Okay guys. The chapter you've been waiting for. It's FINALLY here. Drum roll please...

Enjoy~

"Mike, Mike do you know him?" Fritz asked nervously. He seemed to hear the recognition in his voice.

Jeremy backed against the wall, trying to get away. He looked upset.

"Jeremy, how are you...? How are you here? How are you alive?!" Mike cried, stepping forward. This was all so sudden, so unreal. There had been blood and tension; was Jeremy really still alive?

"Mike, I..." He began, his voice hoarse. Mike thought he'd never hear that voice again. "I'm sorry, I..."

"Why are you here?! Why didn't you tell me you were still alive?!"

"Shh, please, be quiet-!"

"I was worried! Your brother is worried!" Mike didn't actually know if his brother even knew that Jeremy was considered dead, but he needed a reaction.

"I know, I know..." He shook his head. "But I... I didn't have a choice."

"No choice?" What did Jeremy even mean of that? Mike took a step forward. Jeremy's eyes widened.

"Mike, wait!"

Too late. Suddenly, a shriek echoed all around them. Fritz jumped and Mike quickly receded a step or two. Jeremy pressed up against the wall with a yelp.

Out of nowhere, a long spindly thing leaped swiftly into view, landing roughly right in front of the two security guards. A long, threatening hiss came from the creature, earning a yelp from Fritz as he backed away. Mike could faintly make out stripes, long fingers, a mask with a gaping smile.

The Puppet.

The Puppet lashed out and Fritz cried out in surprise, dropping his flashlight. Mike wasn't about to leave Jeremy here, though.

"Jeremy, run!" Mike yelled. The Puppet shrieked again, and lifted a claw. Mike held up his flashlight as a sort of shield and grit his teeth, getting in a defensive stance. Come and get it, ugly.

"No no no!" Jeremy suddenly shouted, quickly jumping between Mike and the robot. Almost immediately, the Puppet wavered. Mike gaped, shocked, and his stance slowly relaxed. The Puppet was listening to Jeremy.

Jeremy spoke again, nervously. "These are my friends. Don't hurt them. Okay?"

The Puppet hissed like a cat. Clearly it didn't like that thought. Nevertheless, it shrunk down from its threatening stance, glaring with a thick loathing at the other guards.

Jeremy looked at the others again, to their wide eyes and dropped jaws. Fritz was paralyzed, completely baffled, and Mike couldn't even find it in him to blink. Jeremy hesitantly grinned.

"I told you it liked me."

"What happened?" Mike asked, once they'd gathered where Jeremy had been harboring the last few days. He'd been in a bunker sort of closet, among a colorful pile of discarded rags, three books, and a bag of chips.

"It's not really good at human-sitting," Jeremy had joked weakly, but nobody laughed. From what they could see, the Puppet had blatantly kidnapped Jeremy, and made everyone think he was dead. That wasn't funny.

Jeremy sighed at Mike's question. He pursed his lips and flicked his eyes from one boy to the other. "Well, this is going to sound crazy but... I'm pretty sure it wants me to protect it."

Fritz took in a deep breath and let it out slow. "Yep. You're crazy."

"No, I'm serious!" Jeremy insisted. "See, it saved me from the robots. Dragged me right down here. It gave me these," he gestured to his black attire. "Cuz my clothes were... bloody and such. It brings me a bag of freaking chips every day. It doesn't want me dead, so what does it want from me?"

"Jeremy," Mike cut in worriedly, putting up his hand. "I know what this looks like. The Puppet saved you from the robots. But it sure as heck doesn't look like it's trying to keep you alive. Look at yourself!" Mike gestured up and down Jeremy's body. "You're thinner. You're not looking good at all - it's not healthy."

Jeremy grit his teeth. He looked almost offended. "I'm sure the thing has a reason for keeping me alive for this long."

"Yeah." Fritz scoffed. "As a pet. On another note, why are you so sure it wants you to protect it? Where does the 'protection' part come in?" He sounded incredulous.

"Here's my proof."

Jeremy shakily stood up. Mike wasn't lying when he said Jeremy looked weaker - the kid had been small to begin with, now it was like... He was this living doll. A shaky thing of parts held together only by the small light of what was left of Jeremy. Something was extremely wrong with him; not just the hunger.

"Mary!" He called. "Mary, come here for a second!"

Fritz leaned toward Mike a little. "Mary?" He muttered in a low voice.

"Well, I suppose he's got to call it something," Mike would've smiled if he wasn't so tense.

It took a few seconds, but the robot slowly came slinking back. It held a guarded stance, and watched Mike and Fritz untiringly, slowly circling around to stand behind Jeremy. It vaguely reminded Mike of what some kid at the school for boys he went to used to watch; an anime called Future-something, with a scarily obsessed pink-haired girl that would kill to protect the one she loved. Although it didn't seem the Puppet actuallyloved Jeremy per se, it certainly trusted him. Not to mention it must need Jeremy alive for a reason. And it wasn't afraid to get its claws dirty to keep it that way.

Fritz shuddered. "Scary Mary."

"Tell them what you told me, kay?" Jeremy coaxed.

The robot gave Mike and Fritz a critical look. Clearly, it didn't agree with this. Nevertheless it stood rigid as a scratchy sound resonated from its mouth; a recorded voice like Siri or Google Translate. What it spoke made Fritz flinch and only made Mike even more confused.

"Something is coming. Need authority for to protect us."

Jeremy spread his hands. "See? Protection."

"Authority?" Fritz breathed. "It thinks you're an authority? And what's coming?"

Jeremy shook his head. "I don't know. It won't tell me."

Fritz, with special permission from Jeremy, crept carefully up to the puppet to examine its matinence, to see if he could decode this crazy robot, and while he did so, Jeremy went to sit next to Mike on the ground. Mike was nearly speechless. Jeremy was still alive.

"Jeremy..." Mike shook his head. "...it's good to see you."

Jeremy pressed his lips together. He didn't seem to know what to say. But after a few minutes, he said the only thing he could say.

"I'm so sorry, Mike."

"Hey," Mike took his shoulder. "It's going to be okay. I understand... you were just doing what you thought was right."

Jeremy nodded slightly. Then he looked over at the hand on his shoulder, and he blinked a few times. He gently grabbed his friend's wrist in his gloved hand and pulled up his sleeve. "...what are these?"

Mike felt his breath catch in his throat. He couldn't hide it any longer. He tugged his arm away and hid it within his sleeve again.

"I, uh... well. I didn't want to tell you before. I have depression and... it seems like a terrible thing to do this to myself... but it's how I... cope." Mike sighed and looked away. He didn't expect optimistic, ever hopeful Jeremy to understand.

But Jeremy proved him wrong. Jeremy made sure Mike was looking, and pulled up his own sleeve. Hundreds of little red lines greeted him, a sad lifeless art gallery of his own. Mike stared at him.

"I never told you about my parents." Jeremy sighed. "You know, I was the result of a night out gone wrong. My mom already had a kid with her husband, but there was no way I could be his, so he had a good reason to leave her. My mom hated me. When I was five she tried to drown me in a bathtub. I got PTSD from that. Can't look at water the same. My brother saved me by hitting her over the head with a glass bottle." Jeremy shrugged stiffly. "He pulled me out and, well, we ran away. He had some acquaintances in a gang. They managed to protect us from her crazy boyfriend until the police got them."

Mike wasn't sure what to say. It's not like he was Chica or anything. But at the same time, he was glad he was the one Jeremy confided in. He was someone who could understand.

"My parents were neglectful." Mike told him. "And my girlfriend left me not long ago. That's where most of these came from."

Jeremy nodded. "I get it. These recent ones represent the bullies in school. I was picked on all growing up and... I didn't take it well."

"Weird to think about, isn't it?" Mike thought aloud. "We're more alike than we thought."

Suddenly, a loud bump came from upstairs. Fritz jumped from where he was tampering with the Puppet and looked at Mike and Jeremy with big eyes.

"Please tell me that was you."

Crash!

Jeremy cringed and Mike stood up. "You said someone broke in, Fritz. We didn't actually catch him, did we?"

Fritz frowned and shook his head. "I hate this job."

The Puppet quickly scuttled away from Fritz and toward Jeremy, hiding behind him and trying to make itself small.

"Mary, what's wrong?" Jeremy attempted to step away but the Puppet wouldn't let him move. Jeremy looked at Mike worriedly.

Mike bit his lip. "Stay here."

And he and Fritz grabbed their flashlights and rushed upstairs.