Chapter Text
It had been a few days since Painter had his little… meltdown… over their memories being tempered with, Sebastian would radio in when ever he could to check he was okay. Honestly he was, if slightly distracted at times, specifically over a particular… audible hallucination possibly? they had heard themselves yelling, actually pleading is more accurate, for someone to stop, calling out for help from anyone who may be listening.
The occurrence of it confused them.
did it mean something?
Was it some kind of warning?
Nothing had really happened since it occurred though, expendables kept dying early, mostly due to the searchlights, abomination and the fire wall. Sometimes they’d manage to gun them down with the turrets or get them killed by the good people, even if it caused him horrendous amounts of guilt.
Still though, nothing had happened, he’d asked Sebastian if anything had happened at his shop but it was just the usual annoying expendables. They hadn’t seen any of the expendables in a while, the result of so many of them dying too early, that or not being given a path near the entrance to his room. It wasn’t a big deal to him overall, one or two would eventually show up, stay for a bit, then just leave. The usual routine.
Nothing spec-
Faint bells suddenly started chiming, the same ones from a few days ago.
He scanned over their small room, at least what he could see of it, trying to figure out where the bells were coming from. They made his circuits glitch and caused the room around him to warp.
The expendable entered his room, they… they looked curious. No angry. No- confused? Their face kept… shifting… so did their appearance….
They entered his little cage, smiling, frowning, cursing, excited. They looked at them, face turning into… too many emotions… appearance warped into odd unnatural ways….
They raised their arms, high up, low down, in between, fused and apart… like some mutated human spider mixed with organic goo….
He heard themselves pleaded, bargain, mock, called out for Sebastian… the amalgamation of expendables fists came down on their screen….
Then everything stopped.
The scene, no, scenes, all merged into one, played in his head, a green fog encompassing it, along with a sense it was never to be remembered. Their hands gripped the table their sat on, trying to process… whatever that was… as it faded.
What… what was that?
Was it real? No, he’s alive! And still semi functional! But, then what the hell was it!? Why do they feel like those interactions happened!? Why does their circuits keep saying that has happened before, many, many times, but at the same time that it hasn’t.
it- it can’t be real… but it felt real…
They clutched their head as they ran through their memories repeatability, trying to figure out what was going on, discovering something else they had never noticed before in the process.
The expendables, they have no record of meeting them, any of them. They know they have though, he remembers them walking in, greeting them, apologising for any inconvenience he may have caused… yet nothing of that nature had been registered in his systems, they always made sure to do so though! He’d caused so many of their deaths and had caused problems for others! It was unfair for them to just… forget…
They knocked the side of their head, like that would some how bring back all those memory logs.
And that’s another thing! He’s seen a lot of them die! Yet, a day or so later they’d be back down, starting from the start. He knows how deaths coins work- he’s seen expendables use them a number of times, you come back were you died, not back on the submarine coming down days later.
To say they were baffled was an understatement, none of this made sense… so how…
He recalled a past conversation with Sebastian, basically the day after this all started.
Sebastian had mentioned an… individual who, for lack of better words, didn’t function in reality.
Could… it be the cause…
They never understood what Sebastian meant when he brought it up, and he had refused to elaborate when they asked him to, They’d assumed it was like the guy from the mindscape… guess they were a bit off.
Had it tampered with their memories?
The thought made them feel sick.
It seems like it- they never recalled… any of that… till now.
But, why now!?
Was the expendable on there way going to-
They froze, hands trembling as they clasped each other.
Were- were they- sure they’ve done horrible things! But it wasn’t personal! They’ve always made it clear it wasn’t!
What did that matter though… they still did-… and now they wanted them dead…
They don’t want to die yet… they need to get out of this room.
They quickly scanned through the turrets and cameras, finding the only expendable to be sent down in the last 30 minutes at door 87, 53 doors away, along with the searchlights, fire wall, and Sebastian’s shop in between all that. They aren’t moving fast and they might die before they even get here. He has time.
Is it enough time though?
They would still need to wait for Sebastian’s signal before they can reconnect the wires attached to the back of their head to the laptop beside them. It was hacked to be able to keep the turrets working, and guide the good people and Eyefestation to expendables even after they’d left for a good few hours.
They’d hate to ruin Sebastian’s plan because he’s paranoid.
Getting his legs to work though would at least help in preventing any… future deaths… they aren’t sure where to start though, the joints weren’t rusted completely, just minorly, but he could feel them grinding against each other when ever they moved their legs manually. The wires were slightly corroded, which would make sending signals to make them move difficult, they wouldn’t be able to do much about that however. They also need to find where they had been turned off, that’s probably a good place to start.
They checked any place they could think of within their hardware, eventually finding half a dozen of his servos that were off, they tried to check if they were linked to their legs but couldn’t get anything. They sighed, they don’t have much to loose if they didn’t.
Turning them on resulted in a pop up on his screen, ‘ Are you sure you wish to turn on leg operations: Yes No ’. They selected ‘Yes’ and soon a timer popped up, telling them how long it be till they were operational, 30 minutes. God did they hope they’d last 30 minutes.
The walkie talkie chirped to life beside him.
“Hey think you could cut the light were I’m at? I’ve placed down a few land minds and the expendable coming by doesn’t seem the most observant. Easy picking if you get what I mean.”
“Oh… y-yeah sure…” They checked Sebastian’s location, finding the room and turning off the lights.
“Hm, thank you but, are you… you sound anxious. Is something wrong? I’ll try and come by so we can talk properly-”
“N-n-no, no, just… I…” They shouldn’t disturb Sebastian, no matter how much their memories being tampered with and the knowledge that they might be about to get killed disturbs them, Sebastians already has his hands full with so much, they shouldn’t add onto that.
“Kid, I will come over there. I can hear the static through the radio.” Ah, crackers.
“Sorry, it’s nothing, s-serious, I promise! We can talk about it later, I’ll… I’ll be okay.” Hopefully. Does Sebastian… remember…?
“… if you’re sure… remember you can radio in if you need to. I’m sure the expendables can deal without my shop for a little while.”
“I’ll keep it in mind.” They added it onto the list Sebastian wrote out for them to remember, along with what they probably weren’t supposed to remember or realise. Its the only thing that hadn’t been tampered with yet, it’s still safe…
[Bzzzt-]
They picked up the walkie talkie, attaching it to one of his chest plates, careful not to break something.
Does… Sebastian remember? No… they’d know. They’ve seen how Sebastian reacts to them simply leaning too far forward, simply because they’ve accidentally fallen off their table before doing so, they’d have noticed something off about him if he remembered them getting their screen punched in.
It’s not the time to focus on that…
They rechecked the expendables location, they’d made it to searchlights, hopefully it will keep them well distracted for good while.
He looked around what he could see of the room outside his cage, there are two large crates blocking the main door, it’s probably his best bet but trying to move the boxes would be a pain.
There were also the anglers he’d need to be careful of when they got out, four of them messed up electrical equipment, they are lucky they never came close to his room. They hope they don’t suddenly choose to once he’s left it.
Pandemonium was its own bundle of questions, the thing only seemed to targeted organic things from what he’s seen but said things also move so it could actually be that. They really should have asked about its file at some point.
The Wall Dwellers were another odd case, they attacked those who walked past them and failed to notice them tailing behind, yet another entity that was either movement based or organic based. They hoped the latter. Though, that is also dependent on if they leave the area outside their room once they’re out, hopefully they won’t need to and can just radio Seb-
“Ah- shit!” They cussed as they felt electrical shocks enter their legs, if they had teeth they’d be gritting them together. He checked the timer, 21 minutes remaining, digits, the corrosion on his wires must be bad…
Their walkie talkie chirped to life again. Crap.
“Painter, kid, what happened? Are you okay?” The worried tone made them feel guilty and uncomfortable.
“Yeah, all good- ow- system shock.” He feels bad for lying but at the same time there was probably a reason they had forgotten, no matter how much it makes them queasy.
“System shock… you’re not over doing it again are you?”
“Oh! No, no! Just powered up too many turrets at once!” A silence stretched between the two, had they been caught?
“Uh-huh…. Well, our ‘mutual friend’ has finally sent me some details, it shouldn’t be too much longer now.” Oh, thank circuits.
“I’ll make sure the laptops ready.”
[Bzzzt-]
Sebastian is 100% aware he’s hiding something, digits they are doomed.
It’ll be fine, it… it will be fine…
He rechecked the timer, 19 minutes remaining.
The expendable has gotten past Searchlights, 30 doors away, approaching Sebastian’s shop, yet to get to firewall. His hands won’t stop shaking.
They pick up the laptop, insuring all protocols were in place and that all would be able to run even after they’d gone. A thought of this not working plagued at him, they can’t afford it not working, who knows what might happen if it doesn’t.
Think positive, think positive. Just think positive…
…
The faint sounds of bells caught their attention once more. They held the side of their head as the room warping around them. The next thing they knew Sebastian was standing before him, surrounded in the same green fog from before.
“S-Sebast-”
“No... no-no-no....”
Sebastian was looking down at him, tears trailing down his face, hands shaking in front of him like he wasn’t quite sure what to do. He then gently grabbed the sides of painters head, moving it around as he tried anything to fix them.
“come on... come on please work... argh, what did they do to you... what did they do to you?” Sebastians face twisting with anger, before shifting into desperation. “I can put you back together, I can still fix you... come on... COME ON...” Sebastian’s breathing was frantic, one hand moved against the side of Painters head, shaking as he desperately tried to find a way to fix them, but any effort was in vain. “You'll be ok.. I Promise!”
Sebastians eyes were empty when he said it, he knew it wasn’t true, his breathing hitched, the unwanted truth blowing up in his face. “No... NOO! NOOOOO! WHAT DID THEY DO?! WHAT DID THEY DO?!!”
They shrivelled up as they listen to Sebastian’s desperate yells and pleads, their back hitting the wall behind them, the numb acknowledgment that this was probably what happened once he’d found them, it terrified them. They’ve never been scared of Sebastian before, nervous sure, never scared.
The scene faded away as quickly as it appeared. Like it never happened at all.
They wanted to scream, they hated this, the anxiety over their memories being screwed with, the paranoia over the possibility the expendable was going to kill him, the uncertainty over there actually being a way out of this hell, and now that. Sebastian had probably been the only one keeping him in any state of stability, and even that had felt fragile, it felt like it had just barely survived being hit with a sledgehammer now.
They had to mute themselves quickly to prevent them from yelling out in pain, they mildly regretted turning their legs on, they probably should have just used their arms instead to move around but, barely, working legs were better than them just trailing behind him.
He looked down at the laptop, everything seemed to be in place, ready to be activated at a moment’s notice. They can do this, they’ll get out and Sebastian won’t see them dead, everything will be just fine! Everything has to be just fine…
There is no other option.
They rechecked where the expendable was.
Location of the expendable, Sebastian’s shop, 17 doors away… yet to go through fire wall corse.
It should be fine- the expendable just seemed to be loitering at the shop, probably taking a small break, more likely just trying to annoy Sebastian like most of them tended to do…
Thats not very nice of him to think… maybe they aren’t and are just sitting and getting patched up… maybe they aren’t-…
… ‘maybes’ aren’t safe to trust right now…
He placed the laptop next to them and disconnected himself from his drawing tablet, before slowly sliding themselves off their table and onto the floor, careful of the wires attached to the back of their head. They held their ‘breath’ as their legs twitch due to shocks. Once on the floor they slowly dragged themselves over to their cell door to press in the code to unlock it.
The panel beeped a few times in confirmation as the locks unlocked. They grabbed the handle and pulled the door open, it was a lot harder than they’d thought it be, Sebastian always managed to open it with ease, then again Sebastian is giant and definitely has a lot of muscle which is nonexistent for them. They were never made with the intention of being strong.
Once the door was open he shimmied themselves back of to the table, just as their radio buzzed to life.
“The expendable finally left. Noticed they were pretty beat up yet didn’t seem to have any bullet wounds…” Sebastian’s tone was mockingly light. “I haven’t been hearing any shots either, come to think of it.”
… THEY FORGOT TO ACTUALLY ACTIVATE ANY TURRETS…
They unmuted themselves. “O-oh! They must have bugged, I-I’ll check-”
“Kid.” Digits, he’s in trouble… “What’s been going on. You haven’t been radioing in, you usually do a few times every hour, you sound scared like your being threatened. So, what’s going on? Are you hurt? In danger?”
How do they explain it? How do you explain something you barely understand yourself? “Would you honestly believe me if I said I… I don’t actually know… I… keep seeing green fog and seeing things that…”
“‘That’?”
Static filled their room, as they uselessly searched for words. “I-I don’t know how to explain it! It feels like- its- it’s just bad!”
Sebastian hummed thoughtfully, though it sounded like he was holding something back. “I see, well, this seems like something we can talk about on our way up to the surface.”
Wait… surface… are they actually…
“We’re getting out?”
They heard Sebastian chuckle “They will be arriving at cargo dock #218 in maybe half an hour. I need to quickly pack up a few things, once I have, I’ll be coming to get you kid.”
They’ve never felt so relieve in their life, they still have one problem to deal with though. “… yeah, I’ll sort out stuff here.”
[Bzzzt-]
He turned off his radio, apologising under their breath for not give Sebastian time to respond. They unplugged the wires from the back of their head and picked up the laptop attaching each wire to it, making sure it all connected and loaded up properly. Once that was done they placed it back down and picked up their drawing tablet, holding it close to their chest. They can’t leave it behind, it’s the last thing they have of him.
From there it was a waiting game for their legs to work and with no more access to the cameras, they were just praying everything would be fine.
They tapped each of their fingers to their thumb in a repeated pattern as they anxiously watched the time remaining tick down.
…
5 minutes remaining
…
4 minutes remaining
…
3 minutes remaining
…
2 minutes remaining
…
1 minute remaining
…
Legs operational.
They cursed, legs spasmmimg and shaking, they knew it would hurt but not to this extent, they were determined to push through it though. They used the table for support as they tried to stand, their balance was bad, the equivalent of a newly born fawn, and the amount of pain was near torture.
Eventually they found their footing and slowly began to ‘walk’ out of their cell. They acknowledged the hole in the wall briefly, they knew it was how the expendables entertained, they have vague memories of them using the main door though on the odd occasion.
They manoeuvred over to the blocked door, using the wall as support.
The two large crates were nightmares to move, they had made sure to placed their drawing tablet down on a nearby desk before attempting to push the crates, their legs greatly protested this action and kept disconnecting and reconnecting, sending more pain into them each time.
They would fall over anytime they leaned the wrong way as well, thankfully they never broken themselves more when they did.
After a couple minutes they had managed to move the crates enough to get access to the door, they picked up their drawing tablet once more and opened the door, rushing out of their small room.
They were finally out of there.
They fell pretty quickly but paid it no mind as they pushed themselves up onto their knees, closing their room door and breaking the handle the best they could so no one could open it again.
It seemed to be just in time too, as they heard footsteps walking into it. They heard a muffled question, footsteps moving around, then the fade to silence as they left. They sat there silently as they listened, their head knocking against the door once he heard them leave. They’re safe. They had to be safe…
Please… please don’t reset or loop or whatever… please just… just let them go… let them and Sebastian be free…
Bells ringed from behind him. They held their head low, silently praying.
Please don’t make us go through this hell anymore…
The bells seemed the retreat, something leaving with it.