Reprise
The familiar sight of the mansion was a welcome one. Adam, Eve, and Arnold all gave a collective sigh of relief the moment the stepped out into the clearing.
One of the first things they noticed was the pike Robin had left on the front lawn to serve as a warning to deter the more hostile elements of the forest from trespassing on the land. Another unlucky machine had been added to the pike since they had been gone. Aside from the color scheme, it looked almost identical to the one Robin had slain near the cenote.
The trio passed the corpses by. Both Eve and Arnold ignored them completely, but Adam noticed something that the others did not. As they silently moved on, not bothering to question the self-explanatory, Adam took a closer look at the metal corpse.
He leaned forward and stroked the surface of the pod's rectangular body with his index finger. He felt a thin layer of frost covering the pod. This made no sense to him. It was insanely hot in the forest at all times. The humidity levels were also at absurd heights. However, this one dead pod seemed to be quite literally frozen and the ice covering its body showed no signs of melting anytime soon.
"Brother," Eve's voice rang out. "Are you coming?"
Adam backed away from the curious sight and promptly pushed up his glasses. "Right. Let us continue."
Arnold threw open the front door and stepped inside the dark entrance hall. He looked around but saw no signs of life inside. He immediately turned to the right and entered the dining room. Surely enough, Robin was sitting in his usual chair at the table, casually reading through an old book.
Robin's gaze slowly lifted from the book where he proceeded to stare at Arnold with a soul-piercing glare.
"Back so soon," he flatly inquired. "I hope you at least left that woman's head outside so her blood cannot stain the floors."
Arnold shifted uneasily after hearing Robin's expectations. The moment Arnold avoided eye contact before he even had the chance to utter a single word was when Robin had him completely figured out.
"You failed, didn't you?"
Luckily for Arnold, Adam came to his rescue. He stepped out of the entrance hall and entered the room with a more confident posture.
"I assure you that we had her back to the wall," Adam pridefully proclaimed. "Er, well, to a tree. However, we were met with an unexpected problem."
"What problem," asked Robin.
Adam recalled the events of earlier while he attempted to think of a way to explain it all to someone who was not there to see it unfold first hand. "We were attacked, by a demon."
Robin's reaction was about what Adam had expected. He merely lifted a brow in confusion, remaining quiet while Adam went on with his story.
"A demon who killed us. Several times, in fact," Adam continued, realizing how preposterous his story sounded. None the less, he pressed on with this bizarre tale. "We were unable to gain the upper hand on our own. We lack the tactical prowess to deal with such an adept fighter. At the moment, 2B is still fighting against the demon. We all agreed to retreat and ask for your aid."
With a blank expression, Robin merely rolled his eyes. He then lifted his head up and called out, allowing his voice to echo throughout this haunted mansion.
"Ghiaccio!"
The serpent soon answered Robin's call. He slithered his way out of the shadows and found his place on top of Robin's shoulders where he immediately glared at Adam, Eve, and Arnold. Seeing that his plan did not go over so well was a bit upsetting for the serpent.
He let out a cold sigh and responded to their presence. "Oh, look, Robin," he exclaimed with sarcasm that was obvious only to Robin. "Our friends are back. All three of them are completely alive and totally unharmed… What fucking luck!"
Arnold immediately gave the viper an apologetic bow. "Sorry, Ghiaccio! Were it up to me, we would still be out there fighting! It was these two who wished we retreat."
"Nobody likes a tattletale," Adam snickered.
"Yeah, Arnold! You asshole," Ghiaccio agreed. "You asshole! So, what the hell happened out there? Judging by what you just said, I'm guessing you don't have what's her face's head on that pike outside."
Adam explained the whole situation to them. He went largely uninterrupted apart from the few times in which Arnold chimed in to inform Ghiaccio that everything was under his control, but these claims were all met with a similar response. This insightful response advised Arnold to simply 'shut the fuck up.'
Once Adam had finished his spiel Ghiaccio sat quietly, thinking back on the nonsense he had just heard.
"So, let me get this crystal clear," Ghiaccio nonchalantly spoke out. "You guys got attacked out of nowhere by a demon who killed you all so fast; he felt the need to revive you just to wipe the forest floor with your sorry asses a couple more times? So, after a couple severe beatings, you decided to come back here where its safe, right?"
"That's pretty much it," Eve concluded.
"Talk about a bizarre adventure," the serpent murmured.
Ghiaccio then turned to Robin, clearly waiting for his insight into this new and very inconvenient problem.
Robin gestured to the door and spoke softly to the others in the room. "Leave us."
Nothing more needed to be said. Without a whisper of debate, Adam, Eve, and Arnold all retreated from the room, leaving Robin and Ghiaccio free to plot their fates.
Arnold returned to his room and immediately collapsed onto his bed. He looked toward the small window that gave him a narrow view of the world outside.
His mind raced as he began thinking up ways on how this situation could possibly be solved from that seemingly unstoppable demon to all of the heinous automatons that were operating both within and outside of the manor.
His eyes wandered to the ground. He glared at the vague outline of his shadow underneath the blue light shining in from the window. Arnold knew it was staring right back at him, silently laughing at his failure.
Gritting his teeth in rage, he lifted himself up off the bed and shouted at the aura of darkness that followed him wherever he went.
"Shut up!"
With their disposable allies gone, Ghiaccio waited for Robin's input on the situation. He quietly sat in his seat, tapping on the table over and over again.
After growing a bit bored with Robin's silence, Ghiaccio decided to make his own assessment.
"We got two options here. We can send them back with some made up strategy and hope they don't come back, or we can get involved and kick some ass."
"I fear that if we leave this situation alone it will only get worse," Robin argued. "I grow tired for these metal abominations running around. I want them out of our hair but I can say the same for this new threat that appears to be looming."
Ghiaccio shook his head, nearly losing himself in contemplation. "Nothing adds up. Why are we being attacked? Hell, are we even being attacked? Arnold and the others might have just found themselves at the wrong place at the wrong time. Shit like that happens, ya know."
"I won't deny that as a possibility," Robin agreed. "However, I would prefer not to wait and find out in the future when we might not be prepared for an attack from such a creature."
"So, what's the plan? You got a strategy in mind?"
Robin quickly shook his head in denial. "I do not have a strategy yet. However, I can ensure that you and I will be the only ones to survive the encounter. I will make absolutely certain that all of them will die. Of course, the choice is ultimately up to you. What will you have me do, Ghiaccio?"
For once, Ghiaccio did not have an immediate answer. He was left thinking for a while. Robin remained silent, waiting for the decision to be made.
Ghiaccio finally drew a long breath and gave his final answer. "Alright. Let's do it!"
After coming up with a proper plan to ensure their goals would be met, Ghiaccio and Robin split up. Ghiaccio slithered into the living room where Adam and Eve sat next to the fireplace which had not been used in quite some time.
Upon entry, he immediately gained the attention of the twins. All it took was a quick rattle of his tail to get them to turn their heads.
"Alright, boys. Before we do this, there's something we need to discuss."
"Certainly," Adam agreed. "I hope it has something to do with that human you said I would be allowed to study."
"You can dissect Lucina later," Ghiaccio retorted. "For now, just know that Arnold ain't gonna be around forever."
Ghiaccio noticed the blank stares he was getting. He rolled his eyes at the thought of having to explain what should be a pretty obvious hint, or at least in his mind.
"He's outlived his usefulness to us. He's a goddamn burden and I want him dead. You understand?"
Adam appeared rather shocked by this proclamation. "You want us to kill him," Adam inquired in a bewildered tone.
"Did I not make myself clear!? I said the kid's a burden! He's utterly useless! He's nothing but dead weight! Hell, I need no justification! Just do it! If you want us to help you capture Lucina for whatever creepy experiments you have in mind then you're gonna have to help us too. Just wait for my signal. When I give the word, I expect his head to roll that fucking instant!"
With that said, Ghiaccio promptly turned around and slithered right out of the room. Adam watched the snake with suspicion as he left.
Killing an android was not exactly a new concept for he and his brother. However, the thought that Ghiaccio would just up and decide to kill off one of his allies, and such a dedicated one at that, was concerning to say the very least.
Robin knocked on Arnold's door. It was the first place he bothered to check and sure enough, his hunch would be proven correct.
Arnold opened the door and poked his head out. He shuttered in nervousness at the sight of Robin's cold and ruthless glare. It was rare for them to meet alone in such a manner. Normally, Ghiaccio acted as a middle ground between the two of them.
Robin hardly ever felt the need to even acknowledge Arnold's existence, let alone socialize with him. Arnold had always wanted to reach more friendly terms with Robin, but after all of his failed attempts, such a task seemed impossible.
In an uncharacteristically meek tone, Arnold spoke to Robin to prevent this silence from continuing long enough to become awkward. "What's going on?"
"You ready?"
Arnold's face went pale at the thought of returning. It was all fun to talk about jumping back into the fray and slaying that demon, but knowing it was actually about to happen made him feel a little less confident. None the less, Arnold nodded his head. "Let me just go get my sword."
"Well, hurry up."
Everyone met back up in the entrance hall. Ghiaccio reclaimed his spot atop Robin's shoulders and examined his little group of followers. They all appeared either willing to die for him or simply wishing to cooperate. Either scenario is an obvious victory for him.
"Normally," Ghiaccio announced. "This would be the part where I give you guys some bad ass speech before we go fight the bad guys, but honestly..."
Ghiaccio let out a loud yawn right before he could finish that thought.
"Fuck that noise. Let's just go so we can get back." The serpent then turned back to face Robin. "You got anything you wanna add or are we good to go?"
"I believe we forgot to mention our change of plans in regards to what exactly we want to do with that 2B character that's been running around as of late."
Ghiaccio widened his eyes in remembrance. How could he possibly forget to mention that? He quickly nodded his head and kept quiet while Robin elaborated further.
"You all have probably already noticed the visitor Ghiaccio and I had while you were gone. Its corpse is currently resting on the pike outside. Before we destroyed it, though, the thing gave us some interesting information."
Robin hesitated after concluding that little introduction. Ghiaccio then perked right back up and took his place. "Apparently, there is something called a Black Box hidden away somewhere in her body. The thing is some sort of crazy powerful component that can act as a weapon of mass destruction when under the right circumstances. Naturally, I want this thing but I can't use it if she's dead. That's the downside."
Arnold scratched his head as he tried to wrap his brain around what he was hearing. It was an extremely simple concept, but the idea of leaving her alive simply did not register in his mind.
"So," he hesitantly spoke. "We can't kill her?"
"Yeah, that's what I'm wondering," Ghiaccio informed as he glinted at Robin. "What are we supposed to do about her. She'll put up a fight and it will be a pain in the ass to keep a robot restrained. I assume they've got some crazy strength and all that. How do we handle this."
"Simple," Robin interjected. "The biggest issue we face is her resistance as we try to capture her in order to obtain this highly explosive box, correct?"
"Well, duh! That's what I just said," Ghiaccio argued. "What I want to know is how do we minimize that resistance?"
Robin let out a disappointed sigh at Ghiaccio's reaction. "Then cut off all four of her limbs and remove her tongue so that she is unable to either fight back or argue."
Nobody responded to his proposal. Arnold especially looked rather nervous about the concept. He wanted her dead, turned to a limbless, mute doll that is still fully alive. He got a few mental images and they disturbed him greatly.
With such a vague proposal, he was able to visualize the results in great detail with his morbid and ever curious imagination. He did not dare protest the idea and if it would prove useful in the future, then he saw no logical reason to oppose it.
He glinted to Adam and Eve just to see their expressions. They remained just as quiet as him and their facades were as unreadable as always.
Ghiaccio let out a laugh which made him the first person to break the silence. "My man, Robin," the serpent proudly exclaimed. "So brutal! That's why we love you!"
"A rather draconian measure," Adam added with an oddly serene grin. "But it would definitely make the process of imprisoning her so much easier. The only thing I wish to know is what need do you have for such a device? What massive target are you trying to eradicate?"
"At the moment, I myself don't even know. That said, it's still better to have a huge fuck off bomb and not need it than the other way around."
"I suppose," Adam remarked.
He did not look entirely convinced, but Ghiaccio could care less about what made sense to that machine and what did not.
"How are we going to kill the demon," Arnold abruptly inquired. "We should be worried about that since it's clearly the bigger threat."
"Leave that part to me," Robin ordered. "I will command you so listen to what I say when I say it. Do not make me repeat myself out there because it could mean your life. It would be a real shame if you got yourself killed for some stupid mistake. Do not act on your own and do not question me. If you can refrain from doing all of that then success is all but assured."
"Then it's settled," Ghiaccio cheered, eager to finally be leaving. "At this point, we're just killing time. Let's get a move on! I'm ready to kill some demons and torture some robots!"
"Of course you are," Robin sighed.
"Are we really to engage with that demon again," asked Adam. "It did not chase us down despite knowing that we left. Perhaps it isn't as interested in us as it is in our other enemy. If this is the case, then why not let them kill each other?"
The more he listened to their plans, the more he began to question the necessity of getting involved even further with a conflict that was clearly between 2B and that odd demon.
"Have you not been listening at all," Ghiaccio snapped in frustration. "There are two reasons why we're going to get involved. One, I don't like it when people fight each other this close to my property without first getting my approval. Second, I want that bomb! That Black Box thingy alone is more than enough reason to ensure she lives."
"Do you fear this Black Box would become useless if she dies? Could we not find some other way to detonate it? Forcing her to cooperate will be a tricky task even if we cut off her limbs. She will never detonate it out of her own fruition simply because it will probably destroy her and help us."
"Don't question it," Arnold demanded. "No one knows better than these two."
"You're damn right," Ghiaccio agreed with pride. "Now, let's get going."
Robin immediately headed for the front door and pulled it open. Adam and Eve followed without hesitation.
Arnold went for his sword which was resting on the stairs. He picked it up and rushed after them.
Being the last to leave, he took one look around the entrance hall. He breathed in the stale air one last time and smiled at the decrepit interior.
He looked forward to returning home when this coming conflict was over.
A return to normalcy would be very much welcome once all of these demons and robots become a thing of the past.