Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Your last memory was something to behold. 

The face of your mentor, smiling weakly as he tells you that “it won’t be long. You just need to be safe. You’ll be safe in here.” before a wash of cool air ran over your body the moment the capsule was closed. The loss of oxygen was immediate, resulting in the effect of being in a hospital, in tubes. Comfortable, and terrifying . 

A dream you were not allowed to wake up from until he could wake you up.

The earth had taken a turn for the worst, as memory served. Though you nor the scientist had no hand in their creation, Bio-engineered in Neco Corp, of which you had no personal affiliation, made to handle trash deposits in the lower levels of City 99. 

They mutated, as most creatures do, and evolved to consume more than waste.

 They consumed metal. 

They consumed meat as any carnivore would, they consumed anything in their path, and left behind a slime-like substance that you ever so wanted to nab a sample of.

That sample, in your thought, would be a way to study just how they managed to evolve. What had happened in their engineering to cause evolution without interference by any other creature?

Your theory? Famine . 

Famine was one of many factors in other species that served a purpose for evolution, and adaptation. An error made on the part of engineers. To splice a gene pool with no requirement for sustenance. To create a creature that needed food just as any other/

Of course, it would lead to a secondary apocalypse aside from the radioactive nightmare waiting behind guarded steel and stone.

Your theory was someone screwed up. Someone screwed up and allowed the species to breed, for the zurks to become a self-sustaining, mildly sentient species.

And though you pleaded , begged to go out into the danger to collect samples, to study what happened and how to fix it , you were denied time and time again. Kept enclosed in a shared home with your mentor, told again and again the cryostasis was a last-ditch effort to survive. That there was a minimal amount of pods made.

And before he closed the door, he informed you he would find another way around. That he would put himself in a companion if he needed to.

Your theory was that he succeeded . Your hope was that he succeeded.

A theory, a hope that would go to waste for nearly four centuries, standing stable, alone within a frosty future.

A never-ending, frosty future.

Or, at the very least, it was intended to be never-ending.

All it took was a little thump. A small kick of paws against a button to the top of the chamber to unlock it. To pull you out of a frozen coma, with vital signs low enough to mimic hibernation similar to that of bears.

A scientific anomaly that you adored .

Or you did.

Until waking up . Falling forward out from an open door in time for something to clatter off a shelf. Something little, knocking you in the head, and a hiss.

It took a moment for you to pick up your head, trying to remember how to get your muscles moving once again. They had atrophied, surely. There was nothing to keep muscle density while in a cryo-sleep. 

It was lucky that the damn thing kept you alive.

That was the one mistake you nor your mentor had the time to figure out before the worst had happened.

When your head lifted, you were face to face with a little orange tabby cat, standing high on its haunches, staring at you with narrowed eyes.

Confused, the most you could manage was a small groan, shifting your hands about to lift yourself up into a sitting position, pulling a loud, startling hiss from the little tabby, who you stare at, tired, confused, pulling yourself out of a daze

“How did you get in here, little one?” your mumble, raising a hand up to rub at your throat. Your voice comes out in unfinished crackles, though you’d done your best. A bone-dry, frozen throat made it harder, surely.

With a new focus on the item that had thumped you in the head, you murmur “was that you?” to the cat, who, as cats do, does not respond, instead sitting down to lick their paws and drag them over their face.

“Alright then” your murmur, picking up the little robotic part in your hands. A little b 12 model. Originally made to be a surveillance drone. Property and produced in mass from Neco-corp.

You forgot that your mentor kept it.

Taking a moment, you take in the dim little room you and the cat sat in. Beside your chamber sits a deactivated companion on a chair, missing its head.

“That was definitely you” you murmur, dragging a hand down the side of your neck.

With some effort and a curious meow from the cat, you slowly brought yourself to your feet, holding onto the limp companion until you took a stumbling step forwards.

You could feel it in your knees. The slow, locking feeling made you think your legs were going to buckle underneath you. So you took it carefully, keeping a hand laid against a wall, or a desk as you walked into the blue room. The lab. 

Followed by the little tabby carrying the drone in the maw. And silently, they hopped up onto a counter laid with keyboards with a nasty click, and dropped the little drone onto a plate that flicks to life.

"You hooked it all backup?" You murmur, shuffling your way to the keyboards "I remember unplugging this bit" the cat just watches you with wide eyes as you talk to yourself.

Oh, whatever.

The cat hops off of the keyboards, and following them to the floor is the little drone, although it fizzles to life, antenna moving as though alive, optics in and out of focus. Tiny little thing, but those cameras were something to admire .

The little cat bats a paw carefully at the drone, who starts speaking through a little speaker. You don't remember there being mics in those things. Then again…you’d been in the ice for a while.

“It worked. I’m free, thank you. I couldn’t Believe the cameras. A cat, in the Dead City. I'm… I can’t remember my name. It seems my memory is corrupted ” you watch the little drone, curious. 

Sentient Ai. You didn’t think you’d live to see the day. Technically, you suppose, you hadn’t? Had you?

“I’ve been trapped in the electronic network for so long” A sentient computer program?

“I know I worked for a scientist who lived here” you blink, staring down at the little drone. How odd. You don’t remember there being another assistant. “For now, you could call me B-12. That’s what it says on my exterior.”

The drone moves about the room with a whirr, going to grab a set of keys on a corkboard before you could grab them for the little thing. You’re…not sure how it grabbed them, but it did.

Apparently, it seems as though there are many things you don’t remember.

Such as digitalizing a set of keys. That didn’t make all that much sense to you, either.

It seems as though the little drone acknowledges your presence, turning about with a little motor-powered whirr “and…a human? You all were wiped out, how are you here?”

“Pod” you stare back at the little drone, who gives an awfully animated blink before you continue, “you said they were all..wiped out? How? Was it the zurks?”

“You know about the zurks?”

“Yes, of course, I do.” you frown “they’d just started when-” you blink, watching the little drone slowly float lower and lower while you talk “are you alright, little thing?”

“I believe this…body does not hold much power. Not enough to hold my data, at least.”

“They were designed for surveillance, not for cognitive thought” you answer slowly, holding out a hand slowly to catch the little drone when the blue light behind it clicked off. It tumbled into your hand, and the cat follows you with a few meows as you walk about, albeit slowly, staggering 

“Is there something I could do for you?”

“There is a pack meant for quadrupeds like our friend here, it contains a charger for this little body”

“Got it….you are aware cats hate any article of clothing, yes?”

“ Cat? ”

“Got it” you sigh, setting the little drone down on the desk while you struggle to sit back on the floor, trying to coax the tabby, who stares at you like you were pointing a weapon at them.

It was a fight with the cat, really. A fight that landed you with a few nasty, bloody battle marks all over the backs of your hands from trying to clip it on across their belly and neck. They had especially hated getting the clip across their stomach. Yowling and yelling and flailing out of your arms. Batting at you, furious.

With the worst of it over with, you were back up on your feet, watching the cat flop over onto their side as you chuckle 

“As I said, they hate it”

“Is it uncomfortable, friend?” the cat gives a rumbling yowl in return, and you sigh as the drone states “it’s okay, you’ll get used to it.”

The door to the flat was opened with ease, and you followed the cat and B-12 out with ease, before staring wordlessly at a little zipline with a bucket attached to it. It seemed almost perfect for a little cat to fit into.

“That elevator, in the distance. I’m…pretty sure that’s important. I know we need to go up.”

“Operations are run at the very top” you point out a dimly lit set of panels, crouching “a whole control panel up there, if memory serves”

“You’ve been there before?”

“Once. When this city was first constructed” you smile vaguely. You can’t remember more about the panels. You’re sure there’s more, but…any thought of it leaves you without a trace to be left. It seems being in a fog for 400 years would have left you a little…dazed.

There was a small meow, and with a pause, the robot translates to you “our friend wants to know if you are coming”

“Of course, I just need to…find a way around”

“There is no way around”

“B-12. A bucket isn’t going to be able to hold me.”

“Not in a bucket.” the little animated blink and they continue, buzzing in front of your face “ holding the bucket”

“Excuse me?”

“I understand that does not sound safe. But I could see,in the network. It’s automated. It’s strong. It will be able to carry you across” and as the little drone goes back into the back, they state “Just ensure you keep your knees up”

And you follow the advice. No matter how nutty it sounded, you listened. The cat went, across, hopped out of the bucket, and when the bucket returned, you held onto it, and were carried across. You were mindful not to look down below you, but it was unavoidable at some rate. You looked down upon the seemingly endless mass of slimy rope, creating webs. The zurks had their very own web network, like spiders . You wanted to get a sample. You always wanted a sample.

Maybe someday. 

Dropped against a rooftop, you collected yourself and followed after the cat and robot, now chittering about some postcard of the mural in front of you. Not how you remember the outside, but it was a nice thought. A sunny beach, it seemed.

It was hard, trying to follow a little cat across ledges.

You were, by no means flexible , and by no means agile as a cat, especially after cryostasis, but you did your absolute best to stay light on the tips of your toes and not spend much time on any one ledge, much like the little tabby, who goes padding off down a pipe and hopping down to another bucket.

B-12 makes a note “There are zurks here. Human, really, keep your feet up. We cannot lose you so soon”

‘It isn’t my plan to be consumed” it’s the one thing you were trying to avoid. But as you were carried across, the little bug-like creatures flung themselves at you and the little cat, who runs off ahead of you, leaving you to run on your own away from the little creatures.

A smaller one latches onto your leg, causing you a great deal of stinging pain, but because it was little , and as far as you knew, didn’t carry necrosis with their bites, you were in the clear. Shaking it off of your leg, you clamber up a garbage can after the cat, and hopped through a fence, landing off your feet with a solid thump and a cracking pain in your ankle.

That could be repaired.

Gaping wounds could not.

Ahead, basking in a warm yellow light was a companion, who was mopping. You walk ahead of the cat at a brisk pace, or as brisk as you could manage with an injured foot.

You’re not sure what the companion saw. Maybe just someone hauling towards them with something orange with a light on their back, but something about you and the cat spooked them. They stand, a hand to their head in panic, and once you were in a distance to open your mouth and try to talk to them, your hand was grabbed by force, and they ran , ran with a series of metallic thuds, with a speed you hadn’t realized they were capable of.

The companions you knew about never ran . They were helpers. They had no reason to run. Or panic, for that matter. They had vague emotions, an emulation. You weren’t sure what to make of this one. A glitch, perhaps?

They take you along nonetheless, running fast with the confused little tabby chasing after you. They drag you to a gate, shutting it closed behind them and continuing to run with you brought along with the ride

“Wait, but they’re- that’s my-” you couldn’t get a word in edgewise, not between breaths, not between a flurry of panic along with alarms ringing. You’re brought jogging along a street, trying to tell the companion that it was okay , the cat wasn’t dangerous.

You’re brought around a laundromat. You’re brought around a gathering of shrubbery, to a set of stairs that the companion trips and falls on, helped by another companion draped in a red shawl, wielding a stick. When they look to you, their monitor shows an exclamation point, followed by a series of mechanical noises you couldn’t understand. So instead, they point gruffly to the elevator, grabbing your arm with a tug as you try to fight them on the point

“The cat is not a danger! They’re fine! They’re just a little kitty!” and as if to make a point, they gesture at your leg. Scratched up, torn pants, complete with a little gaping hole filled with blood.

“They didn't do that!”

Your answer didn't matter, they closed the garage with a thud and with a swift movement moved you behind them, crouching to point their stick at the danger . You’d consider them a guardian of sorts, if you didn't know any better. Much like a soldier. As if they’d learned .

You’re amazed, in a sort.

But the danger here is laughable.

A little tabby cat sitting there, flicking an ear before they groomed their paws.

And when they approach, B-12 makes a mutter of “they have their own language, it seems”

That’s all it takes for another speech to reach you, the mechanical noises being translated automatically

“You’re not zurk. I do apologize, we are not familiar with your kind. You’re welcome to stay here, so long as you don’t eat anyone”

“That’s what I was trying to tell you” you sigh with a stare at the robot, who looks at you.

“You were injured by a zurk. I took the necessary precaution, as we all must in this time.” he states carefully, before turning back to the cat, who stares at him curiously “was there something you needed otherwise, little one?”

When handed a small postcard, the guardian gives a robotic hum “the outside? A ridiculous thought. The elevator here, it isn’t operational. Everyone knows it’s impossible to leave” that you can’t believe. How long had these evolving robots been stuck here?

The Guardian points to a house, lit up in neon orange lights, and as the cat starts padding off, he states “you’re a soft one, are you not?”

“Human” you correct

“ Human .” a blink “You’re our ancestor. How are you alive?”

“How are you?”

“Preservation and perseverance.”

“I just awoke from being preserved in ice.” it was the only one you could explain it simply.

Out of an icebath and into the slums, following the wills and needs of a cat.

Of all the things you thought research would lead you, this was the last place you could’ve assumed.

Chapter Text

The slums were surprisingly more quaint than you’d expected. Most of the companions residing in the proper town were kind. They were mostly quiet. Far quieter than any flatmates or neighbors you’d had in the last…well, you suppose for you, it would be in the last few years.

That was inaccurate.

Though being a person of science, someone who understood completely how cryostasis worked, the time difference of how long you were asleep still boggled your mind beyond its measures.

Your leg was still an issue, and it reminds you with an ugly rearing of pain in your steps, forcing a stumbling limp along the streets of the slums. 

You were curious.

You could deal with your leg later.

You wanted to see how the companions had changed.

They used to be soulless , you wanted to see if they were so filled with emotion as you’d seen, or if it were greater than you’d expected.

The first beings you come across were three robots sitting in a bar. Without much thought to it, you stumbled your way to sit on a stool beside a robot that appeared to be asleep. That was just as fascinating. You could hear the robot snore quietly. 

You’re ever so tempted to poke him, just to see how deep the robots could even mimic sleep? Fascinating .

“Ah, you’re the soft one in town, hm?” the bartender starts. He’s wiping a glass clean, monitor lit up with a single question mark to punctuate the question. And you nod, turning your head away from the sleeping robot 

“Suppose I am, yes.”

“Did Doc make ya?”

“Excuse me?”

When the robot repeats himself, you raise a brow before shaking your head “I don’t see how you could assume that. I’m organically made. Is this Doc a scientist of sorts?”

“You could call him that. Been AWOL for quite some time now” he gestures a hand towards the sleeping robot before purposefully lowering his voice “his son”

“Companions can have children? ” You can’t help the grin that grows across your face. Oh that, that was certainly unexpected. They even mimic reproduction?

That’s something completely unplanned.

Something amazing .

Something worth studying.

The bartender, Jacob, breaks you out of your thoughts with a small wave of his hand “You lookin’ for something to drink, soft one?”

“Depends, you have anything Organic?”

“Doubtful” he blinks “But I don’t check for much else than Oil types nowadays”

“Nowadays? How long have you been here ?” Alive, that is

He doesn’t seem to know how to respond at first, monitor showing a wide-eyed expression, then a question mark, before settling on a face that you’d say looked puzzled . “Long enough.”

With a hum, you gesture to him “Check for me? Oh , oh, see if you have any milk, by chance? May have all gone spoiled by now, but that little kitty might love it”

“Little thing got a name?”

“Not as far as I know.” you entertain yourself by looking around the bar in interest. There were oh so many changes from the world you remembered when you were put to sleep. Now, instead of a cozy bar playing jazz tunes and blues songs, painted with famous jazz singers, or football players, a mural of music notes laid upon a wall, the way you remembered , it had been spruced up with a robotic touch. 

A nice touch, surely, but just different . The room was more coated in a cozy orange glow than you remembered. Perhaps from the lights slowly dying out, due for switching out. Instead of music notes, there lay a cute painting behind the bar of a companion. Instead of jazz or blue tunes, a similar ring of a jazzy sound, just with more of a mechanical production.

A nice touch, but different.

“You’re in luck”  Jacob states, returning with two frosty, unopened bottles that you recognized immediately. “Though, it is alcohol from before the Zurks, so I Must advise caution, soft one”

“Just a shot glass of whiskey, then” you smile “I’m guessing it was a no on milk?”

“No dairy products, just water. The little thing will be fine with that?”

“They will” you chuckle, swallowing the shot you’re given before you could allow yourself to double-think it. “Cats cannot process dairy as humans can. It’s more…a treat”

“As premium Oil is.’

“ Exactly ”  with a slide of your hand, you slide the shot back towards Jacob, before sparing a glance at the sleeping robot again. The curiosity was killing you, truly. 

“Is he…really asleep?”

“Indeed. It’s how we Recharge now. That was not how it was before the humans died out. Companions missed them.” he nods, before reaching a hand to tap and prod at the sleeping robot’s shoulder, who perks up with a disturbed whirl of noises. You figured it must be similar to a tired groan. Close enough, in your thought.

How fascinating.

“Will that be all?” Jacob grabs your attention again, and with a shake of your head, you hop off of the stool with ease.

Until the pain returned in the sole of your foot, and you tap a hand on the counter “Would you be able to check if you have bandages, by chance?”

“I don’t believe we do. Although Companions have..adapted akin to humans, we do not bleed , thus…no need for bandages” Made enough sense. You could ask about what happens should there be an oil leak at a later time. Instead, though, Jacob reaches below himself, pulling a cloth out similar to the one he used to clean the glasses, and offered it your way 

“Will this suffice?”

“For now, it will. Thank you” and with a wave of your arm, you left the bar. 

To be faced with a companion standing, foot planted against a vending machine, and she hums a robotic whirr “So many questions in a soft one. Were you all like that?”

“No. Most were ignorant to the questions of change . I would rather know everything about you than to know nothing at all”

“Hm” she hums, giving a slow nod with a little click in what you had to assume was a spring in her neck. “Teddy” she offers a hand in greeting. A hand that you ignore instead to crouch, wrapping your leg up in cloth as you state “I don’t give out my name any longer” you don't look up, but you assume the shift in the noise around her was a sign of irritation. The whirl of noise sounded upset . And you smile to yourself 

“The gesture is appreciated, however. Pleasant to meet you, Teddy, but I’ll take my leave” you tie off the cloth halfway up your leg with a little knot, giving her a wave as you walk off.

There was a need to learn everything. To guess and assume just how everything changed, to be proved wrong . It was your way of life. It was how you survived your career path. Question everything, leave nothing to chance. Things left to chance never turned out well.

Zurks, for example. A species left to chance, and just as the companions, they grew. They changed , and adapted as they needed to, to survive.

God, you wanted a specimen to dissect. See what it’s made of now . There wasn’t a way it could be remotely related to skin cells anymore.

Your stroll takes your gaze of wonder to stare about you. The ceiling always remained closed, since it happened. To keep everyone safe. A nice thought, now left a sour taste in the back of your throat. It kept everyone safe, but no one could’ve predicted the danger that would spawn from being inside.

Staring towards the fluorescent lights at the ceiling led to you catching sight of the little tabby cat, hopping from roof to roof with an expert ease. They just had to be a feral cat, there really was no other reason for a cat to not so much as a pause between their jumps. You can't fathom a reason for what the little cat does, but they seemed as though they were on a mission for something. Bounding towards the laundromat, or rather, right above it.

A roof, covered with shrubs, and two robots throwing cans of paint back and forth. On the way to stand in front of the laundromat, staring up, a companion sighs, tipping their hat lower as they relaxed back “ Whew , Kosma’s going to blow her lid this time”

Who was Kosma? Why would she get mad about something going on above her?

You got your answer to that question about as soon as the thought crossed your mind.

A Perfectly timed meow to startle the robot on the roof with the shrubs, a series of whirring noises that sounded like a shrill shriek, and a paint can falling, aimed for the laundromat.

Without much thought, you tried to catch it, muttering to yourself that you were definitely going to catch it.

And you almost did. Your fingers brushed the can on the way down, sending it spinning, making the mess worse, and spiraling white paint all over your head, your lab coat, your torn pants, and your shoes . Head to toe splattered with white paint, and with a slam of the laundromat door, thrown back so hard that it makes you flinch from the shock of the noise, who you can only assume was Kosma starts yelling. In your ear, no less.

“ HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO TELL YOU!? ARE YOU KIDDING- WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?! STOP THROWING THE BLOODY PAINT. WHAT. ABOUT. THAT. IS . SO. HARD!!!? ”

“ Sorry Miss Kosma! ”

“ YOUR SORRIES ARE MEANINGLESS! ” and she gestures roughly to you, screaming, her monitor a brilliant shade of ruby red, tick marks all over the screen “ AND LOOK WHAT ELSE YOU DID! COVERED IN PAINT, THIS ONE! YOU LITTLE- ”

You try to coax the robot to calm down, raising your hands gently “It’s alright, really!”

And her glowering anger turns your way with a withering…ish…stare and a whirring growl “ It is not! Those two! They- wheeeeew. ” A mechanic breath as she holds her monitor in her hands “ Every week! Every week they do this! And now they’ve RUINED YOUR CLOTHES !” She shrieks the last statement again, with a pointed glare towards the two, now sheepish robots. Kosma grasps roughly for your wrist, pulling you into the laundromat after her, with the little tabby cat following you inside, curious. 

“And now, now , you need clean clothes” she huffs. You could hear her fans working overtime to keep up with the anger issues. Even that wasn't beyond fascination for you. Utmost anger , released from a robot . How amazing was that?

Removing your coat as told to, it was tossed off into the washing machine. You were told to undress, so she could wash it all at once, and vaguely uncomfortable, you chuckle “You…do you have replacement clothes?”

And with a dismissive wave, while Kosma measures out detergent, she grumbles “you can go ahead and look in the dryers. Careful with your hands, soft one . I don’t want any paint in my dryers”

“Got it” your murmur, going back and forth through different dryers until you found a set of clothes that you liked, and figured would fit well enough, if not be slightly too big. They were made for the robots. But the outfit was complete with a little scarf that you found to be nice. Not that it was cold out, but that you should probably protect whatever skin you could.

Something told you that you might encounter the Zurks again. Perhaps on purpose.

And so, in the comfort of the very back of the laundromat, you changed. It was uncomfortable as can be, surely, but they were robots. You doubted they'd care, besides innocent fascination that you could appreciate.

“ Can you go tell those two to get AWAY from my rooftop? ” Kosma asks you while you were on your way out. When you took a look around, the cat, along with a bottle of detergent, was gone. Weird , but you smiled weakly nonetheless 

“Of course. Do you have somewhere to access the roof?”

She wordlessly points behind her, towards a solid white door that you have to push open hard with your shoulder. A couple of times, in fact. The door was stuck. And awfully dusty. Enough dust that you waved your hands around your face on the way up, keeping your mouth closed in a tight line. 

No inhaling dust for you.

When you reached the rooftop, the sheepish robot was instead sitting on the ledge of the roof, dangling their feet and kicking them slowly, hands pressed to their monitor

“Hello?” you start, and they startle, turning halfway around to face you before raising a hand in defense 

“It really wasn’t my fault this time! My hands were- the cat- it made noise !”

“I know, I know, it’s fine” you wave off dismissively, taking a seat in the grass and playing with a strand of it between your fingers. As nice as you remembered

“Miss Kosma’s pissed ” The robot sighs 

“Mm, she is” you nod “All she wants right now is you off her rooftop, okay..” you lead in a lilt, to get their name

“Vapora.”

“ Vapora ” you repeat slowly “She just wants you both to stop messing with paint over here. Maybe you should do it at a lower level?”

“Probably”

“Are you going to?”

“If it gets Miss Kosma to stop yelling , I’ll do anything”

And with a friendly hand on their shoulder, you chuckle “I wouldn’t be so hard on her. Nor yourself. She feels immense anger, you feel immense shame.” their little monitor flashes to something sad before you grin wide

“It’s phenomenal.”

Chapter Text

After speaking with vapora, you traveled on your tiptoes across the rooftops, hopping from foot to foot across.

The cat made it look much easier than it was.

Looking down was a death sentence for the mind. All it brought was terror at the height. You could've just left through the laundromat. In fact, you should've.

Instead, you wander, curious. Your curiosity is spurred on by the neon lights around the slums. Placed in the most peculiar of ways. Settled in such a way they guided you places. Places you felt not ready to visit just yet, instead climbing your way back down as carefully as you could manage. Dropping down beside the laundromat, you spare a wave to vapora and their friend on the other side as you walked. Down alleyways, down orange-lit streets, watching the lights of vending machines flicker.

With some interest, you kick at one of the flickering machines a couple of times, trying to jostle something loose.

But instead, what you earned was catching the attention of another companion who had previously been sitting with their knees to their chest, tapping their feet against the floor. 

They stand beside you, swinging arms covered by long cloth before they question “are we bullying the paper-eater?”

“What?” you blink “ We? ”

“Yes, we” their monitor lights up a pretty green with a big grin before they kick almost experimentally at the machine “you were kicking it.”

“No money, I’m trying to see if it’ll drop something”

“Ah, that’s easy” they murmur, crouching beside the vending machine, wrapping their arms around the machine and doing their absolute best to lift it, completely ignoring your calls of “I really don’t think you should- You’re gonna hurt yourself- please stop with that”

A minute or so of strain and shaking ball joints before they dropped the machine back down roughly and mimicked a long and heavy sigh, holding their hands down to their knees before they peer up at you, and wave a hand almost frantically “sorry, sorry, forgot to say anything! I’m Rozey!”

“I don’t give my name out, sorry dear” you murmur, before scuffing your new shoes into the dirt, staring at the vending machine for a moment before you sigh “Thank you for trying”

“ I don’t know why it didn't work ”

“They’re awfully heavy. Could just be too much”

“Good. Point.” they point at you, mimicking panting , much to your amusement. 

“You don’t breathe, do you?”

“ No , why?”

“Then why are you doing that? ” 

“ I read it in a fiction book ” that green-faced grin was back, and you snicker, shaking your head

“In a book, really? You still have books?”

“Duh!” Rozey stands up a little straight, before turning on their foot inhumanly smoothly and pointing somewhere up “From up there. Buncha broken glass up there! I uh… forgot who broke it” they might as well have pouted. If they could, anyways. “ But , there’s like- so many . I think you could get lost in there! Gotta be safe. Time is too…. Timey ”

“I suppose” you blink

“ Yeah ” they breathe an awkward sigh before they kick the machine again, and again and again before ever so seriously stating “The sound is enjoyable, huh?”

“I guess.”

“ Yeah ” there’s all but a moment of silence before they question “do you need help getting on the roof?”

“Do you know an easier way up?”

“Course I do! I know this place like the very back of my hand” and to demonstrate, they wiggle their fingers in front of your face, as if they were trying to be funny. Then they turn around on their heel again, walking in one direction while you follow closely behind the companion.

It took perhaps a minute before they stopped in front of an air conditioner at their eye level, and they crouch over a little, gesturing you to

“C’mon then! Up you go”

“Rozey, I don’t think I’m gonna stand on you”

“Then I will-” They pause, turning around, reaching their arms under yours and lifting you straight up with ease “Pick you up! Easy as pie!..... Am I saying that right, soft one?”

“I believe so, yes” you mutter, a little uncomfortable with being picked up so easily by the robot, but it was quite the easier time clambering up to the rooftop, at which you split ways from Rozey, and watched in amusement as they walked in the other direction, going back to sitting down and tapping their hands against their knees.

You chuckle to yourself before you started wandering

Walking across the rooftops in the direction Rozey had steered you. Endearing as they were, you really weren’t sure how much you’d trust their sense of direction. 

Seemed awfully the type to get lost walking a block.

There was so much to see atop the roofs. You could appreciate what the cat must’ve seen with being up here every time you’d seen them run by. So much to see, such as a decrepit library. Covered in dust, cobwebs in every corner, a quiet jingle of windchimes from somewhere above you. The smell was awful, but the quiet air of a library was nothing short of peaceful to you. Something you hadn’t come across in long enough. So you walk slowly up and down each hall, dragging a finger across the spines of books with an interested stare. You pick up a couple of books, read the synopsis, and place them back in order.

“How to become a better AI” Endearing

“How to better understand our past” A history book? Written by a robot, how fun .

“Humans: A Comprehensive Study” Oh you’d love to know what the companions assumed . That one, you tucked under your arm for later reading.

“Organic life: The earth before” the synopsis reads as though it was fantastical fiction, and it is oddly…saddening to read. The companions assumed that life on top of the earth was nothing more than a word of fiction. Though, of course, they would. These cold walls were the only thing they’d known for four centuries. It would be the majority, if not all of their memories. If they held memories for long, that is.

That required further investigation. At a later time, of course. You were busying yourself with leaving the library, and carefully making your way back down to the floor, dropping from a rail onto your feet with a solid thud. You decidedly ignore the pain. It would get better, or it wouldn’t, and you could always deal with it later.

Following a curiosity with the companions came a curiosity regarding your new furry friend. Just where had that cat run off to?

Your wonder leads you to the one robot you assume would know all the talk of the town, and be a guiding force. The Guardian. On your approach, he waves, timid and interrupted from a talk with another companion “Hello again, soft one”

“Hello”

“You leg is wrapped.” he points out with a subtle tilt to his head

“Indeed, it is”

“Is it better now?”

“Humans need more time to heal from injuries, but I do assume my foot will be better within the next few days. Although , I had a question of my own” you start, folding your hands together with a small smile. The guardian just stares, a question mark slowly forming onto his monitor, and it urges you to continue “any Ideas where our little furred friend ran off to?”

“I sent them and their little drone to Momo. They have fantasies of the outside. It’s admirable to have such hope, I do hope their faith in the outside will not diminish.”

“As yours has?”

The companion doesn’t respond, instead staring at you for a moment. It’s like the cogs were slowly turning, sorting, and picking phrases to go with. It truly was a wonder to witness.

“ I suppose ” he sticks with. You don’t push on the topic, instead making a wide gesture with your arm, questioning him

“So where could I find momo? ”

“The building underneath the large neon orange lights. Would that be all you needed?”

“Yes” you grin “you’re quite the help, Guardian. I do appreciate it.” and with a little wave, you walk away, not being notice to the optics following you up until you turned a corner.

And when you turn the corner, you began your descent into a bout of madness, trying to climb up railings. 

It was made so easy by the cat. so , so easy. Instead, you got your foot stuck between metal bars once or twice, pulled too hard and swiped a shoe off in the process, and watched helplessly as it tumbled back and forth against the two walls on its way to the floor.

What a waste of a perfectly good shoe!

Once you’d reached the top of a railing, you could hear talking . Or more, one-sided speaking and the other meowing back in some form of an amusing conversation.

You couldn’t help yourself, so you listened in.

“A picture of the outside? You really want to go there?” A small scoff follows “Don’t bother with it. It’s utterly hopeless . A waste of your time”

You didn’t believe that for a single moment.

“It’ll only bring you loneliness and despair”

That you could believe

“My friends. They had that dream as well. And now they’re gone and I’m left alone .”

A moment of self-depreciation was the moment that you decided to tap the back of your knuckles to the door a couple of times, earning a mutter of “hardly anyone comes here. Who could that even-” the door’s pulled open, and you’re met with the monitor of a multi-colored companion, who blinks, wide-eyed at you before taking a few steps backward as if you’d shocked him, or had even thrown water on him.

“ Who sent you here? Whos playing this awful prank? ”

“No prank” you state, awfully confused. Though, you let yourself into the companion’s house, pushing the door closed slowly with your foot until you were satisfied to hear the click from behind you. 

Oh, his home was lovely. Brightly lit, beaded curtains in the walkways, plants galore . Though you regrettably had to be focused on the task at hand instead of gushing over the home of a robot.

So you call for the other robot “B-12? Could you please tell him this is no joke?”

“ Of course ” the little drone chimes, flying in front of the companion, who swats at him gently with the back of his hand, making a grumbling noise “they’re completely right! This is no joke! Our little friend here released this human from cryostasis!”

“So they were frozen” the companion deadpans

“Yes, I was frozen.”

“For years ”

“Yup”

“And you’re still functional ” he blinks

“As far as I’m aware, I’m fully operational.”

The companion nods slowly, but he still seemed generally puzzled , staring. Even when B-12 starts speaking to him, asking about the notebooks he and the tabby apparently found, he side-eyes you.

Or at least, it seemed to be side-eying. He was completely facing B-12 and the tabby, but you could still see a little white optic focused entirely on you. How interesting , truly. It made you wonder if the same evolution the companions emotionally went through applied to other areas of their making.

“You found all of my friends’ notebooks? Seriously? And how long did that take you?”

A small Meow and a mutter of ‘so long’ from the little drone makes you chuckle, shaking your head. Good on that little cat. Sniffing out things you hadn’t even considered would've been there in the first place! What a good cat!

“Ah!” B-12 starts, moving around the buzz around your head “I should’ve mentioned! My apologies, but this is Momo!” At his name, the companion awkwardly lifts a hand. He still stares with that same puzzled look

The notebooks, or one in particular seems to catch momo’s attention, and within moments, he was up on his feet “The transceiver can be repaired? Ohhhh, oh this is incredible!”

“Ohhhohoh, that means we should be able to communicate outside of the slums, maybe even to midtown ” He pauses, placing a hand against his monitor with a robotic whirr “ maybe not, that may be too far up, regrettably. ”

“But still! With this, we can find a way to the surface!”

It took a while, to repair the transceiver. Momo stood at a desk, snapping wires and sending sparks flying every so often, and so, to entertain yourself and the little cat, you’d picked them up with a careful hand under their stomach, went to sit on Momo’s couch with them on your lap, and ran a hand down their spine for a minute or two until they were tired of it , as cats often became. Better to stop while you were ahead, anyways.

Pet aggression was perhaps the last thing anyone needed to deal with at the moment. 

“Alright, Alright, I’ve got it” Momo mutters to himself, spinning the transceiver between his hands, elated “Okay, little one. With me, you’ve gotta do something” He led the cat towards a window to the back of his home, and curious, you’d stood from your seat on the couch to follow as well.

Momo opened the window and with a gesture of his hand, he grins at the little cat, excited now “Hey, little one. Bring us to the sky , and be careful . It’s crawlin’ with zurks over there. Just get it done and come right back”

With a little ‘mrr’ sound, the tabby hopped through the window without taking a single moment of pause in their step, and momo waits a moment, watching the bucket carrying the cat start moving before he faces your direction

“Good. We could do with a talk. About all of…” he makes a general gesture to you as a whole as he passes by you, and you follow him right back to his couch “all of this”

“ I couldn’t possibly agree more ”

Chapter Text

Momo was right, you two needed to talk, and in his flat was probably the best opportunity you were going to get. 

It would be an equal exchange, in your mind.  You ask questions and get answers to satisfy your endless amazement. He asks questions and solidifies a new hope in the outsiders. 

“So you are a soft one, right?" 

the interrogation begins on the couch, with an ever-so-simple question, punctuated by a skeptical look on Momo’s face. And even more so when you nod. “That I am. Though, we’re called Human .”

“I know that. Knew that” he waves off a little “It’s just what everyone calls your kind. Humans, Ancestors, Soft ones” and if making a point, he grasps your arm in his hand and gives a simple squeeze “Not Metal ”

You pull your arm from your grasp with a simple ‘tsk’ before stating “Typically, you should ask before you grab .”

 to make a point, you shove a hand towards his monitor, palm outstretched, and stopped a good inch away from the leaning back away robot before you smile “ Exactly ”

And it was your turn for a question “Did you not hear of me from other companions?”

“Not many come up here. The occasional fellow, but not many. I don’t go often. Why did you wake up ?”

“Clumsy cat” you answer easily, earning a ‘tsk’ sound in return 

“Then we should hope they aren’t nearly as clumsy anymore.”

“I watched them make someone spill paint all over the floor. I believe they’ve already gotten much better with time.”

“Why are you following the cat?” Momo settles on, passing by the comment over the laundromat without paying it all that much mind. It was either really a typical occurrence, or he simply didn't care about it all that much.

“What else am I to do? Throw myself as zurk chow willingly? Fat chance of that. And now that I’ve found you lot? You’ll have to lift me and toss me to get rid of me”

“So you’re here for the long journey”

“Precisely”

“What is it that you do ?”

“Ah, simple investigation. I was a scientist. Am a scientist”

“Like doc” Momo guesses, and watches calmly as you stood from the couch with a little bit of effort as you adjusted to the pressure you were laying back onto your foot. It stang something horrid once again, and you shuffle your way behind the companion, who turns his head slowly to follow where you were going before you laid a hand on the back of the couch, speaking 

“Like your friend, I suppose. I have a need, or rather a desire to learn everything about what has changed you lot from when I knew you”

“You knew the early companions?”

“In a sense of the word. They had no personalities then. And look at you now, brimming to the top with it” Without really asking, you adjust his head to look straight forwards and not toward you, and when Momo starts with a “what are you doing-” you shush him

“I want to test something. That’s all. Just let me know if you can see my hand, would you?”

You test different angles. At the side of his monitor “Yes” just below the monitor “yes” just barely above the monitor “obviously.”

“Don’t snark” you mutter with a little shove to a metal shoulder. You aren’t given a proper response. You can only imagine his face at the moment

You angle your hand to what would be the corner of a human’s sight. The peripherals. Companions were not designed with such a range of vision, but much to your surprise, he mutters “I can still see your hand”

“Really?”

“Yes? What’s so special about-”

“Oh, that is AMAZING ”. 

"And…. What exactly about my vision is special? "Momo questions, turning his head around once again and following your movements as you made your way back

“You weren’t designed to have that range of motion, or that amount of vision it’s- oh my , it’s evolution at its’ base design.” you hold a hand against the side of your face, grinning “What a thing to see.”

“What do mean, evolution at its’ base design?” there's some warble that you’d have to say sounded like an incredulous laugh, so while you thought about it, you explain.

“You weren’t designed to be stable . To…walk around with fluid motion. you were designed with the idea that you would only accomplish one task. if you were someone who mopped the floors, that was all you did. if you were designed to serve drinks to humans , that was all you did. there were many limits put in place due to a fear that humans had that artificial intelligence would rise up against us . That fear was absolutely spurred on my movie concepts before city 99, where that exact thing happened, and it was what caused all humans to die out. A revolution. The only companions that were given less strict rules to their code were caretakers. The ones that watched over children. But only the wealthy could afford that. ” you chuckle. The idea seemed so ridiculous now. “ It was a special allowance for them.”

“They were afraid of an uprising? That seems..-”

“Stupid?” you finish with a laugh “ it was. But I suppose, in a way, that’s exactly what happened”

“What do you mean?”

You smile, maybe a little more to yourself than to Momo, before you continued

“ Now while I don't think that fear was unfounded I think it was ridiculous. you and the other companions have come so far, that you're suppressing humans and you don't even know it. "you can't help but grin. this was a phenomenal discovery and Momo just looked at you like you were talking out of your rear.

“ And you know this because? " Momo just had to ask for an explanation, of sorts anyways. and you were happy to give them one

“ While I did not design your code,  I did get to have a good look at it. most of it is jargon to me. I don't work with technology often. but it was written in the very core of your being that you were meant to do one task and nothing else.”

  then you smile, something wide. You really couldn't believe how far the companions had come without human supervision.  even now you were astonished to be in front of a robot that looked at you like you were an idiot for telling him something he never knew. Even that was a phenomenal discovery.

 even that was something you've never thought possible to see, besides in cheesy movies Where robots rised up and humans took the fall.

  though see, if you thought about it, that was exactly what had happened. humans had all died out as the robots evolved.

 Momo continues to stare. it takes a moment before he says anything, and when he does he shakes his head "I don't think…. I don't think this is a conversation anyone is ready for.”

“ I know. That's what makes this so amazing. Is that you have the emotional vulnerability to be able to say that you don't want to talk about this”

“ so, can we please stop? I'm sure one of my friends would love to have this existential crisis of a conversation, but I don't. I'm more….. concerned with reaching my friends in the first place.   I don't even know if they're alive or if they became zurk chow. ” he pauses, fiddling with his fingers

“ I'm the least ready for this conversation. it's too …. Involved.”

“ okay” you start, before you took your seat on the couch, and held out a hand in his Direction "then give me your hand. I'll stop talking about emotions, about your evolution. but I'm ever so curious to see if your other senses develop like your vision. if the companions are capable of that sense of touch”

“ we've never been able to. the only one who's ever been capable of mimicking touch was….. it doesn't matter. we're not capable of touch in this is a losing battle. I don't see why we're focusing on this when we could be focusing on finding a way to the surface. getting the hell out of here. isn't that our common goal here?”

“ It is. ” you paused all of a moment to pick at your fingers, thinking over your words before you kept talking. You’re almost elated to have any in-depth discussion. How weird .

“But I've just woken to something I could never dream up. and you can't blame me for being curious.  Though,   if you would prefer not to be my test subject, that's fine. I could find another companion to ask, you can sit here on your couch waiting for that little cat to come back. you said it yourself, you've grown a sense of loneliness. I suppose in a way, I'm offering to take away that sense of loneliness The sooner we waste time oh, the sooner that cat gets back.” 

It seemed as though you touched a nerve by calling Momo, or anyone, really, your test subject

“This is just experimentation to you, then?”

“In a way.” you blink, and open your mouth to keep talking before he laid his arm out in your outstretched hand “get on with it, then. No more of this whole… evolution ****.” he makes a vague gesture with his other hand

Cussing was audibly bleeped out. That was nothing short of amusing.

But, as told to, you get on with it . Experimenting with pressing and prodding each digit, and asking just how he could feel it, if he even could, or if it was simple awareness .

“It’s like..a pressure.”

“You can feel the pressure?”

“I guess.”

Next, you squeezed the palm of his hand between both of your hands, and grinned when he starts slowly pulling his hand back away from you

“Too much pressure, what are you doing?”

“Just testing” you answer simply. “You can feel pressure, but is my hand warm or cold?” you want to know so badly if he could feel the temperature

“Warm..I guess?”

“You guess? ”

“I can’t tell”

And with a hum, you let go of his hand. It was nothing short of amazing to know that there was a vague sense of touch stored in the companions.

It hadn’t occurred to you before, how running amok across a city would affect you. But the strain in your muscles, the pain in your foot, the slight spin in your head that could be due to old alcohol, dehydration, and a myriad of reasons. It all gave you the sense that you should sleep it off. 

“Do you have a bedroom?”

“Why would I need that?”

"Well, Jacob told me that companions mimic sleep like humans to recharge. I assume you need somewhere to recharge, so…?"You left the question open-ended, and momo sighs, standing up from the couch with a mimic of a groan of effort

"I usually just recharge on the couch. "

"You should invest in a bed"

Your statement goes ignored as he gestures to the couch once again.

You gave up, shifting to lay yourself completely across the couch. You gave up, and let yourself relax, close your eyes. Your breathing slowed, and the only disturbance in the room was the sound of shifting joints of metal. You ignored it, and gave yourself to a dark, dreamless, sleep.

—-------------------------------------‐—------------------------

Mostly dreamless, anyway. 

You felt cold. Frozen, even.  A voice whispers to you softly

" My pupil…you know as well as I. This is the only way you'll be able to survive. To make it through…all of this. " the voice sounded sad.  Melancholy about what they had to do to you. 

You couldn't open your eyes, you couldn't look at them. But you mutter

" I don't want this. Don't leave me like this.  You can't leave me in here. I don't want this, sir."

"I know. I know. We have to. This is the only way"

"You can't leave me like this! You can't…it's too cold. The cold, it- it hurts. You can't-"  you sounded desperate. You hate how desperate you sounded. 

"You'll wake up soon. And I'll be right with you. We’ll be together again. You won't be alone when you wake up. "

But you were. You were left alone, save for a little tabby cat that has run from your side now.

" How long-

"I don't know. As long as we need to"

"But what about you!? You're gonna- what's.. what's gonna happen to you?"

"You don't need to worry about me. You just need to survive"

—--------------------------‐—----------------------------------------

When you were woken up from your sleep,it was from something cold poking at prodding at your stomach. At your chest,at your sternum,really. 

It was jarring.

And you reacted by flailing an arm,smacking something way too hard for your fist,shooting pins and needles all the way up your arm. When you opened your eyes, you were faced with Momo, with his hands raised in defense, warbling something at you before it translates. 

" Sorry! Sorry, sorry! What the **** was that for!?"

"Why were you looking me!?"

" Why was your torso expanding!?"

"You mean BREATHING?" You question with a huff, sitting up and holding a hand to your chest as you breathe " seriously!?"

"Why does that happen!?? Are you broken or something?"

" What? " You breathe out, incredulous.  "No! I'm not broken! Its- oh my god. . humans do that , momo"

"Ah. That's weird "

" It's weirder to poke someone while they're sleeping!"

With his hands raised again,he grumbles " sorry"  

Momo walked away from the couch,leaving you to keep a hand held over your heart,wandering off out of your field of vision.

And when you look,it's preparing to get something that you couldn't see.

“Where are you going?” you question, head perking up from the couch while you watch Momo as he writes a note in shabby handwriting, taping it to the little tv in the room before he turns his head towards you

“Out, to the bar. They’ve got a computer up there. Old thing, but it should work once that cat’s got the transceiver” there's a long pause of silence before he states “you’re welcome to come and wait for the fluffball with me, I guess.”

When you don’t answer right away, Momo takes your silence as a tell that you weren’t coming, that you’d stay and wait for the little cat and the drone to come back. Instead, you wait, quietly, watching as you opened the front door, closed his window, and shut the door a crack behind him, and you sigh 

“ You’re amazing.”

It’s unfortunate that you don’t catch the wide-eyed stare from the robot before he shuts the door with a click and leaves.

Chapter Text

When the little tabby cat returned from their journey, you took the initiative to pat your hand on the couch, coaxing the cat to come sit down and relax for a moment. When they hop up and move in slow circles before slumping over, you smiled warmly

“You did a lot, didn’t you, buddy?” you murmur, dragging a hand down their back before asking B-12 to come out. When he does, you start questioning 

“How bad was it?”

“ Horrid ” the little drone shudders “There were so many. I thought for sure our friend was a goner” there’s a disapproving mrow to match with what b-12 thought, and the little drone states matter-of-factly “they were right on our hinds! Excuse me for thinking we were done for!”

“Hey, hey. You got it done, Momo’s out at the bar right now. Apparently, there's a computer down there. I didn’t notice it before” you shrugged

“How come you aren't with him?”

“Decided to hang back, make sure you two are in tip-top shape before jumping around roofs again” you punctuate your words by giving the tabby cat a well-deserved scratch behind the ears, snickering as they smushed their furry little face into the palms of your hands. It’d be so long since you’d seen cats.

What a godsend.

“But you didn’t know we’d come back”

“I was hoping you would” you smile “tough little thing, smart little thing” you gesture to the cat, and then to the drone, who whirrs slowly, before returning back to the backpack, low on power.

“That’s a good hope to have” B-12 warbles. 

For a while, the cat doesn’t move from his spot, breathing in a pattern of ever so shallow and quick breaths. While you could really tell if they were okay, the one sign you got was their ears twitching whenever you got your hand close to their head.

When they propped their head up, you drag your hand down roughly from their head to their tail. “You’ve already done so much, little one. We should find a bigger backpack somewhere. I’ll carry you guys around” In an amazing response, the tabby makes a small ‘brr’ noise and shifts around, head tucked under their paws.

“Oh, aren't you just the cutest thing?” you coo, before taking it upon yourself to wrap your arms securely around the little tabby before picking them up, and walking with them out of the flat.

It’s odd, carrying a cat now while you maneuver around the roofs. But the little cat didn't seem to have too big of an issue with being carried at the moment. Apparently, they’d been just as tired as you were.

You can blame them. You’d just been able to take a nap, while the poor little cat had just come back from a hellish run for their life.

The most you could offer them was a few minutes of relaxing in your hold while you figured out a way down without the lot of your falling face-first off of a roof. 

The companion you turn to for help was the one you already knew was fine with picking you up, Rozey. Tip-toeing across the roofs, you tap your foot, trying to get their attention while you called for them, before you gave up, stomping your foot and raising your voice 

“ Rozey! Up here, C’mere” you call to them, smiling when they finally look up at you, and then warbled a little noise in surprise before they stood up, wandering aimlessly towards the roof 

“Hello, again soft one! You’re back up there!”

“ Yeah , I am. I need a little help down”

“What’s in your arms?”

“I’ll let you see ‘em if you help me?”

“You need help down?” they tilted their head

“I do, yup!” Slowly, you shift to sit down at the edge of the rooftop, continuing “I know you’re capable of carrying me so-” they didn’t allow you the chance to finish or prepare yourself before Rozey had reached for one of your legs, pulling you forwards off of the rooftop to fall into them

Sure, the companion catches you in a tight grasp and sets you down nicely onto the floor, but to say that your heart hadn’t jumped into your throat would’ve been such an awful lie to tell. 

Rozey seemed completely unaware of how they’d scared you, so you take a breathe, and guide their gaze to the little cat in your arms 

“Oh! You’re holding the little one”

“I am. They’re tired. Don’t wake them”

“Ah” they sigh something warbled before reaching out to pet the little tabby cat, who stirs at the noise of their joints near their fur. 

The sound spooks Rozey, and you chuckle “maybe another time then. Thank you for your help”

“Anytime, soft one!”

With that, you’d left Rozey to go to the bar, making your way around with smaller steps, catching your breath, and taking the chance to relax while you could.

Something told you that it would really be the last chance to properly calm down for a little while.

“Ah, look at that. The furball’s asleep” There’s a chuckle from Momo on your approach, and when he reaches a hand towards the tabby, they picked up their head and just stared at him.

“They’re taking a well-deserved break, don't you think?”

“Definitely. Resilient little furball”

“Their little drone thought they wouldn't make it. Apparently, it was close ” you chuckle, before finishing with “maybe we hold off on sending them headfirst into danger for a little while”

“If it’s avoidable, of course”

“Of course”

“ Anyways , come with me, I’ve got a good connection going on the computer” Momo turns to jog a little bit too fast into the bar, shoulder-checking teddy in the process, who turns about with a warbled sound before she scoffs

“Look where you’re going!”

“My bad, my bad! Didn’t see you!”

“ Sure ” She grumbles, making her way around you as Momo jogs right for the computer, tapping a barstool for you to sit at with both of his hands. Instead of sitting immediately, you took sight of something different .

The fellow that had been asleep last time you came in was vaguely away, head tilted to the side while they ‘drank’. You’re not certain if they could drink. Obviously, you’d like to believe that of course, they couldn't. The companions did not have mouths , and certainly no digestive system. 

But really, who knows? Maybe they made too many changes to themselves. Closer and closer to humans than you could've ever thought possible.

As you took as a seat at the stool, you snicker to yourself

God, these companions were an amazing feat.

Momo made a proper move the pet the tabby’s head, and like it were a joke, you make a bit of fun “Awh, look at that. You’re a cat person, then?”

“Hush, this is serious business”

“I’m sure it is”

“Alright, let me see f I can get this thing working” momo states, turning halfway around, mimicking the action of cracking his fingers before he starts typing. He establishes a connection to… somewhere , anyways, and a blue face appears, warbling back and forth like a glitch in the screen, but it looked to be the face of a companion

“Alright, hold on, I’ve almost got it here..” Momo trails off, monitor a small bit different, with a little animation of a tongue sticking out, which you found amusing. All these things that had never been programmed for them to do. Just..development.

Phenomenal. 

“ Hello? Can anyone hear me? ”

Momo set his hands on the keyboard, leaning forwards, ever so excited “Yes! Hi, hello! We can hear you! We’re down from the slums, we’re looking for a way out and..” he trails off, suddenly confused. “Wait, wait a moment. Woah , is that you , Zbaltazar?”

“ Momo? ”

The connection goes to a fuzzy image of static for a moment, and Momo continues to type, to keep the connection stable, a little sweatdrop across his monitor. 

“ I can't- I can’t believe it!   I’m so happy to hear your voice! Are you okay? Are the others okay? Where are you?”

It’s disappointing, how often the screen flickers to static while the other companion speaks, a garbled, barely understandable mess, but some words are still decipherable. 

“ Yes. We’re safe. We found a way up- ”

“Hello? Hello? Can you still hear me? Hello? ”

“You have to go through the sewers to reach us. Very dangerous- Zurks everywhere -” the connection fizzles out, and momo slams a hand on the keyboard, before continuing to type 

“ No! No no no! C’mon, c’mon… ” He tries for maybe another minute before he sighs something animated “ I can’t even believe it…they’re okay ”

“They were a strong bunch, huh?”

“ Definitely stronger than I thought if they made it through the sewers. But… he’s alive ” Momo holds a hand to the side of his monitor, elated “they might all be alive”

“Not for long , if they went through those nasty sewers” a voice sneers, and when you maneuver around, the little cat is now wide awake, but just resting in your lap. The fellow who had been drinking away was now leaned back across the counter, shifted on his side. You spare Jacob a glance, but he just shakes his head at the companion, Seamus's attitude. 

“That place is infested. They’d make an awful quick meal of you two. Organic matter and all” he chuckles something bitter . “They at least have trouble with metal.”

“ Anyways ” he blinks, setting a hand on the counter and standing “I’ve warned ya. Your business is none of mine.”

“Ah, the attitude on him” Jacob sighs, scrubbing at a glass after Seamus had left the bar “Don’t take it personally, his bitterness is not towards you .”

“You said his father was doc, right?” you question, staring a little bit towards the entrance to the bar before Jacob continues

“Exactly. He’s been gone quite a long time. Last I heard, he left to make some weapon to fight the zurks... Seamus hasn’t been the same since he left.”

“He must miss him”

“Ah, I wouldn’t listen to his pessimistic nonsense” Momo states, flippantly dismissing the issue at hand, which you snicker at

“Pot calling the kettle black much?”

“Huh? No, no, I just mean he’s scared. Like I was. Am , I guess.” he blinks “look, if doc made a weapon to fight those things, that’s our best chance at getting to the surface”

“I wonder if it’s a gun. Would a gun even work on those things?”

“A gun?” Momo questions with a snort “Doc was a pacifist. Who knows, he’s probably dissecting one of those things”

“ Oh god, I hope so ” you laugh, setting the cat on the ground while momo stands up, and makes a face at your excitement over dissection . 

“Ugh… gross .” he blinks, before gesturing vaguely “ really gross. . But uh, a few times in his notebook, he mentioned this secret lab he worked at. And if it’s a secret” he trails off

“Then he probably hid it from his kid, huh?”

“Wouldnt you?”

“exactly/”

That theory is exactly what began the walk to Seamus and doc’s place, with momo leading you and the little cat with an awful pep in his step. Good, a little more hope was exactly what you thought the slums needed. It’d be better to have some happy faces around here.

Speaking of happy faces….you needed to get your coat and clothes from Kosma. They’d probably be done by now.

This was as great a time as ever, seeing as there was only an entrance big enough for the little cat to slip in, seeing as Seamus wouldn’t willingly open the door, no matter how much momo pounded at the door, calling to him that his father would've wanted him to help them. 

“Dude, dude! You’re totally touching a nerve”

“But I'm right ”

“Even so! Geez ” you chuckle 

“I’m gonna head back to my place for a bit, recharge” momo states, rather awkwardly after a moment, jabbing a thumb behind him before mimicking a noise much like clearing his throat “you mind sticking around, uh…waiting for the little outsider?”

“I was gonna go an-”

“Just..hang around?”

“Alright, fine. I’ll hang around.” you sigh, committing yourself to sit on the ground, scuffing your shoes against the ground while you waited for either momo to come back, or for the little tabby cat to leave the flat.

You sat around, scuffing your shoes and kicking pebbles around the ground for a good 20 minutes. It felt like much longer, but that was how long it must’ve been, anyways. 20 minutes before a door opened, and the little tabby cat ran out with a little meow, before bumping their entire body into your knee, dragging across and showing you a little item that looked a lot like a walkie-talkie

“You found something, huh? How’s he doing in there?”

B-12’s little voice chimes in, peeking out of the bag “I’d recommend someone keep him company. We need to fix this tracker! We may be able to locate doc”

“Awesome job, you two” you chuckle, scratching the cat behind the ears before they run off, leaving you to put the door open a little wider with your arm

“Seamus, right/’ you question the robot, strewn across the couch with his monitor in his hands, apparently from the moment the cat left

“What? Huh- yeah. That’s me” he states flatly, and scoots far across the couch when you came into the room. It was like he was making room, or was, possible, uncomfortable.

Either option made sense.

“I think we should talk. I think that might do you some good” you start slowly, standing in front of him.

After a moment, Seamus doesn’t answer, instead picking up a notebook that you assumed was his father’s, and you understand.

“See, I hope that-”

“There’s no point in hoping” Seamus states, ever so bitter “That notebook is…something else, but..it’s been years. It’s more likely papa became a snack for those things ”

“You don’t believe that” you state carefully, taking a seat on Seamus’s couch beside him, before you nod your head towards his hands “you’re holding onto that notebook like it’s gonna fly away”

“How would you know?”

“I have to hope. If your father’s dead, fat chance of escape we all have. So I’ve just…got hope” you shrug

“Hope in that…” he trails off, setting the notebook down on the coffee table, and turning in your direction “that little…outsider?”

“Exactly. That little cat just came back from getting a transceiver working, up high . Finding your dad is gonna be a piece of cake for them”

“How can you be so sure? Having that much…hope? You’re as naive as I used to be”

“ Maybe . Or maybe I’ve seen them in action. They saved me, not even on purpose. If they’re purposefully going to save your dad? I’m willing to bet they’ll drag him by the joints back here”

“I wish I still had that much hope”

“We found that tracker” you state, putting an arm on Seamus's shoulder, who just slumps a little bit, relaxed. More…tired, than you expected. That bitterness must be such a wearing emotion. “It’s gonna get fixed, and we’ll find your dad”

“Maybe.”

“We will ” you reaffirm, squeezing the joint, which has Seamus subtly lean away from you. You pretend not to notice “and you’re gonna have a ridiculously sappy reunion. I’ll throw the flowers”

That earns you a version of a chuckle. Garbled, warbled, whirring series of beeping noises, but you could tell well enough from his monitor subtly shifting colors, the face being some shaking smile that he found that funny .

Good . no more bitterness.

“ That’s dumb! ”

“So is being soo convinced that your dad’s dead, but you don’t hear me complaining!” you chuckle for a moment, before you sit back against his couch, making yourself awfully at home.

You wondered. Wondered and wondered and wondered, and asked

“Did you grow up here?”

“...no” Seamus starts, leaning forwards away from your grasp as he takes a glance around “we moved in here after..after the zurks infested our old place. Last I saw? It was covered wall to wall in those…weird webby things.”

“It’s a shame. But, this place holds some nice memories, right?”

“Yeah” Seamus mutters, a little softer in tone “this place is…nice. It’s just…nicer when he's here. It’s not even… I don't need to talk to him, I just… I need him here . Doing stuff. He’s always…” he trails off 

“You don’t like being alone?”

“No. not at all. I…I hate it. I hate him for getting lost, but now I just...I can’t explain it. I don’t understand it.”

“You miss him” you state, crossing one leg over the other “there’s nothing wrong with that. I miss my family, and my friends. Of course, you'd miss your father.”

“It’s why I go..recharge at Jacob's. The sound is…a comfort.”

“Just something peaceful to listen to, huh?” you question. You could see that. You could completely understand how missing someone so much would make one miss every little thing they used to do.

“Yeah..”

“Alright” you start, wrapping an arm securely around the robot’s shoulders while you start “then I’ll be your idle noise for a bit. I’ll talk your processors off, and you get a second of peace.” you smile. 

“Okay” he murmurs, and Seamus's monitor slowly leans onto your shoulder while you start with a story about your family, about a part of your past.

“Back before the walls were put up-”

Chapter Text

You told Seamus tons about yourself. Things about yourself you hadn't even told your mentor before. Things about your family you'd never indulge yourself to think about. The hard things to talk about. The things you didn't want to pay attention to.

You're not sure if he was still listening to you speak,monitor a face with little 'Z's as if he were asleep.

The automated snarl that sounded almost like a snore.  You stop talking altogether, smiling to yourself while you pay his shoulder slowly, before shifting the robot onto the other side of the couch. 

"Poor guy. I'll make sure that cat finds your dad. " standing up from the couch with a little stretch, you muse "I'll go with them if I have to. "

It’s a promise you hoped you didn’t have to hold yourself to. The idea of being chased down by those monstrous, freaky little creatures was a waking nightmare you wouldn't force a soul to endure.

Especially not some poor guy missing his dad.

Poor kid , really. If not for the fact he was able to drink. That made your guess on how old he was even supposed to be rather fuzzy. 

Do they even age properly? Hell if you knew.

You take the time that you didn't need to take to adjust seamus into a position that you'd figure was much more comfortable than being halfway slumped across the couch. An arm somewhere here, a leg tucked in awkwardly. It just looked…uncomfortable.

But after you were done, in comes the little cat, B-12 following right behind him, and the little drone just sounded tired from the moment he started speaking. 

“We require your assistance.”

“With? What happened?”

“We need to give someone a blanket so he will fix the tracker. But alas…..the poncho is much too large for them to carry” and with a little buzz in the direction of the tabby cat, they yowl and whine, halfways wrapped up in a perfectly knitted poncho. 

You couldn't help yourself but laugh. “Oh,little one” you murmur, crouching down to unwrap the unhappy cat from the poncho, slinging it over your forearm before gesturing to the door “lead the way then,little ones''

The little tabby takes off running, and you take off in a jog after them,following them past every twist and turn of the town, and pausing right by a shop manned by a companion with an elderly voice. She greets the little cat while they pass by

“You come again any ol’ time, my little muse!”

“Safe to assume she made this,then?” you gesture loosely

You don't get an answer, and were instead led to a door, where B-12 translates the words “just knock and wait for us to open the door.”

So you knock, banging your fists to the door. It took a moment before the door creaks open, and a quiet voice states “come on in. you interrupted my nap”

“Sorry about that..we need to talk to…”

“Elliot” b-12 provides

“Elliot”

"Ah, no issues then. He's right upstairs. Ya can't miss him" he gestures loosely, walking around you to return to where he had been sleeping before, optics closed before you laid a hand on his shoulder, prompting him to open one eye to stare at you. 

"What's your name?"

"Nestor"

"Nice to meet you then, Nestor."

"Likewise, Soft one. " he makes some garbled sound that seemed close enough to a yawn, and just like that, both eyes were closed and the snoring started

The room upstairs seemed perfectly like someone's bedroom. A bed in the corner of the room, cast in a red glow from several colored lights hanging above it, and to the other side of the room, sat some pretty plants. 

For the atmosphere, you supposed. 

B-12 mimicked a hum while starting at the plants

"Ah. I remember. The humans had been clever. Figured out a way to grow foliage and flora underground, without any sun"

"We had to. It was the only way we'd be able to grow any more food for ourselves. But…by then, most seeds had died out, or dried out.  It was a bad situation. "You sigh picking at the leaves of the plant for a moment when the little drone pipes up. 

"Speaking of food, you nor your friend here have had anything in quite some time, haven't you?"

"I'm sure we'll be fine for now. The most I've seen is barely functional vending machines and rotten alcohol. This is no place for a human or cat to eat at"

"So much chatter behind me" the voice of who you had to assume was Elliot pipes up, shakily typing away, taking a look at the busted up tracker.  His entire frame was shaking and shivering like a leaf, and you whistle, walking towards him, poncho in hand. 

"Heard you needed a blanket of sorts? "

"Oh?  Oh yes , where did you get this?" He questions, reaching out to grasp the fabric before his little monitor smiles vaguely "this will do quite nicely. See, I can't really work well with all of these tremors.."

"How did that happen? "

"A trait from you, Soft one. "

"Excuse me? " You question, ever shocked. How could your kind be responsible for a glitch in his software after hundreds of years? 

"I'm a hypochondriac" Elliot answers simply, before reaching a hand or for the poncho "here, give it here, I'll try it on"

"No need. Let me help you, hm?" You offer with a small smile. The companion turns back around letting you drape the cloth around him securely.  

And ever so slowly, his tremors stopped, and you grinned, perhaps more to yourself "oh! Oh look at that, they're gone! Just all gone. Oh that's nice"the companion sighs, leaning himself closer to his poncho before turning halfway around to look at you and the little tabby cat "I could work perfectly now. I really must thank you. Those tremors have been a pain for years.."

"How come you didn't go out and get a blanket yourself? "

"Is much too cold out there. It sounds silly , but I was scared the cold would be enough to make me power down"

"That isn't silly" you shrug "it is quite cold out there"

"Exactly" the little monitor shows a snake before Elliot turns around stating "I'll get this thing working in no time.  No time at all"

If no time at all meant roughly an hour, by your estimate, then sure. No time at all. 

But, considering, it was quickly done and over with, and Elliot turns around, flipping the tracker in his hands with a little garbled whistle "this thing? Could find just about anyone with the right frequency.  Could probably reach midtown. " he pauses, flipping the tracker in his hands " probably. I wouldn't test its limits, though"

"Noted" You chuckle, taking the tracker when it was handed to you, before handing it in the cat's direction on the floor. And nodding your head towards the stairs “go on, go bring it to seamus. Sooner we can get his dad home” and you trailed off slowly, watching the cat run off with the tracker in their maw.

Now, you are thinking. You were curious now. How could a robot develop the capacity to be a hypochondriac? It was another feature they hadn't been included with. Something else that made them the most interesting thing about this new world. 

“A hypochondriac robot. Now,how does that happen?” you question, watching Elliot type away for a moment before taking a seat beside him “could it be coding? You shouldnt be able to feel any temperature. I've checked.``

“You've checked?” his head tilts in your direction, before the typing resumes “I’m not sure how. It’s just…a thing, i suppose”

“Yes, I've checked. Ran tests of my own. Is there a way to scroll through your code?”

“Perhaps. It’s likely I would need to be..offline during  the process. It'd be like…..” he trails off, searching for something before continuing “like how soft ones had surgeries. The one receiving the treatment was not often awake for them,right?”

“That’s fair..” you sigh “I'm curious. If you are able to feel, and it's due to some stray line of code, then it wouldn't be far of me to guess that that line of code would be key to giving all companions a sense of feeling”

“Some would not want that. I know I don't. It is…painful.” he blinks, and the typing stops at once, turning to face you. 

“Then we could give them options. If they want to experience feelings and then later decide they hate feeling, it's a line of code that could be removed. Potentially the same with you. However, if it is a permanent code of sorts, there wouldn't be any way to remove it,right?”

“If it were at the base of my being, there would be no removal. It would be like removing a soft one’s..” he pauses, before reaching for your hand, flipping it over, and pointing to the spirals strewn across your palms. “Like removing these. Base codes are unique to an individual, like these.”

“Finger prints.”

“Yes, like fingerprints” he nods 

‘We’ll have to discuss this later, then. Work out kinks before attempting to edit something that large”

“You want to edit the base codes?  What an amusing idea”

“Not edit” you hold up a hand to pause him as you continue “ I want to give robots feeling. If it’s possible, anyways. It very well might not be. We’d have to check and see .”

“That we would” he pauses, turning to you before gesturing loosely towards the stairs “Nestor will let you out. Just wake him from his rest.”

“Got it”  up on your feet, you made your way to the staircase before pausing “it was nice to meet you,Elliot.”

“Likewise, soft one.” with a small wave, you made your way down the stairs, awoke Nestor, who gave you a sleepy smile before opening the door for you.

Seamus’ apartment was empty,when you walked by it. When you asked around,you'd been told he was waiting by a door, by a musician. That it would be easy to spot him.

You supposed that was right. He stuck out like a sore thumb next to the robot on the floor, strumming away while looking at a little sheet of notes.

Actually, you weren't sure if they were actual notes. It looked rather vague. From faraway, anyways.

“Seamus!” you call on your approach, and when he turns around, you launch into your questioning “find him?”

“We found his last known location. The uh..little one jumped at the chance to run out there. Didn't even look back at me.”

“They're a very headstrong little beast, aren't they?”

“For sure. I cant say im not worried about them, though. It's..really rather dangerous out there. Papa… he must be having a hard time out there. All alone. With zurks” the more he spoke, the more apparent it was that his own fear was getting to him. And getting to him hard . He continues talking, a sad little face on his monitor now.

“That little thing’s out there, dealin’ with my issues” seamus sighs, shaking his head slowly. He’s been standing in the one spot he let the little tabby run out from. He just stares. If he could look forlorn, he certainly did “while i'm sitting here. Being…being useless .” he pauses, before sighing “they've been gone for a while now.”

“You’re worried?”

“No.” he pauses “yes? I'm just. I should've gone with them. Im. I'm really sitting here being useless.”

“But you’re not. You’re the welcoming party for your pops” you state, holding an arm across his shoulders comfortingly before you sigh “there’s nothing wrong with having a sense of wanting to survive.” you make a well effort to flick at his monitor, and seamus shakes your hands away wildly

"Knock it off! You're going to crack my damn screen!" 

"I am not! I'm in no way strong enough to break your screen" you poke the monitor with a finger, and seamus smacks your hands away again like he were beating off flies.

"Quit it!"

"Not until you say you're not useless! " You chuckle. You're aiming to take his mind off of the situation. 

And it works

It works well , until a metallic screech comes from behind the both of you, over and over and over again, cracking and creaking.

It makes seamus turn around, dragging you along to turn around in time for the wheeled door to open, revealing another companion leaned up against the door, holding himself up like he was panting. 

" Papa?" Seamus questions.  Disbelief .  Another amazing emotion the companions had now.  

You'd fully believe this was his father. A robot with wires strewn all around their head, goggles laid haphazardly across the top of their head. Lab coat and all, you'd fully believe someone like that went by doc . 

Though he doesn't respond to seamus, who's inching closer by the moment, staring at him with wide eyes before he questions again " papa?"

Instead of answering, he'd pulled seamus into a great big bear hug that seamus quickly returns.  You smile to yourself

What an amazing little cat. Saving so many people. When they didn't even need to. And you didn't even know how sentient that little cat could be. 

Perhaps the felines had to evolve like everything else around here. 

When the little tabby in question comes bounding to your legs, you pick them up immediately, although you were a little more focused on the discussion. And that fact that the duo of robots were clutching into each other for dear life.

"Oh my clever boy. My clever, clever boy. Thank you. We have a chance now. The weapon works . That little outsider…oh my clever boy"

"I didn't do all that much, pa-"

"Nonsense.  You brought me home, my boy. The little one was just my escort ." The warbling laugh warms your heart, truly.  " You brought me home, my clever son"

When you turned around, the guardian was standing there. Watching doc and seamus for a moment, before he turned towards you and the little cat in your arms “thank you. For bringing doc home. I don't think…I dont think ive seen seamus this happy in a very long time.” he blinks

“Good. he deserves to be happy.”

He does” the guardian agrees. After a moment of thought, you set the cat down on the ground, before leading an open-ended question “could I?”

“Could you what? Yes? I suppose?”

You didn't really need to explain, you didn't think. You took the step forwards to hug the guardian, explaining “I believe my and the little one’s time here in the slums is coming to a close. We’re going to open the city,make sure everyone’s free. Get rid of the zurks, somehow. But we need to leave to do that”

“ I know ” the guardian answers,squeezing your shoulders gently before taking a step away from you “Momo’s already waiting for you both at the docks. To the sewers. He’s obtained a boat. I’m not quite sure how.”

“What a funny guy”

“I suppose” the guardian chuckles “I find your idea of outside to be foolish. But , if you do it, I believe it may be good for all of us down here.”

“It will be” you promise

“I do hope you’re right.” 

“We’ll come back here again,after it’s open.” you promise further “come and visit everyone. Get the elevator working”

“You make lots of promises.”

“Promises I intend to hold myself to. We’ll be back.”

With that, and feeling satisfied with your goodbyes to the guardian, you walk off towards the musician again, where a gate is held open by one companion

“You’re ready to go,right? See, I've gotta close this gate behind you. No zurks allowed in here, y’know”

“Got it” you smile, picking up the cat gently and carrying them until you guessed the gate closed behind you,just to make sure that they got through, and weren’t left behind.

It was a funny sight, really. To see momo sitting on a boat, waving you both down with a big ol’ grin. There was some noise behind you, metallic creaking, but you figured it was the sound of the gate adjusting to being down

"Are you two ready to head out of here? The sewers…they're not going to be any walk in the park" Momo warns carefully, crossing his legs tightly, to make room to fit both you and the little tabby, who jumped up immediately onto the boat, ready to get out of the slums and back to…. Wherever they came from. 

You, on the other hand, needed a small bit of assistance getting into the boat.  Enough that Momo gives up on watching you try to find your footing on your own, and offers a hand your way, musing "it'll be faster this way, on with it now, Soft one"

With a tight grasp on his hand with both of his, you pulled yourself into the boat and sat down with a short bit of effort before you sigh "this is going to be a chapter or of a horror novel, isn't it? "

"As far as I've heard? "Momo scoffs " it'll be worse than anything a novelist could jot down on paper" the boat starts to move while you sigh. 

"Ah, well isn't that just fantastic?”

Though the boat had started to move, you didn't see it happen until there were two other companions sitting on the boat,causing a splash-up around the boat of water, and momo makes a series of warbles, clutching the sides of the boat

“What are you two doing!? You’re not coming with us!”

“You’ll have to throw us off, old friend. We’re coming for the fight. The outsiders must get out at all costs. Why must we be separate for that?” Doc, who’s little monitor is grinning a fool

“Any one of us gets out!”

“ All of us get out” seamus finishes, an almost matching grin as his father’s

“If the boat sinks,you two are carrying everyone” momo scoffs, but even with his attitude, he’s smiling

" To the sewers, then."

Chapter Text

The ride was interesting, to say the very least about it.

To say more would be to mention how the one directing the damn boat, momo, was muttering in utter terror about how creepy it was. 

Just as obnoxiously, seamus continuously mentioned how it was too quiet. Not to mention he’d say it in such a way it reminded you of a stupidly cheesy horror movie. It was getting to you. You could admit it. While it was too quiet, the two of them chattering away to make space in the silence was driving you up a wall.

Doc, on the other hand, was peacefully staring around, and states “it’s much more…peaceful here, than the lab out there.”

“Pa, it’s too quiet . Those things are gonna jump us!”

“Oh hush, we’ll be fine. The little one has a weapon now. We’ll be fine”

The boat ride was otherwise fine. No group comes without their kinks, of course.

“I dont think ive ever been this far out,” Momo sighs, shaking his head. “It's weird.”

“It'll be fine” you repeat what doc had said.

And it was fine, until the boat stopped at a little gate that was bolted shut. While there were electronic panels on either side, they seemed to be offline.

“Leave it to me.” momo sighs, stepping out of a boat for a moment, standing by the panels and typing away at something before he sighs out a whirring noise

“ Yeaaah…. It seems like it's only able to be opened manually? Doc, can ya get the other side”

You watch, ever calmly while the gate is slowly raised high and higher….before getting stuck at just a couple of inches tall, and wavering at that height.

“Are we going to have to just..let the little one go alone?” seamus questions, looking between momo and his father while the two of them kept the gate mostly stable and barely open. It was way too heavy without a damn army of people to hold it up. Or a forklift, maybe.

“Definitely not” you state, stubborn in your answer before you push the cat forward with a hand “go under, see if you could find anything to get it up,okay? There might be something”

The cat goes running, and you direct seamus to try and take over for momo, who’s slowly started to shake the longer he held onto the chain as far down as he could bring it.

“You good?”

“ Fine .'' Momo breathes, setting his hands on his knees before he shakes his monitor “actually. I'm terrified . I hope that cat finds nothing ”

“What?”

“ What? Let me be scared ” he waves you off with one hand while puffing out a breathe “let me be a damn coward”

“And let that little cat go by themself? They’re only so big ” you chuckle,before sparing a glance to the gate 

“Nothing wrong with being scared. I keep getting this awful sense of dread.”

“Dread?”

“You dont know what dread is?” you question, turning your head to look at him before scoffing a laugh “ Lucky !”

“What is it then?”

“That feeling of just knowing something bad is gonna happen. Look at my arms. Goosebumps ” you chuckle, shoving your arm in his direction, before you can't help but grin.

And grin wider at the sight of the gate slowly rising,and the little cat already on their way away from all the sewage water.

You dont blame them. This entire place smelled like a cesspool.

The robots were lucky they didn't have a sense of smell.

“After the cat, then, boys!” It was definitely not a hop skip and a jump to follow the little cat in their pattern of hopping across moving barrels and not getting soaked in sewage water.

You cringed and gritted your teeth for a moment, shaking your head.

You'd just dunked your entire leg in nasty sewage water

“ God there better be running water in midtown. ”

The first room the lot of you crossed was fine. It was covered in webby material and the occasional actual cobweb, but either way, the feeling of dread would return whenever you looked at the material too long.

“Hey, is anyone else getting the feeling they’re being watched?”

“Unless you mean by each other? No.” Doc sighs “superstition. It gets you if you let it”

“I'm not being superstitious, I feel like someones staring at me, doc” you chuckle, albeit nervously. You don't like the sewers. First, you have sewer water that smelled like shit all over your leg with no way to clean it or rub it off without getting it all over your hands,and now you feel like you were being watched.

You can't believe how upset you were at being right

“Oh what the ****!?” Seamus was the first to voice the very thought of, most likely, the entire group. Wall to wall sat the stringy substance you'd seen before. Like spider webs. Horrific

What was worse was the eyes . These large, half lidded eyes sat in about every corner of the walls, staring and tracking the group while the lot of you walked. 

The way it worked was rather simple. The cat would run past and pop open these egg sacs full of zurks, and blow them all up in one run around. It was brilliant.

Until the eyes opened wider and wider upon the attack. Wider and wider until they were open wide. And more zurks were spilled out of pipes

On one hand, it was interesting as can be.

They were a hive mind, or at least, the eyes were capable of controlling the zurk groups,in small numbers.

And on the other hand? Not you,not doc, not seamus had weapons.

Unprepared and expected a little cat to deal with the issues for you all.

You felt stupid for thinking that way.

The lot of you were being swarmed by the little beasts, controlled by these weird..eyes. You don't like them at all. They seemed much too human for your liking. They were defined , they had an eye color . You hated it. It sent shivers down your spine, made you nauseous to feel your way through the slimy area.

You’d taken to taking off your shoes, beating the damn little things off until the cat could run by with the defluxor, taking them out in a fell swoop. It was a brilliant plan at first

You didn't know what was happening until it was over.

You were doing your best with what you had

You hadnt meant to put anyone in danger, and certainly not this much. 

This was too much for any normal person to deal with. To manage.

You didn't know where you were moving until your eyes properly took in the sight of Seamus, hands interlocked over his head with a couple of zurks strewn around his back, already having consumed their way through his jacket, working their way into the metal. You didn't know if he was screaming or just scared . You couldn't tell the difference.

Everyone else was busy dealing with their own little set of the pests. Kicking them off of their legs, rounding them up in one place for the tabby cat to deal with them all at once before another wave was called. It was a brilliant little plan. It's been working, mostly. But the cat couldn't handle them all. The defluxor could only take so much activation before shorting out.

You had an awful stack of them following you when you got to seamus, physically beating the zurks off of his back with a shoe,and shouting your apologies for smacking him , even if he couldn't hear you, or couldn't feel it. You hoped he knew. You hoped he was okay. You hoped he'd be fine, that you didn't condemn the poor robot to a terrible death.

The exposed wires terrified you.

What was important to him? What wasn't? You didn't know anything about robots

Your thing was chemical .

“What do i- WHAT DO I DO?” you scream at him

You don't get an answer

You didn't know it was happening until your entire leg felt like it was on fire . You didn't know what was happening until your leg couldn't handle your weight and you’d fallen forwards, shoe lost out of your hands,knocked away from you.

You couldn't feel what was happening until you heard yourself screaming. Until you felt the teeth in your leg. Until you felt the tearing , until you saw the blood. Until you saw the pile of zurks that had been chasing you were gnawing away at your leg, making a meal of you.

And once you knew what was happening, you were trying to pry them off of your leg yourself. Teeth gnawing into muscle, through muscle, and you had to wonder if it wasn't the plague that took everything out, but if it were these little monsters. These little monsters who were tearing through your flesh with ease , and never stopped. These little monsters that had you terrified of your own demise.

It must've been

This was how everyone you knew died

This was how every human was wiped out

These little beasts were the reason you were the last one lest

These little monsters were the reason you were going to die.

You figured you were already dead by the time that one of the little beasts were beaten off of your arm,and two arms grasped under yours, lifting you up with ridiculous ease.

Your head was too fuzzy to focus on who it actually was, and things went black for a good moment.

Or you thought it was a moment

When you came to, you were sitting up,positioned to sit while being leaned back of someone,who was making heaving sounds right behind you.

In front of you sits seamus,sitting on his hands and knees and heaving as well,staring at your leg

How bad was it?

Why was he staring at your leg like that? 

All it took was a simple glance down before you were shrieking again

The bone was exposed. 

Your entire leg was covered in blood, but clear as day was that almost everything from the front of my leg from the knee down was exposed bone. Muscles that had been chewed away. Blood gushing from the gaping hole left behind. It was horrible. Entire pieces of your muscle were gone, and the parts that were still viable were hanging from your leg like deli meat

“ What do we do about this!/ How am i supposed to fix it!? ” seamus questions you. He pressures you for an answer.

You've stopped screaming,just staring at your leg,light headed and dizzy

“I dont- i dont know? Too much-'' you pause, blinking “way too much blood. I don’t-'' you blink harder, like you're trying to clear up the fuzzy feeling all on your own. “ We can't save this ” you mutter, a little incoherent.

The little tabby rubs up your side, and you don't even bother to move your hand. If you didnt move, maybe it would keep the blood flow to a low degree

“We need to remove their leg.” Doc states, crouched near you with a hand on his monitor

“What!? We can't do that!”

“Would you rather they die?”

“ Obviously not,papa, but- we can't do that!”

“We can, and it’s our only option”

“With what ?”

The two robots walk away to talk without distressing you with the idea of losing your leg now, and you breathe out, something shaky

“Wow.. it doesn't look good.”

“Looks peachy keen to me” you grumble back to momo, who puts a hand on your shoulder,adjusting you before you seethe a breath “no, i'm lying. It's awful. I cant.. god ” you breathe out

“Do you think they're right?”

“I hope not but- oh god ” you breathe out. Your leg had been covered in sewer water. Blearily, you continued. “If I keep it..I'm at risk of sepsis. I die if I keep it. I die if we do nothing” you stare at the leg, before leaning back into momo

“You make sure they don't let me die, got it?”

“That's not the plan. They'll figure out a way. Doc’s smart” you're not looking at the monitor. You just have to judge based on his voice that he was trying to convince himself as well.

You hope he's worried. Itd make you feel better about yourself.

“To think. I survive an extinction but traveling is what gets me”

“You chose to protect one of us instead of keeping yourself safe” momo mutters,squeezing your shoulders lightly “you didn't have to do that”

“Im not letting seamus die after just getting his dad back”

“But now you might die?”

“If that's the price to pay.”

“Let’s…not talk about that '' there's a pause before he lays a hand out in front of your face “youve…youve said you're curious about all the..stuff we do or don't have. So..tell me about it,what do you think?”

“You want to ask me that now?”

“No better time like the present, huh? What about that- that squeezing thing? What were you doing with that whole squeezing thing?” Momo ushers you on, going as far as to grab one of your hands with his own and bring it to his other hand “tell me about it”

“I just..i wanted to see if you had feeling”

“How come?”

“Momo. this is- this is dumb. You said you didn't want to talk about this-”

“And now I do.” he states,rather firmly “just- keep talking, huh?”

“I just. I thought you might have developed touch?” you blink. You're tired. You just want to nap. You just want to sleep this off and wake up in your frozen little pod with no awareness of what was waiting for you. When you stop talking, momo pats your hand a couple times, forcing you to wake up.

“And?”

“And i- uh…I still think you might. You can- you can feel pressure. Elliot, that guy-”

“I know who elliot is”

“he ‘s…he can feel the temperature” you mutter slowly, not even taking notice when doc and seamus had come back, with torn up pieces of doc’s coat in his hands.

“We’re going to wrap this around the wound”

“It’s gonna hurt,isn’t it?” you grumble. You don't like that fact. You're tired of the pain. You just want to sleep.

“It’s going to hurt,very much, but itll stop the blood, i believe”

“Just let me sleep” you sigh “recharge or…or whatever”

“Keep them talking, please” doc instructs his son while spreading the cloth out over your injury.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

You weren’t tired anymore. Now you were just..upset. At yourself, at humanity, at the world? At the scientist. Your mentor. You were mad that he'd confined you to this life instead of dying with everyone else. How dare he do that to you.

Him forcing you into a pod led to you losing your leg and having to be lugged around like a child by doc. You were slung halfways over his shoulder, awkward as could be and with blood rushing to your brain, but at least it wouldn't be rushing to your leg this way.

“Are we almost there?”

“I don’t know , none of us have been out this far” doc answers you quietly.

“How bad is the room?”

“You can't see it? Its up ahead”

“I'm over your shoulder , doc”

Instead of flipping you around to see, Doc instead turns around himself, walking backwards. The sight of the room makes you shiver.

The eyes, they were bigger. In a cavern type of positioning. Anywhere for the eye to see was a strange eye to look back at you

“We need to run through here. I don't like this” you grumble

“We’ll be quick” 

That’s one way to put it.

When b-12 looks at the eyes, they open wide, and zurks spill out of every crevice you could see in the little room. Adjusting your hold around doc’s neck, you stare around yourself. B-12 is still distracted, and doesn't even respond when you yell at him to come back and help.

Zurks surround just about every possible escape point, and jump for the little tabby, for the legs of the three robots,trying to jump for your rotted, covered leg.

When B-12 knocks himself out of whatever trance he was just in, the little drone with the defluxor circles around for as long as he can, exploding zurks as they jumped for you, before there was a little spark, and he clattered to the ground.

The cat yowls, before running in one direction,picking up the little drone in their maw. With only one escape point, the companions followed suit. Holding your breath for so long was starting to make you see stars, but you tried to direct where to go, which railing to follow the cat on, where they were supposed to turn, which direction would avoid the most zurks.

It was chaos

A terrible chaos

There was another little gate, but instead of needing to be opened, it was slowly closing on approach.

All that could be done was running for it, and throwing yourself through the gap in the wall.

Doc threw you forwards, tumbling across the floor,knocking the wind out of you in the process and leaving you gasping for air for a moment, before you shriek in pain. The impact of being thrown forward banged your mauled leg into the floor, snapping the bone in half, leaving a dangling mess wrapped haphazardly in a now stained deep pink lab-coat

After Doc, Momo and Seamus came dive-rolling through the gap in the gate, huffing and puffing even when they didn’t need to. Even once everything was safe, mostly. While momo had made it through, the tail end of his leaf and flamingo designed shirt hadn't. With a nasty rip , he stands, shaking off his hands before staring in your direction, where you stare at your leg,wide-eyed.

“I think we need to find someone”

“ Immediately? YEAH '' the pain below your knee doesn't even register anymore. There really wasn't any other option.

You had to remove your leg.

Chapter Text

Being carried around wasn't a viable option, even once you removed your leg. You knew that. The robots seemed to have an idea of it. Or at least momo got the idea of it

“I’ve had to have my leg replaced before” he explains slowly,adjusting a hold on you. You’re awake, conscious. Bleary from blood lost, but otherwise, you felt fine. Besides pain, that is.

“Mhm?”

“I was lucky to get the same color again, most don't. ‘Specially not in the slums” some little animated sigh and he keeps talking “alll up that leg, completely rusted from not using it. I was in one place for too long, and it wasnt viable anymore, so Elliot replaced it for me.” 

“Elliot did?”

“Yup. his hands were ridiculously shaky, though. Made my center of balance just a couple centimeters off. Just a little change and I can't walk right. You've seen it”

“I think you walk fine” you laugh “oh, how ridiculous. We’re going to save a civilization and we’re talking about legs ”

“It’s silly” momo snickers “ah…i’d ask him to fix it but well” you don't need to look to know that he must be glancing behind himself before stating “too late now. I've had years to ask him to and never bothered.”

“Maybe we can find a know-it all in midtown”

“ Oh for sure ” you don't know who he means, but the snickering tells you he means a specific person

The group moves on from just in front of the gate to a companion, who smiles weakly upon seeing the battered up, bloody state of yourself and the robots

 “it’s been quite some time since we’ve had visitors cross the sewers. It seems you’re lucky” in a way, you'd suppose that to be true. And on the other hand, you were sweating a great deal and needed water desperately ,and were consciously bleeding out as you stood around.

Safe to say, not out of the woods yet.

“We need some repairs done, any capable hands?” Doc answers, gesturing towards the group. The companion nods slowly “I believe so, yes. It will be a…touch of a climb, however. Apologies. Antvillage is an upwards built town.”

“Good enough” you sigh, adjusting your arms around momo’s neck before the walk starts

And stops again in front of a little pod. B-12 was out of the backpack,staring at the pod for a little bit

“What's wrong?” you question

“I helped..i helped the scientist design these.” b-12 states slowly, before he keeps talking “he used one of these.he was sick. This was his last hope, but he..” B-12 trails off a little bit “he didn’t use it. Someone else used it. He…I wasn't with him. He was alone . What was he doing?”

“What?”

“He…uploaded himself into the computer and then everything was…different. But the…the upload. Something went wrong. He was stuck for hundreds of years..” something about this little story felt wrong. B-12 had been in your flat. That's where the cat fixed him up. What could he possibly mean?

“Until…. a little cat appeared. ”

It doesn't hit you at first, staring at the little drone before glancing back,trying to understand what the little thing meant.

“Wait…was it? It was . It was me ” what?

“ I was the scientist. I was human ”

“ What?”  

B-12 apologizes, more to the little cat,who sits patiently “ ...I’m sorry. I think I need a moment.”

And just like that, you couldn't understand your friends anymore. Seamus was saying something , you know that much, but without whatever b-12 had done before, it was just a series of whirrs and soft beeps. Whatever it was, he was asking you something, punctuated with a little question mark.

“I cant- i don't understand you” you point at b-12,just in case you needed to make it a little more clear.

It didn't help any. 

It didn't help that something in the back of your head haunted you. Your own desperation. The fact that you didn't want to go into cryostasis. You wanted him to. And he shoved you in and locked you in.

You were mad. Betrayed, maybe. Words flooded at the tip of your tongue in nothing short of a quick rage.

He needed a minute.

He said he'd been trapped in the network. That the upload went wrong. That he had not remembered anything.

He needed a minute

And you were willing to give your mentor a minute, even if it meant you couldn't understand the companions at all.

Even if it meant you didn't understand where you were being carried to. Even when it meant you couldn't understand what strangers were saying directly to you. Even when one companion seemed upset when you didn't answer them. 

B-12 didn't even come back online to translate once a companion was found with the materials, time, and knowledge to give you a new leg, and to fix seamus's back. 

You ignore the anger in the back of your head. It was undeserved. A fresh wound for you, a past scar for him. 

It was undeserved. That was what you reminded yourself of. 

It was a weird feeling. Painful,even. The remaining hanging parts of your leg had been quickly and hastily cut off to prevent any further damage to the part of your thigh that was still viable

 That leg was the one that had been dunked in sewage. If it weren't clean, you'd get an nasty infection. 

 The cutting,  it came with a surge of pain that you were ready for. You were ready for your leg to be tightly wrapped up and sewn together with wire ,some sort of fishing wire that’d been found in the trash piles and cleaned off as well as the robots could manage.

You were prepared for the pain of being stitched up by robots who had no clue how stitching worked. 

You were ready for that.

You weren't ready for the weight of a robotic leg being fixed to the wrapped up stump. It was heavy , and a velcro band was wrapped snug around your actual leg,strapped to the waist of your pants.

Beside you, Seamus was being repaired as well, jacket laid on his lap while a scrap of metal was fitted snug against his back,and cauterized on.

Resourceful robots. A thing you never would've considered before the apocalypse, but of course they were. They were more resilient and meant to be smarter than humans.

Seems it proved to be true.

The velcro was wrapped around the lower section of the bandages, and a part of your thigh,to ensure it would hold tight to your leg. 

The companion working in you would ask something to the boys, and they'd be given some answer you didn't understand at first, until the robot made a gesture coaxing you into giving them your arm.  When you did, they wrapped a couple of wires around your hand, looking at you while they spoke. 

You know they were giving you some sort of instruction, and upon your confused look, they gave up on trying to talk to you themself, instead turning to doc and instructing him about something. 

You didn't know what was being said. 

You felt left out , because your mentor needed time to process the fact that he was still alive, and who he was, the things he did.

You felt left out until doc offered a hand to you, and you take it, rising slowly and shakily on both legs. The robotic leg was stiff and slack,straight up. Doc guides your attention to the wires, and after a moment of thinking of apparently how to explain what he needed to, he squeezes his fist, and then looks at you,

“What is that supposed to do?” you scoff a short chuckle, but squeeze your wired up hand regardless. The knee joint of the leg bends, and you take in a breath

“ Ohhhhh ”

Then, with one hand in doc’s,you try to get yourself walking. 

Which was harder than you'd actually expected. You squeezed your hand too soon, and tripped forwards into doc, who warbles something for a moment, before setting you back securely standing, leading you forwards little by little to get you to squeeze your hand in time with your steps.

This was no fun. No fun at all.

You supposed that while you were practicing to take a step, b-12 was done processing. Suddenly, you could understand the companions once again, warbled translated into speech all at once

“You’re getting it, you’re getting it”

“Stiff as a rock,that one”

“Oi, cut them slack, poor soft one lost a leg”

“Poor? We lose legs all the time”

“Yea, but did you see their face?”

“Or that red stuff?”

You do your best to focus on the companion in front of you, walking, or rather, shuffling towards doc. 

“You’re starting to get the hang of it”

“I know” you sigh “this sucks”

“Oh! You can understand again?”

“Apparently, yes.”

“Ah, that’s good.” slowly, with a hand on your shoulder to keep you steady, doc turns you around and points to the companion “she was telling you that you need to hold this tightly to bend the joint. We can't connect your nerves to the wires, they’re just incompatible, so this is the best option she could come up with for you” he pats your shoulder, before turning you back around, even after you'd already started trying to move for yourself.

“Ah, okay. It seems so much…easier than it is”

“It's always that way with new legs” he pats your shoulders again, and gets you to take a step forwards again

While you walk back and forth with Doc, like it were more a dance than anything else, he starts talking “I wanted to give you my thanks.”

“For?”

“Risking yourself for my boy. You didn't need to do that.”

“But I did. There’s no way I'm letting him die.”

“I'm glad you see it that way” doc chuckles, turning back around to continue walking back and forth “I thought soft ones believed in terms of ‘survival of the fittest’”

“The dumb ones do. I live by a rule of ‘don’t step on others to get ahead’”

“Ah? With a mind like that, you’d love clementine. A headstrong girl.” he chuckles “held a grudge against soft ones for quite awhile”

“How come?”

“For leaving us in here when they died.” he blinks “sorry, that seems a touch dark.”

“I don't blame her. I'm mad they didn't just open the city and let you guys out when they could. They could've , that's the sad part. The plague wouldn’t infect those without a nervous system” you smile weakly “me and my mentor were trying to study it. And the zurks.” 

“Well, more that I wanted to study the zurks.”

“Then we have much in common in that case” doc chuckles “I kept a few in my home, in a cage,”

“And they didn't escape? That’s incredible!”

“I suppose they couldn't figure out how”

There’s a small lull in the conversation before Doc gestures to your hands, a little smile on his monitor “and look at that! Walking fine on your own!”

He shouldn't have said anything at all, looking down to your legs for all of a second was all you needed to trip forwards when the leg went stiff,holding onto doc for dear life before you groaned “ ugghhh, this sucks! ”

With your head shoved in doc’s lab coat, you don't notice the amused smile staring down at you, shaking his head carefully, sharing a quick look with momo before helping you stand up straight again

“I'm sure it does. That’s why we’ll keep trying, hm?”

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

“You seem mad.” b-12’s little voice comes around, floating around your head while you practice walking, clenching and unclenching your hand whenever you need to bend your knee. You successfully made it up a flight of stairs. 

That is, if successfully meant tripping half way up and clambering up the steps like a toddler. Then yes, successfully .

“I am. Good observation.”

“You seem mad, I've realized who I am.”

“I’m mad because of who you are” you state simply, cold for a moment. When the little drone buzzes in front of your face again, fans making a little whirring noise, you stopped trying to walk altogether, and just stared “I’m mad because of what you did.”

“To you?”

“No, to the companio- yes to me ” you grunt “you left me, and told me i wouldn't be alone when i woke up. You told me it'd be fine .” you gesture loosely “this is not fine . Instead of dying with our race the way we were supposed to, you’re a drone and I'm a cyborg .”

“I admit, it wasn’t the best circumstances, but we’ve both done what was required to survive and-”

“I am the last human alive. You robbed me of the chance to die, not be the last person to die.” you pinched your nose, shaking your head before you scoff “you robbed me of the chance, any chance to have a family.”

“You were safer that-”

“You robbed me of my life, sir. And now I've lost a leg for it.”

“Okay.” the little drone stops the argument before it really starts, and looks around with a little whirl “will you forgive me?”

“Right now? No ” you sigh “for me- for me , you locked me away yesterday . I need time ”

“Like i did.” he pauses “okay,”

 When you start walking again, you could really feel how groggy you were. You hadn’t stopped moving since taking a nap in momo’s flat, and now, it was getting to you. Coming down from adrenaline and pain was getting to you. 

“You seem tired”

“Thanks for the obvious, sir” you sigh, raising a hand to rub at your eyes “where’d the little one run off to?”

“They’re gathering flowers.”

“Ah. fun ” you sigh “why aren't you with them?”

“I thought we should talk”

“ Great . Can you go find the companions and let them know I'm gonna sleep up on this level?”

“Of course, my pupil.”

“Don't-” you pause,finding your own tone too aggressive “don’t call me that anymore. You’re not my mentor anymore.”

“Oh.” b-12 murmurs “okay.” 

B-12 left you to be by yourself, and you passed by a companion to climb up another ladder, only to find someone sitting,slumped over, a tv screen in their hands, and a myriad of screens behind and beside them, showing pictures of a pretty galaxy.

There was something like incense in the air, and you couldn't help but find it amusing. 

You don't mean to interrupt them, just muttering “‘m sorry, just gonna snag one of your pillows here-”

“ Ah. don’t you know not to interrupt someone during their ascension? “ the screens blink to life, and then seem to mellow upon noticing you “ oh. You’re the soft one I saw with momo and that little…beast. ”

“...hi?”

The screens smile vaguely “ you said you needed a pillow. How come? ”

“Was just gonna…’recharge’ up here….if that’s alright?”

“ If you are quiet, you will not be a bother to me. Feel free ” the body doesn't move at all. There are wires sticking out of their…his? Head,connected to the tv screens, so you assume that's how he accomplished his ascension-state.

It's amusing.

Without another word, you stiffly stumble to sit down in the mess of pillows, before giving up and leaning on your side.

You don't so much as notice when a little orange tabby cat comes bounding to join you in sleeping in the pile of comfy pillows.

Chapter Text

When you woke up, you weren’t alone, let alone in the quiet .

Laying comfortably on top of your stomach was the little tabby cat, curled up with their paws covering their little nose.

Beside you sits Seamus, playing with one of the pillows and chattering away

Momo and Doc sit beside Zbaltazar, chattering away in the same beeping that you don’t quite understand until you start sitting up slowly, cradling the sleeping cat in your arms, though sitting up jostles them enough to wake them up. This was a comfortable amount of noise. Life in the room around you was pleasant. It was familiar , something you'd been used to.

“Sorry, sorry, you keep sleeping” you murmur, a yawn stuck in your throat.

Any talking at all grabs the attention of Seamus, who stares at the prosthetic attached to you for a moment before gesturing to the replaced metal along his back, an obscenely different color than his actual body, musing 

“look at that, we’ve got battle scars now”

“Battle scars? More like ‘we both got our asses kicked in a sewer’ scars” you snicker

“Ehhh….and by those little things, too” Seamus scoffs

“Tough little bastards”

“Annoyingly tough.”

“What’re they on about?” you question, gesturing loosely towards the other three companions, and Seamus gives his best shrug 

“The sewers, how it’s goin’ in the slums…the little one”

“And the ‘fancy drone?’”

“You heard my papa call him that?”

“Yup. loud and clear” 

“How embarrassing .” Seamus warbles some groan, collapsing dramatically back into the pillow, annoyed at your snickering at his expense “what are you laughing about?”

“Fathers are always embarrassing”

“Always?”

“Oh man , they are. Be lucky , and grateful he doesn't know any dad jokes .” you pause, before grinning “oh hell, I might teach him some, just to torment you!”

“I don’t know what dad jokes are” Seamus scoffs, propping himself up on an elbow to stare at you, monitor a little question mark

“Okay, okay, lemme think….oh! Okay, so you see those trees over there, right?” you gesture over to a couple of branches, just barely peeking over the edge.

“I guess?”

“Do you trust them?”

“They’re trees, soft one….did you bang your head?”

With a sigh, you shake your head “no, no, just answer. Do you trust the trees?”

“I guess?”

“I don’t. They seem shady ” you chuckle, sitting back and decidedly ignoring the annoyed ‘mrr’ that leaves the little tabby when you adjust

“I don’t get it.”

“Then ill try another one .” you pause, thinking about what good dad jokes there are. What annoying ones you've heard before, before snapping your fingers “okay! What did one hat say to the other?”

“Hats…don't speak”

“It’s a joke, bud. Please, just work with me here”

“These are bad jokes” Seamus complains, adjusting his hat over his head so he didn't really have to look at you. With a roll of your eyes, you continued going on with the joke

“What did one hat say to the other? ‘Stay here, I'm going on ahead!’”

“I don’t get it! ” Seamus groans, tossing his hands up in the air as you chuckle, and do your best to explain “okay, so when you wear a hat, where does it go?”

“On your head”

“On your head, exactly. And when you're going in front of someone, you’re going…?”

“Ahead” there's a nice, fat moment of silence before Seamus sits up, hat falling off of his monitor as he scoffs “oh! Oh that’s stupid ” he laughs regardless, and you know you've won. 

“That’s the point, my friend! They’re super dumb jokes!”

“But those!” seamus scoffs a laugh “they’re too stupid! That’s not even funny!”

“That’s the point! They’re dad jokes, sliiiightly funny jokes your dad tells you”

Through the laughter, seamus leans your way, knocking the top of his head straight into your forehead, definitely a bit too hard. You jump, leaning away from him and holding a hand to your head, complaining “the hell was that!?”

“What?” the companion doesnt even seem to understand why you have your hand to your head “I’m just…glad we can laugh so soon after” he gestures vaguely “all that happened?”

“Okay, sure , but why did you bang your head into mine, then?”

"Is that not how the soft ones showed affection?" Seamus just stares at you, a little question mark on the screen as you chuckle, surprised

"Affection? Wh-... no, that's not how humans showed affection" you have to wonder if this was a case of ignorance, or just a simple miscommunication. 

The solution, just to clear things up, was to wrap an arm around seamus's shoulders with a little squeeze and explain "humans showed affection with hugs. I mean, there's different types of affection but- okay, point is friendly affection with humans had almost always been hugs" other things to, but you could explain that another time. 

It takes all but a moment for seamus to nod, call it " confusing" and part one of your arms before you let him go. 

How odd.

"The only confusing thing here is that you bash heads to show affection" you scoff, well meaning.  Seamus just smiles, shaking his head "We don't bash heads! You've just got a soft head"

"I'll have you know my skill is thick"

" No kidding "

"Oi, that's rude" you point, ever accusing at him, before he gets up with a little animated stretch you knew he definitely didn't need to do. Just for fun, some of their actions. It was ever so interesting. 

Another subject of study to delve into. 

It doesn't take long after seamus stands and indirectly disturb the cat, that they go hoping of to do something else, leaving you with the robots, who are preparing for something. 

"Its nice to catch up" Doc sighs with a great big smile along the monitor, mimicking scratching his neck. They just…do actions for no reason. You don't quite understand it.  "Its been way too long, my friend"

"That it has."

"We've missed you, lots. The slums really haven't been the same without you" Momo frowns, hanging an arm off the top of the companion's head. The monitors, in turn, smile

"Has it really been that boring? "

"Without you? Of course it has."

"Good. Wouldn't want you to have too much fun without me there" Zbaltazar chuckles, though he seemed to be teasing.

After another few moments of their friendly chat while you watch, Seamus, Doc, and Momo left, at a demand that seamus had seen a bartender on the level below, and wanted to see if they'd been serving anything that hadn't been in the slums. 

You wave them off in some little goodbye, deciding to stay with the companion.  It was hard enough getting up the stairs.  You couldnt even imagine the trip back down being much better. It was better to stay here until the group was ready to leave antvillage.  

"Come here, soft one. I can't quite see over by the pillows" 

"Can't you see it off your original monitor? " You wisdom, but you comply, struggling up onto your legs and stumbling towards where the companion at, before taking a seat beside him while he answered

"I could. But it would be more difficult that way"

"How so? "

"I will explain, should the chance come up. We don't much know each other,  besides a bond with the other outsiders "

"A bond? " You question with a chuckle "I suppose id call them friends." The hum that comes in return with the wide eyed look makes you think at first that you must have gotten something wrong, before the companion chuckles

"Ah, I see. They're being secretive . Never done that before"

"Secretive? "

"Its not my place to tell, soft one" he smiles "though…. Maybe you should pay more attention to what goes on around you? If I know my friends…. They're not good at being secretive" 

The thought makes you snicker, shaking your head "fine, fine, I'll figure it out for myself, then"

“I haven’t seen my friends in a very long time. For years now, I’ve been down here by myself. Conversations with others can get…very tiresome eventually. Not many of us do anything new or exciting. This is the first time in years I've been elated to have visitors. ” zbaltazar just stares at you. Or rather, the multiple screens do. He still seems vaguely amused

"Well, then it's a good thing we're here then, right? Save you from boredom . "

"I suppose" something warbled and static leaves him, and you adjust to sit.with your legs forwards 

It was much too awkward to sit cross-legged with the prosthetic. Too much focus on having to know when to squeeze the joints to move. 

"You miss them, then? "

"Of course.  They're like…." There's a slow fizzle as he loses the word he was looking for, so you try.  You guess. 

"Like family?"

"... that seems fitting."

"I saw a picture, in Momo's home, of the four of you" you start, interrupted by a quiet, garbled laughter

"He still keeps that? How embarrassing! "

"You guys looked very happy. " 

"We were. That picture was from when we first created our little group. The dedication was…nice. We had something to look forward to" Zbaltazar smiles

"You don't look forward to going outside anymore? "

"I'm not letting a dream be my guiding force anymore. If it happens, I'll be immensely glad. But if it doesn't, then I'll stay here, do as I've done for years" it's a somber feeling. That these robots just…didn't have much to hold onto anymore. 

You wanted to give them something to hold onto. 

Something to look forward to, rather than seeing it as a dream that would never happen. 

So you decide to indulge "I've seen the outside.  I was raised on the outside.  Bustling cities, animals all over the place, cars on freeways.  It was never ever this quiet.  I suppose in some ways it's peaceful , but it's just.. different." You pause "that difference didn't come from the companions. It came from the humans. We had to lock down, hunker in to survive the world, and everyone got quiet. "

You can't help the little smile on your face "except for the children.  Loud as ever, messing with everything"

"Were they the first to go? " Zbaltazar questions you.  Although the screens of his face had returned to a pretty moving galaxy, you knew he was paying attention to your words "if they messed with everything…"

"They may have been. I don't much like to think about it.  Everyone went , it's…. Sadder to think about in what order they all died out." With an annoyed smile, you continue "what I know for sure is that the wealthy people of midtown were among the last to go. Up high, away from the zurks, away from the outbreak of plague? I wouldn't be shocked if they lasted years. "

"You don't seem to like them" comes the comment, and you sigh to think of it "not much. They funded my research, but only if it returned something they could use.  For business, not for the sake of it. "

"Much like our people.  They call our idea of outside ridiculous, but now we have someone who's witnessed the outside first hand on our side." The screens smile, and it makes you grin. 

Though, the conversation is cut short by Momo, Doc, Seamus, and the little cat returning.  You scoot out of their way, and momo ways no time to start talking, standing beside the limp body of the companion. 

"We need to get going soon. Midtown is a long way to go. Far away, too.."

"I know" comes the calm answer in return

“Do you plan to come along with us?” Momo dares to ask the companion plugged into many screens, who gives his best at a weak smile

“I’m unsure. I don’t know what comes between the road to midtown, but I know that Clementine made it there safely.” he pauses for a moment before he sighs “I hope, at least. I wouldn’t want to..intrude any” something about the way he says intrude makes you think it could be an excuse of sorts. 

“Intrude? Oh, my friend, are you kidding?” momo laughs, something genuine and whirring “you could never intrude! We would love to have you join us"

"It would be difficult. "

"How so? "

"These wires" you assume he meant the ones attached to his head . "They can be removed. But I haven't moved from my spot in so long…"

"You might be rusted and slow" Doc finishes carefully, before humming "then we can help you walk"

"I don't know if there are zurks ahead. "

"Then we'll be fast" Momo argues.  "Are you against the idea of coming with us? "

"No. " with a pause, and something you'd say sounded like taking a breath, he continues " I just don't wish to slow you down. Say there are zurks, I'd not be able to run. You'd have to leave me. "

"That wouldn't happen"

"And if it does? "

"We wouldn't leave you, zar."

"Even if it means dying yourself?"  

"Even so.." Momo trails off slowly, before he comes to sit down beside Zbaltazar again, setting his head against the other outsider's. 

"You're stressing yourself out with this, my friend. When you open up the city…you come get me. "

"We will" its weird to see. The companions behave as if they're leaving their friends for dead. 

You have a hard time understanding the thought process. 

Zbaltazar will not die if you leave. He'd be fine, left to his meditation. They behave as if this was a death sentence. 

"Good. "Zbaltazar seemed to abandon the connection to the multiple screens for a moment for a shaky, rusted hand to pat Momo's. The screech of the metal tells you exactly why he can't come.  It'd be a miracle for that rust to come if, for him to move faster than a snail's pace. "You save us. You save us and come get me. "

Doc comes to sit beside the companion as well, leaned against his rusted up side.  "We will, my friend" 

You watch on, watching quietly as the robots showed each other affection as a gesture of goodbye. You suppose you understand the head bashing now. 

They were amazing .  How much they'd grown.

Chapter Text

While preparing to leave, you stayed nearby Zbaltazar for a moment, watching the galaxy image pass by his screens once again before they blinked back to life in an image of his face. They fizzled out from the main screens, instead focused on the one that the limp body held onto, while talking quietly , meant for you to hear

“You and the little beast ensure we all get out”

“I will.”

“I’m putting hope in you. I haven’t done that in years”

“As you’ve said”

“Then you’ll know how important that should be”

“ I do ” 

"One last thing" Zbaltazar calls for you, and when you look his way, preparing to stand, his arm moves just barely enough to slide a photo your way "give the little beast this. It's a location for Clementine."

"And a picture of you two" you murmur, amused. You snicker "what a cute photo"

When you glance up again, the screens showed little hash marks below the eyes. You don't quite understand, and you definitely don't understand why Zbaltazar was so quiet and meek in saying " thank you. "

you pat the companion’s limp hand gently before you stand, putting a short bit of pressure down on his shoulder. The metal creaks under your weight, and you felt vaguely bad for a moment, but decided to push the thought aside by saying your goodbyes and clamoring up a ladder stiffly to follow the little cat and the robots.

Climbing up all the way through antvillage was a struggle. Struggle being that occasionally, doc’s joints would get stuck at a ladder rung and Seamus would have to grab and pull his father up along with him, just to keep the group going steadily higher and higher

As if it were a joke, momo murmurs “Don’t look down. We’re high up”

Massive mistake. On instant, you glance below you, only to seethe a short breath in before you kept climbing

Following a little cat through a pipe was no easy task. They could fit into smaller places, and for three clunky robots and a human to follow them was easier said than done . Crawling was definitely not your strong suit anymore, but it was what you were being reduced to. Crawling through a tunnel until you saw the light on the other end, not completely sure if it were real or artificial, but you followed it as if it were the holy grail either way.

And on the other side was a small, messy doorway. A doorway with one metal door broken and hanging off its hinges, scratched up by nail marks and long-dried blood

“That doesn’t seem… what is that? ” Doc questions, running a ringer near the blood before you stop him 

“Dried blood. Really old , god knows what happened around here”

“Hope for the best…”

“Humans are dead and gone. There’s not much to hope from them” you pat doc’s shoulder before stumbling along to catch up with the little cat 

“Ah..poor soft ones.”

When b-12 came out from the little backpack again, he just looks around carefully before explaining “It’s a subway station. Or it used to be. These wheels…they don’t seem like they've been used in a very long time.”

“As long as our kind’s been dead” the dried blood on the walls had just given you a bad feeling. Had humans tried to escape to midtown to avoid the plague? To avoid the zurks? To avoid whatever was killing everyone off? It left you feeling bleak about what was yet to come. What if there wasn't anything left in midtown? 

What if it were more infested than the sewers?

The little drone of your mentor keeps talking, pulling your attention back to him “I… completely forgot this type of transportation existed. You could ride it to get to anywhere in the city…Some used it to get to work. I…I used it too. Every morning, after I’d said y goodbyes to my family.” there's a little pause before the drone wonders “I’d been doing this for them…I wonder what happened to them?”

“What happened to everyone else but us, Sir.” you comment idly, walking back the cat to run a hand along the subway while you talk “whoever was clawing at the doors downstairs didn't make it up here. There’d be prints somewhere. “

“Maybe they went peacefully. That’s all we can ask” momo guesses, looking a little dejected when you shook your head 

“If they had to claw their way up here, they didn't go in peace. I don’t think any of them went in peace.” with a pause, you sigh “maybe the elderly.”

“Elderly?”

“Older folks.” 

After a few moments, the drone continues to talk, as if he were choosing to ignore your mood after seeing blood at all. 

“My family wanted to see the outside. They’re gone now, but that….doesn’t mean we can't still achieve it for everyone. I think I could get the station working again.”

“And get us up to midtown?” Seamus questions, wandering around inside the subway car. It doesn't take long for the robots to pile into the subway, curious. 

They don’t have any transport transport. Just their legs. Just unable to feel a strain in the metal unless they check for it, you assumed

“The soft ones actually used these? And went everywhere?” Momo questions, sitting down on one of the long-past cushioned seats, kicking a leg up over the other “that’s amazing ”

“If you think that’s amazing, you would’ve loved cars” you chuckle, taking a seat across from him, waiting for the little tabby to come back in tow with B-12

“Good news! Well, we have a picture of clementine to go off, and you two know her best. We should be able to find her in no time at all, if we’re lucky.” oh how nice it was to sound so confident “we could show her picture to other companions, see if anyone’s seen her around.”

“That’s a good idea. She’s probably rambunctious enough to be seen by everyone ”

“Soo? What’s the bad news?” you question, curious, earning a sheepish reply in return

“This subway is non-functional. The wheels are rusted out, the machinery is immovable. It would take a miracle to get it moving again. Maybe…Maybe after we open up the city, we can come back and find a way to get it operational”

“Ah, bummer.” you sigh, relaxing back against the subway seat before continuing “any way out of here?”

“On the other side of the subway, there’s a flight of stairs. They seem old, but they should be good enough to travel across”

“Flight of stairs it is.” you pause, struggling to stand “ god this is going to suck ”

And suck it did.

Up a flight of rickety stairs, and crouching down through a hole in a wired fence. 

The first person you saw was weird. They knocked shoulders with you, halfways turning around on their step to shoot a "Sorry! Outta the way!"

That wasn't the weird part. The odd part was their head. The unmistakably human-looking eyes emitted a glow like the monitors provided for the companions. The unmistakably human-looking skin along their face. The hair , hidden by a hoodie while they ran off. 

Wide-eyed, you stare after them, before looking back to the group of companions, who are similarly wide-eyed

“I thought you were the last one?”

“You said you were the last one?”

“I thought I was?” you question, staring after the…other human, who was caught by some drone and..another person. Standing on the side of the street were a teenager and a child, who kick back against the wall, chatting away. 

On your approach, the teenager stares your way and comments “Nice looks. Must’ve had a time negotiating those eyes.” while they talked, something just seemed…off about the way they smoke. As if the sound and the movement of their mouth didn't match up. 

“Excuse me?”

“You didn't hear me right? Your audio processors broke..or?” they trail off with a shrug, looking to the child “these new bots, huh? Get all new and shiny and forget to listen . Don’t you ever act like that, got me?”

The child just snickers, and that’s what changed. The sound and the motion were completely off. Out of time, even. With a short blink, you keep walking, a little quicker, with the cat darting between your legs in tow

“They…they are soft ones..right?” doc comes up beside you, glancing around in a motion that seemed to read as wary . “They’re like you?”

“ No, I don’t think they are ”  you grumble “I think they’re still..metal.”

“Then….why would they look like that?”

“I don’t know. It doesn't make any sense” it's conflicting. You were happy to see faces similar to your own. Happy to see people at least nearly human. 

You just wish there had been people here. Humans here . 

"Let's just…find Clementine as fast as we can. Open the city up, get outta here. "

"Agreed" Momo murmurs from behind you. 

You had to think it must've looked a little weird, a group of four beings being led along by a little tabby cat with a photo in their maw. 

It was weirder for you, though. Seeing tons and tons of human faces while shambling along to follow the little creature into a bar.

You can't fathom what they wanted in a bar, but they hop up onto the bar without a noise, showing off the photo to the bar-goers, along with the bartender, who gives his best shrug

“I haven’t seen her around. Isn’t she a wanted person?”

“She has a criminal record now?” Doc mutters behind you, puzzled “I’ve never thought she’d be doing crimes up here”

“I’m not surprised.” Momo snickers “hasn’t she said she’d do it herself, no matter the cost?”

“I suppose…but still”

“But what? If she hasn’t been caught, that means she’s fine, right, papa?” Seamus questions, leaning over his father’s shoulder to watch the little cat bug those drinking what seemed to be oil, just to ask about the outsider.

“I hope so. I think we all hope nothing bad has happened to her”

Though unsuccessful in actually finding Clementine, the little cat and B-12 had a lead, or must’ve assumed they did, running back out of the bar like they were being chased. The only way you could properly run was to be dragged along with one of the other companions, arms linked around each other to properly drag you forwards

The learning curve there was with the new leg was certainly annoying. Not impossible by a long shot, but certainly annoying.

You were sent off running along with the other companions, straight into a residential area with a little symbol you thought you’d seen on the photograph of clementine you’d been given. The cat goes running up the stairs, not even stopping to talk to the three teenagers, one of which you almost knocked straight into, and apologized to. 

They seemed to be yelling something at the cameras. Something along the lines of “hey! I know you can see us! I know you can, suckers! ”

All the way up to the third level of the residential area is where the little tabby cat slows to a trot, meowing and wandering around, unsure. 

“Here, gimme the picture,” you murmur, and the cat stops for a moment as if they fully understood you, dropping the photo at your feet, and looking over your shoulder at the address, Seamus scoffs 

“You can't read it/”

“It's in your language, not mine”

“We’ll have to teach you, then. Livin’ in our place and all” but with leaning over your shoulder to look, he explains “it’s numbers. This area, 3rd level, 5th house. They’re labeled, like this one” as you pass by it, he points to a house numbered ‘1’.

“Oh. oh, that’s so much easier than I thought it would be! ”

“Which is exactly why we’re gonna have to teach you!” Seamus laughs

With new instructions, and a way to figure them out, the tabby goes running off, before stopping and continuously meowing in front of a house boarded up with wood. Every window at the front of the flat was covered in wood and sloppily nailed in.

“You think she's okay?”

“I hope so. This seems….”

“Panicked?” you finish, taking a step forward to pick at the nails, and see if you could get any of them out

In the end, it was just easier to let the companions handle it, let Momo pry one of the wooden planks right off of the wall, creating just enough space to tuck and roll into the apartment

Falling right onto your ass onto tile flooring was not the most pleasant of feelings, but you definitely think that nothing could beat the horror of the sewers.

“This is where she’s living?” Doc smiles a little more to himself, peering through the wood before crawling his way into the flat. The boarded-up windows had just given off the wrong feeling, but the inside of the flat was lovely to look at. Plants by every window, a beautiful atmosphere, 

“It’s pretty”

“She got into decorating.” momo seemed amused with the thought “I’ve never seen any plants in her old flat”

“She hasn't been with us in so long..maybe her interests changed”

Passing through the doorway towards what seemed to be the main room, away from what seemed to be a kitchen, the cat was the first to be spooked, sinking their claws into the metal of your prosthetic, and you throw your hands up in the air, surprised

In another doorway away from the kitchen stands a woman with a hat atop her head, hair around her face, and a lamp raised between her arms, ready to swing it down. She looked furious , and the glow from her eyes made you very aware of how terrible a position you were in. Like you’d broken into her flat herself, which you had, and were intruding in on her space, which you definitely were.

“ WHO ARE YOU!? ” she waves the lamp towards you, and in a state of shock , you aren't even sure how to respond. You don't give your name ever, and the words to ask her who she was were stuck in your throat. With no answer, she slowly lowers the lamp, and looks around her, the glow of her eyes shining bright against the walls before she leans against one

“I thought you were sentin…know what? Never mind, it doesn’t matter. Who are you?”

“A scientist” you answer meekly, making a small gesture for the others to come closer, to look at her. She doesn't look anything like the photos youve seen of her, but if you had to guess…clementine’s flat, chances were this was clementine.

When Doc comes out from the hallway slowly, arms raised against his sides, and when Momo peeks his head around the corner, the girl gasps, dropping the lamp altogether. She walks forwards faster than her feet can carry her, and wraps her arms tightly around doc, Laughing hard “oh you idiots! You’re here! You really made it here! How? When? You saw Zar? How’s he doing? Better yet, how are y-”

“Sorry, but who are you?” doc questions, leaning away from the woman’s grasp, and with an incredulous look, she scoffs 

“You’re joking, right?”

“No?”

“ Clementine? That doesn’t ring any bells for you, Wire-head?”

“There’s no way that’s you” Momo comments, and with a wide grin, clementine moves closer to wrap her arms around momo, dragging him out from the little doorway while she chuckles

“Different, huh? Ridiculous, isn’t it?”

“Is it really you?” Momo laughs a short bit, wrapping an arm back around the girl while she smiles

“Of course it is. You can’t hear my voice?”

“Ah, my audio processors, y’know how it is…”

“You seriously depend on my face to know who I am? Momo , I know your audio processors aren’t that bad!” she chuckles, before waving an arm your way “okay, okay, okay, so, seems like you two found some new recruits? Gosh , I still can't believe Zar finally sent someone. I’ve been waiting for ages! So who is this?” when she points to you with a smile, Doc answers quietly

“This is uh…the soft one”

“...is that….a nickname? Have you gotten insufferable with them yet?” she looks your way “how irritating have they been?”

“No, it’s not a nickname” it seemed like it was a hard subject to explain for the other outsiders. But with a weak smile on his monitor, momo explains

“They’re a soft one. Our ancestor”

“They’re a what?”






____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

and now im opening up a poll! This is not an official design by any means, this is just for my personal use, for my own art, but go for it man, vote for whatever you want mc to look like, and majority vote wins LMAO

https://forms.gle/Sgrwu1DRkCUwLV2f7

Chapter Text

“A human” you state carefully, watching clementine as she stares at you, squinting

“That’s impossible. They died. They left us , and crawled off to whatever corner of hell they were left in,”

“I was preserved.” you don't want to upset her, nor do you mean to. But your presence sets her on edge, it seemed. 

“ Perserved ” she echoes with a snort “of course they did.”

“I’m the last one”

“ Good .” when you stare back at her, incredulous, clementine frowns “We’ve lived without the soft ones for our entire lives at this point. All humans did was make it harder for us . Their dumb inventions try to destroy my servos the first chance they get .”

“That’s not my fault”

“And yet, I doubt you tried to stop it. Far as the books go, humans were soft . Subservient. Made companions even more subservient to have something below them.”

“I don’t-” you scoff “that was not what you were ma-”

“It’s what it looked like. It’s what it still looks like. Even now, you’re looking down on me, arent you?” When you don’t answer immediately, Clementine smiles tightly “ exactly ” she turns on her heel, making the decision that she didn't want to look in your direction anymore, and leaves the space open to her friends “Well? How are the slums doing? ”

“I- eh-I’ m more curious about…this whole situation” Momo gestures vaguely at clementine, but her posture relaxing just showed she knew what he meant, and her attitude adjusts at the flip of a coin. 

“ This? This is to keep me safe , buddy.”

“Safe? Wha-”

“I’m being chased by police , guys” Clementine sighs, dragging a hand down the synthetic skin, before shaking her head, “you think I want to look like this? No , the second I can, this? This is gone ” she specifies, before gesturing in your direction “I don’t want to look like a soft one. The morons up here think it’s…that it’s some sort of sign of being better than everyone” she huffs a short puff of laughter “it’s awful ”

“But…” Momo sighs “the thing I don't get is- wouldn't you be recognized still? You haven't changed the way you dress?”

“You’d think, right? Some companions can only be so smart” she chuckles “as I said, it’s ridiculous. Some things they recognize and others they completely ignore.”

“Well, that lines up” you scoff

“What does?”

“Police being selective about what they notice.”

“So they're suck-ups to a dead race just like the rest of these bots” Clem sighs, shaking her head “Awesome. That’s just- that’s great ” she breathes out slowly, something she definitely didn't need to do. You wondered if it was a subconscious action. You want to know. You want to know a lot. You want to know what was different to them once they had a different head on their body.

You don't get the pleasure of that answer. Instead, to cool the situation off, Momo wraps an arm securely around the companion’s shoulders and speaks gently “hey, clem. How about you show me around?”

“And leave th-”

“C’mon, Clemmy, show me around midtown”

“And what are doc and his kid gonna do?”

“Hold down the fort” Momo’s screen lights up with a little smile, and clementine gives in after a moment of staring at him 

“Fine, but” she points at doc “don’t mess with my lamps. Especially not my lava lamps. I like those. It took forever to get them, doc, don’t open them” she specifies, in a bit more of a humored tone.

There's more and more to learn about the robots. Likes and dislikes, grudges and familial relationships, companionship and hatred. They were close to humans and hadn't stopped to notice it.

Maybe midtown robots were aware of that fact. Maybe that was why they held onto these android heads as a symbol of wealth.

Or maybe it was a class system.

You could always ask.

Later, of course. You could always ask later. Clementine gestures at you, and muses “Same goes for you. You’re…welcome to check things out but just don’t…mess with my things”

It was maybe moments after momo and Clementine had left that doc gestured at you loosely

“Let me take a look at your leg” Doc instructs, carefully. With a nod, you move around clementine’s main room, albeit with a limp and a stiff leg to find a place to sit where you could leave your leg up for inspection. You propped your leg up carefully with a short wince, and doc frowns

“That doesn't sound good.”

“It doesn't feel good either” you sigh “I’m just hoping it isn't infected”

“What do we do if it is?”

“I don’t know. Get up to the main control room as fast as possible” you frown

And so begins the inspection. Carefully, Doc removed a couple of the cloths acting as bandages around your limb, and stares at the awful mess that was the remainder of your flesh above the knee. He pokes and prods and moves your limb about, and then he’d stare at you, curious for how you would behave. The common reaction was a wince, and he’d go right back to poking and prodding and asking questions.

“How will I know if it was infected? It doesn’t look good”

“Uh...I don't think there's a good way to explain” you hold a hand to the side of your face “id say..if it’s more purple colored but that could just be bruising or…pooled up blood.” there really wasn't a great way to explain what you meant. But doc just continued to poke and prod and move around your leg and stare .

“It really causes you that much pain?” he questions “I know that the soft ones had a nervous system but…how can you still feel the pain in sections where your leg isn't ?”

“Phantom pain” you sigh “tricks the brain into recognizing that there's still a limb there, even if there isn't. It's all…senses stuff. The things that suck about being a soft one”

“I would have assumed being a soft one was not this difficult”

“It’s made more difficult this way. It wasn't this difficult before.” you blink, and paused, thinking it over “actually..no. It was a little worse. People truly just…they used each other as stepping stones”

The companion poked and prodded again, staring at you, and you realize he's doing just as you do. Investigating. Testing a theory, learning. He's doing the same things you would have, and what a weird realization that was. You don't bring it up to him. What would be the point in that? Interrupting an investigation.

You don't need to say anything, as it turns out. Doc starts the conversation for you. But it seems more like he was idly talking, instead of talking to you.

“I believe we’re lucky to be traveling with you.”

“Why, because I know what it was like before?” you snort “fat lot of good that does us”

Doc looks up like he’d been startled. Like you weren't supposed to have heard him, and there's this robotic warble before he shakes his head carefully “No. We’re lucky because you’re you. You’re a soft one. You’re a scientist. You’re weird-”

“Oh, wow. Thanks” you sigh a chuckle

“ You’re intriguing. ”

Something about the phrasing makes you shift your head away, unable to look at the robot, focusing on a plant placed neatly by a window. Intriguing? Intriguing? You were a lot of things. Was intriguing one of them? Something about the phrasing makes you take a little deeper of a breath

“Have I upset you?”

“No- No, it’s. Huh,” you pause “I don’t know. I don’t think I'm intriguing. There’s really not so much difference between us”

Doc blinks, shifting his gaze to the same plant you stared at before he hums, a garbled noise. 

“Then I’ll use a different word. Amazing . Phenomenal . Do those work better?”

This phrasing makes your head pound. You don’t understand why, initially. You don't understand it, why your face felt tight and felt like it was on fire. You hadn't felt like that in forever

“Does that work better?” Doc repeats

“I- I suppose” you refuse to look at the companion. Something about this made you feel like you couldn't look. Embarrassment, maybe. That's what the feeling was. It had been much too long since you'd felt proper embarrassment

“Good.” is the simple response, a little smile on the screen as he continues ever so calmly “You’re an enigma to us.”

Enigma . That was something you’d never been called before. A puzzling word.

“Oh,” you mumble. “I’m confusing to you?”

“You’re the most confusing being I’ve ever encountered” the phrasing. The way it's said. Once doc was done inspecting your leg, you sat up a short bit, and gaze back at the plants.

Momo and Clementine had returned shortly after Doc was done investigating your leg. You’re not sure how it looked to them, sitting practically shoulder to shoulder when they walked in, but there were a few short moments where Momo and clementine just stared at each other. Like they were making their minds up about something. And then it seemed like a staring contest until clementine turned her head away from him, just to bore her gaze down at you.

She has such a strong gaze that the eye contact set your nerves on fire for a moment before Momo grumbles at her.

“Just do it. Like we talked about, clem”

“ Fine ” clementine rasps, before gesturing at you, and then pointing down a hallway off into another room that you had been assuming was the restroom. “I need to talk to you. privately . “ 

You wouldn't pretend that your nerves weren’t still on fire when you stood up stiffly, and followed her into the restroom just a stiflly. Though, that was more from the click and release of your new leg. God, it was such a pain to figure out the timing. You've never had to think about the timing of when you bend your knee before. Now it was all you could think about when you walked if you didn't want to fall flat on your face.

Clementine stands there, shoulders raised, not looking at you. She instead stares at a plant sitting on a windowsill with this hard expression. Like she couldn't find the words she was apparently told to say. So you started for her, provided her with a place to jump off of.

“What did you need to talk to me about?”

“A lot. Apparently ” she blinks, and her head slowly cranes your way

“Well.” you pause “where did you want to start?

With a deep, garbled breath she didn't need to take, clementine wraps her arms around herself, an action of discomfort as she grumbles “About my behavior. I’ve been..being unfair to you . Judging, I guess”

“You guess?”

“ That’s what momo said to say ” she mutters, a little unsure. You smile weakly. She had been quick to judge, you supposed, but she wasn't in the wrong for it.

The humans had always been a faulty bunch, just like the companions were now . You couldn't possibly blame her for being upset at the situation she’d been left in.

You give her another jumping-off place, a friendly smile on your face

“I'm sorry humans left you behind. I don’t…think it was intended” it’s the closest to consoling you could give her. Clementine just frowns at the apology, head-turning once again to watch her plants.

“It doesn't change the fact that it happened. Your kind left us, died, and left us to pick up the zurk-infested pieces.”

“I know.”

Clementine was silent for a few moments before she continues talking “so why’d they preserve you ? Instead of some uppity…whatever?”

“I’m a scientist. I was studyi- well, I was trying to study zurks. Figure them out”

“And? Where did your studying lead you”

“To losing my leg to them.”

It pulls a laugh out of the robot before she shakes her head “well, if it makes you feel any better, you look cooler with one of our legs. I lost one of my arms. It happens”

“Where did it h-”

“Sewers. We had no clue where we were going and I got careless . Cocky . Went running into a room without thinking, popped a bunch of those nasty egg-things, and got knocked on my arse.”

“And you…did you see the e-”

“Yes. We can’t… really have nightmares as humans do, it’s just data screening behind the optics. I see them every time I’ve gotta recharge. Awful ”

“It sounds awful”

“It is.” she blinks, before she sighs  “I’m…sorry… ish for being hard on you. You say you had nothing to do with humans leaving us, and I’m gonna choose to believe it.”

“I was just trapped in ice, nothing I could do about it, no warning given”

“Fine.” Clementine pauses for a moment, staring at her hands, gazing over her digits before she stares at you. You feel like she’s staring through you. She still looks apologetic to some extent, but there was just this feeling of melancholy , if you had to guess. You couldn't even imagine what the companion had been through, what she may have had to do to get here, to get to midtown. To hold a grudge and then change her face to one that reminded her of her grudge? You couldn't even imagine.

After her moment of silence, her shoulders drop a small bit, relaxed as she sighs a short chuckle “We were both screwed over by humans then?”

“We were. That’s- that’s what I’ve been trying to say the whole time!” you laugh. When she shoots a confused look your way, you gesture between yourself and her with a growing grin “you’ve changed so much that you’re like humans. But , you’re something completely different! It’s- I can’t even say how fascinating it is”

With a raised eyebrow, Clementine looks at you. She stares. She's staring again and some part of you desperately wanted to look away from her, to look to her lofty bed, or one of the pretty plants in the window. Some part of your head was desperately making up excuses for why you could be suddenly uncomfortable with eye contact with a robot , coming up empty .

Then she laughs. She laughs, leaning backward a step as she laughs away. It’s a nice sound, you decide. It doesn’t sound like laughter , but it sounds elated . The un-translated sounds the companions made were amazing .

If anything, the companions were the enigma.

The outsiders were intriguing.

“ God , you and Doc must get along” Clementine laughs, setting a hand on your head, and she dares to mess up your hair with this amused grin on her face.

“Is there something wrong with that?”

“ No ” she shakes her head slowly, and removes her hand from your head, giving you a simple shrug “It’s endearing ”

Another new word you've never been called. You weren’t even sure how to decipher how being called that word made you feel. Weird. Weird might be the right word.

Decidedly done with her conversation privately with you, clementine gestures out through a doorway and sighs “Something I’ve gotta make sure everyone knows. I think that little one might be the only one capable of getting into the tight spaces, but uh…everyone should know”

“Getting outside is a team effort”

“That it is, soft one.” she stares for a moment more, squinting as if she were decided something before her head turns, her metal shoulders raise and clementine left through the hallway she’d gestured to. 

She walks with her head high, and you realize that she’d purposefully been relaxed with you.

What an enigma the outsiders were.

What a perfect word to describe them with.

Endearing.

You followed Clementine out of the room with a half-step behind her, and the first thing you realized was that Momo, Doc, Seamus, and even the little tabby cat had definitely been listening in. Hell, the little tabby cat’s head had been peeking around the corner like the devious little thing it was!

“Nothing’s changed then!” Clementine throws her hands in the air in mock offense “Privacy means jack-all!”

“Ohh, get off it, clem, we’re just making sure you don’t get into a brawl” Momo chuckles, moving away from where he had been leaning over the side of the wall to get a good look.

“As if I’d brawl this one?” Clementine retorts, shaking her head “ point is , you heard , I’ve got something to tell ya”

“The floor’s yours” Doc gestures loosely towards clementine, who rolls her eyes, all in good humor. The second thing you realize was that clementine had this air of confidence around her, constantly. She straightens up and gestures while she talks, using her hands to follow through with the motions her face couldn't properly express. For her hands to catch the fall the audio gave. To make up for the mistakes.

You’d help her change her face once the outside was accessible, you decided. She didn’t like the face, she didn't want the face, and she certainly deserved the choice it sounded like other companions had.

“In my time here, I’ve made some connections with some..questionable people. Most of ‘em don’t trust what we’re aiming for. No one believes the outside is an obtainable goal, except for this one fella. Now, I don't know his name, but I know what he looks like . He wears this-this obnoxious , gaudy get-up. Bomber jacket, gold chain and all” she chuckles, before she continues to gesture “point is, I need someone to get him, tell him the plan’s in motion. I’ve been planning to use that old subway station for a while. Obviously, it’s not in service right now, but all we need to power it is an atomic battery. Momo, Doc, you guys saw the Neco Corp factory, right? I know they’ve got one in there, I mean, they’ve got to.”

“Neco corp…I recognize that name” B-12 mutters from behind you, floating around your shoulder for a moment. The name jostles your thoughts as well, but you can’t pinpoint why. You knew it was an important part of business inside the walls back when humans were still here, but you couldn't remember what they did. Or what you did up here. Always following your mentor like a lost dog, the two of you worked on something up here, but what?

You hadn't even realized you'd forgotten some things as well. You thought it’d just been your mentor, but it was you as well.

Foggy.

“I’ve got this note for him” clementine explains, turning to you and the little tabby cat, before she hands it over to you “So that he’ll get it. That you’re with us. I don’t want him getting suspicious of you or anything”

She stares at you for a minute more before she blinks. “Maybe…pretend to be an android around him. I don’t know how he’d feel to know that…”

“That I exist still?”

“Yup. He believes in the outside and that you did exist, but..” she trails off with a shrug, before she smiles weakly “Now, I think it’s far past overdue for me and my buddies to catch up.” she turns on her heel to walk towards momo and Doc, trapping to two of them in another strong-armed hug “Now, you tell me everything! No more waiting!”

With a new mystery in your head, an eager-to-leave tabby cat and your mentor floating around between you and the little cat, the three of you had a new objective to find.

Find the weirdo with the bomber jacket and the gold chain and send him a message

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

AND, to finish off the chapter! A lil sketch of the mc you guys voted on! this mc is,once again, in no way canon,save for the goggles. Imagine mc however you like, but for any art purposes of my own, this will be their design!