Welcome back, everyone! There's quite a bit going on in this one. Some of you will love me, some of you will hate me, many of you will love AND hate me, and most of you won't give a shit and will just keep reading the story. I'm fine with all of the above. XD

Remember when I told you guys I posted that happy flipnote? Well, YouTuber Flipnote Hatena was nice and decided to put the flipnote on YouTube! What does this mean? No visual delay and better sound quality! One frame mysteriously goes missing, but that's because Sudomemo GIFs suck. So now, if you want, you guys can watch it with a lot less difficulty! Thanks Hatena!

Also, apparently Mal is a meme or something. It's been called smol, cinnamon roll, and even bot boi, among other things. Quick, go to the meme generator! XD

Okay, now to shut up and vomit a few words. Never mind the contradicting sentence.

Once they were in the workshop, Engineer made sure to oil every joint and every moving part on Mal's body. After a little bit of cleaning up, the robot was almost like new again. It experimentally waggled its digits and did a few squats, and it barely made any noise at all. It gave Engineer a double thumbs-up. "Thanks, Hardhat."

"Don't mention it," the Texan replied, beaming. "Oh, and while I have ya, I finally finished that system I was tellin' ya about. Gotta say, I'm sorry about the wait. There were quite a few kinks to work out, and I had to design a way for you to charge on top of it all."

Mal's head gave a short twitch, then the robot made a faint, consistent whirring noise. It hadn't done that in a while. Engineer frowned. "Mal, what's on your mind?"

The Scoutbot slowly reached up, tapping the side of its head with one metal finger. "I'll burn... right? Hardhat, I don't wanna die."

Engineer's frown softened somewhat. "And ya won't. You ain't gonna melt down unless I mess with your processor or try to hack into ya, and I ain't doin' neither. This won't cause any damage, I can promise ya that."

Mal looked up to meet the Texan's eyes. "...Ya sure?"

Engineer smiled. "Positive."

The Scoutbot seemed to process this a little longer, and the whirring came to an abrupt end. "...Alright."

Engineer's smile grew a little wider. "Now I'm gonna have to ask ya to shut yourself down while I do this. I have to remove your current fuel system to install the new one. Are ya alright with that?"

The logic made sense to Mal, so it nodded. "Yeah." The robot's eyes dimmed as it leaned into a slouch, idle. Then its engine died down, and the robot's gentle trembling eased to a stop. It was completely still.

Engineer found it strange to see Mal so motionless, almost unnerving. But he had a job to do, so he rubbed his hands together in anticipation and adjusted his hardhat. "Alrighty then. Time to get to work."

(...)

Mal came to an hour and a half later, and it immediately noticed the change. Normally its engine caused it to shake, which naturally affected its vision and calibration. That wasn't even mentioning the noise it made. But now, its vision wasn't shaking at all, it didn't have any motion to compensate for, and all it could hear was a quiet hum.

Engineer was giving the robot an expectant smile. "So, how is it? I went with electric."

Mal pushed itself into a sitting position- it had been laid on its back- and then got to its feet. It still felt like it didn't have a motor. It supposed it didn't? "...I feel good. I'm at a loss for words."

Engineer flashed the robot a toothy grin. "Your old fuel system's still there in case of emergencies, but I had to shrink it down to make room for the new one. Ya see that plate over your chest? I hid a small crank beneath it that's connected to a generator. Give it a few turns every five hours or so, and you're set. Oh, don't worry about it right now. You're charged."

Mal lifted the plate and saw that, embedded in its chest, there was a little knob. It almost looked like the ones on the stove, and there was a good chance that it might have belonged to a stove at one point.

The Scoutbot blankly stared at Engineer, not sure what to say. It remembered him causally throwing out the idea of a new fuel system a long time ago, sure, and it knew that he'd been working on it whenever he could. Even so, it hadn't actually expected him, or anyone, really, to do something so... thoughtful. It hadn't been lying; it was just about speechless.

Instead of using its words, Mal grasped Engineer's gloved hand in one of its own. Blinking, it placed its other hand just over its throat.

Engineer's lips twitched into a warm smile. "It was nothin'. I'm just glad ya like it."

Just then, Engineer's stomach growled, and he chuckled sheepishly. Mal quickly let go of his hand. "Gotta eat. I'll make somethin'."

"Oh, that's kind of ya to offer, but I'm sure I can whip somethin' up."

"No," Mal insisted. "I wanna make somethin'. Uh, hot dog?"

Engineer chuckled at that. "Are ya just sayin' that 'cause that's what ya picked up?"

"Uhh, no. Chicken, sandwich, egg, hot dog, ham, Bonk!, beer, salad, babes-"

"I don't think 'babes' is a food, son," Engineer said with a laugh, "but I get your point. Hot dog sounds great."

Mal laughed with him, and the two headed for the kitchen, where Medic was enjoying a hot coffee and a newspaper, although no one could say for sure where he got it from. Mal got as far as putting a raw hot dog on a plate, but after that it just stared at it dumbly.

"It ain't too hard," Engineer told it. "Just stick it in the microwave for a minute or so. If ya hear it sizzle, it's done. After that, put it in a bun, and you're all set."

"Oh, okay. Gotcha." The Texan mentioned that he liked his bun heated up, so it went in at the same time as the hot dog. Soon after, the hot dog, split and steaming as it was, was assembled and ready to eat. Both human and robot sat down at the table just as Medic got up to leave. Just before reaching the hallway, though, he unexpectedly stumbled back. He was quiet, taking a moment to process what happened. Then it hit him, and his eyes went wide.

"Zhere is a Spy in zhe base!"

Mal and Engineer jumped to their feet, one in surprise and the other in anger. "Damn Spybots! C'mon, it must've gone back down the hallway!"

The trio ran after the invisible robot, the humans with their wrench and bonesaw drawn, respectively. The stomping of their feet drew the attention of the other mercenaries, and soon everyone was flooding into the corridor with their various weapons of choice. They all shoved each other back and forth in their frenzy to find the Spybot, too frantic to even think about jumping. They soon realized that it wasn't working.

"Mal, ya gotta be our eyes!" Engineer yelled over the others' shouts.

The Scoutbot flinched from its position, sandwiched between Pyro and Soldier. "I... I can't. C-C-Can't see Spy."

"Engineer said you told him there was no Spy!" Sniper accused it. "Whoi didn't ya say ya couldn't even see the bloody thing, ya useless machine?!"

"Hit da roadddd, dickbag!" Mal snapped back.

"We don't have time for this!" Engineer shouted over them. "Mal, go get your bat!" Shooting one last glare at Sniper, Mal ran towards the Resupply Rooms, leaving the mercs to find the Spybot on their own for the time being.

Mal ran past the kitchen, slamming into the wall as it made a sharp right turn. Once in Resupply, it all but leaped over the counter, digging around amongst the piles of cash in the hopes of finding its weapon.

C'mon, c'mon, where is it?! I know it was over here!

"You're looking in zhe wrong room," Medic said from behind it. Shrieking, Mal whipped around, nearly overbalancing and falling over.

"Medic! Ya scar-da me!" Then, the Scoutbot's eyes started to dim. "Da freakin' Medic's a Spy!"

The doctor scoffed at the robot. "I'm not zhe Spy, dummkopf! Look!" To prove his point, he jumped. "I just came to tell you zhat your bat is in zhe left Resupply Room."

Now that it realized that Medic wasn't a Spybot, Mal relaxed somewhat. "Oh. Thanks, doc." The Scoutbot climbed back over the counter and ran past Medic, and suddenly found that its limbs weren't moving the way they were supposed to.

What... what...?

The robot's body started shuddering, and warnings popped up all over its vision. It tried to call out to Medic for help, but even its voice box refused to work, spitting static whenever it tried to speak. All the while, its power kept getting lower and lower. 90 percent, 70, 40, 10...

The last thing Mal saw before shutting down completely was Medic's triumphant grin.

(...)

While Mal was off to retrieve its bat, the mercenaries continued to scour the hallway. Absolutely nothing was turning up. That is, until one of them heard a muffled banging sound. Sniper was the first to find the source, tracking the sound to Medic's infirmary. He tried the door, but it was locked. He tried slamming his shoulder against it, but it wouldn't budge. "Guys! I think it's in here!"

Pretty soon, everyone was putting their weight against the door. It creaked in agony, then finally gave way, leaving the mercenaries to pile into the room, almost landing on top of a wild-eyed Medic.

"It's about time, schweinhunds! Zhere's a Spybot, and ve-"

"We know," Engineer replied, a look of dumbfounded confusion on his face. "You're the one who told us."

"It vasn't me!" the doctor shouted in a surprisingly high-pitched voice. "I've been locked in here for a few hours, at least! Hurry, everyvun! Ve must find zhe Spybot!"

"Shit," Scout suddenly murmured, going pale. "Guys, has Mal come back yet?"

"Who cares about zhe Scoutbot?!" Medic shrieked. "Ve must find zhe Spybot!"

But Engineer wasn't hearing any of it. He'd seen Medic- or the Spybot- turn back with the excuse of searching elsewhere for the invisible robot. It must have gone after Mal. Panicked, he ran back down the hallway, making a mad dash for one of the Resupply Rooms. When he discovered the robot wasn't there, he ran to the other one. Still no Scoutbot. He searched the entire base for it, but he knew it was hopeless. Scoutbots just couldn't hide like Spybots could. When he met up with the other mercs, a lump started to form in his throat.

"Mal's... Malakai's gone."

Hybrid Housewife.

So, Medic was the Spybot all along! Or was he? Who did you think the Spybot was? Why? Did you think it was a red herring? Tell me what you all thought! I absolutely love hearing from you guys!