Wow. She had really done that much damage to him? She hadn’t expected it since he was a DWN, but it gave her slightly more hope in being able to defend herself against him if she needed to.
She watched him cautiously, slowly lowering her hands away from her mouth as she shied away from him.
At least…He wasn’t angry? At least, that’s what it seemed like.
She nodded. “You– You scared me, is all.” Plum explained, finding the whole situation to be rather odd. She should just be thankful that he wasn’t trying to deck her, at least.
“Oh.” She said, blinking. “Oh!” She shook her head wildly. “No, I haven’t thought about it at all! It’s gonna stay quiet, just like I promised!”
Though she wasn’t very good at lying– Not in her current situation, anyway. That, and, well…
She wasn’t even doing anything that could give her an excuse as to why she was there in the middle of the night. She didn’t have a computer on or anything.
Sure, she could lie and make something up, but it was sure to come across as suspicious.
“I noticed.” That had partly been his intention-- to intimidate, to give her implicit incentive to do as he asked. Though, again, he didn’t expect her to kick him in the face.
He hadn’t questioned before why she was alone here, when her co-workers and others had long left. He noted it to be a prime opportunity to approach her without raising suspicion or being caught. Certainly, someone would notice if she were to vanish, but he did not intend for that to be necessary. Besides, even a simple barely-above-civilian robot like her would go to waste locked up and reprogrammed like a Stockholm-ridden princess in Skull Fortress. Asimov knew that anyone else with the misfortune of a DWN serial number already suffered that fate.
“Good-- because should that not be the case, I won’t be so passive.” His voice dropped into a threatening tone-- “Skull Fortress is a cruel place to those not built by Dr. Wily’s hands, even should he reprogram them. The place houses murderers, torturers of humans and robots alike. There are those that would spare you, others who would rather see what makes you tick. As one of the DWNs that has existed the longest, I do prefer to avoid incidents where I can. I’m sure you understand.”
He wasn’t lying, necessarily. This was a script he had composed for himself prior to this meeting, not quite exaggerating the facts but walking close to that line. Skull Fortress was cruel to non-children of the incompetent Dr. Wily; himself and his line included. That was why a number of his siblings had left. Torturers were indeed housed within its walls, though even the doctor himself looked down upon them. Warning her of the worst of it was worth a shot, he believed. It’d keep her quiet if nothing else.
...Assuming his broken nose didn’t affect his intimidation factor.
