Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Sparks flew from B-12’s body, and the cat instantly knew that something was wrong. It rushed over as he stumbled backwards, letting out a cry of concern.

He gently floated down to meet the cat's eyes, “Th-th-the system is taking more than I expected.”

A loud, blaring noise suddenly surrounded them, and the cat was put even more on edge. Its ear twitched as red lights flashed aggressively around the two. It might have been the noise putting it on edge, but the cat couldn’t help but feel that something wasn’t right.

“Oh no, we’ve got to keep going,” B-12 said, but completing what the two had set out to do was the least of the cat's concerns at the moment.

The cat sat down, and fixed B-12 with a look. It wasn’t going to do anything that would potentially harm its friend.

The drone made a confused chirp, “Friend? What are you doing? We have to open the city.”

The cat meowed again insistently, once again cursing the fact that B-12 was unable to understand it. They were both lucky that the cat was incredibly smart, and able to understand the language of the old friends.

The Companions had called them the soft-ones, B-12 had called them humans, but the cat had always known them as the old friends. It supposed that it only made sense then, that B-12 had come to be its dearest friend.

That was why the cat couldn’t let this continue, outside be damned. Not if it was hurting B-12. It’s family will wait for them, and the cat will wait until they can find a way to get outside without B-12 getting hurt.

“Are you… Worried about me?” B-12 asked, tilting its body slightly. The cat meowed in confirmation.

B-12 beeped, “That’s very kind of you, friend. I’m alright though, it was just a bit of a shock.”

It narrowed its eyes at B-12. Would he be alright to continue? Something in the cat was screaming at it to stop, and the cat trusted its instincts. After all, they had gotten it this far.

“I will be fine. Can we continue now? We need to hurry and open the city,” B-12 said, and let out the drone equivalent of a sigh when the cat let out an insistent yowl.

“I…” B-12 started, before once again lowering itself to meet the cats eyes, “You really are a good friend, you know.”

The cat gave B-12 a comforting lick, and he continued, “I’m sorry. I can’t be sure, but I don’t think this drone body has enough power to disable the city’s central control power. I might not be able to take control of the system without destroying my software.”

It let out a hiss, trying to communicate to B-12 that it would not allow that. B-12 had promised they would see the outside together.

“I know you wouldn’t like that, which is why I didn’t want to tell you. I don’t know what else we can do, though,” He explained, “The doors are already locked. I made this decision when I hooked into that first computer, and I’ll accept all the consequences.”

The cat let out a sad meow, and B-12 pressed their foreheads together, closing his eyes, “I’m sorry we won’t see the outside together. I thought I needed to carry on the memories of humanity, to hold onto the past. But, I see a future in the Companions. And you.”

Oh, this stupid, self-sacrificial, beloved drone of its. Surely this wasn’t the only solution. Surely if they took some time to think they could find another way to do this, a way that wouldn’t end with B-12 getting hurt or worse.

The cat wracked its brain, but it couldn’t think of anything. With the doors locked, they had no choice but to proceed. It pushed its face against B-12’s, marking its scent on the little drone, before continuing to the next panel.

“Thank you, my friend,” B-12 said as he trailed behind it, “I know this can’t be easy for you.”

It definitely wasn’t. The cat hated feeling this helpless. If it couldn’t protect the people it cared about, what was the point?

B-12 hacked into the next computer as the cat tore the wires apart. At least it could let out some of its frustration on these wires. B-12 finished, once again falling backwards and sparking, this time letting out some static noise.

It mewed at B-12, licking him insistently, as if it could take away some of his pain. B-12 let it do this for a few seconds, mostly for its own comfort rather than his, before they continued to the next computer.

This time, once B-12 had finished hacking the computer, he didn’t get back up.

The cat curled around him, purring, as he said, “I think-k-k— I think this little body is done for. Can you carry me over to the workstation?”

As the cat quickly translated his words in its head, it realized something. It shot up and meowed at B-12, nudging him in an attempt to make him understand.

“What-t-t-t— What is it, little friend?” He asked. The cat could do nothing but continue to meow, hoping he could somehow piece together their conclusion by himself.

“At times like th-th-this,” He started, more sparks flying from his small body, “I really wish I could communicate with you better.”

The cat definitely agreed, and meowed once again before nudging B-12 insistently.

“Was it— was it something I said, maybe?” The cat meowed, and he began to mutter, “What did I say again? Something about my body?”

The cat chirped encouragingly, so B-12 continued, “Do you want me to… swit-t-t— switch bodies?”

The cat purred, and rubbed more of its face against him.

B-12 hummed, “That… would be an option,  normally, but there aren’t any bodies in here I can switch to, not while the doors are still locked.”

The cat stayed quiet, encouraging him to think more.

“If only I could unlock the doors without frying my body and destroying my software…” B-12 paused for a moment, before the thought hit him, “Wait! I just have to do something similar to what I did last time I switched bodies.”

“Last time, I had to upload my consciousness to the network before switching to a more metallic body. It didn’t go so well last time, and I would rather not go through something like that again… But if it was only for a short while, I could bear it.”

He hummed, “Perhaps if I uploaded myself directly to the system before unlocking the city, you could find me a body and come back here with it?”

The cat let out a chirp, and carried B-12 over to the workstation. He hesitated, and the cat mewed, tilting its head in a nonverbal question.

“Are you sure you would be willing to do this?” B-12 asked, “I figured that if you were this determined to get to the surface, you must have family up there. Are you fine with delaying your return to them to help me?”

You’re my family, the cat thought, before feeling momentarily surprised. Oh, of course. It felt obvious once the cat thought about it, of course B-12 was part of it’s family. Even if they’d only known each other for a little while, they had already done so much together. The cat didn’t know how it didn’t realize sooner.

The cat gave B-12 a reassuring lick, and watched as he connected himself to the system, his drone body dropping to the floor. It knew that B-12 was in the system now, not that body, but it still made the cat's heart clench a little bit. It shook its head, and tried to turn those feelings of worry into determination. It could do this.

The cat allowed itself a moment to watch the roof open up to reveal the blue sky, before it rushed out the doors and made its way back down into the city.

Chapter Text

To be completely honest, B-12 didn’t think he would ever be in a situation like this ever again. Not after his friend had helped him escape the network.

Being in the network had been… overwhelming, to say the least. It had felt like thousands of noises screaming, like millions of things crawling on his metaphorical skin. It had felt claustrophobic, had felt dizzying, had felt suffocating, had felt too much, too much too mu—

For the first several thousand years, it had been easier to just… fade away. Try not to think, try not to be. To just hope that eventually, the cacophony of sensations would carry him away and he would no longer feel the pain, or anything at all. It wasn’t really a surprise that he had lost almost all of his memory because of it.

Eventually, he learned how to deal with it. Like a chronic pain that would never be treated, he simply became used to the pain. It never got easier, but it eventually became his new normal.

Once he was finally free, everything felt so much more quiet than it had been before he was in the network. It almost made him feel uneasy.

The computer system of Walled City 99, in comparison, was almost relaxing. Rather than being stabbed repeatedly for god-knows how long, it instead felt like holding an ice cube in your mouth, or dipping your fingers in hot candle wax. Still uncomfortable but… It was bearable, and you knew it was only temporary.

The first thing he did, was of course open the city. It was the entire reason he had done all this in the first place. Then, turning off that blaring alarm and unlocking the control room was the obvious next step.

He gave himself a moment to watch his friend rush out the doors via the security cameras, before getting back to work. Searching through the system, he learned that the sentinels were able to be controlled from this very control room. That actually made a lot of sense, subconsciously, but B-12 had no clue why it did. Right, those were immediately being shut down.

For the next couple minutes, all he did was small things like that. Turning the elevator back on, sending the subway back (with his friend at the driver's seat looking very confused, he noted with faint amusement), little things that would make everyone's lives easier. He figured he might as well, since he had nothing else to do but wait for his friend to return with a new body.

Soon though, there was nothing else to distract him from his boredom, and his worries. He tried to push his anxious thoughts aside, knowing there wasn’t any point to them, but he couldn’t exactly help it.

What if there weren’t any bodies he could transfer into? What if there were, but his friend couldn’t carry it back to him? What if they got injured, or worse? What if they gave up and left?

What if he was stuck here?

No, no, he would be fine. How could he even think that? He trusted his friend, they could do this. It was just hard to not be reminded of…

But! It was nothing like that! The situation wasn’t even remotely the same, at all. Well, okay, maybe it was a little similar. He did once again upload his consciousness in a desperate last attempt to prevent his death, and was now only able to escape with the help of a cat. But those were the only similarities, alright? Other than that, the situation was completely different.

Alright, he definitely needed another distraction. Maybe he could check up on how the Outsiders were doing? He just needed to quickly flip through a couple cameras to find them and… Oh! There they were. It seems that all of them (minus Zbaltazar, who B-12 confirmed was still in Antvillage after another quick flip through the cameras) and Seamus were standing near the elevator and talking.

Hm… Did these cameras have microphones? Hold on…

“…And then the elevator suddenly started working, and we knew we just had to come up and try to find you!” Doc said, voice suddenly cutting in after B-12 figured out how to access the camera's audio.

Clementine hummed, leaning against a wall, “Well, that lines up with what happened over here. Roof suddenly opened, elevator turned on, and even the sentinels suddenly started dropping like flies!”

“Really?” Momo asked, the expression on his screen switching to look surprised, “Must’ve not been big fans of the sky, huh?”

Clementine hummed noncommittally, and Doc mumbled, “I wonder why they all suddenly turned off… I’ll have to take a look at them later, perhaps.”

Seamus tilted his head, “Maybe the little drone and the furball had something to do with it?”

Doc beamed at his son, “That could very well be the answer, my boy! Great work!”

“Right, so obviously we’re going to make our way outside together,” Clementine interjected as Seamus flushed, “But how are we gonna Zar up here with us?”

“Hey yeah, where is the guy anyways?” Momo asked, “I thought he’d be with you, Clem.”

Her head snapped up, and she exclaimed, “Oh shit, I forgot you guys didn’t know!”

Momo shifted from one foot to the other, and slowly asked, “Know what, Clem?”

“Well, when we were making our way through the sewers together,” She started, screen flickering to a guilty expression, “We had a run in with some zurks, and they ended up damaging something in his back. He can’t walk anymore.”

Everyone's faces flickered to a frown, and Doc said, “I’ll take a look at him as soon as I can. Hopefully I can help, even just a little bit.”

“Hopefully,” Clementine agreed.

“Where is he now, then?”

“Antvillage. It’s right before you enter into Midtown. I wanted to bring him with me, but it’s a bit of a climb and…” She trailed off.

Momo hummed, “Yeah, probably wouldn’t have been all that safe, I’m guessing?”

Clementine nodded, “We’ll have to go to him, so we can figure out how to get him up here.”

“Maybe we could build some sort of lift?” Seamus turned to his father.

Doc put an arm around his shoulders and brought him close, “An excellent idea, my boy! We’ll discuss the details once we get down there with him.”

Seamus grinned, and Clementine started to lead them towards Antvillage. Before they could get very far, however, they were interrupted by a loud meow.

“Was that…” Seamus trailed off.

Momo turned towards where the sound came from, “Little Outsider?”

“I figured it would’ve already left,” Clementine murmured.

B-12 flicked to another camera, and there they were. In an alleyway not too far from the station, was B-12s dear friend. They yowled repeatedly, until the Companions rushed over to them.

“What’s the matter, little fluffball?” Momo questioned, kneeling down to get closer to their height.

His friend loudly meowed again, tugging at something B-12 couldn’t see due to the angle of the camera. Did they find a body for him, perhaps? He couldn’t tell.

“Is that…” Momo murmured, before turning to Doc, “Hey, come take a look at this.”

Doc squatted down, and his screen flashed to a shocked expression, “Oh! Well isn’t that just something? Here, let me take a look.”

Doc fiddled with something off screen, grabbing small tools from his coat every now and then, and B-12 flicked through a few more cameras trying to get a better angle. There was really only one or two cameras pointing towards this alleyway, however, and he couldn’t see what they were all crowded around.

“Well, it doesn’t seem all that broken, from what I can immediately tell,” Doc started, “But there isn’t anything inside of it.”

Clementine hummed, “What’re you trying to do with it then, lil fella?”

The cat, obviously, did not answer. The Outsiders plus Seamus were quiet, seemingly watching as his friend attempted to move whatever it was, to little success. Seemed that this potential new body was too heavy for B-12s friend to carry to him. He flicked in between the cameras, trying to keep his anxiety at bay.

“Is it trying to drag it somewhere?” Momo asked, tilting his head.

Seamus squinted his eyes, “Dunno what else it could be doing.”

“We should help,” Clementine suggested, “Especially after all this lil guy has done for us.”

“We should, but,” Doc said, “We do need to get to Zbaltazar. The sooner we get him out of Antvillage, the quicker we can go outside together.”

They all stayed quiet for a moment, thinking, before Momo sighed, “You guys go on ahead, I’ll help the little Outsider.”

“Wh— Momo! We’re not just gonna go see Zar without you!” Clementine protested immediately.

“C’mon, Clem, it's the obvious solution,” Momo turned to face her, “You’re the only one who knows where to go, Doc and Seamus are the ones with any actual technological skills— listen, if I went I would just be doing nothing anyways, alright?”

Doc hummed, “A clever solution. As long as you’re alright with it, I see no issue.”

“What? No! I—“

“Clem, I’ll be fine on my own for a few minutes,” Momo said, exasperated, before joking grimly, “Jeez, It’s like you forgot I’ve been on my own for years.”

“No, actually, I remember that pretty damn clearly,” She said, screen red, “So you’ll have to excuse me if I don’t want to leave you behind immediately after we finally see each other again, okay?!”

Everyone else’s faces turned shocked, with Momo taking a step back, as if her words physically struck him. Seamus shifted from one foot to the other, nervous but not wanting to interfere.

“Clementine,” Doc said softly, putting a hand on her shoulder, “It’ll be fine, we’re only separating for a small amount of time.”

“Yeah, that’s what we thought last time too,” She scoffed, looking down, “Look, I know it’s stupid, but I can’t help but feel like…”

“Clem, Momo said, gentle yet firm, “It’s okay. You aren’t leaving me behind.”

She was quiet for a few seconds, and it almost looked like she was going to keep arguing. Slowly, she took a deep breath, and looked up.

“Fine,” She said, “We’ll meet you at the station, okay?”

Momo grinned, “Alright.”

“As soon as you two are done, you go there and find us, okay?” She said, crossing her arms, “Don’t get sidetracked, don’t go looking for us if we aren’t already there, just wait at the station, alright?”

“Okay, okay,” He sighed teasingly, wide grin dropping to a tired (yet affectionate) smile, “God, I forgot how overprotective you can get.”

“I’m not—!“

“Oh, don’t worry Clementine, it’s admirable that you care so much about your friends!,” Doc patted her back. She groaned, and buried her flushed face in her hands.

“Should we get going then?” Seamus raised an eyebrow.

They said their goodbyes, hovering for a moment longer before heading back. Then, Momo turned to his friend, who had still been trying to move it by themself while they waited for the others to finish talking.

Once his friend realized that Momo was waiting for them to tell him what to do, they once again meowed, and nudged the thing that was off screen.

“Hmm, It’ll probably be easier to carry if I put it in a box…” He mumbled to himself, voice just barely getting picked up by the security cameras microphones.

It would be easier, B-12 realized, but it would also mean that he still wouldn’t be able to see it. The anticipation was starting to get to him, honestly

He looked around the alley, and picked up a Neco Corp box, transferring the object from the ground to the box before finally lifting it up.

“Lead the way, little Outsider!” Momo grinned, and they both started heading to the station.