Chapter 22: Reunion
"A direct hit!" Balrog boasted aloud, looking at the two unconscious robots laying at his feet. He was delighted to finally get back at the male in particular; three defeats at his hands were seriously hurting his pride.
Misery teleported into the area behind him and gave the soldiers a visual inspection. Her mouth was curled in a perpetual frown, like usual, but her eyes didn't display the same level of malice. Balrog was a bit confused to see her like this.
"Well done, Balrog. At last you managed to do something right. Hm… fighting them directly has proved to be a chore so far. If we leave them here, they'll continue to be a thorn in the Master's side."
"What's the plan, then? Are we gonna take 'em both out?"
"…"
The witch continued to stare at the two, observing their various injuries from the fight with that rabid Mimiga girl. They were clearly more formidable than she'd initially given them credit for. Maybe even strong enough to defeat the Doctor…
"No. I have a better idea. I'll send them to the Labyrinth, where they'll be stuck. Think about it this way, Balrog. Either they remain trapped down there until the day they die, or they 'somehow' manage to escape. In the latter case… we have a chance to break our curse at last."
Balrog grinned eagerly.
"Win-win for us, huh? I like the way you think."
"Of course you do. And just to make this more fun… I'm sending you with them."
"What-"
Before he had a chance to object, a blue light emitted from Misery's staff. He and the two robots vanished instantly, leaving her alone. The witch smiled to herself once Balrog was gone. After living as long as she had under the service of the Demon Crown and its owners, she'd learned to appreciate the simpler pleasures.
As she transported them to the Labyrinth, however, she sensed an unusual presence at their destination for a few moments. The magical resonance wasn't nearly as powerful as her own, but it was distinct enough to be noticed. It almost felt… familiar.
Misery shrugged off the thought and teleported herself back to the Doctor's base of operations. She'd been away long enough as it was.
Quote jolted awake, feeling an odd coldness all around him. The very air seemed much thicker now, and he was standing limply with his head and arms hanging toward the ground. A seriously uncomfortable weight was spreading through his body, though what it was didn't strike him until he opened his mouth and felt a sudden rush of something frigid.
He was underwater.
Panicking, the soldier realized that he had no idea how to swim. His robotic body was too heavy to float, it seemed, so all he could do was shuffle along on the ground and hold his breath, trying to find a way up. Due to the murkiness around him he couldn't tell how deep it was.
With the surprise of his location, he'd accidentally gotten quite a bit of water into his mouth. That wasn't all, however; more of it was seeping into his body through any small opening it could find. He definitely wasn't built to be submerged like this. Quote could feel himself growing dizzy, and suspected that if he didn't find a way out soon the water would overrun his inner systems.
Something could be heard splashing behind him, and before he could turn to find out what it was he felt a strong grip pulling on the back of his shirt. He was being dragged out of the water, though by what was unclear. After a few moments his head breached the surface, and he was hauled onto a muddy bank.
Feeling the liquid slosh around uncomfortably inside him, he opened his eyes to get a better look at where he was. Another cave, predictably, but one far darker than any he'd been in beforehand. The body of water he was just submerged in was revealed to be a small pond, one barely any deeper than his own height by the looks of it. All around him, sturdy-looking rock pillars and what appeared to be metal girders were sticking out of the walls.
As curious as to where he was or how he'd gotten there, he was even more so about what had rescued him from drowning. Quote looked over his shoulder and was met by the sight of a small rectangular face staring back at him, colored light blue-gray with short antennae extending upwards from the sides. A pair of round red lights for eyes peered back at him, while various metal plates arranged themselves into a smile. The robot's body was just as angular as his head.
"Quote! Thank goodness, you're alright!"
"Malco?! What are you doing here? Where are we?"
It had felt like such a long time since he was in the Bushlands that he almost didn't recognize his guide… until he began speaking, that is. Quote had been wondering where he'd gone; after Jenka sent him and Curly to find her dog, Malco had shut down and wasn't heard from again.
Wait a minute…
"Curly!" he exclaimed aloud, jumping to his feet to look for her.
"Ah, worry not! You two landed in the water over there, but she's perfectly fine."
Like the other robot had said, she was visible in the shallow water nearby and still completely submerged. He took a step toward her, intending to drag her out, but Malco put a hand in front of him to suggest otherwise.
"Look closely! She doesn't need to worry about the water!"
Indeed, as she pulled herself onto the bank with them, a semi-transparent bubble shrank itself down around her until it had vanished. Upon closer observation, she was hardly even wet at all. She collapsed again on the mud, laying on her stomach. Her leg was still mending itself nicely.
"Fascinating… I wasn't aware you had an Air Tank."
"A what?" the two soldiers said in unison.
Malco walked to her side and knelt down. Without any hesitation or even a warning, he pulled the back of her tank top up to give them both a look at what was underneath.
Quote realized two things about Curly in that moment. First: despite their lack of blood as machines, she was capable of blushing. A good portion of her face had reddened in color from some mysterious source, sharply contrasting to her otherwise pure white exterior. She had an embarrassed grimace as she meekly tried to pull her shirt down again. Second: her back wasn't as uniformly smooth as he'd assumed. There was a noticeable indent in it, implanted in which was a cylindrical gray device with a small red stripe. He absentmindedly felt around his own back beneath his shirt, and sure enough a similar indent was there. However, he didn't seem to have anything in it like her.
"See that? It's a soldier-model Air Tank! I recall seeing those among members of Retrieval Team 9. They're very helpful, and activate on contact with large water bodies so your circuits won't be flooded."
It was clear that Curly had only been half-listening to him as she finally succeeded in covering her back with her shirt. Her face was still quite red, not that Malco realized.
"About that," Quote replied, "I got some water into my body before you dragged me out. Should I be worried?"
"Considering you weren't submerged for very long, it should steadily drain out of you before your internal systems can suffer much damage. Aside from that, what have I missed while offline? How did you two get down here? Did Cthulhu bring you here as well?"
Quote filled him in on everything: their search for the dog, their encounter with the Doctor, and the deaths of King and Toroko. By the time he was finished, Malco's head drooped and he emitted a saddened beeping sound. Curly, meanwhile, was completely silent again.
"How unfortunate… well, we have to stop the Doctor. That much is clear, right?"
"Yes. Hold on… did you say Cthulhu brought you here?"
The robot tilted his head in slight confusion at the question.
"Correct. Have you met him? Green hood, orange body, somewhat reptilian in-"
"We know, we saw him in the Sand Zone. How did you meet him in Bushlands, though? There's no way he could have crossed all the way there in such a short time, not even with the teleporter."
They stood there without saying a word for a few seconds, trying to process it. Quote didn't have a viable answer at the moment, and Malco seemed likewise.
"He didn't mention either of you… regardless, he did something with his hands in front of me. The next thing I knew, I was down here in the Labyrinth, as he called it."
The soldier wondered how he himself could have been sent there. He remembered hearing a faint "Huzzah" before being knocked out. If Balrog had been the one to attack, then…
"I think the witch Misery warped us here, then. We need to find a way back to Mimiga Village. Is there an exit?"
Malco gestured behind them to a large metal door, tightly shut.
"I've analyzed our surroundings already. That appears to be the only way out of here, and it's made of too strong a material to be blown up with our current armaments. An electrical signal is coming from somewhere above us, and I believe it may be a controller to open the door."
Quote glanced up at the tall cave system again. He couldn't see the top, but from what he could tell the various stone and metal structures formed a kind of stairway- a very treacherous stairway, with dozens of opportunities to fall.
"Looks like a long climb, but if you think the way out is up there it'll have to do. I'll make my way to the top and-"
"No, I can't advise that."
"Excuse me?"
Malco's voice was uncharacteristically serious.
"You're still damaged from the battle with that Mimiga, not to mention slightly waterlogged. It wouldn't be wise for you to try and climb so far up until you're in better condition."
"I thought you said the water-"
"Will drain quickly, yes," the other robot cut him off again, this time in a quieter tone. "But there's still another reason I want to go in your stead. It's her."
He frowned as Malco nodded his head toward Curly. What was he talking about?
"She doesn't seem to be in very high spirits. The odds of our success without the maximum possible morale among our group are… well, not good. You know her better than I do, so see if you can help her somehow while I find the controls to open this door."
With that, he pushed past Quote to begin the climb. The soldier stood there, dumbfounded for a moment as he tried to figure out what to do.
