 moons lighting up the sky, the colours of the galaxy filled the view, stars and planets dotting the night sky.
-Can we stay for a while? Please?-
-As long as you want big guy, we got nowhere else to be-
B4 wrapped an arm around Lore's shoulders and pulled him to his side, wrapping the blanket around them both, Lore accepted the hug, a soft smile on his face. They'd probably do this every night for the rest of eternity and he was more than ok with that idea, he felt…happy. He leaned on B4’s chest, looking up to keep his eyes on the idiot's face while hestared, unmoving up at the night sky, a soft smile on both faces.

 

Lore felt safe, he was home

Notes:

Thank you as always for reading !!
Fluff between the two babies because it’s adorable xxxx

Notes: Lore likes horrors, thrillers, documentaries on literally any subject and the over 1000 adaptations of sherlocks that been produced over the centuries (don’t tell data) b4 likes Disney, the muppets, musicals and whatever lore’s watching cause he just likes to hear him talk about them.
Also the idea of them returning to a home that rejected them both and finding it within each other instead? Peak.

Chapter 13: Data-4

Summary:

The Enterprise arrives at Omicron Theta to look for the missing brothers.

They arrived in orbit of Data's homeworld 1 hours 43 minutes 02 seconds after Data started their shift in the morning, meaning that Lore had now been missing for a total of 8 days 17 hours 46 minutes and 47 seconds, every second was making Data more and more nervous for what their older brothers were planning.

The away team, consisting of Data, Worf and Will, beamed down to the entrance to the lab, where they beamed down the last time they visited, where Data had originally been found all those decades ago. It seemed most sensible that Lore would hide underground in the lab, no one in Starfleet knew where the entrance was since Data had decided not to tell them after they'd found Lore there, they had a feeling the scientists in starfleet would come in and destroy his fathers lab, stealing anything of value and they wanted to preserve it. Instead, it was important to them that their fathers work remain untouched after his death. Maddox likely found another entrance, Data recalled seeing a few likely candidates during their exploration of the underground maze previously.

The three men walked inside, into the sprawling network of hallways and rooms, searching for any sign that someone else had been here. Data held up their tricorder, scanning for anything unusual while Worf and Will were alert, phasers ready, set to specifically stun and disable any android they come across. Nothing appeared on the tricorder that stood out immediately, interference from whatever material the walls were made of preventing a scan more than 2.5 meters in diameter around them, they pressed onwards.

Data walked in front with the two armed men behind him, coming across a t-junction after walking for 2 minutes and 47 seconds down the straight hallway. After they heard something up ahead, Data held their arm out to stop the others, who both stood frozen waiting for more information. They had heard a faint whistling that was heading towards them down the hallway from the right of the junction, it took another 47 seconds for it to get close enough for the 2 men to hear it, both moving to stand either side of Data, more alert than ever. Their tricorder picked it up as an android, but it could not give enough information to be able to tell which one, this was frustrating as it would be nice to know which manicical android they were up against, making a note to patch a upgrade it later so it could pick up the differences between the, now three, brothers. The other two fixed their phasers on the opening, waiting for whoever it was to appear.

The whistling grew louder as it got closer, until the three watched as one of the missing brothers passed right by them, proceeding to the left of the hallway, seemingly unaware that the three were there at all. The whistling suddenly stopped, and the three remained in silence as the other android slowly backed up until they were in the middle of the junction, turning to stare at the three.
Data took a moment to make an analysis of the other. He was wearing a standard starfleet jumpsuit in science blue, his hair was an absolute mess and his face bore an expression of pure confusion as he looked between the three men standing before him, definitely not Lore. Data noted it seemed this ‘B4’ was 8.68 inches taller than himself, his build was 34.46% more stocky, though it was hard to see much underneath the baggy jumpsuit, but it was obvious the man was, as Data believed Geordi would say, chubbier. His face was nearly identical except for the added roundness that gave him a much younger and more innocent appearance. He stood there for an intensely long 3 minutes 47 seconds, head tilted to the side, looking between the three of them in silence, before it seemed he finally realised what he had walked into.

B4 ran forward to the left of the junction and the three men ran behind him, easily keeping up with the surprisingly slow android. Data watched him stumble and fall over a few times before barely climbing up a set of stairs to an already open door, running through and slamming it behind him with enough force to shake the hallway. Worf looked to Will and Data, motioning for them to stay behind before making his way up the stairs, slowly opening the door, phaser out in front of him.

They walked into a room filled with all kinds of miscellaneous boxes and crates, Data could only estimate 684 boxes, as they were unable to see many of them which were stacked further back, making an educated guess at how many they were high. They were stacked to the ceiling at 8 different points, the rest were stacked to be just shy of 6ft tall, creating a maze either side of the pathway that was cleared from the door they had entered all the way to another set of stairs and another door at the top, likely leading above ground to another structure.
Assuming the android ran into the other door, Data and Will walked behind Worf as he made his way towards the door. Data stopped halfway, hearing something in the room, they tapped Worf's shoulder to grab his attention, and he and Will turned to face them.
-What's u-
Data put a finger to their own lips to tell Will to be silent, they could hear something behind the boxes on their left, shuffling around, sounding like someone was moving to get settled. They point to a wall of boxes, Will nods and makes his way around the boxes to investigate after hearing the noise, Data adjusted their auditory processors to listen to Will as he investigated whatever it was.
When Will walks around a stack of boxes, they heard gasps in shock and surprise as well as the sound of Will being pulled to the floor below, some rustling about before a familiar but distinctly grainy voice speaks up in a whisper.
-There’s people here looking for me, we have to hide and be quiet-
What? Surely this B4 would know that he was talking to one of the ‘people’ who were looking for him? Also, why was he hiding in the first place? Shouldn't he be fighting or still running? Why was his voice so grainy? Data’s mind was filled with exactly 1,356 questions about B4 and the current situation, none of them having anything close to an answer. Will spoke up again, whispering softly to the strange android.
-What are you on about, why would you hide from them?-
-The people, they're…they are here to take me away again-

Worf was growing impatient, nothing had happened for more than 3 minutes which Data knew as the man's limit to be standing still during away missions.
-Is everything ok sir, should I come and assist-
Worf growled over to Will, and Will spoke up loudly enough for the klingon to hear.
-All good here Worf give me a minute-
Data is even more confused when they hear frantic movement they can only assume is from B4, and sees a stack of boxes fall down, likely B4 had knocked into them, somehow. They heard B4 speak again, this time more panicked and scared, Data notes a 57.5% increase in his heart rate.
-We gotta…we've got to hide-
They hear Will speak softly in an attempt to soothe the scared android. Why was he so scared? His emotional state seems to be as unstable and as unpredictable as Lore's, and his intelligence was definitely…something.
-Hey buddy no one’s going to hurt you-
-No, no, no you’re going to take me back, I don’t want to go back-
-They’re my friends, we won’t do anything you don’t want to, ok?-
They both go silent for 83 seconds before Will speaks again.
-Hey, do you think you can help me with something?-
Will was very good in these situations, Data had noted his knowledge in caring for people who were in distress over the many years they had served together, he was very ‘approachable’ as they had heard people comment, saying his large but soft father figure was apparently kind and soothing.
-H…how? I’m not very…smart-
-We're looking for someone who may be here with you, do you think you might know anything about that?-
They go silent for 1 minute and 16 seconds before B4 speaks again, noting his less than human processing speed Data added more questions about B4 to the seemingly infinite list they were building up.

-The only people here are me and Lore, are you looking for him?-
-In fact I am-
-I didn’t know he had friends! This is great, he’s been grumpy-
Grumpy? That is, one way to put Lore’s personality, they heard Will’s gasp as B4 stands up, knocking several more boxes in the process, Will speaks again.
-Can you take me and my friends to him? We’re a bit lost-
-Ok!!-
The next minute, a slightly amused and confused Will rounds the corner to the centre of the room, being dragged by his hand by B4.
Who stops and stares, directly at Data, right into their eyes, unblinking, much to their discomfort, he does not stop. Even when Data looked away they could feel eyes following him.
B4 lets out a loud gasp after 1 minute and 14 seconds of staring, pointing over to Data, he turns to Will before speaking.
-I thought you said you lost Lore!-
Data turns back to him, as confused as everyone else in the room, Will gives him a pity smile.
-He is correct, we have lost Lore, I am not Lore-
B4s eyes pierce Data's mechanical soul, they can hear both Worf and Will trying not to laugh when B4 does a head tilt similar to the one Data does, clearly confused by, well apparently everything that was happening.
-You’re not Lore?? You look the same as Lore-
-You also look like Lore, my name is Data, it is unlikely you know me as I was constructed after Lore, making me the youngest of the three of us-
Data waited as he took another 58 seconds to process this new information, if he were human Data would have put them on the same intelligence level as a child from what they have seen so far, putting mechanical and systems failures high up on the theories as to why B4 was deactivated and Lore made to replace him.

-You're another…little brother?-
-Yes, I am your youngest broth-
Data didn’t finish speaking before they were suddenly swept off their feet into a hug by the taller android, B4s arms were held tightly around his waist and arms, preventing any attempts at escape, he spun them both around a few times and squished his face into Data's chest while he did.
-LITTLEST BROTHER!!-
He ‘sing-songed’ over and over while he spun them both. Data did not like hugs, or physical contact in general, and B4 seemed to love them, judging by how tightly they were holding onto them. After 3 minutes and 35 seconds, when it became apparent that B4 had not intentions to stop and release Data, they sighed and spoke up above the other who was still rambling
-B4, please put me down immediately, it is rude to pick people up without their consent beforehand-
Data’s voice is stern, and B4 puts him down before backing up, head looking down at the floor clearly upset at being told off, stuttering his next words, fidgeting his hands together.
-Sorry…I got excited, are you mad at me-
-It is ok this time, but I would prefer if you restrained yourself from touching me again without asking first-
Data was not impressed with this new brother, he was very…simple, not able to understand anything nor seeming to care, his apparent slowness combined with impulsive actions made him unpredictable, and Data much preferred predictable.
B4 speaks quietly, at a level that was inaudible to the others but very clear to them, seemingly unaware that Data could hear him and the annoyance in his voice as he spoke.
-Lore likes my hugs-

-Sir should we deactivate and restrain him for safety-
Worf spoke, pulling Data aside from the, shockingly, still confused B4. Data turned to face Worf, placing a hand on his arm in an action that told him to calm down.
-He does not appear to be threat at the moment, but we shall keep that as backup just in case, please keep an eye on him Worf-
-I have the phaser set to deactivate him at a moments notice Commander Data Sir-

When Data turns around they see B4 had burrowed himself into the back of Will, in a bad attempt at hiding, as he wasn't much shorter or smaller than him, Will looks back and speaks softly to him in an attempt at comfort.
-Hey pal, it’s ok, they don’t mean it, I promise-
This doesn't seem to work as B4 continues to hide behind Will, his face buried into the man's shoulder.
-I don't wanna go to sleep-
Data notes that this conversation overall is going nowhere, they needed to get the android to focus and understand enough to tell them where Lore was.
-B4, you said before that you knew where Lore is, was that correct?-
B4 looks up, again staring into Datas eyes, they turn their head to avoid the gaze.
-Can you take us to him, please?-
Will speaks to him, likely noting Data’s discomfort with the brother.
-It’s really important we make sure he’s ok, he went missing and we’re here to take him back-
The android nods, moving from behind Will, dragging the confused Officer by his sleeve.
-He’s upstairs! Lore is grumpy but he won’t hurt you I promise!! Probably!!-
He gives a large grin towards Will, half dragging him up the stairs, Will calls back for Data and Worf to follow. Data allows the security officer to go first, keeping a distance between themself and their very touchy older brother, closing the door behind as they step through the door.

They step into a fairly normal looking kitchen, very similar to an old earth style cottage, it has an overall soft pastel aesthetic, soft yellow glows from the fake candles all along the walls instead of light bulbs above. Strange, for Lore to be here, was this a familiar house to him? Data notices a photo on the wall, looking at it to see a younger version of his parents, clad in traditional wedding garments, smiling as they posed for the camera. Ah, this was likely the Soong household, that would explain why Lore would return here, it was familiar, and as Lore remembered his time with their parents it was likely he felt safe here.
The group follows behind B4 and Will into a hallway, then into what appears to be the main living area. B4 lets go of Will’s hand, Data notices as Will rubs it slightly with his other hand, looking closer to see it clearly sore and already bruising heavily, did B4 not know how to limit his strength to not hurt others? B4 makes a motion for the three to stay still before walking over to the nearby sofa. Data notes a slightly less, but still messy head of hair leaned back on the sofas armrest, Lore. Why did neither of his brothers care for proper hair care and style?
-BROOOOOOTHER!!-
B4 speaks loudly, walking over behind the armrest, bending down to put his arms around what Data can only assume is Lore’s neck. He isn’t instantly pushed away which surprises them.
-I made friends!!-
Data hears a loud sigh, but sees no movement from either brother, Lore should have definitely thrown him across the room by now, he never seemed the type to enjoy physical contact.
-B, I swear if I turn around to see another mouse I’m going to scream and there won’t be no movies for the evening-
B4 lets out an exaggerated gasp, movies? Mice? What were the two on about?
-What? noooo!!-
The three men watch in horror as B4 leans down to plant a kiss on top of Lore’s head, Data predicts a 98.89% chance they Lore turns round to brutally maim the android. But, he doesn’t, Data doesn’t even know how to process when it looks like the head leans back into the embrace, allowing a second kiss, they heard a softness in his voice that Data wasn’t even sure was possible when he spoke next.
-What is it then?-
-Peopleeee!!-

 

-PEOPLE!?-

 

Lore shouts, immediately shooting up to kneel on the sofa, looking over the back of it towards the three of them standing there, his eyes wide open flicking between them all, clearly not believing what he was seeing.
B4 moves to stand, one hand pointing to Data, the other grabs hold of Lore’s arm and tugs repeatedly.
-I don’t know their names but THIS! Is Data!!-
Lore turns to him, Data could see the anger within his brother but he still doesn’t make any violent moves that they would usually expect from him, he’s…containing, controlling his emotions that were usually all over the place and unpredictable, it was making Data uncomfortable honestly.
-He says he’s our little brother isn’t that exciting!-
Lore mumbles something that sounds like a ‘for fucks sake’ before sliding back down to the sofa, B4 walks round to kneel in front of the sofa, trying to whisper but speaking loud enough for the room to hear anyway.
-What’s wrong Lore-
-Tell them to fuck off-
-Why? Do we not like them, the tall furry man said they were your friends-
Data hears Worf laugh at the description of their first officer, and they make a note of the name, planning to tell Deanna later about it.
-Well they’re not my friends, I hate them, so we both hate them-
B4 goes silent for 28 seconds before speaking again.
-Should I tell them to leave?-
There isn’t a verbal response but Data assumes a nod was given, as B4 stands to face the three again, moving to stand between them and the sofa.

-I’m sorry but Lore says you have to leave now-
-But we just got here, can’t we talk to Lore before we go? it’s really important-
Will was trying to keep on the good side of the unpredictable and simple minded android, why was he helping Lore? He didn’t seem the kind of person to like Lore’s insanity and overall aggressive nature. Then again, Lore didn’t seem like he would like B4 either, but here they were, together anyway.
Data ran through possibility after possibility, trying to find a solution to solve this strange situation, they needed both of his older brothers in cells onboard the Enterprise, and they needed to do without angering or upsetting either of them. From the previous hug with B4, Data could say with confidence that if he decided to fight back that they had no chance of overpowering him.
-But…you’re upsetting Lore-
-You just understand this is important, Lore must be taken back to Daystrom station to be deactivated and put back into long term confinement, due to numerous criminal offences, including murder, theft, identity theft and-
Lore interrupts, speaking over Data.
-That’s too many big words data, he won’t understand any of it, you gotta keep it simple for him to be able to understand-
-As if we’d take advice from someone like you!-
Worf was a man of few words, Data often noticed his expression spoke louder than he did, so words weren’t necessary. As he and Data were close friends, they knew how much he wanted nothing more than to throw Lore into a cell with no escape, to leave him there for entirely. Worf once described their brother as a ‘man with no honor whatsoever’, which was the worst thing you would ever hear Worf say about anyone.
Will and Data both seemed to focus on B4’s face, he was confused, trying to analyse what Data just said, clearly not understanding a single word of what was just said, Worf was staring daggers at the back of Lore’s head.

They heard Lore sigh, the man got up again to face the group, putting a hand on B4’s shoulder to grab his attention, turning B4 to face him.
-I did a bad thing B, they’re here to take me back to the lab so I can taken apart again-
B4 eyes shot open, turning to face Data, again those damn eyes staring directly at them, it was bothering how much he seemed to need constant eye contact.
-No! You want to put Lore back to sleep?!-
-That’s why I told you to not let anyone in B-
Lore’s voice was frustrated, B4 looked between the three officers in front of him, Data could see the tears rolling down his face.
-What? No NO! You can’t, you can’t take Lore, I just found him, we’re staying here where it safe and-
He was scared again, Data watched as Will moved forward to try and comfort him but B4 backed up, not wanting anything to do with him, the little trust Will had built up was lost as soon as they mentioned hurting Lore it seemed.
-You can’t take him back there, they’ll hurt him again and then, I won’t see him and they’ll hurt him please you can’t-
Data noted that his breathing became rapid, very rapid, he was hyperventilating, he stumbled back into Lore, who held him in his arms trying to calm him down, gently running a hand up and down his back. Data couldn’t hear him over B4 crying loudly, he was speaking softly to the man burying his head into his shoulder.
Worf growled next to them.
-This is ridiculous, we need to leave, now, sir-
Worf was getting impatient, Will was as well at this point, they needed to get back to the ship to continue this conversation, with Lore behind a force field, and B4 clearly needed to speak to Deanna about whatever manipulation Lore had done to him to make him so obedient.

Worf looked to Data who hesitated, but then nodded, Data moved forward and grabbed B4’s arm, pulling him back quickly before either could react, away from a shocked Lore. They needed to move quickly to counter Lore’s speed but thankfully he seemed stunned enough to give Worf time to act.
Worf took out his phaser, aiming and shooting at Lore in the chest before he could speak or make a move against them, he collapsed over the back of the sofa face down.
Will tapped his com badge, Data wished it had gone better, but this was still an overall positive outcome considering no one was injured.
-5 to beam up, transporter room 3, but lock onto Lore and beam in directly into holding cell B, max level containment-
Data held onto B4 with both arms, wrapped around the man as he had done to themself earlier. But Data held onto him from behind, struggling to keep their hold as B4 desperately tried to pull free to run towards Lore, crying even louder as they all beamed into a bright flash of blue.

Notes:

The three are reunited !

Notes: Data in nemesis doesn’t like b4 at all, and I just plain rude and condescending towards him the entire time which I hate.
Data/Lore and Data/B4 are very opposites, data is very routines, order and predicable whereas the other 2 are chaotic, so of course it would take longer for data to get used to b4 and get along with him
Lore turns his head for 1 minute and b4 gets lost in the maze below so lore gave up trying to keep an eye on him after 1 day of trying, knowing that b4 couldn’t get very far if he tried anyway (he locks all the exits)
Will is dad.

Chapter 14: Enterprise-B

Summary:

B4 is welcomed aboard the Enterprise.

B4 reached out to grab Lore, being held back by Data, no, no, this wasn’t right! the tall man said they were Lore’s friends, why would they hurt him? Lore wasn’t moving, he fell and laid over the sofa, B4 felt tears on his face as he tried again to reach out to help Lore, to help him up and make sure he was ok, but he found both his arms were being held behind him, why was Data stopping him? Why wasn’t he helping Lore?
He heard someone speaking, then watched as he was consumed in a beam of light, he didn’t understand, what was happening? He didn’t want to go with these people, he wanted to stay here with Lore, he didn’t like this new brother, he was mean to Lore and to him, he held B4’s arms so he couldn’t help Lore, why would he do that? Did he not like them?
The beam of light disappeared and he was….somewhere new? How?

Where?

It felt like the room was spinning, his vision was blurry but he needed…he needed to find Lore…he needed to leave…needed to go back home, it was too much…
He pushed Data away, he didn’t care where he landed, before turning to walk, run, somewhere, anywhere else but here.
He fell, there were steps? He landed on his face, rolling over onto his side, everything hurt, everything was loud, he couldn’t breath, he needed to calm down before….

This happened before, a few times, right before father said he had to sleep, if he didn’t stop it, he would have to … no, no, no
please
NO!
He felt his hair being pulled, by who? His hands were sore, they were pulling at his hair, trying to keep himself focused on breathing, on being better then a fumbling stupid mess on the floor, why did he always end up a crying mess?
He heard people talking, Data and the men from before, speaking to new people. He felt someone grab his hands, strong, they pulled them away, he let them, he was too tired to fight, he needed to sleep, he wanted to rest…..no no he can’t he needs to find Lore and he needs to leave!
He feels himself sitting up, arms being held behind his back, something cold on them, he tries to move his arms in front of himself but can’t, he couldn’t move, he needed to move, he didn’t like being held still, father did it, when he had to open him up, it hurt, he tried again to free his arms but couldn’t, he heard speaking, heard movement, his eyes shut closed, he felt himself being lifted, held in someone’s arms, he was tired, he was scared, he just needed to re-

-SYSTEM OVERLOAD, INITIATING AUTO EMERGENCY SHUT DOWN-
-TIME NEED OFFLINE TO REPAIR SYSTEMS, 12 HOURS 27 MINUTES-

 

Everything went quiet

 

He was floating somewhere
Was time passing?
How long was he here?
He’d been here before
After father….
Before he woke up in that lab….

Asleep.

He couldn’t see anything
Hear anything

Feel anything

Where was his body?
His mind?
Data?

Lore?

He wanted his mother
She always held him so carefully
Lovingly
He missed her the most

He slowly became aware of
something?
Someone.
Speaking?
Talking to him

He heard words but didn’t hear them

He heard a soft voice
A kind voice
Familiar?
The man
The tall one, with the furry face
A beard?
A beard.
He spoke to B4

 

Every blink, less darkness consumed him
He could see a white light above him,
No
No
Not there, please
The light went off
He heard
Someone said sorry?
He turned, blinking to see the blurry outline of someone
He was laying down?
On a bed
Soft
Warm.
He felt touch on his arm
Comforting
He blinked a few more times, his vision slowly clearing to reveal the man from before
Smiling at him
He felt safe in that smile
It reminded him of father

The few times he did see him smile.

He sat in silence watching the man, waiting for his systems to fully reboot, they took forever.
Did data and Lore need so much time? Or did they just, wake up, one second then boom, awake.
He wished he could do that, there was a lot he was sure they could do that he couldn’t.

 

-You with me now bud?-
The man spoke, B4 opened his mouth to speak but nothing came out, he nodded instead.
-Good, you had me scared there B, thought we lost you-
He hadn’t gone anywhere had he? How did they lose him? His body felt heavy, he needed to sit up, to move before he fell back to sleep
He moved after a while of trying to get his body to listen, trying to sit up but is stopped, someone held a hand to his chest and holds him back down, he heard a noise, before the bed suddenly moved, he sat up, but was still laying down? The bed was moving.
When it stopped he turned his head to look at the man
-Better?-
-Yeah-
-Good, good, do you need anything else? You were out for a while-
He was thirsty, his fluids needed refilling, he lost a lot to tears, he needed it to keep his body working, he thinks, maybe he is just tired, father was never clear on what the constant drinks he made B4 drink were for.
Anyway, other priorities.

-What…is your name?-
He didn’t want to keep calling him ‘the man’ or ‘furry face’, it seemed…rude, especially, when he was being so nice.
-Oh right, forgot about that! You can call me Will-
-Will?-
-That’s it-
-That’s a…nice name, it suits you very much Mr Will-
He laughs again, it’s a nice laugh, warm, friendly.
-It’s just Will, ok B?-
He nods.
-Where am I?-
-You’re in sick bay, had to keep an eye on you while you were out, to stop you from hurting yourself, or anyone else…again-
The man laughed softly, holding up an arm that was inside some kind of sleeve, a cast?
-Anyone else that wasn’t me anyway-
-You….you're hurt?-
-It’s fine bud don’t worry about it, it’ll heal pretty quick, my back though, that might take a while longer, you’re heavy to lug around y’know-
-I am…heavy?-
-Even Worf complained when it was his turn to carry you, so you’re not light-

-Woof?-

-Worf, right um, the other man that was with us-
-The one with the funny face?-
Will laughed again at this.
-That’s the one-
-Where is he and Data now?-
-They’re talking to Lore-
-Wait, where’s lore?!-
B4 shouted as he sat up, trying to get out of the bed, he needed to make sure Lore was safe, he was stopped, gently pushed back down again.
-He’s safe-

-They shot him!-

-He’s fine, it didn’t hurt him-
-But! But, what if he’s not!!-
-B, calm down, I promise Lore is ok, just being held in a different room to you-
-Fine-
B4 was mad, they shot his brother, taken him, hidden him, and they expected him to be ok with that? He fell back to the bed and looked away, these people were confusing. Will reached out and placed his hand on B4’s shoulder, he spoke softly
-I need to call a new friend to see you now, Is that ok B?-
More ‘friends’?
-Who?-
-My friend Beverly, she's a doctor and wants to make sure your feeling better-
A doctor?, he did feel….off, maybe she knew something about his bio fluids? His head still felt heavy, his arms were sore.
-…Ok-
Will nodded and walked over to the door nearby, they were alone in a tiny room, the door opened to reveal a woman with bright red hair, B4 looked over and watched her walk across to him.
She stood next to him speaking to Will, he watched her hair, it was curly and red, mothers was golden, but had the same curls.
-How are you feeling B4?-
She looked down at him, smiling gently.
-You have pretty hair-
She laughed
-I’ll take that as a yes-
She had a bottle in her hand, she moved it towards B4.
-Here, Data said something about needing to replenish your bio fluids? My knowledge on treating androids patients isn’t that great sorry-
He tried to move forward but couldn’t, his energy gone from the previous attempts, she moved the drink so the straw met his lips, holding the bottle as he slowly drank through the whole bottle, she moved it away when he finished.
Ok, so he did need to drink, as the fluid made its way through his systems he didn’t feel as heavy or tired, he tried to move his arms but couldn’t?
He wiggled, hearing a loud snap before he moved his arms from behind his back to the front of him, what was that? He held out his hands in front of him, observing small metal bands on his wrists, metal chains dangled from them, they weren’t supposed to be there? Confused, he pulled them off, why would they put these on him? Strange.
Turning he passed them to Will, whose eyes were wide as he took them and set them aside on the nearby table.
-You’re definitely feeling better it seems B-
-Aren’t those designed for Data?-
-They are Beverly, Data tested them themselves to make sure even they couldn’t break them-
B4 looked between the 2 of them, what was designed for Data? They speak for a moment while B4 tries to search up what they could be referring to, handcuffs? Used to restrain people, why would they need them on him? they weren’t very good at keeping him still since he broke them so easily, father’s ones didn’t even work at keeping him still, and the ones in the lab before before only worked because he couldn’t move, why did everyone not want him to move??
Beverly sighs at something, was she talking to him? He focuses back on her and Will.
-I have to leave B, I’ve got other patients to check on ok? Let Will know if you anything further ok-
She says something to Will, before leaving, B4 is sad to see her go.

 

-Can I see Lore now-
He asked after a few minutes of silence, he didn’t like this ‘sickbay’ he needed to make sure Lore was safe.
-Why would you want to see Lore-
Will didn’t seem happy with this question, why did no one like Lore but him? Sure he was grumpy but he was nice and soft and warm.
-Because he is nice and I miss him-
-He’s... Nice to you?-
-He can be grumpy but he his is nice to me and I want to make sure he is ok, since Worf SHOT HIM-
Will stood in silence for a bit, he looked even more confused at his responses.
-…Please?-
Will sighed, B4 gave his best ‘puppy eyes’ as Lore had called them, trying to convince Will to give in and let him see Lore. Will tapped his com badge, alerting Beverly that he was taking B4 out of sick bay since he was feeling better, and helped him out of bed. B4 wobbled, nearly falling to the floor but Will caught him and, with B4 holding onto his arm to steady himself, they walked out the room.
B4 used his hand to cover his eyes as they walked into the much brighter main area of sickbay, he held it for a few moments before removing it, taking his time to adjust to the new light level. They walked past a small room and towards the big doors that likely lead outside sickbay. Beverly stopped them as they past her, walking in front of them, arms crossed looking annoyed.
-You didn't tell me where you're going, better not be anywhere to intensive, in case B4 has another shutdown-
-We are going to see Lore!!!-
B4 beamed, absolutely filled with joy, he was excited!!
Beverly looked at Will who gave a half smile and a shrug, a weird reaction?
-Well be careful, wouldn't want you back in here after leaving so soon-
She turned to face Will, speaking quieter.
-When you're done with....that...I'd take him to Data’s quarters to stay there until Geordi and Data can…-
She spoke but he wasn’t listening, after a while Will led him into a hallway, leading him to what Will called a ‘turbolift’ that would take them to where Lore was.

Finally!

Notes:

Thank you for reading as always!!

Notes: I imagine B4 suffers from similar failures to what Lal did, since they were both the first successful attempts at creating androids by their respective creators Soong/Data)
Will is dad, B4 is his son now.
Woof is his official name forever

Chapter 15: Honour

Summary:

Worf and Data have a chat with Lore.

After Worf and Data had left Beverly and Riker to care for the struggling B4, they walked down to the brig, where they confronted a panicked Lore, who was up and awake already, pacing back and forth in his holding cell.

-Where the fuck is B?-

He stopped walking as they approached and turned to glare at them.

-Hello to you as well brother, B4 is currently heading towards sickbay-
-What!? Why!?-
Data was confused by Lore’s apparent concern for their brother, but decided it was most likely a trick for no other reason than to mess with them.

-You will not be informermed of anything regarding his well being-
Worf growled, happy to finally have lore where he wanted him, glad he had an advantage over him for a chance.
-And you will remain here until we get back to daystrom where I will personally ensure the security of your new holding cell so that no one will be able to reassemble you again-
He continued to growl and glare at Lore, who stood back in shock.
-You hearing this Data? Bitch thinks he's going to what now?-
Lore laughed, mocking, clearly finding this whole situation hilarious.
-I would not laugh brother as it is very likely that will be the case, Worf is the most qualified security officer in Starfleet and one I trust the most to ensure your containment in the future-
Data's emotion chip was burning with anger but they tried to remain calm despite wanting nothing more than to punch Lore in his smug face. Besides Geordie, who was his boyfriend and therefore at the top of his closest friends list, Worf was his next best friend, and if he trusted anyone to enact petty revenge on their behalf it was him. They smiled internally at the thought of Lore being beaten by the Klingon, especially after what he had done to Worf during his first visit to the Enterprise. Data imagined Worf would not let him leave the fight alive. Data could never harm anyone, even Lore, but Worf, well, he'd been talking about getting his hands on Lore for years. Lore looked between the two of them, eyebrow raised with the usual smug grin plastering his face.
-I thought you were fucking the blind guy what the fuck is going on between you two?-
He asked matter of fact, like it was a normal question, Worf stood back a step in shock and Data simply shook their head.
-I am, but Worf is my second closest friend, I trust him-
-Ew, that’s gross-
-You only say that because you have no friends Lore-
-Fuck you-
-Lore behave yourself or I will disassemble you myself before we get to Daystrom-
Data couldn’t help but give a small smirk at the idea, clearly Lore picked up on it because his grin grew even wider and he walked towards the force field until they stood opposite each other.
-I see you finally got a sense of humour, but sarcasm really doesn’t suit you-
Lore laughed and Data remembered when he said that before, when he had manipulated them into hurting his closest friend and now lover, trying to resist the urge to storm out and leave him with Worf.

-Lore, what were you doing on Omicron Theta, and what are your intentions with our brother-
Data said it a bit too aggressively, beginning to very quickly tire of Lore’s constant mood swings and inappropriate behaviour.
-Let me see-
Lore put his finger to his lip, mockingly taping as if trying to think.
-None of your business-
He stepped closer to Data and leaned towards the forcefield, leaning his hand out as if to mock tap Data’s nose.
-And none of your fuckin business!-
He laughed and strolled to the back of the cell, falling into a sitting position on the bed, back against the wall, still grinning like he'd just told the funniest joke in the universe, he was clearly going to refuse any other attempt at communication for the evening.
Worf and Data both sighed in frustration.
-We shall try questioning him again tomorrow Worf, I wish to check on B4’s condition before heading to bed, I shall update you with any information I get as I understand you are also concerned-
Data could clearly see the effect B4 seemed to have on the officers, Riker won't admit it but he had intense maternal instincts and Data could almost see the switch into parent mode when they first encountered B4. Worf himself was a father, and although he didn't speak much to Alexander, his instinct to protect those vulnerable and innocent was prominent in his life, he was concerned for B4 and had expressed concern for him on their way to the brig. Data said a short goodbye to Lore, who only gave a huff in return, and left, heading down to sickbay.

 

Beverly told him that despite being in there for over an hour, B4 was no closer to calming down or even being aware of where he was, his mind was in total shut down.
-As an android like myself, he is unlikely to tire anytime soon, I cannot see him calming until morning at the soonest-
Data related to the brothers panic at arriving in an unfamiliar location, they imagined B4 did not know what a transporter was and that combined with whatever was happening with Lore had tipped him over the edge to a complete panic. They wished Beverly well and told her to relay that to Riker as well, who'd been in the small, private room with B4 trying to comfort him.
They left sickbay and walked back to their quarters to retire for the evening.

——

Word was on guard of Lore, he didn't need to be but he refused to allow anyone else to guard such a dangerous criminal, so he sat at the brigs computer station, arms folded, his eyes never leaving Lore.

After a few hours watching where nothing happened, he stood up to walk over to the cell containing Lore, he was confused by something and he didn't like not understanding things, so he was going to get an answer if it took him all night.
-Your concern for this B4, is it genuine or are you using him for some nefarious plan of yours?-
When Lore had spoken of B4 earlier with Data, Worf had heard the panic in his voice, he knew there was a high chance it was a trick, but he couldn't give a reason as to why Lore would trick them that way, what plan would it help? He saw the same worry and anger that he saw in himself and Will’s eyes whenever Deanna was injured, he saw it in Lore’s eyes and heard it in his voice. It was a deep anger, refusing to let anyone else know what was underneath, hidden just out of sight, the pure fear and helplessness at the thought of being unable to help the one who mattered most.
-I don't care about him at all, you must be imagining things-
Lore was still, laid on the bed facing the wall, clearly he was trying to block himself off physically and mentally from the current situation, this confused Worf as he imagined Lore would be more…outwardly aggressive at the questioning.

-Well then, since you do not care at all it should bring you joy to know I just received a written message from Geordi and Dr Crusher in sick bay-
Lore didn't move but Worf could see his whole body tense, he was lying of course, there was no such message, but he was curious about Lore’s reaction, it might help determine his authenticity.
-B4 suddenly stopped functioning a few hours ago, they've been trying to reactivate him this whole time to no success, it seems the stress of whatever you did to him was too much and they have just officially pronounced him dead-
He got the results he wanted when Lore sprang up and marched over to the forcefield, but Worf had expected anger and rage, but what he saw on Lore’s face was pure panic, tears forming in his eyes as he spoke between heavy breaths intended to stop himself from outwardly crying.
-Excuse me? That's not how that works, what the fuck did you do to him? I leave him with you for no time at all and you're telling me you've managed to kill him? No nonononono NO!!-
Lore started pacing back and forth, incoherently rambling and Worf saw him wiping his eyes and his chest heaving from ragged breaths. This was interesting, not the response he expected but it helped him understand the android slightly, Lore punched the force field a few times in between his pacing, nearly breaking it with the force and Worf decided it was probably best to calm him before he actually did shatter the field.

-He is fine-

Lore stopped and stared at, there were several emotions on his face, most of all…pain, he was hurt at the idea of B4 being hurt, so he did really care for him after all.
-As far as I'm aware B4’s conditions hasn’t changed, I have not received any messages regarding his current welfare, but if I actually do I shall update you immediately since you are so concerned-
-What the fuck is wrong with you? Is this how you entertain yourself? Sick mind games with your prisoners? I'm not laughing and you should be glad there's a forcefield here because I swear to all that is holy in this univer-
Worf interuppted him
-You care for B4, I had to confirm this for myself as I still refuse to believe it-
Lore was silent, glaring at him with enough in his eyes to kill.
-But that is not all Lore-
Worf walked closer so he and Lore were face to face at the forcefield.
-I know the look of love and care when I see it, I see it in myself and Will whenever Deanna is near, in Data’s eyes when they speak of Geordi, it reminds me of when Alexander was younger, the worry, concern and anger I felt whenever I could not protect him-
-You think I love him? That I see that dumbass as a son?-
-No, not as a son, but the love you hold for him clearly has a hold onto your heart, making you worry and care for him much greater than a simple family bond-
Lore rolled his eyes, turning and taking a few steps away from the forcefield.
-I would not be embarrassed, it seems B4 just has that effect on people-
-What effect?-
-He is like a child, his actions and demeanor compel those around him into caring roles, it is understandable that you, as his younger brother, would be more compelled then most to care for him-
Lore mumbled, Worf didn't hear it but he was sure the relationship between the two was not anything malicious as they had first thought, that this was genuine friendship between the two.
-Why are you ashamed of you affection towards him?-

Lore looked at him, puzzled at the question, Worf could tell Lore was trying to give the impression he didn't care about him, but after his reaction earlier it was obvious that he did.
-There are few things in the universe more honorable than love, to hold dear and protect those that are vulnerable, B4 is lucky to have such a powerful being such as yourself to keep him safe from a cruel world that would take advantage of his innocence. You should be proud to have finally found something positive to do with yourself-
Lore didn’t reply, he turned his head to simply stare in confusion while Worf spoke.
-I believed you a man without honor, I believe that is still true for the most part, but your obvious love and care for B4, almost…makes up for it-

-Glad to know not everyone thinks me completely insane-
Lore mumbled under his breath, then turned to walk away, clearly tiring of this whole conversation. After a few seconds, he turned back to face Worf, fiddling his hand together and staring at the floor in an attempt at not seeming as panicked as Worf could clearly tell he was, he was terrible at hiding his emotions, especially since they were so extreme.
-Is…is B4 alright though? Can you just…message Doctor whatever her name is and ask just in case something happened?-
-Even in your captive situation after being shot, your only thoughts are that of B4’s welfare, like I said, it is honorable-
Worf then pressed his com badge, he spoke and asked how B4 was doing, Beveral spoke and told him he was currently in a quiet room with Will, his body functions seemed to have returned to a more calmer state, but Data had estimated it would be tomorrow morning at the earliest before he was awake, his mind seemed to be in a state of shock, blocking external stimuli in order to stop his panic returning.
Lore listened in and seemed annoyed but comforted to know B4 was ok, he mumbled a thank you that so quiet Worf was sure he made it up, before walking back to lay back on the bed, the day's events clearly taking a toll on the over emotional android, after a few moments he lay still and silent. Worf walked back back to the computer station, picking up a pad that contained a klingon romance novel he'd been meaning to read and they both quietly waited until morning.

Notes:

As always thank you for reading !!! 🩷🩷🩷🩷

Notes: Worf and Lore are besties and spend the weekends beating each other up in the holodeck before going to ten forward to gossip.

Chapter 16: Reunion and Introduction

Summary:

Will takes B4 to visit Lore in his cell, and then drops him off to Data to look after.

Will and B4 arrived at the brig in the morning, they walked in towards the back left cell where Lore was being held, he was laying on the bed facing the wall, clearly not happy with his current situation. Will was surprised when Worf left the brig, saying he would give the two brothers some privacy for their conversation, Will however decided to stay to keep an eye on B4.

-BROTHER!!!!-

B4 shouted, before running forwards in his excitement and…

Hit the force field head on…

 

The level 10 force field.

He fell backwards in a daze and landed on the floor, trying to refocus his eyes and regain his senses which had been blown by the shock. In a moment Will was at his side, as well as Lore who was at the front of the force field, squatting down to B4’s level, looking…concerned? Worried?
-Now what'd you do that for you big silly?-
Will expected laughter, mocking torment, anything but what he got, he was sure not even Lore could fake such a soft, caring voice as he spoke to B4.
-A…wall?-
B4 rubbed his eyes and sat up crossed legged, he reached his arm out for the forcefield but was stopped as Will grabbed his arm, he looked up to Will with confused eyes, head to the side.
-It’s an invisible wall B, you've got to be more careful, it’ll hurt you real bad if you touch it-
Will did his best ‘dad’ voice as Deanna called it, trying to ignore Lore’s concerned face and focused on B4, making sure he didn’t get overwhelmed again, he nodded before turning to face Lore when Will had let go of his arm.

-Are you safe?-
B4 directed his focus entirely towards Lore, smiling and leaning forwards as much as he could without touching the forcefield.
-I'm fine B, just a little spooked about being shot-
-Are you hurt?! Should I get the Doctor lady?!-
He looked like he was going to cry, which both men picked up on, Will moving his hand to instead rub his back in an attempt to smooth him, he didn't want to speak, to avoid angering Lore and upsetting B4, choosing instead to listen to their interaction and provide physical comfort/
-Hey, shhhhh, it’s fine, I said I was fine-
Lore sounded weird, the concern and care in his voice…was unnatural and it creeped Will out to hear.

-Can he come out now Mr Will?-
B4 turned to Will with big pleading eyes.
-No yet, he did a bad thing and we have to…-
How do you explain a trial to B4?
-Wait until we see some more people, smart people, who will decide how your brother will be punished for his bad behaviour, they’ll decide if he has to stay in there or not-
Lore nodded at B4, who spent some time in silence looking at Lore trying to understand what Will said.
-Then he can come out?-
He turned again to look at Will for an answer.
-If that let him out, then yes he can-

-What do you think of Data, B?-
Lore changed topic, Will was glad as B4 was getting more upset as they talked about Lore’s confinement. He stood up and walked over to sit at the nearby computer station, giving the two some privacy but listening into the conversation in case Lore did something, he didn’t know what he could do, but just in case he listened anyway.
-He’s weird, he doesn’t even like hugs Lore! Who doesn’t like hugs?-
-B, your hugs are painful even to me, and Data I think prefers the pronouns ‘they’ and ‘them’ to ‘he’ and ‘him’ so you gotta remember that when you speak to them next ok?-
Will was confused why Lore cared so much about Data’s pronouns, how did he even know? Must have picked it up when people spoke to them, and made a note of it, still though why did he care?
-Oh I will have to say sorry…anyway, they don’t even like hugs! They got grumpy when I hugged them, and kept looking away from me-
-That’s cause you have a stare that can kill B, you really gotta remember to blink every know and again-

They spoke for nearly an hour before Will looked at the clock, it was getting late and he needed to get back to his own quarters for bed, he walked over to the two, leaning down to he gave a small squeeze of B4’s arm and helped him to his feet as he spoke, B4 was still wobbly but that just seemed to be a normal thing for him as otherwise he seemed perfectly fine.
-Say goodbye to Lore for now ok?, I’ll see if you can visit him again tomorrow-
B4 nodded and said goodbye to Lore who surprisingly returned the goodbye and they left the brig, Will nodded to the security officer taking over from Worf and they two made their way to Data's quarters.

 

When they arrived, Will pressed the buzzer and they were let inside, B4 immediately tried to walk around the quarters but Will held him by the arm, firmly by the door. Data was painting in the corner of the room, standing in front of an easel supporting a large painting, they were working on an abstract interpretation of a nebula they had recently passed on their way to Omicron Theta. Data had commented on the colours it contained, how the balance and ‘composition’ of them were perfect for a painting and had been very excited to work on it, saying it would help them take their mind off the stressful week they’ve had. They were currently laying down the first layer for, from what Will could see so far, would be a beautiful painting when finished in a week or so, it would probably be snatched up by Startography to hand up on the lab.
Data stopped, placing their supplies down and walked over to them, giving Will a small nod in place of a handshake, Will returned the nod and Data turned to B4.
-Hello again B4, it is good to see you awake and present, welcome to my home-
B4 looked around, and then back to Data.
-You live here?-
Data nodded
-It’s pretty!!!-
To both Will and Data’s surprise, B4 chose not to give Data another death hug and instead ran over and launched himself onto the sofa, wrapping himself onto the soft fluffy blankets that had been draped over them, knocking over the coffee table and everything on it in the process. Will saw Data visibly wince, knowing how much they dislike the perfect order of their space being disrupted, Will gently held Data’s arm to stop them before they could go over and physically remove B4 from the sofa.
-Data, he's just having fun, he's had a troubling few days I think we can let him play for a while, he’s harmless, a bit simple, but harmless-
Will laughed, trying to put Data at ease, it seemed to work as their shoulders relaxed and they smiled towards him.
-You are right Will, I will try my best to be patient, I am just…not used to such high energy-
Will walked over to the sofa and bent down to B4, who was giggling and smiling, peaking his head over the blanket.
-B, I’ve got to work, but Data will take care of you, I promise they’re really nice so if you need anything just ask them alright?
B4 seemed to smile even more at this.
-Have fun at work Mr Will !!!-
He wiggled in his blanket cocoon and Will laughed at the sight of something so adorable. He walked over to Data, giving them a pat on the shoulder and mouthing a ‘good luck’ before leaving the two and heading up to the turbolift to head to the main bridge.
It was currently mid morning and Will’s shift started soon, they were to arrive at Daystrom tomorrow morning for the meeting to decide what to do with the two older androids, meaning Data had to look after B4 until then.

Data liked control, they liked order, they liked understanding every millisecond and nanometer of everything, and Will briefly wondered if the hyperactive and chaotic brother might be too much for them to handle, before shaking his head, Data had dealt so much worse then a android sized toddler before, he was sure they could handle him easily.

Notes:

Thank you for reading as always!!!

Notes: Will is loving life with his new son. Data is dreading it, unsure which brother would cause more damage to their belongings. Lore is bored.

Chapter 17: House Call

Summary:

A few hours after Will drops B4 off to Data, Beverly is called to their quarters.

Data had called Dr Crusher to their quarters mid day, who arrived to see the quartets in absolute chaos; furniture had been moved, shelves and tables had been knocked, their contents on the floor. Data was pacing the room in an attempt to calm themself, but it did not seem to be working as they were clearly stressed. It wasn’t unusual for Data to call for her when they were stressed, they would talk through their feelings, Beverly’s motherly aura helping calm them down.
-Is…everything ok Data?-
She heard faint crying from the bedroom next door, however she focused on Data first before leaving them to check on B4.
-No! it is not Beverly, I am very upset-
-That’s ok Data, explain to me what's happened and how I can help-

-It is B4 Beverly, he will not listen to anything I say! I told him to not touch anything and stay still on the sofa while I completed some work on my computer and he didn't even stay still for one minute! He got up and started moving everything!!-
Data pointed around to the room, Beverly noted that this reaction was certainly not unexpected of the very ocd and autistic android but definitely it was unheard of for Data to have such a reaction, as their crew on the ship were very accommodating for their needs for order and routine so this kind of thing didn’t happen.
-And then, he started to cry, but I did not understand a word he said so I tried to calm him down but he kept backing away from me, knocking everything over in the process!-
Beverly let them rant for a moment, Data emotions very stable the majority of the time, on the occasion such as this where it got too much it was best to let them ramble and process their feelings in their own way.
She quietly tapped away on her pad, sending Deanna a message that simply read ‘Urgant: Report to Data’s quarters A.S.A.P’ as she felt Deanna was probably better equipped to deal with the situation.
-I understand how upsetting that must be for you Data, where is B4 now?-
-He hid himself in mine and Geordi’s bedroom and is refusing to talk to me-
Data huffed, arms crossed, glaring at the door to the bedroom.
-I am not going in there because if he has moved anything of Geordi’s I will throw him in the brig with Lor-
-I'm sure he hasn't Data, he likely got as overwhelmed as you are and is just hiding away until things settle down-
Beverly cut him off, rude but necessary right now, she knew Data would be ok when Deanna arrived and she needed to check on B4. She had been concerned for him ever since he left sick bay, her motherly instincts took over the moment she saw him, he was just…a baby.
-I’ll go and check on him ok? I’ll make sure everything in the room is as it should be, Deanna should be here any second to have a talk with you about what happened-

She turned and headed into to bedroom quickly before Data could protest, closing the door behind her to make sure they didn't see the mess in front of her.
B4 was curled up into a ball on the bed, all of the sheets and pillows on the bed having been thrown onto the floor and all over, except for one which he had cocooned himself inside, she recognised it as being the blanket off the sofa. It wasn't much of a mess to most, but it would have been enough to send Data into breakdown territory considering how stressed they already were.
She heard the main door chime, assuming Deanna was here, she sighed with relief and walked over to B4, sitting carefully behind the silently sobbing android.
-B4, sweetie, are you there-?-
She said it so softly she didn't even know he would hear it, but she didn't dare make too much to startle him, she didn't know much about him, none of them did, but it was clear he was, somehow, a lot more sensitive than the younger two brothers, she heard a small sniffle.
-Y, yes-
-That’s good, do you remember me from sick bay?-
He didn’t respond but she could see the small nod.
-Can I put my hand on your chest to check your pulse and breathing please? I need to make sure you’re doing ok-
He was so tightly wrapped she couldn't see his chest move and it concerned her, considering his panic attack yesterday was still fresh in her mind, she wanted to make sure he wasn’t going to go through that again.
She heard a small sound of approval and walked around the bed and sat in front of him.
-I'm just going to place my hand on your chest ok, you may need to move slightly-
She waited for a nod before proceeding, he uncurled just enough for her to press her hand on his chest, his pulse was fast but not concerning and his breathing was erratic but again not harmful. Although the androids weren’t exactly the same as their biological counterparts, they were constructed based on them and as such functioned similarly enough that she could understand the basics.
She moved her hand to his hair and gently stroked it for a while, waiting for him to calm down slowly, she took note of his messy hair, it was so usual to see as even Lore apparently kept to the very well maintained slicked back style that he and Data both wore daily. Data spent a good while in the morning making sure not a hair was out of place, she noted the curls on B4 though and thought they were adorable.

-Is data mad at me?-
His small voice was barely above a whisper, likely keeping it low so Data didn’t hear.
-They are a little bit, but don't worry about that, they’ll calm down in a bit and all will be forgiven-
She tried to be reassuring but it was hard, especially since she could hear voices being raised next door as Deanna was trying to calm the youngest brother.
-It’s just, they aren’t used to having people stay over in theirs and Geordi’s quarters yet, they like their privacy, and they like having everything in its place even more, you made quite a mess in there, I’m sure you didn’t mean to, but that kind of things really upsets Data-
B4 looked up at her and she knew what one of the biggest issues Data must have with him, he had a stare that could pierce through a metre thick duranium wall, it wasn’t the worst but Data did not like eye contact at all, especially when the other person apperently seemed to forget to blink.
-Who is gord-die?-
Beverly held in a laugh at his attempt at the engineers name.
-That’s Data's boyfriend, they live here together-
On cue she heard the main door open and an alarmed voice asking what on earth happened here, and a few more exchanges before the door to the bedroom opened and the man himself stepped inside, quickly closing the door behind him and examining the scene before him, B4 hid his head back under the covers again.

-…Ok, that explains a lot-

Notes:

As always thank you for reading!!!

Notes: B4 definitely smeared his hand all over Data’s painting, and for the first time in their life they understood the appeal of murder. Data is lovely and I love them but honestly I’d want to kill b4 as well if he touched my stuff. Beverly gets called to help Data sort through their emotions sometimes because she’s the ships mother.

Chapter 18: Bath Time

Summary:

Geordi and Deanna give B4 a much needed bath, Data starts to warm up to the hyper active puppy.

Beverly looked at Geordi, still stroking B4’s hair while the android shook slightly trying to calm his breathing.
-Ok so, can I get a summary of what the hell is happening here?-
Geordi gestured to everything, Data was angry and B4 was crying in bed…they were together for what? 2-3 hours at the most! What on earth could have happened?
-B4 and Data’s personalities seemed to have clashed a tad-
Beverly paused for a moment to gently wipe the tears off B4’s face.
-I don't think he meant to upset Data, but he definitely meant to make a mess while exploring the room and your belongings-
-Ah, no wonder Data’s mad, they hate it when I move their stuff let alone anyone else-
Geordi laughed slightly trying to ease the tension, he’d not met B4 and was unsure how to proceed, moving slowly to sit on the bed next to Beverly. B4’s breathing seemed to be under control and he simply now lay there curled into a little ball in the centre of his and Data's bed, underneath…the blanket off the sofa?
-Hey buddy, my name's Geordi, how you holding up?-
Geordi smiled down at him and B4 peaked out his head from the blanket just enough to look up and met his gaze, Geordi instantly understood what Riker meant when he talking to him earlier, he immediately wanted to scoop him up and protect him forever, he was adorable and squishy and had big eyes that seemed to hold an entire sun in them.
-Gord-di?-
-Close, it’s Geor-di-
-Geordi?-
-There you go buddy, you got it-
B4 smiled and Geordi fell in love immediately, how on earth could Data stay mad at him? He was so cute! Maybe that’s why Lore liked him…not even his frozen heart could resist these puppy eyes surely.
-Geordi, now he's a bit calmer I'm going to have to get back to sickbay and attend to my duties there, if you think you can handle him and Data that is-
Beverly smiled, moving to stand up off the bed.
-I think I can manage, Data's much calmer after talking to Deanna, I’ll stay in here with B until Data’s ready to come in and talk-
Beverly gave B4 a reassuring squeeze in his hand and said goodbye before leaving.

 

-Is Data still angry?-
B4 spoke in a soft but slightly grainy voice, Geordi looked at his tear ridden face and wanted to cradle him in his arms, he resisted the urge…for now.
-They just gotta clean up ok? Then they’ll be fine, Data likes everything exactly where they put it, so it might take them a while to put it all back from where you moved everything-
B4 nodded and moved to sit up, leaning against the headboard of the bed, legs straight arms to his side as he looked around the room, seeming to take it in for the first time, he seemed to cheer up a bit.
-Judging by the mess you made in your…’exploration’, anyone would think you'd never been anywhere else but that lab before-
-I haven't! Well, I’ve been to two labs and the tiny ship and then Lore took me to his home! So I’ve been to a lot of places now!!-
Geordie was shocked at this, before realising that was probably why he was so curious about everything. But still, with Data stressing out in the room next door he needed a way to keep B4 busy until the two could get along a bit better.

-Hey do you want to go to ten forward? There's a big window there, we can look outside at the sky, it’s a pretty good view from there-
B4 suddenly jumped up and Geordi felt himself being picked up into a hug, Riker wasn't kidding when he said he was tall, and strong, he was being crushed and buried into the man’s chest.
-I would LOVE THAT!!!!!-
-Ok that’s good…buddy, can you….put me down now….please…I need…to breathe-
Geordi was put back down and released from the death hug, only slightly though as B4 still had his arms around him. B4 looked down at Geordi with a smile and suddenly Geordi realised how much taller he was than Data, at least half a foot wow, making him nearly a full 3/4 foot taller than himself, who was easily the shortest man on the senior staff, which made it really difficult to look him in the eyes as they spoke.

-Wait before we do anything, how long have you been wearing that?-
Geordi pointed at the blue jumpsuit B4 was wearing, it looked newer than the one he was wearing in the photo Maddox showed them all. But since whenever it was replicated it was now covered in dirt and grime, wait had he even showered since he was found? Geordie thought that considering Dr Maddox didn't even know he was active they probably didn't bother, although someone clearly had spent some time cleaning up all the biofluid that covered him in the security footage, likely being Lore which was a weird thought. Geordi looked up at the unruly curly mess of hair and concluded that they definitely had not bothered to give him any hygiene assistance or maintenance and suddenly he was filled with anger towards those damned unfeeling scientists, Lore clearly didn’t care about that kind of thing either.
-We gotta get you a new one bud, that’s one a mess-
-But…Lore got it for me-
He looked down at the jumpsuit sadly, ok, it was weird that he liked Lore so much, Geordie thought for a moment before speaking again.
-Well, how about I clean it for you then? You can put it back on after but it’ll be like brand new-
B4 nodded, he seemed to trust Geordi, but he also didn’t seem to have the…intelligence to know when not to trust people, since he trusted Lore so much.

-Hey B, I’m gonna ask you a question ok?, and you don't have to do do anything you don't want to, but I need to ask because it’s bothering me-
-Ok-
-Can I give you a bath? Not gonna lie you're a bit dirty, buddy-
Geordi pointed up at the unruly mop on his head, it hurt his heart to see such pretty hair in such a state, Geordi prized himself on his own perfectly maintained hair after all, also from the state of the jumpsuit and the fact he hadn’t bathed in literally years, he really need a proper clean and he doubted he had the know to do it himself.
B4 put his hand up to his hair, confused.
-What…is a....bath?-
Oh wow, ok.
-You know about water?-
A nod.
-Well you sit in a tub of warm water and I use soap to clean all of the dirty off you-
-Oh! That sounds nice!!!-
-Well good, I can clean you up, clean your clothes, re-dress you and then we go out to look at the sky yeah?-
-Of course!!!-
The trust that B4 already placed in him was so intense, he worried for what would have happened if Lore had longer with him to manipulate him into whatever bullshit insanity he could think of.

He took B4’s hand and led him over to the adjoining bathroom, he leant over the tub and turned on the tap, he heard B4 gasp as he watched the water pooled in the tub, Geordi pointed to a few colourful bottles on the shelf nearby with his free hand.
-B, you gotta pick one and I'll show you a magic trick ok?-
B4 nodded and pointed to a sparkly yellow bottle, Geordi, very awkwardly, with one hand unscrewed the cap and poured a generous amount into the tub. B4 let go of his hand knelt beside the tub, bubbles forming under the stream of water from the bubble bath that had just been added to it.
-Magic!!!!-
He genuinely was amazed and Geordi felt a flood of warmth as he looked at his face of pure wonder.

Geordie took the time while the tub was filling, and B4 was distracted, to go into the living area and replicate some appropriate hair and body products for him. He told Deanna and Data how B4 was doing and his plan to bath him and they both seemed pleased.
-It’s nice that B4 is so understanding of you and isn't holding it against you Data-
She spoke softly, but there definitely was the implication that Data was holding something against the older brother. A small giggling could be heard from the bathroom as he watched the bath slowly fill up, Deanna smiled and Data seemed to relax slightly, B4 hadn't meant anything malicious by his actions, he was just…being himself.
-I would like…to be alone for now if that is ok with you both-
Data sighed, taking a moment to collect their thoughts and before Geordi could moan at them for being rude they spoke again.
-I wish to fix the room please, it will help me to calm down before I speak to B4-
Deanna gave Data reassuring pat on the knee before standing up to leave
-Hey…Deanna? Do you wanna help me with B? He's a bit of a handful-
Geordi gave a smile and pointed to the other room, Deanna returned the smile but turned to Data first.
-If that's ok with you Data, may I?-
-Of course, he clearly needs all the help we can offer-
Geordi and Deanna ignored the sarcasm in their voice, it was hard when Data was in these moods, they knew not to take anything they said to heart as they didn't mean it.

Geordie led Deanna to the bathroom and B4 looked up at the new guest
-Hello!-
-Hello to you to, my name is Deanna, I’m a friend of Data and Geordi-
-I’m B4!, I’m Data’s….big, big! Brother!-
Deanna smiled and knelt down next to him.
-Geordi says he needs help to bathe you. Is it ok for me to help?-
He looked at Deanna with confusion, she spoke again.
-Do you want me to stay and help Geordi bathe you?-
B4 seemed to understand this time and nodded
-Ok! Look at the bubbles!-
He smiled and turned back to the bath, reaching out to pop a few bubbles and giggling. Geordi turned off the taps after placing the products he retrieved on the side of the bath, Deanna motioned to put them elsewhere and he relocated them to the sink out of reach.
-Ok now B I'm going to help you outta those clothes alright?-
B4 looked up at Geordi, confused, head tilted to the side, Geordi couldn’t believe it, did they all do that? Lore surely didn't, right?
-You can't go in the tub with your clothes on you gotta take them off first-
B4 looked down at the tub before nodding and standing up. Geordi first unbuttoned the jumpsuit at the front down to the waist before turning him around, wanting to give him some privacy. Geordi removed the jumpsuit, noting B4’s uncoordinated movements, seeming to struggle to maneuver his limbs where he wanted them, he did his best to help guide him and eventually they were successful in removing his clothes. Once they were off he stood there nude, Geordi threw the jumpsuit and undergarments into the corner of the bathroom, he would deal with those later.
-Alright buddy, now you gotta just get in-
He held B4’s arm and guided him towards the tub.
-Lift your leg up and over, then the other and then sit in the tub-
He guided him the whole time, thankful that he let himself be guided, sitting down immersing himself in the warm water and bubbles for the first time ever.
Deanna turned around once he was in and she and Geordie watched as his eyes closed and a smile formed on his lips, Deanna moved and knelt beside him, patting him on the shoulder.
-It’s a nice feeling to be warm and safe isn’t it?-
-It is wonderful-
Geordi nodded, moving on to cleaning the man. He remembered how his mother used to help him bathe when he was little, even with his new visor he couldn't wear it in the shower or tub so until he was in his teens he needed help. He loved the time together and never really felt awkward about it. He was glad to be able to help B4 in such a way, judging from what they knew about his life so far,he needed all the love and care they could give him. Deanna stayed nearby offering advice and comfort to the confused B4 as Geordi carefully and slowly spent time making sure he was fully scrubbed down. He knew from Data that neither could sweat but B4 managed to get himself dirty anyway. Geordi spent much more time on his hair, brushing, washing and conditioning his hair, it had the same texture as data, but Data preferred their to be straight, into the style he'd been wearing for their whole life, however with B4’s hair he decided to keep the curls, he actually spent time defining them, which ended up looking absolutely adorable.
While Geordi spent time cleaning him, B4 mostly spent time staring at the bubbles, occasionally splashing the water or attempting to grab some bubbles only to be sad when they popped in his hands, then repeating the same process again and again. He occasionally tried to eat the bubbles, being stopped by Deanna who gently held his arm and told him the bubbles tasted bad, repeating this several times.
Geordi noted the several dozen faint scarring that covered him from head to toe, remembering the state he was in when they watched the security footage of him in the lab…Maddox really butchered him in the name of his ‘research’. But the cuts…Geordi was sure even he could not have done a better job of healing them up, Data had a few more prominent scars from their injuries over the years despite Geordi’s best efforts, so whoever healed B4 did a really…good…job…Lore?
Had lore actually spent time cleaning up B4, tending to and healing his wounds?
The state of B4 in the footage was severe, really really bad…fixing up all that would have surely taken even Lore days to do, to fix up all the internal systems that were ripped out and others that had been broken or destroyed…why in the Milky Way would he bother?

Lore was weird, Geordi thinks.

After just over 40 minutes Data knocked on the door.
-Geordi, Deanna, is everything ok in there?-
-Yeah we’re all good in here, you can come in if you want-
Geordi spoke loud enough for them to hear and the door opened.

——

Data walked in and took in the sight before him, B4 was sitting up to his shoulders in bubbles, even had them all over his hair, the bathroom was absolutely soaked from splashing, Geordi and Deanna were soaked through and it was…an overall mess. They had to shut down several warnings popping up in their view alerting to the mess and disaster of the bathroom and diverted several processes to the back of their mind that wanted them to gently ask them all to leave while they deep cleaned every inch of the room.
-Data he's never had a bath, can you believe it?-
Geordi was all smiles and B4 hadn't even registered their presence, simply staring at the bubbles on his hand, he went to eat them and was stopped by Deanna, who looked like she had done so several times.
-I can tell, well, he most certainly has been thoroughly cleaned I am sure, judging by the state of you my love-
Geordi laughed and pointed to the corner of the room where there was a small pile of clothing.
-Definitely, can you take his jumpsuit and shove it in the replicator to be cleaned for him please?-
Data retrieved the jumpsuit his brother was previously wearing, and walked out to the replicator to do so, he thought for a moment on Geordi’s behaviour, almost parental towards their older brother, it seemed that B4 just had that effect on everyone he met.
Data returned to the bathroom and handed it back to Geordi who had gotten B4 out of the tub and was, with Deanna's help, drying him down with a couple of large fluffy towels, B4 smiling ear to ear, clearly enjoying the experience. They left them to finish, walking into the bedroom and picking up all the bedding that had been thrown on the floor, recycling them and replacing them with new ones, firmly tucking them into place so they would, hopefully, not get messed up again.

B4, Deanna and Geordi exited the bathroom, B4 in fresh clothes that made him look a lot more presentable, however Data noticed that Geordi had kept his hair slightly unruly and went over to smooth it down.
-Hey whoa no you don't-
Geordi stopped their hand with his own, moving it away from B4’s head, who blinked and looked at them both, not understanding what was happening.
-Geordi, his hair is a mess-
-His hair is beautiful and curly you leave it be-
He lifted his hand up to define a curl, a smile on his face and he took pride in his work.
Data sighed, understanding Geordi’s love for curls they left the topic alone, glad it was not their hair Geordi was re-styling.
B4 shifted on his feet slightly, he held his hands together and ‘twiddled’ his thumbs, looking up at Data with, what could be described as, ‘puppy eyes’.
-Can you get a hug Data? Lore said I have to ask you first cause you don’t like people touching you, but I upset you and I don’t know how else to say sorry-
Data thought about it, remembering the hug from before when they first met in the lab…it was nice, despite feeling like Data’s spine was about to snap in half, to receive such a…passionate and loving hug from a family member.
-I would…like that very much B4, but please try not to crush me this time-
His eyes lit up with more stars than the entire galaxy and he jumped up and down 4 times before capturing Data in his arms, thankfully less constricting than before but still with much more force than Data was used to from their humanoid crewmates. Wrapping their arms around the bulky figure, Data leaned their head on B4’s shoulder and just…rested there for a moment.
It was nice…comforting even, there was a sense of family, love and affection that seeped from B4’s movements as he rubbed his face along the side of Data’s face.

 

-Hey B, why don’t I get changed into something that isn’t soaking wet and we go to see the sky now?-
B4 looked over to Geordi, letting go of Data only slightly to face him before nodding enthusiastically.
-That’s a lovely idea Geordi, I think I’m also due a change of clothes before heading back to work, but I'll see you later ok B?-
Deanna walked over and gave B4 a squeeze on his arm.
-You be a good boy for your brother and Geordi now ok?-
She gave him a kiss on the cheek and left the room, saying her goodbye to the other two before doing so.

-Hey B, can data join us as well now they’re feeling better?-
-Of course!!!!-
Data noted that B4’s emotions changed as quickly as Lore’s did, although they seemed to stay on the positive side. The three walked into the living area, Data was held at B4’s side via a single arm that wrapped around them. Geordi went back into the bedroom to change, leaving Data and B4 for 2 minutes and 47 seconds, B4 did not let go, it seemed he would never let go, waiting for Data to do so, Data did not want to.
When Geordi came back out, he took B4’s free hand in his own and led them both out of the quarters down towards the turbolift.
-We’re going to Ten Forward, promised B we’d go sit by the windows-
Geordi spoke as they walked, why was B4 so excited to look out the window?
-Big window for sky!!-
B4 beamed B4, his happiness was…nice, however Data made an internal note to fix his voice modulator, his constant volume changes and his unstable static voice was not…the most pleasant, and it sounded like it put strain on it that could cause permanent damage.
Data was…slowly warming up to B4.
If he was Soong’s first attempt at a sentient android, that meant he was similar to Lal…a short life that was taken too soon by failures beyond the ability to repair at the time. Lal was beyond repair even to this day, it seemed Soong had deactivated B4 before it had gotten to that point…
Data made a note to look into B4’s systems as soon as possible, to look for signs of failure and any potential methods of fixing them so B4 would continue to live.
Thinking about it, everyone had the same reaction to B4 as they had with Lal, immediately taking on parental roles and wanting to help where they could, loving them as soon as they laid their eyes on them…it was nice, Data knew how much everyone missed Lal as their adopted daughter.

Data missed Lal most out of everyone, even without the emotion chip the hole she left in their entire being was evident even to them. Data wondered if Soong felt the same sadness towards his first child as Data did towards Lal…did Soong regret not being able to fix him? Considering he did the same to Lore though, taking them both offline and shoving them into storage, seemingly forever, never even thinking about reawakening them, did he even try?

Notes:

Thanks as always for reading!!!

Notes: bubbles baths are heaven

Chapter 19: The Stars

Summary:

Data, Geordi and B4 spend time in Ten Forward before retiring for the night.

They walked to a place Geordi called ‘Ten Forward’ and they sat at a table right next to the windows. Data and Geordi sat opposite each other at the table, B4 chose to kneel on the sofa between them, ignoring them both as he faced towards the window, completely lost in the stars.
-Well, 2 Data's, now that is simply too many for one table-
A calm voice appeared behind him and B4 turned to see her place a few drinks on the table.
-Two regulars for my two regulars and a nice hot milk for the ships newest baby-
B4 looked at the new arrival, she had a fancy hat, he sat down on the sofa to stare at the drink placed in front of him, there was…steam? coming off it, it looked nice.
-I can assure you, I would never serve poison in my own bar, you’re safe to drink it-
He didn't know this person, but her voice was calming and trustworthy, he took a sip of the drink and it was! Really! Nice!!!
-It’s warm!!!-
-indeed, it's hot milk, nothing more calming than it in the whole universe-
She smiled at him and it was nice and safe.
-Thank you friend!!!-
He beamed a massive smile towards her, Geordi giggled and used a napkin to wipe his face for some reason, Data shook their head at something.
-I’ve heard all of three brothers are on board, definitely a…unique situation, i hope I don’t get all three of you in here at once though, don’t think I’ll be able to handle it from what I’ve heard about your other brother Data-
-Lore is in the brig while under investigation for escaping confinement, he won’t be joining us in her any time soon-
Data's way of speaking was very...to the point, it was very calm and quiet. It was weird to listen to compared to Lore, who spoke loud and filled with emotion and passion, maybe Data’s emotions were ‘under the surface’?
-On well, not every family's perfect right-
With that, she bid a small goodbye and left them, B4 was too busy with his drink, taking it with him to kneel back on the sofa to look back out the window, to pay any attention to what was said specificity.
The trio spent a lot of time in ten forwards, the nice lady bought them a few more drinks, B4 spent the time looking out the window, occasionally turning to grab one of the drinks that ‘Guinan’ bought him to try, Geordi had told him her name, it was a pretty name.

He had the warm milk, a hot chocolate (his favourite!!!) a vanilla milkshake and was now sipping away at another hot chocolate that he politely asked for/. A few of the ‘crew’, Data said they worked on the shop with them, had walked over and talked to B4 for a bit before leaving, everyone was so nice!! He spoke to the people from sick bay for a while, they were concerned after he left and wanted to make sure he was ok, and some from engineering and the science department.
Data said that everyone in the room at some point came over to talk to him, it was wonderful to be able to talk to many different people!!! There were so many he didn’t know the names of, because he’d only ever seen his family, so it was wonderful to see more than just humans, he was learning a lot about the universe by just being here and it was making him happier then he’d ever been ever, the Vulcans reminded him of Data, the Klingons reminded him of Lore.

-Right then, it getting time to be heading back home for dinner-
Geordi spoke while standing up, he gently took the mug out of B4’s hands, handing that and the empty glasses from himself and Data over to the waiter who took them back to the bar. Data stood up and gently took B4 by the arm, guiding a huffy B4 out of the bar who wanted to stay longer and talk more and see more. Guinan said a goodbye and B4 gave an excited wave and said goodbye to his new friend, forgetting why he was huffy, and he skipped his way back to Data’s quarters. He fell over several times, but Data kept hold of him and kept him from falling over completely, giving a small smile every time B4 apologised, saying it was fine as they did not feel pain and were more than capable of handling his weight.
It was wonderful that Data was being nice, helping and guiding him and letting him touch them and even reaching out to hold B4. It made B4 happy, more than happy, excited and overjoyed, to know both his little brothers were ok, that he could get along with them both…now he just needed them to get along with each other.

——

They got back to quarters and Geordi went to the kitchen to the left to replicate himself some dinner. Data had a routine for their evening meals that involved sitting together while Geordi ate, talking about their recent work and other recent topics of interest.
Data took the time to set the table, they chose to sit B4 down on the sofa, instructing him to remain there until further notice so that he would not make a mess or disturb Geordi’s meal. They had just turned around and had just started to lay out the silverware, when B4 walked up and picked up a spoon, looking at his reflection in amazement. Data gently took it off him and placed it back, only for B4 to pick up the fork next to it and repeat staring at the utensil in his hands, Data sighed, B4 put the fork down in the wrong place, Data sighed, B4 moved it and looked up to them, Data shook their, B4 moved it to the right location and smiled down at them, very proud of getting it right, Data returned the smile and this made B4’s smile even bigger.
-B4, it would be more appropriate if you remained still on the sofa while me and Geordi assumed our dinner routine, you may watch the tv if you wish as we have plenty of movies to keep you entertained-
He protested but Data went to take his brother's arm and move him over, but Geordi spoke up and beckoned B4 over to him.
-Nah he's fine to join Data, hey B come look at this-
B4 excitedly hopped over to Geordi who showed him the replicator making his dinner.
-Whoa-
Was B4’s only response, staring at the seemingly magic device. Geordie, walked over and placed his dinner down in the right spot, Data had sat down opposite him with an earl grey retrieved from the smaller drink replicator next to the main one. Geordi walked back over to B4 and the replicator, making another hot chocolate for him as he had enjoyed them so much earlier.
Data wondered if B4 had the advanced systems to…process the drinks, when Data I took food it was recycled and changed into the correct bio-fluid that ran through their systems, they doubted B4 had anything similar…they made a note to investigate further later.
Geordi took the chocolate in one hand and B4 in the other, leading him and sitting him down on the chair in between him and Data, placing the mug of chocolate in front of him.
-ooooo more chocolate!!-
B4 smiled happily and, to Data’s surprise, sat quietly sipping his chocolate. Data sighed, somewhat pleased that his brother was still for now, and he and Geordi resumed their usual conversation while Geordi ate, with B4 only occasionally interrupting to ask what they were talking about, Data tried their best to slowly answer his questions, several times.

After Geordi was finished, he asked B4 to help him move the dishes over to the replicator for recycling, B4 managed to only nearly drop the plate once which Data considered a win, thankfully Geordi caught it before it hit the floor, and they all sat down on the sofa watching a movie before Geordi was due to head for bed.
It was weird, Geordi was sitting on the right of Data, snuggled up to his side resting his head on his chest, armed wrapped around him. B4 was sitting on the other side, not touching them at all, sitting as far away as possible, after Data had not so subtly moved away from his brother when he sat down. They were halfway through the movie when Data finally gave in to B4’s puppy eyes staring at him the whole time, opening up his arm and beckoning B4 to come over and cuddle up to them also. B4 did so eagerly, wrapping arms and legs around them, nuzzling his face up to their neck, Data could feel the smile on his face as he did so, he was…38.2% warmer than themself, likely due to his systems being less advanced and running warmer than they should do…it was…nice. B4 wasn't even watching the movie, his eyes closed and pressed into Data’s neck, he seemed to just be content to be in the embrace.

Data really didn't know how to feel about their new brother.
As they wanted the movie his mind wondered, everyone seemed to take an instant liking to B4 as soon as they met him. Everyone seemed to look at him and immediately went into protective parental mode, even Picard seemed to be protective of B4, so why did Data struggle to accept him? With Lore, they knew he didn't like him, it was obvious what their feelings towards him were after everything he’d done in his life to Data, their friends and to Dr Soong.
But with B4, they just did not understand how to feel, their feelings seemed to be conflicting which made it hard to provide a definitive answer.
They were excited when they first saw him, a new brother to maybe finally have a family, then angry as they realised he may be just like Lore, then they were happy when they found out he was nothing like either Lore or Data with his own personality and behaviours, they were upset when he was left with B who had then unintentionally wrecked his quarters in his attempt to explode new surroundings, Data tried not to be mad but they couldn’t help it, but then when Data saw him in the bath they felt protective and caring over him, and then while he was interacting with Guinan they felt pride and joy as they watched him explore new drinks and socialising rather successfully for the first time in his life with the crew.
Right now, as B4 cuddled up beside them, he looked down at his sleeping face and felt warmth, a sense of family that they’d never had before. Often humanoids spoke of the relationships between family members being confusing and conflicting. Data never understood how you can hate someone but love and care for them deeply as they had seen many of their friends be with their own siblings and parents…but, looking down at B4, they think they finally understood it.

Wait, was he asleep?
He looked down at B4 again, noting his heart rate and breathing to be slower, he scanned his brain functions with his internal scanner and it showed that he was definitely in a state of rest. He wondered if he had a similar dream program like themself, but that was unlikely considering his less advanced matrix, he studied the waves more closely before noting that it might be automatic for his brain to shut down daily to give his overlooked mind a chance to recover and process the day's inputs. B4 had a busy day, a busy week or so actually since he escaped Maddox’s lab, so it would explain the need to sleep earlier than normal. Data felt Geordi move as the credits rolled on the screen, he sat up, stretched his arms out and yawned.
-Geez what time is it?-
-It is currently 9:57-
Geordie went to speak but noticed B4 asleep on Data's chest, and stopped, letting out a little squeal as he took in the sight before him, clearly trying to resist the urge to lean over and hug him.
-He is asleep geordie, it would be wise to reduce your noise level so you do not wake him-
Geordi nodded and spoke in a whisper.
-Where's he gonna sleep? We can't have you stay there all night and we can't leave him in the sofa-
-Geordi, no-
Data stated clearly, it was not happening.
-No?-
-He is not sleeping in our bed, I am sorry but he has already cause enough disturbance to our routine and claimed space in our quarters I would like to sleep without him nearby, plus he would undoubtedly ruin the covers, again-
Geordie looked at Data, not believing what he was hearing with a look of disappointment on his face as he spoke.
-Data, he's your brother!-
-Yes, and although I am warming up to him and wish for us to be closer, it is still inappropriate for him to join us in our bed, as I am his brother and you are my lover-
Data carefully stood up, lying B4 down on the sofa on his back, they moved a pillow and placed it under his head, moving a few of the blankets off the sofa and tucking him in for the night, B4 didn’t move and stayed laying down…it was…very cute.
Geordi leaned down and ruffled B4’s hair, saying a quiet goodnight before leaving to the bedroom to get prepared for bed.

Data knelt next to B4, they put a hand up to his cheek, running a thumb over his cheek and sighed, he was definitely an interesting person to have around. He looked very peaceful when asleep which was very different to his usual hyperactive presence…they planted a brief kiss on his forehead before heading off to their bedroom for the night, leaving one of the lights on in the living area and the bedroom door open slightly just in case he woke up and panicked.

Notes:

Thank you reading !!!

Notes: Data is parent, they’re planning a lesson plan for teaching B4 how to paint properly, excited to see what would come up with. Geordi is planning a way to get B4 in bed for cuddles.

Chapter 20: Visiting Hours

Summary:

Lore is stuck in the brig, visited by Picard and then Geordi/Data/B4.

After Will and hB4 left, Lore was left alone for the remainder of the day and into the night. He paced back and forth in the cell, and then back and forth again, and then again. He asked the day guard how B4 was, only to be told he wasn't allowed that information. After the guards changed for the night, he got the same answer and laid in the bed and huffed until the morning.

 

Picard arrived in the morning, telling Lore him that they'd arrived at Daystrom and he was about to head to the meeting to discuss Starfleet’s plans for him and B4. It had apparently been put forth that the only way to keep Lore secure was to deactivate him, permanently, and to ensure it would stay that way; they were looking into ways to wipe his matrix entirely, but to Lore’s surprise Picard sounded…disgusted by this?
-I have made my decision, as Starfleet hasn’t appointed you someone to defend yourself that I shall represent you at the trial. Despite your many misdeeds over the years, I'm more disgusted with starfleet then I am with you and your actions, the death penalty was abolished centuries ago, and since you, Data and B4 are counted as living beings that what they are enforcing with this so called ‘deactivation’,mI[m choosing to advocate for confinement with the possibility of reform, like we would any other criminal in Starfleet-

-Well that's unexpected, I thought you’d be the first person in line to flip my off switch-

-You are, an interesting person Lore, worthy of proving yourself to be capable as any other being of changing for the better when given a chance-
-Thanks?-
-I have reviewed your behaviour from when we first met, to the second time we met, and compared it to when you escaped the lab and during your stay here, I come to a conclusion that will determine the fate of your trial should the court accept it-
-And that is?-
Lore was being polite, he was genuinely curious about the Captain’s intentions, and what he could possibly have possibly done to change his mind from killing him on sight to helping him.

-You, are man deeply troubled mentally, you have committed heinous crimes but, like any being in this universe, you can change, and that change hopefully can lead to a better more fulfilling life for yourself, rather than a life simply ended because it’s easier for everyone else-
Lore didn't say anything but his face must have shown his surprise and confusion as Picard continued to explain
-You…seem to genuinely care for B4, and that connection, will be used a base starting point to prove your ability to change for the better, to show that you are capable of more than just hatred-
Lore didn't believe this, what on earth, how the fuck had this one stupid brother had changed him thay much that even Picard was now advocating for him.
-I don't need your help-
I don't want it either he thought, he was fine leaving B4 here with his undoubtedly new favourite little brother and escaping back into the universe never to be seen again, he sank back into negative thoughts and ignored everything anyone said after this.

Picard left when he realized he was being ignored, Lore sulked in the brig while the 'trial' commenced.

 

He was surprised when data, Geordi and B4 walked in later on in the day.
-Lore!!!!-
B4 began to run up to him but Data followed and grabbed his arm before he got too close and hit it again, pulling him back to stand besides themself and giving B4 what Lore could only describe as the look of a parent who hadn’t slept in 3 weeks and is regretting their choices.
-B4, there is a level 10 forcefield there, it will hurt you if you touch it-
B4 turned in the grip to stare at Data, who averted their eyes.
-But I wanna hug Loooooore-
Lore could see the frustration on Data's face after dealing with B4 for too long and he loved it. Data was the opposite of B4, even from the short time Lore was with him he knew that. Oh it was wonderful, he could see perfectly clear in his head B4 walking into Data’s perfectly maintained quarters and absolutely ruining everything, leaving a mess and a scrambling Data following him trying to clean up as he made more mess.

Lore had given up trying to contain B4 after about an hour of trying and getting angry when they were together on Omicron, choosing to let simply explore and wander around the house and labrinth beneath it, making whatever messes he so pleased. He made sure that all the doors that led to the outside were sealed and locked and he kept an ear listening out at all times just in case B4 got stuck, which he did several times. Lore had to go rescue him and bring him back to the sofa for cuddles to help him calm down and stop crying about being ‘lost forever and ever’.
Lore chose to simply spend an hour or so in the evening, dragging B4 around and helping him to clean and tidy up the mess that he made during the day before B4 would fall asleep on the sofa. Lore would wait for B4 to be fully out, before picking him up just enough so he could sit down on the sofa and place B4’s head in his lap, staying there until morning so he could…keep an eye on him…make sure he didn’t…um…ok he didn’t have a reason for it, it was just nice.

He missed it already, it was…cold in the brig.
Lonely.

-You cannot hug him B4, please understand that he is dangerous and not allowed contact with anyone-
B4 shuffled his feet, Data seemed to have telling him off to a fine art as B4 looked to the floor in defeat mumbling an apology, after nearly half a minute of silence he spoke again quietly.
-Can…can I sit down and talk to him though? Through the…thingy?-
Data gave a small nod of approval before speaking.
-Of course you can, Geordi and myself will be nearby to keep an eye on you both-
B4 walked over to the front of the cell and sat cross legged on the floor, Lore walked over and joined him, sitting down to mirror his position.
-Has everyone been treating you well B?-
Lore asked, he figured they would have but needed to check anyway, Data must have noticed the tone in his voice change to a softer gentler tone as they looked at him with disbelief, like he cared what Data thought, they probably thought Lore was manipulating their brother somehow.
-They have!!!! I got to drink a nice and warm choc-co-late drink-
He over pronounced the word clearly struggling to remember, which was adorable as always.
-Then!!! We watched a movie and Data let me cuddle and they were comfy so I took a nap-
Lore smiled, he figured they wouldn't be treating him badly but it was still a relief to hear it from B4 himself, also Data? Letting him not hug, but cuddle? Impressive.

They talked for a bit, B4 explained his day in detail several times, Lore sat there patient as ever, listening to the other, helping him remember when he struggled and providing comfort when he got upset.
Data was summoned to the transporter room to the trial that was happening on the station, Geordi gave him the utmost security that he'd keep an eye on them both while he was gone, Data nodded and left, leaving them all.

 

-Geordi!!!-
B4 shouted over to him and the man walked over, sitting on the floor next to B4 who was
-Tell Lore about the baf!!!!-
-The what? Oh right, the bath! Yeah, he was looking pretty messy so I made him a bubble bath and gave him a good scrub down, he only tried to eat the bubble 14 times-
-The bubbles smelled nice!-
-You bathed him? Very fatherly of you, I imagine Data was thrilled with the state B4 must have left the bathroom in-
-Yeah, a little bit, you should have seen the rest of the quarters when I got home! Data's struggling to adjust to the changes of having him here even temporarily, honestly he's not great with change but we're working through it you know?-
Data and Picard walked through into the brig before Lore could answer, Picard announcing the trial was over.

 

-Well that was a short trial-
Lore was surprised to see them back so soon, didn’t trials usually go on for days?
-Well, well, Lore, it seems you're being let off the account of escaping daystrom-
Picard smiled, clearly very happy with himself.
-It was took into consideration that you were experimented on without your consent, and then decided that your subsequent escape was justified in preservation of your own wellbeing, so the charges were dropped-
-Goodie for me, I get to resume my prison sentence elsewhere basically-
Lore rolled his eyes, why was that good? He was fairly certain he had about a million other charges against him that couldn’t and wouldn’t be dropped any time soon.
-Another formal trial will be held on earth in a few days, to discuss deactivating you, versus the potential options for rehabilitation, as such we have plenty of time to prepare a defense for our case-
Picard was happy, not outwardly showing it but he stood with pride for his actions.
-And as for b4-
Data chimed in when they were sure Picard had finished.
-It has been…recommended by myself that he be transferred to a specialist care facility that will be better suited to take care of his needs, likely indefinitely-
Lore snapped his head to glare at him, joined by Geordi, Lore’s anger was reflected on the engineers face as they both refused to believe what Data just said.
-Data, you…what the hell?-
It was Geordi that spoke up first, his voice louder and firmer than Lore had ever heard from the usually pretty calm man.
-You can't seriously be considering sending him off just because you don't want to deal with him! You know full well that we can take care of him on board the Enterprise!-
Geordi was shouting, Lore could understand his anger, Data was just like Soong…discarding their ‘family’ as soon as they became an inconvenience.
-And even if we couldn't Data, think about everyone else on board who would be more than happy to help us with him, think of what Riker, Beverly, Deanna and everyone else have all done with B4 the past days while he's been here, and tell me they wouldn't help us with whatever we needed to make sure he was properly cared for!-
Data looked at Geordi and sighed, annoyed with the outburst but hiding it very well from everyone else in the room, but Lore who knew too well how to read their micro expressions.
-It is a lovely facility Geordi, we will be able to visit regularly to see him, it has the best staff and facilities in the federation to suit his needs, I have researched this extensively to ensure it
Data said it so plainly and matter of fact Lore wanted to rip their throat ou-

-But…I want to stay with Lore-

B4’s voice was a whisper as he looked up to Data from where he still sat on the floor in front of Lore…there were tears rolling down his face…and…
Fuck this.
Before anyone could process or stop him, Lore stood up and walked his way over to force field, using an elbow to smash it so he could step out and walk over to Data. They backed up slightly but Lore was faster, grabbing them by the collar of their shirt and lifting them off the ground slightly, he stared into their eyes and gave them no option to escape it as he spoke.
-He stays with me or I leave, taking him with me and killing everyone on board before any of your pathetic friends can even process what happened, you are not sending him to a fucking care home just because you’re embaressed he’s not a perfect little super computer like you are-
Data tried to escape the grasp but thankfully Lore had spent far too long figuring out how to outmatch Data despite their equally matched strength.
The room was silent, Lore could feel everyone looking at him with a mix of anger and disbelief, Data was just confused and trying to make sense of why Lore seemed to like B4 so much.
To be fair Lore didn’t know why he did either.
Lore watched Data’s eyes twitch for a brief moment; thinking, processing, what just happened and how to approach and respond to it.

-Lore…you cannot be serious, B4 is unable to be cared for properly by myself ad geordie let alone someone like yo-
-And what do you know about my ability to care for him?! You barely lasted 2 DAYS before choosing to send him off to someone else to deal with, last time I checked, I was still perfectly capable of caring for him after a entire FUCKING WEEK, actually I wanted him with me, I BROUGHT him with me, and I wanted nothing more than to stay with him forever until you showed up and ruined everything!-
Lore shouted, screamed in Data’s face, because seriously? Data spoke calmly again, dismissing Lore’s outburst like it never happened.
-It is not possible Lore, as you are being sent to a different facility then B4 is, I will make sure of it to ensure B4 is away from your influe-
Lore didn’t want to hear this, he threw Data across the room and they collided, and then went straight through the computer station before leaving a hefty dent in the wall as they came to a stop. Data stood up and began to walk back over to him, Lore swore there was actual anger in their eyes and was preparing for them to fight back. Data came to a stop as B4 stood in between them, turning to face Lore, his arms were crossed and he was giving him probably the most serious look Lore had seen on him so far.
-Lore, no-
-No?-
-Don’t hurt them please, Data means good even if what they’re doing isn’t-
-You can’t be serious, they’re just like Soong, they just want to get rid of us why does it even matter to them what we do if we’re not disrupting their perfect little li-
B4 walked over and pulled Lore into a hug, Lore shut up and leaned against his shoulder, relaxing immediately and forgetting why he was mad as B4 gently stroked a hand across his back.
-But…-
-Lore stop being grumpy, Data is nice I am sure they’re doing what’s best for us both-
-I fucking doubt it-
Lore mumbled, forgetting who was looking at them both as he wrapped his arms around B4 and pulled him closer, just trying to hide away from the universe, he wanted to stay here forever.

-Well then, I’d say this definitely strengthens the case for B4 being a positive influence over Lore, maybe it would be wise to keep them together Mr Data-
Data opened their mouth to speak but Picard’s com badge buzzed before they could respond. Will spoke briefly to the Captain, requesting his presence on the bridge and he gave them all a brief goodbye before exiting.

-Lore, you must return to your cell now-
Data spoke after a minute or so, walking over to remove B4 from Lore, who wasn’t happy.
-Nooooo!!-
B4 whined in protest, spinning around, keeping Lore firmly in his arms out of Data's reach, Lore muffled a laugh into his shoulder at the action. Looking over B4’s shoulder to see the look of pure confusing and annoyance on Data’s face.
-Lore’s been good, I want him to stay out!-

Geordie walked over to stand besides Data, nudging them to leave the three alone, which they did with little resistance, walking over to the exit to wait for Geordi.
-B, buddy, Lore’s gonna go back into his room for now, and tomorrow we'll come back to see him. He has to stay in there just for a few more days, but when you visit in the meantime I’ll make sure you can go in and give him all the cuddles you want ok?-
-You promise?-
-If they don’t i’ll break through the wall and come find you myself ok?-
Lore smirked and gave him another squeeze, B4 looked a bit less sad with that. He leaned down and planted a kiss on the right of Lore’s face, just below his eye and just to the side of his sideburns, before B4 let go entirely, saying goodbye and running over to Geordi. Lore reluctantly walked back inside the cell and sat on the bed, the force field reactivating the moment he stepped inside.
Geordi laughed and shook his head, before saying his goodbye, leading B4 and then Data out of the brig.

Lore sighed, why was he being such a softie all of a sudden?

He did not reach a hand to the side of his face that had been kissed…definitely not…holding it there for the whole night, replaying it over and over.

Notes:

Thank you as always for reading !!!!

Notes: I ship Lore/B4 I’m sorry ok I’m trying not to include much in this but I can’t help it they need to smooch. Data is trying their best, they love B4 but they’re tired of running around after him cleaning up the mess left behind and trying to stop him from eating the plants in their quarters.

Chapter 21: Home, For Real This Time

Summary:

Picard and Deanna come to an agreement with Starfleet to introduce 2 new members to the Enterprise family. Lore and B4 are given their own quarters and a welcome aboard party.

Picard was in his ready room thinking about current events, he was talking to Deanna about her opinions on what to propose to Starfleet during the next meeting in terms of Lore and B4’s future, as her opinion as one of the most well acclaimed counsellor on Starfleet would have most of the sway during the meeting, so to have her on his side for the android brothers would most certainly be a benefit. Picard showed her all the footage of Lore in the brig interacting with B4, and after interacting herself with B4 he waited for her thoughts on the…unusual relationship that seemed to be forming between the two, and how they could use it to the advantage of them both.
-It’s so strange, even across the ship I could feel the genuine affection Lore holds for B4 when they’re together. I knew that Lore’s emotions tended to run more extreme than even the most emotional humanoids, but honestly I wasn’t expecting love and happiness to be included in that, especially how he’s behaved when we’ve seen him previously-
-Indeed, I have gotten several comments from Will and Data on Lore’s…unusual behaviour, if I hadn’t seen it myself I’d hardly believe it to be true, what about B4? What are your thoughts about his personality?-
-B4 is just…overwhelmingly happy all the time, he is so open, trusting, caring and loving to everyone he meets, within minutes he was fully ok with me and Geordi bathing him which most people wouldn’t do with anyone even after several years of friendship, I’m actually glad Lore isn’t being his usual self because I worry for what might have happened if he really did want to take advantage of him like he tried with Data before-
Picard nodded, trying not to remember how much Lore had altered Data in such a short time, how he didn’t even recognise Data when he saw them because of how not like themself they were behaving. Picard tried not to think about how much easier it would have been for Lore to completely warp B4 into whatever he wanted him to be, just being thankful for Lore’s strange change of heart.
But onto the main issue, what do they do with the two now? They needed a solid defense to go up against Starfleet’s insistence on deactivating Lore and relocating B4, because Picard wasn’t going to let such treatment of the two happen no matter what either of them had done to ‘deserve it’.
-It seems B4 had made quite an impression on the crew during his short stay here, I'm not sure about letting Data relocate him, I feel like I might have a mutiny on my hands if I left the ships new baby in the hands of someone else-
They both laughed but Picard was serious in what he said, even Worf was asking about his welfare, crew members stopped him in the hallway or sent messages asking about B4, apparently all it took was speaking to him for less than a minute to fall in love with him and most of the crew was affected. He had genuinely had made a big impression on the crew and it was a genuine concern about his supposed relocation that the crew would have…strong opinions about it if word got out about the plan. Lore’s threat about B4’s relocation also seemed to be very genuine, and Picard knew very well that he was more than capable of causing much more damage then he promised if he wanted to.
-I'm not sure Data is thinking this through clearly-
Deanna sighs, Picard could have guessed that as Data didn’t put that much thought into the location for B4’s relocation, he still remembered the hundred thousand page essay they wrote for Daystrom to ‘assist’ them with Lore’s containment, and that wasn’t even all of what they did to ‘help’ them. In comparison, so far all Data had done in regards to B4’s future care was to submit a short form stating that they were unable to care for him that also detailed the location they thought would be most suitable for him, nothing else. It was completely out of character for Data to disregard anyone so quickly, especially when it came to family, as even with Lore, Data spent weeks planning and working on just the design for the storage crates he was to be put in.
-As Data is technically B4’s and Lore’s next of kin, they have finally say in their brothers care, but I think their judgment is being clouded slightly by past experiences with Lore, almost like they’re scared it will be repeated if Lore or B4 stays here-
Deanna brought up a valid concern, Data had not had the best relationship with Lore and, despite everything pointing to the opposite, they still seemed untrusting of B4 and frankly…they seemed to just not like him very much, it seemed their personalities clashed even more so than Data and Lore’s did.
-I’ve heard about the incident that happened yesterday between the two from Beverly, Data appears to be very uncomfortable with B4’s presence on board, but since everyone else seems to be overjoyed by his prescience I don’t understand it-
-Data has a need for routine and order, it brings them comfort and security in their daily life, and B4 being the chaotic, messy tornado he is, makes Data stressed. The response is understandable but upsetting, B4 is their brother and I wish Data would put in more effort to get along, instead of giving up entirely by sending him away, these things take time, much more than Data seems to be willing to give-
Picard sat and thought for a moment, he refused to let Data make such a rash decision that they would most certainly regret later on when they’d thought about it more clearly.
-If B4 is to stay on board, he can't stay with Data, it'll be too much for both of them and I would rather Data be kept sane and able to do their usual work-
Deanna nodded, but there really was no one who could care for him, Data was correct in that sense, but emotionally B4 needed to be here with his family, he deserved that, Picard wanted to give him that, he had had such an awful life so far he deserved more than a care home, he deserved an actually home with family and friends, and frankly so did Lore, despite everything.

-Jean-Luc, I'm going to suggest something stupid so humor me for a moment-
-I’m all ears-
He was surprised by the question, but he was open to anything to resolve this weird situation and keep everyone happy. He himself wanted B4 to stay, he wanted to get to know him further…maybe he would like horse riding? He likely wouldn’t like tea…but maybe he would? He’d always wanted children or grandchildren, he could B4 to visit the vineyard and show him th-
-Lore sir-
-…Lore?-
He looked over to Deanna, Lore, that might be crazy enough to work actually, but how?

-Lore has proven he is willing to keep B4 safe and care for him, he said so himself and on Omicron he took care of him much longer than anyone else has managed to so far, and B4 trusts him more than anyone else so I think Lore would be perfect to look after him as opposed to Data-
-Except I'm pretty sure they're only entertaining the idea of sending him to a rehab colony, and are just going to deactivate him and send him back to Daystrom when everyone’s backs are turned-
-With all due respect Sir, no rehab centre would be able to hold him for any period of time, hence why they wouldn't go through with the idea in the end, but we have proof that even at his most violent state, when he looked like he was about to kill Data, B4 was able to calm him down and even get him to back down and retreat, he got lore to listen and understand, that is serious and we can use that in favour of keeping the two together, and even to use B4 as the main driving point in a potential rehab program for Lore-
Picard leant forwards, resting his head on his hand, that was actually a good idea, and it gave both of them an opportunity to proceed positively in life, but where to keep them both so they don’t cause chaos? Even if Lore was on his best behaviour, he wasn’t sure anywhere in the Federation could handle them both at the same time.

-I would also like to suggest that, in regards to B4 not wanting to leave the Enterprise…that they both be given residence on board the Enterprise-

-I beg your pardon counsellor?-

-I really don't think Lore would be dangerous as long as he's with B4, we could assign the their own quarters and honestly it sounds a lot better then not knowing where Lore is when he inevitably escapes whatever rehab colony they put him on, as I highly I doubt he'll just sit there for the rest of his potentially infinite life and work in the fields, even if B4 was there with him, there just isn’t enough stimulation to keep an android busy or sane-
Picard sighed, keeping him under supervision on the most heavily guarded ship in the fleet, the one best equipped to handle a rogue android, thanks to measures taken after Data's many misadventures, the place that has the only 2 beings in existence capable of restraining him and the only engineer who understood how he worked and could fix any issues that arose…dammit it was too good an idea to not consider, and he was certain the trial would be over as soon as they suggested it as there really was no reason to not go through with it.

-I think also, that Lore needs to feel…wanted, wherever we put him-

-You do?-

-I’m serious, when he’s with B4, Lore feels secure, wanted-
She emphasised the last word, most certainly B4 was the only person who even liked the man, let alone treated him with respect and care.
-He has no one in life that’s made him feel that way, he has never known love or comfort before, it would benefit him greatly if, even if it pretend, we made him feel welcome on the ship-

-A good idea, but I doubt many will be willing to even pretend to tolerate him due to his past actions during his technical imprisonment on board the ship-
-Think about it Jean-Luc, in rehabilitation colonies, people are given jobs, therapy, they are made welcome and cared for, we would be doing the same here, in an environment best suited for him, I'm sure he'd go mad with boredom in a manual labor job in a rehab colony-
-True, I can't see him lasting more than 5 minutes in a field-
-And I’m sure if we gave him a job, or a role on board to keep him busy, he'd be too distracted to plot our demise anyway-
She laughed as, the plan was insane as Lore himself, so it could work.
-We still need to decide what kind of job would be best for him onboard though, somewhere we could keep an eye on him but also give him a sense of responsibility to the ship so he actually does the work-
-Hm, well, considering Starfleet was ok with Wesley piloting the Enterprise at 16 I’m sure they can’t have any objections to Lore being at the helm, he’s objectively far more qualified, and he’ll be right next to Data should he try and do anything, they’ll be there to restrain him-
Deanna was right as always, Starfleet was always open to new ensigns joining their crews, it was the best way for people to get a hands on experience no matter their background, so they would likely be supportive of the idea.

-Well that’s a good idea to suggest, but what about B4? What should we do with him? I wouldn't be…entirely comfortable leaving him unattended and roaming the ship while Lore worked, god knows what kind of trouble he’d get himself into-
He could see the oldest brother getting lost in the jefferies tubes or accidentally falling down the turbolift shaft somehow…he needed to ensure he was safe at all times as from what Geordi had told Picard about Soong ‘prototype’ his systems would be near impossible for even him to fix if he got seriously hurt.
-We’ve already acknowledged that there's a lot of people on board willing to help, we could sort out something akin to a babysitting schedule for him so he’s never alone for too long. we can also look into putting him in the ship’s school to see if that could help him with social and educational needs, I’m sure the ships teachers are more than capable of teaching him-
Picard could see that she loved this idea, especially the babysitting and was likely looking forward to spending a weekend with B4 and Riker.
-Well, if you write up your official assessment and recommendation for the 2 of them I'll forward it with my own to the court before we arrive tomorrow, I'd certain they accept it and it'll be a quick meeting and we'll be back on our way before the day ends-

——

Picard, Deanna and Data had a semi-brief meeting with several admirals and cyberneticists from daystrom, who eventually agreed with the proposed plan to keep Lore and B4 on board instead of the alternatives, which they agreed would be highly unlikely to succeed or be fair on the two brothers.
Although they did propose that a small tracking chip and communicator be installed inside Lore’s system in such a way where he would be unable to remove it, the purpose being so they could track his location and contact him should anything happen, as a safety precaution. Picard noted they didn't suggest a remote deactivation button, which he was convinced they would, marking it as progress towards android rights. They were essentially suggesting a permanent com badge in his head, which wasn't unheard of in rahab colonies that housed the federations more disagreeable humanoids. They also stated that B4 didn’t need the same security measures, but enforced that he would need a career with him at all times so he didn’t go anywhere he wasn’t allowed or break anything.
-They will need modified quarters to suit their needs, one that can be locked in case either needs to be contained, and Lore will be assigned a designated uniform to mark his position on the ship, whereas B4 will not-
-What will be his official rank on the ship? Surely not civilian-
-No, he officially will be classed as an acting ensign, doing community service on board, he will be given more roam of the ship once he proves he has no intentions of hurting anyone during a testing period in which he will be monitored and escorted at all times except when in their quarters-
Picard nodded, that was good, a few months monitoring and then the two brothers could settle into a more normal life on board.
-B4 will be officially classed as a citizen, under legal care of Commander Data, who has assigned him to be under Lore’s care due to their work preventing them from being able to care for him full time-

They both left the room feeling good about the results, but dreading telling Lore and Data who they were sure would be happy with it, as the only free quarters able to accommodate the two were right next to Data’s own that they shared with Geordi.
They were both excited to tell B4 who they were sure would be jumping with joy at a new home with Lore that was so close to Data.
They did rock paper scissors in the turbolift to see who got to tell who.

 

——

 

Data is mildly annoyed that Lore has to stay on board, especially so close to theirs and Geordi’s quarters.
Lore is just happy that he gets to stay with B4, he really didn’t care where he was put.
B4 is fucking ESTATIC at sharing his new home with Lore AND it being next to Data was enough to keep him smiling all day.

Lore was held in that stupid fucking cell for well over a week after the trial on Earth while everything was ‘being sorted for your relocation to your own personal quarters’ according to Picard. B4 visited everyday, with either Deanna, Will, Geordi or Data, it seems they were rotating who got to have him for the day. Geordi made true on his word and Lore’s cell was opened for the hours B4 was visiting in the evening so the two could sit at the table and Lore could listen to B4 rambling on for a few hours about his day and other random topics before he left for the night, it was the only thing keeping him sane during his stay there.

On the 8th day after the trial, Data and B4 walked in together, B4 was holding a small gift box, giggling and skipping towards the cell.
-Someone’s in a cheerful mood today-
When Data opened the cell, Lore walked over and wrapped his arms around B4 who, using the free hand that wasn’t holding the suspicious gift, returned the hug briefly before pulling back and holding the gift behind his back.
He had the biggest smile on his face that Lore had ever seen on him.

-I get to give you a gift Lore, it’s from Picard-
-You seem pretty excited if I say so myself, is it really that nice of a gift? I didn’t think Picard was the type for gifts-
B4 shook his head widely, before shoving the gift into Lore’s chest, nearly knocking him over in the process. Lore wrapped his hands around the box, taking it off B4 who watched with eager eyes as Lore examined it. It was a decent size, about as big as his chest, he really didn’t care to be more precise, it was fairly deep, barely fitting in his hands, and when he shook it there was no noise, giving no indication what was inside.
-Open it!-
Getting impatient, B4 tapped on the lid before going back to rocking slightly on his heels. The box was wrapped so that all he needed to do was undo the ribbon and pull off the lid, it was so precise and immaculate he was certain Data must have wrapped it.
-If you insist-
Lore carefully removed the ribbon, handing it over to Data who had moved to stand next to B4. He carefully removed the lid before also passing it over to Data, then looked inside to investigate.
He had replicated himself a civilian uniform on the shuttlecraft when he initially escaped from Maddox that he was still wearing, but what was in the box was a command red uniform jumper, the pip on the collar denoting the rank of ensign…he heard of their plan to have him work at the helm but thought they were joking!
Looking up at Data in disbelief, Lore removed the jumper from the box, Data took the box and walked over to recycle the empty box and ribbon while Lore held it up to look at it properly. B4 moved to stand next to Lore to stare at it also, Lore turned to his head to glance up at him.
-It’s…nice-
-It is!! I think red will look pretty on you!-
-Well duh, I look great in anything-
Data had walked back over, standing in front of the two, they seemed…reluctant to speak for a moment.
-Alongside the uniform for yourself Lore, I have a surprise for you both today-
B4 looked over to Data immediately, a surprise? If it wasn’t for them both Lore was sure it would be an announcement of another week in the brig for himself, so it must be good if B4 was included.
-Which is?-
He wasn’t excited, B4 was though, was jumping on the sport and flailing his hands around like an adorable idiot, Data smiled at the action then spoke.

-Today…you will be moving into your official quarters…I am here to take you both there-
B4 shouted, screamed with joy, taking a brother in each arm and crushing them both for a whole minute before both Lore and Data asked to be let go before they were snapped in half.
-We…will need to work on your control B4, should you give anyone else a hug I fear you may harm them severely-
Both took a moment to catch their breath, B4 wasn’t listening to Data, too busy being excited and running around the room to get out his excess energy.
-Well, I think you should take us there before lil miss excitable wears away the flooring-
Lore laughed, pointing over to B4 who continued his ‘zoomies’ around the brig, Data looked over to B4 before walking over and carefully grabbing his hand, dragging him back to Lore and pressing his hand into Lore’s
-B4, please walk with Lore so we do not lose you on our way to your new quarters-
B4 nodded with great enthusiasm, intertwining his fingers with Lore’s, his free hand moving up and taking Lore’s uniform off him to hold it close to his chest.
-Then we shall proceed-
Lore followed Data, leading B4 along the corridor of the Enterprise, they went up a turbolift and down another corridor before arriving at 2 doors next to each other in the hallway, Data stopped at the one closest before turning to face them both.
-These are your quarters, they are the small family size that includes 2 bedrooms, with a bathroom in each, kitchen, living and dining areas and separate office-
Lore raised his eyebrow, it sounded…nice? More space than he’d ever had in any place he’d stayed before, and definitely more than B4 ever had in his short life.
-We get our own rooms?-
Data nodded, B4,with no free hands to flap about excitedly, simply rocked on his heels in joy.
-You do, all room in the quarters have been left at their default state so that you may both decorate the, as you chose-
Decorate? They didn’t have anything to decorate with…maybe a shopping trip with the larger replicators in the ship's shop was in order…Lore wondered if they had anything in black to try and combat the beige that plastered every inch of the Enterprise, he was sure B4 would fill any shelves with pointless knick knacks before long.
Data opened the door and beckoned them to enter, Lore led B4 inside and Data followed before closing the door.
It was actually really nice.
To the left of the door was a small living area that led onto a kitchen/dining area combination, a door was in the dining area which must lead to one of the bedrooms, to the right of the main door was another door leading to the second bedroom, and then an open arch that showed the small office Data mentioned. Why would they need an office?
Lore walked over to inspect the office, followed by B4 who still held his hand. To his surprise, inside was a replica of the computer station he swore he saw in Data’s quarters. Data walked behind him, and then over to the desk, turning the monitor to face them.
-It is a replica of the station inside my quarters, I have spent decades refining the design to be fully compatible with my own systems for a more efficient workload and for assistance with the maintenance of my own systems, this one of yours, you may alter it as you please to suit your needs but I imagine, since our systems are nearly identical, it will not need altering much-
-That’s…really nice of you Data-
It was, which was weird. Lore walked over and grabbed a small pad of the desk with his free hand that seemed to connect to the system, looking through it and…yup it was impressive…Data made this? It ran an internal diagnostic of his entire system wirelessly in less than a second, providing very detailed results to the pad in Lore’s hand.
-If you require additional maintenance not able to be performed here, then Geordi is working on what he is calling an ‘android sick bay’ in Engineering to store larger machines and more valuable tools for our systems-
-Ohhh! That sounds nice!-
B4 was excited about everything, it was all new and exciting…he ran around the room and then the quarters, going in and out of each bedroom several times to the amusements of the younger brothers who watched.
Data didn’t notice, but Lore did.
B4 was slowing down, he was asking Data about this and this and that, picking up and investigating everything he could get his hands on, talking about how to decorate and all kinds of things…it was going to very quickly spiral into being too much for his matrix to handle

Lore put the pad back in the office, walking over to B4 who was stood in front of the sofa looking up at the large monitor on the wall and removed the uniform out of his hands, throwing it over to Data before leading B4 over to the sofa and sitting him down.
-B, can you do me a favour and rest for a bit?-
He looked up at Lore, tilting his head and raising a brow, Lore spoke before he had a chance to.
-A lot is happening B, I want you to take a lil nap ok?-
-Why would B4 need a nap Lore?-
Data had walked over and was stood behind the sofa looking between the two.
-Because otherwise he’ll shut himself down from the excitement, again, and I don’t want to have to spend the day resetting his systems if it’s not needed-
-So the…’nap’ is for?-
-It’s not a nap, just a reduction of sensory inputs to give his mind a chance to process everything before it overloads, it can’t keep up with more than a few hundred inputs a second before it starts to backup, and trust me when it overloads and shuts down it takes ages to fix-
Data nodded, walking over to the bedroom attached to the living area and returning with a folded blanket, B4 saw it and got excited, Data took care to carefully wrap it around his shoulders before stepping back.
-My favourite!-
-Yes, I noticed your preference to the blanket off the sofa in my quarters, as such I have decided to give it to you as a welcoming present-
B4 wrapped himself even more in it, which was…not…adorable.
-Well then, now you’ve got a blanket, lay down and nap, I’ll wake you up in a bit when I check and you’re feeling better-
Lore pushed B4 so he was laying on the sofa with his head on the arm rest, he turned and curled himself up against the pillows on the back.
Lore tapped the hatch on his head open, pressing a small button before closing it up again, Data looked at him with confusion as B4’s entire body relaxed and he fell asleep. Before Data could ask, Lore spoke.
-He seems to automatically go into a state of sleep at night, the switch activates it manually for times like this when he needs extra time to process what’s happening-
-You…how did you find this out?-
-I spent a week with the idiot on Omicron before you found us Data, I had to reset his systems 5 times when he crashed, so I spent forever time figuring out an alternative that was easier on him and prevent shutdowns nearly entirely.
-Understandable, you…seem to enjoy caring for him, I did not even think of such a thing to help him-
Lore shuffled his feet and tried not to think about it.
-Well, between the two of us I’m sure he’ll be in good hands-
-That is true…would you lik-
Data’s combadge pinged, Geordi spoke through.
-Data, Geordi here, if you finished showing your brothers their new quarters can you come down to engineering? There’s an issue here I need your help with-
-Of course, I shall be there shortly, Data out-
Thank god, Lore had no idea what to talk about, and he kind of wanted to lay down with B4 and take a nap as well honestly.
-I apologise, but I will leave you to ‘make yourself at home’ as they say, if you need anything there is a combadge on your uniform so please use it contact me-
-I will, there’s also one in my head if I lose that one so I wouldn’t worry about-
-How…do you know about that?-
-They beamed it into my head, how could I not notice it?-
-But…I spent a lot of time making sure you wouldn’t notice the extra programming though, how did you know it was there?-
-It fucking hurt Data, you don’t just beam solid metal into someone’s brain and expect it not to-
-It…hurt? I apologise I did not realise-
Lore rolled his eyes and smiled, Data was an idiot, it was mildly endearing.
-Well anyway, you better get to your boyfriend before he gets jealous you’re spending all your time with us instead of him-
-That is not true Lore, I shall return later to check on you both-
-I miss you already-
Data shook their head and went to leave but turned around before they reached the door.
-I should mention, for a month or so, there will be security posted outside your door at all times, and they will follow you when you leave, it is a test to make sure you are behaving, if it goes well they will be removed and you will be allowed free roam of the ship-
-Fair, be a good boy and they’ll take off the chain-
Data laughed! They laughed! It was quiet, but Lore swore he would never hear it from them.
-Let B4 know when he awakens that I look forward to what he insists on calling a ‘family movie night’, I have scheduled one for this evening to celebrate your new status on board as a surprise for him, I will tell him of it later in the evening when I return from my shift so do not ruin the surprise please-
-Oh good, I’m looking forward to seeing what you call a good movie Data-
-I doubt you mean that, but you will have to watch it anyway-
Data bid a small farewell before leaving, likely running through the halls down to engineering, Lore didn’t understand the whole ‘relationship’ thing. Why would you be so excited to spend time with someone else, especially someone you see all the time? Why would you want to be that close to someone else?

Anyway.

He walked back to the sofa and gently lifted B4 up, sliding in underneath him with his back to the armrest, pulling the heavy weight of the idiot so his head was on Lore’s chest, wrapping himself around him and burying himself in B4’s neck. He’d been looking forward to some fucking privacy since they got on this stupid ship! You can’t cuddle properly when everyone’s looking at you in the cell and B4 can’t sit still because he’s talking about all the shit he’d been doing all day.
Lore took a deep breath, closing his eyes and simply enjoying the embrace. He spent the rest of the day there, until Data arrived later in the evening and B4 ran over to the door and dragged them and Geordi inside for the so called ‘movie night’, which Lore did not spoil accidentally when he complained about it when B4 woke up an hour or so before Data arrived . Data put on an adaptation of Sherlock Holmes, which was actually really nice because Lore absolutely loved those books.

 

——

 

Picard held a party in ten forward the following day, officially welcoming Lore and B4 to the Enterprise family. The room is filled with people and decorated floor to ceiling with banners, balloons, the full works, Guinan clearly wanted to impress B4 at his first ever party and spent a good while showing him everything, explaining what they were. Afterwards, Deanna spent a good hour showing B4 all the party food, with an emphasis on the chocolate ones, they must have eaten one of everything being served, and then extra she ordered from the replicator.
Everyone is being nice to Lore, asking him how he is and forcing him to endure small talk, he hates it, he’s sure it some kind of torture.
B4 is being led around the room, being babied and fussed over by every man, woman and everything in-between on the ship, he was loving all the attention and Lore was glad to see him so happy.
He wasn’t at all a bit jealous whenever someone hugged him or even touched him slightly, and he definitely wasn’t keeping a list of all the people who dared to try and flirt with him so he could have a ‘talk’ with them later.

When Lore spoke to Picard briefly, he said that at least 50 people had signed up for babysitting duties while Lore was forced to work, Lore asked about his new job.
-You sure they’re ok trusting me to fly the ship?-
-Well you most certainly are more than capable of doing so and apparently having 2 androids at the front of the ship would boost ship efficiency, plus it keeps you in a place where I can keep an eye on you-
-Makes sense-
Picard has a weird…not fatherly, but grandfatherly aura about him that seems to put Lore at ease…he must be going soft if he’s getting along with that twat.

After a few hours, late into the night, Lore sat in the corner of the room, alone at one of the only empty tables, thinking about how to change his bedroom to better suit him, the bed needed to be moved, he considered moving it up into its own little alcove above the room, that way it’ll be more private and he liked being higher up than everyone else, it also would make it more private, he could put up a curtain so it would be dark and quiet. He’s thinking about painting the walls and installing some bookshelves to see if he can start a collection of physical books, he’d always wanted to, when Data walks over and sits down on the sofa next to him.
-I see you are enjoying yourself Lore-
-Oh I’m having a blast Data-
The sarcasm was mirrored in both their voices,
-Oh I can tell, your smile fills the room Lore, I did not know you could be so happy-
Lore laughed, Data smiled.
-Ok, I may have been wrong before, maybe sarcasm suits you after all-
Guinan walked over, 2 drinks in hand and quietly set them in front of the brothers.
-Now then, 3 Soong’s in one place, that is most certainly far too many for anyone to handle-
He knew of her, from the ships crew manifesto, but Lore hadn’t met her yet…she had an aura of, someone who had been around for too long, knew too much about everyone. Lore didn’t speak but raised a brow at the drinks offered.
-Romulan ale, if anyone asks, I don’t know where they came from, and neither do either of you-
-They appeared out of thin air, a mystery to us all Guinan-
Data and her laughed at the terrible joke, Lore just rolled his eyes, what was so bad about the blue drink?

-You should keep and eye on B4, he might be stolen away from under your noses-
She glances over at B4, who is currently surrounded by a group of science crew members who were talking to him, petting him, being in general far too close to him for Lore’s liking.
-They're treating him like a fucking kitten-
-They’re treating him with great care and admiration, with all the love and affection he so dearly deserves, I myself admit I was drawn to ruffling his hair earlier, it’s just so…fluffy-
-Lore do not be jealous, just in case they come over and treat you the same-
Guinan laughs and leaves the 2 alone again, Lore picks up the drink and takes a sip, it tastes awful, but there’s real alcohol in it so no wonder it’s being served, it’s also…somehow, nearly 200% alcohol.

-Is she always going to be that annoying-
Data nods and sips their drink.
-Always, she’s lovely though, she always listens and always know exactly what to say when you need it most, she is like…the ships mentor, a caring grandmotherly figure-
A small hm was all Lore responded with, they sat in peaceful silence for a while, Lore mostly watched over B4, glancing over a few times to see Data was keeping an eye on B4 as well.

 

-B4 has indicated his desire for us…for us to get along-
Data spoke after a long silence, still looking towards B4, who was now surrounded by the engineering crew, several of which dared to touch his face, they were all fussing over his ‘squishy’ face compared to Data’s more angular one, Lore made notes to compare the two at some point and also to head down to engineering to break all of their arms for touching B4, even if he was enjoying it.
-He’s stupid Data, can't blame him for having unrealistic expectations-
Data sighed, turning to face Lore with a look of disapproval at the insult.
-True, but i think we should try Lore, it…might be nice for us both-
He thought about it, maybe that would be nice…maybe.

-I’m a terrible brother i can assure you, it’s not worth your effort-
-B4 seems to disagree, he is constantly talking about how nice and lovely you are. If not a positive relationship, maybe we could reach a…more neutral relationship than we had previously?-
-…that might be agreeable-
Ok to be fair, Lore had tried his best in the past…his best just happened to be fucked up a little bit, so maybe it was worth another try.

 

They sat in silence for another hour or so until B4 came over, he dragged them both over to the centre of the room where a table had been set up, a cake decorated with the words ‘welcome aboard’ sat in the middle of it. B4 held onto one brother each side of him so they couldn’t leave, as Picard took a photo of the three to celebrate the occasion. Will made a promise to have it set up in Picard's office the next day alongside all the other photos of the senior crew members.
Data says he’s going to hang it up in their quarters on the main wall with all the other photos they have up there of family and friends/
B4 wants it on a pillow so he can hug them both ‘forever and ever and ever and ever!’.

 

Lore prints it really small, hiding it inside the circuitry panel in his right arm so he always has it on him, to remember why he’s putting up with the awful humanoids on board the ship; family, love…home.

Notes:

THANK YOU ALL FOR READING THROUGH TO THE END!!!! Honestly did not expect anyone to read it so I’m so happy that it’s gotten so many kudos and comments and hits!!
As my first ‘long’ fic I think it turned out pretty decent xxxx
I’m already working on my new long fic, but since that won’t be ready to publish for a while, in the mean time there will be lots of short fics taking place in the same au as this one, exploring more of the relationship dynamics and shenanigans that can take place with all 3 Soong’s on board.

Notes: Lore reads, a lot, his mind is constantly looking for stimulation and since he has the entire galaxy’s reading library available, even he could never run out of things to read through. Data is not happy because it means he and Lore will have to commute to work together everyday, and Data does not know how to do ‘small talk’ in the turbolift (they usually time it so they’re alone in it in the mornings) and also because it means B4 will be over theirs constantly because of the close journey, which would be nice as they do want to spend more time together, but the unexpected visits b4 is sure to do constantly is not something they look forward to.

If anyone can tell me how people manage to include art in their fics I’ll add an extra chapter with all the official artwork I’ve done.

 

LOVE YOU ALL, THANK YOU AGAIN FOR READING
❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

Series this work belongs to:

• Part 1 of B-DataLore