[Wow this is the most depressing thing I have ever written to date. I literally made myself cry. So, if you're not ready for horrible emotional trauma do not read this. I seem to have become John Green.

WARNINGS: Head injury, extreme violence against bots and humans alike, some blood, guns (idk if that should be in the warnings, but just in case), death all the fuck over the place.]

The hooded bot ignored both Tim and Jay completely. Instead it went straight for Alex, arms outstretched and fingers curled like claws. To his surprise it was Jay who lunged for the rogue bot - Alex had half expected Tim to try to save him again. The word "disposable" came to mind, but he didn't have much time to be bitter about it. They grappled for a brief moment before Jay fell to the floor with an unhealthy crack. Tim flew to his side and Alex realized he was going to be on his own.

He had never been more thankful for a robotic replacement arm in his life. It caught most of the bot's weight as his back hit the ground, but a shower of sparks fell on his face and drew forth a pained hiss. So this was it then. This was its revenge. It still remembered after all these years. Alex couldn't remember the details very clearly, especially not now as he rolled his head out of the way of a potentially fatal blow. But he remembered staring down at the wide gash in her torso and being very, very afraid.

"Jay! Look at me, Jay. Stay with me."

Tim was afraid to move him. He'd been thrown to the ground with quite some force. Now he was twitching and his eyes seemed out of focus. They were trying to fix on his face, but they kept getting glassy and straying to a point somewhere past his head.

"Talk to me, make a noise if you can hear me. Just try."

He mustered a quite whimper, but that was about as good it was going to get. Jay's hand kept spasming, but he could tell he was trying to point at something. Alex. Seriously? He had always said that compassion was going to be the death of his maker, and right about now it looked like he was right.

"Are you sure?"
Jay nodded as best he could. Tim tried to stop him from moving his head. Each movement made the dribble of blood leaking out from under the mask's chin flow heavier.
"N-No. I won't. I can't. You're going to-"

Jay grabbed at Tim's shirt, finally meeting his eyes and holding them there. He convulsed again, again, and then went still. His fingers still had grip on his shirt and his eyes seemed to be able to move but the jerking motions had caused something else to snap. Tim carefully uncurled Jay's fingers and looked over his shoulder at Alex and the bot.

"If you die because I chose to listen to you, I'll burn this entire goddamn city to the ground." He growled.

"I did what I had to! You went wrong, you were the worst mistake she's ever made and you killed her! I see not much has changed since then, either. You're still a violent, heartless robot. You wanted so bad to be human, but you're just a machine! Cold, mindless-"

Rough metal gripped his jaw and the bot forced Alex to look at its face.

I did what I had to do, too. And you tried to kill me for it.
"You ripped her heart out of her chest, you son of a bitch." Alex tried to twist himself into a better position, tried to get even the tiniest amount of leverage. The bot held strong.
She was going to kill me.
"She couldn't have killed you, you're not even alive." It was hard to speak with metal fingers closing around your throat.
Liar.

Alex closed his eyes, waited for a killing blow, waited for his breath to cease altogether. Instead, a great weight was suddenly removed from his chest and the air rushed back into his lungs, making him cough violently. Tim seized the bot by the neck and had thrown it to the ground with enough force to send up a shower of sparks. Alex pulled himself to his feet as quickly as he could, taking a moment to steady himself before reaching for his gun.

He didn't have to.

He was numb. Completely and utterly numb. He knew that Jay was going to die - the bot had followed through all the way, forcing his head into the ground. And instead of trying to survive, instead of preserving his own life, Jay had chosen to save Alex. Tim would probably never understand this, and right about now he didn't actually care. He truly didn't. Beneath him was the cause of all of his troubles. It was grabbing at his shoulders, kicking his legs out and trying to pry itself free.

"No. You're going to suffer."
I have no problem with you. Let me go and I'll leave you be.
"Oh, really? Well in that case-" Tim grabbed the bot and bashed its head into the ground.
You're making a mistake, brother. You're not the-
"I'm not your fucking brother." His fingers dug into the metal frame of the bot's shoulder. Sparks, an awful grinding noise, and then a resounding clang as the arm landed a few feet away.
The one called Alex. He is the one I want dead. Your maker got in my way. He would still be alive if he had just-
There was a terrible noise as Tim buried his hand in the bot's chest, found the baseball-sized orb suspended by brass hooks, and tore it out. The light in the bot's eyes faded, flickered, and then went out completely. He sat there for a moment, shaking out of pure rage.

Somehow, just killing this thing didn't seem like enough.

Alex took a few steps back. He had originally intended to go see if Jay was alright, but the sheer brutality of Tim's behavior kept him rooted to the spot. He didn't stop when the bot was deactivated - no, that apparently was not enough. Instead, he let out an animatistic roar and tore it apart piece by piece before simply collapsing to his side. He had either overheated or given up entirely, Alex wasn't sure yet.

What he was sure of was the fact that Jay needed help. He was lying there, completely paralyzed. Alex sighed. That was no way to live. He wouldn't ever fully regain control of his body, he probably had horrible brain damage, god only knows what the boss would do with a paralyzed brain-dead employee...Probably feed him through a fucking meat grinder just for kicks.

Oh he would give anything not to do this. As much as he resented Jay and his robot, he didn't deserve all of this. He only wanted to help. There was no point in letting him suffer.

Tim's eyes flew open.

Oh that better have been fired into your own brain. God help you if you shot him because I will end your life slowly and painfully if you-

He pushed himself upright slowly. If he looked back and saw what he thought he was about to see...And he did. Alex was standing there with a sad look on his face, smoke drifting from the barrel of his gun.

"Alex."
"I had to."
"No, you didn't have to. You wanted to."
"What?" Alex looked genuinely confused. Maybe he was a better liar than Tim had originally thought.
"You hated him, didn't you. You've wanted an excuse to do that for a very long time, I bet."
"Ok, you're obviously upset, but that's not..."

Alex had stopped talking and started backing away. Tim hadn't even realized that he was walking towards him until now. His hands went up to block him, but a robotic arm can only take so much. It wasn't built to survive the equivalent force of a human-sized sledgehammer.

Tim nodded slowly. He was covered in blood and grease, sitting cross-legged on a damp, dirt street in a forbidden city district. He was surrounded by dead bodies, lost limbs, and twisted metal. It was over. Completely over.

Not quite. May I make an offer?

Tim said nothing. He looked up at a tall, spindly bot with no face. It was black and white in color, but it's coating wasn't marbelite. In fact, it didn't even seem to have a coating. Instead, it was a frame made of a shiny black metal - more of a gemstone actually. The white pieces were almost translucent. Some kind of stained glass, he assumed.

You're stuck in a very unfortunate loop. But I'm a forgiving man, and since you're the prize creation of one of my best workers perhaps I could do you a favor.

"Such as?" He tried to sound apathetic, but he had to admit that he was curious. This must have been Jay and Alex's boss. But what could he possibly offer to make up for all of this? Furthermore, what did he mean "stuck in a very unfortunate loop"?

I'll restart the sequence for you. It will proceed exactly the same as this sequence, unless you make different choices of course.
"I'm not lucky enough for it to be free. What do you want in exchange?"
Clear the slate.
"How? What do you mean?"
Fire is a good cleanser, or so I've heard. I was forged in fire and I'm the definition of purity.
"You're asking me to set fire to...what, the city?"
Here, let me help you.