This chapter's What If is...

What if WX-78 decided not to help Webber during Wilson's assassination attempts, and in fact, decided to help Wilson instead. Webber managed to break away with his life, but just barely. They didn't realize then that they just made a new, very powerful enemy, and neither of them are sure they can finish the job...

Webber's POV

We ran as fast and far as we could. We knew that, of all of us, we were the fastest, and only maybe a charged WX could catch up. Luckily, lightning did not break the sky, and we knew that they would not be able to find us. Wilson's been a bit nutty lately, I reminded myself. But we never expected WX to try and kill us too!

We kept running until our legs couldn't hold us up any longer, and we collapsed from exhaustion. Did they follow us? The area was completely silent, and we let out a breath we didn't know we were holding. We let ourself drift off into an uneasy slumber.

We woke early the next morning, our fur heavy with dew. Our legs were on fire, and our neck wound still pulsed blood. We were dizzy from tiredness despite our rest, and we did not want to get up again. However, our stomach had other ideas, and soon, we were forced to struggle to our feet. Even if we really tried, we knew we couldn't hunt, and our only hope of finding something to eat was perhaps foraging for berries. However, when we finally managed to find food, we fell once more before we could even get anywhere near the berries. Maybe we should just rest for awhile...

Wilson's POV

"What!? You lost him?" I demanded.

WX did not look up to meet my glare, but I could sense the faintest hint of guilt in his facial expression. "HE'S FASTER THAN US," he mumbled after a few minutes.

Much as I hated to admit it, he was right. Slowly, little by little, I began to feel like my old self, and reality crashed into me, the weight of what I had done heavy on my shoulders. "What did we just do?" I croaked.

"I DON'T KNOW," he replied simply. "UM... WENT A BIT OVERBOARD... PERHAPS... I THINK..."

"Ugh," I face-palmed. "You know he will never forgive us, right?"

He nodded, looking troubled.

"And that he probably has an entire spider army at his command?"

"OR HE'S DEAD," his bluntness shocked me. "YOU DID GET HIM PRETTY GOOD IN THE THROAT." He mumbled something under his breath.

"What?"

"YOU SHOULD'VE AIMED FOR THE EYES," he smirked darkly.

"Whoa, watch it. You know-"

"OH FOR CRYING- SARCASM, DIP-WAD. LEARN IT."

Things I never thought I would hear WX say

1) Dip-wad

"Oh... haha?"

He gave me an annoyed glare. "ARE WE GOING TO FIND HIM OR STAND HERE ALL DAY GOSSIPING?"

2) Gossiping

"Oh, right." I blinked and shook my head to clear it. "Because, you know, if we don't, someone will die."

No sooner than when I said the words did he suddenly leap up on the wooden thing and sat there, staring at me with a bored expression. He said nothing for several minutes.

"What... are you doing...?"

"WAITING FOR YOU."

"But I was... you know what? Nevermind." I stepped forwards and grabbed his wrist, yanking him off of his perch. "Come on."

Webber's POV

Our whole body felt like a giant bruise. We could hardly move at first, let alone sit up and look around, or even open our eyes for that matter. It wasn't until something alarmingly furry brushed against our hand did we pull away and blink open our eyes. It was so dark, we could hardly see. Water dripped somewhere close by, and underneath us was a warm, soft substance, pleasantly stringy and sticky. It took us less than a minute to figure out where we were, even with our buzzing thoughts, but it still came as a surprise to see a certain dangling depths dweller watching patiently close by.

"Hmm, someone looks surprised," the white-furred spider, Erika, commented. "What happened to you?"

We didn't even bother to answer her, but instead asked our own question. "Why- when- h-how did we get here?"

She gave a sort of huffing noise. "Just because we live underground doesn't mean we don't know any surface spiders, Webber. I'd be very justified if I was offended right now." Her expression softened. "You're lucky I know you." She then added: "Let me guess, another run-in with a rock lobster?" with a cheeky grin, her pinkish-red eyes glowing with a teasing humor.

"U-um, n-no, we don't think so..."

"Well," she prompted after another few moments of staring at one another. "What was powerful enough to take down the fantastic Erika's brother?"

We continued staring at her, mouth agape in shock. "Y-you know about that? Did we dream the same thing?"

She gently butted our hand, purring. "That wasn't the point of the question, but yes... am I at least right?"

We nodded a single time. "But to answer your earlier question..." We shuddered, and she instantly pressed against our thigh, as though offering comfort. "We thought we could trust them, Erika. We thought..."

"Who?" She asked gently.

"Our friends," I spat bitterly. "They betrayed us."

Her eyes widened in surprise. "Even the robot? He seemed really concerned about you last time..."

"Well he did," I sniped, then instantly felt guilty for being rude. "Sorry."

"It's alright," she murmured. "I-I've never known what it's like to have friends betray me... I can't imagine how horrible it would feel." She ran a claw gently down the patched wound on our neck. "Did they do that to you?" We nodded slowly, and she sighed. "Can you stand?"

We nodded again, assuming we felt so much pain because of our mental state instead of our physical state. Erika offered to help us up, but we rejected it and struggled to our feet ourself. She looked only slightly relieved. We were dizzy for a moment as the blood rushed to our head.

She took a step back, examining the length of our body. "Was that the only wound?" She asked.

"Yes," I replied quietly.

She visibly relaxed. "Come on. I know a place you can relax until you regain your strength."

…

Puffing, we shot up a tree, examining the ground below. Our claws were short, but well-trained and curled into the bark. We calmed slightly as we realized the rustling we heard was only from a rabbit, mindlessly nibbling on the leaves of a bush. We're not ready to fight them... not yet, anyway. We let out chest expand with fresh air, then launched down to land on it, snapping its spine to effectively paralyze it, then formed a thin slice in its throat, blood spilling out of the wound to stain its normally brown fur. The smell of meat mixed with blood tempted our senses, but we weren't savage. We brushed the dirt off of our knees then scrabbled back up the tree awkwardly, one of our hands taken holding the rabbit. Walking was easier, but going from tree-to-tree was safer. We retracted our claws, trying not to leave marks on the fragile branches and weaved up and around the forest.

It was quite a nice day out, but some part of us felt ominously chilly. We shook our head slowly to clear it. We couldn't think too hard. We might bring back bad memories. Suddenly, we stopped, nearly shooting off of the branch with our speed. We didn't realize we had come so far. Up ahead, we knew, the forest would thin out and beyond that... we flinched away with a snarl. Taking off in a different direction, trying to get as far away as possible. By the time we were back at the sinkhole, our heart was pounding, and we knew it was not from the trip back.

We stiffened at the sound of voices. Was it them? It had been... maybe three weeks since we last saw them. Night was falling, but we no longer cared. The beast hadn't bothered us since we fled. Stiff with fear and rage, we rose a few more branches, clinging to the darkest bark we could find and hoping it was enough to hide our black fur.

"WHY ARE YOU SO JUMPY?" We flinched hearing WX exclaim, but relaxed as we realized it was directed at Wilson, not us.

"Why are you not?" He protested. "It's creepy here."

The footsteps stopped for a second, and we held our breath, trying not to disturb the new leaves around us. "ARE YOU REALLY STILL WORRIED ABOUT WEBBER?" We nearly fell off the branch as we heard our name.

"It's not that..." They started walking again, the darkness obscuring everything but the small orb of light produced by a torch, which they both stood in. Only WX was holding a spear. The branch creaked and quivered, and WX's gaze shot up. We could tell that, despite his frustration at Wilson, he was cautious about us too. With a stifled yelp of alarm, it snapped and we plummeted to the forest floor, lying stunned right in front of the two people who- the last time they saw us- tried to kill us.

We shook it off and scrambled to our feet as quickly as possible, stepping slowly backwards to the safety of a nearby tree.

"You're alive?" Wilson croaked. "Webber, is that really you?" He took a step towards us but stopped himself. He must have seen anger and hatred burning in our eyes.

"Leave us alone," I snarled.

"WEBBER-" WX cut himself off as our gaze snapped to him.

"What? Was driving us away not enough? Are you trying to finish the job?" We felt a stab of pity as we remembered these were once our friends. We reached back and scored our claws down the trunk of the nearest tree, preparing to climb it. The rabbit was long forgotten.

WX took a few cautious moves towards us, and when he was close enough we lunged forward and ripped the spear out of his grasp, hitting him in the chest with the butt of it, and throwing it at Wilson, trying to shoo him away. We met WX's sorrowful gaze. "This has nothing to do with him anymore..." I snarled. "The quarrel was always between us, wasn't it? We thought that we were friends, but obviously we were wrong." We flashed a look at Wilson, seeing the spear had buried itself deep in his shoulder, the jerked our eyes to WX. "Don't you have anything to say for yourself?"

"I WOULD," he admitted. "BUT I DON'T THINK ANYTHING I COULD SAY WOULD CHANGE YOUR MIND... YOU WANT TO KILL US, DON'T YOU?"

"You can hardly blame us." Wilson collapsed, blood pumping out of his wound, but we didn't even look."

WX looked at his companion, seeming to understand there was nothing he could do for him and ripping the bloody spear away and aiming it at us. He seemed... sad.

He darted forward to stab us, but we dodged neatly out of the way with a twirl to face him. He flipped around, shocked. We knew our claws weren't going to do anything. There were others weapons we had to hurt him though. He leaped again, but as we were about to dodge, he turned suddenly and buried the spear deep into our chest. Agonizing pain washed over our senses, and we fell on our back against our will.

Slowly, WX tore it out of our chest and gave us a... funny look. "IT DIDN'T HAVE TO BE THIS WAY," he murmured quietly.

We tried to reply, but all that we managed to do was whimper.

"I'M SORRY IT DID..." He grimaced. "I'M SORRY..." With a quick stabbing motion, he stuck the point into our neck.