Hop To It - Advance 26

[Tails]

The Egg Totem was a fascinating machine, and an example of Eggman’s more fantastical side. A small three-wheeled car supported a stack of spiked disks subsections that could fly out independently; the disks were equipped with a small multi-directional laser cannon with admittedly poor tracking abilities made up for in the fact that three cannons were firing at once. The truly fascinating thing was that when all three disks were deployed, the top section was supported by what appeared to be a spiralling column of pure energy. Tails dearly wished to study the phenomenon. If the Totem powered down while the disks were deployed, would that column wink out and send the Mobile mount crashing down, or would it turn out to actually have a physical core underneath? Was it magnet-based or something more esoteric? Were the disks automated or controlled directly, and how did they draw power from the main body when they were deployed? Were they powered internally or had Eggman cracked wireless energy transfer?

These were the things Tails thought about while Sonic, Amy and Cream fought the Totem. He wasn’t worried. He had full confidence in Sonic’s ability to save him. With Amy’s help? He wasn’t worried at all. Cream was more of a surprise, but not that much of one.

His confidence was only bolstered by the fact that the Egg Totem was very clearly designed, like most of his weaponized vehicles, to be piloted by Eggman himself.

And Eggman wasn’t here. The mount for the Egg Mobile was unoccupied, and the machine was running on autopilot.

The Egg Totem was fast enough and smart enough to take advantage of Music Plant’s tight corners to try and evade Sonic, but it wasn’t able to put up a proper fight without direction. It was only a matter of time before it went down in spectacular fashion, and Tails was freed.

“Thanks Sonic,” Tails said once his feet were on the ground again. “You too, Amy.” He nodded at Cream and Cheese, the latter of whom preened at the attention.

“No prob, buddy!” Sonic said cheerfully. “And man, Cream, what are you feeding that Chao that lets him tear through the guns like that?”

Cheese stuck his little chest out proudly.

“Hm hm hm~,” Cream’s eyes twinkled with mischief. “The better question is what doesn’t he eat.”

The Chao gasped, affronted. “Ch-chao! Chao!”

Sonic snickered, before his face fell and he looked over the remains of the Egg Totem.

Tails noticed immediately. “What’s wrong? Was the fight hard?” It didn’t look that way from where he’d been hanging.

“Not at all,” Sonic said, confirming Tails’s thoughts. “And that’s weird, isn’t it? Where was Eggman?” The hedgehog rubbed his chin in thought.

“That is odd,” Tails agreed. “The Egg Totem was supposed to be piloted.”

“Maybe he’s dealing with whatever happened at Hot Crater,” Amy suggested.

Tails tilted his head. “What happened at Hot Crater?”

“All the bad robots were destroyed before we got there,” Cream said.

“They were wrecked,” Sonic said. “And in all kinds of ways. Blown up, skewered, zapped, set on fire, even squashed flat. And then there were the ones who got split open and their parts torn out.” He shivered, exaggerating a little. “It was brutal!”

Tails blinked, then smiled. “Parts torn out, huh? I bet I know who did it.”

Amy giggled. “I bet you do. Her logo was spray painted all over the place.”

Tails smiled. Humi got ahead of Sonic somehow! Though he wondered why she skipped Music Plant. Couldn’t she have saved him early?

He shook the thought out of his head. “Well, nevermind. I got a view of Eggman’s plans before he sent me out here.”

Sonic smirked. “Alright, Tails! Where’re we heading next?”

“I’m not sure,” he admitted. “You mentioned Hot Crater, but I saw that he’s also got bases in Leaf Forest--”

“Been there already!”

“--the outskirts of Ice Paradise, and somewhere off the coast,” Tails finished. “I don’t know which one he’s hiding in. Or where he’s keeping Miss Vanilla,” he added, looking at Cream.

“Hm. Ice Paradise is closer,” Sonic mused, thinking. “So we should probably--”

“Split up!” Amy shouted, suddenly wrapping an arm over Sonic’s shoulders. “Why give him the chance to escape to one or the other when we can split up and corner him!”

“Amy? What--”

“Sonic and I will take Ice Paradise,” Amy said eagerly. “We’ll speed through it and then meet up with you and Cream and Cheese at the offshore whatever-it-is!”

“Uh!” Sonic grunted, looking panicked. “I dunno, Ames, uh, maybe I should go with Cream. You know, she’s the youngest, so I should look out for her, right? Or we could stick together?”

Cream giggled.

“I dunno, it sounds like a good idea,” Tails said, grinning. “Me and Cream can both fly, so we can go straight to the sea base. You two will need to find an overland route anyway so you might as well stick together.”

Sonic shot him a look of betrayal that made Tails want to laugh, but he managed to keep a straight face even as Amy practically lit up.

“That’s a good point! C’mon, Sonic! You, me, falling snow, and tons of robots to smash!”

“That sounds so romantic~!” Cream cooed.

Sonic looked for help from them and realized he wasn’t going to get any. He sighed. “Alright fine. Let’s get this over with.”

“EEEE! Let’s go!”

With that, Amy grabbed Sonic’s arm and started pulling him in a random direction.

“Amy, stop it! And Ice Paradise is the other way!”

“Mr. Sonic is silly,” Cream said happily. Then she frowned. “He doesn’t seem very happy to go with Miss Amy.”

Tails waved it off. “They’ll be fine. If they get into real trouble they can just call m--” He slapped his side, then dug through his tails and pulled out a little blue flip phone. “Oh, I didn’t give it to him yet, right.”

They stood in silence for a second, before Tails, slightly embarrassed, shrugged.

“Oh, well, he and Amy will be fine. Cream, how long can you fly at a time?”

“All day!”

Tails gave her a dubious look, but she just smiled.

“...Alright then, but just to be safe let’s run for the coast and then take off.”

“Okay! Lead the way, Mr. Tails!”

--------------------------------

[Heyu]

“If they freed me from this prison, if that railroad train was mine… I think I’d move it on, a little further down the li~ine. Far from Folsom Prison… That’s where I’d want to stay. And I’d let that lonesome whistle, blow my blues awa--”

I coughed, choking on the last note.

“Oh dear,” Vanilla said, sounding faintly amused. “I think that was a little out of your range, Hayden.”

“I noticed, thanks,” I huffed sourly. “I swear I can hit that low note, I’m just… parched.”

“I see.”

I didn’t think she believed me. “Feh. Fine, your turn.”

“Oh, hm. Let’s see…” I heard Vanilla clear her throat. “...I am sitting in the morning, at the diner on the corner, I am waiting at the counter for the man to pour the coffee…”

I closed my eyes, listening to Vanilla sing softly as I laid back on the floor of my cell, hands under my head.

This was bad.

Not her singing, she had a lovely voice actually, but this whole situation was worrying. Aside from that initial ‘meal’ delivery, no one had been by to check on us. I’d been expecting Robotnik to show up, maybe not in person, but at least through a video call or something. Maybe he’d taunt us, or make a demand of some sort, but there was nothing. And while I was putting on a brave face for Vanilla, the truth was that I could only put off panicking for so long.

Heh. It was amazing the sort of things you could get used to, and so quickly. It must’ve been, what, seven? Eight months ago? I was so totally out of my depth during that first adventure it wasn’t even funny, but I managed to keep my head on straight and did alright, and then I did better on the ARK, and now I was antsy. I felt like I should be doing something. I needed to do something, but without my rings I just wasn’t able to break out of this cell.

 My  nails couldn’t get deep enough to pry up the metal panels, the walls were too sturdy to break down both at the edges and in the center, and I certainly couldn’t tunnel my way out with the spoon I got with that gruel. Vanilla’s credit card trick didn’t work with the doors either. Why did she get to keep her wallet?

I felt helpless, and I didn’t like it.

…Also, I was bored. I’d kill for a bouncy ball to throw against the wall right now. I think I actually had one in my belt somewhere, but Robotnik took it with the rest of my stuff. Man, I wish I had pockets like Humi’s.

And speaking of that, Humi. There wasn’t a doubt in my mind that she was on the way to try and rescue me. I hoped she didn’t bite off more than she could chew. I wasn’t about to debate which genius was the most genius between Humi, Tails and Robotnik, but the mad doctor had like forty years experience over them…

…No, that wasn’t a productive line of thought.

Ugh, this sucked. This whole situation sucked. The Doctor attacked us in our home. Were we going to have to move? What about our neighbors? They didn’t sign on for any of this. Would they even want to stick around? I wouldn’t blame them if not. I swear, if I get out of here, I’m going to give Robotnik a piece of my mind. We had to have rules to this, or else things would get out of hand.

I held one hand up in front of my face. I couldn’t do anything without my rings. Could I? I focused, trying to capture that feeling of energy… but all I could sense was a faint buzz.

I don’t know. I just don’t know. The only thing we could do was entertain ourselves by singing back and forth. That or sleep, and the beds were too hard for that.

“Hayden?”

My ears twitched. “Yeah?”

“Are you alright?” She sounded worried. “I finished my song a few minutes ago and you didn’t say anything.”

“Ah, sorry. I’ve got a lot on my mind.” I grimaced. “It’s my turn, then, hm…”

“Hayden, we can stop if you aren’t feeling well.”

“No, I think not,” I said flatly. “Not doing anything is the last thing I need right now.”

She shuffled uncertainly, before sighing. “If you’re sure.”

“Right. Uh… Oh, I know. …I’m your only friend, I’m not your only friend, but I’m a little glowing friend, but really I’m not actually your friend, but I am--” I took a deep breath. “Blue canary in the--”

“-krrzt- Attention all forces!”

I stopped and sat up as the intercom in the hallway outside the cell hissed to life, and Robotnik’s unmistakable voice filtered through.

“There’s been a change of plans. Sonic just conquered Music Plant, but we have a more pressing issue! That dirty little rodent destroyed my efforts on Angel Island and will be arriving soon! All hands to battle stations! Metal, meet me in my office! -krrzt-”

I sat there, eyes wide. Then I grinned. “That’s my girl.”

Standing up, I turned my attention back to the cell bars. Humi was on the way, and I was not going to sit around moping while she came to rescue me. I kicked at the same bar as before, and it rattled in its socket.

“Hayden--Heyu, what are you doing now?”

I didn’t answer, just focused on kicking. If I led with my toe, the shoe absorbed most of the blow so it didn’t hurt so much, though I didn’t get as much force that way. The bars were wide enough that if I could just get one of them out of the way I could squeeze through, free Vanilla with the control panel that I assumed was there, collect my stuff… maybe cause some mayhem to slow down Robotnik’s efforts. I’d probably be able to find rings somewhere, I recalled that he used them as a power source in some of his weaker bots.

If I squinted, I could almost make out a dent starting to form. I wound up and pulled my leg back--and my ear twitched. Servos approaching. A familiar tone. Mecha Sonic was returning.

There was no way I could fight him without any rings, so I stepped back from the bars and sat down on the bed, waiting for him.

The passage of time was always tricky. Without access to a window or any kind of timepiece, I had no idea how long we’d been in here. It didn’t feel like it had been enough time for the next meal…

The point was moot, since Mecha wasn’t carrying a tray when he approached. He simply walked up to my cell and stood outside it, staring at me.

I stared back.

His eyes flickered to the bar I’d been kicking, and he reached out to lightly rub the tiny dent.

Years of customer service allowed me to not give a single thought away. That bar was already damaged like that, I thought loudly.

And we just stared at each other.

…

“What’s going on?” Vanilla asked. “Is that hedgehog robot back?”

Mecha glanced her way and took a sharp step back away from the wall so that she could see him from her cell. Once she had gasped at the sight of him again, Mecha… slumped.

I blinked, confused.

Mecha’s eyes darted back and forth, staring at nothing, before they flattened, like he was screwing them shut. And then, he threw something at my cell and ran away, back the way he’d come.

Three rings clinked on the floor inside my cell.

“...Oho.”

Just three rings. But three was all I needed.

I looked towards where Mecha Sonic had fled, wondering. Why did he do that?

“Hayden?”

I nodded, slipping a ring each on my middle fingers and then floating the third between my hands. “Vanilla, fortune has smiled upon us. We have a turncoat."

“Really? Is that even possible?” she asked. “Wouldn’t robots be… programmed to be loyal?”

“It wouldn’t be the first time.” I allowed myself a moment more to wonder what was going on with Mecha, but no more. I wasn’t going to stay in this cell a moment longer. I had somewhere to be.

I spun the ring up, focusing on its outer edge. I walked up to the prison bar, and cut through it like I was holding a little golden buzzsaw.

Oh yes. Now we’re cooking with gas.

The bar, once cut in two places, fell apart. The section I cut clanged to the ground, and then the part sticking out of the ceiling fell out of its slot as well. I stepped out, took a moment to stretch, then turned to Vanilla’s cell and did the same thing.

She watched me work the rings with interest before carefully joining me in the hallway. “We’re not free yet,” she said grimly. “Do you know which way to go?”

I frowned, then let my ears swivel, listening for clues. Then I pointed down the hall, in the direction Mecha took off. “That way.”

“Why that way?” she asked, moving to follow as I started jogging.

“I can hear running water.”

Vanilla frowned. “A river?”

“Better,” I said, chuckling. “A bathroom.” Specifically a toilet cistern refilling itself.

She looked unimpressed.

“Oh hush,” I grumbled. “Think about it. Robotnik is the only living thing in his organization. If there’s a bathroom, it’s a place he expects to be a lot.” Which meant living quarters, or a kitchen… or a workshop, where we could find something useful.

I just hoped we didn’t run into any complications…

--------------------------

[Mecha]

An outside observer would not have noticed anything off. Mecha walked the halls towards Doctor Eggman’s office with the exact same efficient gait that carried him everywhere. On the outside, he looked utterly calm and composed.

Inside, he was trapped in an emotional logic loop; or to put another way, he was panicking.

What did he just do?

The Doctor was going to dismantle him! The Doctor was going to turn him into a microwave oven, AI fully intact! Mecha was going to spend the rest of his existence cooking cheap TV dinners! He disobeyed a direct order inside Eggman’s own base.

What happened to traitors of the Eggman Empire? The very idea was difficult to contemplate, since to date there had only been… very few. Mecha searched the database quickly and found a list of robots under the key words ‘betray,’ ‘malfunction,’ and ‘AWOL.’

The earliest example was a duo called Heavy and Bomb, extant but current location unknown. They apparently got distracted during a mission and wandered off, as far as Eggman knew, and stopped responding to comms. It wasn’t worth it to hunt them down.

The biggest case recorded were the Hard-Boiled Heavies, though their files were heavily redacted. They were ‘driven mad’ by some exotic energy source and rebelled against Eggman… only to be accepted back into the fold and reprogrammed for loyalty… only to go turncoat again while hunting a second, distinct exotic energy source. They were listed as ‘presumed destroyed.’

The most recent entries were E-102 Gamma and E-108 Iota. Eggman didn’t have any plans on securing Iota, and in fact had apparently deemed him not worth the effort, but Gamma…

Apparently the established precedent for dealing with rebellious robots was to tinker in their heads to make them not rebellious anymore. Which, while distressing, wasn’t as bad as he feared. Except that records--from the database and from memories inherited from Mecha Sonics Mk. I and II--the records indicated that Eggman had grown crueller over time.

Mecha Sonic Mk. III was not important. The Heavies had been powerful and successful, betrayals notwithstanding; Mecha had failed basically every mission he was given. Gamma represented a unique system that Eggman had not been able to repeat; Mecha was a faded copy of Metal Sonic, a copy of a copy. He wasn’t worth keeping around.

And even if he was… He didn’t want to stay here.

At some point in his panic, he ended up standing outside the door. He had no idea how long he’d been standing there, hand an inch off the doorknob.

…But if he didn’t stay here, where would he go? Who would take him? He gave the prisoners the means to escape, but he was still the reason they were imprisoned in the first place; if he hadn’t opened his stupid mouth the Doctor wouldn’t have cared about the Mystic Ruins village. It was all Mecha’s fault. How could he go to them for help after that?

So what did that leave him?

He opened the door.

“--DON’T CARE WHAT YOU WANT, SONIC IS NOT HERE YET AND AN ENEMY ARMY IS APPROACHING!”

“Doctor--”

Eggman slammed a fist on his desk, and the wood cracked. “SILENCE! Metal, I can’t believe I’m saying this either, but Sonic is no longer priority one.”

Metal’s claws twitched.

“That upstart humiliated me, and I will not allow it to go unpunished! MECHA!”

Mecha jumped, having been stunned by the sheer volume of the Doctor’s fury, and refocused himself.

Something was different about Eggman, and it took Mecha a second to recognize what: instead of the everpresent round sunglasses that the Doctor wore, he’d replaced them with a large pair of square spectacles that sat crookedly on his nose.

Eggman never took his glasses off if he could help it, so seeing him in a different pair was almost startling.

The Doctor growled, and Mecha realized he’d been staring too long and straightened. “Yes, sir?”

“Are the prisoners prepared? I’m going to make the thieving little wretch pay for what she did to me, oho yes.”

Oh boy. “I have not been to see them yet, sir. You did not clarify what ‘prepare’ meant--”

Mecha ducked and a stapler flew through the space his head had just been occupying. “USELESS! And why do I even have a stapler?! This is a paperless office!”

Metal made a coughing sound. “Doctor--”

“I’m not going to let you fight Sonic! You aren’t ready!”

Metal growled, but pressed on. “This isn’t about that. I was asking how you intend to fight the interloper. The Egg-Go-Round was built with Sonic in mind and is unlikely to fare well against another mech.”

Eggman’s lip curled. “...Blast it, you’re right. Even if it would, it’s on a track in the arena, and if the ‘Egg Beater,’” he sneered at the name, “gets that far it will be too late.”

He tapped at a button under the desk and a holo-display lit up, a directory of available weapons popping up.

“The Egg Frog only works in a roofed environment, and it will take too long to get it down from the space station… that goes triple for the Eggrobo Z…” He drummed his fingers for a moment. “Hm, perhaps… If I combined the Egg Walker with the Egg Hammer… perhaps the Egg Scrambler for some extra firepower…” He nodded. “Yes, that will do. Metal, go to the hangar and prep my Egg Mobile for alteration. I’ll send a message to Sigma to ready the necessary models. If I’m quick, I should have time to finish before she arrives. Once you’ve done that, I’m placing you in charge of the badniks. Ensure that all defenses are operational.”

“Sir.” Metal turned and walked out, shoving past Mecha who was still standing in the doorway.

Eggman noticed him again too. “Mecha, are you still here? Go grab the prisoners--both of them!--and take them to the deck of Platform F! I need them there for when the show starts! Ohohoho!”

Mecha nodded slowly as Eggman laughed to himself, stepping back and closing the door.

The failed Sonic robot stared at the door for several seconds. Then he turned and sped down the halls as fast as his engines would carry him, taking sharp corners and making a beeline for the nearest exit.

The mouse was on the way, she was angry, and she was a big enough threat that the Doctor was diverting focus away from fighting Sonic. Mecha remembered the last time he ‘fought’ her. He still had phantom pains in his left servos.

Screw Eggman. It no longer mattered where Mecha went, as long as it was away from here--

Mecha turned a corner that should have led outside, and instead found himself face-to-face with a swirling cyan vortex, and he was moving too fast to stop.

The Special Zone closed itself as soon as he entered.

-----------------------------------

[Heyu]

Robotnik’s design philosophies hadn’t changed much since Final Egg. Pure utility, the only decoration being his grinning logo painted on the wall every now and then. If I wasn’t following the sound of flowing water, we might have gotten lost very quickly.

It occurred to me, as we were walking, that a recently-flushed toilet might mean that Robotnik was still nearby, but he was not a quiet man. Surely I’d hear him if he was nearby, right?

“Hayden, slow down!”

I paused, looking behind me to see Vanilla having trouble. “What’s up?”

She huffed, tucking a length of fabric under her vest for the third time. “I’m wearing a floor-length dress, what do you think?” A sigh. “I wasn’t expecting to be running around today.”

I blinked. Hm, yes, I could see that being a problem. “Right. Alright, hold on, not that much farther.”

We turned the next corner, and then we were in the hall where the bathroom was. That cistern was still going, but I didn’t hear any mad scientists nearby. Stepping inside, we were met with the truly baffling sight of a set of three public bathroom stalls and two urinals.

Why did Robotnik build them this way? He was supposed to be the only person here. Why would he ever need more than one toilet, and maybe a urinal if he was in a hurry?

Actually, last I saw his pants looked like rubber or something, how did he even get--nope, no, not entertaining that thought.

The stall furthest from the door was the source of the noise. Absentmindedly, I opened up the cistern to see that, yep, as I suspected: the rubber stopper had come loose and wasn’t letting it fill up. I fixed that, and thirty seconds later the noise finally stopped.

I stepped back, satisfied, and turned around to see Vanilla looking at me sternly.

“...Are you auditioning for a custodian position now?” she asked, folding her arms.

“It’s wasteful,” I said, feeling a bit self-conscious. “It wastes a lot of water.”

“Somehow I don’t think Dr. Eggman is paying his water bills regardless.” She rolled her eyes and left, and I followed after her. “Where are we going now?” She lifted one of her ears up and pointed down the hall. “I hear electronic sounds this way.”

“Hm.” I stepped over to the indicated door and peeked inside. “...Yes, this is a workshop. Stay close.” I stepped inside as she rolled her eyes.

“Hayden, I know I haven’t done this before, but I can handle myself in a fight if it comes to that.”

“Vanilla, this is not a karate tournament,” I said. “You aren’t going to be able to--” --kick a robot to death, I almost said. Gaia, what am I thinking? “Actually, on second thought, you’ll be fine. Say, can you fly?”

I asked the question mostly just to make conversation while I looked around the room. A huge robot with large shoulder pads was hanging suspended on one side of the room; good thing it seemed to be offline, I’d hate to fight that guy right now. A few tables and shelves of random bric-a-brac scattered the space, and a glowing tube of fluid in one corner--oh, hello. I spied something yellow on a shelf and strode toward it.

“Oh, I’m not sure,” Vanilla admitted. “I’ve never tried.”

“Really? What, did Cream figure it out on her own?”

“Yes, actually.” She sounded tired, but proud. “She tried to convince me to go flying with her, but I was scared of falling. If I’m honest I still get a little nervous when she goes too high.”

I grinned as I found my vest, with my belt underneath it. And all my rings were still in there too, and my phone and all the rest of my stuff. I slipped them on and sighed happily.

“I wouldn’t worry about it,” I said. “Cream seems to know what she’s doing, and she’s so light I’m not sure a fall could actually hurt her regardless of height.”

“I don’t know about that. And either way, I still worry.”

I nodded. “Of course. Granted, you probably know more than me, since I’m still figuring out how best to do the parenting thing. Humi’s pretty low-maintenance, usually but I--”

“You know, due to increased muscle density, Mobian children are usually the same weight as a human child the same age, despite height differences. The differences don’t start to add up until they reach age ten.”

I frowned. “That can’t be right, how do you account for the extra small or extra big--wait.” I looked up. Sitting on the top shelf of the rack I’d just pilfered was Yuno, wearing its little glasses and waving down at us. “What the hell are you doing here?”

“You know, I’m not sure,” it admitted. “One minute we were in the underwater city of Meropis, and then suddenly I was in the water around this place!” It scratched its head. “Very confusing. I hope the others are okay.”

“Underwater city?” Vanilla repeated. “How on earth did you get here of all places?”

“It happens sometimes,” Yuno said, not explaining anything. “I just hope the other two can get the DOVE back to land without me.”

---------------------

[Elsewhere]

“Yuno? Dono? Oh, no…” Ono pressed his face against the window of the sub. A jellyfish Mobian passed by the window and the Omochao tapped on the glass, getting her attention.

It held up a whiteboard and wrote ‘Have you seen two more of me out there?’, but the jellyfish just shrugged apologetically.

Ono sagged, morose. “Oh, no… how am I supposed to pilot this thing alone?

---------------------

I held up a finger. “Hang on, did you say water? Around this base?”

“Correct! This Eggman base is ocean-bound. I didn’t get a good look but I think it’s an oil rig.”

An oil rig. Interesting. That potentially complicated things. It meant that escaping the base was no longer as simple as get outside and make a run for it. Now we needed to find a boat.

I sighed and pulled a few rings out of my pockets. About seven or so I fashioned into a new Sling Ring and wrapped it around my arm. Then I took another one and held it out to Vanilla. “Let me see if I can’t help you with that dress.”

We hiked her dress up and I used the rings to hold it in place, hitching the whole thing up so that the hem fell around her knees instead of her ankles. It wasn’t pretty but hopefully it would get the job done.

I glanced around and grabbed a blocky red-and-yellow pistol with Robotnik’s face on it. “Vanilla, do you think you can handle a gun? We might need to fight our way out from here onwards.”

She took the oversized sidearm with a disgruntled look. “I suppose. I’m not really comfortable around weapons, but… needs must, I suppose.”

“We can poke around a bit,” I offered. “There’s probably more weapons here if we look.”

“THERE ARE.”

Servos whirring, metal shifting. We turned to see the hanging robot powering on, its massive arms unfolding into just so many barrels.

“AND I HAVE ALL OF THEM! EXTERMINATE!”