Work Text
Zane awoke with a gasp, he just had the weirdest dream. He dreamed of two small robotic children, both dancing and spinning in circles giggling.
He assumed one was him, that made sense right? Then who was the other? Why did both of them look so busted? The facts just did not add up. He had to go see for himself.Zane woke the others and told them his plan, enduring multiple pillows that were thrown his direction for waking his brothers up so early. He set off towards the control room, punching in the coordinates of the lighthouse and setting sale, guiding the ship through the more difficult parts. After a day or two of sailing, they reached the light house and landed in the water. Zane smiled watching his brothers rush off the boat to go and great Gizmo. He headed down the steps and lightly knocked on the door, he gasped when it slammed to the ground and stared at it before looking up, just barely catching a glimpse of the top of a head sprinting down the steps to the basement. He ran after it, but when he got there, it’s was gone. Like it had vanished. -Echo’s POV- The day went on per usual, me and my brother helping Gizmo reach the high places, playing around, tinkering with old parts and half finished projects, and playing chess.We had just started helping clean with there was a loud rumble outside. Mimic grabbed my hand and shoved me to the basement, I hid quickly.
He just barely made it, I think one of the people saw him but we aren’t sure yet.
Ok, scratch that, he definitely saw Mimic. He came sprinting after us faster than I could see, luckily Mimic was a master at hiding and managed to evade the persons eyes.
But it didn’t last long.
Many more colorful people came down the steps, more people than either of us had ever seen! A sudden blue grid filled the room, I let out a quiet gasp. I think the white one heard me, Gears I hope not! (Gears is essentially their word for god)
He stepped towards my book shelf and I held a breath I didn’t need, he was so close so discovering me. It was quiet for a moment, I thought I was in the clear, when the shelf suddenly went flying to the side, I gasped and ran from the black one who had thrown it, my brother reached out and pulled me into his hiding spot, shushing me and smooshing me as close to him as possible to keep me hidden.
The black one tossed the boxes we were hiding behind slowly while the blue one with the shrill voice scolded him. My brother stood in front of me, fighting stance ready. “S-s-s-stay awa-y from m— —rother!” He yelled, voice cutting out in spots and glitching. -Zane POV- I couldn’t believe it. I was looking at two replicas of myself. Of course, one was busted to hell, a missing eye and ruffled hair, rust covered a majority of him and dents all over his body as well as what looked like bullet holes, while the other was in definitely better shape, but still busted to hell as well, missing arm, rust covered some of him, and he had a hole going straight through the right side of his chest, which looked suspiciously like a stab wound. The one standing was definitely the fighter, he stood protectively in front of what he said was his brother, spewing insults and threats that I knew he wouldn’t be able to pull off. I did a quick scan of his body, causing the standing one to startle. “—ont try y—ur weird t-t-r-r-tricks on me!” He yelled, throwing a rock at me with surprising speed for a guy who’s joints creaked every time he moved. It caught me off guard and ended up smacking me in the eye. He was quickly immobilized by Cole. “Say sorry!” Cole yelled, struggling with the robot, “N—O! I’D DO I-I-I-IT AGA—N IF I COU—LD!” Getting free with one mean mule kick to Coles crotch, causing him to crumble to the ground. The robot grabbed the hand of the one on the floor and took off running, I could hear they ran up to the rafters, but thought it’d be better to leave them alone.“Perhaps you should have taken a gentler approach?” I offered, helping Him to his feet. “Thanks for pointing that out.” Cole responded in a pained voice.
I set off to where the boys had hidden, instructing the rest of the crew to go wait on the boat.
“It’s just me now.” I said, making my voice gentle as I could, “you may come out, the mean man is gone.” One came out immediately upon asking, which was surprising. The boy started to crawl down when a rusty hand appeared from the roof and pulled the boy back up. I chuckled to myself, stopping when I heard faint whispers of “Wha— do you t-t-thing your d—ing!? It’s o—iously a tric-k-k-k!” “But he s-s-s-said it was s-safe!” There was a soft clunk, followed by an even softer “what was t-t-that for?” “F-f-for being too trus—“
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
-Mimics POV-The man sat there all night. It disturbed me how much he looked like us, it was almost uncanny. I have no idea how he sat there for so long, but he eventually fell asleep. I feel kind of bad for making him sit there all night, but he didn’t show any signs of wanting to hurt us, nor did he show any intent on leaving. “Sta— her-e, don’t lea-v-v-e-e-e till—say it’s ok.” My brother nodded his head, I let out a sigh and crawled down from the rafters. The white boy didn’t look like he was aware I was standing right in front of him, so I did a quick test by tapping his shoulder and much to my disappointment and relief, he stayed asleep. I nudged him harder, he stayed asleep. It was actually kind of worrying. I checked his pulse just to be sure. He didn’t have one. OH MY GEARS THERES A DEAD MAN IN OUR HOUSE. “ECH-O! H-HE DOE-S-S-SN’T HAV— A PUL—SE!” My brother ran down the wall and skidded to a stop next to me, he also checked the man’s pulse with his good arm and started panicking. I tried to comfort him, telling him to be quiet before the other people hear us. The white one moved and all went silent. The boy groaned and rubbed his eyes and we both just stared at him, my hands still over Echos mouth. The boy just looked at us in shock, “Oh, Hello.” He said groggily, that was enough to send Echo back into panic. “OH M-M-MY GEARS HE-S ALI-V-V-V-V-VE!” I slammed my hands that had fallen to my side back over his mouth, frantically shushing him. -Zane POV- I was awoken by a harsh nudge on the shoulder, the hands were cold, I knew it was one of the boys.
I decided it was best to awaken once they were comfortable around my sleeping form. After a moment to boy put his hand over where my pulse should be, quickly calling for his brother, who then was quick to panic. I decided it was a good idea to wake up after hearing one of the boys try and quiet the other. I moved to rub my eyes and the boys fell silent. I groaned, pretending I had just woken up and hadn’t been awake for that whole ordeal, I looked up at them in fake surprise, “Oh, Hello.” I figured that was the least threatening thing I could say in the moment, but they just started panicking again, the more beat up one frantically trying to quiet the one with the missing arm. “Hey, it’s ok, I’m not going to hurt you.” I tried, one responded “Ho— do we k-k-k-know you are—n’t lyi-n-n-g-g?” “I promise.” I said, holding up my pinky. The one with the missing arm was quick to loop his pinky in mine, earning a tired sigh from his brother. “F-f-fine. We w— trus—t you f-f-f-f-for now.” The boy said, grabbing my hand and starting to show me around. I already knew the layout, but it was nice watching them give a tour, though it hurt my back slightly from having to bend over to let the boy hold my hand comfortably. They showed my the last room, which was cluttered with blue prints, half finished projects, and in the middle of it all was Gizmo, who was tiding up the place. “Gizm-o-o!” The boy holding my hand yelled happily, quickly being tackled to the floor by the boy and loosing his grip on my hand in the process. They laughed as the one with the missing arm had to practically pry Gizmo off the boy. I watched in amusement as the boys excitedly introduced me to Gizmo, whom I had already met before. Gizmo beeped happily and whirled around my feet, I reached down and patted him on the head, earning more happy beeps. I smiled and sat on the floor with the boys, who both seemed to completely forget I was a stranger while Gizmo was in the room. “I’m Zane, what’s your names?” I asked, watching them play with Gizmo. “It’s Echo!” One of the boys said, petting Gizmo with his only arm. “Mimic.” The other replied, pushing Gizmo on his side and laughing at the his angry beeps and Echos smacks. “Would you let me do a scan of your body’s? Just so I can make sure you two are ok.” I tried, becoming more aware of the creaking of their joints and Mimics constantly flickering eye. The boys thought about it for a moment, Echo glanced at his brother and then gave a thumbs up, while Mimic just shrugged. I sighed in relief. “Ok, could you two please stand up?” I asked, wincing as Mimics knee joint made a horrible squealing noise. They both just laughed as he offered a hand to Echo, who took it and stood next to his brother. I started to scan Echo first, but was started when he suddenly spoke up. “Wait! Do a scan of Gizmo first!” I glanced at Mimic, who was nodding his head. I sighed and scanned Gizmo, I smiled. “Healthy as can be! A little outdated, but other than that there’s no problems.” Echo’s face split into the biggest smile I’ve ever seen, while Mimic just grinned. “Looks like my repairs worked, ey buddy?” Mimic whispered, crouching down to pat Gizmo. “Now that we are certain Gizmo is alright, could I scan you two now?” They both nodded, Mimic standing back up and making that awful squealing noise again. I scanned Echo first, wincing with each thing that popped up. ECHO:Joints have not been oiled in some timeMost joints seem to have been reattached Rusted through in some areasOutdated insidesLoose bolts and screwsMost likely bad visionKnife hole just barely missing vital wires I sighed and scanned Mimic next. MIMIC:Joints have not been oiled in quite some timeAll joints reattached improperly Rusted through in some areasOutdated insidesMost insides put in the wrong placesLoose bolts and screwsMissing and/or severed wiresBullet holesDented skinBlind in one eyeOther eye is most likely blurry I had to get these guys fixed ASAP, I’m not sure how much longer they can stay running. “How would you guys like to meet my friends? I promise the mean guy won’t bother you. I’ll make sure he keeps his distance until you guy says it’s ok. Does that sound nice?” They boys looked at each other, seemingly having a silent conversation that I couldn’t even hope to understand. “Do we get to bring our stuff? What about Gizmo?” Echo asked, looking nervously as Gizmo. I smiled, “You may pack your things, and Gizmo may come.” They both lit up, “I’ll get repair tools and sentimental things, you get almost finished projects and some of our board games. Sound good?” Echo nodded. “Nice!” Mimic was first to sprint out of the room, Echo trailing not far behind with Gizmo hot on his tail. I laughed, not expecting them to be so quick to agree. The first one done was Mimic, who showed me what was in the tattered duffle bag. Echos other arm, screws, screwdriver, spare parts, a snow globe, a picture of the two of them seemingly brand new, and a small stack of books. Echo game down about 30 minutes later, also carrying a tattered duffle bag, also eager to show me what he has. He opened it and showed me a puzzle, a chess board, another stack of books, and some small nearly complete projects asking with the tools to finish them.
I gave them a thumbs up and walked outdoors towards the bounty, boys following not far behind and Gizmo in my arms. I was first to the bounty. “Cole, they want you to keep your distance for a bit.” I scolded, which prompted a disappointed sigh from Cole as he walked away. -Echo POV- Zane was really nice. He even offered to let us stay with him and his friends! We would get to leave the lighthouse! He even said he’d tell the mean one, Cole he said his name was, to stay away until we said it was alright for him to come close! I was so happy, me and my brother would finally get to see the world!
We followed Zane out to his boat, I gawked at how huge it was. I watched Zane tell Cole something, and then watched Coke walk away. I felt a little guilty, but I guess this is revenge? I still feel bad about it though. I’ll talk to Cole later.The other colorful people created us, the red one said his name was Kai, the gray and blue said said her name was Nya, the blue one with the shrill voice said his name was Jay, the green one said his name was Lloyd, and the man with the long white beard said his name was Sensei Wu. He seems nice. I’ll definitely talk to him later. Zane took us to a room that had stacked beds! Mimic let me take the top one! He said this would be out room from now on, and to take ourselves at home, so me and my brother started unpacking everything while Gizmo explored the ship. Zane came back to check on us a little while later, and said we did good decorating! He so nice! Zane then took us to a room with all sorts of machinery in it and explained to us what they did, how they worked, and why they had them. I’m not sure why he went into so much detail, but it was nice all the same. He offered to let us hang out with Jay and Nya for a bit, and if we wanted, they could fix us up! I’m not sure why we need fixing, but I would like to hang out with his friends! -Mimic POV- This is overwhelming. There’s so many new things. Zane said we could hang with some of his friends if we wanted, Echo wanted to do I just went along with it. He offered to let his friends fix us if we wanted, I said I’d like to meet them first, to which Zane told me that he understood. I like Zane, he’s nice. -Nya POV- Zane told me and Jay that the boys, Mimic and Echo, were waiting for us in the lab. He said to hang out with them, and after a while to offer to repair them. No biggie, right? Well Mimic isn’t a great conversationalist and Echo won’t stop talking about Gizmo, who apparently was the little robot that was also in the room. After about an hour of talking with the boys, I offered to repair them. Mimic seemed skeptical, but Echo agreed almost right away, which was a relief. Poor kid looked like he was about to just collapse. Mimic said he would go first, and if all went well, he’d let his brother go. Echo seemed to hate this idea, so Mimic said he’d watch and give pointers. While we got Echo prepped and comfortable on the table, Mimic left to get the spare parts. He set them in front of me and let me go through them and oh my god where these things outdated, but at least looked to be in good shape.Me and Jay had a hell of a time keeping Echo still, he kept giggling whenever we would touch something. This was going to be a long night.His insides were a lot less bad than we thought thanks to his brother doing repairs on him over the years. I thanked Mimic for that and he smiled at me, I smiled back and Echo giggled once more.After a few pointers by Mimic and him having to stop us from touching some wires, he said he would let us repair him as long as Echo was at least in the room. Me and Jay agreed that this was a fair deal, and we both held in a gasp when we opened him up. This was what we expected red Echos insides to be, just worse.Echo was busy admiring having both his arms again and the fact that his joints didn’t make any noise, so Mimic had to tell us when we touched something that shouldn’t be moved or when we started taking out a wire that he needed to stay alive, gosh was operating on older robots hard.
After lots of oil and having to find parts he needed that wasn’t in their spare parts piles, he was finally almost good as new. -Mimic POV- I’d say the repairs went pretty smooth compared to when my brother does them. It didn’t hurt to move anymore and I could see clearly again. It was nice being able to see Echo clearly.Zane seemed happy with the repairs as well, he said now that we are feeling better, we could go meet his girlfriend, and also one of his good friends who will make us feel brand new. Me and Echo agreed, and set off to go meet the other boys, we chose to go talk to Kai first. Echo enjoyed his weird punchlines, and I enjoyed how willing he was to spar when I was fully repaired. We decided to go talk to Lloyd next, and both agreed he was our favorite. He played with us and was more than willing to play against us in board games. It was really fun, we’ll go talk to him again after meeting everybody else.