Chapter 18: Full Moon

Hammerface hummed to himself as he flipped to the last page of the guide he'd been reading, sitting on the first step of the house. It was his last day, and Gantu would be there for him soon. Despite the family's worry for him being alone outside, he'd insisted on staying out...mostly because it'd just be easier for Gantu to pick him up.

A distant thudding came from the path leading up to the house, soon followed by the large shadow of the former Federation captain. Hammerface looked up and promptly cocked his head, turning it to the side for a better look.

Gantu had clearly stopped to get the week's groceries on the way, as he was trying-as best he could-to hold onto several large bags overflowing with food. Hammerface could see 625's sandwich supplies and a total of five baguettes sticking out from the bags, along with several packages of meat and fish pressed up against the sides.

He stared at Gantu as he walked up, putting the book on the step beside him and quizzically raising an eyebrow. "Uhh...do you need help with those?"

Gantu shook his head, "Technically yes, but I'd like you to not carry these after what you were here for."

Hammerface sighed, "Fine. Lemme give this back to Lilo first."

The trip back to the house was silent at first, but it wasn't long before Gantu started up an awkward conversation with the tool experiment.

"So...there's new rules about you doing work around my ship. That stuff's my territory now, alright?"

"We already went over this…"

"Yeah, but I want you away from work for a bit. You can still cook, but not without someone else for example. Maybe teach the other three-Heat still seems to think he can just heat things in his hands."

"Again?"

"Yes."

"Oh god."

Gantu sighed, frowning at the surrounding forest, "There's a reason for that. I'm sure you know why…"

The experiment grew solemn at the thought; just from the small visits the other three had made, things had turned shaky at the ship. If anything, they'd seemed to almost regress back to how they'd been when they were first activated.

He frowned, concern rising up within him. "I didn't. Not until that thing was taken out. And now, it's funny-I almost feel like staying with the family, like you giving me up would be a good idea."

"But it's not."

"No. And I'd be abandoning them while I was at it."

Gantu glanced at him in worry, "You sure you're okay to come back? Jumba and Nani said you could stay a week more if you wanted."

Hammerface nodded, his expression somber, "Yeah, I have to fix this, otherwise things there are gonna keep getting worse."

"Well, you're right, I just don't want you to start neglecting yourself again."

"That's understandable…"

"Alright, you go and have your reunion, I'm putting all this in the fridge, hopefully 625 hasn't ruined it again." Gantu said, leaving Hammerface alone in the front entrance.

He drew in a breath and crossed his arms, feeling his stomach clench in apprehension; things had deteriorated here, that was certain-and worse, it seemed he didn't even know the full extent of it…

"Okay, come on, you can handle this…" He said to himself, his voice a low whisper against the hum of machinery above.

Making his way down the hall was surprisingly difficult-he'd forgotten how big the ship truly was, and only found his way to the experiments' room from the loud conversations emanating from it. He paused outside, closing his eyes and trying to calm himself. How would they react to him? How had things changed? And was anyone new added?

No-scratch that last one, Nosy'd never let him hear the end of it if that happened…

He slowly opened the door to total silence. Everyone inside was staring at him, looking equally as nervous as he was. However, it was only a moment before the silence was broken by excited screaming and shouting; Hammerface was swarmed by near everyone-and a certain pink 6-series who crashed into him with enough force to knock him to the floor.

"Augh-Angel, get off of me!" he yelped, but he didn't need to, as Angel was lifted off him by a grinning Fudgy and Felix...the former of which wrapped him in her own embrace. Hammerface could see she was crying, drops of chocolate streaming down her face as she sniffled, "Hey, w-welcome back..."

He couldn't help but tear up himself, returning the hug and not caring about getting completely covered in chocolate-this was rare for Fudgy for obvious reasons, so he wouldn't let it go to waste.

"It's good to be here again...I mean-not this hell situation, but-"

"We know! We're just happy you're okay!" Angel exclaimed, "And I'm...I'm sorry…"

"Oh, that's fine Angel. I understand." He said. He instinctively reached out to pat her head, but stopped and looked at his chocolate-covered hand, "Ah-sorry-lemme just...wash this off…"

Fudgy snorted at seeing her handiwork, "Heh-sorry about that, it's just you got back and, you know…"

He nodded, "Yeah. I'm glad I could come back to you in here."

But, this thought was soon overtaken by something odd; no Heat, no Thresher, and no Plasmoid.

No Zap either, but maybe he was with Plasmoid.

Angel's ears drooped, seeing his expression change as he realized this, "Oh...Hammerface, Plasmoid's walkin' around the clearing with Zap, but Heat and Thresher are…" She scratched the back of her head and pointed up to the top level, "They're...well, I think you should talk with them once you get all the chocolate off…"

"Ih-you should, Thresher especially's been kind of off ever since you left." Tank added, "Not that he talks about it, but still."

Hammerface nodded, "Okay, thanks you two. I uh…" He looked around at the group before Nosy and Fibber cut in, "We're gonna be backup-we know a bit more about them, but you've gotta talk with them on your own." The former said, "Let's just say that Angel and Tank are right on this…"

He gulped, nodding in agreement…

The sound of the elevator had alerted the two experiments to his presence, as the top level was all but abandoned when he entered. Hammerface looked around in dismay; this place was one unwelcome sight by now…

It was dusty and rather dirty up here, now that he'd been away from it for so long. A small pile of rags stood in the corner, and he vaguely recognized them as the same bedding they'd slept in when they were first activated. Hammerface's nose was too hard to wrinkle, so he curled his lip in disgust at the sight instead.

A small brushing sound caught his attention, and his vision was drawn to the shuttle as a silhouette disappeared from view within it. Hammerface gave no indication he'd seen them; he hadn't told either that he had near 360 degree vision to go with twisting his neck, so he hadn't even had to look up to catch them.

He silently made his way over to the elevator, pressing the button on the inside and watching it travel up, then back down.

It was only a few seconds before the trick worked, as he saw the two start to climb out of the shuttle's hull, only to freeze upon seeing him. Their expressions were guilty, and they hunched up nervously at the sight of him.

He sighed, feeling his stomach tense up again, "It's alright guys, I just need to talk to you for a bit. Can you come down please?"

They paused for a moment before doing so; Hammerface could see the extent of Thresher's injury now-he was using his tentacles to lower and steady himself on the ground, Heat standing by in case things went wrong. His antenna drooped at the sight; Thresher had several torn muscles and ligaments in his leg from rather accident-prone clones, and it wasn't very noticeable until he had to jump or run-or steady himself like now.

The two slowly made their way over to him, and he could see they were refusing to look directly at him. Understandable, but still saddening; it was no wonder Nosy and Fibber had offered to be backup…

The three stood in silence for a moment, Heat tugging at the antenna on his arm and glancing around nervously and Thresher studying the floor.

Hammerface drew in an anxious breath before starting, "About...what I did...I want you to head downstairs with me, first off, this place is filthy, but I want to let you know right now that I'm sorry for what I started doing and…"

The two remained silent at this, but Hammerface caught Thresher peeking up from the floor. He continued, "Please, just come down okay? It's not comfortable up here, this is where I would go to-"

The two nodded immediately at this statement, Heat sniffing and rubbing an eye. Hammerface noticed they looked puffy-not like he'd been crying, but as though he'd been getting allergies from the dust. He placed a hand on the 6-series' shoulder, "Come on, it's gonna be okay, but we have to talk."

The two let him lead them to the elevator, Nosy and Fibber stepping back to give the group some room as they entered. Even so, Hammerface couldn't help but question Nosy. "Hey, we got any allergy meds in here?"

"Oh, um-yeah, we do…" Nosy's ears flattened at seeing the reason Hammerface was asking, "I'm gonna go and get 'em then."

Hammerface nodded as he led the two to a room. It was Gantu's entertainment center-not theirs, but his, complete with a half-finished bottle of water next to a huge chair and a communication center. Hammerface set the two up on the floor before sitting down himself and beginning the talk.

"Okay, now that we're out of there, please. You two, I want to know what is going on; I'm not...going to freak out again-please don't worry about that…"

They remained silent at first, but it wasn't long before Hammerface saw a tear hit the floor from Thresher as his voice broke, "W...why'd you do that? At all? It was really-" He coughed and for the first time, raised his eyestalks to look at him properly.

He didn't speak again, and the three sat in silence for a few moments. Hammerface clasped his hands together, thinking to himself before continuing, "I...I have no excuse, and you two have every right to be scared and not trust me anymore. I went out of bounds and worse, I don't even quite understand when it started going the way it did. That program I had was old and I thought I could control it. But I couldn't, and I didn't realize it had such a horrible effect-not just on me, but on you. Nosy told me about Angel as well and…"

"...And, if the two of you-and Plasmoid-feel like breaking off from me is best, then please-do that. I didn't mean to hurt you, but I did anyways. And that's-that's my biggest failure now. Hurting myself for you when what you really needed was my support." He finished, now feeling his own tear streak down the side of his face. He clenched his teeth and quickly wiped it away, watching them for a response.

He waited a while before he suddenly felt a pair of tentacles go to hug him, their owner giving him a sad grimace, "We don't-we don't want you to leave, it's just…"

"It was really scary and we didn't wanna say anything!" Heat blurted out, now crying himself, "We didn't know and-and-"

"We didn't know how to come up to you and you wouldn't even look at us or you'd give some kind of excuse and-" He broke off into quiet sobs as the 0-series watched them in silence; maybe it was the mood, but Hammerface suddenly had a good idea of why Heat was typically silent when crying-he sounded like a particularly depressed Earth cat and it was evident he was aware of the effect of that kind of noise…

He walked over and hugged the 6-series, Heat returning it and burying his face in his fur, "God-just, I'm so sorry you two…"

"Like I said, it's okay if-"

"NO! Just...just please don't hurt yourself for us and…" Heat's voice was strained as he lifted his face out of the 0-series' fur, "And-well, this is from Plasmoid, but we don't want you to treat us like kids anymore…"

"Ah…" Hammerface closed his eyes a moment, "I...that's hard, you are kids to me; we're twenty years apart and it's...difficult to look at you as anything but. But...I'm gonna try; I'm not sneaking around planning things behind your backs again. That was wrong of me-and Sparky too."

For the first time since he'd found the two at the top level, Heat and Thresher's faces lit up slightly, "So, you're gonna let us in from now on?"

"I'm going to try. I'm not gonna hide things from you anymore."

Heat smiled, hugging the older experiment along with Thresher. Hammerface returned it, feeling tears well up in his eyes again…

...That was, before a new voice entered the room.

"Hammerface?"

He raised his eyes to see Plasmoid standing in the doorway, his ears drooping and a sad look on his normally smug face. Upon seeing the plasma experiment, Hammerface reached out a hand, beckoning him to join in on the hug.

Plasmoid scuttled forward and pressed up against the older experiment. Unlike Heat and Thresher, his face was sad at first glance, but cold upon closer inspection. He gave him a hard stare before starting his questions.

"You're not killing yourself for us anymore?"

"No."

"And I can retire the dinosaur nicknames?"

"If you want, I'm gonna try and let you in from now on."

"I'm gonna take that as a yes then, so they're officially retired-for now."

Heat snorted and broke off the hug along with Thresher, ruffling the hairs on Plasmoid's head and picking him up, "Why not permanently?"

"Well, I need to see it first before I can do that."

Hammerface laughed, "Okay, then I'm going to tell you about what happened when I was staying there. Is that a start?"

"Good enough, just don't infodump like Nosy."

"I heard that!" Nosy's voice rang out from the hallway as he pushed open the door, a bottle of pills in his hand, "Anyways-here-Heat, take these, I don't want you gettin' allergies from that top level."

"'Kay, thanks Nosy." Heat took the bottle and squinted at it, rubbing an eye and sniffling quietly. Nosy quizzically looked between the four of them, "Soooo, Gantu and a few others are takin' over dinner tonight, you four good to eat or…?"

Hammerface looked between the later series, who all nodded in confirmation, "Yeah, I think we are Nosy, thanks for telling us."

A pink blur met Hammerface as he came to the kitchen, having taken a shower prior-being covered in chocolate, tears, and snot had required it, and it jumped up and down excitedly before wrapping him in a tight hug.

"I did it! I cut up a pomegranate!" Angel shouted, taking his arms and waving them as she proceeded to start dancing. Hammerface looked to her in confusion before she explained, "They're a huge bitch to open but I did it! Sparky taught me and his method worked!"

"Ah…" He smiled, "I'm sorry, I don't know what these are, but if you're happy about them, then that's good Angel. Just...maybe let go of my hands so I can head into the kitchen?"

"Aw-sorry! I'm just really happy you're not weird anymore too." She said, grinning to him, "By the way, we got some extra special stuff for tonight, so I really hope you like it."

Hammerface shrugged, "It's just good to be back here Angel, food or not."

"Don't say that, here!" She reached out a hand, "I can speedwalk you there, I really think you'll like what we got tonight!"

"Alright, fine, just go easy. Heat told me the horror stories."

He didn't look up immediately as he was walked into the room, but the smell told him all he needed to know before he got a proper look.

The table was completely covered in food; there was so much, Hammerface couldn't even see some of the plates underneath. There were burgers from 625 and Gantu, roasted potatoes (probably from Felix), salad, a huge bowl of fruit, grilled chicken, the list went on…

"I...I thought this was just for the week…" He said in disbelief, lifting a finger and pointing to the table in shock, "I…"

"Some of it was, but there's almost 20 of us here anyways, so we figured to go all out this time...and it's January, they were having some sales to get rid of their Christmas junk." Gantu explained, "Plus, I wanted you to have a better victory feast than the one you got last time."

Before Hammerface could respond, he felt a bowl shoved into his chest. Looking down revealed a gigantic mound of dark red and pink seeds. He looked to Angel in confusion, but she instantly explained herself, "These are the seeds I was talking about, they're gonna go out of season soon, so these are some of the last ones we're getting and I really want you to try 'em-"

"Okay, that's enough Angel! He gets it and he can serve himself, right?" Nosy called from the table, heaping a large amount of potatoes into a paper plate.

Angel pouted, "Awww, fine…I'll take 'em back to the table then…"

Hammerface snorted, "I'll have some, just let me get a plate first, okay?"

Nosy was quiet during dinner-or at least, more quiet than usual, and for good reason.

His friend was talkative tonight.

It was the first time he'd seen Hammerface as energetic as he was; the gray experiment seemed almost hyper as he told the rest of them about his time at the house. They'd been present for a few of these adventures-like the talent show for instance-but the rest, neither him nor Fibber had been there and well, he felt hopeful. For the first time since the four's diagnoses, Nosy finally felt hopeful.

Not that they could bust out anytime soon, but they were closer now-much closer. And it was for two simple reasons.

One, his friend was better now.

Two? Bonnie and Clyde now knew they were in here...