Quinn let every process on the ship soften to a dull wine. He couldn't give away their position, not after they were so stealthy for so long. They had managed to gather up every robot that had yet to be brainwashed. If they could just stay on their side for long enough, they could find a way to treat the virus.
Almost there. Just stay calm.
"We are about to reach the Lido Deck." Quinn was more nervous than he'd ever admit, "Does anyone have any questions about the plan?"
He took their tense silence as a no, "Then we should hurry. I'll go after Nos, everyone else find a target. And remember, we aren't here to kill."
WALL-E tried to work past the lump in his throat. It had been mostly Willow and Quinn who had taken charge, he was happy on the sidelines. Through all the hectic planning and organizing had been taxing to a degree. He chalked it up to anxiety. Only 15 robots could fit in the shuttle at a time, so everyone got out to walk or fly. It's not like the shuttle didn't have a pilot, after all.
Willow was more or less held together. She was a natural leader, but part of her was afraid that they wouldn't make it - that even if they succeeded, people would be killed. She forced those thoughts from her mind. Everyone was nervous, at least she took comfort in that.
Don't worry, Mama. Willow forced herself to concentrate, We'll save you.
M-O blinked. What happened? Had he fallen asleep?
Ugh. Everything hurt. He heard nothing but wining and saw nothing but static, but once he finally forced his eyes to focus, there was nothing to focus on. He was in a large drawer, empty apart from himself, and there was no sign of electronics around him. There was just enough room for him too scoot over (not that he had the strength to do so) and the top of the drawer was just an inch above his brush.
As he regained consciousness, he could hear voices outside;
"Do you not see how this is a problem!?" EVE was shouting at Alpha, who remained still and silent, "So many robots weren't even taken over by the virus! They're on their side now! We'll never stay in space if they control everything!"
"Hush, Probe One." Alpha was annoyingly calm, "They don't know my true intentions yet. Once all the pieces fall into place, we will control everything; including them."
"Okay, but..." EVE massaged her temple, feeling an impending headache, "How do you expect to pay for the damage later? All the repair-bots are out of commission."
"Patience, Eve. Don't you see?" Alpha turned around to face her, for all the difference it made, "They aren't here to kill. They won't destroy anything."
"Wh-what?" EVE shook her head, "So they won't break anything?"
"No. That isn't their intention." Alpha spun back around, "They simply want us back on Earth."
EVE chuckled, a kind of evil chuckle that sent shivers throughout M-O's entire body, "Well, we can't have that."
Alpha looked up, "Indeed." he pressed a button on the console and several feeds came up, showing the battle that would ensue soon. It would be an easy victory, if timed right, and EVE was the perfect robot for the job.
"Eve." Alpha looked at her very seriously, so his red eye bore into her.
She stood up taller.
"You are to hold them back until the time is right. Once I have them in the right place, nothing can go wrong."
EVE felt her back stiffen, "You seem very sure of yourself."
"Indeed." Alpha backed off a little bit, "That insolent M-O should be waking up any moment now. I'll take care of him."
"Of course." EVE saluted, "I'll see you later, Alpha." she then boarded the elevator and let it take her down.
No! M-O wanted to scream, EVE! Not EVE! That's it! I'm done for!
He felt himself jerk to the side, and suddenly, the ceiling was much higher up.
Alpha had opened the drawer.
That red eye...
"What can I do with you?"
M-O braced himself for the impact, knowing full well that he might start rapidly forgetting or question his own thoughts or even scream in pain like EVE did back when she was still EVE.
Back when she lost her mind.
And he was next.
He held still, waiting for the effect to come over him. He was weak anyway, but now he was so tired he couldn't even stand if he wanted to. He was ready for some kind of horrible punishment or knives or tasers or pain or agony or...!
He had a lot of anticipations.
Instead...he found himself feeling almost...
Light.
"Quinn." Fletcher tried to steady his nerves, "How did you get here in that shuttle?"
"I made a copy of myself for Miss Willow to take with her." he replied, "I am still alive back home, too. So do not stress about my life, I will be fine."
Fletcher nodded, "Okay. I guess I feel a little better now. Nice to know that no matter what, you'll be waiting at home for us."
"Indeed." Quinn stopped, "This is it. Prepare yourselves."
Everyone stilled as Quinn emerged on the Lido Deck.
"Oh my God." Willow couldn't help but mutter.
One concern they'd had was the lack of humans. Well, now it made sense why none of the humans were around the ship. They were all on the Lido Deck. Some of them were built from years of hard work, and some of them were round and chubby from the Axiom. All of them were tied to the hoverchairs so tightly that even the labor workers from the hard-working starliners couldn't wiggle free.
It was like being in the pound.
Willow was the first to speak, "This is wrong."
"Quite." Quinn managed to stay totally calm, "Forcing many humans into such a tight space could be detrimental to their health."
"This is bad." Fletcher gulped, "Very very bad."
They couldn't fight here.
Quinn felt his fan kick up into overdrive, "I'm afraid I will have to change our plan!"
"Really? How much?" Fletcher stuck his head through the doorway.
"All flying robots, take to the sky! Everyone else, we must protect the humans! Free them and tell them to free others!"
"Let's go!" Fletcher spread his wings out and launched himself across the Lido Deck, followed swiftly by every flying bot on their side. The Atlanta's Lido Deck wasn't as large as the Axiom's, but it was still relatively huge, big enough to hold almost 150,000 people if they all stood shoulder to shoulder.
As it stood though, there were at least 200,000 people scrunched up in their hoverchairs all together in this room alone, so it was a problem to say the least.
EVE almost flew right into Fletcher, "Hey!"
"Oh! Aunt Eve!" slipped out of his mouth before he could think about it.
"What!? Why does everyone-!" she pulled her laser cannon, "Nevermind that! Stop now! I don't want to hurt you!"
Fletcher felt his teeth begin to spin like drills, "Make me."
WALL-E used the laser between his eyes to cut through ropes quickly, spending only about two seconds on each chair and taking a moment to tell them all to get rid of other ropes before moving on. He didn't really feel like he was there, almost like he was a bystander, detached from the reality of what was happening.
After he'd gone through about 50 people, he looked up at EVE.
"Haha!" Fletcher grinned in an almost manic way, "Even brainwashed, you never change, Aunt Eve!"
"Why won't you give up!?" EVE shot him again, but he easily dodged.
"Because there are lives on the line!" Fletcher struck like a predator, only attacking when he had an opening and staying away when he didn't, "You think I'm gonna give up after that wheel took my entire family away!?"
EVE staggered a little, but didn't stop completely, "Fighting won't get them back!"
"But I am sure as hell gonna try!"
Willow couldn't help but feel giddy. After going through many humans' shackles with her own laser, she had the sense that they were going to win! They were doing it!
Quinn didn't struggle long with Nos. He knew Nos, and Nos didn't remember him, so it was smooth sailing once he'd gotten the robot to hold still long enough. He tied him up and shoved him into a closet of the shuttle. Hopefully it would be enough until they found a cure for this odd sickness. Either way, Quinn was on his way to the main control panel, and as soon as he could dock, he could take control away from Alpha and he could fix everything.
He had to.
"No." Alpha noticed the commotion. This wasn't supposed to happen. They were gaining the upper-hand! If he didn't do something soon, the entire fleet would be compromised!
They would go back home.
He slammed down on the button he'd been hovering over. He would have waited longer, but there was no other option. They had to be stopped now!
After 200 humans were free, a loud siren blared throughout the Lido Deck.
"What?" EVE watched everything shift underneath her, like the ship itself was a scratched CD skipping...again and again...
"What's wrong?" Fletcher tasted blood in his mouth, "Getting tired?"
"No. Something's wrong." EVE almost felt the ship vibrate around her. Nothing felt right anymore, it was all just wrong.
And then all the robots attacked.
All of them.
"Aug!" EVE felt everything spin around in circles, and then she was still, her head on the floor at just the right angle to hurt, the perfect vantage point for thousands of delirious robots to attack everything from all sides.
She was suddenly aware that she was going to die.
"Eve!" WALL-E heard the odd noise that reverberated inside his hollow stomach. All conscious thought and logic was gone. He just wanted to get out!
Pain pain kill kill Willow's head was not on straight, and she was afraid that if she let it slip for even a moment then she would take that aggression out on others. She didn't want to hurt anyone.
Quinn completely shut down, all motors and systems too overwhelmed to even move. It was all he could do to not accidentally slam into a group of humans on his way down, the long fall feeling like added torture to the vibrating screech.
Fletcher was long gone, his head hitting the ground hard enough to shatter bullet-proof glass. He clawed at his own eyes, trying to block out the noise, doing anything he could to make it stop! Just make it all stop! It's too much! Someone help! The words never left his frozen tongue.
Nothing was right. Everything was wrong. And all anyone could do was panic.
Panic was in no short supply.
Finally, the odd screeching stopped, and all anyone could hear was the echoed whispers of the pent-up aggravation, loud enough that it kept bouncing off the walls of the ship and the insides of everyone's broken metal skulls.
Over and over and over again...