Author's Note: SORRY THIS TOOK SO LONG ;o; I HAD A NASTY RUN-IN WITH SOME ALLERGY MEDICATION AND BECAME SOMEWHAT OF A ROBOT MYSELF FOR A DAY OR TWO
OH, THE IRONY
DKSLJDKSLAHDSJK I HOPE THIS ISN'T AWFUL
I have honestly LOST the ability to tell ^_^"
ENJOYYY
Chapter Nine
Standing. Facing a door built into the wall of a subway tunnel.
"Ready?"
Spine looked around at them, at their determined, conflicted faces.
They nodded.
Edged closer to the door.
Closer.
Closer.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Rabbit looked up to see Professor walk into the room. He nudged Paige, who was still secured facing the wall. But there was no need- she'd heard the footsteps too.
They knew what he was going to say, knew before he even opened his mouth. He said it anyway.
"They're here."
Rabbit and Paige were perfectly still- listening closely, waiting for a sound, any sound...
There was a perfect silence.
Then, Professor turned sharply on his heel. Whistled.
A group of men- armed with machine guns- flooded out of a room.
"Ready?"
They men lifted their guns.
Paige took a deep breath, turning her head the most she could.
"How about you, Rabbit?" she whispered. "Ready?"
"As I'll ever be." he responded, "Which... which isn't m-m-much, honestly."
"Come on." Paige murmured. "We can do this. They can do this. You'll see."
Rabbit nodded, trying to believe her.
The tension was unbearable, almost tangible in the cold lab air...
And then-
Clink-clink... clink...
A small, round object bounced into the room, coming to spin at the men's feet.
They looked down at it. A simple penny. Why...?
And then explosions sounded at the entrance, the racket of booby traps going off. Smoke poured from the narrow hallway leading from the entrance door-
Two shapes, barely visible in the cloud, emerged from the darkness-
RATATATATATATATATATATATAT-
Gunshots, so many gunshots- all aimed at the figures in the smoke, the figures Rabbit knew to be Spine and Hatchworth. A scream fell from his lips- there was no way they could survive that, no way-
Paige heard Rabbit's scream and assumed the worst-
All at once, it stopped. The final clink of shells falling to the floor echoed. Bated breath as the smoke cleared.
But to everyone's confusion- and Rabbit's relief- the figures were not his friends. They were simple automatons, just frames on wheels with sheets draped over. Riddled with bullet holes, yet still ticking-?
"BOMB!" someone shouted, they all hit the floor as the figures exploded.
Blazing light flooded the room. Smoke followed. Confusion and chaos, shouts and scattered gunshots-
Yet suddenly, when Rabbit opened his eyes, Professor was next to the machine.
"I know you're there!" he shouted. His finger was on the button. "Now reveal yourselves- or your friends die."
When the smoke cleared, Rabbit saw them. Saw Spine, hat low on his head and gun in hand. Saw Hatchworth behind him, a canon protruding from his arm. A rush of feeling left him lightheaded.
"The Spine! Hatchworth!" he called.
Paige gasped. "Brianna-?"
"SHUT UP!" Professor snapped. Then, he turned back to the intruders, a smile on his face. "Stand down." he told the men stirring on the ground. Most of them had been knocked out.
"Rabbit?" Spine breathed, incredulous. He had caught a glimpse of copper, the faint traces of a voice. The hand holding his gun started to shake.
"Keep it together!" Hatchworth hissed.
"Well, well." Professor grinned like a shark. "Welcome! Now, don't give me those dirty looks- you are my guests here, after all. Very important guests."
"Let them go, and we'll let you walk." Spine said, voice trembling with rage. "Simple as that."
"Oh, but there's so much to discuss!" Professor urged-
"While Rabbit and Paige are under those spikes, there's nothing to discuss." Spine hissed. "Let them go, and we'll let you walk."
"What, this thing?" Professor said innocently, laying a hand on the death machine. "It's just a precaution, don't worry-"
"Step AWAY from it!" Spine shouted, lifting his gun. It wasn't quite a gun, in fact- it came from inside his arm, linked to his core. A single bullet would be deadly.
"Whoa, now!" Professor said, holding up his hands. "Careful with that! Someone might get hurt."
Spine didn't budge.
Professor's eyes narrowed. "Right to the point, then? Alright; if you extract one of your weapons hand it over, then I'll leave you alone. I will leave and never come back. How does that sound?"
For a just a second, Rabbit panicked. "Don't do it!" he called. "Please, Spine!"
Professor turned to him with burning eyes. "Shut up."
"Of course not." Spine responded. He took a step forward, gritting his teeth. "You know our answer. Now, if you don't leave, I'm going to shoot you."
"Not a very good idea!" Professor warned. "I have my finger on this button. I just have to press it once, and these spikes will tear into your friends." His grin spread. "Can you hear it, Spine? The crunch of metal, your friend's delicious screams? Thrashing about like trussed-up pigs-"
Shhhk
All of a sudden, a sword was at his neck.
"Ah. Brianna." Professor said. He didn't seem worried. "I'm glad you've returned. Now, why don't you go stand over there with your allies?"
"Brianna?" Paige cried, struggling to look around.
Brianna's eyes narrowed. "I'm going to cut your throat to ribbons."
"Not a very good idea, either." Professor said. "I have insurance. Someone who will activate this machine wirelessly if I die. It cannot be stopped once it has started. So I'll only say this once more- why don't you go stand with your allies?"
Brianna choked back despair, disappointment. The sound of her shoes as she walked back to the others was heavy, leaden.
"Good, good." Professor rubbed his neck, a smile returning to his face. "Now, what do you say? Do we have a deal?"
Spine tensed, at a loss for what to do.
He couldn't do it. If he said no, Rabbit would die. Rabbit would die. They seemed unreal in his mind, those awful words- but it was painfully real, real and in front of him.
Yet if he said yes, then Rabbit would never forgive him- and he would never forgive himself. No, the choice was obvious here. But it hurt. It hurt more than anything ever had.
He looked towards Brianna, finding her in the same state. That was her sister under those spikes, after all.
Spine felt a sharp, unbearable pain take hold of his mind. His knees wobbled.
Rabbit.
"No." he whispered.
Professor blinked. He seemed genuinely surprised. "No?" he echoed.
Spine forced his head up, forced his eyes to lock onto Rabbit's. Rabbit nodded, tears gathering in his eyes.
Tears came to Spine's eyes as well, and now his whole body was shaking. "Never."
"That," Professor said, shaking his head, "Is a shame."
"Close your eyes, Paige." Rabbit whispered, reaching for her hand.
"I'll miss you." she whispered back, lacing her fingers with his.
And then, Professor pressed the button.
Spine shouted something unintelligible, throwing himself forward- unbridled panic in his eyes-
A deafening creak of the machine-
A cold laugh-
The crunch of pierced metal-
And-
a-
CRACK
Paige's eyes snapped open. Not- dead?
"Rabbit!" she hissed. "Rabbit!"
Rabbit's heart was still in his throat, and he looked around. "What-?"
Hatchworth was standing by them. His wrench was wedged in between the roof of spikes and the surface under it. Lead dripped from his hand.
"SPINE!" he roared. "ATTACK!"
Spine absorbed his panic, feeling it spread through his body, and then channeled it into anger. Energy. The gun in his hand.
He raised it and fired.
Professor ducked. "Tsk, tsk,- careful with that!" he scolded. "Someone might get hurt, you know!"
"SHUT UP!" Spine shouted.
Meanwhile, Hatchworth drew an electric circular saw from his pocket. It spun to life with a whirring scream.
Rabbit and Paige flinched at the sound as Hatchworth pressed down. Finally, there was a clink- falling chains- and they were free?
But not quite. The spikes had already dug into them- not very deep, but reaching their pain receptors.
"I'm going to have to pull this up." Hatchworth said. "Are you ready?"
Rabbit's eyes widened. "Hatchworth, wait-!"
Hatchworth poured tremendous energy into his arms, wrenching it up-
Rabbit and Paige screamed-
And then, all at once, it was over. Hatchworth grabbed their hands, pulling them into a sitting position.
Rabbit winced as he forced himself to his feet. "S-s-spine-!"
"No!" Hatchworth said sternly. "Rabbit, Paige, you are damaged and almost out of power. Just run."
"We can't!" Paige cried. "We've got to fight!"
Hatchworth shook his head. "You can't fight. Just look at the state of you!"
"If I have leaned anything f-f-from this, Hatchworth," Rabbit stuttered unflinchingly, "It's that we stick together."
Hatchworth gave him a long look, and then bowed his head. "If you want to stay, stay. But this goes for both of you- stay out of the way, understood?"
They nodded. "Come on." Rabbit whispered to Paige, giving one last backwards glance. The Spine was a blur of limbs and gunshots. Like a true war machine.
Rabbit shivered as Paige grabbed his arm and pulled him away.
Spine fought on.
Professor had found his gun somewhere along the way, and now they exchanged fire.
Spine leapt back, diving behind an overturned table. "There's no way you can win!" he shouted. "You'll be out of ammo soon!"
"I wouldn't be so sure."
"If you get shot just once, you're dead!"
"Well, fortunately, I don't plan on getting shot today."
He heard Professor's shoes click over the floor as he approached. Finding himself out of options, Spine stood and fired.
Professor ducked and ran forward- Spine swung his fist at him-
And hit a hard surface. A bullet-proof vest... of course.
Professor grabbed his arm and pulled him down. Spine fell to the ground but twisted, aiming upwards- shot and missed, as Professor dropped to the ground-
CRACK
Gunshots echoed off the walls, and Spine pulled himself to his feet again. He truly had become a frightening sight- his black coat swirled around him vengefully, and rage darkened his face. He strode forward-
But suddenly, Professor was reaching into his pocket. A button-?
He pressed down, and a metallic voice sounded.
"Warning. 30 seconds until fatal shock."
Spine looked around and froze for a second, confused. What...?
A faint beeping noise reached his ears, so he turned to see where it was coming from- and his heart dropped.
Rabbit and Paige were looking down, startled, as their metal collars flashed red.
"GET OUT OF THE RANGE OF THE LAB TRANSMITTERS!" Brianna yelled. "GO! GO!"
Paige grabbed Rabbit's hand and half-dragged him towards the lab door. But he was going to slow- his body was too damaged-
But Spine was suddenly there, swooping past and grabbing Rabbit as they ran, threw themselves at the open laboratory door- kept running- down the subway tunnel- up the stairs-
When they burst out of the lab and into the cold night air, the red finally faded from Rabbit and Paige's collars. There was a collective sigh of relief- but it didn't last long.
The Professor had followed, rising up from the subway and standing before them. He smiled.
"I told you!" Spine shouted, fists curling. "You can't win! We're outside now. There are five of us. You're done."
"Just walk away!" Hatchworth pleaded. "It's the reasonable thing to do!"
"Reason?" Professor hissed. In the dim light from the lampposts, they could see his face descend into a new madness. "How can you ask me to reason when YOU CAN'T THINK?!"
A few men trickled from the subway tunnel behind him, machine guns at the ready.
"When you DON'T HAVE FEELINGS?!" Professor raved.
Spine looked around at the soldiers. Things weren't looking so good now, and his stomach turned.
"When you are JUST AS BAD AS THE DISGUSTING HUMANS WHO POLLUTE THIS WORLD!"
"Look, calm down." Hatchworth urged. "We can fix this. We can-"
"OH, NO YOU DON'T!" Professor ranted. "IT'S FAR, FAR TOO LATE FOR THAT!"
An unholy grin ripped across his face.
"FIRE!"
A volley of bullets, and the automatons dropped to the ground.
Spine darted forward, letting out a roar- but Professor grabbed him, and with an incredible strength picked him up, spun, threw him. Spine fell, crashing down the subway stairs.
"SPINE!" Brianna shouted. She ran after him, but then the bullets peppered the ground around her and she stumbled- dodged-
But then one of them dug past her leg, and the electronics slowed. The ground rushed up to meet her.
"Brianna, no!" Paige turned to go after her- but halfway there, she heard a click and stopped. A man was standing in front of her, holding a gun to her head at point-blank range.
The last man emerged from the shadows, pointing a gun at Hatchworth's head.
Rabbit stood still, face frozen in bewilderment. A blank confusion.
Is this really it? he thought. His mind was numb. Are we going to die here?
"Well, well!" Professor cackled. "This is a surprise, isn't it?"
A silence. He giggled again.
"Such a pleasant surprise!"
"Not really."
Professor whirled.
Spine had climbed back up the stairs, holding his gun pointed straight at Professor. He wiped a trickle of lead from his mouth.
"Oho!" Professor said softly, "Would you look at that!"
Spine's eyes narrowed.
"That was quite the fall, wasn't it?"
"Call your men off, or I shoot you."
Professor sighed. "Such awful manners!"
Spine's face hardened. "You're insane."
"Haven't you ever considered," Professor replied, "That I might be the sane one, and all of you are crazy?"
"Then I'd rather stay crazy."
"But WHY?!" Professor shouted. His face twisted. "What's the POINT?! You're automatons! You don't FEEL!"
"That's a lie!" Spine growled. "That's a dirty lie, and you know it. Why else would you hold them hostage? You KNOW!"
"YOU'RE PROGRAMMED THINGS!" Professor spat. "You- can't- FEEL! It's IMPOSSIBLE!"
"LOOK AT ME!" Spine roared. "Do I look impossible to you?"
Professor's face reddened. "IMPOSSIBLE!" he babbled. "Impossible! That's impossible! You're lying! They all lie! That's what the humans do- they lie and cheat and steal!"
"That's what you're doing!"
"NO!" Professor yelled. "I'm not like them. I'm not like them. I'm not." He grinned. "I'm not-"
"DAMN RIGHT YOU'RE NOT!" Spine shouted. "YOU'RE A MACHINE!"
Professor howled. "MACHINE?!" His head shook wildly. "YOU'RE the machines! Ha! Ridiculous!"
"You might be flesh and blood," Spine said, voice shaking, "but you are mechanical."
"What?" Professor snarled.
"That's right." Spine gritted his teeth. "You are nothing but a machine. You have no love, no sympathy, no caring. You act because you have programmed yourself to. Your blood is warm, but your heart is cold. Metal."
"How DARE you?!" Professor sputtered. "The very thought!"
"Now, I will ask you one... last... time." Spine said. His voice was dangerously low, almost inaudible. "Call off your men, or I am going to-"
BAM
Spine's eyes flew open. It took him a moment to understand.
There had been one more man, lying in wait by the stairs. One more. One more man with a gun.
Spine stumbled.
The man had missed his mark, but Spine was still hit. A hole sizzed in his abdomen.
Spine put a hand to the wound, and when he lifted it away it was stained with lead.
"Oh." he said.
The Spine collapsed, falling to his knees on the concrete. His body shook with spasms.
"SPINE!" Rabbit cried, oil streaming down his rusty cheeks. "NOOOOOOOOOOO!"
"I'm sorry, Rabbit." Spine choked out. He coughed, and droplets of lead flew from his coal-black lips. "I... I couldn't do it. I couldn't save-"
"DON'T MOVE, DON'T TALK!" Rabbit wailed. "STAY STILL, THE SPINE!"
Spine found that he had no other choice. His limb-processors were rebooting.
"AHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAAA!" Professor laughed madly, nails scraping down the sides of his face. "MARVELOUS, MARVELOUS! HAHA!"
Rabbit looked around at his friends, letting his eyes trail slowly over each and every one of them.
Brianna, admittedly, he didn't know very well.
Hatchworth, whose thick eyebrows now knitted together in worry under his hat. He'd always been a fixer, a healer, and his deep laugh could make anything right.
Paige. A flame of bravery with sparks of fear, all mixed together into a colorful whirlwind of feeling. Now she walked the narrow tightrope of her mind, arms trembling as if she were about to burst.
Spine. Always there for him, with his soothing voice and smooth words. The velvety smell of his long, silky coat. Now his eyes were soft, soft and forgiving as they always had been- all those times, all those late nights when starlight shone from the windows and Rabbit felt like his world was falling apart. All those late, late nights.
All the unbearable, beautiful humanity.
And now, under the same sea of stars, Rabbit looked down at his hands. His clumsy, good-for-nothing hands.
He understood that they could both create and destroy, that the very things used to build could be used to damage.
He understood that it was over- and that it wasn't.
That no matter how much he changed, he would never break. Could never break.
Because he had made a promise, a promise to two different people. A promise that now gripped him, made the night ten times colder, made the moon seem to fade.
And now the love inside him was overpowering the hate, the courage was overcoming the fear, and the power to create and destroy swirled around each other like clouds.
I love them. he realized. I love every single one of them, so much. I love them and it hurts.
And... and I promised.
"WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR, RABBIT?" Professor jeered. "ARE YOU GOING TO MAKE YOUR MOVE?!"
Rabbit loved them all. He loved them so much. It filled him. Made his consciousness tangible. Made his core warm.
There was a sharp click. The crickets seemed to stop their song.
Lit by the moonlight and the stars, surrounded by frigid night and lukewarm wind, eyes wide and filled with all the love and humanity in the world, Rabbit raised his laser and pointed it at the professor.
