Chapter Text
Chai reaches up to wipe some sweat off his forehead. His hand comes away even sweatier than it already was. He sighs. He’s not really sure what he was expecting.
Thankfully, he’s almost to the main R&D facility. No more mind-numbing heat!
Whenever Chai has to head down here, he always makes sure to dress light. Sadly, wearing basketball shorts, a tank top, and his thinnest pair of socks only helps so much against the warmth of literal lava . It could be worse, though. If he were in his usual work outfit, he would’ve been a pile of mush upon stepping foot into the caves.
As soon as the doors are in his line of sight, he bolts for them. They open when he’s close enough, a rush of cool air hitting him. Chai takes a deep breath as he runs inside. He stops just under the floating hologram of Earth that’s in the middle of it.
“Sweet, sweet air conditioning, how I’ve missed you!” Chai exclaims. His voice echoes through the room.
He raises his arms into the air, welcoming the relieving cold.
Looking up at the screens in the room, he’s reminded that, as nice as it would be to stand around and just enjoy the cool air, he’s here to do a job.
He lets himself bask in it for another second. Then, he leaves, heading down the ramp that leads to the path up towards the testing rooms. Kinda weird how he has to go down to go up...
“Hey, LU-C1LLE!” Chai calls as he passes her desk.
All he gets in response is a long-suffering sigh. As per usual.
When he jogs into the next room, he heads for the stairs, running up them as he grapples to the metal grates under the walkways above. Chai uses his momentum to swing up, onto the path. He almost falls over, but manages to catch himself on the railing. He takes a moment to breathe.
Then, he makes his way over to the vending machine. Selecting Over Charge, he gives it a good smack with his prosthetic hand. A couple of cans fall into the dropbox.
As he kneels down to grab them, something nudges his side. Turning to look, he finds himself face-to-face with a…wolf? A very robotic wolf. Its glowing green eyes bore into him.
“Uh, hi,” Chai says.
It woofs in response.
“Are you one of the bots I’m here to help test out?”
It tilts its head, blinking at him.
The sound of doors opening catches both of their attention. The robo-wolf hurries towards the test room. Chai stands up to peek around the corner.
Sunny is walking down the stairs and doing something on his tablet. His LEO-031, Spice, is to his right. Sugar, his LEN-N31, is on his left side. Behind him, standing in the doorway, is a huge version of the robo-wolf. The sight of it sends a staticky prickle down his spine.
The first robo-wolf leaps over them, towards the bigger one. It disappears into the mass of metal.
Chai’s eyes pop out of his head. What the—
Sugar suddenly almost knocking him to the ground distracts him from whatever the hell that was.
He laughs as she rubs her face against his neck. She purrs, her whole body rumbling. Her mane fluffs up, the fur getting in his face. This is definitely not helping with his sweatiness.
”Sugar, get off of him! You're gonna suffocate the poor dude!“
Sunny runs over, effortlessly picking her up.
Chai immediately feels much cooler, despite the fur all over him. He thinks he got some in his mouth.
“You know better than to jump on people,” Sunny says chidingly.
She keeps purring, leaning up to lick his cheek.
He shakes his head, a smile on his face, as he sets her down. Then, he turns his attention to Chai.
“Chai, my man!“
”Sup, Sunny?“
They fistbump with their prosthetic hands. Then, with their flesh ones. That's followed up by them high-fiving with both.
“Nothin' much. Just finished up some testing,” he replies.
Chai's brow furrows. ”You did it without me?“
Sunny glances away from him. ”Oh, yeah, just this one. Can't run one test and call it a day, bro,“ he replies with a grin.
This time, when he looks away, Chai follows his gaze to the OL-404 at the desk. She doesn't seem to be paying them any mind. She's busy typing away at her computer.
”Can't talk here,“ Sunny whispers as he leans closer.
He moves away, heading back towards the testing room. Sugar and Spice are quick to follow.
“C'mon, let's get moving! We got a lotta work to do, man.”
Chai's brow furrows. Why aren’t they able to talk here...? And in his message, Sunny said he was only doing one test today because he’d already been running tests for most of the week. What the hell is going on?
Well, he won’t find out if he keeps standing around. So, he jogs after Sunny, catching up with him in the room after the test chamber. He’s surprised—and a bit unnerved—to find that the huge robo-wolf has disappeared. Considering how big the thing is, it seems impossible for it to just vanish into thin air.
“Hey, what happened to that giant wolf thing?” he asks as they walk.
“Giant wolf…? Oh! The PACK-13! I had it go ahead to the third test room.”
He looks around. Nobody else is nearby. So, he asks, “We are testing today, then?”
Sunny moves a bit closer, leaning his head towards Chai a bit.
“I’ll explain soon,” he whispers.
Chai almost asks why. But clearly they still aren’t in the clear. He tries to not let it frustrate it him too much. Sunny wouldn’t act this way for no good reason. Something must be going on. But what? Does it have to do with… them? That doesn’t really make sense, though…
They’re almost to the third test room now. The doors to the waiting area are a few steps away.
“So…uh…” Chai trails off as he tries to think of something to say.
“Do you wanna know about the PACK-13, dude?” Sunny asks.
“Oh yeah! What’s it’s whole deal?”
“So, Kale and Star want better security, y’know? Especially after what happened in production,” Sunny explains as they walk into the waiting room. “Star said something about using the LEO-031s as security, but I figured it’d be better to make a new bot more suited for patrolling n’ stuff. And then I thought, hey, why make just one when I could make a whole mini army?”
“Wait, what?”
“The PACK-13 is made up of a bunch of smaller robots! They can split up, then combine again. Which means you’d only need one or two per area.” He huffs and adds, “ And those dicks that wrecked production won’t expect a whole pack on their asses when they think they’re only seeing one bot.”
It’s a little weird seeing Sunny actually mad at them. Before, whenever they’ve caused problems, he’s just sort of…brushed it off. But then again, they’ve never done this much damage before. It’ll take a little while before production is back up and running. Probably a month at most. It’s a good thing they work fast over there, or else it’d take even longer.
Maybe whatever’s going on does have to do with them, then.
Wait—split up and combine again…?
Chai’s eyes widen.
“Is that what happened to that little robot-wolf-thing?”
Sunny stops, turning to look at him. “What?”
“There was a smaller version of the PACK-13 that jumped over you and went into it.”
“When did that happen?!”
“Earlier,” Chai replies, quirking a brow. “Like, right before Sugar tackled me.”
At her name being said, Sugar looks over, one of her ears twitching. She pads up to Chai and looks up at him with wide eyes. He chuckles and pats her on the head. Sunny steps forward and joins him in petting her, seemingly subconsciously because his brow is furrowed, his eye looking off to the side.
Sunny eventually responds with, “I don’t remember that at all, man.”
“Well…” Chai pauses to think for a moment before continuing. “You were on your tablet when it happened.”
“Oh! I was probably too focused to notice, haha!”
“What were you doing?”
“Checking out the data from the test. Pretty solid stuff to work with!”
Sunny walks up to the third test room’s doors, which open for him. He turns to look back at Chai.
“Speaking of test data, let’s get to work, dude!” Sunny says as he steps inside.
Chai hurries after him. He stops in the doorway for a moment when the static starts up, a low buzz in the back of his mind, at the sight of the PACK-13 sitting in the middle of the room. Its head is bowed. It looks like it’s sleeping—or as close to sleeping as a robot can get. Weird that it’s sleeping sitting up, but Chai can’t judge much. He’s fallen asleep standing up before.
“Is it supposed to do that?” he asks as he catches up.
“Yeah, it’s just in standby mode right now,” Sunny replies.
He pulls his tablet out of his fanny pack as Chai finally realizes that he forgot to actually grab any of his sodas. Goddammit. He’s really thirsty…
Sunny presses something on his tablet. The door behind them closes. The lights on it turn red. With the way Sunny is tapping away at the screen, Chai half expects the PACK-13 to start moving. But it doesn’t even twitch. He’s not sure if that makes him more or less unsettled.
Sugar and Spice start heading for the door on the other side of the room. Sunny follows them, but at a much slower pace due to his focus still being on his tablet. Chai walks alongside him, not sure what else to do.
Is it okay for him to ask what the fuck is going on now? Or are they still not in the clear? Why weren’t they in the first place? Maybe something with the OL-404s, but…what? Did the group that wrecked production hack them? Or…is it something else?
It pops into his head when he glances up at the PACK-13.
The pulse of the beat gets louder. His brow furrows, eyes widening a bit.
The static crescendos, a wave of it crashing over him. The music gets drowned out by the buzzing.
He groans, clutching at his head as it starts to pound in time.
He can barely hear Sunny’s concerned voice asking him if he’s alright through it. Chai doesn’t have the power to respond right now. He just groans again.
He shouldn’t think about that. Why was he even thinking about it? What was it, anyway? Doesn’t matter. He should…
No, no—I can’t let it win. I was—what was I—?
His head pounds. He squeezes his eyes shut. His chest hurts.
It was important. Something…I need to know…
When did he fall down? Or—is he standing? The world feels far away.
I know…I know…but what do I know? It’s that—it’s that—
Sunny shouts his name. Or something that sounds like it, at least.
It’s—I know. I know what it is. So why can’t I…? It’s right there—
Blurry figures. A familiar lab. Blood. A scream that echoes forever.
It wasn’t—I didn’t—I’m sorry—please don’t—son of a—
The world fades away, until all that’s left is a sea of senseless noise.
A single thought breaks through the thunderous static.
Go to sleep.
The first thing Chai realizes as he wakes up is that he’s very comfortable. The second is that whatever song is currently playing sounds weirdly melancholy. The third is that he’s pretty sure he’s in Sunny’s office. And the fourth is that he’s not alone.
His legs are tangled with Sunny’s. They’re lying on opposite ends of the couch they’re on. There’s a really soft blanket on top of them that has a cute robot pattern. The pillow under his head feels like a cloud. Really, the only thing ruining this is the somber music. It is peaceful, though. So…it’s not killing the vibes too much.
If he wanted to, he could fall right back asleep. Actually, he does want to. But Chai can’t. He needs to get up. There’s something important he has to do. What was it again…? Eh, he’ll remember eventually. He always does. Getting up will probably help jog his memory.
So, he sits up. Yawning, he stretches his arm up and his legs out, accidentally kicking Sunny.
“Oh, shit—sorry—”
“Don’t worry about it, dude.”
It takes him another moment to really realize that they’re in Sunny’s office. Which means they’re in R&D. When did I…?
His head pounds as it all comes rushing back.
To: chai@vandelay
From: sunny@vandelayu free?
—made some new bots!! gonna test em on sunday. already done a bunch this week so just 1 should b good. could use a helping hand tho ;) u in??? (¬‿¬)
–
sunny k ✌
Walking through the caves to get to the main facility. Passing LU-C1LLE. The vending machine. Seeing the PACK-13. Meeting and chatting with Sunny.
Chai almost smacks himself in the head. How could he forget?
But…why are they in here lying down if he came down to help out with testing?
Before Chai can ask what’s going on, Sunny asks a question of his own. “Are you alright?”
“Uh…yeah. Why?”
Sunny’s brow furrows. “Do you…not remember what happened?”
Chai tries to think back on the day some more. But outside of waking up, heading down here, and meeting up with Sunny...he doesn't remember anything.
“I guess not,” Chai replies. “The last thing I remember is talking to you outside of the second testing room.”
When Sunny doesn’t respond, he continues. “Actually, uh—how come we’re here? Did we already do the test or something…?”
He figures he’d at least remember that. But then again, he spaces out pretty often some days. Considering how little he remembers, he must just be having a bad one.
Sunny still doesn’t say anything. He’s got this weird expression on his face. Like he’s worried. Or constipated. Maybe both.
Chai shifts, pulling his legs closer to himself. His gaze falls to his lap. He fiddles with the edge of the blanket.
“Sorry,” he says after a moment, “I, uh—”
“You don’t need to be sorry, man.”
He looks up, eyes widening. Sunny is leaning towards him now, eye focused on him.
“Sorry I wasn’t saying anything. I just got lost in thought.”
“Oh—it’s fine. Y’know how I space out, so…”
The gentle song his player provides fills the following silence. Its somber tone is starting to make more sense to him now.
“You, uh, still haven’t answered my questions,” Chai says after a little while.
“Huh?” Sunny’s brow furrows. “Sorry, I, uh, didn’t hear what you asked. Could you repeat them, bro?” He rubs the back of his neck, offering a sheepish smile. It falters as he looks away.
“No worries, dude. I just wanted to know why we’re in your office. Did we already do the test?”
“Oh. We, uh—” He sighs. “Yeah, we already did the test. It must’ve…totally drained your energy, dude. You passed out.”
“Oh shit. Must’ve been pretty crazy, then!”
“Haha, yeah…it got kinda wild!”
“Too bad I don’t remember it.”
“Right…you sure you’re okay, man?”
“Yeah, I’m fine!”
When Sunny frowns, Chai offers him a reassuring smile.
“I promise I’m alright, sunshine.”
Sunny chuckles. “Alright, alright. I believe you.”
“Good. So! You gonna tell me what happened?”
“Not much to tell, really. It was just a gnarly fight.”
Huh. Normally, Sunny would be happy to go on a tangent about this sort of thing. He loves watching Chai fight. Maybe a little too much, honestly. But Chai won’t complain; it’s nice to have someone to cheer him on. So why is he downplaying such a, supposedly, insane fight?
Maybe…maybe Chai’s just overthinking it. Sunny might be tired. Sometimes, they test the bots together. Thinking back on his email, they probably did that today. And if Chai got so exhausted he passed out, it only makes sense Sunny would be pretty drained, too. Not to mention how he had to carry Chai all the way here afterwards.
“Well…did you get the data you needed?” he asks.
“Oh, yeah! We’re good to go. Just gotta finalize some stuff.”
“Cool, cool.”
Sunny looks down at his tablet in his lap when the screen lights up with a notification. He picks it up.
Chai shifts, glancing around the room. Sugar and Spice are in the corner motionless. They’re probably charging. His soda is on the coffee table. Though he’s pretty sure there were multiple…eh. He must’ve had one during the test. And they are Sunny’s brand, so he probably had some, too.
He sighs. Usually, hanging out with Sunny isn’t this awkward. It upsets him how much it reminds him of…
The static hisses. For some reason, he starts to feel a bit queasy.
He should just go. Sunny’s got important shit to do.
“Well, I, uh, better leave you to it,” Chai says as he moves to get up.
Sunny lurches forward, dropping his tablet to reach towards him. “Wait!”
“Woah—what? What is it?” His eyes go wide. “Did something happen?”
“No! No, nothing…happened…” Sunny trails off for a moment, before he continues. “I just—since you’re here, and neither of us is busy, I figured we could—”
A loud bang coming from upstairs, followed by more, interrupts him.
The gentle song becomes aggressive. The tempo jumps from andante to allegretto.
“What the fuck was that?”
“Let’s go find out,” Chai replies, his trash collector popping out of his arm.
Sunny nods. He heads over to Sugar and Spice, most likely to activate Spice to help out with whatever is waiting for them.
While he does that, Chai makes his way up one of the ramps slowly. His scrap guitar forms as he goes. He really, really hopes that it’s just some VA-SERs who knocked something over. Or a SCR-UB that got a little too excited while cleaning. But, knowing his luck, it’s probably a rogue KEM-0N0 or something. At least he’s got Sunny and Spice for back-up.
Speaking of them, they hurry after him.
“You ready, dude?” Sunny asks.
“Ready as I’ll ever be.”
They reach the top floor.
There’s another bang, and then a spot on the wall across from them bursts open. Chunks of it go flying. A large figure jumps through the new gap. They’re followed by a smaller, though just about as tall, one. They land on the floor with a thud and a clank.
“Oh, c’mon, seriously?!” Sunny shouts.
Chai’s eyes widen. The music cuts off suddenly as his player shuffles. His shock only lasts a moment, though, before he’s glaring daggers at the big guy, pulling his guitar back. The beat slows back down. An ominous drumbeat starts up.
Macaron meets his gaze, his eyes wide. He looks like he just saw a ghost.
The robot next to him pulls out a marker and draws a surprised expression onto their face.
Sunny sighs. “What do you dudes want that’s so important you had to punch a hole in my wall?”
Spice roars right as the guitar comes in. Her tail lashes back and forth.
That seems to snap them out of their state of shock. They still seem a bit thrown, though. Or maybe they’re just putting up a front. Luring them into a false sense of security.
“We—uh—w-we’re here to…uh…” Macaron trails off. He looks a bit ill.
“Deep breaths, sir,” the robot states.
He takes one. “We’re here to steal your data!” he shouts, sounding slightly more confident.
“On…what?” Sunny asks.
At the same time, Chai snaps, “Over my dead body!”
Macaron looks horrified all of a sudden. The robot changes their expression to something more…worried-looking?
Chai’s brow furrows. Just what kinda game are you playing?
“No need to get so drastic, bro,” Sunny says to him. Then, he turns his attention back to them. “Seriously, though, if you’re just here for data, use the door, guys. It’s not that hard.”
“I beg to differ,” the robot replies. They erase their previous expression and draw on a pair of angry eyebrows. “We are wanted. It is very tricky to get around. Especially with the heightened security!”
“I’m sure you could figure out a way to get in here without destroying anything,” Sunny retorts. Then, his eye narrows as he looks around. “Wait, where are the other two you’re usually with?”
“And what’s with the robot?” Chai adds.
“Oh, you didn’t know about them?”
At the same time, Macaroon asks, “You don’t remember?”
The robot looks at him with a drawn on tear under their eye. “Oh dear.”
“No, I didn’t,” Chai responds to Sunny. He looks at Macaron, frowning. “And what do you mean?”
Just as Macaron opens his mouth to reply, Sunny says, “Does it matter, dude? They’re probably just messing with you.”
Right. Sunny’s right. Why did I even…
Macaron asking, “Why would we do that?” interrupts his train of thought.
“‘Cause you’re literally trying to take us down, man!”
“That’s not true! N-Not entirely…”
“You just put a hole in my wall to steal data. ”
“It was the easiest way in,” the robot chimes in.
“Well, it isn’t an easy fix, asshole!”
Their arguing is just adding a layer of noise to a song that’s already got him on edge. It’s a familiar one. He doesn’t know how or why. He’s never heard it before. But somehow, he just—knows it.
The crackling of static. Another layer.
The beat is loud in his ears.
“Why don’t we stop talking and start fighting?!” Chai screams.
His voice echoes through the room. The music diminuendos, taking on a somber tone.
They all look at him silently. The robot changes its expression to one that’s both shocked and worried. Macaron looks like he’s seeing a ghost. Again. And Sunny seems…concerned. Pitying.
Chai grits his teeth. Don’t fucking look at me like that.
“You sure, man? I don’t want you to overdo it,” he whispers.
Chai tries to to not let his frustration seep into his voice. “If you’re alright enough to fight, so am I.”
The song shifts back to it’s more ominous, aggressive mood as it crescendos, the guitar picking back up.
Sunny nods. Then, he turns to look at Macaron and CNMN with a smirk.
“You heard the man!”
Spice roars, probably in agreement. She steps forward, crouching down a bit.
“Hey, now, we don’t have to fight,” Macaron says as he puts his hands up in a placating motion.
“In fact, I would argue that it is far more productive for us to continue speaking,” the robot adds.
Chai’s grip on his scrap guitar tightens.
Sunny cracks his knuckles.
Spice’s tail snaps back and forth.
Macaron frowns. “Please?”
The robot’s large, drawn on eyes around their actual ones look at them pleadingly.
Sunny and Chai glance at one another, then level both of them with unimpressed expressions.
“Sorry that I’m not down to chat with the dudes that just broke my fucking wall! ”
I’m not itching to talk to one of the people that left me for dead.
He almost says it out loud. Just to see how they’d react. But Chai bites his tongue before he can speak.
Macaron opens his mouth to reply to Sunny. The robot raises a finger with one hand, changing their expression to something more frustrated looking with the other.
Spice suddenly charging at them doesn’t leave any time for them to speak, though. Not unless they wanna get bit.
His player shuffles again, cutting off the song. The beat quickens to something more suited for a fight; allegro vivace. Chai can’t help but start tapping his foot to it. The clanking of a cowbell kicks in.
Macaron leaps towards the robot, moving them both out of Spice’s way right as the drums start back up. Their tone is much more peppy now. Synths join in on the action at the same time.
Spice quickly changes her direction. Macaron grabs the robot, puts him under his arm, and runs towards Chai and Sunny as she bolts in their direction again with a roar.
Get a goal, kid, get a grip on it
Chai tosses his scrap guitar in the air. He changes his stance as he catches it, ready to swing.
Find a focus, follow it, never quit
Sunny raises his fists up. He has his spiked brass knuckles on his flesh hand.
Get the good grades, go to college
Macaron grimaces as he keeps racing toward them. He puts his free arm in front of himself.
Get a good job, buy a house, start again
Shit. There’s no chance in hell they’ll be able to push him back, even with their combined strength. So, Chai does the first thing that comes to mind.
They tell you to be yourself
He dashes towards Sunny, pushing him out of the way.
Then they turn you into someone else
Macaron rams into Chai. Pain ricochets through him as he’s sent flying back into Sunny’s office, slamming into one of the screens on the far wall. It splinters, the display going haywire. He groans as he falls to the floor.
Houston, there’s a problem in my design
Seek and destroy
Macaron is quick to join him. He runs right off the edge of the upper level. Glass is sent flying as he breaks through the railing. He tumbles down the rock outcroppings, until finally, him and the robot hit the office floor.
I destroy the things I’m dying to find
Seek and destroy
Slowly, Chai pushes himself up. He tries to use his guitar for support, only to realize that it’s not in his hand anymore. It must’ve fallen out of his grip when he got hit.
It’s somewhat self-reflective
As Macaron gets back up, the robot helping him, Spice leaps down after them. She lands on his back. He cries out as he gets shoved back down. The robot’s arms flail as it backs away, almost falling over.
That you made this my directive
“You good, dude?!” Sunny shouts to Chai from the landing.
His entire body hurts. But that’s pretty par for the course. So, he replies with, “Yeah, fine!”
Houston, get your mission outta my mind
Seek and destroy
As he stands up, Chai raises his right arm. It only takes a beat for his scrap guitar to fly over, the handle hitting and sticking to his hand with a clank.
Properly grabbing it, he turns his attention to the robot. They’re doing something on Sunny’s computer. Probably trying to find whatever data it is they came here for.
Spice is wrestling with Macaron. And Sunny’s too busy jumping down onto them with a shout of rage to notice, either.
It’s a system and it’s powerful
He looks back at the robot. They don’t seem to be much of a threat. And, as far as Chai knows, they haven’t done anything wrong. Well, outside of working with assholes. Which they might be being forced to do. So…maybe they can settle this peacefully. Probably not. But maybe.
Can’t resist ‘em, wanna eat? Then learn the rules
Chai jumps up onto the desk. He holds the body of his scrap guitar in front of the screen.
It’s a big game and they play to win
This startles the robot, who turns to look at him with the drawn on expression of someone who just got caught doing something they definitely know they shouldn’t be. Chai knows it well.
If they’re losing they pull the plug and start again
“Mr. Chai—”
“I won’t hurt you,” he says. “If you leave now, you’ll also avoid Sunny’s wrath.”
So, what now? I’m just one man
They change their expression to a somber one. “I’m afraid I cannot leave.”
His brow furrows. “Why? Are—did they threaten you?”
“No! Nothing like that! They are my friends!”
Red starts to creep into the edges of his vision. “You’re friends? ”
That’s somehow gonna make you understand
The music gets louder. Like someone turned up the volume. It consumes all of the noise.
A yellow blurry figure. Barely a figure at all; just some weird shape. It changes, though, becoming clearer. A silhouette just like—
The world goes red.
Macaron has Spice pinned down. Sunny is getting up from the floor a few feet away, fumbling with the zipper on his fannypack. The robot is giving him a concerned look.
The color drains out of them.
Houston, there’s a problem in my design
The robot starts changing their expression. Chai interrupts them with a smack to the side of their head with his guitar. Both them and their marker are sent a few feet away from the desk, and down to the metal floor.
Seek and destroy
He barely registers himself leaping toward Macaron, slamming his guitar into his side. Scrap goes flying. Macaron is thrown off of and away from Spice.
I destroy the things I’m dying to find
Spice shakes herself as she leaps to her paws. She tackles Macaron, not giving him a chance to even attempt to get up.
Seek and destroy
Chai whirls towards the robot to check on them. They’re back on their feet and trying to plug a USB into Sunny’s computer.
It’s somewhat self-reflective
That you made this my directive
He regathers the scrap he lost when he hit Macaron, then throws his reformed guitar at them. It hits them so hard, they fly towards the wall, slamming into it.
Houston, get your mission outta my mind
Chai runs forward, magnetizing the guitar to his hand again before it hits the floor. Then, he jams the corners of the body into the wall. It pins the robot by the neck.
Seek and destroy
They look horrified.
Everything feels wrong for a second.
The drums and cowbell go silent. The song feels so much quieter without them.
But the beat goes on. The synths help to keep the energy up.
Chai turns away just in time to see Macaron throwing Spice off of himself.
As she’s sent flying, Chai charges forwards.
The cowbell returns. It’s joined by a guitar.
He punches Macaron in the face with a running jump. His momentum causes him to crash into Macaron, sending them tumbling in a heap.
The next thing Chai knows, they’re breaking through the glass wall as the drums kick back in. They fall, landing on the chute below. Pain ricochets through him, but it fades quickly.
Macaron clings onto him as they slide. He pushes against him, squirming to try and get away. It’s not much use, though, with how strong Macaron is. He keeps wriggling anyways.
He feels Macaron’s chest vibrate. He must be speaking. Chai almost wishes he could actually hear him. Part of him thinks that he knows a way to get them out of this mess. The rest of him figures he’s just freaking out.
The vibrations become more powerful—proving him right—when the entire chute suddenly shakes.
They both look up the slide. The PACK-13 looks down at them.
So that’s what Sunny was doing earlier. Chai had wondered why he wasn’t getting back in on the action.
Sparks fly from where its metal claws dig into the slide, leaving behind a trail of marks. Chai’s totally glad he can’t hear anything other than the music. He’s also pretty happy that another robot on his side finally showed up. Just in the nick of time. Now, if he could just…
He shoves against Macaron, trying to get free again. He manages to wriggle one arm out of the vice-like grip. Unfortunately, that arm is his flesh one. Goddammit. He goes back to squirming.
They’re almost to the bottom now. The heat from the lavafall ahead gets more intense with each passing beat, only to grow duller again after a moment. If they don’t slow down soon, or the PACK-13 doesn’t catch up in time, they’re both going to be nothing but—nothing. Lava doesn’t exactly leave much behind. Maybe—maybe…
The world returns back to normal colors. Sound rushes back in. His body aches. He feels like he’s going to melt from the heat. His head pounds in time with the beat—the screeching of metal-on-metal doesn’t help with that.
It all threatens to overwhelm Chai. He takes a deep breath and shuts his eyes. It helps a little.
What was I thinking about? Doesn’t matter. Yeah…yeah.
For some reason, Macaron starts gently shaking him.
“Hey—hey! Don’t go to sleep, or—or whatever is going on, little guy!” he shouts.
“What the hell are you talking about? And—why are you pretending to care, anyway?”
“I’m not preten—”
The rest of his sentence gets drowned out by the screeching getting louder right as the guitar takes center stage, starting its solo.
Chai opens his eyes just in time to see a wolf land on Macaron’s shoulder and growl at him. He yelps, releasing Chai in his surprise. As Chai falls forward, a smaller version of the PACK-13 grabs the back of his tanktop. He dangles from its jaws as it slides down the chute.
Looking behind them, he watches as a couple of wolves wrestle with Macaron, tumbling down after them in a heap. Macaron’s shouting echoes through the cavern. It adds a discordant layer to the song. One that’s worse than the screech of metal.
Chai squeezes his eyes shut. Everything feels wrong for a second. Like he skipped a beat.
They finally come to a stop on the walkway. The PACK-13 carefully sets him down, then steps a little ways away. The wolves that have been attacking Macaron suddenly leap away from him, disappearing into the PACK-13. It grows bigger as each one returns, until it’s back to its original size.
He rams into its paws, coming to a stop with a groan. He’s covered in bruises. Blood drips from his nose. Chai had expected it to be worse. After all the fighting, the lions and wolves, the broken glass…it’s a miracle he doesn’t even have a single scratch. Chai’s not sure whether or not he’s glad that’s the case.
You left me to die.
After a beat, Macaron slowly starts to push himself up. He coughs weakly. His glasses are cracked.
The solo ends. All of the instruments suddenly stop. The beat thumps along quietly.
So why do I feel bad?
The PACK-13 growls.
Macaron stumbles away.
The instruments kick back in.
The PACK-13 steps forward, crouching down a bit.
“Wait!”
Houston, there’s a problem in my design
It doesn’t move. Not even a twitch. Waiting.
Macaron looks to him with wide eyes.
He looks down at the floor.
Seek and destroy
What am I doing?
I dunno. The right thing.
But this is wrong.
Maybe.
The static rumbles like thunder in the back of his head.
I destroy the things I’m dying to find
“Get out of here,” he says.
“Wh-What?”
Seek and destroy
“Go. Get out of here. Before I change my mind.”
A beat passes.
It’s somewhat self-reflective
“What about CNMN?”
He almost asks who. But Chai already knows.
That you made this my directive
“Don’t worry about them. They’ll be fine.”
“But—”
Houston, get your mission outta my mind
“Go. Now.” He swallows the lump forming in his throat. “ Please. ”
Seek and destroy
There’s a beat of silence, aside from the music and the buzzing.
The sound of footsteps hurrying away accompanies the last few notes of the song. They fade right as it ends.
Chai stumbles forward, almost falling over. The PACK-13 catches him with its muzzle. Its metal skin burns. But he doesn’t move away.
As the next song begins, new footsteps come towards him from behind.
“Chai!” Sunny shouts.
The melancholy melody floats through the air.
The footsteps stop.
“Chai, are you okay?” Sunny asks between breaths.
“...Yeah,” he replies after four beats. “Where’s the robot?”
“Huh?” Sunny takes a deep breath before speaking. “What’d you say?”
“What’d you do with the robot that came with Macaron?”
“Oh—left them in my office with Spice…hurried down here, so…I dunno what she…”
For a moment, Chai feels bad for them. Spice definitely tore them apart. A painful way to go. If they even have pain receptors. A part of him hopes not. The rest of him is too tired to really care.
Fuck, I need a nap.
Sunny exhales loudly. After two beats, he asks, “Where’d Macaron go?”
“He…beat me to the bottom. Already gone by the time I finally got down here.”
“Ah, shit…PACK-13, track his scent!”
Chai pushes himself up to watch as wolves leap out from it, its body growing smaller and smaller. Enough stay for it to be about the same size as Spice. Maybe a bit bigger, actually. His hands rest on either side of its face now. Its tail wags in time.
The wolves that left the PACK-13 form a new one. This one sniffs the air a couple of times, before it races off.
Sunny moves to stand next to him.
“You sure you’re okay, bro?”
Chai takes a deep breath. He puts on his best smile as he turns his head to meet Sunny’s eye.
“Yeah, I’m fine. Just a bit roughed up. You alright?”
“I’m good! That fight amped me up! Well, until you went out the window. Then it got kinda scary.”
“I go out windows all the time, man.”
“Not while fighting!”
“Well—yeah. But still.”
Sunny huffs, shaking his head.
“Just…be more careful next time.”
“No promises,” Chai replies as he starts walking the way Sunny came. “C’mon, let’s go see how much damage we did to your office.”
“Oh shit—fuck! Goddammit! I forgot that it’s totally wrecked now! How am I gonna get anything done?!”