Vincent and Livian were taking care of the garden when Skunk walked up behind them."You know, that Marionette girl is really pretty. She could be useful to make us money."
Vincent's eyes widened with both fear and anger. He slowly turned toward the pale man who had a sickening grin. "What do you mean by that?"
"Oh, you know, She could rob a bank for us, steal some jewelry from Metro City."
"NO! I WON'T LET YOU USE MARY-ANNE LIKE THAT!" Vincent screamed at him. Livian jumped back in fear, watching the two men argue about Marionette. She bit her lip and ran off, hoping no one saw her leave.
Livian ran past the forest and through a field, but stopped at the scrap heap. She looked around at all the discarded rusted robots laying in piles. She looked like she wanted to cry at the sight of the lifeless robots in pieces, but she shook her head and went back to running.
Astro casually walked around Metro City, just like Toby used to do in his free time, but noticed a frantic woman dressed in white and light purple running through the city. He quickly ran up to her and stopped her.
"Are you okay, ma'am?" He asked.
She looked at him in fear. "Um..." She looked around and shook her head.
"No... I need help please."
"What's wrong?"
"My daughter... She's in danger!"
"Danger? What's going on? Do you need my help finding her?"
"Y-yes please." She said shakily.
"Okay. Come with me." Astro took her hand and ran with her to look for Marionette.
Vincent couldn't believe that his own partner would betray him like this.
"You... You betrayed me."
"Well, I wouldn't say betray, I was just thinking that she could make us rich."
"Yeah, that's exactly what the Smiths did back at the studio! They became so rich and powerful using her and now look at what happened! Something horrible happened, and they suddenly abandoned her!"
He looked down at his feet and breathed heavily, feeling a lot of anxiety now.
"I'm not gonna use her for evil. I'm not gonna use her at all. I got her back so my family could be at peace. My grandfathers and so forth told me over and over that she is very important to the family, and they would not rest until shenwas brought back!"
Skunk looked at Vincent, feeling indifferent.
"We need money."
"No, YOU need money, but I'm not giving you any because you wanna use it for unimportant things!"
Skunk scowled at Vincent with fire in his eyes.
"It IS for something important!"
He charged at Vincent and punched him in the face, causing him to lose his balance and fall to the ground. He coughed up some dust and spit out some blood. Vincent glared back at Skunk, ready to tear him apart.
"You are gonna take her over my dead body!"
Marionette suddenly awoke to yelling in the distance and wandered through the halls. She looked around as she heard Vincent's voice shouting, sounding like he was in agony.
"Hello?" She called out. No answer. She walked by the garden in the backyard. From the corner of her eye, she barely noticed a man attacking another man. She walked backward and gasped when she saw who it was.
Her eyes widened in horror as she saw Skunk plunge something sharp into Vincent, causing him to collapse to the ground. Skunk turned his head to see if anyone was watching, and he smirked when he noticed Marionette in the window, a look of horror plastered across her face.
He walked toward the castle as Vincent reached out to him.
"COME BACK, YOU COWARD! I'M NOT DONE WITH YOU YET!" Vincent screamed, using almost all of his energy he had left in him. Skunk ignored him. It was as if Vincent already didn't exist anymore. Vincent turned his gaze to the sky as he laid on the ground. He felt his life rapidly slipping away. He felt so helpless. So betrayed. He wanted to spend more time with Mary-Anne.
Mary-Anne. The doll his family spent centuries looking for. He smiled, knowing he finally got her back, not only for himself, but for his family. Now he feared the worst for her. Skunk was after her and there was nothing he could do to protect her because he was dying. Dying. He turned his head back to the castle. The castle his family inherited throughout the years.
He suddenly saw Atlas approach him quickly. He felt the robot hold his now cold hands. His vision began to blur now, but he spoke up, desperately pleading for Atlas to hear his last dying words.
"Protect...Mary-Anne. You must.. keep her safe."
"No no no no! Please don't do this! We can't lose you!"
"I'm sorry, Atlas. Promise me.. promise me you'll protect Mary-Anne... that you'll be a family."
"Yes. Yes, I promise." Atlas said, almost sobbing. He couldn't feel any tears, but he did feel his metal heart almost breaking.
Atlas witnessed his creator's eyes close and take his final breath. Altas lowered his head and stayed silent for a few seconds, but got startled by a sudden scream. It sounded a lot like Mary-Anne. He ran as fast as he could toward the castle.
Skunk approached Marionette with a smile grin. She hid behind Vincent's desk chair, but it was no use. Skunk was going to find her anyway. She stood back up and backed up against the wall.
"Stay back!" She warned him. He got closer to her anyway.
"I just wanna fix your memory. It won't hurt at all if you stay still!" He tried to grab her, but she avoided him and tried to run for the door, but he just barely managed to block her way.
"I know what you did! you MONSTER!"
"I don't know what you're talking about." Skunk said sarcastically with the smile glued to his face.
She curled up into a fetal position by the fireplace. The warm glow of the fire made the room look and feel like she was in Hell. She looked up pathetically at the man who looked down at her, the same smile the people at the studio used to give her. She hated it. That sickening smile. She hated everyone there, and she hated Skunk the most because he betrayed everyone in the castle, and there he was, about to treat her the same as when she was in her studio.
She suddenly found herself screaming for help, but she felt like it was no use.
Then...
Skunk grabbed her arm. Something in her suddenly snapped and she pushed him into the fireplace. The door opened, revealing Atlas, who rushed to her and hugged her. Holding her tightly as she kept her eyes on Skunk, who was now burning to death. His screams echoed through the room and down the hall. Atlas looked down at Marionette. He felt a new emotion he never felt before. Fear. He never expected her to do such a thing. He suddenly thought the innocent but traumatized robot girl he was programmed to parent melted away to reveal an entirely different robot now. He backed away a couple of steps. His eyes glued to her.
She slowly turned her head and looked back at him as tears of purple energy slowly trickled down her face and back into her chest.
"Mary-Anne?... What did you do?"
