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Chapter 85: Monsieur Cyborg

"Wawawawawait a minute!" Mina stammered her arms flailing. "A machine needs a lawyer?"

"Affirmative..." Mantron nodded.

Mina raised a shaking finger in disbelief. "But aren't you like an intimate object?!"

"Negative..." Mantron stated. "I raise this question...do you believe that robots have soul?"

Mina glanced at her friends who offered a baffle expression to her friends. They looked equally confused. "I mean...I guess...there could also be a ghost in the shell!"

"A great movie...bee-boop!" Mantron answered, "But that does not answer my question. Let me rephrase: can robots play funky music?!"

"Of course!" Trudy said, moving her shoulders rhythmically and smiling. "Real rump shaking music to get my whole lotta woman movin'!"

A check box appeared on Mantron's visor. "Affirmative. Robots do have soul! Now let me show you mine!"

Everyone watched in horror (except for Blind) as Mantron's valves steamed and he removed his head, effectively decapitating himself.

Fortunately, his body did not self destruct or short circuit. Instead, behind the robo visage, was a man's head. He has curly dirty blonde hair, a pair of round, nerdy specs around friendly looking eyes. He smiled benevolently and uttered his words in a dialect that originated around Paris. "Bonjour!" he said with a humble bow. "My name eez Todd Le Matinee! One of zee creators behind zee Defunkt project!"

"Oh great!" Mina said, slapping her forehead. "Another Frenchie? Are you also secretly from New Jersey."

"Wait..." Trudy shouted and she barrelled her way towards Mina. "I'll handle this!"

She sniffed Todd, who uttered a flustered "sacre Bleu, 'oo is zis woman?!"

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Trudy stepped away and twirled her pigtails with enthusiasm." Just a lover of French cuisine. And judging by your smell of authentic crepes and snobbery, you are 100% French!"

"Oui Oui!" Todd smiled in a way that was positively wholesome to Mina. "Zat I am! Thank you mademoiselle for respecting my heritage!"

Mina rubbed her smooth chin. "But uh, something isn't right here. Why are you so happy? I thought you were in desperate need of legal counseling!"

"Ah..." Todd said. "Sorry. Optimism is my natural disposition! Eet gets me into trouble sometimes! I am actually in need of desperate legal assistance, pink mademoiselle! Oiu eet eez simply dire!"

"What's wrong?" Mina asked.

For the first time, Todd Le Matinee frowned. "You see. I am the prime suspect in the self destruction...er...I mean murder of Lad-Bot!"

"What in the huh are you asking about?" Mina demanded. "I thought you and Lad-Bot were an unbreakable robot duo!"

Todd pressed his hands together and looked around nervously.

"Well of course eet seems zat way! But deep down, Christian and I were having our rows. Opposite ambitions. You see...he didn't want to be a robot anymore!"

Mina and her friends gasped. Especially Star and Trudy. "But everyone loves Ladbot!" Mina said, her bright eyes wider than ever. "Everyone adores his sweet computer screen face!"

"Everybody..." Todd said, "But Christian himself. He deed not like being Lad-Bot. We had many fights about this. It's just, even though he was tres petite...didn't mean he liked being cuddly!"

Todd held his hand in front of his face, dramatically trying to recall the visage of Christian DeChamps himself. "Christian was a hardboiled sort. Ee smoked several packs o'cigarettes a day and was said to be descended from Napoleon himself. He did not like playing second fiddle to me! He wanted to be the star! Eet was why we decided to end things. But then...well...he flew towards the stars and exploded!"

"Geez," Mina said. "I guess even robots have fallouts. But indeed, I see why the cops would think you're the suspect!"

Todd fell to his knees. "Affirmative..." he sobbed. "And to make matters worse, now we cannot complete the RoHuman Spectacle! Christian was the only handsome man-machine for the role! Zee's ees a tragedy!"

Blind walked up to Mina who was enduring an overly emotional Frenchman weeping at her heels. He took his silk blindfold off to wipe his visor. Suddenly, Todd gasped. "Hold zee phone. Good sir...are you what zey call an cyborg?!"

Blind looked down at the weeping robot man. "I am. But I am not proud of it. Just don't call me a cyclops."

Todd Le Matinee stood up and bounced excitedly like he had an overdose of fruit filled crepes. "Monsieur Handsome Cyborg! With you...zee show can go on!"