Work Text:
Another loud crackling sound burst forth, ricocheting off the metal walls of the Steamworks and echoing throughout the cavern as a whole. Clover snarled.
"HoW L0NG ARE wE GOInG TO DO THIS?" Axis beeped erratically, head twitching involuntarily as something somewhere sparked off inside his neck mechanics.
"Shut. Up." Clover growled, firing off another shot that was immediately blocked by Axis once again. Clover grit their teeth so hard they thought they might shatter. Their very SOUL was burning, shaking with fury as Clover tried to will it and their agenda forth.
"My SHIELD iS IMPERVI0US TO YOuR BULL3TS. SO yOU_SHOULD GIVE uP."
Clover howled with laughter that was less so genuine and more so exasperation. "WHAT IS THE MATTER WITH YOU?! YOU'RE 1'S AND 0'S, YOU'RE NOT EVEN REAL SO WHY WON'T YOU JUST GIVE UP AND DIE?! GET. OUT. OF. MY. WAY!" They screamed, punctuating each word with another bullet aimed at Axis's face.
"oK BR_O. CH1L L T HE fuck OUT ." Axis said, taking a hand off his "shield" for a moment to gesture at Clover to calm down. Though it seemed to be more in a mocking way, or at least that's how they interpreted it.
"AND AnYWAY, ,, AS I SAID bEF0RE... I CAN eXPLAIN EV3RYTHING to YOU."
Axis's sentence was finished with another loud crack of Clover's revolver rocketing at his face; which was once again blocked.
"Explain- Explain what? Just GO already!"
"YOU SEE, I DO nOT HAvE THE FrE3DOMS YoU HAVE."
"I'm gonna enjoy grinding the rust off your face with my boot you-"
"MY PR0GRAMMING. . ."
"STOP FIGHTING!"
"I H4D no_CHOICE."
"I WAS FORCED TO NEUTRALIZE THAT HUMAN."
In an instant, the cavern went silent. No more gunfire. No more shouting. Just the hum of the Steamworks's machinery churning away.
Clover was completely still, staring directly at Axis, wide eyed, stone-faced.
For a moment, Axis figured he might have gotten something through to the human, but...
"...Excuse me?" Clover muttered quietly, hardly louder than a whisper. So quiet Axis almost didn't hear them.
"1T W4S-"
Clover twitched. Then they shivered. Then they jolted.
Then their SOUL willed itself forward out of their chest; pulsing and glowing a bright fiery yellow.
And then it started shaking.
Violently.
Clover's LOVE increased!
In an instant, the blood splattered across the burning hot tile and Clover's dry skin began to seep back into their body. The scalding burn wounds began to ooze puss and heal over.
Clover's LOVE increased!
Clover's fist clenched so hard around their revolver that despite it being solid metal; shattered into pieces and clattered onto the ground.
Clover's LOVE increased!
And their eyes started glowing even brighter than the Steamworks itself.
Axis recoiled- fear shooting through him once again like it had when Clover had first tried to murder him. "W-WAIT. WHAT'S GOING ON?"
Clover's very SOUL started glowing; and their eyes did with it. Atoms, particles, molecules, even the humidity and radiation scattered in the air was drawn into Clover's soul like an insatiable black-hole.
And with a scream of defiance, it released all that energy- in his exact direction. Axis had almost been too slow, too shocked to react properly but having just enough time to force the shield in front of his face; only for it to splinter into fragments. The force of the blow knocked Axis back, nearly throwing him over the edge and into the fiery pits of coolant below.
Clover's gritted teeth of rage almost seemed to contort into a grin at his fear.
Terrified, Axis started begging for his life. But there was no trace of... Anything on Clover's face. The murderous rage had abruptly disappeared as their SOUL continued to shake.
Clover's LOVE increased!
Clover's LOVE increased!
Clover's LOVE increased!
Clover's LOVE increased!
"HOLD ON. PLEASE. I AM SORRY." Axis beeped desperately as Clover's very being began charging itself with the energy and matter around it. Axis would've cried if he could. But instead, all he could do was politely ask this human to not murder him for something he hadn't willingly carried out.
"I DIDN'T WANT TO-"
Clover's soul erupted yet again, but this time it was much more powerful. The last thing Axis saw was a blinding flash of pulsing yellow light.
And Axis's last thought was the fact this had probably been the very last thing the child he'd murdered saw, too.