Disclaimer: Characters belong to Fresh Tv. I own nothing.

~A/N~ Well, it's been a good month and a half, but all good things must come to end eventually, including this story. It's sad, I know, but enjoy the finale and tell me what you thought! Also, happy New Year's Day to everyone who might be celebrating today! :)

Brainiacs and Bookshelves

Chapter Five: Ashes

Scarlett and Noah ran. Well, Scarlett ran. Noah struggled to keep up and kept at a light jog with his arms held at chest level, 'running' like a girl.

"Wait!" he screamed in desperation as the giant robotic book closed in just a few meters behind him. "Don't leave me to die!"

Scarlett didn't look back, but made a sharp turn into an alleyway where she disappeared from sight. Noah followed her and took refuge behind a rusty dumpster. He looked at Scarlett with an angry pout. "Nice going, psycho bitch. You just got us killed."

"It's not my fault the animatronic is malfunctioning; you broke my controller!"

"Well, at least I didn't built that death machine in the first place!" Noah whispered bitterly.

"I would never have built it had you not been such a smartass!"

"You know, since I'm dying today, I'll take that as a compliment!"

Suddenly, the dumpster was pushed aside with a metallic squeal striking the pair's eardrums like nails on a chalkboard. Above them was the robot, it's eyes glowing red. The duo screamed and rolled away from one of it's punches before running out of the alley, side by side, and back towards their store.

"Why is that hunk of junk after us?!" Noah gasped for breath.

"I don't know!" Scarlett screamed back. "Just run!"

"Where?!" Noah asked, his legs growing weaker by the second.

"Somewhere hot! The machine uses heat sensing technology to navigate and search for targets that move. When you broke the remote, it must've corrupted the signal and told it to attack anything warm that moves at all."

"That's why it didn't attack the other employees," Noah said, sure of his hypothesis. "They weren't moving!"

"So, we just have to run into a crowd of innocent civilians and we'll be okay? Sounds like a plan I can get behind." Scarlett grinned wickedly.

"No!" Noah shouted, scolding his partner. "We're not sacrificing pedestrians!"

"Fine, but where is a place with significant waves of heat?"

Noah pondered for a moment and looked back at the robot a few dozen meters behind them and closing in fast. Then it hit him. "Follow me!" He grabbed Scarlett's arm by the sleeve of her shirt and pulled her into the street. Cars screeched to a stop as the pair made a mad dash across to the other side, and quite a few drivers backed up into other cars when the robot followed.

"Where are we going!?" Scarlett asked to bookworm, now slowing to a stop.

"You'll see," Noah said, pulling Scarlett down the sidewalk until he stopped in front of a door.

Scarlett looked across the street to see Barney's Books, meaning one thing: "You brought me to the other store? Why?!"

Noah opened the door. "No time to ask questions! Get inside!" Scarlett followed him through and slammed the door shut.

"Barricade it!" Noah told her, pointing to a display shelf by the front window. Scarlett followed his command and joined him in pushing it across the carpeted floor until it covered the double doors entirely.

Noah wiped the drops of sweat from his brow until a familiar voice greeted him from behind.

"You're back!" Dave squealed. "Can I get-"

"Ugh, it's you!" Scarlett cringed. She turned to Noah. "Why is this crybaby here?!"

"Once again, no time to explain, just hide!" Noah shouted before diving behind the front counter with Scarlett and Dave right behind him.

"So, uh, why did you barricade the door?" Dave asked nervously. "It's an army of fan-girls, right?" He winked, nudging Noah in the arm.

"No!" Scarlett groaned. "We're hiding from-"

A crash echoed through the deserted store as the trio cringed, Dave nearly wetting himself in shock as he peeked over the counter to see the giant, robotic book scanning the store.

"What is that?!" the germ-fearing teen gasped before Noah pulled him back down.

"Shut it, wimp," the egghead hissed. "It sees heat, so stay down!"

Scarlett then realized what Noah had planned. The store was covered in neon lights and fancy upgrades that would confuse the machine, allowing them both to escape. She told this interpretation to Noah who nodded.

"All we do is wait for an opening," Noah explained. "Then, we run for the high hills and never look back. That thing doesn't appear to have anything with range, so-"

Suddenly, a beam of light flashed, creating a fire on the shelves above the heads of the teens.

Noah glared at Scarlett. "Seriously?! Laser vision?!"

"The model was broken down when I found it. I replaced parts with those from my own creations, including the eyes and software."

Dave quickly butted in. "Hey, Noah, I know it's a bad time and all, but I'd love it if you reviewed some of my jokes real quick."

"Now?" Noah groaned. "We're kinda, y'know, running for our lives at the moment."

"Will you help us get out if he does?" Scarlett asked, her arms crossed.

"Sure," Dave agreed, a smile on his face.

"No!" Noah exclaimed. "No way am I listening to this."

"Great!" Dave said, getting all giddy and eager. "How's this one?" He cleared his throat as Noah rolled his eyes, frowning. "A man walks up to me and asks me if I'd like to try lion meat. So, I tell him 'Who'd eat a lion?' in a sarcastic tone. Huh? Good, right?"

"Go die," Noah deadpanned as the robot smashed it's fists into the moving contraptions on the walls of the store, attracting the attention of the group.

"Should we go?" Scarlett asked, looking down at the bookworm.

"Not yet, but I have an idea. There aren't many moving lights in here, so, Dave, how'd you like to prove your status as a Noah fan?" He winked at the fan-boy. Dave squealed in delight. "Swell. Now, all you have to do is step out of this hiding spot and lure the robot to the back of the store. Hard?"

"Uh, no, but-"

"Good. Now go!" Noah shoved him over the counter in straight into the giant book's view before smiling at Scarlett. "Good riddance, huh?" She nodded in agreement.

Dave stood up and became drenched in fear as the machine scanned him. The eyes of the robot flashed and Dave screaming, running down the aisles of shelves with the mascot right behind him, shooting lasers at his head and burning off his silky, black hair... again. The crybaby grabbed his scalp and cried out. "Nooooooooooo!"

It was at this point that Noah and Scarlett slowly crawled out from under the counter and made their way towards the door. Unfortunately, Dave decided to do the same and crashed through the duo on his way out.

"Back across the street!" Noah shouted as another laser shot over his head. He and Scarlett stumbled over the pile of broken wood and metal as the robot grabbed at her shoe. Scarlett pulled away and ran head first into heavy traffic with Noah close behind.

"We can't keep running like this," he said. "We have to take that thing out somehow."

"Well, do you have any other plans up your stuffy sleeves?" Scarlett responded. "How do you kill robots in your game?"

"You don't; they kill you! You built it; you should know how to take it down."

The duo entered their own bookstore and hid behind the shelves. Scarlett sighed. "The only way to stop it is to remove the programming chip from the control panel on it's back. However, the odds of actually doing so are slim with it moving as it is."

Noah perked at the sound of clanking that was growing closer and closer. "We need to do something fast. It's totally gonna find us if we stay here."

"I know, but give me time to think!"

Noah tapped his chin and sighed. "Maybe we could pin it down."

"No, it's too strong to pin down, even with something heavy. And we have no weapon either, do we?"

"Nada."

"Great, just exceptional," Scarlett sighed, burying her face in his hands. She looked up at Noah and wiped her eyes. "Look here. If we don't make it out alive, I just want you to know that I don't hate you. In fact, I think you're reasonably intelligent; smart even, and I respect that."

"Same here," Noah sighed. "The only reason I joke about you so much as because they pretty much write themselves. It's not everyday that you work with a serial killer with an IQ of 180."

Scarlett smirked. Noah smiled. The robot continued to search.

"Sorry to, uh, burst the scene, but where is everyone?!" Noah gasped. "Did they leave?"

"I don't know, and how would I. I hate everyone here."

Noah looked down and went into a state of deep thought. He had to make a decision soon, or both his and Scarlett's lives could be at risk more than they already were. "I have an idea. It's stupid and dangerous, but it might work."

"What?" Scarlett asked as Noah looked into her eyes with determination.

Noah crept along the edges of the shelves, keeping an eye on the robot and keeping its eyes off of him. Scarlett held her current position on the other side of the aisle.

Noah inhaled before standing up and waving his arms. "Hey, scrap heap!"

The robot slowly caught sight of Noah and rapid-fired lasers in his direction as it walked closer, it's mechanical whirring growing louder with every step. He ducked below the shelf and crawled towards the other side.

Meanwhile, Scarlett used this distraction to crawl to the other side of the store, taking her place at the end of the shelves where Noah and her robot were playing hide-and-seek. She braced her body against the heavy, metal shelf and waited for Noah to give her the signal.

The bookworm watched as the animatronic monster found its way into the maze of shelves just a few feet away. It slowly creeped between them, it's eyes glowing and its mouth gaping.

"Now!" Noah screamed as the machine stepped into the dead center of the row. The robot looked his way and caught a faint glimmer of heat, firing another laser as well. Scarlett heard the signal loud and clear and put all of her weight on the metal shelf. It slowly tipped over and, like a set of dominoes, knocked over the other shelves in the row, one by one, until the robot was caught underneath the mess. Scarlett ran forward and jumped on the robot's back while it was down, but it quickly got up on it's feet, throwing her off and swiping at her as she stood up.

Noah barely escaped the collapsing shelves and gasped when Scarlett was thrown to the ground by another swipe. Adrenaline stormed his veins and he picked up a set of heavy dictionaries, proceeding to toss them at the machine until it turned it's sights on the bookworm himself.

"Scarlett? Scarlett!?" Noah screamed and dodged another round of lasers, much like he had done before on Total Drama.

Scarlett, despite having a massive headache, managed to stand up. Giving all her strength, she screamed aloud a powerful phrase. "It was the best of times... It was the worst of times... But this is my time!" She jumped on the robot once again and it tried to shake her off, but only succeeded in losing it's balance and falling over on it's face as it tried to shoot a laser, trapping the beam between it's face and the floor.

Scarlett fell off again as the beam began to melt the machine's plastic exosuit around the face, creating a bubbling, disgusting mess on the floor that rendered it helpless against Noah as he opened the panel on it's back and smashed it in with a hardcover copy of Twilight until it's arms and legs stopped moving for good and sparks flew from the control panel.

Noah stepped away and took a deep breath. "I never... Thought that Twilight had any purpose. I guess I was wrong. That's a first."

Scarlett approached her partner, limping on a sprained ankle. "I never thought you had any physical potential. I was wrong too, I suppose."

"Thanks," Noah said. "You, uh, really saved my hide."

"You too," she sighed. "So, what now?"

"I don't know. I guess you're fired?"

"Fired doesn't begin to cover it!" a cacophonous voice boomed angrily. "The store's a wreck!"

Massey walked up to the duo, his face red and steaming.

"At least you didn't die," Noah mumbled. "We saved your life and the general public."

"But did you nerds save my store? Look at it!"

The pair gazed across the store to see broken shelves, fire everywhere, and I melted pool of plastic on the floor with a metal frame sticking out.

"That's repairable," Noah said.

Massey glared at the two employees. "Get out, both of you! You're both finished. Hell, I'm might just fire everyone to pay for this shit!"

Scarlett laughed and broke the tension.

"What!?" Massey screamed, nearly busting his lungs.

Noah joined in on the laughter. "You don't get it? It's hilarious!"

"What's hilarious!? The fact that I'm calling the cops if you don't get your asses outta here in ten seconds?"

"No!" Scarlett broke down laughing. "The fact that..."

"What?!"

"The fact that you're a colossal douche!" Noah finished.

"Actually, I was going to call him out on having to clean this up, but your interpretation works too," Scarlett said, smiling at Noah.

"Just get out!" the boss slammed his fists against his head as tears began to stream down his face. "If ever see either of you here again, I'll rip your heads off and put them on display."

Noah and Scarlett shrugged and walked out as Massey broke down and sobbed angrily on the floor. They didn't look back.

The pair of geniuses took a seat on a bus stop bench and sighed in unison.

"So, what now?" Noah asked. "Another book store?"

"I think I'm done with book stores for a good few months," Scarlett replied. "My parole officer can go jump in my candiru pool if he wants to force me to work again."

"Can my parents join him? I don't think they'll be too happy about me losing another job."

"Sure. My test subjects need as much food as possible."

Noah laughed at the dark jokes. "You know what I think?"

"What?"

"We shouldn't separate our great minds."

"Interesting concept. Would you mind explaining?"

"Well, I'm smart; you're smart, so imagine what we could accomplish together."

"Like assassinating the world leaders and seizing power?"

"More along the lines of game development."

"Yawn," Scarlett deadpanned, rolling her eyes. "Your plan is a true waste of knowledge."

"Ok, then maybe something in the middle?" Noah insisted

"Bomb development?" Scarlett smiled with excitement.

"A cure for AIDS?"

"Biological weapons?"

"Cloning extinct species?"

"Animal-human hybrid super soldiers?"

"Military defense systems?"

"Tanks?"

Noah sighed. "How about something non-lethal?"

"Like rigging elections?"

"No. More like... Something that benefits mankind as a whole."

"Sorry, but I'm not too keen on ideas like that," Scarlett shrugged.

"We could make apps?"

"For what?"

"I don't know. Our own digital encyclopedia series?"

"Or our own computer virus?" She paused mid-smile before pouting. "Sorry."

"We need something new, something original, and something beneficial to society."

"Like a book?" Scarlett smirked.

Noah smiled. "Yeah, like a book. We can write our own novel!"

"That's... Not bad, surprisingly."

"Yeah, all we need to do is type it up and publish it together and we're rich. It can be about anything. We could even write about ourselves."

"Even about what happened today?"

"Sure. We can call that chapter... Brainiacs and Bookshelves!" Noah laughed. "That's it!"

"Sounds riveting, but books don't write themselves."

"True, very true. Maybe we could meet up every week and brainstorm ideas?"

"Sounds like a plan I support." Scarlett pulled out a slip of paper and jotted something down before handing it to Noah. "Here, just in the event that you have time to write."

Noah unfolded it. It was a phone number. As he looked up, a bus roared to a stop in front of them. Scarlett smirked and got on, but not before waving goodbye to her friend.

As the bus drove off, Noah fiddled with the paper in his hand and smiled. "Well, Mother, it seems as if I finally have something to do with my life after all." He stuffed the paper into his pocket and walked down the sidewalk, kicking the loose rocks as he went his separate ways with his newly found friend.

~A/N~ And there you have it. Pretty nice twist near the end if I do say so myself. I really loved writing this story and I wish it could continue, but I already have a competition story to finish and I don't need TWO large projects to deal with at once. Anyways, this is Foreseer44 signing off for the last time in 2014. Have a great New Year, and thank you all for sticking with me. :)