Rust In Peace Ch. 4: Missed Me

Jon couldn’t back up against the wall any further. Staring deadpan down at Rabbit who only returned that jester smile.

“I will only talk to Rabbit…” Jon tried to feign strength. Swallowing hard as his brother only blinked. Maybe if he pretended hard enough she wouldn’t mess with him. “Rabbit?”

“Let’s chat then…” His voice purred at a wavelength not common to him. It unnerved Jon that he still couldn’t tell who was who. Rabbit let out a soft groan, pulling his arms up underneath his chest, trying to sit up from the floor.

Usually Jon would have offered a hand. Instead he pressed his back against the wall and slid up it. Standing and keeping his eyes downcast at the other automaton. Watching him intently and trying to sidestep around him. “Rabbit?” He asked again, his voice didn’t shake as much the second time around.

“You were the one who wanted to talk.” Rabbit bit harshly. Barely managing to pull himself up to his knees. Clearly drained from the shock from Spine. There was no familiarity in that voice. “Come. Here. Let’s talk.”

“No. I’m fine where I’m… at.” Jon took a step back. He had to keep an eye on him, on her. His hands fidgeting nervously at his sides. His mind reeling of what he was supposed to do. He couldn’t beat Rabbit in a fight, and he didn’t have the ability to pacify him the same way Spine had. So easily she could saw him in half. Just like last time.

“Come. Here!” Rabbit panted, pulling up a knee. Growling low as he swiped out a hand. Jon jumped back, stumbling and tripping on his feet. Almost falling completely back. The panic setting in. “COME HERE!” He snarled again, weakly getting to both feet. Hunched over and panting steam just from the strain.

“I’ll!” Jon tried to think of a threat. “I’ll.. uh… I’ll shut you down!”

“I’d like to see you try.” Rabbit smirked out of the corner of his mouth. Tilting his head to the side. “Honestly what do you think you could do? I nearly broke you for good last time.” His eyes flashed darkly. “I’ll do it again.”

They stared each other down. The seconds felt like hours. Jon could feel his circuits start to overheat in the panic. Exhaling heavy strained breaths. Refusing to break his stare with him. Trying to think of an escape plan. Of all the times they played tag or raced, Rabbit won. Could he outrun him now, when it mattered?

“Gonna run?” He grinned, taking a threatening lunge towards the golden bot. Snapping his teeth in a heavy bite as he did so. Cackling when Jon fell back against the wall again. “It makes it so much more fun.” He tilted his head to the side, stalking him like prey. “Come on little birdy… let’s play cat and mouse.”

Jon took his chance, hoping Holly was more interested in the game than in destroying him again. He had to get word out. He had to wake Spine from the Hall of Wires. If he could reach one of the intercoms he could warn the whole Manor. That he had failed, and that she was loose.

Rabbit watched him, clenching his fists at his sides. Waiting for him to put distance between them with a malicious smile. “Run little birdie, run…” He leaned against the wall, stretching out his fingers as they dug into the plaster. Dragging them behind him as he marched after him. Leaving deep claw marks in the walls. “Its been a while since I’ve been out to play…”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The two engineers sat in a heavy silence. Michael was trying to delay it, or to find the right words. His hands folded into a peak and pressed against his lips. Nervously tapping them. Then running his hands through his hair, folding them in his lap. Tapping them against his crossed leg.

“Sometime today please.” Peter sighed, resting his chin in his palm and his elbow on the desk.

“So… Where would you like me to start? The day Holly and I fell in love? When we broke up? When we-”

“When she decided we were a good target.” Peter growled, not caring for Michael’s jokes. Sitting straighter in his chair. Trying to copy his father’s ability to look intimidating.

Michael sighed, relaxing back in his chair. “She always was… ambitious. In a lot of ways it was her best and worst quality.” Michael sighed fondly. “It was obvious pretty early on that she was smarter than everyone else in our classes… At first I wasn’t interested, at least not in a long term kinda thing. But she was persistent.” He chuckled, rubbing his chin as he remembered. “She brought me lunch everyday. Peanut butter and Jelly, she was no cook. Eventually I did ask her out… and once we started dating for a while I asked her why she was trying so hard.” He shrugged his shoulders, clearing his throat with a cough. “She said that when she saw me she knew she wanted me. And she always got what she wanted.” Michael smiled and ran a hand through his hair.

“Well that’s awfully possessive.” Peter muttered, turning back to his paperwork.

“Yeah she was that too… Boy did she get jealous quick. And such a short fuse too. But she was so smart, and passionate. She had such a sharp wit. Always so.. so…” He fumbled, trying to think of the right word. “Clever.” His smile faded to a frown, realizing he was talking about her in past tense. When she was quite obviously still here. And still trying to destroy them.

“You could find something positive in anyone.” Peter scoffed, flattening a large set of blueprints on his desk.

“I guess that’s true.” Michael had to agree with a nod. He stared at his feet. This was where things got tricky. “She… started planning our life… like without me. That’s why we broke up. She was too controlling. She wanted me to take over her father’s company with her… but I told her I was getting my degree then coming back here. To work with you guys. She was furious. Said I was choosing the Walters over her.”

He ran his finger over his lips again, wiggling it nervously as he forced himself to continue. “I tried to explain to her… she wouldn’t listen… she even applied to work for you guys…”

“Oh yeah…” Peter’s mask raised in thought. He turned to the drawers of his desk, searching their contents. “I remember that… Dad said she was too much of a hot head, a loose cannon… I might still have her application.”

“Yeah well… when she was turned down she was insulted. We grew distant, and I got so busy with the band and the bots and your new work and stuff. Then… In 2008 her father passed away.” Michael sounded guilty, hanging his head and folding his hands between his knees. “I was at a show with the band. I… didn’t go to the funeral.” He closed his eyes, exhaling a nervous breath. “If I had… maybe she wouldn’t have gone down this road. He was the only thing in her life and he was gone… she turned to me for help and I just… I was being selfish.”

“Michael.” Peter’s voice was soft and forgiving. He dropped a thick manila envelope on the table and sighed. “You can’t blame yourself for the decisions she made, because you couldn’t be there every time she fell apart.”

Michael nodded his head slowly. He knew it was true, but he couldn’t help but feel guilty. “What’s this?” Tilting his head as he pulled the thick envelope off the desk.

“Her application. I knew we still had it… Dad must have thought highly of her to keep it in the main office.” They sat in silence again. Peter watching Michael as he flipped through the dozen pages that was Holly’s lifetime career. How much could you know about a person by looking at dates and statistics? “This is all interesting.” Peter tried to bring him back to the conversation. “But you still haven’t explained the full on… robot murdering rampage.”

“Right sure…” Michael leaned back in the chair, crossing his leg back over at the knee. “We would talk occasionally on like, Facebook and stuff. Just to keep tabs on her, see where her life was going and what she was doing.”

“I hate that thing.” Peter growled with disdain.

“You hate anything that makes you have to explain the mask. And or talk to people.” Michael teased. Laughing hard as Peter gave an angry huff. “Oh yeah… so um… Well-”

“Why the visit? That started this. Last time.” Peter crossed his arms.

“Well we were in town. She asked us to come early to hang out. Which I thought was odd, considering she did everything in her power to push me away. But she was actually being… nice.”

“… nice…”

“Yeah.” Michael shrugged his shoulders. “So I took the bots sight seeing and whatever. You know that bit… She was working for Dr. Steel. Which I knew, but… she confided in me that he had her working after hours. On uh…” He cleared his throat. “… Purple matter…”

“WHAT!” Peter lurched forward in his chair. Hands grasping the arm rests tightly. “Under B.R.O.W.N.N. protocol 44, Violet mater and other matters in the same pallet must be authorized with a class 6 lab and at least a class 10 containment vault. WHICH HE DOES NOT HAVE!”

“Yeah… totally illegal.” Michael squirmed, as if he was the one in trouble. “And a huge health risk on her part. But ya know… She thinks she can outsmart anyone and anything. Until she got sick.” He started to chew his thumb nail. Keeping his eyes down.

Peter leaned back in his seat. Running a hand through his hair as he sighed. “Cancer?”

“Pancreatic… or at least they thought. The autopsy proved it to be a false alarm. But still… she went off the handle. She wouldn’t even wait for the results.” Michael charged angry. “She couldn’t wait two friggin months. Everything was life or death instantly. She wanted the blueprints and I wouldn’t give them to her. She wouldn’t just wait.” He leapt from his chair, starting to pace angry and slamming his hands together.

“The frailty of man!” He continued on her tirade. “She had the programming, just not the hardware. I was trying to be nice. Let her down gently. Its really scary, thinking you’re going to die at 28. She refused to accept it.”

“So instead she’s around masquerading as Rabbit.” Peter spat back. “Tried to kill them, break into the manor because she thought she was dying?”

“It wasn’t just that.” Michael sighed. “When she found out, she told Dr. Steel about it. But instead of playing it cool, she threatened him. Said she was going to turn him in to the B.R.O.W.N.N. So of course he cut her off. Kicked her out of the university. Got her funding pulled. Oh she was maaaaaaaaaad. Pissed and, with what she thought, nothing left to lose.”

“So the dramatics.” Peter waved a hand.

“As always…” Michael sighed. “She’s… she’s really ambitious. Her research is everything to her. And now the curtain was closing. She wasn’t going to be able to finish. She was desperate.”

“You’re making excuses for her.”

“No I-… I’m just trying to explain. Why she would-”

“Do you still have feelings for her?” Peter stated flatly.

“What?! No I just- SHE ALMOST KILLED ALL OF US!”

“And she’s going to do it again!” Peter stood, hanging his head as he walked around the side of the large desk. Meeting Michael’s guilty gaze with unseen eyes, hidden behind the dark key hole in his mask. He put a hand on each of his shoulders. Forcing Michael to stand straight. “Look… you said yourself. She always gets what she wants. She’s manipulative, cold-hearted, vicious, conniving, and worst of all… she’s smart. The Manor is on lockdown. You are going to Matt’s. Rabbit is on his way to the lab. I’m on this. She can’t escape. There’s no where for her to run. Trust me. Okay? We’ve got her cornered.”

Michael took a long deep breath, exhaling it slowly. Thats what he was afraid of. What would she do when her back is against the wall? How much of her made it over the network? “Yeah… okay. Keep me updated, won’t you?”

“Of course.”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

“QUIT SQUIRMING!” Rabbit shrieked, taking another swipe. His fingers digging into the drywall, dropping plaster over Jon’s head. The gold bot managing to duck just at the right moment. Scrambling on his elbows and knees between Rabbit’s legs. Crawling underneath the older bot. Almost managing to escape as he was grabbed around the collar of his shirt and thrown back into the wall. Hitting the back of his head so hard he saw static, his gears knocked out of place and making a strained grating noise.

Desperately he grabbed Rabbit around the wrists as his hands came grasping for his throat. Wanting to cut off his biggest steam and oil pipes. Managing to hold the threatening grasp only a mere inch away.

“Rabbit! Rabbit Please!” Still trying to call to whatever part of his brother was left inside.

Rabbit’s copper faceplates squinted into a hardened scowl. His teeth pulling back almost the full length of his vents as he hissed. “Pleading out of desperation? I have no quarrel with you robot. You’re just in my way.”

Jon clenched his teeth, tilting his head away and closing his eyes. Feeling his grip on Rabbit’s wrists waning. “I’m sorry… brother…”