Chapter Text
Ella Schlesinger stands with her back against the wall and her gun raised to Layla Chilton’s head.
Layla blinks at her, slowly.
“Let us go,” she says.
Dr Schlesinger laughs.
“You must think I’m stupid.”
Layla holds her knife out.
“Actually. I think that’s probably the smartest thing you could do,” she lowers her voice, “given your options.”
Dr Schlesinger flicks the safety of her gun off.
“Let me tell you something about options, Ms Chilton.”
Layla doesn’t drop her knife, but she doesn’t lunge either.
“You are a person who has had very… very good options throughout your life,” she says, slowly, “all of you Chiltons have. Your mother had a stable job here. Your brother was Kane’s right hand man. You, even with your track record, managed to get out of that cell and claw your way into Kane’s good graces. You had a decent shot at freedom yet. But that’s not enough for you. It’s never enough.”
“Kane needs to be taken down,” Layla finishes.
“You think I wanted to do this with my life? I was a revolutionary, too. I was an inventor,” Dr Schlesinger says, “I wanted to change things for the better. And I tried. It never got me anywhere. It was never going to. Now, I do this.”
Layla’s letting her talk. Giving herself time.
“We’ve all deluded ourselves into thinking there’s other options. That there’s a future without KaneCo,” she smiles, “some come to terms with it easier than others. But I see a little of myself in you-”
“We are nothing alike,” Layla can’t resist spitting.
“-So, I’m going to give you some options. You can drop your weapon. You can surrender yourselves over to me, and I will do my best to see to it Kane needs you alive for the time being. That’s the smart choice. Or, my dear, you can head for the elevator, and I’ll shoot you on the way out.”
“You won’t do it,” Layla says, “you’re a coward, just like the rest of them.”
Dr Schlesinger pulls the hammer back.
“It’s stupid to gamble with your life, Ms Chilton.”
“You may be more powerful than me, and more dangerous than me,” Layla says, “you may even think you’re smarter than me. But you made one really big, really stupid mistake.”
Dr Schlesinger’s voice is calm and measured as she speaks.
“What mistake?”
Layla lunges forward, kicking the gun out of Dr Schlesinger’s hand.
Dr Schlesinger gasps, and as she tries to reach for it, Layla flails her knife. She grazes Dr Schlesinger’s cheek with the teeth of her blade.
“Assuming I can’t kill you before they get here.”
Dr Schlesinger grins.
“Fair enough.”
Then, she kicks Layla harshly in the ribs.
“I don’t think we’re ever gonna find anything,” Julie says.
“Well, not with that attitude,” Mike replies.
“It’s bugging me that we still don’t have the code for Kane’s office.”
“I know,” Mike says, “me too.”
“You hear from Chuck at all?”
Mike kisses his teeth.
“If I had a code, I’d be using it.”
“Right, but,” she pauses, “nothing at all?”
Mike thinks.
“No.”
“Not even a status update?”
He shrugs.
“Weird,” Julie mutters.
“Chuck said he wouldn’t call unless he had something.”
“I know. She says.
Mike tilts his head.
“What’s up?”
Julie sighs.
“Nothing’s up. I just…”
“Have a bad feeling?” he guesses.
Julie shrugs.
“Probably just indigestion.”
They step through the elevator doors. It doesn’t seem like anything is going wrong just yet. Maybe the bots can’t detect their heat signature.
“The files Dutch and Tennie were looking through are in the basement.”
“Where’s Texas?” she asks.
Chuck points on the blueprints.
“Doesn’t look too far.”
“We should be able to round them up before-”
What Chuck says next is drowned out by the alarm sounding.
“NEW INTRUDERS DETECTED!”
Echo regrets not buying ear plugs.
Slots in the walls open up, revealing Security Bots that are, as of laying eye and camera on Echo and Chuck, powering up.
“Before exactly that happens?” she shouts, still covering her ears.
“Yes!”
The alarm ceases, replaced by the buzz of the robots as they begin to fly out of the walls.
“We’ve gotta move. Now.”
“Okay,” Chuck says, “okay okay okay. Don’t panic. You shouldn’t panic.”
“You’re accusing me of panicking,” Echo says.
“Yes.”
“Just making sure we’re clear.”
Chuck eyes the camera and pulls Echo into an unlocked utility closet, the door sliding swiftly shut behind himself.
“You really think a door’s gonna stop them?”
“Not for long,” Chuck answers, “but I think I have an idea.”
“Let’s hear it.”
“Julie has her radio,” he says.
“Busted, remember? That's why we’re here.”
“Her Motorcity radio is busted. But she carries her KaneCo comm everywhere. Give me your radio.”
“No way. I like my radio.”
Something bangs against the door.
She hands him the radio.
“The casing needs to be replaced, so does the antenna. And I’ll need some wire.”
“That’ll work?”
“It’ll have to,” he says, grabbing an autopilot vacuum cleaner off the shelf.
The door bangs again, louder this time.
“I just hope the door holds long enough.”
“Even if it does, everyone’s gonna get ambushed trying to get to us.”
Chuck laughs nervously.
“It’s a distinct possibility, yeah.”
After a long pause of hesitation, Echo lifts her chainsaw.
“There isn’t time to argue,” she says, “I’m going to go out there, and I’m gonna fight them off while you fix the radio.”
Chuck’s breath hitches in his throat.
“Echo, that’s crazy”
She looks down.
“Yeah, it is.”
“There have to be at least twenty out there, probably more, and that’s just the appetizer.”
“Stand back.”
He doesn’t. She puts her hand on the rattling door anyway.
“Fix the radio. Tell the guys. I’ll be fine.”
“What if you’re not?”
“If I’m not…” she sighs, “I love you. All of you.”
Before Chuck can respond, Echo swings the door open. There’s a robot charging for her. She shuts the door quick behind her, the motion blowing his hair back.
He can hear her chainsaw revving on the other side; Then, he can hear metal grinding against metal. He gets to work.
Dutch abruptly stops shuffling through papers as what sounds like sirens ring faintly in his ears.
“What?” Tennie asks.
He can’t hear it anymore. Maybe his ears just need to pop.
“Nothing. I thought I heard something,” Dutch replies, “Did you?”
Tennie shrugs.
“I don’t think so.”
“Huh,” Dutch says, “guess I must have been imagining it.”
A beat of silence follows. Then, the walls open, revealing robots inside.
“Oh,” Tennie starts.
“Fuck,” Dutch finishes.
They've been fighting forever.
Layla has one hand pressuring Dr Schlesinger’s windpipe, other arm braced over her shoulders to keep her in place, foot hooked around Dr Schlesinger’s ankle and heel ground harshly into her toes.
“Tex,” she says, “the gun!”
Hurriedly, Texas picks the gun off the ground. His hands are shaking as he lifts it eye level and points it at Layla and Dr Schlesinger, struggling against each other.
He gulps.
“Texas, shoot!” Layla commands.
“You’re moving too much!” he says, “I don’t want to hit you.”
He hopes she can’t tell that’s not where his hesitance begins or ends.
“It doesn’t matter if you hit me!” she shouts back.
“What?!” Texas shrieks.
Layla huffs.
“Look, I’ll be fine, just-”
Dr Shlesinger bites down hard on Layla’s arm, forcing her to relax her grip enough that she can escape. Weakened by the strangulation, she trips over Layla’s foot and falls to the ground. She crawls harshly across the floor for a few steps but doesn’t make it far as Layla stomps her boot down on Dr Schlesinger’s hand. She cries in alarm and flips around. She kicks Layla in her bad shin, forcing her to kneel.
Layla scrambles for her knife with one hand and pins Dr Schlesinger’s good wrist to the ground with the other.
She’s holding the point of her blade to Dr Schlesinger’s trachea.
Dr Schlesinger pushes back. The knife shakes in her hand.
“Please,” Dr Schlesinger sobs, “I have children.”
Tears fall from Layla’s eyes, mixing with the blood on Dr Schlesinger’s face, diluting it, thinning it. She pushes the blade through. The sound is grotesque. There’s still resistance. She pulls the now slippery blade out and drives it harshly through again. She’s lost a little friction, cutting her fingers in the process.
Finally, the light leaves Dr Schlesinger’s eyes. She slumps against the floor.
Layla’s breathing hard. Her whole body is shaking as she pulls herself to her feet. She swallows.
When she can face him, Layla flicks her eyes over to Texas. His eyes are wide, and his hand tremors are enough to make his gun sound like it’s rattling.
“Are you-” he starts.
“Don’t tell Mike,” she says raggedly.
Texas only nods.
She turns towards the door.
“We should go.”
He just needs a signal. He holds the radio high above his head. He’s just about to give up and try another angle when-
Static! Yes!
He uses the dial to get Julie.
“Julie, this is Chuck. Come in, Julie.”
There’s a long silence.
“Come in, Julie,” he repeats.
Her muffled voice comes through the speaker.
“Speak up?” he requests.
There’s a lot of noise. Then, Julie’s voice is clear as day.
“Hello?”
Chuck sighs in relief.
“Julie, Man, I’m glad to hear your voice.”
“Why would you call me on this radio, over?” she asks.
“I didn’t have another choice. The radios are busted. Can’t get a single signal out, over.”
There’s a pause.
“That would explain it.”
“Listen, there isn’t much time. You aren’t alone here. Ella Schlesinger has infiltrated the building, and she called backup, over.”
“Shit,” Julie says.
“You need to find everybody and meet us by the elevator you came in.”
“You guys are here?” Julie asks.
A bot slams hard enough against the door to leave a dent.
“I gotta go.”
“Wait-”
He pockets the radio and tries for the door. It’s locked. Or, jammed, maybe?
“Echo!” he shouts.
Her voice comes out strained.
“What’s up?”
“The door is locked!”
“How did that happen?”
“No clue!”
“Okay, well-” a large hunk of metal hits the wall, cutting off Echo’s voice.
“I got through to Mike and Julie. Let me out so I can help you!”
“Kind of,” crash, “busy here! I’ve only got about a dozen more, then I can-AAAAUGH!”
“Echo!”
“Then I can help you jam the door and get out!” She continues.
If Chuck can administer a strong enough shock, the door will disable itself.
He activates his energy slingshot and fires, the pellet fizzling against the door. It’s not enough power, but it does make a very loud noise.
“What,” Echo demands, “the fuck are you doing?”
“Trying to get out!”
“Don’t bother! I’ve got it-FUCK-covered!”
“You sound rough!”
“Down to eight!”
“Echo-”
“I’ve got it!”
He holds his slingshot directly to the door, and uses it like a taser. Chuck jumps back a little, just from the sound, but persists.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
The door unlocks. He opens it quickly.
The entire corridor is a massacre of metal and wires. Echo’s down to five bots.
Crash.
Oh. Well, four.
She looks over to him.
“Told you I had it covered.”
“Would have been faster if we’d both been fighting,” he says, “I’ll stun them, you take them out.”
Echo nods.
Chuck engages his slingshot and shoots twice, electrified pellets landing two of the robot square in the sensors. The blade of Echo’s chainsaw comes from behind and bisects one robot. It falls to the ground. Echo has already skewered the next robot before the first has even stopped sizzling.
The other bots, seeming to have learned from what they just saw, fly between Chuck and Echo. He stuns the one in front of him, but can’t get a clear shot to the other as one flies in his way.
On impulse, he swings for it. His bare hand makes contact with the side of the robot and a laugh escapes him as pain surges through his hand.
“Why did you do that?” Echo demands.
“I’m a moron, what do you want from me?”
“You could break your hand punching a person, let alone a-”
“Yeah,” Chuck fires another electric pellet at the robot, “you want to make fun of me now or later?”
Echo pulls the throttle on her chainsaw and sends it through the third grunt.
“Good point!”
The bot clatters to the ground.
The forth bot seems unfazed by Chuck’s increasingly frantic attempts with his slingshot. Forming a claw with its arm, it plucks the slingshot out of Chuck’s hand and crushes it.
The Kanebot whirs as its laser powers up, and Chuck’s arm fly up over his face.
“Hey, Scrapheap!” Echo shouts from behind. The bot stops.
She throws a fragment of its fallen brethren at its head, and that makes it turn around. Not bothering with the laser this time, it flies straight at her. Before she can raise her chainsaw, it rams her harshly against the wall, forcing her to drop it. She tries to move, but her arm is caught, the chain of her handcuff linked to a jagged point on the fractured plastic window. The grunt bot moves closer, arm transforming into a conical drill. She can’t get close enough to the ground to reach her weapon.
Chuck is the only one close enough to do anything and he knows it. He yanks her chainsaw out of the ground, pulls a muscle doing so, and feels himself lunging between Echo and the grunt bot.
He raises the chainsaw up and drives it through the grunt bot’s glowing red eye, through where its motherboard is, as the drill drives through Chuck’s right arm.
The pain is blinding. He screams bloody murder. The shock forces him to release his hold on the throttle, and the weight of the chainsaw yanks the drill harshly out of his arm as the robot falls to the ground.
“Oh my god,” Echo says, “Chuck.”
“I’m okay,” he slumps against the wall unconvincingly, his eyes half-lidded, “just…just give me a minute, and I’ll be…”
She can see bone.
Mike and Julie are running towards them.
“We heard screaming, what-” Mike stops, “Jesus Christ.”
“Mike,” Julie says weakly, “that is a lot of blood.”
“It’s gonna be fine,” Mike says,”you’re gonna be fine. Echo, where’s your knife?”
She uses her free hand to get at her pocket.
“Here,” she says.
“I need something to…can I borrow your sleeve?”
“Yeah,” she says.
The blade is dull, but he only needs to cut enough to tear away the rest. He looks at Chuck.
“Okay, Chuckles, I’m gonna need you to stay conscious. Can you do that?”
“I can…try.”
“I’m gonna need to lift your arm, so,” he wads up Chuck’s collar and shoves it in his mouth, “bite down if you need to.”
He doesn’t wait for Chuck to brace himself. The scream is muffled through the cloth.
“Julie, hold his arm up.”
She does.
He wraps the sleeve tightly around Chuck’s arm. He remembers, faintly, not being able to get a tourniquet tight enough on a dummy in first aid training. He’s maybe overcompensating for that now.
“Jules, help him to his feet.”
She wraps his good arm around her shoulders and slowly stands.
“Can you walk?” Mike asks.
His knees are wobbly. Him and Julie take an unbalanced step forward.
“Kind of,” he says.
“We’ve gotta get to the elevator,” Mike says, yanking Echo’s arm free.
It can’t be more than fifty yards. It’s a lifetime away, from where they’re standing.
They can hear the alarms blaring. More bots are coming. Kane is coming.
Julie and Chuck step through the elevator doors. Echo and Mike do not.
“Julie, I need you to do something for me.”
“Anything.”
“We’ve got ten seconds flat before soldiers start showing up, so we don’t have time to fight about this. Drive Chuck and Blonde Thunder back home.”
“No.”
He ignores her.
“Pick up my grandmother on the way out of town. Don’t get him out of the car without help.”
“No.”
“Julie-”
“No.”
“We’ll be right behind you.”
“No!” Julie shouts, “You’re out of your mind if you think I’m gonna leave you here.”
“Jules,” he puts his hands on her face, “Chuck is counting on you. You need to get him home. We’ll be right behind you.”
“I can’t leave you.”
“I’m not asking.”
He pushes the first floor button.
“Mike!” she shouts, but she can’t do anything about the doors closing in her face.
“Echo.”
“Yeah?”
“Go get Tex and Layla.”
“Yeah.”
Dutch aims his blaster at another KaneBot and fires.
“It’s no use. Every time we take a wave of these things out-”
“Dozens more take their place.”
“Kane really doesn’t want these files getting out,” Dutch grunts, throwing a filing cabinet at a pair of bots.
“Can’t imagine why,” Tennie says.
The door opens.
“Here comes more,” Tennie says.
Mike’s staff flashes between them and pierces two bots in a row. He swings it harshly enough that the bots go flying.
“Mike!” Dutch cheers, “Man, am I glad to see you!”
“I brought you a present, too,” Mike says, “remember that magnet thing Tennie used to take out those bots?”
“Yeah,” Tennie replies.
Mike pushes a button, and a loud, earshattering high pitched frequency rings through the air as the bots fall to the ground.
“Hudson tricked it out for me,” Mike continues.
Tennie grins.
“Sick!”
“I know, I know. But we can ogle later,” Mike looks rough. Really rough.
“Are you okay?” Dutch asks, “you look kind of-”
“I think I hear more coming,” Mike says, “we’d better move.”
Echo runs into them almost halfway between the elevator and the engineering division. They both look like they’ve been through a wood chipper.
“Jesus Christ, what happened to you two?”
“You’re asking us that?” Layla retorts.
“I’m not the one covered in-”
She cuts herself off. She probably is covered in blood.
“What’s that?” she asks.
“Prototype,” Layla answers.
“You’re not supposed to be here,” Texas says.
“I will deal with you later,” Echo replies, “we’ve gotta go. Now.”
They make a run for it. Really, a sprint, so Layla doesn’t fall behind. They’re not fighting robots anymore, just dodging them.
It’s when the elevator comes into view, Mike and Dutch and Tennie already waiting for them that they hear him.
“Chilton!” Kane’s voice is unmistakable. They all three pick up the pace.
“Fuck, fuck fuck fuck,” Echo says.
She can hear his footsteps. He’s getting closer. The elevator doors are opening.
We’re gonna make it, she thinks. It’s more of a prayer, than anything.
“What the-” Dutch starts.
“Can it, Gordy,” Echo cuts him off.
Texas throws the prototype into the elevator, just in case they don’t.
They pile in.
We’re gonna make it.
Kane’s holding a gun.
Mike pushes the elevator button. The doors start to close.
“Until next time, Kane!” Mike shouts through the diminishing gap.
Then, there’s a gunshot.
Layla falls.