Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Next.”

The woman at the front of the line threw her application on the table, not even bothering to give the bot a greeting. She was too busy scrolling through her hot pink music player to give the receptionist robot the time of day. The bot just picked up her application and began to read through it, both of them mutually uncaring about the situation.

“Mimosa, is it?”

“Hm?” She raised a brow and took one earbud out to hear her better. “Oh, yes, that’s me.”

“Profession…” The bot trailed off a bit, squinting at the application and having to focus because of her handwriting. Seriously, who even writes in cursive anymore? “...Pop Sensation?”

Bringing the application down, it turns out that Mimosa was striking the same pose as the picture on her application. Just like in her photo, she was absentmindedly fixing her short, blonde hair, and only responded when she and the bot made eye contact again.

“ Aspiring Pop Sensation.” She corrected.

The bot slowly blinked at her. Mimosa just kept talking, not taking the hint.

“Since I’m going to be famous soon, let me give you an autograph.” Suddenly, she reached over the desk and snagged a stack of sticky notes, and oddly enough, one of the highlighters instead of opting for a pen. She was already scribbling her name down on one note in bright pink. “I can just make do with these office supplies of yours–”

“No.”

“But–”

The bot didn’t hesitate to toss her Project Armstrong pass to Mimosa, attached to a lanyard and all. She barely caught it in time and gripped it firmly in her hands, looking down at it. It had a little V-Shaped symbol on it and a small profile picture of her. Not a very flattering one, at that.

“Here’s your Project Armstrong pass. And welcome to Vandelay Campus.”

Mimosa would’ve scoffed at the bot, but she was too antsy to really bother. Pocketing the sticky note and pen out of pettiness, she threw the lanyard around her neck and left down the hall, passing by a poster on her way out. 

The poster was of a confident statue of a man with a raised fist, with big bold letters that read:

Welcome Volunteers for PROJECT ARMSTRONG!

Finally selecting a song, she smiled and popped her earbud back in, making her way down the hallway.

Now playing: Candy by Robbie Williams

What are you doing it for?
Now tell me
Hey ho here she go!
Either a little too high or a little too low
Got low self-esteem and vertigo
'Cause she thinks she's made of candy!
Hey ho here she go!
Either a little too loud or a little too close
Got a hurricane in the back of her throat
She thinks she's made of candy!

Bobbing her head up and down, she began to slowly strut to the beat, finding it a good distraction from the pain and strain in her back of standing in line for so long. She would’ve ran to get to her destination faster, to get things over with, but that just put more strain on her, so she begrudgingly walked along, her blue heels clicking against the floor.

At the very least she could enjoy the feeling of the lights of the tunnel shining on her, functioning as miniature spotlights in her eyes. It was already allowing her imagination to run wild. Oh, she could see it now! 

The hustle and bustle of people surrounding her on all sides, cameras at the ready to catch her in her glory, throwing out questions left and right and screaming for autographs! All of them want her, or want to BE her! They want to be as successful, as stunning, as breathtaking as her! Oh how it felt glorious, perfect, so, so… euck, bright.

The door at the end of the empty hall opened, hitting her in the face with sunlight and snapping her back to harsh reality. Adjusting her eyes to the light, she just sighed and continued on her way, gazing her eyes upon the campus in front of her.

It was a beautiful clutter of massive buildings, big orange blimps flying through the air, and the most eye-catching of all: a giant V shaped building in the horizon. As impressive as it was, she only had eyes on one destination, and that was the building hosting the Armstrong Orientation.

Rounding a corner, she screeched to a stop when a voice cut in, louder than her music. She almost stumbled, like someone had jump-scared her, barely steadying herself in time to look up.

“What’s up, applicants!? Welcome to Project Armstrong, where we’re on a mission to fuse our awesome technology with the human body!”

Pulling out her earbuds for a second, she looked up at the impressively large screen against the side of the building. On it was a brunette with torn jeans, a leather jacket covering a gaudy yellow shirt with a lightning bolt on it, a red scarf, and most striking of all: a robotic right hand.

Oh, right! This guy…what’s his name, the scrawny, weaselly looking Marketing Head of Vandelay Technologies? She caught a glimpse of him a few times when looking into the advertising for Project Armstrong, but his name was an enigma to her at the moment. She remembered it was dumb, like “Chip” or something like that.

“Together, we’re gonna create better lives! Soon, you’ll look and feel just as rad as me!” He made a vocal little guitar riff noise and threw up a rock ‘n roll hand signal with his robot hand, and it was at that point that Mimosa realized she didn’t care, didn’t ask, and that he was annoying. Moving on...

Gripping the guard rail on the stairs, she slowly made her way up to a wide open doorway with a sign above it that read 'ENTRANCE: ARMSTRONG ORIENTATION'. Finally entering the building, she stepped into the crowd of people just as the event began, looking up at the catwalk above her as an announcer's voice rang out from above.

“And now, meet the CEO of Vandelay Technologies… Peppermint Vandelay!”

Out stepped a small girl with slicked back, short blonde hair, dyed a light blue at the tips. To Mimosa’s surprise, she didn’t look anything like she’d imagined the CEO of Vandelay Technologies to look. Mimosa expected more… professionalism, if anything. Not to say she looked terrible, it was just a bit too… complicated. The young CEO may have a solid understanding of business-formal, but it was colored a mish-mashed bruise of pink, white, black and blue, with way too many belts around her waist, the strap of a black bag attached to one dangling loosely behind her. Of course, the letter V stood prominently on her jacket sleeves: V for Vandelay. The most striking decision was the choice of bright pink boots, if Mimosa's eyes weren’t deceiving her from this far away.

Her outfit was certainly… a choice, to put it lightly.

“Hello, Applicants! Nice to see everyone so eager and willing to get our robotic enhancements, but who wouldn’t be? Of course you would be! After all, we’re the best of the best, and with our help, you’ll be the best version of yourselves as well!” She exclaimed, a small smile on her face, and the crowd erupted into applause, Mimosa included.

As the speech gradually turned into more technical discussion, she started to tune out the rest of it as the young CEO droned on about the details. Just as she was about to revert back to her ideal daydream of glitz and glamour to pass the time, something brushed against her leg. It felt… oddly soft? And fuzzy? She looked down and around and barely caught the sight of something small ducking into the crowd. She blinked a few times and rubbed her eyes to make sure her vision was right. Was… was that a dog? She barely made out a tail as it ducked away out of her sight. Were they allowed to bring pets here??? There wasn't anything like that written on the application... at least, not that she saw. Honestly, she just skimmed a lot of it, but still!

Whatever, it was probably just her imagination. She couldn’t afford to care, anyways, not when the crowd was starting to move forward. Guess Peppermint’s speech was over. Having to squint to look through the sea of people, she could barely make out the door they were heading towards. Oh hell no , she was NOT waiting behind hundreds of people in front of her. Especially with nowhere to sit! They couldn't fix her back if it was going to collapse in on itself! She had to get moving, now.

Ducking and weaving past people, she threw out half-assed excuses at anyone she bumped into, some showing their displeasure more than others.

“Excuse me–” She ducked under an arm, wincing in pain. “VIP here!” She exclaimed at someone who hovered over her with a glare. At one point she just ditched the niceties and nudged someone aside with a “Move it or lose it!” And finally, she made it to the very front of the crowd, where the only one left in front of her was a… rather large… person… whoo boy, maybe she couldn’t wiggle past this one. Unless…?

Smirking, she approached the man from behind, leaned up and tapped his shoulder. When he turned to look over it, she swiftly darted around him from the other side, barely sliding through, the door closing just as he reached out in frustration to grab her.

…And she was immediately almost face-to-face with a robot, holding a small orange tray in one hand and a hospital gown in the other. It silently gestured to her outfit, and she sighed. Right. She didn’t know what else she expected from this kind of procedure. She changed as quickly as possible, carefully folding her clothes with great care and setting them in the tray.

Then the bot pointed at the music player still sitting in her hand. She nodded and looked down at it for a long moment. Right... would she even need this piece of junk once she was finished here? This was going to be a new chapter of her life, and it didn't need to be a part of it. All it really did for her was help to mute the pain and discomfort. Once she achieved her dream of riches and stardom, she could afford to buy a thousand of these guys.

Reaching back into the tray, she grabbed the highlighter and sticky note pad she stole from the receptionist out of one of the pockets, scribbling onto it in cursive. Admiring her own penmanship, she slapped a note onto the front of the music player. Placing it in the tray, she gave a dismissive wave to the bot.

“Be a dear and take care of that for me while I go–”

Refusing to be a dear, the bot cut her off by roughly kicking her away, almost sending her to the ground with a yelp. She scowled at the bot, but it didn’t seem to care and just loaded the tray up on a nearby conveyor belt. Sighing, she kept walking, muttering under her breath. “Stupid bucket of bolts…”

Walking along, she barely spared a glance at another giant screen she passed by, only looking at it when she saw herself on the screen. It was just to make sure her upcoming cybernetics wouldn’t look too obvious. From what she saw, it looked… reasonably complicated, given her type of surgery, covering a lot of her torso. She had mixed feelings on the looks of it, especially those really large looking shoulder pads. Oh well. Whatever it took to get her functioning at peak performance. She could surely find a way to cover it up later.

The second she stepped away, in a rush to get the surgery over and done with, a small box popped up in the corner of the screen.

Candidate Ideal For: Window Cleaning.

A few floors above, Peppermint walked along one of the metal catwalks, with two of her subordinates lagging behind her. Her calm, relaxed smile had vanished, now replaced with a sneer as she wheeled around to a certain brunette.

“Chaiii!”

“Augh, whaaat?” Chai groaned, arms behind his head.

“Is this really the best you could do!?”

“Woah, hey, don’t blame me! Production was the one that asked for test subjects.” As he said this, he gestured to the man–er, robot next to him. They were a sleek, scrawny white robot with a standard, blank expression. The only indication that they were one of the Heads of Vandelay and not just a regular worker was a yellow tie around their neck, with the word “Vandelay” on it. In a flash, the bot pulled out a small marker and hastily scribbled on some frustrated, angry eyebrows above their “eyes”.

“Mister Chai, do not pin your shortcomings on me! Perhaps ask Sir Macaron in R&D about–”

“Enough!” Peppermint snapped, startling the other two. “I specifically asked for people with influence! And all you gave me are idiots!” She said, turning to the conveyor belt and swiping a music player from a tray, with a sticky note on it aloud. “Seriously!? “Trash this for me plz, k thanks ~ Mimosa <3”? What kind of idiot would throw their trash in here for us to deal with!?”

“Apparently someone named Mimosa, I guess. Sheesh, just relax. This'll work.”

“It better! I’m keeping an eye on you, Chai! No slip ups!” She pointed a finger at Chai, and then turned to the bot. “And as for you, CNMN, you know the drill! No defects! Now come on.”

With that, she continued walking, glancing down at the music player in her hands. “If they want us to trash it so bad, then one of the SCR-UB units can deal with it.” She said, rolling her eyes and tossing off the edge of the catwalk. The SCR-UB units, designed to clean and scrub the floors on a regular basis, wandered up and down the general area. One of them could handle it. They were literally built to do so.

The other two walked after her, but hearing a small creak, CNMN paused and looked up at one of the higher rafters to see a small figure darting away. Was… that a dog? Did one of those KUT-WAN bots get out? “Miss Peppermint? I believe–”

“Not now, CNMN!” She cut him off. CNMN looked back at the rafters, saw nothing more, and obediently nodded, continuing to walk after her.

“So… how exactly do I get into this?” Mimosa asked, gesturing to the giant metal slab in front of her with the vague outline of a person in it. It was completely tilted 90 degrees, so there was no reasonable way for her to climb in that she could see. At least, not without falling out of it.

The bot next to her proceeded to answer this by kicking her for the second time that day, sending her flying, landing neatly(but painfully) into the outline.

“Hey!” God dammit! She could maybe give one kick a pass, but two!? She almost shot out of it to give the bot a piece of her mind, but her wrists and ankles were almost immediately clamped down. Oh, so that's how that worked.

“Gee, 5 star service here! Don’t make my back worse, you little–aaaand they’re gone...”

Defeated, she slumped back as the bot disappeared and the metal slab slowly lowered back down. So far, the service here was… less than favorable, to say the least. They were going to get a word from her once this was all over.

The very least they could’ve done was offer a pillow, because being strapped in like this was dreadfully uncomfortable. It almost felt like they were strapping in for interrogation, or torture--okay, okay, maybe she could give them some credit. They were the world’s leading tech company, surely it wouldn’t be that bad. For now, she just closed her eyes and sighed, waiting for things to go underway. She couldn’t help but feel impatient, though.

It was so, so close! She could feel it, almost taste it! She was almost free of hospital visits and back braces! She was just moments away her future life of glitz and glamour, of music and lights, of–

Her eyes shot back open when something landed on her chest. Looking down, she recognized the hot pink color immediately. Was that her music player??? “What the…?”

Then, with a small hiss of steam catching her attention, she looked up just in time to see a giant, glowing panel coming down at her with a SLAM!

Chapter Text

Mimosa awoke to the sound of blaring alarms ringing in her ears, her vision clouded by a red light. She yawned as the clamps around her body unhooked, feeling steam flow around her, before dissipating. A shiver ran up her spine as the cold chill of the room settled in. 

It felt oddly refreshing, like getting out of a nice, hot shower. She felt…different, but in a good way--

BAM!

That went out the window as she found herself colliding face-first into the metal gate across from her. The metal slab she was on went from flat to 90 degrees in the span of a second, throwing her off like a bucking bronco. She bounced off with a clatter and landed on the ground, now rolling around in pain and holding back from saying every cuss word in the dictionary.

...Wait. She was alone. She could swear for real! She threw her arms up in anguish.

"SON OF A--...Huh?" Just as she went to finish that cry, she paused. She slowly brought her arms down, looking at them. More specifically: her shoulders.

The sleeves of her hospital gown were torn at the shoulders, exposing what looked to be big metal shoulder pads, purple in color with a yellow stripe and pink rims around the bottom. Remembering why she was here, she slowly brought a hand to her back. She couldn't see it because of the gown, but she could feel it. A prominent piece of smooth metal stretching up her spine. Now if only she could find a way to get a good look at it--

"An error has occurred. Please make your way to the checkpoint."

Mimosa looked up at the speaker that delivered the announcement in the same dull tone as that receptionist she met earlier. "Checkpoint? Where is that?" She sighed and slowly stood up, stretching her arms out.

"Whatever. I'll figure it out…"

"It's 180 degrees. Behind ya, lass." 

Okay, turns out she wasn’t alone. Her eyes focused on a clunky looking robot with three wheels and one eye stacking boxes in her line of sight, gesturing to the opposite direction she was facing.

"Right, right, I knew that." She dismissively replied, lying, before turning and making her way down the hall.

A small round robot cleaning up a sticky note with their vacuum moved out of the way as she approached. In doing so, they ran into a bunch of pipes, knocking them over and blocking the way. She scoffed and sped up, hopping over them, and when her feet touched the ground on the other side, she felt… great! No, she felt BETTER than great! She felt fantastic! Despite having been thrown face-first into a gate right after surgery, miraculously, she felt better than ever! The bot looked up at her and piped up.

"OH DEAR, MY CLEANING HAS CAUSED AN EVEN GREATER MESS. YOUR JUMPING, HOWEVER, WAS IMPRESSIVE."

Mimosa smiled down at the bot. "Yes... yes it was."

She found herself grinning ear to ear as she ducked and weaved through the hallways, half-expecting to feel a twinge of pain, or a numb feeling in her legs, only for that pain to never come. If she weren’t so giddy right now, she would’ve complained about all the little shortcuts she had to take, or the incompetence of the robots around her practically forcing her to take them in the first place.

Seriously, those little robots carrying boxes were cute and all, but it was annoying seeing them block the stairwell up to the checkpoint. However, looking at the open area to the left of it, she was hit with the euphoric realization that she didn’t even need the stairs at all anymore. With a leap, she landed onto the upper platform and kept walking.

“Please collect your belongings.” The speaker crackled above her as she approached a conveyor belt, recognizing her clothes in one of the trays. Finally , she could get out of this tacky hospital gown and get a good look at her spine.

As she dressed, she admired her back, seeing a smooth implant running from her shoulder blades to her hips, attached to the shoulder pads and some smooth metal attached to her hips, all colored purple, yellow and pink. Seeing how smooth and precise everything was, she couldn’t care less about the pesky wires circling her torso. She kept her eyes fixated, almost entranced with joy on her back as she got dressed. On went her white strapless dress, her black leggings, her blue heels, and finally her jacket–

…Oh. Okay, this was going to be an issue. The shoulder pads were going to be a pain in her ass, seeing as she couldn’t pull her blue and pink jacket over them. As tempting as it was to try to force them over, she didn’t want to risk ripping it, so she begrudgingly took the sleeves and tied them around her waist for the time being.

Tying the sleeves together tightly, the door behind her opened up, sunlight streaming in, as if beckoning her forward. She walked through, eyes drifting over a glorious looking courtyard, with the statue in those Armstrong posters in the very center. Sure there were a few pieces of miscellaneous metal scattered about, but it was nothing more than some insignificant litter to her compared to the surprisingly smooth blend of screens and trees surrounding her. She took in a deep breath, the air feeling fresh and crisp as she marched on.

…Before a screen was suddenly thrown up to her face, causing her to sputter and step back, finally taking notice of 3 robots standing in front of her.

“Just here to do a quick examination.” The robot stated, looking down at the tablet he had almost smacked her in the face with. Ah, right, of course they’d have some extra procedures. She sighed and impatiently tapped her foot, almost tuning out the bot completely as he mumbled a few things and scrolled through the tablet.

She almost fell back into her daydreams for a moment, when the words 'something something window cleaner attachment' caught her attention.

“W-Wait, window cleaner what-now!? Mind elaborating?” She stuttered, but the bot just ignored her, much to her annoyance. To make matters worse, the tablet started glowing red and flashing something on-screen.

“Foreign object? We got a defect, bring her in.”

The glorious high Mimosa was on just minutes ago crashed into the deepest pit of her stomach as the bots pulled out what looked to be weapons and started approaching her. She immediately backed up, waving her hands in front of her in an attempt to calm them down and appear as less of a threat.

“Woah, hey, c-come on now, let’s talk about this! What do you mean by ‘defect’??? I’m not defective, I’m–”

POP!

She suddenly felt something shift at her back, right along her spine before something shot into the air. She barely looked up in time to get hit right in the face with it. “Ow! What the–!?”

The item clattered to the ground at her feet, and she bent down to pick it up. It seemed her AND the bots were equally confused, as they stopped for a moment, tilting their heads as she turned it back and forth in her palms.

Examining it further, it looked like a… weird… metal stick? Before she considered the frightening possibility that her spine implant was already falling apart, one of the bots curiously chimed in. “...Is that a weapon?”

“No? I don’t even know what this thing is…” She responded, sounding just as uncertain as they were. She went to examine it further, but accidentally pressed a button, and all at once, it suddenly extended, shooting out a few feet in length and colliding right into the gut of one of the bots. The end of it unfolded, revealing what looked like a horizontal blade with a bit of rubber attached to it. Was that… was she holding a squeegee???

There were a few moments of silence as she realized she just smacked one of the robots, before the bot who got knocked down responded with, “I think she’s resisting.”

Before Mimosa could even blink, she saw a blue blur come her way, and then the air was knocked out of her as it slammed straight into her chest. She fell onto her back with a yelp, one hand clutching her chest and the other loosely gripping the squeegee. She gasped for air, waves of pain rolled through her as she tried to take in a breath. Or… well, maybe not pain. It’s not like it was shooting all over her body, it was just a sting in her ribs… but she still felt a weird wave roll through her body. A dull thudding sound in her ears.

Before she could focus any longer on it, she felt her squeegee start to shake, and just as she sat up, she almost got knocked over again as something collided into it. She looked down to see a gear that slammed onto one side of the squeegee blade… followed by more and more pieces of metal. She initially flinched at every piece of metal coming her way, expecting one or two to smack her in the face, but surprisingly they only hit the squeegee, almost as though it were a magnet.

All at once, it stopped, and she looked down to see that the mish-mash of metal on the squeegee had now resembled… a microphone? At least vaguely. The blade had tilted, some metal bunched up near the end of it to resemble the shape of a microphone, a wire was now wrapped down the extended handle like the wire would go down the mic stand, and even a few pieces of shrapnel jutted out where she was gripping, like the base of a mic stand. It felt like she was looking at the result of someone’s half-assed attempt to DIY a mic on a stand with leftover scrap metal, but it resembled one nonetheless. Just… heavier, with more sharp edges.

Perfect for self-defense.

Standing back up, she smirked at the robots, who stepped back a bit in caution. Clanging sounds surrounded her as the opening to the courtyard was quickly walled off, metal panels shooting out of the ground and leaving her cornered.

“Get her!”

Could robots feel fear? She sure hoped so, because as she reeled her newfound weapon behind her, she thought back to her mistreatment this past 24 hours. She’s been kicked, smacked, insulted, ignored… she couldn’t ask for a refund since she volunteered for this, but she was going to make them PAY!

One of the three bots ran at her, their own glowing blue sword-shaped bat in hand, and swung at her. She jumped back out of instinct to avoid it, before retaliating with her own, smacking the end of the squeegee blade right into his face, before smacking him again, and again, and again! Once, twice, three–she was just laying on the hits with no mercy–and with the fourth, she sent him sprawling out onto the concrete.

And then he exploded. She flinched. Hopefully she wouldn’t have to pay for that.

The other two robots came at her quickly before she could think further, and she was grazed as they swung one of the weapons at her back. She stumbled forward, before swinging around on the foot she landed on, using the momentum to knock back both of them. One of them seemed to recover faster than the other and ran at her again, but an idea quickly came to her.

Reeling her arm back a bit farther, she waited for a beat, before swinging HARD, sending that bot colliding into the one getting up behind it. The other two promptly exploded as well, now a pile of junk at her feet.

Looking around, she realized she was alone now, and she took a deep breath. Now that she had a moment to calm down, she could feel the adrenaline leave her body, her heart beating in her ears. It was… loud. It sort of reminded her of when she’d increase the volume on a song she liked, feeling the beat rumble through her body. She lifted a hand and placed it back on her chest to try to steady her heartbeat and check for bruises, rubbing her hands over the glass–

…Wait… glass? She looked down. Peeking out of the top of her dress, mostly hidden under the cloth, was a small glass case. She pulled it down just enough to get a closer look. That’s when she spotted it.

Hot pink.

Her music player, floating in the glass casing on her chest, was beating at a steady rhythm. She took in a sharp, anxious inhale and slowly covered it up again, before her eyes focused on the scenery around her–or, well, what was left of it after she got boxed in. The vents on the floor puffed out steam every other second, the lights on the ground glowed and dimmed at a steady pace… it felt too… perfect. Synchronized.

“Alright Mimosa,” She spoke to herself, in an attempt to calm herself down, “Let’s go over this… okay, first thing’s first, my music player is in my chest. I asked for the exact opposite of this, but those are the least of my concerns right now… second…”

She gently traced the wires through her shirt, before looking over her shoulder at the purple coloration of her spinal implant. “It’s… powering me up, I think. I've never felt this energized before! And finally…”

She turned back to her surroundings and, to the beat, she softly clapped her hands together and swung her hips, watching as the objects around her moved in rhythm. She even mentally counted out a 1-2-3-4 to double check. “Everything’s working in sync!”

This felt insane, but at the same time… oddly soothing. The gentle waves of the beat pulsing through her felt oddly nice. It felt satisfying seeing everything move to her beat, feeling her own body sway to it… it reminded her of the high of going to a concert, the beat taking over her body, quite literally in this case.

Yeah… yeah! It felt like being at a concert. Except this time… she felt like she was the one on stage!

She could see it now!

Spotlights illuminating her, the stage all hers and ONLY hers as she looks out on a faceless crowd of people chanting her name in time!

“MI-MO-SA! MI-MO-SA! MI-MO-SA!”

She’s singing, she’s dancing, she’s giving it her all and moving effortlessly, feeling the rhythm pump through her veins as she laughs in delight. If any of her fans are rabid enough, she could see them running on stage, desperate to get a piece of her. But she wouldn’t care, she’d just casually deal with them just like she dealt with the robots, knocking them back into the crowd with her microphone, allowing them to crowdsurf to the back. She didn’t need security to contain them when she felt this strong! This… powerful!

Ending her song, she stood before the crowd, soaking it all in. She laughed and blew kisses at the crowd, waving at them with glee.

“Thank you, thank you, you’re all too kind–”

“Ahem.”

Mimosa immediately straightened up, swinging 180 degrees as she snapped back to reality, seeing two robots standing there, looking at her. She took in an anxious hiss of air as she turned to look at the piles of scrap metal around her, those that belonged to the other bots she just smashed to bits. She quickly scrambled for a response.

Quick, just act natural, Mimosa… just act natural. Trying (and failing) to hide her weapon behind her back, she pointed to the left.

“...She went that way.”

The leftmost bot nodded and turned to run in that direction, only for the other bot to grab him and yank him back.

“The only thing that way is a WALL you idiot! She’s the defect!” The bot pointed at her. “Get her!”

“Oh god damn it–” Mimosa muttered, before firmly gripping her mic and reeling it back.

She made quick work of these next two, especially after her previous experience just minutes ago. The first three were a practice round in her eyes. This time, she was more confident with her swings and swipes, fueled less by anger and more by confidence. At one point, she even launched one of the bots over the wall blocking her way with a particularly heavy attack. She heard him scream in anguish as he flew off.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaa–” Boom!

The second that distant explosion sounded out, hopefully serving as a warning to any bots who wanted to mess with her, the giant wall in front of her came down, much to her relief. As she ran forward, to avoid getting trapped in a confined space like that again, she only had one goal in her mind.

Her current objective? Get the hell out of this nightmare.


Now Playing: Ain’t it Fun by Paramore

Don't go crying to your mama,
'Cause you're on your own in the real world!
Ain't it fun, ain't it fun?
Baby, now you're one of us,
Ain't it fun, ain't it fun?
Ain't it fun!?
Ain't it fun?
Living in the real world!
Ain't it good? (Ain't it good?)
Being all alone!

She was going to run for the nearest exit, and absolutely nothing was going to stop her–

“Attention all Production Workers! This is CNMN, here to make an unfortunate announcement.”

Screeching to a halt, Mimosa stood in front of one of several monitors, seeing it flicker on and show… a robot. He was white, yellow and teal, very smooth with lanky limbs a blank expression on his face. A tie around his neck spelled out "Vandelay" on it. His face briefly disappeared from view as he pulled out a marker and scribbled a serious expression on his face, with big old eyebrows to boot. This only achieved the opposite, as Mimosa had to stifle a laugh at the goofiness of it.

“It appears as though we have a defect on the premises. If anyone spots her, please dispose of her swiftly and immediately, or you shall face the consequences for your inadequacy. Thank you! Have a wonderful day at Vandelay Campus.”

In a flash, the screen turned off, leaving Mimosa even more confused. Dispose of??? Were they trying to KILL her!? Well, that just gave her more reason to keep moving. She didn’t dare stop to take in the giant, glorious statue before her, or the trees, or the fountains and rock formations, or any of those… little robot dogs running around and lying on the grass.

…Okay, maybe she slowed down juuuust a bit to look at them, but come on, they just looked so cute! Cut her some slack, she’s had a hard day so far.

Darting for the nearest exit, she had to stop as the door in front of her slammed shut, the giant panel above it spelling out "LOCKOUT!" in big bold letters. With a sigh, she immediately swiveled to look for a side route, and spotted an opening to her left. Running past an open gate, she spotted an opening in the wall with "DO NOT ENTER" marked on it. Ha, like that’ll stop her.

“Hello there! Can I be of assistance?”

Mimosa paused and turned to see a small, blue, boxy robot with noodly limbs, holding a sign that said ‘HINTS’.

“Uh… hello there?” She hesitantly greeted the bot, which smiled at her rather… creepily. She tightened her grip on her microphone, ready to smack this thing into a wall if she had to. “What exactly are you?”

“Vandelay Smart Fridge VA-SF07, but commonly known as ‘Smidge’.” The bot obediently replied.

“Great… well, if you want to help me, tell me, is there an exit this way?” She pointed to the opening she was heading towards. Smidge nodded.

“Indeed, it is! But I can do so much more for you than give directions! I can analyze your well-being and guide you to satisfaction! Let me indulge–”

She was already gone, leaving a Mimosa-shaped cloud of smoke behind. Smidge looked down sadly.

“Okay… don’t hesitate to chat…”

Okay, Mimosa was going to have a WORD with the interior designer of this place, because it was an obnoxious maze! She walked around corner after corner, moving past endless boxes and smashing through crates. It all felt worth it, though, as she spotted a door that said "Exit", and sighed with even more relief when it opened.

And then she immediately ducked behind one of the doors, seeing three bots there already, blocking her way. She curiously peeked at them to see if they had noticed her, only to find their gaze fixated on… a… dog? A wolf? She could tell, but it looked like a sleek, robotic puppy.

“Is this the defect? Looks suspicious…” One of them chimed, looking down as the wolf rolled around on its back, exposing its belly. Yes, she settled for ‘wolf’ for now, because it looked nothing like the robot dogs she saw earlier… Well, okay, maybe they shared some similarities in body type. A big head, small body, stubby little legs, big tail… but it still looked like a wolf, just with a big red dog collar. It had some dark fur with gray streaks, which looked almost soft to touch, and an orange glowing outline across its whole body, especially around its ears and tail. The tail itself was surprisingly long, ending with a big glowing orange tuft of fur, looking a bit like a flame. The tail wagged back and forth as the dog looked up at the bots with a big ol dopey grin, as if they weren't contemplating taking it out right now.

“Hey!” She exclaimed, running out into the open and catching the bot's attention. “Aww, were you looking for me? I’m flattered.” Yeah, maybe she was getting a bit cocky with this, but she couldn’t help it.

The bots all pulled out their weapons, and she smiled with relief as the robot dog skittered off to the right, hopping off to safety. Reeling her microphone back, she ran straight into battle.

Her cockiness was at an all-time high with this batch of bots, as she swung with reckless abandon, knocking them into the walls and causing them to explode, all while feeling her hair and her clothes flowing in the wind as she dashed and ran around them. It felt so fun running circles around them! At one point, she even made one dizzy, spinning around and around in an attempt to focus on her. In an attempt to hit her, the bot stumbled and swung their weapon around in a circle. She barely ducked to avoid it and knocked him down by sweeping his leg, before delivering a finishing blow, stepping back just in time as it exploded.

She let out a giddy cheer, drinking in the euphoria of control over her situation… until she realized she had no idea where to go next. The gate in front of her was locked shut, and there were no buttons or controls to open it… crap, was she stuck? Did she have to turn back?

“Hey! You!”

A masculine voice yelled above her, and her gaze darted up at a building to her right, labeled "04 Plant". She couldn’t see who was yelling, but she definitely knew that’s where it was coming from.

“Me?”

“Yes, you! Thanks for watching out for my dog. Need me to return the favor?”

Well, that was convenient. She nodded.

“Yep! Looking for an exit! Do you know a way out of here!?”

“Yes, but I also wanted to offer-”

She cut him off. “Hey, let’s talk about details when we’re at a good enough distance to not be screaming at each other! This is hurting my throat!”

“Augh, fine. Just give me a moment.” The voice didn’t respond for a moment, and Mimosa impatiently debated ditching them for a moment, before she noticed a big red button on the wall light up.

“There! Just press that and come up here!”

Mimosa just shrugged and went along with it, pushing her microphone up and gently bapping it against the button. Part of the wall shifted next to it, and with a few small electric wooshing noises, a handful of floating platforms rose up from the ground. Thank god she wasn’t afraid of heights.

Climbing up the floating platforms, she heard another voice surround her. This time, it belonged to CNMN again, coming from a nearby intercom.

“Polite reminder to all production line workers! Slacking on the job is not tolerated. Anyone found slacking off will be punished by way of removal of your one break a month, or worse, meeting with QA-1MIL. Thank you! Have a wonderful day at Vandelay Campus.”

Mimosa took in a hiss of a breath at that. Yikes… this was not what she was expecting from the great and powerful Vandelay Technologies. All she wanted was a good and solid spine that couldn’t crumble in on itself, not to be hunted down for target practice! She wanted to strut down the red carpet, not parkour on some floating panels, as impressive as they were!

Climbing up and hopping through an opening in the wall, she landed on the floor of the 04 Plant with a small thud. Standing up, she looked around the room, seeing nothing but more boxes and crates, and a forklift or two in the corner. But no sign of where the voice had come from.

“Hello? Person who was just yelling at me? Are you here?” She called out, swiveling around. After a few seconds of nothing, she sighed. “Yeah, I’m just gonna do a 180 and–”

“Oh, good, you didn’t die on the way up here.” The voice was closer now, more clear, and a bit smug sounding. She spun around the room again, looking for the source, only to see… nothing.

“Up here.” She looked up at a stack of crates to see… the wolf looking down at her. Oh. “Look, I wanted to make a deal with you.”

“Uh–”

“I’ll cut to the chase. You seem… decent at handling yourself out there.”

“I… wait a sec–”

“Meanwhile, I’m decent at finding my way around here. If you–”

“Hold it! Hold it! Pause, time out, insert every other word for ‘stop’...” Mimosa waved her arms around frantically, cutting the wolf off. “So I just saved… you? You’re a… dog? Wolf? Am I still under anesthesia?”

The wolf slowly climbed down the mountain of crates and containers, before landing on one right in front of Mimosa, now at eye-level with her. He shook his head.

“No, listen… this–” The wolf lifted his paws up and pointed to himself. “-Is K-9. He IS a dog–er, wolf , I guess–I’m just controlling him right now. Okay, where did we leave off again with this conversation?”

Mimosa fumbled with her hands. “Something about you wanting to help me escape?”

“Yep, that’s it! Look, as I was saying, if you help me with my own mission, I’ll help you leave this place in one piece. You scratch my back, I scratch yours.”

“Uh…” She looked down at the sharp, glowing claws on the wolf. “I’m not sure I want you scratching my back. Not this soon after surgery, anyways. Besides, why should I trust you? I don’t even know who you are.”

“We’ll exchange formalities later. Come on, stop hesitating already. Do you really have any other option?”

“Yes, I do, actually.” She lifted up her makeshift microphone, showing it off in all its scrap-metal glory. “I could go solo. Worked out well for me so far! So, thanks for the offer, but I’ll pass. Toodles~”

Mimosa started to walk away, giving the anonymous wolf a wave goodbye with her free hand.

“Oh no you don’t!” Suddenly, she felt a tug and looked down to see that the wolf had grabbed the sleeve of her jacket around her waist with his mouth, yanking her back.

“Wh-Wha!? Hey! Let go!” She protested, trying to yank the sleeve back. The two engaged in tug-of-war for a moment, ending in Mimosa pulling a bit too hard, not only pulling the wolf forward, but also throwing herself off balance. She landed on her stomach, and then felt the weight of the small wolf landing on her back. Oof, and right on her spine too–

DING! VRRRR….

It was sudden and unexpected. A sort of… surge of power rolled through her body, almost paralyzing her for a moment. Like the wind got knocked out of her, but in felt... right? Almost satisfying, even. It kept building and building, charging and charging flowing through her at a steady pace, just like the beat of her heart, and it felt like it was rolling through something else too.

The weight suddenly disappeared off her back, the wolf letting out a loud bark just as she steadied herself, regaining control of her body. Then, there was a sort of chime noise, followed by a 'pop!'

“What the–WHAT DID YOU JUST DO!?” The owner of the wolf cried out, prompting her to roll over on her back to see the wolf, right above her. In a…ball??? It was the size of a basketball now, still with the prominent features, like the orange glowing decals and the big ears, and even a bit of fur. But… why was it a ball!? And why was it floating!?

“What–!? Shouldn’t I be asking YOU that!? You’re the one controlling him!”

“Well I’m NOT anymore! He stopped responding to me! You did something!”

“What do you mean me ??? I’m not controlling him either–” She cut herself off as she stood up and stepped back, watching as the ball floated towards her. She experimentally took another step. It moved towards her. Another. It moved towards her again.

“H-Hey! Shoo, shoo, get away!”

Unsure of what to do, as nothing was working, she ran, frantically trying to wave the wolf away. “Make it stop following me!”

“I’m trying! Nothing’s working!”

“Well why don’t you just–”

“Hello!”

Suddenly hearing a third voice chime in, Mimosa panicked and impulsively swung her mic just as she took a step, smashing it into the person that just spoke up. Slowing down and realizing what she just did, it turns out it wasn’t a person, but… Smidge. The bot had was now lying on his back like a turtle thanks to the hit. How'd he get here so fast without her seeing him!?

“Oooh… uh, yeesh…uh, reflex.” She responded, providing a flimsy apology as Smidge got back up like nothing happened.

“Oh, do not worry! Your hits only fill me with joy!” Never mind, she would’ve preferred him to complain. “Not to mention, I see you have made a new friend! It seems he’s here to help you!”

Mimosa raised a brow and pointed to K-9. “Oh, him? How so? He’s just been… hovering there. Menacingly.”

“Hey! Stop assuming I have bad intentions for 5 seconds!” The wolf owner complained.

“Don’t you feel the beat flowing between the two of you? I could sense it as you approached and smacked me in the face!”

Mimosa paused and looked at the floating ball. She curiously tapped her foot to the beat, watching as the ball bounced up and down in the air at the same time as her heel would come down. She could feel it flowing through her. It felt… satisfying. Good. Strong.

“Would you like to try it out on me?” Smidge suddenly spun 360 degrees, and when he faced her again, he was pounding two square boxing pads against each other. He also had a crudely drawn on pair of abs and angry eyebrows. She immediately thought of CNMN and how goofy this was. Did all robots need to draw their expressions on? “Go on! I want you to hit me!”

Well, if he insisted. She shrugged and swung at him again. He took the first few hits well, blocking them with the padding, before she felt a surge of energy roll through her after the first four blows. She let it run through her, and with perfect timing, she had knocked Smidge on his back yet again. Giddy with endorphins, she looked between her microphone and the floating dog next to her.

“Hm… K-9, huh? I guess I wouldn’t mind your company…”

"That was wonderful! You--"

She cut Smidge off. "Yeah, yeah, whatever, thanks." She waved him away dismissively, a confident smile on her face as she left Smidge behind, walking along. “Hey, mystery man? I’m going to borrow your dog for a little bit.”

A beat passed.

“Excuse me, you’re going to WHAT!?”

Chapter Text

"You are NOT taking my dog!”

“I’m kind of in the middle of doing that already…”

“Great, this is just perfect! I reach out for once, and someone immediately kidnaps my dog!”

“I’m not kidnapping him!” Mimosa snapped, offended, whirling back to face K-9 as the voice on the other complained endlessly. “ I’m not nearly that barbaric! Like I just said, I’m borrowing him!”

“Well 'borrowing' sounds a lot like kidnapping!”

“No, it doesn’t! There’s a difference!” She huffed. “If it makes you feel any better, I’m not a dog person.”

“Please don’t tell me I tried to partner up with a cat person…” He groaned, narrowing his eyes through K-9. Mimosa just gave him a dismissive wave.

“Not at all. Well, cats are cute, but they’re not my favorite.”

“Then, what are you?”

“A defect , according to some bots around here. But I prefer ‘ Aspiring Pop Sensation’ .” She snidely commented as she approached a platform. Spotting a big old button on the wall, she reeled her mic back and smacked it. Nothing happened, but she felt it push down just a little. Great, she’s going to need a little elbow grease for this one. If she had any sleeves right now, she'd be tempted to roll them up.

“No, I mean, what animal person are you?”

“Oh, right.” She smacked the button again. “I’m more of a bird person.”

“Okay, well, that still doesn’t convince me that you’re not just going to run off with him.”

“If it makes you feel any better–” She paused to put more energy into her next hit. “You know what I look like. If I do steal him, for whatever reason, you know who to go after.”

The man on the other end sighed, defeated. “Fine, just–”

Suddenly, he was cut off as, with one final strike to the button, the platform under them shot up one floor. Then two. Then three. And then, before she realized it, she was launched into the air!

Everything felt like it was going in slow motion as she reached the peak of the launch. The wind was blowing through her hair, the clear blue sky in front of her was dotted with blimps, clouds and gorgeous buildings… she had the scenery of a lifetime right in front of her. She felt almost weightless as she crashed back down onto the roof she had been launched onto, K-9 floating beside her, following her like a moth drawn to a flame.

Several other openings on the roof shot open, launching out more bots, all armed and ready. Mimosa smirked and twirled her mic as the mysterious voice behind K-9 continued his earlier comment.

“Just don’t put him in harms way, got it? Or else!”

“Hey! I think I’ve gotten used to fighting at this point, I can handle it. I’m more graceful and responsible than you think–” She cut herself off as she hit herself in the face with her own mic. K-9’s eyes narrowed, unamused.

“Smooth.”

“Oh shut up. I'd like to see you use one of these.” She groaned as she rubbed at her cheek with her free hand. With that out of the way, she gripped her mic more tightly and started going at the bots.

She went into this fight with her usual amount of confidence. With her wiping the floor with the previous batches of bots they threw at her, and with her (temporary) dog companion, it should be a cinch, right?

Well, apparently these bots had a bit more fight in them than she realized. She sent most of them flying with ease, even laughing a little at one that collided face-first into a billboard, before exploding and leaving a giant chunk of smoldering metal in it's place. Just as she finished laughing, she felt a sharp slam to her back and was knocked forward.

She stumbled, barely managing to stay on her feet as she flailed her arms. She was almost knocked completely off the roof, and was now standing just on the edge, moments away from careening to the ground below. She sighed with relief as she managed to stabilize herself, planting her feet, before tensing up as rhythmic footsteps approached. She whirled around in time to see the last remaining bot running at her. Without thinking, she slid out of the way at the last second…

…And extended her leg out. The bot couldn’t stop himself in time and tripped over her foot, before tumbling over the edge. She peeked over to see the bot plummet, his scream growing more and more distant, before seeing a tiny explosion cloud at the bottom. It made a very quiet boom!

Quickly disregarding the destruction she may have caused a few levels below, she stepped away from the edge just a little as K-9's owner spoke up.

“Okay, now that that’s settled, I've got a few questions for you.” He asked.

“Hm… tell you what. I’ll answer any questions you have, if you answer some of mine. Starting with finding me a way out of here.” As she said this, she gazed at the scenery before her. The giant V-Shaped building was to her right, a giant mountain was to her left, and in the very middle was a variety of different buildings of all shapes and sizes.

“Fine. Let me check.” While the floating wolf-ball couldn’t move far, forced to hover around Mimosa for the time being, it still was able to float a small distance away and examine their surroundings. “Well, we’re in the Production Department, and the only direct exit I can find is through Quality Assurance.”

Mimosa squinted a little, before perking up the second she saw a big building that said ‘QA Center’. “Is that it?” K-9 nodded. “Alright, let’s go!”

“Woah, hey!” K-9’s owner protested. “That’s also the most OBVIOUS way out! They’ll probably be expecting you!”

Mimosa just shrugged and kept walking, hopping up on another floating platform and starting on her journey. “So? I’ll fight my way out if I have to! It’s worked out for me so far. These bots can’t even touch me!”

“Except for the one that nearly knocked you off the roof a minute ago?”

“That didn’t count! I didn’t see him.”

“Suuure, whatever you say. Well, if you’re so insistent on not listening to me, at least get to answering my questions.”

“Let’s walk-and-talk then.” She kept moving, hopping from platform to platform and running across rooftops.

Now Playing: A Mistake By Fiona Apple

I'm gonna make a mistake,
I'm gonna do it on purpose,
Gonna waste my time.
'Cause I'm full as a tick,
And I'm scratching at the surface,
And what I find is mine.
And when the day is done, and I look back,
And the fact is, I had fun fumbling around,
All the advice I shunned, and I ran,
Where they told me not to run,
But I sure had fun!

“Okay, so you’re labeled a defect for a reason… why is that? And why are you fighting with a...microphone? Whatever that thing is.” The floating ball gestured to her makeshift microphone. “Where’d you even get that thing? We're too far away from the Marketing Department for there to be any instruments out here. And–”

“Woah, woah, woah! One at a time! I’m not answering all of that at once. Look, let’s go back and forth with it, one at a time. Answer one of mine, I’ll answer one of yours.”

“Okay, okay! God, you’re demanding. Okay, so what are you even using to fight? I haven’t exactly seen someone use a weapon like that before. ”

“Well…” She paused for a moment, realizing that her answer was going to sound crazy. Alright, how can she explain this in the most gentle, reasonable way possible?

“It’s a… microphone. Made out of a squeegee.”

There was a long pause between the two of them, as K-9 just… stared at her.

“How the hell did you even put together something like that?”

“I don’t know! It just sort of… happened. Everything just kind of clicked together thanks to weird magnet magic. You just had to be there. Okay, your turn–”

“No, wait, you are not just moving past that!”

“Too late, I don’t have any more answers for that! Your turn. What’s your name?” She felt like this process would go by a lot more smoothly if they were on a first-name basis. Besides, she might as well let one person know her name more… favorably, and not because she was a wanted woman.

“Didn’t I say we’d get to formalities later? ”

“Well, we’re doing them now! Ahem…” She slowed down and extended her hand out for a handshake, before retracting it after quickly realizing the dog didn’t have a hand to shake at the moment. Or a paw, for that matter. She instead put her hand on her chest. “I’m Mimosa.”

“Mimosa? Okay then.”

Mimosa stopped and impatiently tapped her foot. When he only gave her a confused look in response, she shot him a glare. “...Well? Aren’t you going to tell me yours?”

“Well, I’m … putting a pin in this for later. I'd rather get introductions done in-person, thank you very much.”

She scoffed. “Oh come on! I just told you MY name, so tell me yours!”

“Didn’t your mommy ever tell you not to give personal information to strangers?” God, she could just FEEL the condescension on the other end of this wolf-ball phone call. The temptation to throttle a nonexistent neck was growing. She rolled her eyes.

“Didn’t your mommy teach you basic manners?”

Silence filled the air. Mimosa glanced at K-9 to see his ears droop a little, turned away from her, his owner avoiding eye-contact with her. She smirked. Ha, serves him right. “Well, if you’re not going to tell me your name, I’m calling you ‘Mr. Mystery’ for the time being.”

“Seriously?”

“Yes, I’m serious! Plus, it’s got a nice ring to it. Some nice alliteration.” She kept walking. “If you don’t like it, suck it up. Your fault for being rude to me. All I gave you was a polite request.”

“Hello there!”

She heard a faint voice and ignored it, too busy chewing out Mr. Mystery. “I mean, seriously, I didn't even ask for your full name. What kind of person just leaves out vital information like that? ”

“Hello! Hints over here! Let me help–”

“I mean, come on now, I need every piece of information I can get, just like you! Wait, where are you looking–” Her eyes were trained onto K-9, watching as the small ball’s eyes focused on something behind her. She barely had time to realize what he was looking at before–

SKRRR!

Smidge screeched to a stop in front of her, stopping her in her tracks. He held an absolutely massive sign up in front of him, with ‘HINTS!!!’ written in big bold lettering, with glowing lights surrounding the edge. Several arrows were around the edges, pointing at it. It was much bigger than the usual sign he was holding earlier. She blinked in confusion.

“...What is it?”

“Oh, I was going to tell you something important, but because you ignored me, you no longer get my valuable hints!” He tossed the sign behind him haphazardly. Wow, how petty.

“Well, I didn’t exactly notice you there…” She responded, trying to dodge the fact that she just sprinted by Smidge without a care, having been too busy scolding Mystery Man for holding out on her. The irony was strong but her ability to dodge responsibility was stronger.

“I’m just here to help! I’m here to be a friend to you! A good friend.” Yeah, this was getting a bit too creepy for Mimosa’s tastes. She had to shut this down right now.

“Uh, yeah, we’re not friends. I appreciated your help once. Now buzz of.” Right after saying that, she kept walking. However, Smidge was persistent.

“But–”

“I don’t need your help, Smidge!”

“That platform–”

“I know what I’m doing–!!!”

She cut herself off as she stepped onto a circular platform on top of what looked to be a large cylindrical tank. Suddenly, it started to tremble and shake under her, and she threw her arms out to keep her balance. With a Creeeeeeeack and a CRUNCH, one of the support beams gave away. Before she realized it, she was plummeting, screaming and smacking into just about every surface along the way. She landed face-first with an ‘oof!’, K-9’s ball form slowly floating down next to her, unharmed, as she stood back up.

BLAM!

She let out a yelp as the giant tank crashed down just a inches away from her, before plummeting over the edge and falling further down, leaving several more crashing noises to echo around the production center. Yeah, whatever that hit was going to leave more of a mark than a falling robot. Eh, not her problem.

“I was trying to warn you that the platform was treacherous, friend!” Smidge cried from above.

K-9’s owner gave her a smug look and she felt her face run hot with embarrassment, her ears turning pink as she immediately kept running. “I meant to do that.”

“Sure you did.”

Trying to shake the humiliation off, her eyes focused on her surroundings, slowing down a little to take in the view. She couldn’t help but gawk for a moment, amazed at how much there was going on around her. Giant containers being transported around on rails, cranes carrying platforms and crates, there was almost too much to take in! Even for a lover of detail like herself, it was a bit of a struggle to comprehend it all.

“Woah… so this is Vandelay Campus? It’s almost like a city.”

“Part of the city. Remember, this is just the Production Department. What show-offs, am I right? So much glitz and glam that you wouldn’t notice the rotten layers below it.”

“Yeah, don’t even get me started on that. I had no idea that hunting down defects was one of their priorities.”

“Right, speaking of which, what even made you a defect in the first place? Cybernetics get put on wrong or something?”

“No, just...” Okay, she was a bit hesitant to mention this. Whether this was easier or harder to bring up than a squeegee-microphone fusion was debatable, but she had to spit it out eventually. “I went into surgery to get a spine cybernetic, and got something stuck in my chest.”

“That being…?”

“A music player.” Another pause followed that.

“Remind me to take a look at that later.” He responded, quickly sweeping that topic of discussion under the rug.

Landing on some suspended scaffolding, she felt it rock under her feet. Just as she was about to jump on the next platform in front of her, which held up a bunch of cleaning bots stacked on top of each other as they tried to clean a wall with their own squeegee, she felt it give away from under her. “Oh not agaAIIIIN –” She fell, thankfully from a lower height this time, and slammed against the floor, knocking over a cleaning robot below her. Both her and the bot sat up, stars and birds floating around their heads. Mimosa shook her head to snap back into reality and stood back up, dusting herself off.

“You weren’t kidding when you mentioned ‘rotten layers’... I think that’s my fourth OSHA violation I’ve come across.” She said, walking along and sliding down a tilted platform.

“Just your fourth? Expect more.”

Mimosa just groaned in frustration as she stomped the button at the bottom of the platform, which brought her down a few floors, acting as an elevator.

Running down a dimly lit hall, growing more and more used to the boxes and crates surrounding her, she noticed a tiny blue glow that stood out from the dimly lit ceiling lights and miscellaneous shiny buttons. A small tablet was sitting on a faintly glowing control panel, the blue light catching her attention. She raised a brow and picked it up.

“What are you doing?”

“Just grabbing a bit of reading material for the road! Let's see...” With that flimsy excuse to pry into other people's business, she began scrolling through the tablet, reading the message on it aloud as she walked.

“Subject: Battery Pack Production

Greetings all Production Line Workers!

Sir Macaron has instructed me to inform you about our upcoming production of Expanded Battery Packs for the Project Armstrong Initiative.”

Mimosa paused and skipped to the end, seeing that it was signed ‘CNMN ’. Of course. That explained a lot. “This guy is like a walking thesaurus… ahem.” She continued reading, pacing the floor.

“Unfortunately, the battery supercharger has no protective covering, so do be cautious as to handle it carefully. However, do not fret, as, in the likely scenario of you losing your life to the electrical charge, we will repurpose your robotic parts for future battery packs– sheesh that’s brutal–  because recycling is important. Remember to wear rubber gloves otherWIIIIIIISE– ”

Mimosa read the end of the message just as she felt the ground give in from under her yet again, not having noticed it during her pacing. The tablet flew out of her hands as she landed on her stomach in what looked like a box, with a glass panel in front of her. Weird markings stretched across the ground, and the lights suddenly dimmed around her, the familiar voice of that receptionist she dealt with speaking up on the intercom.

“Battery Production activated.”

Oh no. Mimosa stood up immediately.

“Don’t touch the red lasers. Obviously.”

“That can’t be good…” Mr. Mystery piped in, watching as a vertical red laser suddenly lit up and started to move towards Mimosa. Surprisingly, though, it moved to the same beat she felt flowing through the rest of her surroundings. And it was very easy to avoid. She effortlessly stepped out of the way of the first laser. Then, as two more lit up and moved towards her, she just casually stepped out of the way of them as well. Ha! She had nothing to worry about.

“Actually, this isn’t that bad.”

Then a horizontal laser shot out, at the same height as her feet, swiftly moving toward her. She yelped and barely hopped over it. Then another came. Next thing she knew, she was doing an awkward, intricate dance of jumping, ducking and sliding to avoid the lasers as they increased in number. Left, right, duck, jump--she might as well be doing the god damn Hokey Pokey to avoid these lasers! At one point, one even grazed her hair, and she watched in slight fear as a few strands of burnt hair fell to the ground.

“Crap, crap, CRAP, THIS IS THAT BAD, THIS IS THAT BAD–”

And then, all at once, it stopped. The lights flickered on, the lasers vanished, and a trap door on the floor in front of her opened, before popping out a small box with a couple of light bulbs sticking out of it. Was this one of those battery packs?

“Maybe DON’T touch that with your bare hands.”

“You don’t have to tell me twice.” Mimosa took a look around the battery production area, looking for a way out. The opening she fell into was still available as an exit strategy, but a quick attempt to double jump up to it proved to be futile. She was stuck. Unless...?

That glass panel was an appealing enough escape route. Approaching the glass wall in front of her, she confidently reeled her mic back and smacked it. Nothing. Not even a crack.

“How am I going to get out of here…? Hey, Mr. Mystery, got any ideas?”

“None at the moment.” He sighed. “Maybe we can exit out where that battery pack came in? Just, you know… don't electrocute yourself.”

“Won’t be too hard. Part of this is rubber, after all.” She held up her squeegee with pride. “I’ll just push it out of the way…”

She took her squeegee, finally using its intended purpose to sweep the battery pack away with the rubber part. Unfortunately, the second the slightest bit of metal lightly grazed it, it hit her all at once like a lightning strike. A surge of electricity ran through her body, sending an almost painful static running through her body. It lasted for a few seconds, leaving her stunned before suddenly, all at once, it stopped. Her hair was standing on end like someone went at it with a balloon, and puffs of steam were rising from her body.

"What did I just say!?" The mystery man just looked on in slight concern. “Well, at least you’re not dead…”

“Is it weird to say that I actually feel better than ever?” That wasn’t just her fried brain lying to her, her entire body felt energized! Like someone had just injected her with 5-hour energy, and she was getting hit with the effects all at once.

“Not really, actually. K-9’s giving me some information on your cybernetics. Apparently that just stored a lot of energy in your spine. Maybe it’s a good idea to try and let it out?”

“What, so I don’t have a heart attack?” She asked, watching as K-9's ball form floated as far away as possible from her.

“Yes, but also because it might be enough to break the glass.”

She'd laugh at such a ludicrous idea if she had any other escape options. “Alright, if you say so.”

Taking in a deep breath, she pulled her mic back, and then focused on letting all that energy run through and out of her. Shooting out electricity like a lightning rod, she found herself spinning like a top, and fast. Her mic was held out as far as she could extend it, and it collided into the glass over and over with each turn. It cracked, it splintered, and then it shattered at the third collision, leaving an opening for her to go through. Calming down as the energy faded from her body, she laughed and hopped through, carefully dodging any excess glass sharps as she tried to smooth her hair back down.

“Huh. So that actually worked. Guess they don’t call me The Queen of Spin for nothing.”

“Who calls you that?”

She paused. “...No one yet, but–!”

“Just keep walking.”

Grumbling, Mimosa turned and ran down a hall, smashing through several boxes until coming across… a familiar blue robot in the corner.

“Oh, hello there again, friend!” Smidge responded, smiling at her as though nothing happened between them earlier. “Would you like to hear more information that I have to offer?”

She took in a hiss of air. “Yeah, no, you see, I need to–” Suddenly, she got flashbacks to moments ago, when she almost got crushed by a giant tank falling on her. She could still feel the soreness in her back and face from the fall, and the embarrassment she felt returned, flooding through her body.

“...Listen to you immediately! Go on, Smidge, out with it.”

“Hurray!”

She took in a deep breath and begrudgingly prepared herself for his ramblings, as Smidge continued to rattle on about things she JUST did (seriously, how did he know so much???), not wanting to miss a beat. Just in case. K-9 just floated next to her all the while, her and Mr. Mystery exchanging annoyed glances from time to time when Smidge wasn’t looking.

Yeah, this was going to be a long trip to Quality Assurance…

“You actually kept the drink he gave you?”

Mimosa finished off her bottle of orange-flavored sparkling water and tossed it behind her, missing the nearest trash can by a mile and not bothering to pick it up. A nearby bot with a trash grabber saw this and sighed. “Well he just sputtered a bunch of nonsense that I already assumed, so I figured I’d keep the only other thing I got out of this. Besides, with all this running I’ve had to do, I’m parched.”

Indeed she was. She had been running all over the place, hopping over walls and jumping on cranes, lifted onto platforms and smashing bots to pieces… it was wearing her out. At one point, she has to turn a generator back on after the power went out. She dealt with that the same way she dealt with any old electronics of hers: hitting it until it functioned again. She initially took the drink Smidge gave her as a courtesy, but it proved to be refreshing after everything that happened thus far.

“Anyways, mind continuing our small talk? I was wondering something…”

Mr. Mystery sighed. “Still not telling you my name yet.”

“Oh, no, no, I’m not asking about you this time. I was wondering about K-9.” As she said this, she paused to gently pat the floating wolf-ball, ruffling the fur. Damn, that fur was surprisingly soft for a robot.

“Well, that’s a change of pace. What do you want to know about him?”

“Does ‘K-9’ stand for anything? Why’d you name him that and not–god dammit, give me a second–” She paused in her comment to grab her leg and pull her heel out of one of the many hole patterns in the platform she was walking over. It was a miracle she hadn’t twisted her ankle trying to walk on these damn platforms yet. “Why didn’t you name him, I don’t know, ‘Fido’ or ‘Rover’ or something?”

“He used to be a KUT-WAN bot, and his serial number when I found him was #1009. I just combined the two.”

“KUT-WAN?”

“It’s a line of robotic dogs that Vandelay Technologies put out. They're meant to trim the grass.”

Suddenly, it clicked in her mind. Mimosa thought back to those cute dogs running across the grass when she was coming out of surgery.

“Oh! You mean those little lawn-mower dogs? I figured they looked familiar. Now I see the resemblance.” She took a moment to look at K-9 closer. Even in K-9’s newfound ball form, she could see it. It seemed as though Mr.Mystery gave him a massive makeover, though, given his fluffier, softer, wolf-like appearance compared to the smoother KUT-WANs she saw in that courtyard.

"So you called him K-9… because he’s a KUT-WAN bot, and because of his serial number? Not very creative if you ask me. That's like naming a German Shepherd 'G Sharp'."

“Tch! I’d like to see you come up with a better name.”

“Is that a challenge? Because I will.”

“No, it’s not a–”

“How about… Max? He looks like a Max. Cookie? Ooh, what about Scout? What do you think, boy? Do you like ‘Scout’?” She instinctively put on a baby voice as she spoke directly to K-9, ruffling the fur on top of the floating ball’s head yet again. While the wolf seemed to enjoy the affection, it only let out a disappointed bark in response to the name.

“Fine, fine… I’ll keep brainstorming.”

“You sure are overly invested in my pet for someone who supposedly isn’t a dog person.”

“Not being a ‘dog person’ doesn't mean that doesn’t mean I hate them! Not to mention…” She gestured to K-9 in all his adorably glory. “He’s just too cute!”

Saying this, she jumped down from an orange platform held by a crane. Landing on the ground, she realized the door she wanted to go through to finally reach her destination was locked shut.

“Found her!”

She looked up as four bots came launching out of trap doors in the ground, while two more jumped down from above, all armed and at the ready. Three of them that came from below were the standard orange bots she was used to, but the other half were… different. One was a giant blue bot, roughly twice the size of the others with big, bulky arms, and the other two that came down from above were scrawnier red bots with an attachment on their arms.

The red bots cocked their arms like a shotgun, before aiming what looked like arm cannons at her.

“CNMN wants her disposed of! Don’t hesitate!”

Indeed, they didn’t hesitate, as Mimosa found herself being charged by the other four. She yelped and slid past the first three orange ones as they swung their weapons, barely avoiding getting crushed as the blue one slammed a fist down at her, leaving a crater in the ground. Just when she tried to take a breather, she heard a sharp ‘vrr!’ noise and barely slid out of the way as two lasers were fired at her from the red bots.

Ducking and dodging, bobbing and weaving, she managed to at least take out two of the orange ones with success, but the red bots were aiming yet again.

Just in time, she instinctively grabbed the remaining orange bot that was running at her and held him in front of her like a meat–er… metal shield, just as two beams were shot right at her. The second the blast ended and the smoke cleared, the remains of the bot she grabbed faceplanted before exploding, while the two red bots looked on in shock, realizing what they just did.

This was the perfect opening for her to beat them while their guard was down. She dashed forward and smacked one right into the other, knocking them into a pile before they exploded yet again. “Guess they didn’t consider friendly fire.”

Suddenly, a shadow cast over her. A big one.

She gulped and whipped around just as the larger blue bot that she forgot about swung at her. She flinched, unable to dodge in time, only to realize that she felt… nothing. She opened her eyes, nervously patting her body to check for wounds. Nothing. Not even a single scratch, or a hair out of place. She wiped her brow, sighing with relief.

“Ha! Missed me you bucket of bolts–”

That’s when she heard it. A whimper.

She finally looked back up at the bot to see K-9 gripped in his giant claw-like hand, the wolf shaking and whimpering in fear as the bot held him like a stress ball. The blue bot looked down at K-9 with a look of confusion, tightening his grip just a little. A surge of energy flowed through her. Her eye twitched and she glared, reeling her mic back behind her.

CRACK!

Her mic flew out of her hands as she threw it forward, spinning in the air before colliding into the bot’s face, knocking it’s jaw askew. The bot immediately let go of K-9 to clutch its face out of instinct, and she leapt into the air. With one hand, she grabbed the ricocheting microphone, and with the other, she grabbed K-9 firmly. She swung it again and dealt another blow. And then another. And another. All while holding K-9 firmly and protectively with her other hand, like a basketball. At one point she even tried to kick him, which turned out to not be a good idea as it just hurt herself more than it hurt him, leaving her wincing in pain and hopping around on one leg for a moment. Mimosa made a mental note: The scrawnier bots were better candidates for literal ass-kicking.

The blue bot finally retaliated, smacking her and sending her flying into a pile of boxes in the corner, K-9 flying out of her hands. The bot laughed mockingly at her before beginning to approach, as K-9 hovered nervously around her, whimpering. Mr. Mystery spoke up.

“Crap, you’re not dead yet, are you?”

Her arm gripped part of the broken box she crushed, and used it to push herself up. She had a smirk on her face. “Far from it.”

A surge of electricity surrounded her as she got back up, revealing that the blue bot had smacked her into a box containing one of those giant batteries. The bot gulped, immediately regretting it's decision, and tried to mimic the motion of asking for a time-out. Yeah, she wasn't giving him that reprieve.

Thinking back to what she did the first time, she twirled her mic in her hands before dashing forward, stopping on one foot before spinning as fast as she could.

She hit him one, twice, thrice, and she sent the bot into the air! Jumping up, she slammed down as hard as she could onto the bot, dealing a final hit as it slammed into the floor. Landing back on her feet, she stepped away as it exploded, blowing her hair back. Gasping for air after all that energy she just let out, she pointed at the pile of scrap metal. "Don't mess with The Queen of Spin! And that includes this little guy right here!" Turning to K-9, she ruffled his fur with her hand. “You okay, boy?”

“We’re fine–”

“Gah!” She flinched back as Mr. Mystery spoke up. “Right, almost forgot you talked through him…” She averted her gaze out of embarrassment as she smoothed her hair out, realizing a couple of strands of her blonde hair had gone out of place yet again. Great, now this was awkward. With that guy on the other end speaking through K-9, she might as well have been giving him that pat on the head. Euck, now that just felt weird. Quick, change the subject, change the subject–she gasped!

“The exit!” She was already dashing for the open door with a big old sign on the top that said ‘EXIT’, hobbling a little due to the failed kick attempt from earlier (god damn that was gonna leave a bruise). Finally, she could get out of here!

“There are still other routes for you to go if you want to change your mind last minute.” Mr. Mystery piped up.

“Uh, yeah, I’m not fighting another horde of robots to get to a more ‘secure’ location. I’m taking this, and you can’t change my mind!” She still had one goal in mind: get the hell out of here. Or at the very least, get to a location where she’s not a sitting duck out in the open. Nothing was going to stop her–

As she looked to the left, she realized...okay, maybe one thing was going to stop her.

“What the heck even is that?” She was currently staring at a pile of boxes off to the side, stacked together to form the rough shape of what she assumed to be an animal of some kind. A voice cut in from next to her, startling her.

“It’s a dog, lass.” Beside her was… oh! It was a more familiar robot. The one she saw when she first got out of surgery.

“Oh, it’s you! Hey there…” She fumbled. Crap, crap, crap, she never asked for his name! “...You…?”

“O5-KAR.”

“O5-KAR! Right, right, I knew that.” She lied. “Did you make this?”

“Yep. What a shame, really. I used to run this facility, but now they’ve got me stacking boxes instead.” O5-KAR gestured to the box stack. “But I will say, this is a fine stack. A great job.”

“I have to say, it’s pretty impressive. Maybe I can model for your next stack, if I have any reason to come back here. You’ve already got a… mediocre understanding on how to make a dog. Maybe ask Mr.Mystery here if you can borrow K-9 for reference.” She gestured between K-9 and the box arrangement for comparison.

Thunk!

Her hand moved too fast and smacked into one of the boxes. “...Uh oh.”

She took a very long step away as the box she just hit shifted a little bit out of place, like a mishandled Jenga piece, causing that one box to fall and collapse with a crackle of splintering wood. “Oh. Well, just one box out of place isn’t so–”

The rest of the boxes promptly collapsed right afterwards, a pile of wood and broken dreams. “...Bad.”

Mimosa nervously glanced at O5-KAR, who had the most neutral expression on his face. She cautiously brought her mic in front of her in case he chose to attack. To her surprise, though, he just sighed in defeat. “You may have destroyed me stack, but me memories remain. Oh, what a good job it was!”

“Great! Wonderful! A good job indeed! Fantastic even! I’ll just… see myself out.” Realizing the situation had gone back to being incredibly awkward, she walked along. K-9’s owner, however, spoke up.

“Smooth moves there. Glad to know your spatial awareness is unmatched.” God, the sarcasm was almost palpable.

“Shut up!” She exclaimed, heading towards the giant opening with a sign at the top saying ‘QA CHECK'. The hallway darkened as she strutted forward. “I don’t need your input right now.”

“Well, you’re GOING to need it if you want to get out of here in one piece!”

“Oh come on, there’s nothing in there that I haven’t already dealt with ten-fold. Seriously, what’s the worst that could happen?” She casually flipped her hair and marched on.

The door clicked shut behind her.

Chapter Text

The room was dark, barely illuminated by the fluorescent lights above her. Mimosa's heels clicked against the floor, filling the silence with a sharp echo as she rested her scrap metal mic over her shoulder. Her steps were slow and calm as she scanned for an exit, Mr.Mystery doing so as well through K-9’s ball form. All they could immediately take notice of was a screen in front of them, which displayed the words 'DAYS WITHOUT DEFECTS', followed by an ungodly amount of numbers below it. She didn't even bother trying to calculate that.

It was quiet. Too quiet. A bit peaceful, even.

“See? There's nothing here to stop me! And you wanted to take a different route. This is like a walk in the park.”

Suddenly, the lights around her lit up, flashing red and accompanied by the usual loud, almost annoying siren noises. She tensed up and gripped her mic tighter, ready for a fight.

“Defect detected! Defect detected! Initiating lockdown.”

A bunch of clanking noises followed, as all the doors around her were quickly closed off and locked.

Light metal footsteps sounded out from above as the flashing and ringing of the alarms stopped. She looked up at a catwalk several feet above her, seeing a figure approach. A familiar white robot she had only seen on some screens up until this point. Seeing him, Mimosa didn’t feel fear, or even intimidation. Instead, she only felt… anger. Frustration. Vexation.

“You!” She exclaimed angrily, jabbing a finger at the white bot above her.

“Me!” CNMN gleefully exclaimed, his face sporting some swirly blush scribble marks and a big happy grin. “Nice to see you as well, Defect!”

All her rage vanished, instead replaced with confusion.

“It’s… nice to see me?” She wasn’t expecting him to be happy to see her.

“Oh, yes, very much so! Now that I have you contained in one location, you no longer pose an issue to my production process, or our ‘no defect’ record!” He stiffly clapped his hands together.

“Well maybe I wouldn’t “pose an issue” if your bots weren’t trying to kill me first! I’ve been shot at with lasers, smacked around like a ragdoll, and one of them almost hurt–”

“Ahem, maybe leave out a few details.” Mr. Mystery whispered, piping up just before she could mention K-9. Taking the hint, she nodded and continued.

“Point is, this was NOT a pleasant experience! Now explain!” She lifted her mic up and pointed at him with it, glaring daggers at him.

CNMN scribbled on a disappointed face, complete with stressed eye bags and some vertical lines near his forehead. “I see that my Production Workers have been rather rough with you. My apologies, Defect!”

“My name’s not ‘Defect’, it’s ‘Mimosa’!”

“My apologies, Mimosa!”

Okay, now they were getting somewhere! Maybe this bot would have some sense and let her go? After all, if that disappointment of his was aimed at his workers, maybe they were the only ones in the wrong! Maybe he’d fix things!

“I explicitly told them to dispose of you swiftly and immediately! Not slow and painfully! Don’t worry, I will make up for this egregious error on their part!”

Or maybe not. “Woah, hey now, I didn’t sign up for this!”

“Oh, but you did sign up for this! Unless–”

“Unless what!?”

“Did you not read the Fine print?”

She paused, tilting her head in confusion. “...The what-now?”

“Give me a moment, please!” CNMN briefly turned away, and after a moment, he returned with some serious, blocky eyebrows scribbled on. He proceeded to pull out a familiar looking slip of paper, holding it up for display purposes. She couldn’t make out many of the words at this distance, but she could spot the word ‘ARMSTRONG’ at the top, and the bottom had ‘Mimosa~ <3’ scribbled across a line in cursive. Her signature.

“It says here on the Project Armstrong EULA that all those who are not up to the Vandelay standard are to be labeled as “defective”, and promptly recalled! There are also several disclaimers in our official Terms and Conditions regarding this. For example, one such disclaimer is written as follows: “We are not responsible for injury, death, or disappearance resulting from a mishap during the Project Armstrong surgeries!” Did you not notice?”

Mr.Mystery raised a brow at her. “You didn’t read any of that?”

“I... skimmed it?" She gave him a sheepish look, but when Mr.Mystery glared at her, she quickly went on the defensive.

"Okay, get on my case all you want, but don’t act like you read the Terms and Conditions of anything!!!” She hissed.

Mimosa whirled back around to CNMN, looking furious.

“Recalled!? So you really just mean “killed”!?”

“Oh, it is not me who chose to word it in such a way. I’d tell you to complain to Mister Chai in the Marketing Department for such a blunder if you were not to be ‘recalled’ imminently.”

Mimosa scoffed and rolled her eyes, not intimidated in the slightest. “Oh yeah? And what’re you going to do about it? You look weaker than all the other bots I’ve fought up until now.” She was astronomically confident that she could take CNMN in a fight. Those scrawny little arms of his looked like they could snap in half if she so much as breathed on them.

“Oh, I will not be the one handling things. Rather, QA-1MIL will be evaluating you shortly. Do not worry, he will make your evaluation swift, according to my orders, and fittingly tailored to your impatient attitude!”

The floor under her started to shake and tremble, slowly rising up. Mimosa looked around wildly as CNMN kept talking. Who the hell was QA-1MIL??? And what did he just say about impatience–

“Welcome to the Project Armstrong “Defect Check”! We pride ourselves on our efficient and speedy Quality Assurance!”

The last thing she saw was his scribbled, cheerful grin as he disappeared from view.

The ground rumbled beneath her as the platform she was on kept rising and rising, as a steady vibration that rolled through her body, particularly through her chest. Like her heart was beating at an intense speed–wait! That wasn’t just the ground!

She pressed her hand against her chest, realizing exactly what it was. Looking down at her music player, partially hidden by the top of her dress, she could see it thudding around in her chest, almost tapping against the glass. The beat was intense, and as satisfying as it felt, she felt a pit grow in her stomach. She quickly shook off the bad feeling this gave her, holding onto the handle of her microphone tightly.

“I told you something like this would happen.” Mr.Mystery piped up, glaring at her through K-9.

“Come on, I’ve got this. If it’s anything like I’ve already fought before, I think I’m adequately prepared.”

As the platform came to a jarring stop, almost knocking her off balance, she felt as though she were being… watched. A shiver went up her spine, and she was sure it wasn’t because of her implant. She did a 360 swivel, eyes darting around the circular walls of the building, before finally noticing a pair of glowing yellow eyes appearing from the darkness. She yelped as a VERY large orange, black and white robot suddenly sprung forward, hovering over her.

Okay, ‘very large’ was an understatement, it was massive! it didn’t even have a full body, seemingly just a torso, arms and a head attached to a piece of metal in the wall, but it easily dwarfed her size. She was wearing HEELS, and this thing was almost three times her height, with fists big enough to crush her into dust!

QA-1MIL glared down at her, and she shrunk down a little out of fear. Okay, maybe she wasn’t prepared for this.

“I like defects.” He said, his voice raspy and intimidating.

“Aww, you like me? Glad to know I have an admirer already~” Much to the chagrin of Mr.Mystery, Mimosa couldn’t hold back the sass. Cut her some slack, this is how she copes with stress, god dammit!

“I like how they taste.” QA-1MIL responded, putting extra emphasis on his statement this time. Uh oh.

“I-I really don’t taste all that good! I’m all bones and gristle! And–and sour! Veeery sour!” She exclaimed, throwing out a panicked excuse, followed by nervous laughter.

“You’re right about one of those things.” Mr.Mystery mumbled.

“Not. Now.”

Her excuses fell on deaf ears, as the behemoth-sized bot in front of her pressed his hands together into one big fist, raising it above his head.

“Inspection level… 1 MILLION!”

With that, he brought his fists down in an attempt to crush her. Mimosa dashed back just in time to barely avoid it, the platform beneath her shaking violently and launching her back. Thank goodness K-9 was still in his ball form, or else he (and Mr.Mystery) would’ve gone flying too, as her hands were too busy gripping her weapon for dear life.

Skidding to a stop on the ground, really digging her heels in, she and QA-1MIL glared at each other. Maybe it was the rhythmic thudding in her chest fueling her adrenaline, maybe it was her frustration hitting an all time high, but her fear quickly dissipated into fury. She was not dying now, and most certainly not to a robot like that!

“Let’s dance, you bucket of bolts!” She exclaimed. QA-1MIL just roared at her, the force of it pushing her back a few inches.

Now Playing: Die Young by Kesha

Looking for some trouble tonight (yeah!)
Take my hand, I'll show you the wild side!
Like it's the last night of our lives (uh huh!)
We'll keep dancing till we die!
I hear your heart beat to the beat of the drums!
Oh, what a shame that you came here with someone,
So while you're here in my arms,
Let's make the most of the night like we're gonna die young!

Almost immediately, QA-1MIL swiped his massive hand at her, with intent to swat her away like a bug. She barely managed to leap over his arm as he swung it, landing on her feet. Just as she tried to get her bearings, the larger bot swiveled 180 degrees around her. It was at this point that she noticed that the notch in the wall that he was attached to ran 360 degrees around the length of the walls trapping her in here. Great, and just when she thought speed was her advantage…

With a huff, QA-1MIL lifted one of his giant hands yet again and attempted to crush her to the ground with his fist. She rolled away and flinched as the dust cleared and revealed a crater in the platform, realizing she could’ve been under that. She braced herself for the next few attacks, wondering where to go from here, but was surprised to see the gargantuan bot hesitate for a moment.

No, wait, he wasn’t hesitating! He was struggling to pull his hand out of the crater that he made, the indent leaving his hand stuck for a short moment.

“Mimosa! He’s stuck! Hit his hands already!” Mr.Mystery piped up, firmly.

“Already working on it!”

Wielding her mic like a scythe, she started hacking and slashing at the fist. The metal cracked, dented and splintered, and any wires near the surface were going to get shredded, sending sparks flying!

Unfortunately, before she could do any major lasting damage. QA-1MIL brought his hand up with a growl, bringing it out range of her microphone.

“Dang it! I was so close! I need him to bring his hand back down!”

“Just goad him into trying to hit you! Do what you do best!” Mr.Mystery exclaimed, watching as she dove over another swipe.

“I’m flattered, honey, but exactly how is my melodious voice going to get us out of this?”

“Why would you think I'd be talking about singing!? I was talking about your ability to be utterly annoying!”

Record scratch. She stopped in her tracks, her eye twitching a little. Even QA-1MIL stopped for a moment, looking on in surprise.

“...Okay first of all, how DARE you–” She swung around and pointed a manicured finger at the wolf ball he was talking through.

“Yes, exactly! Just like that! Keep that up!”

“No, I wasn’t–!!...Uh oh.” She looked up, finally noticing a large shadow cast over her, seeing QA-1MIL’s other fist hover above her. She screamed and barely rolled out of the way as it came down, the platform rumbling from the force almost as hard as her music player shook in her chest.

Wiping her brow, relieved, she didn’t hesitate this time. She slashed and hacked at the hand yet again, rolling with the beat pounding through her body, and even adding an extra bit of ‘oomph’ with the hits charged by K-9. She swung, she hacked, she slashed, she jabbed, she stabbed–she gave it all she had!

With a hiss of steam, the fist collapsed into an open palm, his fingers unfurling. She was suddenly struck with an idea.

“Hey, Mr.Mystery! Why don’t we give this guy…” Twirling fast, she hooked the blade of the squeegee mic under the fingers, before pushing it into the air with as much force as she could. Then, she leapt into the air, meeting the hand halfway and sending it flying into QA-1MIL’s face with a mighty CRACK! “A HAND!”

She heard a faint chuckle from Mr.Mystery. “Nice one.”

QA-1MIL fell back and out of sight for a split second, and she whooped and cheered in victory!

…And then he promptly got back up. Dammit, of course it wouldn't be that easy!

QA-1MIL was gripping the edge of the platform with one hand and resting his other hand on the side of his face, steam and smoke rising into the air. The metal plating had cracked and splintered like a spider web, before proceeding to crumble, revealing a lower, gray layer of metal underneath, as well as part of a screen on his forehead. She couldn’t make out what it said, but what she did know was that he looked absolutely PISSED.

Roaring at her, she could only watch in fear as some metal parts started opening from his back. With a rhythmic clack and clank, four cannons emerged across his back, two above each of his shoulders. She gulped at the sight of what looked like missiles were spotted attached to them, as they finally came together with a terrifying, yet satisfying clank!

“Finally get to use these!” QA-1MIL said with glee. “TRY AND DODGE, THIS!”

Mimosa took a nervous step back. “Please don’t be heat-seeking, please don’t be heat-seeking, PLEASE DON’T BE HEAT-SEEKING–”

Good news: they weren’t heat-seeking. Bad news: they didn’t have to be to get the job done.

Before she realized it, she was scrambling around on the platform like a fly dodging a fly swatter, looking every which way to avoid the explosions raining down on her as QA-1MIL’s laughter rang out around her. The explosions were almost deafening, and they even terrified K-9, judging by the wolf’s whimpers and whines. No wonder it did: this was probably worse than fireworks for the poor pup! Holding K-9’s ball form tight to her chest, she dodged out of the way of the final explosion… for now.

“Okay, I’m… regretting… all of my… life choices…” She commented, gasping for air between each word. Her hair was slightly singed at the ends, her chest was heaving, and she was pretty sure she was going to be suffering from tinnitus for a while.

K-9’s ball form wiggled out of her arms, Mr.Mystery having taken control for a moment. “What are you waiting for!? Hit him before he throws out more of those already!”

“Give me a second!” She hissed, trying to think of a way to coerce him into slamming his fist down again as she pushed herself to her feet. If Mr.Mystery wanted her to be "annoying", she’d roll with it. For now. He may have a point about how effective that strategy could be, considering how many times he's made her want to throttle him for his remarks. He was absolutely getting an earful later.

“HEY!” She exclaimed, making sure QA-1MIL’s eyes were focused on her as she got within range of his other fist. “Is that all you’ve got!? Even this dog has more bite than you!” She gestured to K-9 as she said this.

“What did I say about putting him in danger–” His owner started to complain, but before he could finish his sentence, QA-1MIL had already slammed his hand down in her general direction.

Mimosa quickly swung at it, ignoring any of Mr.Mystery’s comments. She quickly did the same thing she did with the other hand. Smash, stab, flip, and then slam it right into his face!

As he disappeared from view yet again to recover from the hit, she laughed and put her free hand on her hip. “Stop hitting yourself! Stop hitting yourself!” She chanted, her voice laced with mockery.

QA-1MIL came back up yet again, the other side of his face plate cracking and crumbling to dust. That’s when Mimosa’s eyes drifted back to his forehead. Across the top of it was that screen she saw, which now displayed a full message.

"Weak Point".

“Huh. Well that’s convenient. Should I trust that?”

“Why not? Probably better to aim for that than his fists.” Mr.Mystery commented, sounding just as unsure as she was.

“Right, but how to reach his face–”

“Grr…” Mimosa stepped back a bit as QA-1MIL growled in frustration.

The bot glanced down at his hand that had collided into his face, as electric sparks fizzled around it. He stiffly clenched his fingers into a fist, before letting out a roar of frustration.

“TIME…” He threw his fist out beside himself.

“TO GET…” He threw his other fist out.

“SERIOUS!”

And when, with one final battle-cry, the sparks on his body went crazy. It was almost like a bunch of fireworks were set off. It was so bright that it blinded Mimosa for a moment. 

The second the lights faded and her eyes could focus, all she could see were two giant fists coming at her all at once, now colored a menacing red rather than the orange she was getting used to. He slammed the platform, jostling it and sending her into the air. The impact left a burst of electricity exploding outwards, hitting her and throwing her back a few feet.

Left slightly frazzled by the sudden surge of electricity, she slid off the edge of the platform, only barely managing to dig the sharper end of her weapon into the base of it before she fell.

Now she was left dangling by her mic over… well, what she would describe as a black void. It was pitch black below her. She had no idea how high up she was, and while heights were no fear of hers, that was the least of her issues right now. She was left vulnerable.

She quickly tried to scramble back onto the platform, using her mic as leverage, but just as she pulled her upper body onto it, she saw QA-1MIL’s hand coming down at her.

It was a blur of red and gray, and she flinched, shutting her eyes to brace for impact.

CHOMP!

“YOWCH!”

Mimosa’s eyes shot open as she looked up. She gasped.

“K-9!”

Above her, K-9 was dangling from one of QA-1MIL’s massive fingers. Now out of his ball form, the wolf relentlessly chewed and dug his teeth into the metal with a few growls and grunts. His claws scratched at the metal around it, leaving a few scuffs and scrapes. It was nothing more than a paper cut to QA-1MIL, but it was just what she needed right now!

“DAMN MUTT!” Swinging his hand around, he finally managed to shake K-9 off, flinging the wolf into the air.

With a surge of energy, she pulled herself back up, ripped her weapon out of the 'ground' and ran, before leaping into the air and catching the wolf in her arms. K-9 looked up at her, happy to see she was okay, and proceeded to lick her face. She groaned in disgust. “Ack–hey! None of that!”

Setting the dog down on the ground, she gave him a brief pet, as both her and her temporary animal companion looked up at the beast in front of them. "Hey boy, what do you think about biting the crap out of a giant robot?"

K-9 barked excitedly.

“Any complaints about that, Mr. Mystery?”

She heard an annoyed sigh on the other end. “Fine. Have at it.”

"Then let's go!"

This time, it was an all new song-and-dance. QA-1MIL delivered more and more of the familiar: slamming his fists on the platform, sweeping at them in an attempt to knock them off, and throwing explosives onto the arena. Both her and K-9 dodged with ease, only having to keep on their toes regarding some excess electrical shockwaves. While K-9 had a ball biting and scratching at the bot whenever he could, Mimosa brainstormed how to reach his "Weak Point". It was too hard for her to reach by normal means, no matter how high she jumped. She just had to find a way to bring his head down a little lower…

Just as the two were getting comfortable, QA-1MIL lifted his arms up, fully extended outwards. In two swift motions, he moved back and forth across the platform, firing rapid, glowing lasers at the two. Mimosa yelped and leaped over them just barely, feeling one blast graze her leg and rip her tights. She fell over onto her face, knocked off-balance.

K-9, meanwhile, was small enough to duck and slide under the blasts. The pup ran over to her, seeing her grip her leg in slight pain, as Mr.Mystery finally took control again. 

"That was close! Don't let your guard down!"

"I didn't!"

"Whatever, just don't let that stop you from attacking!" He gestured to QA-1MIL, catching her attention. The giant bot's hands were both lying on the platform, palms facing up, with heavy amounts of steam radiating off of it. They had overheated.

"I've got an idea! K-9 takes the right hand, I'll take the left!" She exclaimed, without any further notice. 

"Woah, hey, we're not-- okay I guess we're doing this. " Mr.Mystery was in the middle of protesting, only for K-9 to take over and immediately run over to the right hand.

Both of them worked in sync, with Mimosa slashing and hacking at the left, while K-9 bit and clawed at the right. Wires were torn, metal was busted in, and before QA-1MIL could even blink, both of his fists were being thrown right back at him. The left definitely packed more of a punch than the right, but it was just enough to knock him senseless.

With a cry of anguish, QA-1MIL fell back from the hit, his back colliding into the wall. He then lurched forward, collapsing onto the platform. With his head brought down, now this was her chance!

In one last futile attempt to deal a blow to her, QA-1MIL saw her approaching and swung his hand across the ground in an attempt to grab her. Bringing his palm up to his face and opening his fist, he didn’t see her anywhere, looking around in confusion. Suddenly, a tuft of blonde hair popped up from behind his hand.

“Yoohoo!~ Hey there!~”

QA-1MIL’s eyes widened as he realized that she had just hitched a ride on the back of his hand, and before he could stop them, she and K-9 had jumped off of it, landing on his forehead. They were already hacking at the weak point, and his hands were too torn up to rip them off in time. Her mic scratched and scraped, and K-9’s claws scratched and dug as they went at the glass screen displaying those bold yellow letters, as if encouraging them to keep at it.

“Nice performance!” She exclaimed, reeling her mic above her head.

Electricity ran up her arms, curling around them like ribbons before building and building, collecting into her scrap-metal microphone.

“But I’ll pass on an encore!”

It felt like they were going in slow motion for a moment, nothing but the song ringing through her soul and the electricity rolling through her body. Then, all at once, the final blow was dealt. One of the sharper edges of the microphone broke the metal and glass, stabbing into it, while K-9’s claws followed suit.

Glass shards flew, metal was torn and shredded, and for a split second, Mimosa could’ve sworn her microphone didn’t look like just a bunch of metal anymore.

She didn’t have much time to think about that before QA-1MIL slumped over, the final blow having stopped him as his giant robotic frame went limp. His face collided into the platform, and as Mimosa and K-9 hopped off of his forehead, they felt the platform shift under their feet.

Both of them froze, too afraid to move as the platform let out a faint creaaaaaak noise. Mimosa had flashbacks from that giant cylindrical tank falling over earlier and held her breath.

A few seconds passed, and then… nothing happened. Both she and K-9 sighed with relief. Mimosa wiped the sweat off her forehead, and K-9 mimicked the motion. Mimosa slowly walked towards QA-1MIL’s face and grabbed her microphone, now trying to yank it out of his forehead.

Then, those familiar alarms were blaring yet again.

Looking at the screen across QA-1MIL’s forehead, both her and K-9 noticed a new message scrolling across it. It was hard to see at first, given the damage they did and her mic still lodged in it, but Mimosa could piece it together well enough.

‘SELF DESTRUCT IN-’

Mimosa was immediately up and running. Screw her microphone, she was getting out of here. Where was she running to when the platform was still this high up in the air? She had no idea. Hard to think about the long term when you’ve got–

5 seconds…

A few feet away, she suddenly screeched to a stop, looking around her. Crap, she forgot about K-9!

4…

She looked back to see K-9 still in front of QA-1MIL’s face, his ears and tail down in fear, backing away WAY TOO SLOWLY FOR HER LIKING–

3…

Was she really going to do this? Screw it, she didn’t have time to think. At least she’d be going out with a bang, worst case scenario.

2…

Dashing back over, she frantically scooped K-9 up into her arms and continued running for her god damn life to who-knows-where. She was basically stuck in a dead end right now, but she was running on too much adrenaline right now to worry about that.

1…

Go, go, go, she’s got to go as fast as she–

BOOOOM!

Screaming, she was launched forward by the blast, feeling herself get thrown into the air by it as she held onto K-9 with a death grip.

CRACK!

Her microphone, which had been launched from QA-1MIL’s forehead in the blast, had collided right into the screen labeled ‘DAYS WITHOUT DEFECTS’. It was back in its shrapnel state, one of the sharper edges piercing the screen, leaving a spider web of cracks across it.

The second it collided, the screen changed from an obscene line of numbers to nothing but zeroes.

Yelling as she was fell, Mimosa found herself instinctively grabbing onto the mic with her free hand, the other holding onto K-9. The momentum of her fall made her swing around and around for a moment, unintentionally using the microphone like a gymnastics bar, before slowly, she came to a stop, now dangling a few feet above the ground.

Suddenly, a large hunk of metal and concrete whizzed by them.

Holding K-9 tight with her free hand, both of them shut their eyes and braced for impact as metal and rubble rained down around them, kicking up dust and destroying parts of the floor and the building. And then… all at once, there was silence.

She opened her eyes, quickly checked the both of them for any major injuries, and… they were fine! She sighed with relief.

CRUNCH!

Late to the destruction party, a final piece of rubble hit the screen her mic was stabbed into, dislodging it. For a brief moment, she and K-9 hovered in the air. Mimosa looked up at her mic, seeing it wasn’t stuck in the wall anymore. She and K-9 then exchanged worried looks… before finally looking down.

And then they plummeted, flailing and screaming. Well, most of the screaming was from Mimosa. K-9 instead let out a howl of fear.

Mimosa landed with a heavy THUD, face-down on the floor. And then her mic came down right after, bonking her on the head, before clattering to the ground, the sound of a metal pipe clattering to the ground ringing throughout the room.

Then, just as she lifted her head up… K-9 fell onto the back of her head as well, the force of which slammed her face into the floor. How she didn’t have a broken nose at this rate astounded her. She groaned as the wolf climbed off of her.

“Seriously, K-9?” She asked, before her mind flashed back to that fight just now. She quickly went from annoyed to gleeful, scooping K-9 up in her arms and spinning him around. “K-9! You vicious guard dog! Oh, I’m so, so, so proud of you! You showed that bot who’s boss! Good boy, good boy!”

“Ahem.”

“Gah–!” She dropped K-9, startled by Mr.Mystery taking control. “Stop doing that! It freaks me out.”

“I'm surprised you're alive. You got messed up.” Mr.Mystery commented, looking right at her as he completely sidestepped the topic of conversation.

“You should see the other guy.” She responded, gesturing to the pile of singed rubble that used to be QA-1MIL with one hand as she smoothed down her hair with the other.

Mr.Mystery, now with control over K-9, started walking towards the rubble, gesturing to a hole in the floor that the rubble made. “Alright, follow me, before CNMN cuts you off again.”

Picking up her mic, Mimosa followed behind him as they approached the crater, to which K-9’s little wolf body jumped into the darkness with no hesitation. Mimosa, on the other hand, was VERY hesitant.

“Is there a set of stairs I can take, or maybe an elevator around here or…”

“Just shut up and get down here!”

Sighing, she did what he asked, jumping down into the hole. “Fine, fine, wait for me.”

The sound of robotic footsteps echoed around the QA Center, as CNMN strolled around the burnt and charred remains of QA-1MIL. A concerned, if not slightly fearful expression was being drawn on his face right now.

“Oh dear. This was not in my calculations.”

“CNMN!” The voice calling out to him startled CNMN, causing his hand to jolt downwards, scribbling an ugly line of sharpie on his face.

With a ‘vrr!’ noise, Peppermint appeared on a hologram behind him, looking absolutely pissed. CNMN, meanwhile, just casually, yet very stiffly, turned to face her.

“Greetings, Miss Peppermint!”

“Cut the crap, CNMN! What. The hell. Happened!?” She asked, gesturing to the destruction behind him.

“Good news! I was able to momentarily contain the defect! Just not for long. I was not anticipating her to take on QA-1MIL so well!”

“Can you not handle one defect??? ” She hissed, glaring at him. "At this rate, it might be time to replace you."

“May I perhaps get one more chance, Miss Peppermint?” He asked, his face switching to one of growing fear, a sweat droplet scribbled on the side of his face.

“Depends. How exactly are you going to do that when QA-1MIL is out of commission?”

CNMN noticed something in the distance. “I believe I have an idea!”

Slowly, CNMN approached one of the missile launchers that was previously attached to QA-1MIL’s back. It was scraped and worn down, and most of the ammunition was used, but CNMN didn’t hesitate to extend his scrawnier arm out and insert it into a slot near the back. There was a metal whirring sound before it glowed back to life.

“I am compatible! Do not worry, I will make great use of these parts and take care of the defect as soon as possible!”

Peppermint just sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose.

“You better. Or else."

Her hologram vanished.

Chapter Text

If it weren't so dark, Mimosa would be scribbling her will and testament on a sticky note right now, as the possibility of impending doom drew ever closer.

What kind of person leads another down a cold, dark corridor with promises of help and assistance? Mr. Mystery, apparently, and that unnerved her. Despite all that, she's, quite literally, blindly following after him, all because she has no other options. On one hand, she had guaranteed death. In the other was a potential death. Her choice was clear.

Turning a corner with her hand on the wall next to her, she saw K-9 scampering ahead, as Mr. Mystery’s voice accompanied her the whole time. “Come on, hurry it up already!”

“Well I’m sorry I’m lagging behind when I can barely see three feet in front of me!” She hissed. Her eyes were only just now adjusting to the darkness, but she kept her free arm out in front of her, using her mic like a walking stick as her eyes stayed trained on K-9’s orange lights. She barely avoided tripping over a piece of rubble blocking her path, cursing under her breath.

Finally, just when her eyes finished adjusting, they landed on what seemed to be a door at the end of the corridor. It was a heavy-looking metal one, positioned in the center of a brick wall. Just as she wondered if this was really the place, she noticed K-9 tense up, barking and pointing right at it. And then, to seal the deal, the wolf ducked into what looked like a doggy door at the bottom. Huh. Cute. At least Mr. Mystery made accommodations for the little guy.

Taking in a deep breath, she gripped her mic in one hand and twisted the circular latch with the other. Pushing the metal door open, leading with her shoulder pressing her weight into it, she peered in through the thin gap.

Creaaaaak…

The room on the other side was even darker than the hallway she just walked through. She took her time opening the door, squinting as she looked for any signs of life. It was pitch black, the only thing of notice being the faint smell of coffee and the cold, concrete floors below her.

“Hello? Anyone in here? Mr. Mystery?” She called out, taking slow, steady steps into the room, her mic stretched outwards and sweeping back and forth. Try as they want, she wouldn’t let anyone sneak up on her! Not when she was the Queen of Spin–!!!

Click!

Fwoosh!

Mimosa screamed as she felt her feet sweep out from under her! Her mic slipped out of her hands and clattered to the floor as she flipped ass over teakettle, ensnared in a trap. She was suddenly faced with a bright spotlight shining down on her, most likely from above her, but she couldn’t tell where it was she was hanging in such an awkward pose. She would’ve appreciated such an entrance if it didn’t feel like the room was spinning right now!

Feeling rope pressing around her on all sides, she slowly swung to a stop and realized she was caught in a rope net, dangling from the ceiling. She was hanging somewhat upside down, with one leg stuck and tangled up through a gap in the net, and her arm bent at a weird angle behind her. She squirmed around and managed to awkwardly flip her body, finally laying eyes on the floor below her. She gasped as she noticed her mic on the ground, and immediately stuck a hand through one of the holes and grabbed for it.

Click. Click. Thunk!

Her hand jolted back as a foot suddenly stomped down onto her makeshift mic. Her eyes drifted up from his shoes to a pair of dark black pants, then a belt with a gold buckle, then a red-lined trench coat concealing a turtleneck, and finally… a face. Before her stood a man with tan skin and slicked-back, beige-blonde hair with a big strand standing out at the front, accompanied with a sharp chin and piercing, green eyes. One of his gloved hands held some sort of device, black in color with a red trim and sharp near one end, but still very small in size.

That quickly became the least of her worries as the man in front of her leaned down and traced his finger over the metal of her weapon.

“You really made this out of a squeegee?”

“Don’t touch that! Listen, I wouldn’t exactly say made, I just–...wait a second.” She squinted at the man, recognizing his smooth voice.

Suddenly, K-9 hopped out of the darkness, yipping and rushing to the man’s side. The wolf pup hopped up on his bent leg, and he just smiled and ruffled K-9’s fur with his free hand. Suddenly, all the pieces clicked together.

“You!” She pointed at him. “You're Mr. Mystery!”

“Oh for the love of–!!!” He took in a sharp inhale and stood back up, lifting his foot off of her weapon. “Stop. Calling. Me. That. My name is Kale.”

“Kale?” She paused for a moment. “...I like Mr. Mystery better. Had a better ring to it.”

Almost immediately, something extended from the device in Kale’s other hand. It was sharp, glowing, and hot like fire. A laser blade.

A beat passed between them. She felt a bead of sweat roll down her neck.

“...You know what? Under careful consideration, I’ve decided that Kale is a wonderful name-by the way your hair looks stunning today, has anyone ever told you that?” Without her microphone, she only had flattery to save her.

Despite her attempts to calm down the situation, Kale effortlessly lifted the blade up and swung it in her direction. She screwed her eyes shut, preparing to be sliced in half…

Swish!

Thud!

She felt the wind get knocked out of her yet again as the sword sliced through the ropes above her, sending her to the ground, tangled up in the remains of the net.

“That was for trying to steal my dog.”

Mimosa groaned, trying to untangle herself from the rope surrounding her. “Is he really your dog if the KUT-WANs belong to Vandelay?” She snidely commented, smiling with glee when she saw his eyes narrow.

“It’s not the same thing.”

“Right, right, suuure it isn't.” Just as she was almost finished throwing the excess rope off of her, K-9 dashed over, tackling her! Licking her face, he ended up sending her back down into the rope pile, much to her dismay. She let out a small noise of disgust and pushed the dog away with one hand, smoothing her hand up to the top of his robotic head and ruffling his fur. She couldn’t stay mad at the poor pup for long, as gross as he was sometimes.

“Well, in my humble defense, it seems he’s taken a liking to me.” She gave Kale a smug look as the wolf nuzzled his head into her hand. Kale just scoffed and rolled his eyes.

“Just get up already, we’ve got a lot to discuss.” He ordered, picking up her mic with his free hand.

As Mimosa slowly stood up and shook off the last of the rope wrapped around her leg, Kale flicked on the rest of the lights, illuminating the rest of the room.

It resembled just about all the run-down hallways she had seen up until this point, just more… put together. It was largely barren, except for a couple pieces of furniture, such as some boxes in one corner, a full-length mirror in another, and two whole couches: one in a corner and one in the very center of the room. Her eyes drifted to the one in the center, noticing that it was a rather ornate looking dark-red loveseat, surrounded by neatly stacked piles of books and papers arranged on the floor and the wooden coffee table in front of it. It looked rather cozy, if she ignored the scrapes on the wooden legs and the scratch marks made into the cushions.

Her eyes followed Kale as he walked to one particular corner of the room, covered wall to wall in different screens of various sizes, all displayed in front of a fancy looking desk with blueprints scattered across it. He plopped down on a fancy looking black swivel chair, doing a brief 360 spin before turning back to look at her, gesturing her forward.

Dusting herself off and walking up to Kale, Mimosa crossed her arms and cocked her hip. “Ahem.”

“What?”

“My weapon?” She asked, holding her palm out expectantly.

Her mic sat on the desk Kale was sitting at, and she was hoping to get it back now. Much to her surprise, Kale just shook his head. “I’ll give it back in a moment, after we get down to business.”

“You little…” She took in a deep breath and sighed. Might as well get this discussion over and done with. “Okay, you said something about a mission earlier? In exchange for getting me out of here? What's that all about?

“Okay, I’ll cut to the chase.” He said, retracting his laser sword and tucking it away. “I’ll get you out of here in one piece, if you help me with SPECTRA.”

“Not interested.”

“What the–why!?”

“Because I have no idea what that even is? Why else do you think?”

“Well of course you wouldn’t. Almost no one knows about it. This is whistleblower level stuff.” 

Mimosa almost immediately leaned forward, raising a brow. “You have my attention.”

“Look, Vandelay is up to something that they’re sweeping under the rug, and SPECTRA is the key to that. I’m looking to get more information on it. That’s where you, and those bizarre powers of yours, come in.” He said, pointing a finger right at her chest, where her music player was. “If you help me get information on SPECTRA, I’ll help you get off of Vandelay Island. Do we have a deal?”

She looked at him skeptically, not yet convinced. “What’s the catch?”

“No catch, I swear.” He said, holding his hands up defensively.

“And what’s to stop me from doing a 180 and finding my own way out of here?” She asked, jabbing a thumb in the direction of the door.

“You’ll most likely be dead meat, to say the least.” He certainly didn't sugarcoat things. “Need I remind you that I was the one who helped get you out of there?”

“Well, technically…” She looked down at K-9, sitting obediently between the two of them. She scooped him up in her arms and nodded her head in his direction. “K-9 here is the one who really helped me.”

“My point still stands! If you were all on your own, you’d be toast. Not to mention, I know the layout of this place significantly better than you. This campus is nothing but hallways and dead ends. You can’t walk five feet without security charging at you. Trust me… I’ve tried.”

Mimosa thought for a small moment, avoiding eye contact with Kale as she considered the offer. As much as she hated to admit it, he was right. She would be a sitting duck without his and K-9's assistance. Not to mention, SPECTRA certainly caught her attention. Exposing Vandelay Technologies’ deepest, darkest secrets would most certainly be a good way to get back at them for the hell they just put her through.

Not to mention, from what Kale just told her… it sounded like he needed her just as much as she needed him right now. It made her feel powerful, in a way. Important. Needed.

Adjusting her hold on K-9, she extended a free hand out for a handshake. Kale did the same, and the two shook hands. His hand felt heavy compared to her own soft, smooth one, both of their grips firm. She felt sure about this. “Fine, I suppose you’ve got yourself a deal. Only because K-9 is a stellar negotiator.”

K-9 let out a happy little bark, and Kale just rolled his eyes, pulling his hand away.

“And you said you weren’t a dog person…”

“I’m warming up to the idea.” She said, putting K-9 back down on the ground.

“I need to get some things in order before we begin our plans, one of those being your… "microphone".” He groaned. “Go sit down and get comfortable. And don’t make a mess of things!” He ordered, gesturing to the fancy looking loveseat.

Nodding, Mimosa walked over to the couch and took a seat, crossing one of her legs over the other. Despite the concerning quality of the cushions, it was surprisingly soft and cozy. She sighed with relief as she sunk into the warm couch. As K-9 hopped up onto the couch and curled up next to her, she couldn’t help but feel… safe.

She brought her hand down to the dog beside her and ran her fingers through his fur. How could a robot wolf be so soft and yet so firm at the same time?

“Hey.” She quietly whispered, looking down at K-9. The wolf perked his ears up and looked up at her. “Thanks for having my back with that giant hunk of junk. You're a good boy.”

K-9 smiled and licked her face again. “Gah–stop it! Augh, you’re so lucky you’re cute… and that you, well, saved my life and all.”

“How did you even extend this thing!?” Kale exclaimed, looking all over her mic as he fiddled with it.

“Oh, I just pressed a–”

Poof!

Just then, Kale hit a button and retracted the squeegee, causing a rain of shrapnel, scrap metal and bolts to fly everywhere. Mimosa and K-9 hugged each other and ducked as a piece of shrapnel whizzed over their heads, embedding itself into the cushion behind her.

A few beats passed.

"...Button..." She said, breaking the silence and finishing her sentence.

Kale held the metal bar that was once a scrap-metal mic as far away from his face as possible. “Yeah, nevermind, I’m not touching that death trap again. You take it. If it gets the job done, it gets the job done.” Quickly relenting, he tossed the weapon back at her. She barely caught it and held it protectively, looking down at it with surprise. She was still reeling over the fact that this tiny little metal bar could turn into such a useful weapon for her.

"Great. Glad we can come to an agreement." Tracing her hands over the bar, she raised a brow as K-9 yanked the piece shrapnel that almost hit them out of the couch.

Kale, seeing this, tensed up. “K-9. Drop it.”

K-9 took off immediately.

“K-9 GET BACK HERE, DROP IT–!!!” Kale chased after the pup, practically running circles around the room as he tried to snatch the dangerous piece of metal away from his pet. She took in a deep breath and carefully slumped against the couch. She couldn't help but laugh under her breath at the sight.

This was nice. Strange, and loud, but... nice.

“Mission Briefing!”

“Ow!" Mimosa cut off Kale, feeling a small pinch near her spine. Kale was sitting behind her, fiddling with her spinal implant as he went over the mission plan. He had insisted that, to save time, he could examine her cybernetics and what they had to offer while giving her the mission briefing at the same time. Turns out multitasking isn’t exactly his strong suit. He wasn’t exactly the smoothest about it, occasionally nicking her with a tool in one hand, while flipping through the pages of a book with the other. She was thankful her dress was backless, as it made this whole process easier and a lot less awkward.

She watched him close the book and set it aside, catching a glance at the book cover. It read "ADVANCED CYBERNETICS 101". She frowned, sweating a little. This felt like the equivalent of being put under for surgery, only to see your doctor turn on a video tutorial nearby…

“Quit whining, I barely touched you. As I was saying…” He pointed down at the table in front of the couch with one hand, which had a few sketches scribbled on some scattered pieces of paper. The other hand gripped a tool, which he brought towards her back. “SPECTRA is apparently a top secret project. Only the higher ups in the company know about it.”

“And as I was saying, I know nothing about it. What’s got you so interested in it anyways?”

“Let’s just say someone who knows more about this stuff let me know a few things. From what’s been implied, it’s nothing good.”

“Okay, okay, you’ve caught my interest again. Continue.”

“The plan here is simple. With my knowledge of the layout of this place, combined with your powers, we take advantage of the most vulnerable Department Head and break into his office.” He gestured to one of the papers, depicting a crude drawing of a familiar white robot, accompanied with angry eyebrows and surrounded by red arrows. His name was scribbled underneath it. “CNMN. After what happened at the QA Center, he’ll be too busy cleaning things up to see us coming.”

“Wonderful art piece, Kale.” She said dryly, staring down at the sketch. If she squinted, she could see that one of the smaller doodles in the corner of a page featured a pair of sparkling anime eyes drawn on CNMN's face.

“Wonderful insight, little miss art critic. What, did you want cross-hatching?”

“Hey now, your art skills aren't half bad. I’m just saying, a little bit more presentation would’ve been appreciated. Anyways, anything I should know about CNMN? Like… What does CNMN even stand for? What does he do?”

“From what I’ve heard, he’s a psyche AI, meant to analyze creations sent in from R&D that get approved for the production line. He’s a Consciousness Review Allocation Personnel. Hence, CNMN.”

Mimosa paused and mentally mapped out that abbreviation. “Wait, no, that doesn’t… actually, doesn't it–?”

“Anyways,” He continued, disregarding her realization. “We sneak into his office, steal as much info on SPECTRA as we can before he notices, and get out.”

“You say that, but this is starting to sound needlessly complicated. Is it really just an in-and-out mission?”

“Just trust me on this. It really IS that simple.”

“If it’s really that simple, need I ask why you feel the need to prod at my spine right now?” She asked, gesturing to the screwdriver he was using on her implant at the moment, screwing a few panels shut.

“I’m not prodding, I’m upgrading. I’m syncing your implant up to K-9. I’m setting up a few things still, but they might help out there.” Finally putting in one last screw, he gave her implant a little pat with his hand. “Done! No more questions, no more concerns… for now. You’re good to go. Good luck.”

Standing up and stretching her spine out, feeling surprisingly refreshed, she raised a brow. “You’re not coming?”

“I’ll be there in spirit.”

“Whatever. I didn’t need someone holding me back anyways.”

“Are you implying--!?" He cut himself off and groaned. "Just don’t mess this up.”

“I won't, I won't.” She said, before opening the big metal door with a creak. "I've got this."

"Can’t believe you got a drink out of that thing."

"If you hit the machine juuuuust right, it won't eat your credits! Take it from a master like me!"

Two worker bots were making their way down a concrete path, walking back towards the Production facility with vending machine drinks in hand. It was their one break a month, and they preferred to use it as an excuse to stretch their legs out, chat and get a few drinks. Not much they could do in a 15 minute interval, but they made the most of it.

Suddenly, a rumble caught their attention and they stopped. Just as they approached a manhole in the center of the path, it started shaking. Both of them raised a brow, tilting their heads.

BLAM!

The manhole shot into the air as Mimosa and K-9 launched out of it full force. They posed in mid-air, with Mimosa blowing a kiss to all you readers, and K-9 throwing his stubby lil arms in the air, literally jumping for joy! 

Mimosa landed gracefully on her feet, with K-9 landing beside her. Both were posed the exact same way, arms out, ready to fight.

The bots stared at her. She stared back. A beat passed as she realized she had just been spotted jumping out of a gross manhole.

Clicking a button and extending her squeegee out, a flood of shrapnel and metal shot towards it, forming the iconic mic look in a matter of seconds.

"No witnesses." 

The two bots dropped their drinks, screamed and ran off down the path, quickly pursued by Mimosa, swinging her mic with reckless abandon.

Now Playing: She's a Riot by The Jungle Giants

If you stick with me,
Then you won't ever be so lonely!
She's well-known to police,
'Cause she looks like a riot!
Always takes what she needs and leaves the rest behind!
Oh, this love would kill me,
But I don't think I'd mind.
Blame it on the way,
We don't even care,
We know we'll be alright!

Promptly turning those two bots into scrap metal, she dusted her hands off with a satisfied smile. Kale, meanwhile, looked at her skeptically through K-9.

“When I said “keep a low profile”, that didn’t necessarily mean “no witnesses”.”

“Trust me, it was necessary.” She said, slinging her weapon over her shoulder. There was no way she was letting her reputation get damaged like that. “Moving on…”

She looked around the area, raising a brow. “So which way is CNMN’s office?”

“Up there.” Gesturing with a paw, Kale pointed up to a big building hovering above them. It was sleek and white, with big clear windows and occasional splashes and stripes of blue and yellow, to add some flavor and evade the inevitable blandness of standard white monotony found in most office buildings. The most striking piece was what seemed to be a giant replica of CNMN’s little ear head accessory, what looked like an orange-and-blue electronic feather in her eyes, plastered against the side of the building. It was like a big old blue goal flag to her, calling for her to go to it.

“Pretty high up…”

“The only way in is through the main production building. I’ll be your map.” Swiftly, K-9 hopped up on her back, almost knocking her over, before leaping into the air and reverting back to his ball form. “Now let’s get going!”

“Alright. Let's go break into an office.”

She was already on her way there, and fast. Dashing down the path and past several posters depicting CNMN giving some rather outrageous work advice, as well as several pipes and other devices rhythmically pumping out puffs of steam, she quickly slid past a gate labeled “GATE B”.

Strutting down the hallway and turning a corner, another door opened, revealing a circular room. The center of the room held two statues, both of which were familiar, one more than the other. Mimosa briefly stopped to admire them, because admittedly, the artwork was impeccable in its quality.

On the left was Peppermint in all her glory, sporting her usual look, with one hand on her hip and the other raised up into a determined fist. But she couldn’t care less about her details, and not just because of her gaudy look. Instead, she was focused on the other figure.

The second statue was one she had seen in the advertising, but her name escaped Mimosa at this moment. She was taller than Peppermint, and much older, with shoulder-length straight hair. She had on big shoulder pads and a long, flowing dress on, one end of the skirt longer than the other, and a nice pair of heels. Resting on her collar bone was a small device, most likely a cybernetic implant of some sort. She was peering through a pair of glasses at a clipboard in one hand, holding a pen in the other. Despite lacking in color, displayed in a shining silvering display, it still caught her eye for a good, long moment.

“Oh hey, I didn’t know they made a statue of Peppermint! And… what’s her name… it’s right on the tip of my tongue…”

“Roxanne Vandelay?” Kale piped up, sounding annoyed.

Mimosa snapped her finger. “That’s it! I am not good with names lately. My, my, this statue is pretty good quality. Here, let me read the plaque…”

Kale groaned. “Forget it, let's just... move on. I doubt you’re here for a history lesson, especially since you forgot her name of all things.”

“Hey, I’m not diminishing her efforts, alright!? In fact, I admire her in a way. Both in terms of her contributions, and her looks! She's stunning.”

She paused and glanced at Peppermint’s statue. “...And Peppermint sure is… there.”

She heard Kale snort with laughter next to her, and she smiled, glancing at him. “I’m not wrong, am I?”

Kale nodded through K-9. “No, no, you’re not. Her hair looks like a mop…”

“I know, right? She could take some lessons from you.”

“Yeah, hard pass.” Kale paused for a beat, before looking at her in surprise. “Wait, you think my hair looks nice?”

“Yes, I do. I have a lot of…” She fumbled with her hands. “Issues with your leadership style, but you can hold yourself together well.”

“Oh, uh… thank you?” Kale quickly snapped out of it, regaining focus. “Ah, crap, what’re we doing??? Get moving before you get caught! We can’t hang around in one room for too long!”

"Hey, at least let me stick around long enough to read about her!"

"All you need to know is that she built the company from the ground up, okay? She went from a humble startup to a big inspiration. Let's go. We're done here."

Mimosa rolled her eyes and kept walking, strolling down the hallways leisurely. “Lighten up, Kale. We weren’t even in there for that long. I doubt CNMN even knows we’re here–”

She finished saying this as she ducked under a shutter blocking a doorway, only to see red lights flashing and sirens blaring. Looking down the hallway she was approaching, littered with a variety of different screens hanging from the rafters and plastered on the walls, she saw all of them flicker on in unison, displaying CNMN in clear view, from the shoulders up. He had a little red vein symbol drawn on his temple, along with some angry eyebrows.

“Attention to all Production Workers! This is CNMN, here to make another unfortunate announcement.”

Mimosa tried to ignore Kale glaring at her as she listened to the announcement.

“The defect known as Mimosa, the one responsible for the destruction of QA-1MIL, has been spotted in my building. She was seen heading away from the statue of Miss Peppermint and her mother in the GATE B sector. To make the search for her easier for you all, I have provided an image of her. I was unable to locate a photo, as a lot of the security cameras were destroyed, so here is a preliminary sketch I made before my hands became, quite literally, tied. Do not worry, audience, for this is not an AI generated image. I have standards.”

A poorly drawn sketch of her popped up on the screen, done in big, bold marker. It was done in a sketchy, chibi style, with a big head and a little body. CNMN continued to speak in the background as Mimosa’s jaw dropped.

“Mr. Chai told me that my art skills have improved! If you see her, please stop her swiftly and immediately. It seems this order flew over your heads last time, so I repeat. Swiftly. And.  Immediately. 1-HIT K.O.s are encouraged to make sure the removal of the defect is as humane as possible. Thank you! Have a wonderful day at Vandelay Campus!”

Mimosa gasped and approached the screen, showing her poorly drawn sketch. She gripped the sides of the screen in a white-knuckle grip and shook it around. “Oh no, no, no, this is terrible!”

“I know! There goes our low profile…” Kale complained.

“No, that’s not it!” She exclaimed, before grabbing K-9’s ball form and directing it at the sketch. “He didn’t get my hair right!” True to her description, the sketch featured a massive head of blonde hair on her head, almost comically large, even for the chibi proportions.

Kale’s eyes narrowed through K-9, squirming out of her grip. “That’s not our biggest issue here.”

“Easy for you to say!” She said, gesturing to the sketch of K-9’s ball form floating next to her in the image. “He drew K-9 pretty accurately! Besides, your hair, as great as it is, looks easy to draw. I’d rather take a portrait from you over this.”

Suddenly, K-9 took control and barked behind them, his little fuzzy ears perking up. Mimosa turned in that direction, noticing a faint noise growing steadily louder. Heavy footsteps started thundering closer and closer, echoing off the walls in a steady rhythm. She gripped her mic tight, ready to take them on.

Then the door opened to reveal WAY MORE than a handful of bots. There were at least a couple dozen of them. She immediately started running in the opposite direction. Thankfully, Kale didn’t chastise her on taking the coward’s way out.

“Go, go, go!” Kale exclaimed, glancing over her shoulder as the group of bots ran after her. She could hear them closing in.

Dashing into a room stacked to the ceiling with crates and boxes of all kinds, she noticed a set of arrows pointed upwards. Her eyes followed the arrows to an open vent shaft. Huh, that was convenient. She almost immediately started to climb the boxes, only to almost trip on something at her feet.

“What the–!?” She looked down to see one of those cute, familiar round bots near the bottom of the crates, trying desperately to pick up a handful of smaller boxes.

“Why do they give me such unrealistic goals??? They want me to lift the big boxes, with these tiny hands!” The bot whined. “My job is on the line!”

“She’s this way!”

Mimosa tensed up as the sound of footsteps grew louder and louder. Glancing back down at the bot next to her, an idea hit her.

Scooping up the tiny bot, she earned a nervous whimper from him as he flapped his noodly little arms about.

“Wh-What are you–!?”

“Your job is on the line? Yeah, well, my life is too!” With that, reeled him back and rolled him across the ground on his side, treating him like a bowling ball. The bot screamed before knocking over the bots coming her way. They all collapsed, falling onto each other like dominoes, with the round bot sitting in the middle of the metal pile, stars and birds floating around his dizzy head. That’d surely hold them off long enough.

“Strike!” She pridefully exclaimed before clambering up the crates. She slid into the vent, as uninviting as it looked, forcing it shut behind her just as the bots ran into the room. Running through the surprisingly spacious vents, she turned to Kale, who seemed uncaring about how she used a bot as a bowling ball. Oh well, the silence was music to her ears. It helped her heart steady.

“Alright, let’s hope things are a bit quieter on the other end of this…” She said, hitting a button on the vent wall, before dropping through a vent cover underneath her.

It almost felt like her music player shot out of her chest as the ground rumbled beneath her all at once, the transition from 0 to 100 startling her. On the other side of the vent was a space filled with heavy machinery and moving parts, all working to the beat at the same time. It was almost amazing, seeing how efficient everything was and how steadily it all moved to the satisfying beat of her heart. But it was also… very intense, hitting her all at once. Her eyes were quickly drawn to the giant red machine in the center, surrounded by platforms, with so many different rotating arms and mechanisms carrying things and putting things together. She was focused on it so long that she barely registered Kale speaking up next to her.

“Mimosa? Mimosa!” He snapped, finally getting her attention.

“Wha–? Oh, my bad, I was just… overwhelmed.” She said, continuing to walk along the platforms in front of her. She carefully watched her step to avoid getting her heels stuck in the gaps in the flooring, struggling with her focus due to all the sights, sounds, smells and steam catching her attention.

Hopping and jumping over some floating platforms, she screeched to a stop before a very massive gap. The other side was a good few yards away from her. Just a bit too far.

“Not going to make that on my own...Kale? Do you have any ideas?”

“Give me a moment…” Kale mumbled. She could hear a few things being fiddled with off-camera back at the hideout.

After a solid 10 seconds of silence, she tapped her foot and looked down at an imaginary wrist-watch. “I don’t have all day, Kale. Are we going to have to find a back route?”

“Just give me a damn moment-here we go! There might be something on your squeegee that can get you across.”

“Microphone.” She corrected him.

“Yeah, sure, whatever.” K-9 popped out of his ball form for a moment as Kale took over, pointing his paw at a particular part of that squeegee. “You see this wire that wraps around it? It might be long enough for you to swing across with.”

Mimosa shrugged. “Like a grappling hook?” She paused and grabbed the wire, examining it real quick. Looking closer at it, it seemed to be made of resilient material. “Okay, it seems decently sturdy. I’ll give it a shot.”

Unwrapping the wire, with one end of it still firmly tied around her mic, she threw the other end of the wire as high up as she could. Almost as if it were drawn to the scaffolding above her, it hooked on. She gave it an experimental yank to make sure it would hold, pulling it taut. “Okay, here goes nothing…”

She glanced back at K-9, who had taken control again, the pup looking at her curiously. He was just chilling in his regular wolf form, hanging onto her shoulders. “Hang on tight, boy.” She said, earning an affirming yip from him.

Backing up as far as she could go, Mimosa ran, leaping off the edge of the platform.

She felt her hair and her clothes blow back as she swung through the air, gripping onto her mic for her life. It felt almost euphoric, freeing, even, as though she were flying! She was never one for stunt work, always believing that it looked like too much labor to be enticing, but this might just be the thing to change her mind! And then, all at once, it was done. She landed safely on the other side with a steady step.

“...I could get used to that.” That was… oddly fun. Yanking the wire back down and watching it effortlessly spin back around the squeegee handle into its previous position, she continued on as K-9 hopped back into his ball form.

Running deeper into the facility, the lights around her started to dim once again, instead replaced with the glow of neon, flashing arrows surrounding her, telling her where to go. She was grateful for the flashing guides, as well as the volume dimming down to a solid level. Not too loud, not too quiet.

Much to her annoyance, the concrete flooring beneath her soon transitioned into collections of metal pipes intercepted by smaller platforms. She briefly paused as she landed on one particular large pipe running from one wall to the other, looking down at it. It was see-through, and she saw a handful of identical-looking bots she was quite familiar with being shot through it to the beat of her music player. She took a moment to look over their features, such as their prominent metal jaws, as a question began to creep up on her in her mind.

“What is it? Why did you stop???” Kale cut in.

“Just curious… but all these bots are identical, right? The same type?” She kept walking, now strutting at a more steady pace as she counted off on her fingers. “Like, there’s those little vacuum bots…”

“SC-RUB bots.”

“And those little round ones...”

“CAR-11E bots.”

“And we’ve got the KUT-WANS…” She gestured to K-9, giving him a scritch on the head.

“Get to the point already.”

“It’s just… I haven’t seen any bots that look like CNMN.”

“Of course you haven’t. CNMN is a one of a kind robot, literally made for this job by the Head of R&D. They couldn’t just throw in any old bot to replace the previous Head of Production.”

Mimosa paused, steadying herself on some other pipes as she readied her wire to swing to a platform further up.

“Why’d they get rid of the previous one?” She asked, just as the wire hooked around some higher metal supports above her.

“From what I’ve heard? Anger issues.”

“That’s it?”

“I don’t know everything that goes on around here, Mimosa! That’s all I’ve got for a response.”

She scoffed and jumped, swinging over to the next platform. She landed firmly and then yanked her wire back, watching it swing back into place. “Well, I was hoping my one and only guide would be a bit more reliable here!”

“And I was hoping that my temporary team member would listen to me! Speaking of which, don’t–”

Mimosa took a step, and then the lights around her started flashing red again, accompanied by the familiar drone of the alarms. She was getting used to the noise, and she hated that fact.

“...step forward.” Kale finished. Mimosa turned to him with a fake smile.

“Gee, thank you for the heads up, Kale. I truly appreciate your assistance and all you contribute to this mission.”

“Cut it with the sarcasm-!!!”

Just then, the intercom crackled to life, with CNMN’s voice coming from it.

“Greetings! CNMN here with a more fortunate announcement! The defect known as Mimosa has been spotted on the main floor! Get to her immediately! Thank you, have a wonderful day at Vandelay Campus.”

As if on cue, a bunch of bots shot up from trap doors in the floor, blocking her way. Not nearly as many as she ran from earlier, just two standard bots, and one of those big blue ones with claw-like hands.

All three of them rushed at her, and she was barely able to dodge all of their swings, getting nicked a little on the arm as she ran to the other side of the platform to catch her breath. “News catches on fast…” She groaned, reeling her mic back and getting ready to attack.

“Wait, Mimosa! I’ve got an idea!” Kale commented, interrupting her.

“That being…?”

“Use the wire! Bring them straight to you! And catch them off guard while you're at it!”

Mimosa looked down at her weapon and shrugged. “Well, here goes nothing…”

Grabbing the end of the wire, she swung it around almost like a lasso before throwing it at one of the smaller bots that was coming at her. She aimed for the torso of the bot, but instead it wrapped around his leg. Oh well, she could work with that.

With a YANK, the bot screamed in panic as she pulled it along, before remembering her self-imposed title, a light bulb flashing over her head.

The Queen of Spin.

She started to spin around and around, generating momentum as the wire tied around the bot’s leg hoisted him into the air! She spun him around and around, before using his metal body to crash into the other two!

The other scrawny bot ended up flying off farther, screaming into the distance. The blue bot, being a bit more sturdy, stumbled, swinging his arms around in a desperate attempt to steady himself. He was right on the edge of the platform, hanging over the edge of oblivion inter-spaced with pipes. Mimosa just smiled and approached, looking him in the eye before gently poking his chest, which was just the force she needed to send him careening over it and down below.

"Byeee~"

Fwish!

The familiar flipping sounds of a trap door behind opened sounded behind her. She turned to see a bot she hadn't seen before, with thin limbs but a larger build, all a deeper orange color. In his hand held a weapon that reminded her of a wrench, very blunt with glowing blue, sharp edges. The bot jabbed that weapon in her direction.

"Out of my way! She's mine..."

"Glad to know they sent my #1 fan apparently-AAAH!" She barely ducked out of the way as the bot swung at her, missing her by an inch. She tried to scramble away before feeling the weapon in his hand strike her back, sending her sprawling out on the ground. Wonderful. If that was meant to take her out in one go like CNMN said, this bot was doing a poor job of things. She winced and tried to get back up.

This was just great... this guy might be a pain in the ass to deal with on her own.

…Wait! She wasn’t alone!

“K-9!”

With a simple call, K-9 popped out of his ball form, looking up at her with a happy, dopey smile. Mimosa immediately knelt down and tied the end of the wire around his collar. "Look, I've got  a plan. Think you can be a good boy and listen to me?"

K-9 nodded.

"Good. Now then..." She pointed at the ground. “Sit.”

The wolf obediently sat down and even gave her a little nod.

“Good. Now stay!” With that cry, Mimosa, holding her mic tied to the other end of the wire, zipped straight towards the newer bot. She ducked around him confidently this time, quite literally running circles around him over and over as he swung and tried to jump at her, grunting in frustration. She got nicked or grazed a few times, but ended up largely untouched as she screeched to a stop beside K-9.

“Now pull!”

With that, both her and K-9 yanked HARD on the wire in different directions, tightening it around the bot and sweeping his legs out from under them. The remaining bot floundered about, desperately trying to get his bearings. By the time he managed to push himself up at least into a sitting position, he gasped as both she and K-9 leapt at him and went to town. Metal was pierced, screws and bolts were flying, it was brutal but quick. By the end, the two stepped back to avoid an explosion, leaving the bot on the floor as nothing more than a pile of scrap metal.

Mimosa smiled and knelt down, petting K-9 on his head. “Good boy.”

“Alright, let’s get out of here–”

She fell backwards as Kale took control again. “Gah! Grr...Stop doing that!”

“Get used to it.” Kale snapped, glaring at her. “Alright, come on. I found a back route while you were taking care of those bots. Follow me.”

With that, K-9 hopped away towards an opening in the wall a bit further away. Mimosa followed, and with a few leaps up a handful of floating platforms, she was running along to her next destination.

Goodness, when this was all over, she never wanted to see another robot ever again. Excluding K-9, maybe.

“Oh! Hello there! I can feel a very special attraction between you and I!”

Speaking of which... Mimosa sighed and slowed to a stop as she turned to Smidge, who floated in the corner. “Hello… Smidge.” She put her hand on her hip. “What is it?”

“I wanted to tell you about your wire! It has so many uses! Not only does it get you where you need to go, but it also works wonders for closing in on long-distance enemies! How amazing!”

“I know, right? And to think I’m getting all these uses out of a squeegee of all things… wait, how did you know about my wire? Seriously, how do you know all of this?”

“I know everything about you.”

A beat passed. Mimosa gulped. When she dreamt of everyone having their eyes on her, she didn’t mean it like that.

“I’m… going to go now. Thank you for the… wonderful tips.”

"Oh, wait! Here, have a nice refreshing beverage!" He tossed her a drink.

"...Thanks." She said, before speeding along, urging K-9 to keep walking.

“I’m looking forward to our next chat!”  Smidge said, waving goodbye to her. She certainly didn't share the same sentiment.

A few feet further, she ended up having to swing up several different pieces of scaffolding in a row, dangling over the endless oblivion below her. She did so flawlessly(if you ignore the five seconds where she almost plummeted), and a few seconds later, she successfully landed on solid ground.

Walking a few feet forward, she saw another air vent she’d have to hop through. She groaned. She wasn’t anticipating going through such a workout when she came to Vandelay Island.

“Is this really your best back route, Kale???” She asked, huffing and puffing as she followed K-9.

“Maybe it is, maybe it isn’t. Either way, it’s better than wandering aimlessly.”

She mumbled under her breath, repeating her earlier comment on his unreliability as she kept running, swinging over another VERY wide gap. Landing on the other side, the momentum of the swing slid her forward until she stopped right in front of a small screen.

Just as she came to a stop, the screen lit up. She flinched, instinctively thinking it was CNMN, having found her again, only to see a small, chibi version of Kale’s face on it.

“Still think I’m unreliable?”

“Oh? What’s this all about?” She asked, scanning her eyes over the screen in front of her, as well as the many buttons scattered across the control panel attached to it.

“I found a way to hack these different terminals I’ve seen across campus. Thought they could be used for a little help, like a recharging station.”

“Oh! How neat! So, what can it do?”

“Uh…” Kale trailed off for a moment. “Nothing at the moment, but–!”

“You’re useless.”

“Hey, I have you know that I’m working on some VERY IMPORTANT things right now!”

She sighed and sat down near the terminal, stretching her arms and legs out as she took a breather. She popped open the drink Smidge gave her, enjoying the orange-flavored sparkling water as she took a sip. As weird as that walking fridge was, at least he served his purpose. “Whatever. I might as well just take a break here anyways”

“Don’t get too comfortable. We’re still on a mission, you know.”

“Calm down. I need some time to rest. What’s got you so worked up, anyways? Is this about SPECTRA?”

“Somewhat, yes.”

“What’s even got you so worried about it? What if it’s, oh, I don’t know… nothing? Or even something positive? Did you consider that before making this plan?”

“Well, for one, my informant said it was apparently an AI, so it's not "nothing". Second, apparently it’s hidden in all the Project Armstrong cybernetics. Pretty suspicious if you ask me.”

“Ooooor, it could just be an upgrade, or an update, like they have in smartphone brands and the like. What makes you trust your ‘informant’ so much anyways?”

“I…” Kale hesitated for a moment. “Look, they might not be the most… reputable source, but they’re all I’ve got right now.”

“Well now you’re sounding just as suspicious as Vandelay! This really could just be nothing at all!”

“Mimosa, just–”

“You know what? I don’t care, Kale. Even if this does turn out to be something, I’m out of here the second we finish up, got it? We made a deal, after all.” She said, finally standing back up and stretching her legs out. She finished her drink, leaving the empty bottle behind before continuing along, her weapon slung over her shoulder. “Speaking of which, how far away are we from CNMN’s office?”

Kale sighed. “Let’s see…” There was the sound of crumpling paper and the clicking of keyboards on Kale’s end. “To your right.”

“Perfect!"

“And then you'll go up those platforms, up a different set of ramps, through a vent…”

Mimosa took a deep breath and grit her teeth as Kale went on and on to describe the needlessly complicated details of their route there, only growing longer and longer as the seconds passed.

“Great… just… fantastic.” She hissed.

Chapter Text

“Come with me, and you’ll be, in a woooooorld of OSHA violations~”

“I wasn’t exactly anticipating stealth mission karaoke, Mimosa.” Could they even qualify this as a stealth mission anymore?

“I have a music player in my chest, and you expect me to just strut along in silence? Come on, join in. You know you want to.”

“No, I don’t.”

“Well, I know someone who does! Take it away, K-9!” She smiled and pointed at the small wolf trotting beside her.

K-9 tilted his head back and howled a long, low note for a few seconds. Mimosa smiled and clapped. “Well done! Well done! You’ve got the makings of a stellar backup singer, boy!”

“For five seconds. Can you stay quiet and undetected for FIVE SECONDS–”

Mimosa cut him off. “Shh! I hear something!”

K-9 hopped back up into his ball form as Mimosa slowed down, approaching a room. Peering in, she saw it covered with monitors and control panels, with a jump-pad on the other side of the room. The only thing between her and that jump-pad up to the next floor were two scrawny looking bots, talking to each other.

“This’ll be easy.” Just two bots without any weapons? Child's play. Tip-toeing until she stood directly behind them, she reeled her mic above her head, ready to strike.

“Sheesh, is it just me or does Chai have a grudge against Roquefort?”

“I know, right? Then again, I wouldn’t be surprised if he just forgot about him in the Armstrong email. He's not exactly the brightest of the bunch.”

Mimosa froze, her weapon poised above her head… before quickly dashing behind one of the rows of monitors, near a vending machine. Crouching down, she peered around the corner at them.

“What are you waiting for? Get them while they’re distracted!” Kale hissed. She shushed him, shooting him a glare.

“Hold on! I want all the juicy details…” She whispered. Kale pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. Of all the people he could've teamed up with, it just had to be the nosiest woman on Vandelay Island.

“Sometimes I wonder if the others are trying to haze him…” One of the bots chimed.

“Can you even call it hazing if it’s done to the oldest member of the team? I thought hazing was an initiation kind of thing.”

“Maybe they’re initiating him into the new world of Vandelay. Out with the old, in with the new.”

""Out with the old" is right... surprised he hasn't keeled over yet."

Mimosa raised a brow as she turned back to Kale. “Who’s Roquefort?” She knew damn well who Chai was, now that she remembered his name correctly. He was that skinny little Marketing Head. As for Roquefort, well... that new name sparked curiosity in her.

“Just the Head of Finance. No one important. Now keep moving!”

“Hey, I just got a little invested! Sue me!” She got a bit too lively at the end, accidentally hitting her hand against the vending machine next to her. Loudly. The two bots, alerted by the noise, rounded the corner to see her hunched over with a ball-shaped wolf hovering next to her.

A beat passed. Quick, act natural Mimosa, act natural--

“...The machine ate my credits. You know how these are sometimes." She said, jabbing a thumb in the direction of the machine next to her.

“The defect!” The two exclaimed. Mimosa just groaned at her failed attempt to play it cool, and with one quick movement, she slashed the two of them, sending them flying across the room. One hit a wall and collapsed, and the other collided into a monitor.

The one that hit the monitor brought his hand down on a big, red button as soon as he got his bearings. Immediately, the lights began to flash red, the screens displaying the world "Lockdown" in big bold letters.

Finally taking action, she dashed past those bots, towards the jump pad and focused on the beat of her music. With three well timed jumps, she launched herself up, not wanting to stick around to get dogpiled by 20 or so bots heading her way.

Immediately, the trap door she jumped through slammed shut behind her, and she found herself in a massive, dimly lit room, barely illuminated by red lights, with a wall-wide screen facing her. It flickered on, displaying CNMN’s face in all its glory. Or, well, his blank stare. The second he saw her, he drew on a smiley face and some raised eyebrows.

“Found you!” He exclaimed happily.

“Look, I get you’re my biggest fan right now and you want a piece of me, but I don’t do autographs.” She responded smugly, resting her mic over her shoulder.

“You must be mistaken, Mimosa. I am not your fan, and I do not want an autograph. Your egotistical and destructive nature is not nearly admiral enough to consider asking for one.” Mimosa’s eye twitched, and CNMN kept going before she could relatiate. “However, I will admire you for your patience in your final moments if you sit still and let us handle your disposal.”

“Not a chance.” She spat.

“You seem to enjoy doing things the hard way. Very well, no matter! Your overconfidence will be your downfall! You’re now officially on lockdown, so you don't really have a choice in this matter. Comply or struggle, the choice is yours.”

He vanished from the screen, leaving a rather colorful old school Windows screensaver in its place as several trap doors around her opened up. All of them shot out a variety of bots in unison, all armed and ready.

But so was she.

With her brand new arsenal attacks consisting of stabbing, grabbing, swinging and biting (from K-9, not her…probably), she absolutely demolished them, knocking them around without a care. She mowed them down, explosions sounding out around her, leaving piles of scrap metal in her wake. She was unstoppable.

Or so she thought. Just when she thought she had finished the last one off, she got knocked across the room by another bot. Just when she got back on her feet and took that one out, two more came rushing at her. After a solid five minutes of swinging her makeshift mic back and forth, she took notice of the trap doors opening up again and again, more and more bots funneling in, swarming around her.

“Where do they keep coming from!?”

“Mimosa, you are aware that you’re in Production, right? For every bot you beat, they’re probably sending 10 more in.” Kale chimed in.

“Well what am I supposed to do about that?”

“I don’t know, just… run, I guess!”

Barely ducking to avoid a laser blast, she swung her arms out, gesturing to all the closed and locked doors surrounding her. “Gee, I have so many options!”

Kale groaned. “Just give me a second…”

With a swish, one of the doors to her right slid open. She immediately dashed for it, ducking and jumping as the bots swung and shot at her. One of the larger blue bots stood in front of the doorway, attempting to block her path. Noticing a space between his skinnier legs, she kept running straight at him and slid under him, just as he lashed out at her with his claw-like hands. Gripping her mic, she dragged it behind her, using the curved blade to sweep his legs out from under him. His body collapsed forward, somewhat blocking the path of the other bots, all according to plan. She took off down the hall.

Rounding a corner, almost colliding into a wall with how tight the turn was, she ran into the next room. She was almost immediately face-to-face with a massive opening in the wall, a few metal stairs leading up to it. The giant gap in the wall had what looked like a magnetic hook attachment on it, and taking a glance at the crane holding a giant shipping crate beside it, she could piece together what it was used for.

She glanced over her shoulder as she could already hear the voices of those bots growing louder in the distance.

“Uh, Kale? A little help here!?”

“It’s hard to bypass security, CNMN’s locked down everything! ...Oh, wait! I can unlock this!”

Hearing another swish, she turned to see a pair of double doors open to her right. Sighing with relief, she immediately ran through them.

Then she glanced up.

Stairs. Nothing but stairs.

“...Nope.”

She immediately did a 180 and dashed back to the giant tunnel. Time for plan B, which she just came up with in the span of a second with her stellar improv skills. She unraveled the wire on her mic and started to spin it, reeling back to throw it like a lasso.

“Mimosa, what’re you doing!?” Kale exclaimed, looking back down the hall to see the swarm of bots starting to catch up to her. They were closing in. Fast.

“I’m going for plan B! Besides, this is a flashier EXIIIIIIT-” Mimosa screamed as her wire hooked on, a magnetic pull quickly sweeping her off her feet!

All the shrapnel on her mic fell off from the force and speed, and the extended squeegee retracted, leaving only the wire connected to it and the bladed end sticking out. K-9 popped out of his ball form, clinging onto her back as she took off like a rocket down the tunnel. She gripped onto the blades like a zip line handle, holding on for dear life.

Whizzing through the tunnels, her hair blew behind her, a feeling of exhilaration and adrenaline flooding through her body, much stronger than the rush she felt when swinging over gaps. Her surroundings flew by her at speeds she couldn’t even comprehend. Pipes jutting from the wall whizzed by, doors slid open to a steady, thudding rhythm, and she found herself zooming through familiar rooms she had already passed through.

“Mimosa, we don’t even know where this rail goes! You can end up halfway across Vandelay Island!” Kale exclaimed.

“Well how was I supposed to know that? I improvised!”

“Well get ready to do more of that!” Kale gestured ahead of her with K-9’s paw, and she looked forward to see what looked like a shipping container stuck sideways in the tunnel. She yelped and swung her body left and right to build momentum, before managing to swing her way out of danger and through the gap left unblocked. Just when she sighed with relief...

"I wouldn't celebrate too soon. Keep swinging."

“What!?” She looked ahead, seeing more and more containers ahead of her. Oh boy.

Swinging back and forth, Mimosa whizzed through the tunnels, barely dodging the containers blocking her path. It was incredibly exhausting and kind of terrifying, but also… surprisingly fun! She was starting to understand why stunt doubles put themselves into such terrifying situations for movie roles. The adrenaline was delicious!

She didn’t know whether to laugh or scream as she built up enough momentum to swing 360 degrees around, just barely breezing over a horizontal container that she couldn’t just swing to one side to avoid. K-9 almost flew off of her back at this, and she just barely managed to catch him in one of her arms, holding him securely. She held her breath and flinched as the two of them passed by a broken pipe, which was spraying steam.

Coming out on the other end of the steam cloud, she exited out into a room she hadn’t been in before, several feet in the air.

Looking down at K-9, she smiled. “I have to admit, Kale, this is pretty fun! No wonder they have these things everywhere, we should've taken one sooner! Would've saved us some time.”

“Well, yes, but there's also the chance of that.” He gestured with K-9’s paw forward.

Squinting, she saw what looked to be two drones hovering over the rail ahead. One was an orange-blue drone with propellers, holding what looked to be a small metal ball in their hands. The other held a giant screen, which flickered on as she approached, displaying CNMN’s face. He drew a VERY serious expression on it, with the angriest god damn eyebrows possible.

“Found you!” He exclaimed, a very serious expression scribbled onto his face. “You, drone! Stop her!”

His voice was so sudden that it startled the drone next to it. They flinched, the metal ball slipping out of their hands and falling. Only then did Mimosa take note of the flashing colors on it, and the repeated beeping sounding out from it.

Uh oh.

BOOM!

The bomb made contact with the rail she was on, promptly exploding and leaving a chunk out of it. CNMN paused before speaking up. “Well, I suppose that works! The property damage is coming out of your paycheck, however." The drone sulked.

Mimosa’s eyes darted around, looking for a way out of this. Crap, crap, crap, that break in the rail was coming in REALLY FAST!

“Watch for glass.” Kale said bluntly, pointing to the window that was across from them, coming steadily and steadily CLOSER–

“What!?” She exclaimed in fear. Even K-9’s eyes widened in unison with hers.

CLICK!

The hook came to a stop at the end of the broken rail, the sudden force throwing both Mimosa and K-9 forward and into the air! The wire wrapped around it unraveled and followed suit, and she found herself flipping through the air, her surroundings a blur. All she could do was hold onto K-9 for dear life!

SMASH!

Colliding into the window, Mimosa fell a few feet as glass shards rained around her. The ground met her halfway as she slammed face-first into it.

Just as she pushed herself up and raised her head, K-9 fell on top of her, slamming her head into the floor once more. She groaned, trying to collect herself as K-9 climbed off of her, nudging her with his nose.

She heard the faint rolling, creaking noise of wheels getting closer. Looking up, she saw a familiar blue claw held out to her.

“I must say, I’m surprised you’re alive, lass.” O5-KAR said, helping to pull her to her feet.

“Oh, O5-KAR…nice to see you.” She sighed with relief. “The last thing I needed right now was another bot on my heels…” Suddenly, a memory flashed back to her. “...Unless you’re looking for revenge for breaking your boxes?”

“Nah, lass. Yer fine. I don’t even have much fight in me anyways.”

“Oh thank god.”

O5-KAR turned to look at the broken window above her, which had a Mimosa-shaped and K-9 shaped outline left behind. “I’ve seen some bad falls in my time, but I must say, you took that fall like a champ. If that happened to me, I’d just be a pile ‘o junk on the floor.”

“Well, if a lot of these bots can hold up under my mic for at least a few seconds…” Extending her squeegee, a bunch of scrap metal rushed towards it like a moth to a flame, and the wire wrapped back around it. “I feel like you’d probably survive that.”

“I doubt it. I’m an older model. The newer units are more… durable.”

“And a lot less reasonable…” She mumbled, before dusting herself and walking along.

K-9 lagged behind a little and ran up to OS-KAR. He jumped up on him, barking happily and trying to lick his face as his tail wagged at light speed. OS-KAR just smiled and gave the wolf a ruffle on the head. With a happy yip, K-9 finally hopped down and dashed after Mimosa.

“So, Kale… where exactly am I right now?”

“You actually ended up pretty close to CNMN’s office. Just have to go up a few more floors and we’re there.”

Mimosa sighed. “That’s a…” She trailed off, stopping in front of a giant doorway. “...Relief.”

What looked like a massive, blue electric barrier was blocking her only way through, and there were no signs of anything that could bring it down. No control panels, no buttons, nothing.

“Seems CNMN takes security seriously… Kale, what do I do now?” She raised a brow as she glanced down at K-9.

“Well, it seems like I’ll be able to put my skills to use. I’m going to make you regret doubting my skills, Mimosa.”

“Oh yeah? How?”

Mimosa suddenly heard a little ‘fwish!’ noise behind her. “Behold.”

Startled by the voice, she yelped and spun around, almost smacking Kale in the face with her weapon. He deflected it with his laser blade, looking at her with a grimace. “Watch it!”

“Wh-What the-!? How did…” She looked around the room, looking for a vent or a door or... anything that could've brought him to where she was. There was nothing. “How are you here?”

“Something called “Temporal Displacement”. Helps me hop between here and my hide-out. It’s basically teleportation, to put it simply.”

“Y-You could have been here this whole time!?” She sputtered.

“Well, in your own words, you "didn’t need someone holding you back". Besides, I was still working on it up until now.” He sauntered forward, swinging his blade back and forth. “It’s less of a hassle this way. Trust me.”

Stepping in front of the door, his blade lit up. “Now stand back.”

Mimosa did as he asked, scooping K-9 up before taking a few steps back.

Kale then raised his blade. Mimosa’s eyes focused on it, watching as the light and glow pulsed and shimmered, before generating a loud whirring sound. The weapon slowly changed color, generating a large amount of heat before finally stopping at a dark blue color.

Kale reeled his weapon back before proceeding to drive it right into the barrier. The heat of the weapon burned through it, cutting through it like it was nothing. With a quick few swipes, the wall was sliced to shreds, before dissipating.

Sheathing the weapon, he turned to Mimosa, bowing as he gestured for her to walk through.

“After you.”

Blinking in surprise, she did exactly that, setting K-9 down next to her. “Thanks.”

“So.” Kale suddenly vanished into thin air, before promptly taking control of K-9 yet again. “Still think I’m useless?”

She smirked and strutted along. “Well, I have to admit... if there’s one thing I can say about you, Kale, it’s that you’re full of surprises.”


Now playing: Just the Two of Us by Bill Withers

Good things might come to those who wait,
Not for those who wait too late,
We gotta go for all we know.
Just the two of us,
We can make it if we try!
Just the two of us,
(Just the two of us!)
Just the two of us,
Building them castles in the sky!
Just the two of us,
You and I.

Running along, the room around her gradually dimmed. All of the machinery around her sat still, motionless in the dark.

“Hey, Mimosa. You see that ledge right there?” Kale gestured to the gap in the path she was coming up on. The other side of the platform was a good distance way, and raised above her. “You’re not going to make that.”

“Tch, says you. All I have to do is swing… across…” She trailed off, realizing that there were no areas for her wire to hook onto. “...Okay, nevermind. What do I do?”

“Allow me. You see these?” Kale zapped in and walked over to some sort of device nearby. It was a little glowing pedestal with a few buttons and a screen. He gently tapped it with his hand. “Control panel. I can use these to call in platforms for you.”

“So you're hacking it?”

“In a way, yes.” He then proceeded to raise his laser sword up yet again. It generated another whirring noise before sparks started to fly around it, emitting a crackle of electricity. He then proceeded to do the opposite of what she expected and stab the control panel. She was suddenly very concerned about how he went about checking her implant earlier.

The electricity surged as it rushed in, and all at once, the lights and machinery lit up around her. The once-dead machinery sprung to life, going about their usual tasks with purpose and efficiency. She could see a platform approaching on a rail between the platforms, at a slow and steady pace. She looked back, only to see Kale vanish. Well, she could certainly say that was flashy. Fire and electricity? That was certainly a powerful combo. A bit terrifying and unprofessional, but powerful.

Kale kept talking as Mimosa hopped onto the next platform. “It’s as easy as that.”

“So do I have to yell for you to come in every time? What if you’re distracted?”

“Oh, I've made part of it automatic. Just snap your fingers and say my name, and I’ll phase in.”

A beat passed. Mimosa smirked. Kale’s eyes narrowed.

“Why do you have that look on your face?”

Mimosa proceeded to summon Kale repeatedly for the next fifteen minutes as she walked along, snapping her fingers over and over again and watching him gradually grow more and more annoyed with her antics.

“STOP.” Snap. “DOING.” Snap. “THAT.” Snap.

“Oh, this is entertaining.” She laughed, only to flinch as Kale grabbed her wrist. She rolled her eyes. “Oh, come on, Kale, don’t give me that look. I’m just giving it a test run.” She lied.

“I think we’ve tested it enough.” He responded, gritting his teeth.

“One more time?”

“No!”

Just then, she heard a whimper. Turning around, she spotted K-9 next to her, his ears down, looking… well, not hurt, just… uncomfortable. Tired, even.

“K-9? What’s wrong boy?” She knelt down next to the pup.

Kale looked at her in confusion. “You do realize that calling me in over and over again drains some power out of him, right?”

“What!?” She whipped around, startled. “How does that even work???”

“In order to teleport to where you are, I need an antenna. Your connection to K-9 serves as one for me to hijack.”

“And you didn’t tell me this sooner!?” She exclaimed, scooping K-9 up into her arms. “Oh, you poor little thing...”

“If it makes you feel any better, I’m not a dog person.” Kale chimed in, mimicking Mimosa’s voice mockingly.

She waved him away dismissively. “You can leave now.”

Kale then vanished away, taking over K-9 for a brief moment just to watch her jump in surprise. “Gladly.” She groaned and didn’t even bother telling him off for startling her that time, instead watching K-9 turn back into his ball form. She continued down the hall she was walking through.

Was it just her, or was it getting hot in--...oh.

Rounding the corner and stepping through a doorway with some broken "caution" tape, she found herself surrounded by pipes of varying sizes expelling steam all around her. Who knows how many feet of water ran below her at a steady pace, almost like a river, with gallons of it pouring out of waterfalls in the walls around her. The temperature rose because of all the steam, and she found herself wiping her brow. It felt like a sauna… and not in a good way. At least in a sauna, you’re not sweating through your clothes.

Looking ahead, all she saw were platforms upon platforms stretching forward endlessly, interspersed with more secure metal pillars. Planting her first step on one, she felt it shift juuust a little under her weight. She could see all the support beams on it looking rather thin and fragile, and gulped. But hey, she wasn't a coward. She wouldn't let this deter her. She marched on.

"Sheesh, did they build these things in a day?"

"Actually, they did. This is a new sector they're constructing. Had to put it on hold because of the "situation" in QA."

"Great..." She hissed.

Just when she thought it couldn’t get worse… a drone carrying a screen flew above her. She braced herself, anticipating it to head straight towards her and for CNMN to pop up on it, but instead she saw the still image of a familiar young brunette, accompanied by an annoying voice. Chai.

“This is a message to all you workers who haven’t entered the lottery for tickets to the Project Armstrong Festival. Get in while you can! Who knows, you might just be the lucky winner who gets to see me rockin out on stage! And as for the others who’ll miss it… eh, sucks to suck, better luck next time.” Then, the screen turned off. She grit her teeth.

“Way to rub it in my face…”

“What, you actually wanted to see that loser perform?” Kale sneered.

“Augh, no, I couldn’t care less about his music. Rock really isn’t my style. I wanted to go for the ambience! The atmosphere! The experience! And now with this bounty on my head… I’m going to miss it.” 

“I think we have more important things to attend to.”

“Hey, at least let me be bitter for five seconds!”

“No, I mean that! Look ahead!” Popping out of his ball form, Kale, through K-9, grabbed the side of her face and turned her to look at one of the trap doors in the floor. She finally saw what he was talking about. From a trap-door on the floor came one of those larger blue bots she had dealt with before, pounding their fists together, ready to go at her. And just as she reeled her mic back, ready to take them on… a blue force-field formed around him.

“Hey now, that’s cheating!” She exclaimed, stepping back as the bot approached. “Kale, I might actually need you for this one.”

“Alright, call me in.” He replied. With that, she threw her arm out and snapped her fingers. “Kale!”

Kale teleported in, his weapon armed and at the ready. Rushing forward, he leapt and landed on the bubble shield, his feet firmly planted against its surface as he plunged his heated blade through it. Using his body weight, he let it bring him down to the ground, leaving a vertical slice through the shield by the time he landed. It was almost surgical with how he did it. Ripping the shield apart, it shattered into little pieces, dissipating into the air.

Enraged, with little time to react to all of that, the bot swung at Kale, but they were left grasping at air as Kale vanished in front of their eyes.

Looking up, they were met face-to-blade with Mimosa’s mic slamming right between their eyes. They reeled back in pain, before sweeping their arm out again, latching onto her weapon. With a quick spin and a toss toss, she was sent across the platform, rolling on the ground before coming to a stop as she hit a wall.

The bot was already rushing at her by the time she jumped back to her feet, but before they could lay a claw on her, K-9 jumped in, running up their arm! His own claws unsheathed and started tearing at their face plate with a growl.

Fumbling and stumbling around, the bot swiped and tried to yank K-9 off of their face. Distracted by the small wolf, Mimosa took this opportunity to spin and stab a spikier part of her mic right through their back, causing sparks to fly as they collapsed forward. K-9 then hopped off of the bot and right into Mimosa’s arms as the bot exploded into little pieces, blowing Mimosa’s hair and K-9’s fur back.

“Look alive Mimosa, we’re not done yet!”

Filtering out of a trap door on the wall next to her were several bots she had seen moments prior. Those little orange-blue propeller drones, three to be specific, all of which had a bomb in hand. They filtered out so quickly that one of them ran into the other, causing the other to drop a bomb right next to her. She quickly, but barely, jumped out of the way as she set K-9 down on the ground, before twirling her mic around.

One of the drones pointed down at her with angry eyebrows, and the other two readied themselves to go at her. Before they could even have time to blink, however, the first bot was caught by her wire and yanked to the ground. “No need to be so high and mighty, let’s get you drones on the same level as me!”

Just as she got ready to drive through it with her shrapnel mic, however, K-9 barked behind her.

Pausing, she took notice of a bomb being tossed her way by another drone, and quickly hopped away. The drone she just grabbed quickly flew back into the air as she turned to the drone that threw down that bomb, grabbing it with her wire and yanking it down next. Unfortunately, the same thing happened.

For a solid minute, she was stuck in a cycle of yanking down a drone, only to be caught off guard by a bomb dropped by another before she could deal a blow. Then, the drone she just yanked down would recover, and she’d have to repeat that motion.

“I’m not getting anywhere with this!” She complained, sweating a little.

“Call me in!” Kale exclaimed. “You yank them down, and I’ll deal the blows!”

“Sounds good to me.” Grabbing another drone with her wire, she yanked it down to the ground, and then snapped her fingers. “Kale!”

In a flash, Kale jumped in, reeling his laser sword back before stabbing it into the bot with pure, hot metal. The drone didn’t put up much of a fight, simply collapsing and exploding seconds after Kale yanked the blade out.

“Kale, over here!” Mimosa yelled, swinging her wire and throwing another drone in his direction. The drone bounced off the platform like a basketball. Smiling, Kale lifted his weapon up as the drone frantically waved their arms in protest, before he promptly skewered it.

Kale smiled at her and beckoned her to throw more his way with one hand, while lifting up his blade with a shish-kabobed drone still stuck on it. “Keep them coming!”

She smiled back.

With that, the two of them made quick work of the remaining drone, with Mimosa bringing them down and Kale slicing them in half, cutting through them like butter. When the final explosion rang out and the dust cleared, they stood proudly, and unscathed. Nothing could stop them now!

“Alright, now that those are taken care of, let’s–”

Beep… beep… beep…

“Huh?” Both she and Kale looked around wildly at the faint sound of the beeping, only to spot one of the dropped bombs right between them, having yet to go off yet. “Crap!”

Mimosa panicked and picked up the bomb, before proceeding to toss it over the railing, in the direction of the water below them.

...Well, she would have, that is, if K-9 hadn’t jumped up and grabbed it in his mouth, mistaking it for a tennis ball.

Kale and Mimosa screamed.

“NO, BAD, DOWN, DROP IT DROP IT DROP IT–” Kale panicked, finally earning a response from K-9 as he sheepishly dropped the bomb at their feet.

Beep, beep, beep, beep, beep…

Kale scooped up K-9 and walked backwards as the beeping intensified. Mimosa fumbled with her hands, unsure if she still had time to handle this thing with her hands or not.

Beep beep beep beep BEEP BEEP BEEP–

OKAY NEVERMIND THERE'S NO TIME–

Mimosa swung her mic like a golf club, not caring about aiming as she sent the bomb flying several feet back the way they came. The bomb soared, the beeping noises intensifying… until it exploded just as it fell past one of the rickety, thin support beams, leaving a ginormous chunk out of it. The platforms trembled, shook… and then started to fall apart.

Creaaaak…CRACK!

“Crap.” Both she and Kale said in unison, watching the platforms start to fall like dominoes, collapsing into the water with splashing noises. It was coming down fast, and it was coming their way.

“Good luck.” Kale vanished. Okay, so it was coming her way.

“KALE YOU COWARD!"

Next thing she knew, she was sprinting as fast as they could as the ground collapsed behind her, with K-9 running alongside her. She could hear the sound of the falling platforms growing louder and louder behind her as it started catching up to her. She almost regretted having destroyed the QA Center if it had meant that she would've had an easier time here, but she REALLY DIDN'T HAVE TIME TO CARE ABOUT THE STRUCTURAL INTEGRITY OF THIS PLACE CRAP CRAP CRAP IT WAS FALLING FAST-

With one final jump, just as the structures gave out beneath her, she leapt towards a more secure metal pillar at the peak of this section of Production. K-9 made the jump easy, much lighter and faster than she was, skidding to a stop and turning back to look at her. Time almost moved in slow motion as she extended an arm out, trying to grab the edge... and then dread hit her stomach when her fingers just barely missed. She saw K-9's worried expression as she fell.

She screamed for the split-second that she began to plummet towards the water, before gasping as something grabbed her hand.

Mimosa looked up. Kale had teleported in and grabbed her hand just in the nick of time, holding onto her wrist in almost a death grip to make sure she didn't fall. She took a brief glance down at the water below her, seeing all the platforms collapsing into it with a splash before looking back up at him. She saw K-9's head pop over the edge, looking relieved as Kale yanked her up and onto the platform.

Mimosa laid on her back for a moment, panting for breath as K-9 nuzzled into her hair, happy to see she was okay. She looked up at Kale standing next to her.

“Kale?”

“Yes?”

“...Thanks. I guess."

"Don't mention it. Seriously. Let's... just get moving again." He vanished. She groaned as she stood back up.

Strutting along at a slower pace to catch her breath and put less strain on herself, Mimosa wandered through several hallways before coming across another massive vent.

“This should take you to CNMN’s office.” Kale said.

She sighed with relief. Never before had she thought she’d be so grateful to wander through a dusty, dingy vent. “Finally.”

One vent trip later, she pressed a button and hopped out the other side, entering what looked like a giant, squeaky clean waiting room. Signs and arrows pointed to a pair of massive doors on one end labeled "CNMNS OFFICE", a help-desk was against a wall with a handful of bots standing by, a few potted plants decorated the place…

…And there was a massive fist-shaped indent in the wall directly to the left of her. Maybe it was because she just spent the last few seconds dodging a bunch of webs in the depths of an empty vent, but it looked like it left a spider-web of crack marks.

“What the heck is this?”

“No clue, but whoever did that seemed pissed.” Kale responded bluntly.

Mimosa experimentally curled her hand into a fist and pressed it into the indent in the wall. It looked minuscule in comparison to the gargantuan-sized fist mark around it.

“What are you doing?”

“What? I’m curious, I wanted to see a comparison.”

“We’re not here for a tour, we’re here for information on SPECTRA! Now stop dawdling and get to CNMN’s office! He’s still hunting you, remember? The faster we get in and out with the info, the better!”

“Fine, fine, okay.” She walked along, carefully sneaking past the secretary desks to avoid being seen, before heading straight towards the giant doors awaiting her. “No more distractions, I’m heading right in–”

Just then, she heard a sigh.

Looking over, she spotted a CAR-11E bot peering around one of the half walls around a waiting area. Suspicious.

“Mimosa.”

She grinned.

“Mimosa, no, don’t–!!!" She was already right next to the bot, peering over his shoulder. "Oh god dammit!”

“Oooh, what’re you looking at?” She asked, startling the CAR-11E bot.

“I… I know this may get me in trouble, but… I think that is the love of my life right there.” The bot let out another sigh, this one sounding more love-struck. Mimosa followed the bot’s line of sight to…

“...The plant?” She asked, pointing at one of the decorative potted plants in front of him.

“No, no, not the plant! Her!” He gestured to the receptionist behind the desk in the distance. Mimosa gasped while Kale groaned yet again, realizing she was invested now. “Oh unrequited love, our work agreement forbids it…”

“Oh my goodness! Now this is a juicy story. You should ask her out!”

The CAR-11E bot looked up at her with hopeful eyes. “You think I have a chance?”

“Of course! Look, the worst that can happen is that she says no. That, or she viciously tears your heart in two, reports you to the higher ups and you get recalled. Or something along those lines.”

The CAR-11E bot started shaking as his robo-anxieties rushed in at full-force. Mimosa patted the bot on the head and kept walking. “But don’t let that stop you! Toodles~”

“Wow, that was… brutal.” Kale said, with judgemental eyes.

“Oh come on, it’s far more entertaining to see them squirm and panic than to give them nothing but hope!”

“You’re starting to sound like CNMN.”

She gasped. “Don’t you dare compare me to that bucket of bolts!” She turned to the door leading to CNMN’s office. “Speaking of which… Alright, I’m ready. Let’s go find out about SPECTRA."

With that, she walked into CNMN’s office.

The door clicked shut behind her.

Chapter Text

The room was dim, barely illuminated by the fluorescent lights above her and the window stretching across the back of the room. It was quiet. Too quiet. All Mimosa had to fill the empty air was the clicking of her heels echoing off the floor.

Her eyes scanned the room as she took in the decor of CNMN’s office. It was rather sleek and professional, if not a bit boring in her eyes. It was hard to make out in the light, but it had the same white, blue and yellow color pattern. Metal stretched across every surface of the spacious office, from the floor to the walls to the ceiling, all of which were coated in panels, pipes and screens.

But she didn’t care about any of that. She was focused on one thing in particular: SPECTRA.

"So where exactly should we be looking?"

"Go for his computer. It should have enough for me to work with." Kale chimed in.

Scanning the office, she quickly spotted CNMN's desk on an elevated platform right in front of her, with many computer screens hovering around it.

“Found it!”

She was already darting for the desk when blaring red lights flashed around her, accompanied by that familiar siren, and a voice.

“Defect detected! Defect detected! Initiating lockdown...Again.”

With a clatter, a pane fell over the windows, and she heard several locking mechanisms ring out around her.

A spotlight shone down in front of her, right on the elevated platform she had been gunning it for.

“I, for one, am quite surprised to see you again, Mimosa!”

CNMN.

He stood proudly before her, scribbling on a disturbingly happy expression, with a wide open smile. “I would’ve expected you to have been dealt with by now. While not admirable, your stubborn attitude is quite impressive!”

“Stubborn–!?” She sighed, begrudgingly letting that comment slide. “I’m here for something important! Now move aside, or else.”

That statement wiped the smile off his face. Literally, CNMN wiped it off and scribbled on a few sweat drops.

“My apologies, but I must stop you from causing further destruction and deal with you accordingly.”

“Oh yeah? You and what army?”

CNMN scribbled back on a smiley face. “Oh, all of my workers have proved to be utterly incompetent, so I will be handling things myself!”

A beat passed. Mimosa laughed.

“Ha! Oh, this is going to be good. Okay then, give me your best shot!” She exclaimed, gesturing for CNMN to come closer. She had to admit, she respected his initiative and determination to take her down, even if he was going to get obliterated with that lanky body of his.

CNMN sketched a smile. “If you say so!”

Suddenly, a few panels on CNMN’s arms shot out at once. Mimosa gasped and looked down at her music player as a beat started up. A steady rhythm began to form, just strong enough to get her attention, but not strong enough to distract her from CNMN.

Slowly, CNMN’s body began to morph and shift in front of her, each piece of metal smoothly clicking into place as they moved. His scrawny, skinny legs unraveled, widening in size as they bulked up. His arms did the same, one of his hands retracting into his forearm, only to be replaced by a hefty arm cannon. There was even a swirled design pattern along the sides of it, a vortex of white, blue and yellow, all coming down to the faint blue glow of the opening of the gun being pointed towards her.

There was a faint, familiar vrring sound coming from the gun as it began to glow. And within the span of three beats…

ZAAAP!

Mimosa ducked as a large laser beam whizzed over her head.

She turned to the wall behind her to see a giant burnt spot where the laser collided, almost eroding one of the layers of metal behind her.

He cocked his arm gun again and hopped down from the upper platform. “Please hold still.”

She gripped her mic tightly, glancing at K-9. “Kale? Did you have any plans for this?”

“I… didn’t really have time to come up with a Plan B, so just fight. I’ll think of something.” A beat passed. “Also, duck.”

“Wha-!?” Mimosa just barely ducked again as CNMN shot another beam in her direction. Huffing, she spun her weapon in her hand and glared at him.

“One of us is going down, and that won't be me!”

CNMN took a step forward. “I suggest overcoming those delusions of yours. Perhaps you should spend this time finding peace of mind before I recall you."

"Fat chance."

She had tangoed with several hundred bots, bigger and scarier than he ever could be, so she had this in the bag. Bulky or not, CNMN wasn’t a match for her!

…At least, that’s what she told herself.

Now playing: The First Step by Will Wood
Well I bet that a bottle of brandy so bitter'd be better than bitin' the bullet and betterin' myself.
Sorry if I slur!
Take my anxiety and my sobriety,
I'll kill two birds with one stoner,
So if you see me please, take my keys,
I don't wanna be an organ donor!
Well we've had enough power since the blackout started,
For an EKG for the broken hearted,
I'd try to see the glass as half full...
But I'd probably just drink that too!

Mimosa charged at him, her weapon at the ready. However, CNMN cut her off before she could get much closer, shooting a few beams in her direction. She barely dodged each of them, practically hopping and skipping to avoid getting hit in the foot. For each step forward, CNMN would take a step back. Shot after shot was fired, and she was only barely dodging them all. She wasn’t making any progress, no matter how fast she went…

That is, until the shots suddenly stopped. CNMN looked down at his arm cannon, confused, seeing a small plume of steam and smoke rising from the end. “Oh dear.”

A wire shot out and wrapped around that cannon, and CNMN looked up. “Didn’t take moderation into account, huh?” With a huff, she yanked him towards her. “Well don’t be shy! Come here!”

As soon as those two were within range of one another, Mimosa lifted a sharper part of her mic up and sliced down. However, CNMN managed to bring up his other arm to block it, leaving only a scratch. Just then, the arm he used to block her attack morphed, forming another cannon. “Thank goodness I opted for more than one!"

“Oh come on–!!” Unfurling the wire just in time, she ducked as he shot another laser.

She wasn’t about to let him put distance between them again, so she began to swing at him relentlessly as he fired laser after laser at her, alternating between each arm whenever one would overload. It was an odd dance of dodging and swiping, but when she fell into the rhythm, it just felt right to her.

Eventually, after a few hearty swipes, she managed to make a dent, scraping off one of the outer panels on one of his arms.

“Ha! You may be bulkier, but you’re just as much of a pushover as I thought! I’ll spend all day whittling you down if I must!” She taunted.

CNMN looked down at his arm. “I doubt your impatience will hold out for that long.”

His arms shifted again, the cannons shifting back into hands, and then fists, as two blue shield bubbles suddenly formed around them like boxing gloves. Before she realized it, his fist flew upward, the shield connecting with her face and sending her into the air. He jumped and followed it up with a kick, knocking her to the ground!

“I suppose I’ll have to take matters into my own hands! Haha! ” He taunted in turn, approaching her as she tried to get off the ground. Kneeling above her, he reeled his fist up, before sending it straight at her face.

“Left!” Kale exclaimed, and Mimosa rolled to the left as his fist flew down.

“Right!” She rolled to the right, narrowly avoiding the second punch.

Rolling onto her upper back, she pushed forward and kicked CNMN in the chest, the momentum knocking him off of her as she climbed back to her feet. Her eyes settled on those shimmering blue shields.

“Kale!” She snapped her fingers just as CNMN started running back at her. Kale flashed in before swiping his blade, melting through the shields and leaving CNMN vulnerable. To top it off, his blade had singed some of the metal on his arms, leaving a small cut through it. Only a small one, though, much to Mimosa’s surprise. Kale vanished almost immediately after.

CNMN blinked in surprise. “Oh my– yowch!”

Mimosa jumped in and spun, swinging her weapon hard and colliding into CNMN’s chest. He slid back a few feet and managed to steady himself. He pulled out his marker.

“I must say, under the right circumstances, you would’ve been a valuable asset to Vandelay Technologies! Physically, at least.” He scribbled on a slightly more determined expression. “But orders are orders.”

Then, he jumped at her, the arm previously holding his marker vanishing and turning into a laser yet again. He charged it in mid-air and then shot it at her, the laser plowing through the ground and leaving a trail across the floor as it ran through the metal. Mimosa rolled out of the way, noticing that one of the panels in the center of the floor was sliced in half, the edges of it curling away and the edges singed. But she could still read some of the text.

‘DANGER: HIGH VOLTAGE WARNING!!!’

CNMN landed in front of her, with the panel behind him, wires expelling little bolts of electricity peeking out from underneath. She smirked, an idea forming in her head. Dodging another one of CNMN’s blasts, she managed to sweep his leg, which, while difficult given how bulky it was, managed to at least knock him off balance enough to fall back into the wires.

His body made contact, his body jolting and shuddering as the electricity ran through him with a ZAAAAP! Mimosa laughed.

“Haha! Hope you enjoy the light–...show…”

CNMN was getting back up. How was he getting back up!? She gulped, watching the electricity run around his body like ribbons. Kale glared at her through K-9.

“What did you think that was going to accomplish!?”

“I don’t know, I thought that would short-circuit him!” She exclaimed, taking a panicked step back.

A few panels on CNMN’s arms suddenly jutted out, revealing what looked to be like… missiles, now with a few ribbons of electricity circling them. Great. CNMN sketched a smile.

“Thank you for the upgrade!” CNMN said, shooting a few of them into the air.

“YOU’RE NOT WELCOME–” Mimosa cried, barely jumping out of the way as they hit the ground near her feet, the force of the explosions almost sending her flying right into a wall. The electric shock waves sent by the missiles just barely touched her foot, sending a faint tingly feeling of it rolling through her limbs. And it wasn't in a good way.

Barely landing on her feet, and a bit dazed, she dashed towards CNMN, reeled her weapon back, and managed to land a strike!

…And then a bolt of electricity struck her, causing her hair to stand on end and for her to collapse for a moment, dizzy swirls in her eyes as she groaned. K-9 hopped out of his ball form, trying to nudge her back up into a sitting position, causing his own fur to stand on end.

CNMN scribbled on a frown. “Oh, my bad. I suppose the current voltage isn’t strong enough to end you instantly. Allow me to fix that!”

Digging his arm back into the mass of wires, the electricity surged back around him, more and more as the seconds passed. Mimosa’s panic grew, realizing that this next bolt of electricity was going to do more than just sting or simmer, it was going to fry! What was she supposed to do, though!? She couldn’t hit him! And this office was dreadfully minimalist, she had nothing to throw at him! At least, nothing that could leave a mark. And worst of all…

There was nowhere to run.

Suddenly, K-9 barked, catching her attention. He then stuck his nose out, pointing upwards. Above her were a few pieces of scaffolding above her. Well, she can’t run, but she could certainly fly!

Having generated enough electricity, CNMN ripped his arms away and brought them up into the air. Mimosa could practically feel the crackle of it ringing in her ears and through her body as she hastily pulled her wire out and twirled it like a lasso.

Tossing K-9 onto her shoulder, she managed to throw the wire high enough to connect it, wrapping around one of the higher metal boards. Pulling on it, she swung into the air just as CNMN’s hands were brought down upon the ground. The shock wave consumed the floor beneath her, a flurry of bolts almost grazing her feet as she hung a few feet in the air. She grit her teeth, holding onto her mic with a death grip as the sparks danced below her.

Then, all at once, the electricity was gone. Mimosa looked down at CNMN to see him wobbling around, seemingly exhausted from exerting that much energy. His usual static, glowing yellow eyes that he sketched around were dull and dim, and as he tried to scribble on a new expression, his hand was shaky, causing the marker to smear across his face. The electric pulse that was once around him was gone.

Perfect. She had an opening. She smirked at K-9.

“On my count, boy. 1… 2…”

K-9 hopped back into his ball form as she counted. Mimosa swung her body back and forth, before unhooking herself, dropping straight towards CNMN. “Three!”

Just then, her heel collided into his face, with a little extra ‘oomph’ thanks to K-9’s help.

She gave the bot no chance to recover and get the upper hand, landing hit after hit on him, before throwing him into the air and smacking him HARD.

CNMN’s body collided into a wall, causing a splintering crack to spread across it from the crater made there. Mimosa smirked as she watched him struggle to get up for a moment. The new layers of metal that had bulked up his limbs were starting to crumble and break off, scratches littered his body, and marker ink smeared his face.

“Maybe if you stay down, I’ll let you walk away from this.” She said, pointing her mic right at him.

“Oh, that choice is not up to me! It’s up to Miss Peppermint. She told me to deal with you, lest you cause more property damage and chaos, and she will be most upset if I don’t follow through. Especially not after approving the upgrades I requested.”

“Well those upgrades of yours are pretty trash quality if I’ve knocked you down this fast.” She jeered.

“In my defense, you are quite the handful. However, I have just the thing to take care of that!”

Suddenly, a few panels on his torso and upper back shot open to the steady, thudding beat that surrounded them, followed by some more metal extending and unfurling from those openings. The metal quickly and rhythmically clicked together, creating forearms, wrists, fingers… and finally, with a flourish of his new arms, CNMN stood proudly with two more jutting out from his shoulder blades, and two more coming from his hip. Six in total. The upper ones jutted out a new set of missiles, with one of his lower arms being used to scribble on one of the most serious expressions she's seen from him yet.

“You were a stellar test subject for my new upgrades, but I’m afraid this test will have to come to a close!” CNMN exclaimed, as the missiles shot off, landing behind her and sending her flying forward. Right towards CNMN.

Startled by the sudden launch, she barely had time to blink when CNMN suddenly grabbed her with his two regular hands. The upper arms briefly turned back into hands as well, before proceeding to spin her around and around and around like a human hula hoop! She yelled as she was spun, not having any time to get her bearings before he proceeded to let her go, causing her to crash into a wall like a beyblade.

Dizzy and discombobulated, even a bit nauseous from being spun that fast, she only just realized CNMN was closing in on her when it was too late. She tried to fight back by futilely swinging her weapon at him, but to her surprise, he caught it with one of his hands. She tried to yank it back, only for him to use one of his new hands to grip her shoulder and YANK her weapon out of her hands instead. He tossed it aside, causing it to slide across the floor and out of her reach. Despite this, she stuck her hand out, trying to grab it back.

“H-Hey–! Gah!”

She gasped as one of his hands closed around her neck, holding her up against the wall with just a loose enough grip to let her breathe, but just hard enough to keep her restrained.

K-9 growled and hopped out of his ball form, leaping straight towards CNMN, only to get caught as well! He snatched the wolf with his other lower set of arms, holding him by the scruff and pinning him to the floor.

“K-9!” Mimosa cried, trying to kick at CNMN’s body. Her heels barely left a dent. She tried punching and scratching, but her nails didn’t even leave a mark. “Keep your grubby metal mitts off of him!”

“Oh, do not worry, I have no intention of harming the KUT-WANs! I’m merely restraining him for the time being. As for you…”

Cold metal pressed against her chin as one of his laser cannons was pointed right at her. She struggled harder as CNMN kept talking.

“Don’t take this the wrong way, I completely understand your intentions, I really do. But I can’t postpone this any longer. At the very least, I'm happy that we've given you such a thrilling experience as a one-hit wonder!”

"'Trilling experience'!?" She gawked. "Why do you keep saying things like that!? Why would I be enjoying any of this!?"

"Our footage proves as much. You have a real knack for providing entertaining one-liners! Despite the circumstances, my calculations have concluded that you've been having fun and even relishing in our attempts to catch you. And scanning your records, well, you most certainly agree that any attention is good attention in your eyes, correct? So congratulations on having such a fulfilling experience here at Vandelay Technologies! After all, with your narcissistic attitude…"

Pausing his sentence and leaving Mimosa reeling from that mental dissection, his arm cannon began to glow. There was a steady vrrrr… noise that came from it as it charged up.

"This was the best you were ever going to get."

The whirring and the glowing grew brighter and brighter, louder and louder, and she shut her eyes, gritting her teeth and bracing for impact as those words rang in her ears.

Fwish!

Her eyes flew open in surprise.

SLASH!

Kale flashed in, his blade slicing through CNMN’s cannon charging arm like butter. It clattered to the ground, still charging, and just as it was about to fire, Kale landed on the ground and grabbed it, aiming it straight at CNMN.

“Oh dear–” With a ZAP, CNMN was blasted almost straight in the chest with it, thrown to the side as he dropped Mimosa and let go of K-9. Mimosa gasped for air, earning a worried whine from K-9, who rushed over to nuzzle against her. She gave him a reassuring pat on the head, and was promptly helped up by Kale.

“Took you long enough.” She spat.

“I was waiting for the most opportune time to catch him off guard.” He said confidently, flipping his hair a bit.

“You were just waiting for him to charge it for you, weren't you?” She said, gesturing to the arm cannon in Kale’s hand. He tossed it aside, further proving her point about his electronic illiteracy.

“Shut it.”

Both turned as CNMN stood back up, now with a solid dent in the metal plating on his chest. He was still standing, left with five arms remaining.

“I forgot about your companion here! I suppose I must handle both of you then.”

“Mimosa.” Kale quickly turned to her. “Here’s what we’ll do. He can’t pay attention to the two of us.”

K-9 barked.

“Er, correction. He can’t pay attention to the three of us. One of us distracts him, while the rest of us catch him off guard and deal damage. Disarm him. Rinse, repeat, victory.”

A beast passed between them. “Was half of your brainstorming time spent on the pun?”

Before Kale could counter that, missiles were already being fired at them. All three of them leapt out of the way, with Mimosa purposefully using the blast to throw herself towards her discarded mic. She grabbed it and turned, before running at CNMN, purposefully throwing a hit at him and goading him into grabbing her weapon. It worked, as two of his arms grabbed it firmly. He aimed one of his missile cannons at her, and she gestured for the other two to come in.

K-9 immediately leaped up and bit onto the joint of the cannon, catching the robot’s attention. He swept that arm around to try and throw the wolf off of him, but just as he swept it down, Kale’s blade came down at the same time, slicing through most of the metal with it. K-9, with a determined chomp and a toss of his head, managed to yank the rest of the arm off. Landing on the ground, the small wolf shook the arm around like a dog would with a bone, before tossing it aside.

CNMN now directed one of the guns towards Kale, charging it as Kale purposefully stayed still, shooting a glance at Mimosa over CNMN’s shoulder. Nodding, she leapt onto the robot’s back, hooking the sharper part of her mic under the cannon before redirecting the blast to a blank space on the wall. She pulled harder and harder on it, grunting with effort.

With his remaining arms, CNMN grabbed her and flipped her off of him. Unfortunately for him, her mic was hooked firmly enough on his arm for her to yank it off, bringing it with her as he threw her. He looked down at the stump where the arm was and scribbled a sweat mark on his face with one of his remaining hands. Mimosa smirked and tossed the arm aside.

The bot barely had time to think as Mimosa, Kale and K-9 fell into a rhythmic dance, trading blows against CNMN and distracting him long enough each time to avoid any major damage. Missiles were fired and then subsequently dodged, lasers were shot and redirected, and arms were ripped off bit by bit.

Accompanying the first three, the fourth arm was bit off, then the fifth was sliced through…

With one final cry, Mimosa held CNMN’s remaining arm down while Kale jumped in, slashing through it. It disconnected with ease, leaving CNMN defenseless.

Staggering back, CNMN was roughed up beyond belief, scribbled sweat droplets scattered across his face. Wires jutted out of the openings where his arms once were, dents littered his body, and all he could do was stand there.

Mimosa smirked and held up her weapon at him. “Shaking in your little metal boots, are you?”

“This… isn’t supposed to happen! This was not in my calculations! I was built and upgraded by the best of the best!”

“In that case…” She reeled her weapon behind her. “I guess that makes me even better.”

Mimosa charged at CNMN, who stepped back in fear. Her mic picked up sparks with each scrape against the metal as it dragged across the ground, and she could feel her music player thudding in her chest, the beat building and building and building…

She didn’t process the bundles of scrap metal flashing and fusing into a real mic as she swung it upwards, throwing CNMN into the air! She looked over her shoulder.

“Kale!”

Kale smirked and nodded, dashing in. Both of them leaped up and brought their weapons down. Mimosa’s mic tore through the metal, leaving sparks flying and wires exposed, and Kale’s laser blade singed the metal as it sliced through his chest.

CNMN hovered for a moment, almost in slow-motion, a look of shock written all over his face. He glowed brighter and brighter and brighter until–

BOOM!

Mimosa and Kale barely managed to steady themselves as they were blown back by the explosion.

When the smoke cleared, the two of them heard two things hit the ground. One was CNMN’s head, a shocked expression being all that was left, with the feather-like head accessory broken in half. The other was what looked to be a large, flat USB stick. It was colored white, with a blue outline and diagonal, yellow stripes. On the front of it was the iconic Vandelay logo: a big, red V.

Mimosa stared at CNMN’s head for a moment, thinking back to what the robot had said earlier now that she had time to think.

"This was the best were ever going to get."

“Oh, good, we got his pass key. That makes things easier. Nice job, Mimosa.” Kale snapped her out of her thoughts as he quickly knelt down and swiped up the USB stick.

“Really?” She blinked in surprise, before throwing on a confident facade. “I mean, of course it was a nice job!” She flipped her slightly disheveled hair and followed after Kale, who was heading straight for CNMN’s desk. Looking back down at her mic, which turned back to scrap, she shook off the metal and sheathed the squeegee into her spine cybernetics. Awkwardly side-stepping CNMN’s head, K-9 followed behind the two.

Kale immediately approached one of the monitors and looked around the desk, before finding a spot to insert the pass key. He immediately clicked it in, to which it divided in half and shot out into a V-shape. He immediately began scrolling through CNMN’s computer, focused.

…Well, as focused as he could we with Mimosa and K-9 hovering over his shoulder. He sighed.

“What are you doing?”

“Looking at the files? I’m just as curious about SPECTRA as you are!” She replied.

“Well it’s going to take me a minute to find the files on them, and I can’t focus with you breathing down my neck! So get off my ass and go… I don’t know, just busy yourself for five minutes.” He snapped, giving her a dismissive wave of his hand.

“Fine.” She sighed and stepped away, turning back to all the monitors and the rest of the desk space. K-9 followed suit, the wolf pup starting to sniff around. Mimosa, meanwhile, began to snoop through the objects on his desk, coming across a few books on the production process, one on how to draw good facial expressions, and a small photo in a frame.

In the photo was CNMN and a much larger, dark-skinned man beside him. The larger man had his massive hand on CNMN’s shoulder, and CNMN was holding a thumbs up. Inspecting it further, she saw a bit of writing along the bottom.

“First day on the job! Sir Macaron is wishing me good luck!”

For some reason, this image gave her this weird feeling in her gut. A weird, heavy feeling that made her uncomfortable. Was it… dread? Maybe? She didn’t know, but she didn’t like it. It was like anxiety, but worse. She just pushed the photo face-down to ignore that feeling and turned to one of the desk drawers K-9 was sniffing at.

With a bit of effort, Mimosa forced it open, discovering an… odd item inside. It was an extremely large, golden belt, with the word “BOSS” engraved in big, bold letters along the front of it. Alongside it was a small written note.

“Note to self: Melt this down later for materials.”

Mimosa perked up, turning to Kale. “Hey, Kale, do you think this is real gold?”

“What’s real gold–?...What in the hell am I looking at?”

Mimosa pulled out the golden belt, trying her best to present it to him despite its heavy weight. “You think I know? I just found it here with a note about melting it down.”

“Not surprised he’d think of doing that. Why are you so interested anyways? What, are you going to take it with you? Model it or something?”

“No, no, I’m just wondering why the hell CNMN of all people has something like it.” She tried to wrap the belt around her own waist, only for it to slip out of her arms and crash to the ground with a heavy THUD! “It’s too big for me anyways. Maybe he’s right about melting it down… could make some good earrings.”

Kale just rolled his eyes and went back to scrolling through CNMN’s computer. “Just put that away already. I swear, you’re the nosiest woman on Vandelay Island…”

“Hey! Says the guy looking into top secret files on who-knows-what! Speaking of which… have you found anything yet?” She asked, not helping her case as her curiosity peaked again.

“Not yet… oh, wait, here it is!” Bringing the file up on the desktop, Mimosa strolled back over.

Skimming one of the passages written in it, Kale mumbled to himself.

“SPECTRA is designed to interface with user perception and reasoning…”?”

“What does that mean?” Mimosa asked, tilting her head. Kale didn’t respond. “...Kale? Why do you look so pale?”

“This… this means that SPECTRA can access people’s minds!” He exclaimed.

“Wait, what!?”

A ringtone cut them off.

Both of them whipped their heads towards one of the buttons on a podium near the very center of the desk, which was now flashing yellow, playing a very loud, obnoxious ringtone. Kale groaned.

“Can you shut that off? I’m trying to read this.”

“You go shut it off!”

“I’m the one looking at valuable information here!”

“That information concerns me too, you know! Besides, what am I supposed to do!? You’re the tech guy here!”

“I don’t know, just–!”

Boop.

Both of them looked to see K-9 sitting on the podium, pressing his little front paws on the button. Both of them froze in horror as the lights shut off around them.

“Crap.” Both of them said in unison.

Mimosa ran forward, scooping K-9 up, only to get hit in the face with a spotlight. Squinting her eyes, she saw one of the walls light up with video screens. She immediately felt a cold sweat on the back of her neck as each figure popped up.

The first screen on the middle left lit up to show a woman with spiky red hair, blue eyes and pale skin, who almost seemed to be glowing. She had a on red jacket and a white v-neck, showing a small cybernetic device against her chest, a few lines in her skin stretching from it. As she lowered her arm from her screen and sat down, Mimosa could spot a black glove with some blue metal casing over it, stretching up to her elbow and disappearing under her sleeve. As the redhead focused on the screen, her eyes narrowed, a confused expression forming on her face as she noticed Mimosa. The bottom of her screen read KORSICA.

The screen to the middle right lit up next, revealing… another robot with black hair and a ripped jacket? No, wait, that robot was walking off screen, followed by a more familiar Department Head, his name clearly displayed on the bottom: CHAI. He approached a swivel chair the robot had pulled out for him and plopped into it, spinning around in it a few times with his arms behind his head and his legs out, seemingly uncaring and yet to have noticed Mimosa.

The screen to Chai's right lit up next, revealing another familiar face. The man Mimosa saw in CNMN’s photo appeared, adjusting his camera with his massive hands before sitting down. He had on a lab coat, overshadowed by the massive, green cybernetic shoulder casings over top of them. He had a big beard, and his glasses seemed to be glowing menacingly... before he pulled them off and wiped them clean with a comically small cleaning cloth, revealing his soft, yet dark eyes. He seemed to be averting eye contact as he put his glasses back on… that is, until he spotted Mimosa, to which he seemed to nearly jump out of his seat, worry spread across his face. The bottom of his screen displayed the name MACARON.

The far left screen next to Korsica lit up next, revealing another dark-skinned man with a big old beard, but with a smaller stature and without a full head of hair, only a few thick clumps of graying strands spiked upwards just above his ears. He had on a purple vest over a white shirt, suspenders, a striped pink tie, a monocle in front of his blue eyes… honestly, Mimosa would normally consider him a fashion disaster, but it worked on him somehow. He was adjusting his monocle when he noticed Mimosa, dropping it in confusion. The name on the bottom of his screen read ROQUEFORT.

And finally, the screen in the very middle lit up as Peppermint walked into frame.

She sat down on her swivel chair and adjusted a few things, and Mimosa noticed a small cat approaching from the bottom of the screen. It was robotic, with blue lines stretching across the body and little wire whiskers. The cat hopped up onto Peppermint’s lap, curling up with a purr. She smiled and scratched the cat behind the ears.

“Okay, first and foremost, I think we need to tackle the elephant in the room. CNMN, progress report on the… de…fect…”

Her eyes finally landed on Mimosa. Mimosa stared back, frozen.

Peppermint glared.

“Who. The hell. Are you.”

“Who the hell are you?” She instinctively fired back at her. Peppermint blinked in confusion.

“I asked you first.”

“I asked you second!”

“Wait…” Peppermint squinted at her. “You’re the defect, aren’t you?!”

Mimosa scoffed and rolled her eyes, setting K-9 down beside her. “I have a name, you know! It’s Mimosa!”

Chai jumped in to the conversation. “Wait a sec… oh yeahhh. Hey, Peppermint, isn’t that the name we saw during orientation?”

“Ugh, of course it had to be the idiot who gave us her garbage to deal with…” She muttered.

“What, can the biggest tech company in the world not handle an itty bitty personal request?” Mimosa complained.

"That's not our job, hand it over to a SCR-UB unit next time."

"Well thank goodness it isn't your job, since you screwed up so royally! I was under the assumption that the CEO of a tech company could tell the difference between a trash can and a chest cavity!"

“Wait, what!?” Peppermint gawked. Her eyes drifted down, noticing the small metal plating near Mimosa's chest, but before she could look any further...

Macaron cut in. “Uhm, sorry to intrude, feel free to ignore me, it’s… probably nothing, but–”

Peppermint groaned. “Spit it out, Macaron.” She snapped.

“Where’s CNMN?” He spat out, sounding much more anxious than before.

An idea came to Mimosa, and she smirked. “One moment.”

She knelt down next to K-9, pointing at what was left of CNMN with one hand. “Go boy, fetch!”

While K-9 darted off, she glanced over her shoulder at Kale. He mouthed the words “stall them!” as he rushed off to go do something, and she held a thumbs up.

Returning with CNMN’s head, K-9 presented it to her. Mimosa turned back to the other department heads. “Oh, haven’t you heard?”

She grabbed it and held it up to them, while K-9 hopped up on her shoulder, giving a smug look. They earned many gasps of surprise and horror.

“News Flash! Head of Production Produces Poor Payoff Against The Queen of Spin!” She glanced at Kale. “...With some minor assistance.” She mumbled under her breath. “Sounds like a good fluff piece, no?”

Chai looked away. “Man, he is messed uuuuup!”

Macaron gasped. “CNMN! Oh no, buddy! I-It’s okay, I’ll patch you up!”

“No need to worry, sir Macaron! I am fine–”

Mimosa screamed, dropping CNMN’s head as the robot spoke up.

Clank! His head hit the floor, now sporting a static smile.

“You can still talk!? And how did you draw on a new face–!?”

“Oh, this is just a flesh wound.” CNMN responded.

Before she could point out that he had no flesh to speak of, Peppermint spoke up.

“Korsica, send your workers to Production ASAP! Detain them!”

"Yes ma'am." Korsica nodded and logged off.

“Chai, get to work on covering this up. I don’t need the press to hear anything about this.”

“Yeah, yeah, sure, whatever, I’m on it.” Chai rolled his eyes and logged off.

“Macaron.” The larger man flinched, which was a rather amusing sight to Mimosa. “We’re having a talk after this–”

He logged off before she could finish. Peppermint sighed.

“And Roquefort… just calculate the damages and report back to me.”

“But ma’am, I just finished recording the property damage of what happened in QA. Maybe I can reschedule our next meeting or–”

“I don’t want to hear it. Do what I tell you.”

Roquefort just sighed and followed the other four in logging off.

Mimosa was watching this all go down, softly laughing under her breath. Even K-9 seemed to be mimicking her body language, laughing as well. Peppermint glared.

“What’s so funny?”

“Oh, it’s you and your little crew. You’re all so hilarious, scrambling around all because Kale, K-9 and I roughed up one of your little lackeys, and with your own tech no less!” She exclaimed, relishing in the high of watching them panic.

“Kale?”

Mimosa felt her stomach drop. Peppermint’s tone of voice was more hostile than ever before. It wasn’t hard for her to read the room.

It was at that moment that she realized...she messed up.

“Did I say ‘Kale’? Sorry, sorry, er, slip of the tongue, I meant my good friend…” She trailed off, sweating. Suddenly, she snapped her fingers, throwing out the first alternative that came to mind. “Kelp! Yeah, my good friend, Kelp! He and I are the ones taking you down and–”

SLAM!

Kale hit the button with his fist, promptly logging out of the call in a flash. Mimosa gulped as she turned to him, meeting his piercing glare.

“...So I think I may have made a tiny, itty bitty little mistake.”

“YOU THINK!?” He snapped.

“Okay, well, here’s the thing, I…” Mimosa went on to provide a lengthy excuse, which Kale was having none of. He turned to hear footsteps approaching the office. Security was coming. And fast.

Kale ran to the back of the room and opened up a trap door on the floor. He whistled and K-9 hopped over, using his paws to hold it open as Kale dashed back over to Mimosa.

“...So I might have let my pride get to me, but that’s just an endearing quirk of mine and–woah!”

Suddenly, Kale scooped her up bridal style, catching her by surprise.

“...Kale, I’m flattered, but I’m not interested.”

“Neither am I.” He said, approaching the trap door and proceeding to toss her in like a sack of flour.

Mimosa screamed as she fell, and Kale and K-9 hopped in after her, closing the trap door behind them just as security flooded into the office.

Chapter Text

“And another thing!”

“Siiiiigh…”

Mimosa put her head in her hands as Kale paced back and forth in front of the couch, having gotten on her case for the past 20 GODDAMN MINUTES about having brought up his name in front of the Department Heads. She would’ve felt genuinely bad, at least a little bit... if he had stopped after the first 5 minutes. Now it was becoming nothing but white noise to her.

K-9 sat on the couch beside her, watching all of this with a neutral expression, not a single thought behind his eyes. Mimosa turned to him as Kale continued to ramble, lifting her hand up and making a little ‘blah blah blah’ hand motion, even making a goofy face as she mouthed Kale’s words. K-9 howled with laughter.

Kale, noticing this, slammed his hands down on the coffee table, jolting Mimosa and K-9 back into focus.

“Are you even listening!?”

“You see, I was… but then you turned it into a lecture, and I lost interest.”

Kale groaned. “You ruined everything! Because of your little stunt, I need to change my whole plan!”

Mimosa tilted her head. “I thought your plan was already complete? We got the SPECTRA info you wanted.”

“That’s the thing. I thought it was complete, because I didn’t think it’d be about mind control!”

“Oh, right.” Mimosa leaned back, crossing one leg over the other. In the midst of Kale shoving her away from CNMN's computer, having to talk with the Department Heads, and getting an essay from Kale for her completely innocent slip of the tongue, the mind control situation had, ironically, slipped her mind. “Mind filling me in? How does that even work?"

Suddenly, Kale paused, concealing a smirk. “You know what? Allow me to show you.”

This demonstration wasn't immediate, however. A few long, awkward minutes passed, mostly consisting of Kale typing away while Mimosa tried to teach K-9 some tricks. Cozy on the couch, she waved a bone-shaped squeaky toy in front of his face.

“Okay, try and catch it this time!” She said, before tossing the bone in the air. However, just when K-9 was about to catch it… Kale whistled, grabbing his attention. Ignoring the bone, the small wolf dashed over to his owner. Mimosa sighed as the squeaky toy hit the ground, emitting a disappointing squeak! Kale handed K-9 something and scratched the wolf behind the ear, before gesturing for him to run back to Mimosa.

“Hey, he almost had it that time–” K-9 suddenly hopped back onto the couch, smacked her back with his paw, and stuck something into her spine implant. She noticed a wire running from it all the way to Kale’s desk. “Hey!”

“Remember how I said it’s hidden in Armstrong Tech?”

“Hey, you are not using me as a guinea pig! Try it on yourself if you’re so insistent!” She spat, futilely pawing at the wire in an attempt to yank it out.

Kale just shrugged and turned back to the screens on his desk. “I don’t have any tech. Even if I had any, it wouldn’t be Armstrong Tech of all things. Euck…” He responded, as if the mere thought disgusted him. “Anyways, with just a few little tweaks and a command…”

Mimosa, ignoring him, just huffed and continued to grasp at the wire. Just as she succeeded, however… her hand froze.

Everything froze.

Her grip released and her arm shot to her side. Wait, no, she was going to… wait, what was she trying to do? Her thoughts were… fuzzy, like her mind was fogged over. She stood up, her body as rigid as a wooden board. Her posture was straight, her legs were stiff, even her hair barely budged as she moved. It almost felt like her breath was sucked out of her lungs too, and her music player’s steady beat almost seemed to pulse in her ears, like a heavy buzzing.

“You can make anyone with Armstrong Tech do anything you desire!” Kale exclaimed, but even his more enthusiastic tone of voice was lost in the sea of whatever her mind was drowning in. It felt like she was underwater, her brain and body submerged in something as soft as cotton candy, but as thick as molasses.

“For example… how about you go make me a cortado?”

“Right away.” In contrast to Kale’s fainter, more distant voice, hers was unbearably loud in her own ears. Her mouth moved on its own, and so did her body. She was sitting in the passenger seat of her own body, simply watching as her limbs went into motion once she got close enough to his coffee machine.

She blinked, and before she knew it, she was standing in front of Kale, coffee in hand.

Just as her hands began to slide forward and hand him his drink, K-9 pulled the cord out of her back. She gasped as she shot back into reality, the world around her becoming so much louder and brighter, yet calmer and dimmer at once, to an almost overstimulating degree. Then, all at once… everything was back to normal.

She blinked. Kale blinked. The two made eye contact.

Mimosa spilled his drink on his lap. “Whoops.”

Kale shot up, with his trench coat now drenched in coffee. “Hey! Great, and this was my good coat…” He complained, as the coffee soaked into the fabric.

“Never do that ever again!” She hissed.

“It was just a demonstration, you’ll live.” He said, grabbing a few paper towels and dabbing at the stains on his coat. “You understand how much power they have over you and the other test subjects now, right?”

“Okay, okay, your point is made! Euck, that felt so gross… like a lucid nightmare. Or full-body pins and needles.” She shivered. Noticing her discomfort, K-9 nuzzled against her leg, earning a soft smile from her.

“Anyways, I know you’re going to hate what I have to say next.” Kale said, tossing the paper towels aside.

“Lay it on me.”

“You need to keep working for me.” He said, before standing up and beginning to pace in front of her. “Now, I know what you’re going to say. You’re probably going to say that you’ve already fulfilled your end of the bargain…”

“Uh, Kale?”

“But it turns out this whole situation is a lot bigger than either of us anticipated, and you’re a part of this, whether you like it or not.”

“Kale.”

“Not to mention you messed everything up for me, so it’s only right that you make it up to me by helping to take this company down once and for all–”

“Kale!”

“WHAT!?” Kale, incredibly annoyed by her interruptions, whirled back around to face her. “What is it, already!?”

Mimosa crossed her arms. “I’m in.”

A beat passed between them. Kale stared at her, ever so slightly dumbfounded. “Really?”

“What, is it really that much of a shock?”

“I was sort of expecting you to try to weasel your way out of this.”

“Are you kidding? I'd have to be an idiot to try to walk away from this. I thought this was just some useless gossip you were digging up from under their layers of terrible business practices, but now that I know how big this is…” She suddenly threw one of her arms around his shoulders and gestured dramatically with her other hand.

“This is the perfect opportunity! Just picture it now! We stop this mind control plot, and when we expose Vandelay for all its rotten decisions, I’ll be a hero!” She paused, noticing the glare on Kale’s face, and quickly corrected herself. “...We’ll be heroes! From there, I use that reputation to jumpstart my career as a Pop Sensation! I'll be a star!”

She exclaimed all of this with enthusiasm, practically with stars in her eyes. Kale, in turn, gingerly picked her arm up by the wrist and gingerly removed it from his shoulders. “Whatever gets you to cooperate. So, do we have a deal?”

“Indeed.” Mimosa nodded and held her hand out yet again, to which Kale returned it with a handshake. “So, what’s our next course of action?”

“I’ll get to that…” Kale looked down at his coffee stained clothes. “As soon as I get another cortado. And a change of clothes.”

“Mission briefing.” Kale slowly stood up from his desk. “So according to the files on SPECTRA, it’s a…” He paused to read what was on the many screens. “...”Multi-faceted cognitive AI algorithm”…”

“Just simplify it. Saves us the time and effort.” Mimosa commented from her spot on the couch, absentmindedly scratching K-9 behind the ear as the pup rested his head in her lap.

“Right, let’s just go with AI. So with SPECTRA being an AI, there’s one place to go to find out more about it, and thus, stop it.” He sauntered forward before slapping down a map of the island on the coffee table. “The AI labs in the R&D Department.”

“Okay, I’m picking up what you’re putting down. So where’s the R&D department again?” Mimosa scanned the map, only to see… well, nothing that was marked as R&D.

“Oh. Forgot to unravel this part.” Kale suddenly flipped down a folded part of the map near the bottom… and then flipped it again, and again, and again, until a newly unfolded strip of the map was revealed… far, far below the surface. He pointed at a giant tunnel going down underground, to a building surrounded by stalagmites. “It’s below Vandelay Island, surrounded by magma.”

“Ah, OSHA violation #37.” She groaned. “What’s even the point of putting it there?”

“Something about it being an “natural source of energy for their labs”? I don’t know. Not important. What is important is that it’s our best shot for shutting down SPECTRA. And the only person that could possibly get in our way down there is him.”

With a flutter of paper, Kale slapped down a cross-hatched drawing, this time of an actual person instead of a robot like CNMN. Broad shoulders, dark skin, shady eyes hidden behind a pair of perfectly balanced glasses, big, bold, green cybernetics all over his arms… yep, she was familiar with him.

“Oh, right, him. What was his name again? Macaroon?”

“Macaron.” He corrected her. “He’s the Head of R&D, and our biggest threat.”

“'Big threat' is right. He’s… huge.” Mimosa commented, remembering his massive arms and large build from the few glimpses she got of him via that photo and the video chat. Not to mention those green-and-silver cybernetics… they only served to make him look even larger and more intimidating than he already was.

“Yep. He’s decked out in cybernetic casings all over his arms and legs. Not quite full limb replacements, but they’re sure to pack a punch… if he’s even confident enough to throw one.” Kale sneered.

“What do you mean?”

“From what I’ve gathered, he’s a coward. He hates getting involved in conflict and confrontation, even with most of his own workers, and tries to minimize it. If any work gets done in R&D, either he does it all, or his workers do. Very little overlap.”

“Why do his workers even bother listening to him if he’s such a wuss?”

“There's a few incident reports I found of some unlucky bots that pushed his buttons a bit too hard. The end result? They were almost unsalvageable. And considering you tore CNMN apart-"

"We tore him apart." She corrected.

"And displayed his head like a trophy…”

“In a moment of weakness and relatable pride.”

“Just… it's best to steer clear of him, if you can. Anyways, the goal is still roughly the same. Sneak into the AI labs and stop SPECTRA. In and–”

“Don’t.” Mimosa snapped. “Do not say "in and out". Don’t jinx it.” She said, already starting to stand up, K-9 in her arms.

“Before I go… please, please tell me they have air conditioning down there. Or vending machines. I can already tell I’m going to get dehydrated as hell.”

“Here.” He tossed her a water bottle. She barely caught it in her free hand. “This should hold you over until you get to the main building.”

“Great…” She groaned, before glancing down at K-9, who looked up at her. “Should I bring a water bowl for him or..?”

“Mimosa. He’s a robot dog. He doesn’t need to eat or drink. I think he’ll live.”

“Really? If he doesn’t need to eat, how come he was chewing up your shoes earlier?” She asked.

“Excuse me?”

Mimosa looked down at her imaginary watch. “Oh would you look at the time! Got to go destroy SPECTRA, byeeeeee!” Mimosa dashed out of the hideout, with K-9 in her arms.

“MIMOSA! GET BACK HERE! WHEN DID HE GET INTO MY SHOES!? MIMOSA–”

Clink, clack, clank!

“Kale, am I getting close?” Mimosa whined, wiping her brow as she crawled through the vents. The heat had been growing steadily, which, while a good sign that they were getting close, was just filling her with more dread. If it was already this hot, then she sure hoped there wasn’t more to go! It didn’t help that K-9 was chilling on her shoulder the whole time. That heavy, heated furball was lucky he was cute enough to have the privilege of resting on her shoulder…

“Almost. Just go down that vent and–”

CRASH!

THUD!

Mimosa yelped as she fell down a vent shaft, crashed through the covering, and landed on the ground below.

K-9 then proceeded to fall on top of her, landing on her stomach and knocking the wind out of her. Kale suppressed a snicker as Mimosa grunted and slowly pushed herself up, with K-9 nuzzling against her leg as an apology.

“Well, here I am…”

She approached the edge of the platform she was on, one of her hands hooking onto the metal gates surrounding it for support, while the other held her mic. She glanced at the deep cavern of hot rock ahead of her. “I assume I’m heading this way?”

“Yep, just go through that tunnel and go from there. Oh, and…”

He gestured through K-9 to the ground beneath her past the platform, composed of rocky platforms balanced on pools of magma. Hot, scalding magma.

“Watch your step.”

Now Playing: Bummerland by AJR
It's my all time low,
And I just can't wait!
'Cause the quicker I'm there,
Is the quicker I'll say,
Bummerland,
Here I am,
Better nix my summer plans.
Bummerland,
Give a cheer,
'Cause you're only going up from here!

Mimosa didn’t waste any time. With a hop, a skip, a jump and a swing, she was already on her way, carefully maneuvering over the platforms and dodging occasional geysers of magma shooting up around her. She only paused briefly to glance at a few things jutting out of the ground around her, such as metal gates around the edges, and… crystals? Large, multicolored crystals jutted out of the walls and the ground around her, sparkling and shimmering in the light of the magma.

Unfortunately, they were all far too large for her to pocket any of them. She even took a few seconds to jab at them, but nope. They were far too sturdy for her to break off even a little piece to bring with her.

…As a souvenir, of course. She totally wasn’t tempted to steal one to sell later or use it to decorate her room. Nope. Not at all. Moving on.

Slowly, the walls around her warped, from endless rocky walls, stalagmites, and lava-falls to construction signs, boxes, barrels, and arrows. Many, many arrows. Well, those were convenient.

Just as she climbed up on a higher platform, she heard something crackle to life above her.

“This is a message from the Finance Department.”

Mimosa stopped in her tracks, curiously looking up at a drone carrying a screen above her. Roquefort’s face was on it.

“Due to budget cuts, the cost for construction materials has been cut in half. So just… don’t drop anything valuable in the lava. I’ve already got a headache, don't add to it."

“Construction, hm?” Mimosa spoke up as the screen clicked off. “Is that why there’s so much yellow and black everywhere?” She gestured vaguely to her surroundings as she strutted along, noting the many yellow-black construction signs, as well as many “CAUTION: DO NOT ENTER” lines of tape, which she casually tore through.

“Yep! They’re doing some expansion down here, which gives us a gap to sneak in. Clever, huh?”

“More concerning than anything. The last time I walked over platforms in a construction zone, it was...” She sighed, remembering the steam room incident on her way to CNMN’s office. “...Not pleasant, to say the least.”

“It’ll be fine, as long as we don’t run into any of those drones.”

“...Kale?”

Mimosa pointed towards the sky, in which she saw a bunch of those drones hovering above them, like a terrifying flock of bomb-wielding birds. One of them noticed her and waved to grab the attention of his buddies. They curiously turned, saw her, and started to approach all at once.

Kale sighed. “Nevermind. Note to self: Never have hope.”

Mimosa was already sprinting along. There was absolutely no way she was dealing with those things unless they were on more solid ground! Especially not near MAGMA of all things! The only thing that sounded more terrifying than nearly plummeting into possibly-scalding water in the Production facility, was plummeting into burning hot magma!

On one hand, it was easy to evade the little guys coming after her. Despite their speed, air time, and numbers, they had to pause to aim and throw their bombs. She had enough time to easily slide out of the way of each and every explosion that shook the ground around her. The biggest downside was all of the splashes of lava erupting behind her from the blasts! It might as well be a cloud of boiling hot rain chasing after her!

But no biggie, she could handle it. She just kept up this pace, she’d be fine–

“ WoahwoahWOAH-!!!” Mimosa screeched to a stop as she reached a gap of lava she couldn’t just jump over. It was far too wide for her to clear. She frantically scanned the rocky ceiling above, looking for places she could hook onto. No such luck. Nothing but a jagged ceiling, excluding one of the stalagmites above her, with what looked like little bundles of sticks taped around it. Big, red sticks with “TNT” on them, all connected to a fuse.

“God, why dynamite!?”

“I'm guessing they use those to clear out the rock formations.”

“Ugh, it’s like they want to blow me sky-high!” She complained.

“There she is!”

Mimosa tensed up, looking behind her as the drones grew closer.

“Crap! Kale, do something! I can’t get across!”

“What am I supposed to do!?”

“I don’t know! Knock the rock down or something!? Make me a bridge!? Throw me over the gap!?”

“I couldn’t reach it if I tried! And you’d probably just be thrown straight into the pool of magma!”

Mimosa groaned, unsure of where to go from here. Ugh, why did she have to be surrounded on all sides by explosives of all things!? She’s had enough of them for a lifetime–!!!

Wait.

…Actually… This was perfect. Turning around to face the drone bots, she put on a confident smile, which Kale picked up immediately.

“What are you planning?”

“Just trust me. I've got an idea.” She whispered, before smiling at the drone bots. She shook off the scrap metal from her weapon, sheathed it into her spine implant, and held her hands up in surrender.

“Well, you’ve got me. Go on, come close, get a clear shot of me. I won’t resist.” She said, a calm smile on her face.

The drones actually paused for a moment, bombs in hand, looking amongst each other. And then, they actually started… speaking. Huh. She didn’t think these ones could talk.

“Uh, guys, a thought occurs. This girl took out CNMN with nothing but a sharp ass squeegee and a wolf-shaped bobblehead, and now she’s surrendering… are we sure we want to mess with her?”

“Yeah, she’s just kind of standing there. Menacingly. Is this a trap?”

“I mean, there’s, like, 10 of us and 1 of her, I think the math adds up in our favor.”

“Eh, good point.”

With that, all of them readied their bombs, prepared to throw them straight at her. Gently scooping K-9’s ball form into her arms, she closed her eyes and waited, focusing on the beat of her music player. These drones tended to take a beat or two before they threw their bombs, so if she timed it right...

1, 2, 3, 4… 1, 2, 3!!!

Just as those drones threw the bombs at her, she jumped… at them. Or, well, rather… past them. She leapt, almost flying through the air as the bombs whizzed past her and she soared between the group of bots, before landing on the lower platform behind them in a kneeling position.

The drones, confused, only had the briefest of moments to look between her and the dynamite before realizing they royally screwed up.

Mimosa held K-9 tight as the bombs made contact with the other explosives, detonating in a ground-shattering blast! The drones flew back from the force, the closest ones getting shredded instantly, and the remaining ones being thrown into the lava surrounding them.

As the explosion faded away, Mimosa slowly stood up, gently pushing the small, floating wolf ball back into the air beside her. She took a good long look at her surroundings and smiled proudly.

Where there stood a clean river of magma blocking her path, was now a big chunk of the stalagmite knocked across it, creating a bridge. And without a single drone in sight. She killed 10 birds with one stone, and made a bridge out of it too. She laughed.

“I guess you can say that my little surprise blew them away.”

Kale smiled. “Okay, okay, good one. Now let’s keep going.”

As she carefully strolled over the magma river, carefully balancing across the hunk of rock, he motioned to the seemingly endless cave system ahead.

“We’ve got a lot of ground to cover.”

“With very little ground to stand on…” She sighed.

“Woah. What a view…”

Mimosa stood near one of the ledges of a platform(albeit at a safe enough distance) as she gazed out at the cave before her. Ignoring the obnoxious amount of arrows pointing her to her location, and the overbearing heat (rip to her water bottle, it was long gone at this rate), it was… almost mesmerizing. Though, part of that may have been because of her music player powers.

The crystals jutting out of the walls and the ground sparkled and shimmered in time, the lava spires flowed like an elegant, deadly fountain, and even the many crates darting along the dozens of rails above her moved in steady, rhythmic motions.

She slowly began to walk along again, gazing upon everything like she was on a tour.

“Too bad for you, Kale, you’re missing out.”

“Ah, yes, of course I am. I’m so jealous that I’m not the one running around in a blisteringly hot cave and sweating my ass off. Guess I’ll just have to make do with my air conditioning.” God, the sarcasm was so thick she could slice it with her mic.

“Iced coffee exists, Kale. You have no excuse.” She said as she hooked onto an open rail and sped down it.

“Mimosa, I’m going to say this as politely as possible… an iced cortado is an affront to nature and I will not be accepting criticism on the matter.” He snapped.

Detaching from the rain, she landed on a lower, circular platform.

“Hey! You! You’re not a part of my crew!”

Just then, a bulky blue bot pointed at her from a higher rock formation, wielding a longer blade than she’s seen any of the other bots use. So long, in fact...that it threw them off balance and onto the platform below. Climbing back to their feet, they suddenly whistled, and Mimosa heard a crackling cackle in the distance.

Vrooom!

A robot she could best describe as a motorcycle with a torso zipped in, wielding a weapon almost similar to hers. It looked like a bizarre staff with a drill-shaped end, which it twirled proudly and confidently. Rolling in, it sped a circle around Mimosa, kicking up dirt and sending her coughing for a moment.

“Let's get her!” The larger bot exclaimed.

The sword came down through the dust, barely missing her by an inch. Sliding back a bit, she reeled her mic back and swung it at them!

…Only for it to bounce off a blue shield. Great.

But this shield was a bit different. Raising a brow, she saw what looked like a glowing blue string attached to the top, running all the way down to the staff the wheeled bot wielded. Holding it proudly like a flag pole, he jammed the drilled end of it into the ground. Mimosa sighed.

“Kale, you take care of the big one. I’ll handle this one.”

“On it.”

Snapping her fingers, Kale hopped into the fight, already darting straight for the larger bot. Mimosa, meanwhile, dashed towards the motorcycle bot and attempted to hit him.

…But then it zipped out of the way and she missed. And then she swung. And then she missed again. And then she swung, and then she missed. This went on for almost a minute straight.

Mimosa groaned and grabbed the wire off her mic, twirling it like a lasso. “Fine! If you're too shy to approach, I'll just bring you to me!”

She threw it with all her might and managed to hook onto their torso. Perfect. She smirked. “Now you’re not going anyWHEEEEEERE–”

Suddenly, the bot shot off like a rocket, dragging Mimosa behind them. She barely managed to steady her heels as they dragged across the dirt, with her floundering about and barely keeping her balance as she was dragged around. At one point she ended up slamming straight into the drilled staff that the bot had plunged into the platform, snapping it in half by accident. There was the faint sound of those blue shields dissipating, but she was too focused on not faceplanting into the dirt to check. She was half tempted to let go, but with this kind of momentum, she would probably get thrown into the lava like a frisbee!

“WOAH WOAH WOAH WOAH WOAH, HEEL, HEEL! SLOW DOWN YOU LITTLE–”

In a desperate attempt to stop them, or at least ground herself, she grabbed one of the nearest objects with a free hand, which happened to be one of those giant crystals. She hooked her arm around it and gripped it tight , which startled the wheeled bot as they suddenly came to a halt. The bot instead tried to speed up, in an attempt to keep dragging her around, or to snap the wire, putting more and more tension on it.

Gritting her teeth, she held on as tight as she could. Now that she was steady, she noticed Kale practically swordfighting the other bot with his own blade. He was keeping the bot pretty busy, all things considered, leaving singed marks across the metal of the bot now that the blue barrier around it was, indeed, gone.

Just then, she looked behind the two of them as they stepped in front of the wheeled bot. Endless magma.

“Kale!” She exclaimed, grabbing his attention for a second. “Step back!”

“What? Why!?”

“Just do it!”

Kale begrudgingly complied, stepping back a moment and allowing for the larger bot to advance towards him. Kale readied his blade to block as the bot raised his own…

And that’s when Mimosa unraveled her wire.

With the momentum built by the wheeled bot, it unintentionally shot off at full speed with no room for control… and headed straight for their larger companion by accident. The two collided, and the force sent both of them careening into the lava with a scream, and then a sizzle.

Letting out a sigh of relief, Mimosa stepped away from the crystal and towards Kale, giving him a pat on the shoulder. “Nice work.”

“Thanks. Now, if you’ll excuse me… I’m practically boiling out here. Air conditioning, here I come.” With that, Kale vanished in an instant.

“Lucky…” She muttered.

Going along her way, Mimosa began to carefully climb up what felt like a hill of scrap metal platforms and dirt. Groaning in frustration, she almost regretted going into this with heels on, but honestly? It was worth it to kick ass like this. She was doing this in style and no one could stop her!

Reaching the top of the hill, she spotted what looked like way too many god damn signs pointing her in her direction, which was another open rail. What, did the signage guy think she was that dumb? This was literally the only way for her to go! It wasn’t rocket science or brain surgery. God, it felt almost condescending at this point. Whoever was in charge of this needed a lesson in minimalism.

“That rail should take you straight to the R&D entrance.” Kale chimed in as K-9 switched from ball form to wolf form, landing beside her.

“Got it.” She said, taking a step… before noticing something out of the corner of her eye. A familiar, blue glow in the midst of the red hot atmosphere. Another tablet, on top of a small crate. “Oh hello! What do we have here–”

There was a body.

Mimosa yelped and reeled back, only to quickly sigh with relief once she got a solid enough look at what was behind the crate. The limp body of a robot, surrounded on all sides by signs. Thank god.

“They’re deactivated. Chill out.” Kale said, gesturing to the soulless eyes of the bot.

Mimosa just sighed with relief and picked up the tablet. “I knew that.” She lied.

Scrolling through the tablet and reading it aloud, she found it was full of service logs about the job given to the bot: to go around and place arrows to direct people where to go. Well, at least she found the one in charge. She scrolled through the logs with an uninterested gaze, looking for the juicy bits in the sea of boredom about signs specifics… until…

"SUBJECT: R&D Service Log: Part 4

What was it all for? All these arrows to lead to... a rail? We can't even use these!

It's like I was put on this planet for someone else. Like these arrows weren't for me but for some greater being. "Those who come next.""

Mimosa raised a brow as she reached the last log. Her attention was caught.

“I slipped on a loose rock, ankle ball joint is all messed up. This may be my last sign, better make it count. This is the way out of here. Don’t lose hope. And don’t get too involved in the job. I already sense it, my replacement.”

She paused and glanced at the robot again, her face less curious and more… somber now. She felt that weird feeling in her gut again, that weird, gross weight she felt when she was in CNMN’s office. She went quiet as she read the last line in her head.

“I’ll be lost to time, forgotten, but I’ll have shown the way. That’s what counts.”

…

She set the tablet back down on the crate and just stared at the robot for a long, long time. And then she glanced between them and the dozens of signs pointing to the right way to go.

Why… why was she still standing here? This was just another bot, just another disposable hunk of metal who either stood in her way or stood in the background, made to be nothing more than servants, or even furniture. But…

Ugh, she hated this! This… gross feeling in her gut. It hurt. Why did reading that last part hurt so bad?

Snap. Snap. Snap!

“Mimosa! Hey! Earth to Mimosa! What’s gotten into you?” Kale asked, finally snapping her out of her daze, quite literally. She blinked and shook her head to clear her thoughts, taking in a deep breath.

“It’s… it’s nothing. Just lost my train of thought. Let’s keep moving.” She said, scooping K-9 up.

“Before I end up like them.” She mumbled.

Hooking her wire onto the rail, she was lifted off her feet and took off, zooming past rock walls, pillars, and lava flows from above. As she twisted and turned in the air along the rail, the image of the R&D department came into view. A series of connected circular platforms, all leading up to a giant door, with a glowing neon sign on the top that said ‘ R&D DEPARTMENT’. Hard to miss.

“There it is! Coming in… hot.” Mimosa snickered, opting for a quick and easy topic change: puns!

Kale chuckled. “Ready to turn up the heat , are you?”

“Oh, I won’t need to. They’re not nearly ready enough for my magma- nificence.”

“You’re on a roll. Guess I can say you’re on fire.”

“Okay, okay, let’s stop before we get burnt out. ”

“Right, right, but you have to admit, these puns were pretty ash -tounding.”

Both of them laughed to themselves as Mimosa landed.

The second her heels hit the ground, the first thing her eyes fell on out of everything else in the vicinity… was the closest vending machine, 5 feet away. She proceeded to calmly strut over to it, lift her weapon up… and smash the glass casing, before reaching in and grabbing a bottle, chugging the contents as she collapsed onto the bench beside it. Like hell was she going to pay for it. She walked all the way here with barely any layers on, and she was still sweating bullets! She deserved this, god dammit!

“Oh thank god. I couldn’t stand another moment melting my ass off out here.”

Suddenly, the intercom above her crackled to life, and a familiar Scottish voice echoed off the walls.

“Macaron, since you continue to ignore Peppermint and I’s emails about the situation, I’ve taken the liberty of announcing it here. The number of bots deployed for use in R&D has been temporarily reduced."

“Wh-What!?” Macaron exclaimed over his own intercom.

Mimosa perked up immediately, crossing one leg over the other as she got comfortable on the bench. “Nevermind, I can stay a bit longer.” K-9 casually hopped up next to her, tilting his own little head curiously as the two Department heads broke out into an argument. This sounded juicy.

“You heard me. This includes security personnel.”

“But I need bots for our tests!”

“Well due to the mishap in Production, the number of bots available for all of our use are cut short until things get running again. With your insistence of putting CNMN in charge in the first place, and CNMN being out of commission, the fault falls to you. Get used to it."

“Y-You can’t just do this! I–”

“Do you want to take it up with Peppermint?”

There was a pause between them, and Mimosa could practically hear the nervous whine in Macaron’s voice.

“Hmph… fine…” He sounded like he was pouting, which was hilarious to imagine.

Just then, a third voice crackled in.

“Oooooooh, Mac’s in troubleeee!”

“Chai, this is a private discussion!” Korsica spat.

“Not so private if it’s broadcasted! Haha! Oooh, man, it feels good to not be the one in trouble for once. About time they got on your case, Mac!” He jeered.

Macaron grumbled something illegible and then promptly disconnected from the conversation as Korsica continued yelling at Chai. Oh, if only these vending machines dispensed popcorn! This was hilarious!

“Chai, for the last time, stay out of our business! So help me, we’ll cut down Marketing's bot numbers too.”

“Sheesh, fine, fine. Whatever. Buzzkill.” He muttered.

Chai disconnected, followed by Korsica, who only let out a small sigh of annoyance in response. Mimosa laughed.

“Never thought this whole company would be so… rough around the edges.”

“It was hardly ever smooth sailing.” Kale replied. “Doubt it ever will be.”

“Perfect. More fun for me~” She sang as she finished the rest of her drink and tossed it in the trash can nearby. Scooping K-9 up and tossing him into the air, to which he popped into his ball form, she strutted her way to the big double doors leading into the building.

If their "announcements" were this entertaining, she was looking forward to what else they had in store.

Chapter Text

“We’ve got a lot of tests on our plate today. Everyone, get to work. If you need me…just…don’t. Please. I'm... I'm very busy right now.” Macaron’s voice rang out from the intercom.

“Transferring magma power to lab 44. Access to AI labs restricted until testing complete.”

“No no no no no! Wait!” Mimosa dashed forward, stopping in front of what looked like a little booth off to the side of one of the halls, where a familiar tired-looking, bulky blue bot was finishing that announcement. She slammed her hand down on the desk. “I need to get into those AI labs! It’s an emergency!”

“Yeah… unless this whole place catches fire, I'm not taking a request like that seriously. No access until testing is done.” She repeated, not even bothering to give Mimosa eye contact as she stamped one of the many papers on her desk.

“But the AI labs are right there.” She gestured to the doors behind the bot, with the words 'AI LABS' in big bold letters. It taunted her. “Come on, just do me a favor! Can’t you… you know, just turn the other way for a few seconds and let me sneak in? I'll be super discreet about it.”

“Yeah, well, Macaron has been really stressed and snappy recently, so I'm not gonna risk setting him off.”

Mimosa sighed and leaned forward, tapping the desk with her nails. “Listen, uh…” She trailed off. “...Linda?”

“LU-C1LLE.”

“LU-C1LLE! Right, right, of course, I knew that. Lovely name by the way. Are there any higher ups-preferably someone other than Macaron-that I can speak to?”

“If you really want to complain to someone, go to lab 44.” She gestured to the door further down the hall, labeled appropriately as ‘LAB 44’. “Otherwise, I can’t do much else for you, Karen.”

“Karen!?” She exclaimed. K-9, floating, howled with laughter. She glared at the pup for once. “Oh shut up, you… ugh, go and find something to chew on.” She gently waved K-9 away with her hand. The little ball-shaped wolf zipped off somewhere as she turned back to LUC-1LLE.

“My name is Mimosa!” She clarified.

“You get my name wrong, I’ll get yours wrong too.”

Mimosa scoffed. “Tch! Don’t you know who I am!? I’m–”

“The defect.” She said. Mimosa paled.

“You… recognize me?”

“Your wanted poster is right behind you.” She pointed to a screen behind Mimosa, which displayed a picture of her (thank god they got rid of that hideous drawing), along with a few words scrolling along the bottom.

‘WARNING: DEFECT ON THE LOOSE!’

“Oh… uh… well you're not turning me in so easily, got it!?” She held her weapon up menacingly at the bot. LUC-1LLE didn’t even flinch.

“I’m not going to turn you in.” She said, stamping a paper as if she weren’t being held at gun-point… er, well, mic-point.

“You’re… not?”

“No. I don’t get paid enough to do that. If they offered a reward or something, maybe, but the reward would probably just be a company pizza party or something, so...yeah. Not worth it.”

“Oh.” Mimosa slowly put her weapon down. “Thank you?”

“You’re welcome.”

“Anyways… Lab 44, hm?” She turned her nose up. “Fine. If I must. Come on, K-9, we’re leaving.”

K-9 trotted back up to her, this time in his regular form, with...something in his mouth. Mimosa recoiled at the sight. Some weird, green appendages were sticking out of his mouth, looking like a gaudy, neon-green spider.

“Euck, what do you have in your mouth? Come on, drop it.” She ordered, kneeling down and pointing at the ground. After a brief, stern stare-down between the two, K-9 begrudgingly spit it out. Ignoring the bite marks gnawed into it, it looked like a weirdly dressed plushie, with crooked eyes and a blocky, angled smile. Those aforementioned spider-looking appendages were sticking out of the head.

“What even is this?”

LU-C1LLE barely looked up. “Oh. That’s just merchandise of the old R&D head.”

“And they’re just lying around?”

“Kind of. They trashed most of them, but I didn’t really bother with that one. Worked as a neat-looking paperweight.”

“I can see that. He… sure looks like a character.” Mimosa said, nudging it with her foot.

“Yeah. He wasn’t the most responsible department head, or really the most sane, but at least nothing was boring around here when he was in charge. Don't know which I prefer. The insane crunch time, or the endless monotony. ”

Mimosa glanced back down at K-9, watching the pup eye up the plushie. “...Can we keep it?”

“Sure. It’s been collecting dust anyways.”

Overjoyed, K-9 happily scooped it back into his mouth and started ripping it to shreds. Mimosa just smiled, gave him a little ruffle on the top of his head, and gave LUC-1LLE a half-hearted way goodbye. K-9 trotted after her as she walked off.

Off to lab 44 they went. Down they went, through the long, dreary halls and past a few rooms, with nothing but blinking lights and arrows as her guide, and nothing but small test chambers off to the side to entertain her.

As they approached the next door, K-9 finally tossed the plushie aside, now torn in half with stuffing spilling out of both ends. Kale finally had an opening to take control of K-9 for a moment.

“Well, there goes our quick and easy route...” He complained. Mimosa just rolled her eyes. Since when was anything quick and easy with him? “On the bright side, I've mapped out a new route for us. If we can get through the lab 44 test labs, there should be a pretty straight shot to our destination."

"To the test labs we go, then."

Walking through another door, Mimosa found herself almost directly in front of another desk, much more sleek in design, with one of those secretary robots behind it. They made eye contact.

“Oh, hello. You must be our next test subject.”

“Test subject?” Mimosa looked on in confusion...and then a sly grin stretched across her face. Time to lie through her teeth. “Yes, yes, you’re absolutely right. Don't mind little old me, I'll just be heading in riiight now-"

“How interesting. I didn’t think they were allowing Project Armstrong subjects to apply so soon. In fact, you look rather familiar…” She squinted at Mimosa. Mimosa gulped. Oh. Right. The wanted posters. Please don't recognize her, please don't recognize her, please don't recognize her...

“What? Oh, I get that all the time. I just have one of those faces, you know?” She bluffed, hiding her weapon behind her side of the desk, while leaning on the desk with her other arm. "It's funny, people say I look like Marilyn Monroe all the time! In fact, you and I? We could be twins! Same hairstyle and everything."

A beat passed. The bot just sort of... exchanged an awkward glance with her.

"I...see... well, please proceed to the first lab, then." The secretary gestured to Mimosa's right. "It's right down that path. Rest assured, the process will be incredibly professional, and all insurance paperwork will be handled with grace and care...after the tests.”

“How… comforting.” Mimosa hissed, faking a smile as she turned and made her way towards the first lab. Ugh, the nerve of these robots...

"Keep that confidence of yours in check, Mimosa. We don't know what they've been working on down here."

Mimosa just shrugged, scooped K-9 up, tossed him into the air, and watched him pop into his ball form. She then twirled her mic with determination.

"Whatever they have in store, it's nothing I can't handle."

Now Playing: Magic Slapstick by Tape Five
Now this magic stick you see,
I always had it here with me,
Everywhere I go.
Like a family needs a singer,
A sin needs a sinner,
I'm the psychedelic swinger at the show!
Ain't no prophet or a pope,
Or some creature selling hope!
I just swing my thing, gotta swing my, swing my thing!
Ain't no shaming on a swing,
(I won't tell you what I think),
Gotta hit you with the only thing I've got!

Entering the first lab, she found it almost barren, with nothing except a door on the other side of the room, a few decorative tubes of flowing lava in the corners like massive lava lamps, and a bunch of screens across the walls with trap doors beside them. Very… minimalist.

Click!

The door clicked shut behind her.

Zip!

Just then, a wall of thin, green lasers appeared. Mimosa flinched as they came at her too fast for her to comprehend, but a sigh of relief left her body as they simply phased through her instead of slicing her to bits. She was then promptly jolted back into focus when those annoying red alarms started blaring again.

“What the…? Uh… sir? I think we’ve got a problem.” She heard a bot exclaim over the intercom, his tone of voice quickly going from chill and casual to very, very worried as he yelled for Macaron.

“Uh… handle it, then? Like I said?” Macaron cut in, sounding like he was trying his best to be dismissive about it.

“But, uh, what if that problem is an unidentified test subject?” He asked.

“Wh-What!?” Macaron sputtered, and Mimosa could hear the sound of heavy footsteps approaching through the intercom. “Which one of you set the cameras to 480p!?”

“None of us, sir, we swear!”

Mimosa glanced up at one of the screens, seeing that, indeed, it was set at 480p. Her figure on the cameras could barely be seen amidst the fuzziness of the camera quality, but she could definitely recognize herself. She smiled at K-9.

“Nice thinking, Kale. Now they definitely won’t see me coming.”

“Mimosa? That wasn’t me.”

“Wait, really? Then who-?”

“Sir? I just received an email.”

“Hold on, just…” Macaron let out a flustered sigh. “Move aside.”

A beat passed.

“This just says ‘hahahahahaha suck it loser’ in all caps. Signed by… Z? Who sent this!?” He groaned, while Mimosa stifled a laugh. “Just… send in the security drones. Let them take over from here.”

A panel on the wall beside the screens snapped open, and something shot out of it. A round ball of machinery jutted out, unfurling open like a glowing purple flower to reveal a cannon opening in the center. There was a soft ‘vrrr’ noise, and Mimosa easily slid back as a laser was shot where she was previously standing.

“Pff, easy work.” She said, unwrapping her wire and lassoing it around the cannon. She smugly laughed and then tugged it.

…And then tugged it again. And again. And again. And again, again, again, again, again, againagaianagain–

“Ugh, this stupid thing is attached to the wall!” She said, barely side-stepping the next blast. She unwrapped her wire with a huff.

“Let me take care of it. I’ll just hack in and shut it down. Just dodge the blasts in the meantime.”

“Fine.”

Mimosa proceeded to slide from side to side as the drone kept firing at her, while Kale typed away in the background. This dragged on for almost a minute, and the effort it took to dodge the blasts became… tedious. She quickly learned the beat at which it fired, and it wasn’t particularly quick, so now all she had to do was take a small step every few seconds, instead of having to throw herself out of the way like she expected. It was becoming too annoying to take seriously.

However, as she lazily stepped to the side at one point, swinging her mic from side-to-side out of boredom...one of the lasers managed to barely knick the metal on her mic! She gasped as it almost flew out of her hands, and the laser ricocheted off of it, slamming into the wall nearby. Mimosa stared at the mark on the wall for a few seconds, before glancing back at her mic. It reminded her of something...

“Kale, wait! Stop what you’re doing! I have an idea.”

“But I was just about to–!? Ugh, it’s your funeral. Have at it. You better not slip up.”

“I won’t.” She reassured as she closed her eyes, imagining herself on stage again.

Of course the adoring crowds cheering for her in the future wouldn’t just be loyal fans. The downside of fame was that no matter what, someone hated your guts, so she'd surely have a heckler or two. That, or some schmuck who didn’t understand boundaries, looking to catch her attention in any way possible. It’s happened to stars all around the world, having to duck and dodge random objects being thrown at them on the stage.

But Mimosa always imagined being the stand-out performer to knock them back, even just once...

She could see it now! Pouring her heart out on stage, spotting something soaring through the air at her, only to reel her mic back and…

1…2…1…2…1…

“…Mimosa, why are you lifting up your weapon, you can’t reach that-”

Block!

The laser bounced off of her mic, the energy being thrown straight back at it! A small explosion rang out as it connected, and the drone burst into pieces, the scraps collapsing to the floor.

“It exploded? Sir, I don’t think it’s supposed to do that.”

“M-Must've been faulty? Just… send in another.” Macaron ordered.

Another panel, to the left this time, opened up and popped out another drone.

“How did you…?”

“It's called reflex, Kale. Want to see me do it again?”

With that, Mimosa stood her ground and did it again. She took in a deep breath and focused on the movements, watching as the drone charged up, this time with what seemed to be two shots in store instead of one. And then…it fired!

Block! Block!

She fired both lasers right back at it, causing it to explode and crumble into dust!

“Why do they keep exploding!?”

“We don’t know, sir! A lot of bots have been doing that when damaged enough, actually…”

Mimosa and Kale both raised a brow now that they had a moment of reprieve. Kale was the first to speak up. “Are they not supposed to explode?”

“Don’t look at me, I just thought they all did that.” Well, it made sense that they’re not supposed to explode, otherwise that would end in disaster in all sorts of contexts. It gave her the vivid image of someone denting their microwave or hitting their TV and blowing a hole through a wall. Hilarious, but very impractical, and probably deserving of several hundred lawsuits. Oh, the PR nightmare that would cause...

The door on the other side of the room suddenly shot open. Mimosa wasted no time in leaving, her mic slung over her shoulder as Macaron and the programmer bot argued over the intercom.

“Y-You let them out!?”

“No, sir! The door opened on its own! Something’s hacking our systems!”

“Then find whoever is doing this and stop them! I’m not supposed to be worrying about something like this…” He whined.

Mimosa and Kale just snickered to themselves and kept moving.

Rounding down the hallway and passing through another door, she quickly spotted the second lab door in no time flat. She didn't even bother talking to the next secretary bot, casually dashing past her. She felt on a roll! Nothing could stop her now!

At least, nothing except a familiar brick-shaped bot with a familiar sign who stopped her in her tracks.

“Oh, hello there, friend! Are you here to go through the labs as well?”

“Oh, Smidge.” She stopped and set a hand on her hip. “Well… yes, I guess you can say that.”

“It seems to have done wonders for you already! You’re gaining so many new skills, like the <Parry>!”

“How are you doing that with your mouth?"

“Nevermind how I'm doing it! Anyways, allow me to elaborate on the potential perks! You see–” Smidge then proceeded to give Mimosa an annoyingly long lesson as to how parrying works, as she sat there on a chair nearby, only half-paying attention. She didn’t know whether to keep feeling concerned over the fact he knew everything about everyone at this rate, or to just get used to it. God, no wonder this talking smart fridge was so damn big, he held drinks and secrets.

“...And those are certainly all the potential uses of parrying!”

“Wow. Gee. Wonderful insight there.” She lied, casually taking and pocketing one of the drinks he held out to her. She was used to this routine. “I’ll be sure to practice all of…” She fumbled with her hand for a moment. “That.”

“Practice does make perfect! And failure is the best teacher.”

Suddenly, he set a robotic claw on her shoulder for the briefest of moments. Surprisingly, it didn’t feel… creepy, or invasive. It... actually felt comforting.

“So don’t be afraid to fail once in a while!”

With that, Smidge drifted off towards the other side of the room, perched near one of the chairs in the waiting room area beside a vending machine. Mimosa watched him leave, silently, before shaking her head to clear her mind, doing a 180, and running into the next room. That was all nonsense to her. She never failed. Failure wasn't in her vocabulary. And hypothetically speaking, even if she did fail, she wasn't going to do it again anytime soon.

...Probably.

It was silent as she walked into lab 2, with nothing but the sound of clicking and clanking machinery, and the bubbling lava-lamp feel of the tubes in the corners of the room. It looked almost exactly the same as the other room.

Almost.

Click! Two panels on the floor opened next to her feet.

“What the–Hey!” Mimosa exclaimed, as two bulky, claw-like limbs shot out from the floor, snapping around her ankles. She immediately grabbed her leg and tried to wrench it out from the claw, but with no luck!

“Whew...Okay, we managed to stop them. Finally.” Macaron spoke up, sighing with relief.

“Uh, Kale? A little help!?” Mimosa asked frantically, trying to wiggle her leg free with one hand while frantically snapping with the other.

Kale zapped in immediately at the first snap. “Alright, just hold still…” He lifted his weapon up, glowing hot like fire.

“Hey, hey, hey, we’re not resorting to amputation! I’m perfectly fine with the spine implant, I don’t need more prosthetics!” She exclaimed, frantically waving her arms around to stop him.

Kale rolled his eyes. “Relax, I’m not aiming for your leg. I'm going to slice these claws off.” With that, Kale swiped it down without hesitation!

…Nothing. Kale looked on in confusion before swiping it again. Again. And again. And again. After about the 10th swipe, he tried to hold it against the metal appendage, trying to melt through it with increased pressure… but when he pulled it away, nothing had changed. Looking closer, he could spot what looked like glowing red patterns all across the metal. He raised a brow.

“What the hell even is this? I haven’t seen materials like these…” He muttered, looking equally as confused as Mimosa.

“What the-!? How did…!? Why do we have a second intruder!?" Both Mimosa and Kale flinched at that. Uh oh. "The door didn’t open, who–!?...You know what? Doesn’t matter. I’m calling in security to deal with both of them, whoever they are.”

Fwip!

Thud! Thud! Thud!

A bunch of trap doors around the room opened up, and out came a bunch of bots, all armed and ready to go at a target stuck in the metal equivalent of a glue trap. Dammit, this was so unfair! Moving made up almost 90% of her battle strategy!

Kale cursed under his breath. “Dammit! This doesn’t look good… look, I’ll cover you. Just stay there.”

“Don’t really have a choice, here!” She groaned.

Kale charged at the bots, laser sword at the ready to tear through them. Mimosa took her eyes off of Kale jumping and plunging his sword through the torso of a bot to focus on the metal binds holding her down.

With a grunt, she managed to hook the curved end of her mic under one of the ankle holds, trying to rip it free in a way that wouldn’t slice her leg up like sushi. Unfortunately, it barely budged, no matter how hard she pulled at or sliced at it.

K-9 hopped out of his ball form with a ruff, immediately trying to chomp down on the metal like a dog would go at a bone… but nope. Nothing. Not even a little bite mark.

Meanwhile, Kale’s blade stabbed through the chest of one of the bots, and he yanked it out and swung it at the next as more began to flood in, much to the trio’s dismay. But Kale kept fighting, and Mimosa and K-9 kept trying to wear the trap down with whatever they had.

Vrr…

As Kale tried to push back one of the bots blocking a swipe, he looked over his shoulder to see one with an arm cannon...aimed right at Mimosa!

“Mimosa! Look out-!”

Zap!

Mimosa only barely had enough time to bring her weapon up in a startled attempt to shield herself.

Block!

The beam bounced off of her weapon, thrown right back at the bot, who collapsed as it slammed into them. They exploded as soon as they hit the ground.

Mimosa blinked in surprise. Kale blinked in surprise. K-9 blinked in surprise. Hell, even the other bots looked surprised. Mimosa looked down at her weapon and traded a smirk with Kale.

“Seems it’s not just the drones…” She whispered to herself, before extending her hand out towards one of the remaining enemies, beckoning them towards her.

One of them charged at her, raising their weapon back to swing at her. She took in a deep breath, feeling the beat of her music player flowing through her.

1, 2, 3…!

Block!

She parried just in time, knocking the bot off balance and sending them teetering back from the force, floundering their arms about. As they fell back, they found Kale’s laser sword stabbed right through their back and out their chest. Kale confidently ripped the sword out and then kicked the bot a few feet away, allowing for them to safely explode at a far enough distance. He then turned to the other bots and pounced, ripping them to shreds before they had a chance to react.

“Uh, security? Sorry, just a quick little bit of constructive criticism, nothing serious… but stopping threats is supposed to be your job, not mine!”  Macaron exclaimed, sounding panicked.

Click! Fwish!

Suddenly, the cuffs around her ankles snapped open and retracted back into the floor. Mimosa sighed with relief and rubbed at one of her ankles. God, those things chaffed…

“The intruders are free, sir.”

“What!? Who let them–!? Uh, crap, crap, crap… uh, this is an announcement to the intruder! If you can hear this… uh, congratulations on passing the tests! Move on to the next room, celebrate your achievements, and if you don’t destroy any more of our units, we can promise you a, uh… a prize! Yeah! How does a gift basket sound?! Heh, everyone likes gift baskets… right?” Macaron exclaimed, trying to stifle his stutters.

The door opened. Kale sighed with relief and zipped away as Mimosa dashed through the door, with K-9 right on her heels.

Entering the next room, Mimosa found herself in a dimly lit space with… very minimal decorations. A few mundane-looking streamers hanging from the wall, some balloons connected to helium containers, a “snack table”, if she could even call it that… and LUC-1LLE, with a crappy party hat on and balloons in one hand.

Seeing her, the disinterested bot pulled a string on a streamer ball with her free hand, causing a pathetic spray of glitter and streamers to hit the floor. A message rolled out: ‘YAY YOU MADE IT!’

“Woo hoo. Hurray. Yipee. You survived. Well, my job here is done.” She said bluntly, casually letting go of the balloons she was holding, allowing them to float up to the ceiling. Mimosa watched them rise with a blank look.

“What a… mediocre celebration. Is this all they gave you for decoration?” She asked, looking at her surroundings with an equally disinterested face.

“Mostly, yeah. We tried to use sparklers last time, but it lit the snack table on fire.”

Mimosa glanced at the table, noticing the burnt edges of the table cloth. Yikes.

“Is this… also all you really have going for snacks?” Mimosa gestured to the single chocolate cupcake lying on the table beside the pink pitcher labeled “punch”.

“We started out with a dozen of them. I was here for a while. Got hungry.”

“Hm. Fair enough. I’m taking the last one, then.” She felt like she should be more surprised, but she did run across (and tear apart) a few bots drinking soda before, so the prospect of robots being able to eat didn’t surprise her in the slightest. Confused her, maybe, but surprised her? Nope. Mimosa grabbed the last cupcake, wrapping it up in a napkin to save for later.

“Uh, Mimosa? I just got a private message.” Kale chimed in, hopping up on the snack table.

“What’s it say?”

“It says ‘UR WELCOME BY THE WAY. BE GRATEFUL. P.S. IGNORE THE CAPS LOCK, MY ASSISTANT BROKE THE KEYBOARD’. And then there’s just a bunch of emoticons and weird, menacing symbols after that…”

“Somehow that’s more threatening than anything Macaron’s done so far…” She mumbled, heading to the next room. K-9 hopped up into his ball form and followed after her.

“Well, they're on our side so I guess… beggars can’t be choosers."

“Whatever, I’ll take what I can get. So, how far are we from the AI labs now?”

“Let me check..." Kale took a moment to glance back at his map. "Right down this corridor…”

“Oh thank god!” She sighed with relief.

“Let me finish! ...And then through another door, down a rail–”

"Ugh..."

“Just keep heading this way, and it should be a clear shot to the AI labs.” Kale said, gesturing to a new set of doors her way.

“So I’m expecting another 5 mile trek?”

“Doing the math, actually it’s more like 3.”

She lazily kicked her foot at a stray piece of rock in her path. “Not much of an improvement. Now I actually hope he was serious about that gift basket offer. I need a little treat after all of my hardships!”

“You just grabbed a cupcake 20 minutes ago. And a drink before that.”

“...I need a big treat after all my hardships! Screw it, when I get rich and famous, I’m buying myself 12 gift baskets! 10 for me, and then 1 for you and 1 for K-9.” She gave K-9 a little scratch behind the ear.

Kale rolled his eyes, but he had a smile on his face. “How generous of you, Miss Queen of Spin.”

“It’s one of my best traits~ Second only to my humility, of course.” She laughed, before stepping through the next door and into what looked like another lab room.

And of course, Mimosa was greeted by those annoying alarms and a flash of red.

SLAM!

The door locked shut behind her, much louder than before.

Blip!

Suddenly, the monitor flicked on, and a still image of Macaron appeared. The image showed him with a stressed expression, a vain attempt to look confident and serious... that ultimately failed and made him look weak and pathetic. Like a puppy in a wet cardboard box.

“Alright intruder, all I ask is that you–” He gasped. The screen jutted out from the wall, attached to the wall with some thin metal at the back to hold it in place. It shot close enough that it almost slammed right into Mimosa, stopping a few inches away from her face. “YOU!? WHY ARE YOU–!?”

“Are you going to talk to me like this the whole time?”

“I’m not bothering to meet you in person, you little…!” He seethed.

“No, no, I’m talking about the screen. It’s kind of awkward hearing you scream at me like this.” She said, pushing the monitor back a few more inches with her finger.

“Wait, is my–?... Crap, forgot to turn on the camera…” He muttered, and she could hear some shuffling off-screen. “Do you mind if I take a few seconds to…?”

“Oh, no, I don’t mind. Take your time.”

“Right, thank you. I mean, I don’t actually mean that, considering what you did–I’ll just… I’ll get to that in a moment. One second.” There was some more shuffling and mumbling as Mimosa rocked back and forth on her heels, waiting for him to sort things out.

With another little blip! , he appeared on screen, seemingly sitting in his office considering the same layout she spotted from the accidental group chat incident. He adjusted his camera and waved a hand.

“Is that better? Can you see me now?”

“Yes! That's much better. Okay, continue.”

Macaron nodded. “Right, right… so, anyways, ahem…”

He cleared his throat, took in a deeeeeep breath… and gave her the most furious look possible. “YOOOOOU!”

Mimosa smiled and waved. “Meeee!”

“I should’ve known it was you! Why are you even here!?”

“That’s for me to know, and for you to hopefully never find out.” She smirked, resting her weapon over her shoulder. “Now let me through, and maybe I’ll go easy on you. Unless you want to end up like CNMN?"

Macaron’s eye twitched. Uh oh. He slammed his desk so hard that it caused Mimosa to jolt up.

“You heartless defect! CNMN was my little buddy! My ONLY buddy! What did he ever do to you!?”

“Uh, he tried to kill me!? Look up self defense and come back to me when you’ve got your head on straight.” She spat.

“Well you’re going to regret what you did!” He leaned over and turned on the intercom.

“Change of plans, send as many units as possible to lab 3! Enough to fill capacity! We’re doing mass field testing. Send in our strongest BRUT-1L while you’re at it!” He exclaimed.

Mimosa’s eyes widened. “BRUT-1L???”

Macaron smirked. “If you had so much fun destroying CNMN, how about a few more of my creations?”

With another blip!, he vanished from the screen. The monitor retracted into the wall, and several clicks rang out around the room. Trap doors in the floors and the walls opened up, and several dozen bots poured into the room, surrounding Mimosa on all sides. All armed and ready.

And then, the bots proceeded to dart to the side in fear when, with a rumble, one final bot jumped in. A tall, lanky looking one launched out of one of the trap doors, with long, noodly arms dangling at their sides, and their robotic jaw opened in an uncanny, stiff, disturbing grimace.

The BRUT-1L roared at Mimosa as their hands spun into saw blades!

Mimosa rapidly snapped her fingers. “KalegetinhereimmediatelyKaleKaleKALE–”

Kale zapped in with an annoyed glare. “Seriously!?”

“I’m not dealing with that on my own–crap! Duck!" Just as she gestured to the bot, she saw a saw blade headed straight for their heads. She grabbed Kale’s shoulder and pulled him down with her as the bot swung at them, the saw blade soaring over them… and taking out a few of the bots that were approaching from behind, decapitating them in one fell swoop!

Both of them whirled around as the robots collapsed and exploded behind them. Suddenly, Kale grabbed Mimosa's arm to get her attention, an idea having hit him.

“Mimosa, I have a plan! Let’s get the BRUT-1L to do most of the work!” He gestured to the collapsed pile of scrap, and she quickly put the pieces together.

“Oh, I’m already on it!” She said, before dashing away. She ran towards a bundle of bots and suddenly slammed her mic into the floor, grabbing the other end of it and using her momentum to vault over the group! As she landed, she yelled to grab the BRUT-1L's attention.

“Hey, lanky! Over here!” She exclaimed. The BRUT-1L turned to her, and she genuinely felt a shiver go up her spine seeing it turn it’s head like she were in a horror movie. It also didn’t help her to see them scuttling up to HER OH GOD–

SLASH!

The blade slashed into the bots in front of her and almost tore through her in the process. She nimbly dodged it, getting out of it with only a little sliver of her hair sliced off by it, much to her dismay. She braced herself as the next saw blade was brought up for another swipe-

And then there was a whistle. The bot turned to see Kale beckoning them towards him, which was enough to get the BRUT-1L’s attention. The bot charged at Kale and did the same thing, effortlessly slicing through their own companions in an attempt to take him down. Kale jumped back just in time, bringing his blade up to block the second blade coming at him just in time, before the arm of the BRUT-1L was hooked onto by Mimosa’s wire. Now the bot's attention was back on Mimosa.

They kept this up, letting the larger, lanky looking monster scuttle after each of them in turn and swing at them with reckless abandon. Scrap was flying everywhere, the bots were screaming as their ambush orders had backfired, and Kale and Mimosa bounced around the room through it all. Eventually, all the other bots were practically running away with  them, but they couldn’t escape from the swipes of the BRUT-1L. Only Mimosa and Kale could.

Soon enough, there was nothing more than piles upon piles of scrap… and one bot remaining.

The BRUT-1L, frustrated with their lack of bloodshed, let out an earthquake of a cry, knocking Mimosa and Kale over from the force of it. Mimosa barely clambered to her feet in time to see the BRUT-1L reeling back to attack her, focusing hard on landing a hit. She could only barely comprehend the broad, zany movements they were making with their arms before they pounced!

Block, block! Block, block, block!

She knocked the energy back just in time, causing it to stumble back.

“Kale! K-9!” She exclaimed, and the two got the hint and charged just as she did, with K-9 hopping out of ball form just in time to bring his teeth down. Mimosa tore off the arms, Kale’s blade sliced the torso in half, and K-9’s teeth ripped off the head, utterly dismembering the bot.

Taking a breather as the bot crumbled, Mimosa and Kale high fived, and Kale then knelt down to tussle K-9’s fur.

The intercom crackled to life.

“Nothing is working! Uh...Q-Quick, send in the HG-0G! I think this intruder wants to take a crack at our new z-shielding!”

A circular trap door in the center of the room slammed open, launching a massive bot out onto the floor, landing with a THUD! It was bulky, green, twice their size and very mean, with a set of crab-like lower limbs and a cannon jutting out of the shoulder. The pièce de résistance? Those familiar, glowing red striped patterns were all across the metal.

Mimosa didn’t hesitate, immediately swinging at it… only for her weapon to practically bounce off of it. She huffed and swung twice, three times… and ended up having to retreat as bombs started raining down on her from above, skidding to a stop beside Kale. She grit her teeth, realizing that even that bot's own bombs didn't leave a mark, even when landing almost right next to it!

“Kale? Mind giving it a shot?”

“Might as well.” He said, before charging and slicing at the armored beast with his blade.

It didn’t even leave a single mark. Not even the littlest burn.

Kale let out a grunt of frustration before zapping away just as a bomb soared towards him. He popped up behind the HG-0G and tried to pierce it with the blade, putting pressure on the end as he tried to melt through the metal. Nothing. He zapped away for good as the bot’s arm came down at him, leaving a crack in the floor.

“Well, I’m tapping out.”

“Seriously? Quitter.” She muttered. “Alright, K-9, want to give it a–!?...K-9?”

She looked up to see K-9 biting at one of the legs of the bot, before promptly being flung off like it was nothing. Mimosa stumbled back and caught the pup like a football, before setting him aside gently. She huffed and spun her weapon. Alright, one more shot...

All at once, several bombs were shot in her direction. She took in a deep breath and waited for them to land... and then jumped! She used the momentum of the explosion to propel her forward as she spun!

Once, twice, three times, her weapon slashed over and over and over into the metal of the bot, giving it all she had!

But all it did was knock her back. She fell backwards, groaning as the HG-0G laughed and confidently tapped his own armor, taunting her.

“I hate to say it, but maybe we’ve exhausted all of our options.” Kale sighed.

Mimosa paused, an idea coming to her. She looked the bot dead in the eyes, stood up, walked back towards him… and took out the cupcake she grabbed earlier. “Not all of them. There’s always bribery.”

Kale looked on, unamused. “Okay, I’m dedicating everything in your will to K-9 then.”

“Jokes on you, I haven’t written it yet.”

Mimosa slowly approached the bot, which looked at her in confusion as she held it out. “Have a sweet tooth? Or… well, any teeth at all? I know you guys can eat, so how about you take this and let us through? Everyone likes chocolate, right?”

A beat passed.

The bot shrugged and took the cupcake. Kale looked on in confusion. Mimosa grinned. “Ha! I knew it.”

The intercom crackled to life again.

“Ahem. Uh, attention, HG-0G Unit. Uh… if you stop her, we’ll give you…” He trailed off. “Two cupcakes?”

Another beat passed. The bot took a moment to consider the deal... and then shrugged and reeled his fist back.

“Oh you’ve got to be-”

POW!

The bot proceeded to punch her right in the gut, sending her through a glass pane!

And a wall.

And then another wall.

And then another.

Kale flinched each time she hit a wall, and even the HG-0G unit seemed just as surprised, flinching every now and then as well at his own strength. He could hear her yelling with each hit, her voice growing gradually fainter with each surface she slammed through.

“THE”

WHAM!

“ONE!”

BLAM!

“TIME!”

THUD!

“THINGS!”

CRASH!

“WORK!”

SMASH!

“OUT!”

BAM!

“IN!”

WHAM!

“MY!”

BLAM!

“FAVOOOOOOOOR!!!”

CRASH!

And then, it stopped. K-9 immediately took off after her, hopping through several different Mimosa-shaped holes in several different walls, all in different positions, like a very concerning game of hole-in-the-wall. All the while, Kale was mumbling to himself: “Please don’t be dead, please don’t be dead, please don’t be dead…”

Mimosa laid there on a glass pane floor at the end of it all, her hair messy and disheveled, dizzy swirls in her eyes, her limbs sprawled out, and her mic lying at her side. Hearing her groan in pain, he immediately sighed in relief. “Good, you’re alive…”

“Barely…” She grunted, before carefully pushing herself back up to her feet. She glared in the direction of where she was punched, gritting her teeth and balling her hands into fists.

“OH YEAH!?” She exclaimed. “IS THAT ALL YOU’VE GOT!?”

She stamped her foot down at the last word.

Crack.

She gulped. She looked down, realizing her heel had cracked the glass pane she was on. And the cracks were growing.

Then it shattered.

Mimosa screamed as she fell, falling through at least another few layers of flooring this time, before finally stopping as she crashed into a wooden table, breaking it in half into a mess of splinters.

Groaning, all Mimosa could hear in her dizzy state was the ringing in her ears. And a faint mumbling?

Swoosh-Pop!

K-9 hovered down next to her in ball form, before popping back into his normal form, immediately nudging and nuzzling her side with a worried whine. She gave him a reassuring scratch behind the ear as she slowly sat up, shaking her head to clear her thoughts and focus on her surroundings.

...Nothing. There was nothing but pitch blackness all around her, except for the thin spotlight illuminated from the hole she crashed through above her. All she could see was the table she broke.

Thud.

Mimosa jolted up. The ground shook a little.

Thud. Thud. Thud.

The sound was getting closer. Crap! She wasn’t alone! Wherever she was...

“H-Hey! Stay back, I’m armed!” She said, grabbing and holding out her weapon–...crap, that was a broken table leg! Where was her mic!? She dropped to her hands and knees and immediately began patting the ground, searching desperately for her weapon in the darkness.

“Crap, crap, crap, where is it, where is it!? K-9, can you sniff it out for me–gah!”

A massive fist suddenly eclipsed her forearm, yanking her up a few feet into the air.

“There you are, you little punk!”

Mimosa screamed.

To be continued…

Chapter Text

Previously on Fly-High Rush…

“Uh, excuse me? Miss author? We need to have a talk.” Mimosa cut in, snapping her fingers to get my attention.

Mimosa? What are you doing here? I’m in the middle of editing here! This chapter's taken, like, a month to get out already...

“Look, I know you’re the one in charge here and all, and I’m not telling you how to do your job or anything… but I have an issue with the way you’re writing things.”

Oh, sure, shoot. Go for it. I’m open to constructive criticism.

“How do I put this…” She fumbled with her hands. “No recaps. End of discussion.”

What’s wrong with recaps? They’re nice buffers to have in between chapters! Plus, I’m trying to recreate the spirit of the original game here! And that includes my own spin on their references.

“Sure, sure, everyone loves a callback, I know… but this specific one would require me to be thrown through…” She paused to count on her fingers. “1, 2, 3… 12 more walls all over again! I don’t care if it’s for a split second, I’m not going through so much as 1 more!”

Well how else am I including this iconic part in the story?

“Just scrap it entirely? Be original for once in your life! Or… oh!” A lightbulb popped up above her head. “Better yet, just throw this kind of stuff into the chapter summary box. That way, you can sum up what had happened and gently lead into the plot of the next chapter, and you can add in an enticing hook. No one likes step-by-step recaps anymore, they want enticing, new material!”

Ohhhhhh, riiiiiiiight… yeah, lmao, I forgot about that option in the preface. You're surprisingly convincing. Not a bad idea!

“Whew…” She sighed with relief. “Glad we reached a compromise. I’m still sore from the last cliffhanger…”

Now that that’s settled, time to get back to business. Thanks Mimosa!

“Before you go, I actually have a few more complaints to bring up with you–where’s your mouse going? No, don’t you dare hit the horizontal line button! I’M NOT DONE HERE –!!!”

Mimosa screamed.

SLAP, SLAP, SLAP!

With no other options, she slapped her assailant across the face! They cried out, dropping Mimosa.

“OW! You little…!”

Mimosa was already scrambling forward, but before she could take so much as two steps, a massive force shoved her to the ground! She felt the air get knocked out of her lungs as one arm was pinned behind her back and a heavy weight settled on top of her. She tried to turn her neck to get a look at them, but she couldn’t see much, only the intricate striped patterns on their pants and their knee-high boots.

“And stay down, punk!” The assailant said, her southern voice a growl.

“Ugh! Get off of me!” Mimosa cried, trying to buck the person off, but to no avail. Even with the minimal light from above, she could see the shadow of the woman above her. Whoever this was, she was massive in height too.

“Rekka ain’t gettin off of you anytime soon! The nerve of you to–!”

Suddenly, both of them heard something to their left. A growl from a familiar pup, with his fur standing on end.

K-9 jumped, clamping his jaw on one of the larger woman’s arms. Her assailant, presumably named Rekka, just going on a hunch here, didn’t cry out in pain or even flinch. She just glared down at the pup gnawing on her arm and tried to shake him off.

“Let go, you little mutt!”

Mimosa glared and fought even harder, trying to reach her free arm back to scratch or slap at her attacker, but to no avail. “Don’t you lay a HAND on him! If you hurt him, so help me I’m going to–!”

“Rekka ain’t gonna harm him! Rekka’s willin to rough up most things, but not some yappy lil pooch. Heh, his teeth kinda tickle, actually…”

Suddenly, the lights clicked on. Mimosa was barely able to lift her head up and take a look at her surroundings, seeing nothing but concrete and trash piled up to make some odd looking room reminiscent of a hideout. There was some workout equipment in one corner, a wall covered in a massive amount of screens, a door to her right(oh sweet, sweet freedom, so close yet so far...), a bulky, uncomfortable looking recliner... this whole place was a mess, with too many tiny objects for her to take in. Blueprints and scrap in random boxes, weird devices hung from the ceiling, one of those weird looking plushies of the previous R&D head on the desk...

…And directly to the right of it was a man dressed in almost the exact same way as the plushie, flicking on a light switch via a giant lever. He was… the most bizarre looking person she had ever seen on her adventure thus far. Tall and lanky, and covered in cybernetics, from the blue metal of his arms and his legs below the knees, to the metal casings over the sides of his face, framing a wicked grin. The rest of his body was covered in some odd looking jacket, only vaguely reminiscent of a lab-coat. Those “spider-like appendages” she saw in the plushie came in the form of green wires jutting out of his head, bunched up and tied behind him, leaving more room for his gaudy green mohawk to jut out. Across his back were what looked like two gold and black sheaths, which certainly wasn't the most comforting thing to see in her situation.

He slowly turned around. Metal clinked against metal as his hands held…

“My mic!” Mimosa exclaimed.

“So this is one of the many devices you’ve been using for such destruction… fascinating!” He gleefully exclaimed, poking at the sharper metal bits.

“Put that down!” Mimosa exclaimed, shooting a glare at the man before her.

“Stop squirming, punk!” The woman, Rekka, retorted, trying to hold her still.

“Oh, do you expect me to take being robbed with grace and elegance? Because that isn’t happening!” She protested. If she was getting robbed of her belongings, she was going down swinging, god dammit!

“Rob you? Oh, no, no, no, we’re not robbing you!” The man replied, much to Mimosa’s confusion. “I suppose we have some things to clear up… ahem…”

The man struck a pose. “I AM ZAN–...zo…”

“Grrrr…”

K-9, having finally released his previous target’s arm, had turned to face his next one. He growled and bared his teeth, his fur standing on end as he approached. Zan…zo slowly backed away, holding his hands up, sweating bullets.

“Uh… nice… doggy…pleasedon’thurtme…” He pleaded, trying to calm down the pup.

His efforts were in vain. K-9 charged. Zan...zo let out a high-pitched scream and ran, dropping Mimosa mic before scrambling up onto an office chair the way one would react to seeing a spider on the floor.  “GET YOUR GODDAMN DOG–!!!”

“Oh, he doesn’t bite.” Mimosa lied.

Zan...zo yelped and flailed his leg as K-9 latched onto it with his teeth. “YES HE DOES, GET HIM OFF! CALL HIM OFF! CALL HIM OFF!!!”

“You know, I would, buuut I can’t, sorry~ I’ve literally got my hands tied, here.” She said, doing her best attempt to shrug her shoulders. She knew she probably wouldn’t be able to do much to stop K-9 anyways, but frankly? She was interested in seeing the pup rip at least one of these two to shreds.

Suddenly, K-9 perked his ears up, letting go of Zan...zo’s leg and hopping onto the floor, turning towards the door to the room. Mimosa couldn’t see much, but she could definitely hear a familiar voice coming closer and closer… growing louder and louder…

“CrapcrapcrapcrapcrapcrapCRAPCRAPCRAP-”

Kale dashed in, kicking the door open!...Or, well, he tried, but the doors slid open automatically, ending with him standing there awkwardly with his leg lifted up and his laser blade reeled back. "MIMOSA, DON'T BE DEAD-"

Everyone froze. Kale stared, witnessing the sight of Mimosa pinned to the floor by one person, and another hopped on a chair, with his own dog perched at their feet.

A beat passed.

Zan…zo was the first to speak.

“Kale! Call your dog off!!!” He exclaimed, pointing at K-9 sitting at his feet. The dog gave him innocent puppy-dog eyes, as if he hadn’t been terrorizing him seconds ago.

Kale shot him a confused look. “How do you know my–!?...Wait…” A look of realization struck his face. “Oh for the love of… would you happen to be ‘Z’?”

“That’s my alias!” He struck another pose. “I am Zan–”

Kale cut him off, holding up a finger. “Hold that thought.”

Kale then directed his attention to Rekka. “Get off of her.”

“But she–!”

“Now.” He held up his laser blade in her direction.

A beat passed as the two glared at each other. Zan...zo chimed in.

“Rekka, I need her in tip top shape for my plans!” He said.

“But she–! She just…!” Rekka fumbled with her words… before finally groaning and releasing her. “Ugh! Fine!”

Mimosa sighed with relief, relishing in the feeling of such a heavy weight being lifted off of her back as she sat up… only to get immediately tackled by K-9, who nuzzled and licked her face. She fell back from the force of the tackle and her back hit a boot, prompting her to look up and finally get a good look at her attacker.

Glaring down at her was a massive woman with tan skin and short, black hair swept to the side, with a red streak and a few yellow and red strands jutting out from the side. She was built like a brick house, with one of her gloved arms looking thicker than Mimosa’s entire body! If there was any doubt that this woman wasn’t Rekka, it quickly vanished at the sight of her name printed across the front of her spandex crop top, with stars and lightning bolts surrounding it, matching the color of her spandex pants. Her red lips were curled into a frown.

Mimosa immediately dashed behind Kale, leaving a Mimosa-shaped dust cloud behind her where she once was, holding K-9 protectively in her arms.

“Kale. Explain. Now.” She ordered, looking between him and the other two in the room.

“So, you know that “informant” I’ve told you about? And that ‘Z’ individual that was helping us back there? Well, he’s… one in the same, and this is him. Or, well… them. I wasn’t expecting there to be two of you.” He said, glancing between Rekka and Zan...zo.

Zan...zo strutted up, clearing his throat. “Ha! ‘Z’ is just my anonymous alias! Very smart, no?” Mimosa and Kale shot him a skeptical, unimpressed look as he kept going.

"Not really-"

“Your thoughts on the matter are unimportant! Anyways, if I can get 5 SECONDS TO INTRODUCE MYSELF!" He posed dramatically, trying to mask his irritation.“I AM ZANZO! Otherwise known as ‘Z’! Your informant on all things SPECTRA related, previous worker under Roxanne Vandelay before everything went downhill, and your savior from my pathetic replacement as Head of R&D!"

He gestured dramatically to the woman beside him. “And THIS is Rekka! The previous head of Production, and my personal assistant!”

“Not your assistant, stringbean.” She shot him a glare.

“You work in my new office, and have gratefully provided me with coffee as I wrote out my revenge plots, so therefore you are basically my assistant–”

Rekka grabbed him by the back of his jacket and yanked him up. “You mean our revenge plots!”

Zanzo shrunk down in fear. “Yes, yes, our revenge, a simple slip of the tongue, nowletgoofme-”

Rekka dropped him. Zanzo sighed with relief and dusted his coat off, grumbling. Mimosa cleared her throat.

“Well my name is-”

“Oh, no need for introductions, Mimosa!” Zanzo casually said.

Mimosa shot him a confused look. “Okay, I can understand you knowing Kale here, but how did you get my name? 95% of the people around here have been calling me 'defect'."

Zanzo beamed and began to explain with gusto. “I discovered your identity through the use of my keen detective skills!”

Rekka rolled her eyes. “He’s been watchin ya through the cameras since ya made that racket in Production.”

“We’ve been watching you through the cameras since you made that racket in Production.” Zanzo corrected.

Well… that was a bit creepy. Mimosa raised a brow, and her and Kale shared a sideways glance. “How much did you see?”

“We’ve had our eye on you since you destroyed QA! Oh, it was quite the sight to see through the cameras!”

Mimosa smirked. Sure, she felt a bit...uneasy being watched like that, but the praise was nice. If she was going to be famous one day, she supposed she better get used to the more… invasive fans that she would garner. She set a hand on her hip, doing a dramatic hair flip.

“Then I guess you saw CNMN’s defeat at my hand, hm? Impressive, right?”

Zanzo opened his mouth to agree… only for Rekka to step forward. And she kept stepping forward. “Yeah, reaaaaal impressive there… how a blonde little punk like you comes along and wrecks all of my plans!”

“What do you mean?” Mimosa instinctively backed up, but not very far, as her back hit something firm but plush behind her. “You're the ones who told us about SPECTRA, right? If anything, I was doing you two a favor!”

“Not THAT plan! My plan!” She huffed, stopping inches away from Mimosa, hovering over her. “Rekka wanted to be the one to take out her scrawny little replacement! That walking lil hunk of junk had it coming for too long! Rekka wanted to be the one to tear that bot apart piece by piece, and just when Rekka was ready and raring to go, you messed it all up!”

Mimosa glanced behind herself to see a rather large punching bag behind her. “...Is that why CNMN’s face is taped on here?” She asked, pointing to the image of CNMN plastered onto the bag.

“YES!” She bellowed.

“Hm… well, there’s only one thing I have to say to you about that.” Mimosa smirked and leaned forward, looking Rekka right in the eyes. “First come, first serve.”

Seeing a vein bulge out on Rekka’s temple, Mimosa realized… she messed up. "Uh oh."

Mimosa just barely ducked in time as Rekka’s fist whizzed over her head, hitting the punching bag so hard that it flew off the hanger and right through the wall behind it, utterly demolishing it!

Zanzo immediately rushed in, grabbing her arm and trying to hold her back. “Dammit, Rekka! Don’t damage my test subject! Or my office either!”

“SHE WAS ASKIN FOR IT!” She retaliated, trying to shake Zanzo off of her.

Mimosa frantically dashed away, with K-9 quickly coming to her aid, snatching up her mic and tossing it to her. She caught it and pointed it at Rekka defensively. “Hey, hey, back off! It’s not my fault that I got to CNMN faster than you! I wasn’t even planning on fighting him in the first place! Does it even matter who got to destroy him???”

“YES, IT DOES!” She cried, already readying her next punch, when–

“HOLD IT!” Kale suddenly slid between them, staring directly at Rekka. “...How did you do that?”

“Do what?”

“That.” He gestured to the massive hole in the wall.

Mimosa scoffed. “Kale, I’ve been destroying things worse than a little wall. It’s really not an achievement.”

“Worse than Z-shielding?” He asked, holding up a chunk of the wall in his hand. The cracks along it zig-zagged in a pattern of glowing red veins: the same ones that were stopping them before. Mimosa went from dismissive to shocked.

“How’d you destroy that so easily?” Kale asked, raising a brow at Rekka.

“With my fists? What kind of question is that?” She said, sounding confused as she gestured to her gloved arm.

Kale looked on in confusion, and she noticed this, quickly piecing things together.

“Ah, damn, right. Almost forgot. Give Rekka a sec, the gloves are comin off…”

With that, she gently pinched and grabbed the end of her elbow-length gloves, and slowly peeled them away from her arms. As they came off, underneath was nothing but thick, bulky, glistening red metal cybernetics. Once they were off, a few pistons shot out from underneath with a steady hiss of steam, emitting a heavy ‘THUD THUD!’ noise. It was so loud that it even set off Mimosa’s music player for a split second, pounding in her chest.

"Can I get a closer look at those?" Kale asked.

"Uh, yeah? Sure?" Rekka casually tossed her gloves away… and one smacked Mimosa in the face, almost knocking her to the floor.

Rekka smirked, laughing at that as she held her arm out for Kale. “Oh. Oops.” She said sarcastically.

Mimosa immediately grabbed the glove and dropped it to the floor, her face set in a grimace.

“These are pretty sturdy... not even a scratch on the knuckles." Kale murmured.

"I know! Impressive, right?" Rekka boasted.

"Well, I guess it’s settled then.” Kale said, holding his hand out in Rekka and Zanzo's direction.

…Wait.

Mimosa started quickly piecing things together. Her eyes widened as she realized what that hand gesture meant. “No no no no no…”

“Since we've been working together so far already…”

“No no NO NO NO NO NO-”

“It only makes sense for us to team–mmph!”

Mimosa slapped her hand over Kale’s mouth before he could finish his sentence. 

“Excuse me, but Kale and I need to have a bit of a private discussion… we’ll just… be over here. Don’t mind us.”

Mimosa proceeded to drag Kale to the corner of the room, ducking behind the back of the couch, as if it would give them any kind of privacy. K-9, being the best guard dog in the world, casually hopped up onto the couch, glaring at the other two. Zanzo nervously shuffled behind Rekka upon seeing this.

“What the–!? Mimosa, what the hell!?” Kale exclaimed.

“We are NOT working with them!” She hissed.

“We already are!...In a sense.”

“They may already be on our side, but that’s only via long distance, and I’d like to keep it that way!”

“Like it or not, we need Rekka’s help. Do you have a better idea on getting past z-shielding? Or are you just preparing yourself to get thrown through a few more walls?”

Mimosa groaned. “I might get thrown through one regardless if I have to be near her…”

Kale sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Look… I’m not looking forward to this either. They’re not… the best people to be working with, but they’re all we’ve got. They’ve got some valuable skills. With Rekka, our struggles with z-shielding are gone, and Zanzo can assist me with hacking. All you have to do is put up with it for… what, an hour? We’re already so close to the AI labs, Mimosa. We’re so close to our goal.”

A beat passed. Kale put his hand on her shoulder.

“Please?”

“...” She sighed. “Fine, fine. I’ll do it… but I’m going to complain the whole time.”

“I’m used to it.”

Popping back up from behind the couch, Kale cleared his throat. “Sorry, we had to clear up a few… disagreements. As I was saying… I see no reason to prevent an official team up. With our abilities combined, we could shut down SPECTRA with ease. What do you two say?”

He held his hand out towards the two, and Zanzo and Rekka exchanged a look.

Rekka shook her head. "Yeah, no." She huffed, crossing her arms.

Zanzo seemed surprised and frustrated by this, leaning over to whisper to her. "Seriously!? Just go along with it, we might get our jobs back faster."

"Auuuuugh... fine."

Both of them nodded in agreement (albeit with a bit of hesitance from Rekka), and Zanzo sauntered forward, grabbing Kale’s hand and giving it a firm, enthusiastic shake.

“Let’s give it a go!” He exclaimed.

“Hurray…” Mimosa mumbled, as she and Rekka glared at each other. Kale quickly took notice of this.

“Ahem… Rekka, before we continue, I need to sync you up to K-9.” He said. He moved to gently take her by the arm, but she quickly yanked it back.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I’ll explain in a bit. It’s quick and painless, trust me.”

With that, Rekka sighed and followed after him, plopping down in the recliner as he started to examine her prosthetics.

Mimosa, meanwhile, wanted to stay as far away from her as possible, so she shuffled over to the desk on the far side of the room.

Zanzo scurried up behind her and opened his mouth.

“No.”

“Wha-!? I didn’t even say anything!” He exclaimed, frustrated.

“You don’t need to. I’m not being your little test subject, Zanzo. Just go tinker with a robot or something.”

“But you’re far more interesting!”

“Is that a compliment…?”

“Yes! Those fools out there call you a defect, but I find your enhancements enticing, I must learn more about them– ”

Mimosa held her weapon up to his neck. He froze. “Eep!”

“I’m flattered, but not interested. I’ve already been through enough testing, thank you very much.” She pulled her mic back a bit.

Zanzo groaned. “Uuuugh, come on! You’re so full of potential, and you’re squandering it! Your endurance is surprisingly high, but we could always improve on your reflexes! Come on, come on! Let’s give it a GO, GO, GO!”

He struck 3 zany poses in a row, ending with him surrounded by weird, menacing, floating purple symbols. Mimosa curiously poked at one, and Zanzo huffed and waved the symbols away. “Look, can't I just attach one itty, bitty, little device to you? That's all I ask!”

“And what exactly is an "itty bitty device" to you?” Going by how he looked, it’d no doubt be a stupidly exaggerated request.

“Oh, it’s just a simple BPM monitor.”

Mimosa blinked in surprise, shocked at how… normal that seemed. “...Wait, really? That’s it?”

“Yes! It'll covers both your basic health and your musical abilities! It’ll allow me to not only study your bizarre musical fighting powers, but I’ll also notice any irregularities present! Genius, no?”

She thought for a long moment, softly humming to herself. “I can’t believe I’m admitting this, but… that’s not a bad idea. What's the catch?”

"No catch! I swear! If anything, this is one of my more underwhelming devices. Sooo…?”

She sighed. “Fine, sure, go ahead, whatever shuts you up. But only attach the BPM monitor. Nothing else.”

Zanzo cackled with joy. “YESSSSS!”

“Mission Briefing!”

Kale slapped down a few pieces of paper onto Zanzo’s desk. Mimosa sat in Zanzo's desk chair, leaning back as Zanzo attached the BPM monitor to the casing on her chest. Rekka casually leaned against his desk nearby, and K-9 was perched on the desk, glaring at Zanzo and watching him with careful eyes.

Kale turned Zanzo and Rekka. “Our goal is still the same: to get to the AI labs and destroy SPECTRA. The only thing that was stopping us was z-shielding, which Rekka is going to take care of.”

“Hell yeah, I will!” She exclaimed, slamming her fists together.

Mimosa rolled her eyes. “Kale, are you sure there isn’t, like… another route to the AI labs? A vent system? Anything?”

“Checked for that already. Nope. Nothing.” He sighed at the sight of her disgruntled look. “Look, if it makes you feel any better, Macaron probably thinks you’re dead.”

He gestured to one of Zanzo’s many screens, which showed a freeze frame of her getting hit right in the gut by that HG-0G unit. Rekka laughed at the sight.

“That doesn’t make me feel better at all!” Mimosa huffed.

“Consider the long-term for once. He won’t be expecting us to return. Maybe we can finally fly under the radar for more than 5 minutes…”

He rolled out a map across Zanzo’s desk, pointing to a new folded up attachment he put at the bottom of it. “Anyways, Zanzo’s lab is almost right under the test lab you were just in, so it shouldn’t take too long to pick up where we left off. If any z-shielding gets in your way, just call in Rekka.”

Zanzo chimed in. “And, should you find anything interesting or new about your powers, call me in!”

Mimosa tilted her head. “Wait, Kale connected you to K-9 too?”

“Just barely…” Both Kale and Zanzo said in unison. K-9 growled, and Mimosa gave him a little scratch behind the ear to calm him down.

"Why?"

“Did you expect me to not want to be involved with teleportation!? This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, I'm not passing that up!” Zanzo exclaimed. "I'm willing to assist by many means necessary out there, but don't call me into battle. I'm leaving the fighting to you three."

Rekka laughed and ruffled Zanzo’s hair. “Yeah, stringbean here isn’t really good with combat.”

Zanzo huffed, swatting Rekka’s hand away before trying to stick his mohawk back up. “It’s not that I’m bad at it, I’m just more comfortable working behind the scenes!”

Mimosa raised a brow, pointing to the sheaths on the back. “If you're not up for combat, then what's with the swords?”

“Uh, because they’re cool? Do I need an explanation?”

Kale rolled his eyes. “Ugh… look, it doesn’t matter. When Zanzo's done here, you two need to get going.” He said, urging Mimosa and K-9 to get moving.

"No need to wait! I'm done!" He said, stepping back and dusting his hands off.

Mimosa stood up and stretched a little, before spinning her weapon with confidence. Whatever he attached, she could barely feel it, so she guessed she could consider his skills to be impressive. Not like she'd say that to his face, though.

Mimosa picked up K-9 and tossed him into the air, and he popped into his ball form effortlessly. “Alright… let’s go take down SPECTRA.”

With that, she hopped through the hole in the wall Rekka made and started her journey down the hallway.

She hoped they got this over with as fast as possible…

Now playing: People I Don’t Like by Upsahl
Everybody in this party's fucking fake,
And so am I,
But I just got here so I gotta show some face…
Hello, it's so good to see you,
We met before, but nice to meet you,
Yeah, I don't really wanna be here like,
Ah-ah-ah-ah!
What's my name? Do you remember?
I'm pretty sure you have my number,
So let's pretend we like each other like,
Ah-ah-ah-ah!

She hoped to god she never had to step foot down in R&D ever again after this.

Sure, she got past the point of blistering heat, but all she was left with to revel in was the worst decor ever. This little trip of retracing her steps was dreadfully dreary. Even with the lighting, it was incredibly dim, almost to a depressing degree. Just bland concrete wall after bland concrete wall and a glowing red concrete wall blocking her way–...

“...Kale, there’s just a wall here.” She said bluntly, gesturing to it.

“Not just a wall. See those marks?” He said, using K-9 to gesture to the red glowing marks across it.

“Ugh, don’t tell me…”

“Yep. Call Rekka in.”

“Hell yeah, let’s gooo!” Rekka cheered.

Mimosa groaned and did a once-over of the area. No other doors, no vents to climb through… guess she had no choice.

She sighed and snapped her fingers. “Rekka.”

In a flash, Rekka appeared, looking a bit disoriented and yet amazed at how she teleported in. She took in her surroundings for a moment before focusing on the wall. She cracked her knuckles with an eager grin.

Without the slightest bit of hesitation, her fist shattered the wall into many pieces… one of which flew through the air and almost hit Mimosa, missing her by an inch.

“HEY! Watch it!”

Rekka rolled her eyes. “Should’ve stood back, Barbie.”

“Barbie!?” She spat, looking furious. “I was planning on standing back, you punched before I was ready!”

“Well, be faster next time, twinkle toes!” Rekka growled, and she zipped away before Mimosa could reply.

Mimosa huffed and stepped over the rubble of the door, kicking a stray piece of rock aside… and then continued walking as though that didn’t hurt. Because it totally didn’t.

...Okay, it did. It really did. Ow.

“So, considering you two were the ones who told us about SPECTRA, are there any updates?” Kale asked.

“We know just about as much as you two! It’s some mind control bullcrap for… whatever the hell they’re planning.” Rekka huffed.

“I’ve tried to look into the databases I had access to… but of course, that anxious loser Macaron locked out all employees! The audacity!” Zanzo complained.

“So who has full access?”

“Just the top brass! Peppermint and the rest of her stupid crew…” Rekka grumbled.

“Well…” Zanzo trailed off a bit. “Excluding Roquefort.”

“Come again?” Kale asked, confused.

“Yeah, no idea why, but that penny-pinching money man is given limited permission. Honestly, serves him right! This is his karma for all the hell he put me through…”

“Zanzo, all he did was cut your damn budget!” Rekka exclaimed.

“Well I needed it! He just doesn’t understand my creative vision! Ugh, no one understands...”

“Still…” Kale said, tapping his chin. “It’s odd that the Head of Finance of all people isn’t given full access. Doesn’t something like SPECTRA need funding? It certainly isn't something small... what do you think, Mimosa?”

“Hm?” Mimosa said, looking up from the blue tablet in her hands. That caught Kale's attention.

“Were you even listening!?” Kale asked.

“Of course I was listening! I was just bringing along some reading material to fill some dead air on the way up. I can multitask, Kale."

“What’s it about?” Zanzo asked.

“Just some dumb petty revenge log from a bot about messing with the coffee machines after he got fired. Thought this would be juicier reading material…”

“IS THAT WHY MY MACHINE KEPT PUMPING OUT DECAF EARLIER!?” Kale yelled, loud enough for even Rekka to flinch.

Mimosa casually set the tablet aside and kept walking, approaching the door back into the lab. “Nevermind, this is juicy enough… do you want me to grab you a coffee from a vending machine, Kale?”

“Don’t even joke about that! Vending machine coffee isn’t even close to good enough!” He snapped, but Mimosa just laughed.

Stopping in front of the door, she paused and rolled her shoulders.

Alright. Let’s do this.

Entering the lab yet again, she chose to ignore the her-shaped hole in the glass covered by caution tape, and instead focused her eyes on the HG-0G unit. He was sitting in the corner, casually playing tic-tac-toe on his own as he popped a cupcake into his mouth, with the wrapper of another on the floor beside him.

“Long time no see.” Mimosa said, a confident smirk on her face. The bot looked up at her, surprised to see her alive. “Best two out of three?”

The bot glared and launched forward towards her.

Mimosa just casually threw her hand out, snapping her fingers. “Rekka!”

Zipping in, Rekka and the bot met head-on, one of her bright red fists catching the fist of the HG-0G bot. Startled, the bot flinched back as her other fist flew forward, colliding into the metal with a nasty crack!

The bot was knocked back, looking fearful as his armor crumbled away to dust. The bot tensed up in fear and started to scuttle backwards.

Rekka smirked and rolled her shoulders. “Don’t even think around runnin, punk! Rekka’s gonna–oof!”

Mimosa pushed Rekka aside and charged at the bot, with K-9 right behind her, having hopped out of ball form! The poor thing didn’t even have time to blink or even pull out his cannons before she was tearing into him, slashing at him repeatedly with her blade while K-9 gnawed at his exposed wiring.

“THIS IS WHAT YOU GET FOR PUNCHING ME THROUGH A WALL!” She exclaimed, before finally stabbing straight into the bot’s nonexistent guts.

Rekka’s eyes widened. “Woah…” Quickly shaking her head to clear her thoughts, she glared at Mimosa. “HEY! Rekka was gonna finish that one off!”

Mimosa smirked in her direction, ripping her weapon out of the HG-0G's chest. “Be faster next time, twinkle toes!” She taunted, ignoring Rekka’s furious expression as she ripped her weapon out. Rekka growled, her hands curled into fists, taking in a deep breath before teleporting away in a flash. 

Mimosa didn’t even blink this time, casually stepping back as the crab-esque robot exploded. She was hardly phased.

Speaking of which…

“So… Zanzo and co…Do either of you know why the robots explode once you slash them enough? Seems counter-productive.”

Zanzo giggled under his breath. “Oh, I added it in. I gave them a special little protocol! Failure is so embarrassing, they self-destruct!” He cackled.

A beat passed. “Zanzo. Take out the BPM monitor. Immediately.”

“Oh relax, there aren’t any explosive parts in yours!” He said, but he sounded anything but reassuring.

“If I die because of this, I give K-9 full permission to go for the jugular.” K-9, hearing this, stuck his nose up with a proud smile.

“What!?” Zanzo exclaimed, panicked.

“Zanzo,” Kale chimed in. “Relax. K-9 isn’t going to be the death of you if Mimosa does hypothetically explode.”

Zanzo sighed with relief.

“...Because I’ll get to you first.” He corrected. A look of fear flashed over Zanzo’s face.

“Aww, Kale, you do care about me!” Mimosa exclaimed.

“I…care about the state of the mission.”

“Which means you care about my ability to carry out the mission, which, by extension, means you care about me.”

Zanzo laughed nervously. “Haha… ha… like I said, n-no need to worry about taking such presumptive measures, because I’ve only included this protocol in the security units! Anything else is completely safe.”

Mimosa smiled. “That better stay consistent then.”

Rekka scoffed. “Don’t get your hopes up, Zanzo’s anything but consistent.”

“HEY!” He protested.

As Zanzo and Rekka proceeded to jump into an argument with one another, Mimosa finally left the room, entering a hallway with glass walls. Both her and K-9 plugged both of their ears (as though that would help in K-9’s case).

“Well at least I add some variety into my plans! The best strategy you’ve ever come up with is ‘punch’ and ‘punch harder’!”

“AND IT WORKS, DOESN’T IT!? At least Rekka can focus for 5 seconds!”

“Ha! Please, you clearly haven’t seen me when I’m in the zone! I’ve pulled 5 all-nighters in a row, and I only had a breakdown for 20 minutes!” He bragged, as though that were an accomplishment.

“Very impressive, friend!”

“See! At least someone around here appreciates my skills!” Zanzo beamed.

A beat passed.

“...Who said that?”

“Me!”

Smidge suddenly rounded the corner and beelined it straight for Mimosa.

Rekka spoke first. “...What… the hell… is that?”

“Vandelay smart fridge VA-SF07, but commonly known as Smidge! Nice to meet you!” Smidge proudly stated.

“Huh… you know, I figured one of you two would’ve seen him around before. Hell, I figured one of you would've built him.” Mimosa said, putting her hands on her hips. Smidge did seem like something Zanzo would’ve built, what with how invasive he could be…

“Nope! Never even considered building a smart fridge in my life! I have much more grand ideas, no way something so... simple would be on the list. Some amateur must’ve built him.” Zanzo spat.

“Rekka’s never seen this punk around during her time in Production!”

“I’m not a punk! I’m a friend!” Smidge reassured. “Ah, Mimosa, in light of your recent team up with several <FOREIGN EXISTENCES>, may I offer you some advice?”

Kale cut in. “For the love of–no, we don’t need his assistance! We’re close to our destination, we don’t need it.”

“YEAH! GET A MOVE ON ALREADY!” Rekka exclaimed.

Suddenly, an idea occurred to Mimosa. A shining, glimmering opportunity… to annoy the crap out of Rekka. And, well, Kale too, but mostly Rekka.

“Now, now, Kale, remember what happened the last time I ignored his advice? He’s never steered me wrong before! So… go on, Smidge!” Mimosa encouraged, sitting down beside him with K-9 hopping into her lap. She knew the others couldn’t move too much further because of her and K-9’s antenna connection, so they were stuck listening whether they liked it or not. “Tell us everything!”

Smidge’s eyes lit up. “I would be delighted to, friend!”

Mimosa smirked as she heard Rekka groan in annoyance and Kale sigh. Zanzo, on the other hand, let out an invested hum once Smidge started talking about temporal displacement.

She never felt so happy to hear Smidge rattle on and on in her life…

“Oh no no no no no no…”

Macaron paced back and forth, clutching his head as his eyes darted between different screens showing different security feeds, showing that, lo and behold, Mimosa was still alive… and in one piece.

“Oh no, oh no, oh no, when Peppermint finds out about this…!”

“When I find out about what?”

Macaron let out a shriek, swiveling around to see Peppermint standing behind him! …In hologram form.

“Macaron.”

“P-Peppermint…” He scrambled to fix his glasses, knocked askew from his startled reaction.

“I got your email. You took care of the defect?” She asked, one hand moving to rest on her hip.

“Ah, uhm…” He tried to cover the screens showing Mimosa talking to Smidge. “W-Well, you see, the funny thing is that, uh…”

“She’s still alive, isn’t she?”

“Yes…” He slumped over. “B-But I thought I took care of her for good, I swear! She’s a lot more resilient than I expected…” He twiddled his thumbs, averting her gaze. “I-I swear, give me some time and I’ll–”

Peppermint held up her hand, cutting him off. “I’m going to stop you right there. It’s actually your lucky day, Macaron. The plans have changed.”

“What do you mean…?”

“I need you to capture her. And her little dog, too.”

“Capture her? Why?”

“Well, I did a bit of research into her and what made her defective. Long story short, she might just be a good addition to the Vandelay family. As you said, she’s pretty resilient.”

“B-But…!” He protested, his face turning into a scowl. "She destroyed Production! She destroyed CNMN! My little buddy!”

“Which is exactly why I want her on our side. Those bizarre powers of hers show potential. She can easily make up for all of that destruction in due time, once I get her under control.”

Macaron sighed and slumped down, depressed. His fists were clenched in fury, but his face looked heartbroken.

Peppermint pinched the bridge of her nose. “Come on, Mac, don’t give me that look. How about this? I’ll sweeten the deal. You capture her successfully, and I’ll give you all the time, budget, and materials in the world you need to rebuild your..."little buddy”.”

Macaron seemed to perk up at that last part, his eyes glimmering with hope. “Really?"

"Of course."

"Then I'm on it, ma’am! But, uh… what do I do about the others?”

“Others? Plural!? I thought we were just dealing with Kale!” She spat, suddenly going from cold to furious in the blink of an eye.

“Well, according to my recent findings, she has about two more people with her now.”

"Who are they!?"

"I-I don't know yet! They're labeled as 'Foreign Existences' right now..."

“Great, just… great.” She sighed, and then pointed at him. “I’ll make it simple. Anyone else part of her little team? Kill them.”

Macaron swallowed the lump in his throat “Yes ma’am.”

“Good. I have high expectations for you, Macaron. Don't mess this up for me.”

With that, she left, her hologram vanishing into thin air.

Macaron sighed and turned back to his desk, pulling out his chair and sitting down at it. He cracked his knuckles, rolled his shoulders… and he focused, the lens of his glasses obscuring his eyes.

Now, how to contain her…?

“ENOUGH WITH THE SMALL TALK, GET TO THE AI LABS OR ELSE!” A woman screamed, his security camera picking it up. He had… no idea where it came from, but it seemed to be one of the off-screen ‘foreign existences’... and it was definitely directed at Mimosa. He watched as she waved goodbye to Smidge and began to strut down the hallway, with that little wolf in tow.

“So, you’re heading to the AI labs, are you?” He asked aloud.

He switched to a different screen, this one showing the door to the AI labs. The door to the lab was directly across from the entrance, and right above it past a set of stairs was another room... the AR labs. Both were labeled appropriately, with glowing screen signs above both of them.

Jackpot. With a quick little tap at his keyboard, he watched as the two signs swapped their labels, seconds before Mimosa walked in.

“I’ve got this…” He whispered, in a desperate attempt to pump himself up. He's got this, he could handle it... Peppermint had faith in him, after all...

All he needed was some prep time.

Chapter Text

“Alright, question 3! Which of these would be the most comforting? A. “It’s okay to ask for help”, B. “You’re not a burden”, C. “Murder is okay”, or D. “Your feeling’s matter”?”

Kale stared at Zanzo, puzzled. “...What in the hell is that option?”

Zanzo scoffed, looking away from one of his screens. “I know, I know, I’m not a fan of A either…”

“That’s not what I… oh, forget it.” Kale sighed. “I guess B?”

“Wonderful! Mimosa? What’s your choice?”

“A, I guess.” She said, shrugging. She was honestly half paying attention, too busy scouring around for the door to the AI labs. 

“HA! Weak! Rekka picked C.” Rekka bragged.

“Of course you did, what a shocker…” Mimosa mumbled, continuing down a curved hallway.

As per usual, the labs were farther away than she had hoped. Every time she thought Kale was right about their destination being right around the corner, she found herself trudging down hallway after hallway 5 minutes later with no door in sight. And this time was no different, unfortunately.

“Alright! Question 4–!”

“Uh, Zanzo, how many questions does this personality test of yours have?” Mimosa asked, raising a brow.

“Oh, it’s a simple 9 part test!”

Both her and Kale sighed with relief.

“Composed of a total of almost 200 questions!”

Kale choked on his coffee.

“OhwouldyoulookatthatIthinkwe’rehere.” Mimosa exclaimed, gesturing to the next door in front of her. “In we go-!”

“Wait a sec…” Rekka suddenly butted in. “You went the wrong way, idiot!”

Mimosa crossed her arms. “No I didn’t! I went through the door with the sign that said AI Labs, and here I am!”

“Well take a look at the label on the damn door!”

“Fine, I will!” She spat, before spinning around to see… yep, the door was not labeled as such. The door said "AR ".

“...I see the problem.”

“OH DO YA?”

“Well don’t blame me! Kale’s the one in charge of guidance!” She shot back, throwing the blame onto Kale.

Kale unwrapped a map back at the hideout to double check and... yep, they went the wrong way. “Dammit, we went too far! But why did the sign…?”

“Grr…” K-9 suddenly started growling, baring his teeth, and in a blink, he had leapt at something behind her.

Mimosa turned around a bit too late.

BLAM! With a kick to her side, she was sent through the door and into a dark room, with K-9 being tossed in right after her. She looked up to see a programmer bot closing the door behind her.

Scrambling to her feet, she ran to the door and tried to pry it open. She pushed, pulled, kicked, but nothing worked! K-9 even hopped up on his hind legs and followed her lead, matching her movements, but the door didn't budge.

Just then, a red light hit her, accompanied with a harsh, deep siren. With a vrrr noise, she stared at the far end of the room as it lit up.

And what was on the other side was staring right back at her. What looked like a giant metal eyeball was against the opposite wall, staring straight into her soul. She felt a shiver go up her spine. Eugh, creepy…

The lights clicked on, revealing the desolate, empty room before her, even emptier than the labs she had run around in. It was just white, smooth walls, with blue lines stretching across them in scattered patterns, circling past 2 giant monitors on the left and right walls.

The monitors clicked on with a blip!

“Going somewhere?” Macaron mocked, leaning back in his office chair.

“Oh, you figured out the camera this time! Good for you.” Mimosa said, with just a sprinkle of condescension.

“Wha–uh… crap, now my monologue has been thrown off…” He mumbled.

“Oh. Do you want to try it again or…?”

“No, no, the momentum’s gone… I-I’ll just jump to the next part of it.”

“Mimosa, get out of there!” Kale cut in. “Before something bad happens!”

“Sorry, but she's not going anywhere. You’ll still get a change of scenery, though.”

Suddenly, a flash of white hit her eyes. She covered her face for a moment, and when the light dimmed… she was back in one of the earlier labs. Did she just get teleported? Was this what the others felt when she called them in?

…No, wait… she could see something drifting in from her peripherals. Pixels dancing in the corners of her vision, almost akin to eye floaters. Rather appropriate, given the headache she was developing at this point, courtesy of Rekka and Zanzo...

“Observe! The power of Vandelay Alternate Reality Recreation Technology! VÄRRT!” Macaron exclaimed.

“Man, you are terrible with acronyms.”

“I-I’m not that bad at it! Am I…?” Macaron sighed. “Wh-Whatever, just… keep her busy.”

“Yes, sir…” One of the programmer bots droned over the intercom.

With a zap and a flash, a bundle of pixels slid into place, forming an HG-0G bot with two smaller ones at their side. Mimosa looked unamused, casually sauntering forward.

“Am I supposed to be intimidated by this? These guys are virtual, they can’t touch me.”

Zanzo piped up enthusiastically. “Actually, our virtual reality systems are quite impressive! In fact, it's considered so real that–”

POW!

The HG-0G bot promptly punched Mimosa in the face. Miraculously, she didn’t fly through several walls again this time. She just slammed into the one wall and then face planted, stars floating around her head. She left a Mimosa-shaped dent in the wall where she collided.

“...It hurts.” Zanzo finished.

Rekka immediately burst into laughter. Mimosa let out a frustrated grunt, coming back to her senses. She snapped her fingers.

“Rekka.”

Rekka flashed in, still laughing. “HAHA-...wait, what–”

POW!

The HG-0G bot promptly punched Rekka in the face as well. She stumbled back and ended up tripping over Mimosa, falling on top of her and knocking the wind out of the blonde.

"OW!" Rekka winced, glaring down at Mimosa. "Ugh, don't call Rekka in willy nilly like that! Rekka wasn’t ready!"

"Well Rekka should be more focused! Just shut up and fight!"

Now Playing: Get Movin’ (Feet Don’t Fail Me Now) by Cut Capers
I move back and forth,
Dance with a grin,
Take a look around and drink the energy in,
Say what you want don't mean a thing,
Cause I'm just gonna sing, sing, sing!
The gentle crackle that you hear,
When records spin in their first gear,
Is from a language with no bounds,
Get moving feet don't fail me now!

Mimosa huffed, pushing Rekka up just enough to climb out from under her.

"K-9!" Calling for the pup, K-9 hopped up into his ball form, and she immediately darted for the two smaller bots, ducking under the swinging arm of the HG-0G bot to get to them.

Rekka climbed to her own feet as well, charging at the HG-0G unit before wailing on it, not letting up in the slightest. No way was she going to give Mimosa the chance to sneak in and finish it off like last time.

It felt… odd, grasping at something virtual rather than something physical. It felt like they were cutting and punching through solid metal and nothing but air at the same time, which somehow felt easier and harder simultaneously. Like cutting through butter, except if it were hollow. This bizarre feeling was the only thing keeping them from taking care of the bots in record time, practically throwing them across the room to blow up at a safe distance.

“They took them out that quickly!? Isn’t there something you can do to distract them?”

“Uh… I can turn the lights down, I guess? But that might might put stress on the simulation–”

“Do it.”

On cue, the lights dimmed down, almost to a full blackout. The room was just barely illuminated by the few lights on the walls.

There was the faint, familiar sound of a few bots phasing in, but she could only make out their silhouettes in the dark, outlined by their glowing appendages and weapons, particularly the gleam of the barrel of their arm cannons from the smaller units and the glowing blade of the largest one.

…That, and the giant, glowing blue shield that appeared around the latter.

Mimosa was quick to snap her fingers. “Kale! Get in here, I need you!”

Kale was quick to flash in, drawing his blade. “On it!” The two of them separated, with Mimosa charging after the units on the sides, dodging the glowing lasers shot her way while he jumped at the larger bot. He ducked under a sword swipe, stabbing his blade straight through the shield, looking over his shoulder at Rekka.

“Get in here! Quick!” He ordered, and Rekka nodded, making it to the bot just as the shield fell. She landed a punch, cracking and shattering the z-shielding with ease. The bot anticipated her next punch and grabbed her arm, swinging her around before letting her go. She slid back a bit, throwing her fist down against the ground to stop herself, emitting a harsh ‘SKRRR!’ as metal met metal.

Standing back up, she noticed something coming in her peripherals. A small figure rushing in from behind. On instinct, she swept her arm out and knocked them aside.

“GAH!” Mimosa cried, falling onto her back. “What was that for!?”

“Oh, oops.” Rekka said, genuinely surprised. “Thought you were one of the scrawnier ones coming up on me.”

“I just took care of them!” Mimosa whined.

“Well how was Rekka supposed to know!? Rekka can’t see squat in here!”

“Well does it look or even sound like they're firing anything anymore!?”

Before Rekka could retort, she paused at the sound of approaching footsteps. Heavy metal ones. She turned just in time to cross her arms in front of her and block a swipe from the larger bot. Their sword bounced off the metal of her arms, and with a puff of steam, she delivered a heavy blow to the bot's chest.

The bot fell back and tried to scramble back up to their feet, but Rekka wasn’t gonna allow that. She ran forward and leapt up, aiming a devastating kick for their chest–!!!

SWISH!

In the blink of an eye, Rekka was suddenly pinned to the wall by her arm. The curved end of Mimosa’s mic was stabbed right into it, curled around Rekka’s arm, holding it in place.

Mimosa gave a fake smile, holding onto her wire. “Oh, sorry there, I was aiming for the bot. You both just look so big and menacing.”

“You nearly killed Rekka doing that!”

“I thought the bot was you, and I was trying to protect you.” She lied. “God forbid I try to be nice.”

Rekka grunted, grabbed Mimosa's weapon with her free hand, and yanked it off of the wall, tossing it back at her. “Liar!”

Mimosa caught it with one hand. “Well maybe I'd tell you apart in the dark better if you-”

THUD!

The remaining bot, having gotten to his feet, jumped and landed behind Mimosa. She whirled around, just about to get hit when–

SLICE!

Kale’s blade sliced right through the bot's chest, the heated metal cutting them in half. With two sweeps of his leg, he kicked the bots remains to the side before they exploded. He then whirled around to the other two, his brow furrowed.

“Do I have to do everything around here?”

“She started it!” Both women said in unison.

“I don’t care who started it, just get it together!” He exclaimed, before teleporting away.

Just then, there was a brief sort of crackling, zipping noise as a curtain of pixels parted on the far side of the room, revealing that creepy looking metal eyeball yet again.

“The VÄRRT is becoming unstable! I can’t hold it together!”

“Mimosa! That’s the projection lens! Hit it, and the whole projection goes down with it!” Zanzo explained.

Mimosa cringed. “Do I have to? It looks gross…”

“Coward!” Rekka taunted.

Immediately fueled by spite, Mimosa proceeded to march straight towards the eyeball.

"Oh, really now? Do enlighten me, Rekka, could a coward do this!?" She reeled back and then swung at the eye, slicing into the metal shell staring back at her. With each swipe, the eyeball swung around in a bizarre way, blinded by her strikes to the point that the pupil was replaced with a dizzy swirl.

"She's destroying the lens! S-Someone, get in there! Stop her!" Macaron ordered.

Mimosa heard the doors behind her snap open, followed by approaching footsteps. This encouraged her to swing faster and faster, harder and harder, until finally gripping the other end of her mic and stabbing the metal straight into the pupil.

Yanking it out, she saw sparks flying out of it like a firecracker, along with a vrrr… sound, growing louder and louder.

Yep, she knew that sound well. And Rekka did too, because she immediately teleported out of the room. Mimosa, meanwhile, grabbed K-9, tucked him under her arm like a football, and booked it as fast as she could away from the eyeball, straight past the bots that were running at her in her peripherals.

The bots that ran in were confused until they noticed what she was running from.

“Uh oh.”

BOOM!!!

Mimosa dove to the ground as the eyeball exploded, absolutely demolishing the far wall as the pixels in her vision were replaced with almost complete darkness. Once it faded away to silence, she opened her eyes and stood back up, illuminated by the flashing red ERROR symbols on the large screens that once held Macaron's face. The far wall was almost completely gone, with the only thing interspersing the space being some loose, hefty pipes and dangling wires, framing an area with more lava rivers and loose rocks outside of it.

Around her were a few bits of scrap metal, along with a robotic limb or two, but otherwise, the room was empty.

She slowly stood up and dusted herself off, letting go of K-9. The floating wolf-ball nuzzled her face, and she gave him a scratch behind the ear in return.

"Sir, the lens is down! And the explosion, uh... destroyed the units we sent in."

"Dang it...! I almost had them..." Macaron whined.

"Ugh, so we were tricked! That sneaky little..." Rekka huffed.

"It's no big deal. We'll just turn around and head back to the AI labs. Problem solved." Mimosa said.

"I don’t think that’s a viable option anymore, unfortunately." Zanzo groaned. "Apparently that section is being locked down tight, and all important information, documents, and works-in-progress are being transferred to Macaron’s office!"

"How...do you know this?" Kale asked.

"Just look at the email I just got! Ha! Loser forgot to remove me from the mailing list."

There was a soft ding! noise. Kale paused to read it. "Well, you just got another one. "Subject: Removing Zanzo from the mailing list"..."

"DAMMIT!" Zanzo cried.

“You know what? That’s it." Mimosa said, literally putting her foot down. "We wanted to get this over and done with, but nooo, clearly Macaron isn’t having that. Well, if he wants to hog all the information to himself, then fine… we’ll just go straight to him.”

"Wait, what!?" Kale exclaimed, sounding baffled by such an idea. “Mimosa, getting to his office isn't exactly going to be easy. Who knows what kind of defenses he has up…"

"Not many, surprisingly!” Zanzo exclaimed. “Here, hand me those building schematics!”

A beat passed.

“You mean the maps?” Kale asked.

“Yes I mean the maps!” Zanzo hissed. Kale begrudgingly sighed and handed him one. After a brief look over, Zanzo grinned

“The quickest route to Macaron’s office has, at best, only two more AR rooms! Anything else in the way is either bypassable or z-shielded. Not to mention R&D’s security is being scraped from the bottom of the barrel, what with how little units he has left...”

“So it’s settled then. We’re headed to his office!” Mimosa exclaimed, confidently pointing her weapon forward.

“Hey, hold it!” Rekka objected. “Rekka ain’t keen on being your battering ram, you know!”

“Oh, relax. I won’t need you for anything other than z-shielding.” Mimosa said, waving her hand dismissively. “You’re not good for much else.”

A beat passed. Kale and Zanzo glanced at each other, before glancing back at Rekka, who looked on the verge of murder. Uh oh.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Rekka growled.

“What, do you need me to spell it out for you? I. Barely. Need. You."

“Ha! Please! Rekka’s clearly the most efficient option here! I’ve wrecked more in an afternoon than you have in this whole riot of yours. We'll get there faster with me!” She snapped, glaring at Mimosa through K-9.

“Oh, so you destroyed several hundred bots, along with one 10 times your size? In the span of an afternoon? You're bluffing, honey.”

“Shut it! As if you were the only ones wrecking those bots up to this point! You wouldn't have made it this far without Rekka! You wouldn't have made it far at all without that tech in your chest! Face it, without it, you'd be nothing!"

“Excuse me? At least I have…” She trailed off a moment, looking at K-9’s ball form. She didn’t want the poor pup to feel like he was being yelled at during this. “Hold on, time out, let me clarify something with K-9-hey, K-9, sweetie, don’t worry, I’m not yelling at you, I’m yelling through you, okay? Okay. Love you.”

K-9 flashed her a look that screamed “get her ass”. Mimosa smiled.

“As I was saying, even if I did only make it this far because of that, which I didn't, at least I'm putting the tech to good use! I have the initiative to actually get out here and fight." She snapped back. "All you did was procrastinate in Zanzo's lil man cave while Kale and I did the actual work taking out CNMN!"

"Rekka's got initiative! Watch, Rekka'll take out Macaron's defenses in record time!"

"Not if I get through them first!"

“Is that a challenge?”

“Yes. It. Is.” She hissed.

Kale spoke up, trying to stop them. “Would the two of you just–!?”

Zanzo quickly pushed him aside. “Shh! Let them keep at it! This is going to be good! Creativity thrives under pressure!"

Kale sighed. Letting those two make some sort of competition out of this would either end in complete and total disaster, or them getting things done twice as fast. Either way, intervening would probably be a hassle.

Kale tipped his coffee cup over, watching as one remaining drop of it spilled out. “I’m going to need more caffeine for this…”

Macaron sat in his office, sweating bullets as Mimosa hopped through the hole in the wall. The details of their plan echoed in his mind.

They were coming for him.

He laughed nervously as he dabbed his forehead with a handkerchief. “Haha! I’m in danger…”

“Excuse me! I got to this one first.”

“No you didn't, punk! Rekka did!”

Mimosa and Rekka each had a grip on a security robot’s arms, practically using the poor guy for tug-of-war. The scrap metal remains of several other bots lie around them on the rocky terrain, having been called in to try to stop them in their path of destruction. Unfortunately, with them trying to constantly one-up each other, the units called in didn’t stand a chance. Many more were lost to the lava bubbling up below their feet.

“I-I surrender! I surrender!” The bot between them started to say. “Just please stop pulling on my–”

Pop!

Both arms popped off.

A beat passed. The bot slumped down, sounding sad.

“Aww maaaaan, I just got those arms… I really liked them too… man, screw this, I’m quitting.” The bot then walked off, down the path of flaming rock they came from.

“...” Mimosa glanced down at the arm she was holding. She dropped it. “Ew.”

“Huh… well, I guess that counts. Just went down 1 percent…” Kale said.

“Percent?” Rekka raised a brow.

“Oh, right, I haven’t shown you guys this yet. Check this out.”

K-9 popped out of his ball form and landed in front of the two. The tuft of fur making up the flame-like end of his tail unraveled into a V shape, before emitting… a screen? A projection popped up from his tail, showing a small bar, a drawing of Macaron’s head, and the following words across the top: "Macaron's Defenses: 60%”

"Now we can see his defenses crumble as we go!" Kale proudly proclaimed.

"Oh, hey, your art skills improved." Mimosa said, gesturing to the image of Macaron's head.

"Ahem…" Zanzo cleared his throat. Kale sighed.

"I… asked for Zanzo's help with that." He groaned, begrudgingly giving Zanzo some credit. Zanzo let out a giddy little laugh. "Anyways, I've already calculated the damage you've done thus far."

"Well how much of that percentage is from Rekka, huh? Probably more than hers." Rekka gloated.

"As if. Go on, Kale, give her the facts."

Kale, controlling K-9, pinched the bridge of his snout. “I'm not going to be the judge of your guys' little spat."

A beat passed. "...But if I had to say, Mimosa's winning."

"WHAT!?"

"Ha!"

"REKKA DEMANDS A RECOUNT!"

"Look, the next AR lab is coming up! Try putting that… enthusiasm of yours to good use in there, and maybe you'll...pull out on top or whatever." Kale reassured, trying to make sure Rekka didn't blow a fuse.

Mimosa smirked and strutted away. Seeing as there were no more bots to fight at the moment, Rekka teleported away to ever so gracefully demolish the remains of her punching bag back at the hideout for the time being.

A few walls were occasionally obliterated along the way, courtesy of Rekka's desperate need for a stress ball, and a few strides later, Mimosa stepped into the next AR room. This time, with purpose. The lights were already on when she entered.

...

A few beats passed before Mimosa spoke up. “Uh...Macaron? Are you there?”

“Oh, shoot, they’re here already!? Uh…” She could hear Macaron fumbling around off-screen. Then, the eyeball on the other end of this room opened up, hitting her with another flash of white… and sending her back into a replica of yet another lab. “Programmers! Get to it!”

“Uh… what should we do this time, sir? We’d really like some direction here–”

“Just throw… something at them! Some of our newer units! I don’t know…”

“Okay, how about… this?”

With a few keyboard clicks and a flash, a large, green bot phased in, looking confused.

“Good, but… maybe a little something more…” Macaron trailed off.

“More… protection?” The bot asked, throwing out a random idea. Macaron brightened up.

“Exactly! That’s absolutely what I was about to say. I definitely wasn’t trailing off while waiting for you to fill in the blanks.”

With a few more flashes and pixels zipping about, the bot was given a hefty, oversized blade, and a massive z-shielded… well, shield. Macaron beamed.

“Perfect! Just throw in more of those and a few other bots.”

“Uh, sir, too many bots might not be the most optimal–” There was the distant clicking of a door in the background. “...Aaaand he’s gone… great.”

With that, two more identical bots phased in, along with a bundle of smaller ones.

Mimosa didn’t even need to call Rekka in this time, because she was already out and charging at one of the larger ones, her fists aimed straight for their shield.

Mimosa, personally, didn’t even mind. If Rekka wanted to waste her time taking out 1 heavy hitter in the span of time it takes for her to wipe out 3 of the tinier ones, she could go on ahead. She'd take the bigger body count in a heartbeat.

And as she expected, she succeeded in taking out the smaller batch just as Rekka was beginning to crumble the shield of her next target, the first bot having long since been demolished. She dashed over, ready to swoop in and take out one of the larger units now that it had no more protection, when a few of those flower-shaped security drones shot out of the walls.

Mimosa stopped in her tracks, readying her mic as the first one shot at her.

Block, block… block block!

With that one dealt with, she turned to the next one as it unfurled, ready to fire.

…Only for one of the bigger units to be thrown straight at her. Rekka had barely dodged a stab from one of the bigger bots, grabbed their arm, and chucked them over her shoulder and across the room… without looking.

The blonde barely ducked, and then had to practically tapdance out of the way as the second security drone fired at her feet.

“Hey! Watch where you’re throwing!” She yelled at Rekka.

“Suck it up! You're fine, aren't ya!?” Rekka yelled, before swinging back around to the larger bots in her way as Mimosa took care of the other drone. It wasn’t too hard for the larger woman to demolish the next one, but as she lunged at the last one…

Swish!

THUD!

“Ow!” Rekka winced, having suddenly been yanked to the ground by her foot. Mimosa’s wire uncurled from around her ankle, rolling back up around the blonde's mic.

“Oops, sorry, I should really watch where I’m throwing.” She said, a smug look on her face.

Rekka growled and was about to shoot up to her feet to give Mimosa a piece of her mind… but the bot she was still fighting had other plans. They drew their sword up and stabbed it straight towards Rekka, who barely rolled out of the way in time to avoid it.

With an angry yell, she shot her hand up and grabbed the handle of the sword, practically ripping it out of the bot’s hands, who looked at her with utter fear as she used it to prop herself back up onto her feet.

The bot made a T shape with their hands to request a time out, only to get stabbed straight through the chest with their own weapon, crumpling in on themselves before exploding.

There was another static sound as the pixels on the other end of the room parted aside, revealing the eyeball yet again.

The eye didn’t even get the chance to blink before Rekka already had her fist through it. In just one punch, she destroyed it, fueled by pure adrenaline and spite. Excess bits of metal from the eye crumbled off of her fist as she stepped back. The electric surge intensified. It was going to blow up.

She turned to Mimosa and smirked, before zipping away to the safety of the hideout. Of course she would. Mimosa wasn’t even surprised.

She simply sighed and gently scooped K-9 up out of the air, before casually death-dropping to the ground to avoid the blast as if this were an average Wednesday for her. If she was going to avoid the explosion, she was going to do it in style.

BOOM!!!

And just like before, when the smoke cleared, she was met with a new door, out into another field of lava, pipes, and very little ground to work with.

“And there goes another AR room…” The programmer bot groaned.

“Oh no… okay, okay, I can salvage this… somehow…” Macaron whined.

Pushing herself up and letting go of K-9, Mimosa got on the move again, hopping through the hole in the wall and down some pipes, back into a fiery hellscape.

Zanzo quietly cackled to himself. “Hahahaaa! Oh, this is more perfect than I ever imagined! You can practically hear the panic in his voice!”

“I take it you find his struggles amusing, Zanzo?” Mimosa asked, walking across a row of pipes over hot lava, her arms out for balance.

“What? Can’t I have a little fun?”

“Oh, no, no, I have no issue with it.” She reassured him. “I’m right there with you. Go off, honey.”

“If you insist! This utter buffoon, the nerve of him to not only take my job and take over my life, but to make it so completely empty!” He stood up back in the hideout and started pacing. “That fool has no direction! No confidence! No… no… no creativity!”

“Is that really the–Hold on a sec. Ladies, enemies coming in from your right.”

“On it!” Both of them said in unison, with Rekka flashing back in at the ready. The two immediately dived towards the bots coming at them, while Kale kept talking.

“Is that the worst trait to be missing?” Kale asked.

“YES! YES IT IS!” Zanzo cried.  “He’s given all of this creative freedom, all these possibilities, and yet he does nothing with it! Nothing’s worse than wasted potential! He doesn’t understand my vision, or Roxanne’s!”

“Her vision?” Kale asked, raising a brow. “She… never really struck me as the creative type.”

“Sure, she might not have been the most colorful person, but she understood my passion! My drive! She supported… well, maybe not all of my ideas, but she supported some of them!”

“Shocker.” Kale said, passing the empty handle of his laser blade back and forth in his hands.

“She made me feel seen!” Zanzo exclaimed. Kale tightened his grip on the handle. “But then she just up and vanished, and then Peppermint just had to come in and mess everything up!”

“She vanished?” Mimosa asked, ducking under a blast from a bot's arm cannon.

“They say that she retired..." Kale trailed off, crossing his arms.

“But I don’t buy it!” Zanzo interjected. “I’ve tried to email her numerous times about my ideas after Peppermint took over, but I got nothing! No response!”

“Hm…” Suddenly, Mimosa was struck with an idea. Particularly, an idea on how to distract Rekka so she could do more damage than her. This had about a… solid 50/50 chance of working out in her favor. Either it threw Rekka off, or it made her fight harder. Eh, it was worth a shot.

“Say, Rekka, did you get into contact with Roxanne at all while you were still in charge?” She asked, casually lassoing one of those bomb-throwing drones out of the air before whipping it into the lava.

“Rekka didn’t even get the chance!” She cried, frustrated. “They fired Rekka almost the second that spoiled little brat took over!”

Rekka grabbed the arm of one of the bots approaching her, almost crushing their body in her hands. “And worst of all, they accepted that skinny lil junk pile over REKKA!? Rekka was the most loyal god damn member of that whole team, and Roxanne knew that! But nooooo, apparently Peppermint didn't agree! They just had to trash me or some cheap lil obedient automation, all because of some “anger issues”!”

She whirled around, ripping the head off of the bot. “DOES REKKA LOOK LIKE SHE HAS ANGER ISSUES!?”

“Yes, yes you do.” Mimosa said bluntly.

“SHUT IT!” Rekka threw the head at her. Mimosa lifted her mic up.

Block!

The head was parried back and hit Rekka right in the forehead. “GAH! Okay, that’s it!”

Rekka proceeded to tackle Mimosa to the ground, and the two found themselves in a giant cartoon smoke cloud as they duked it out. K-9’s ball form floated on the sidelines, his tail popping out and unfurling to project a message: "Go Mimosa!!!"

A few of the other bots on the sidelines decided they didn’t want to get involved in that mess and jumped overboard, figuring the lava was a better fate.

“Dammit, you two, pull yourselves together!” Kale exclaimed.

Both of them paused for a split second, with Mimosa hand yanking Rekka’s hair, and Rekka’s knuckles pressed against Mimosa’s cheek.

“STAY OUT OF IT!”

They both resumed fighting.

Kale sighed. Alright, guess he’ll have to go for a different tactic.

"Dang it! I'm not going to get anything worthwhile out of them fighting each other!" Zanzo complained.

"Give me a sec, Zanzo, I've got this." Kale cleared his throat. “Oh hey, would you look at that, Macaron’s office is directly behind the next AR lab. Getting to his office first will surely put one of you in the lead in your little game..."

Both women stopped again.

Mimosa scoffed. “Kale, don’t describe it as a “game”, we’re not children–”

Rekka pushed Mimosa aside and ran off. “REKKA’S GONNA GET THERE BEFORE YOUUU!”

Mimosa immediately shot to her feet, running after her. “Oh no you won’t!”

Fueled by spite and adrenaline, the two girls took off towards the next AR room. Barreling through a couple of z-shielded walls and hopping down a couple of thick pipes, Rekka was the first to make it to the next AR room. “Ha! What, did you skip leg day?”

Mimosa paused, taking a few deep breaths. “No fair! Your legs are longer…”

"Excuses, excuses... well Rekka's heading in, don't keep her waiting-" She went to step into the AR room... only for the door to be locked. She huffed. "Dammit! Stupid door's locked... ain't z-shielded either."

Kale zapped in, cracking his knuckles. "Let me take care of it." He said, making his way to a control panel off to the side.

Mimosa stood back and let Kale take over. She could go for a breather right now...

“Ah, it sure is nice to see someone livening up the place.”

Mimosa almost immediately perked up, doing a 180 to see…

“Oh, hey O5-KAR.” She smiled, running over to the bot. “What are you doing here? Last time I saw you was in Production.”

“I do a little bit everywhere. Same shift, different location. I at least appreciate the change in scenery around here…” O5-KAR shook his head in dismay. “I used to yearn for the days of peace and tranquility around here… but nowadays? I miss when Mr. Zanzo was leading us…surprisingly, I miss him.”

“A lot of workers around here do, shockingly…” Mimosa replied, before an idea struck her, a little lightbulb flashing over her head. “Wait, actually…”

She smiled and snapped her fingers, aiming for a spot right in front of O5-KAR.

“Zanzo!”

In a flash, Zanzo zapped in, caught off guard. He stumbled a bit, looking a bit dizzy, yet amazed. His eyes were sparkling, and he let out a giddy laugh. “Gahaha! That felt great! A tad bit disorienting, but still so thrilling! Ooooh, you need to call me in more!”

"No promises." She said.

“Mr. Zanzo?” O5-KAR caught his attention. Zanzo dramatically swiveled around and posed.

“Aha! O5-KAR! Wonderful to see you!”

O5-KAR let out an airy laugh. “Right back at ya, lad.”

Zanzo beamed proudly. “Don’t worry! The others and I are going to put Macaron in his place and liven things up around here!”

“Is that what you’re all doing? Oh, I’m looking forward to that.” O5-KAR beamed right back.

“Hey, maybe you can show Zanzo a box stack sculpture once we finish up. Might get his creative juices flowing again.” Mimosa chimed in.

“So long as you don’t knock it over, I’d love to.” The bot jeered.

“It was one time!”

“I’m just pulling your leg, lass.” The bot gave her a little pat on the shoulder. It felt… surprisingly nice. Warm.

“HEY! LOSERS! GET OVER HERE! KALE’S FINISHED!” Rekka exclaimed from across the room. Mimosa sighed.

“Well, that's the fun police…” She mumbled, giving a little side-eye to Rekka by the door. She then turned back to O5-KAR. “We need to get back to business.”

O5-KAR gave a solemn, understanding nod. “Understood. Good luck out there, you two.”

“We won’t need it!...But we appreciate it.” Zanzo exclaimed, before the two turned and made their way back to the next AR lab door, where Rekka and Kale were waiting.

“Okay, this is the last AR room.” Kale explained. “We're down to about 30%. He should practically be defenseless once you finish off this room. Just… be prepared for anything.”

He then glared at Rekka and Mimosa. “And for the love of god, don’t tear each other apart in there.”

Both of them sighed in disappointment. Kale rubbed his temples.

“Okay, you can tear each other apart after we stop SPECTRA, okay?” He clicked the door open. “Now get in there, you two.”

With that, Mimosa stepped into the empty room, K-9 hovering beside her. Rekka followed behind her, not even bothering to waste time teleporting back when she didn’t need to. Kale and Zanzo, however, flashed away behind them.

The same song and dance happened, as the eyeball on the other end opened up, and the lights flickered on.

“All remaining staff are on this, sir. How should we go about this?”

“I have two words for you.” Macaron said, his voice the clearest and most confident it’s ever been.

“Stall them.”

With that, there was another flash of light. Rekka grunted as her eyes adjusted, far less used to this.

Before them was… certainly not a lab, that’s for certain. Just when they had gotten away from their round of the-floor-is-lava, it returned in full force, forming a static cavern with very few rocks and quite a bit of lava, tons of it pouring in from waterfalls on the sides. Several spires of lava shot up around them, like a threatening fountain…

And a few feet away, on a more elevated chunk of rock, was a goalpost. And on one of the rocks was…

…Was that a gift basket?

“Woahhh, look, there’s a very distracting and totally real gift basket right over there…”

“Dibs.” Both Mimosa and Rekka said in unison. They both knew fully well that the gift basket was fake, they were just jumping at the chance to assert superiority over the other. Both glared at each other before Rekka took off running first.

She only got five steps before the platforms leading to the gift basket vanished. Instead, several other platforms started to phase in from the right.

“Oh, right, I should probably make the trip there longer…” The programmer bot mumbled, laying out their detour.

With that, the two of them took off, running and hopping from platform to platform as they raced each other. Occasionally a generated bot or two sprinkled throughout would take a shot at hitting one of them, only to get taken out quickly and swiftly.

“Dang, they’re making it through pretty fast… uh, let’s try and trip them up!”

Just as Rekka had made it to the edge of one of the smaller hunks of rock, the next platform vanished in front of her. She barely skid to a stop just in time to avoid plummeting forward… only for Mimosa to dash forward and bump right into her from behind, which was enough to send her falling forward

Throwing her arms out, Rekka’s hands managed to grab the edge of the next platform over, leaving her draped between the two hunks of rock like a bridge. The lava bubbled below her, almost tickling her chin...

And then Rekka felt a pair of heels walking across her back.

“Thanks for bridging the gap~” Mimosa said in a sing-song tone of voice.

“You’re not welcome– gmph!” Just as Rekka pulled her chin up to the next rocky floor, Mimosa stepped on the back of her head, smashing her face right into the ground.

Mimosa didn't bother to suppress her laughter as she ran further down the path, albeit a bit more cautious given how fragile they were and how easily they were flickering away. Rekka, having pulled herself back to her feet, ran after her, right on her heels.

“Maybe try elevation…?”

Mimosa, focusing a bit too hard on the ground, promptly smacked her face into a wall. Staggering back, she saw that part of the ground in front of her had shot up several feet. Taking a running start, she tried to jump to it… but she barely missed, falling back on her feet.

“Well that’s just cheating…” Mimosa mumbled.

“Then we’ll just have to cheat the system too!” Rekka said, before grabbing Mimosa by the waist.

“What are yoaaaAAAAAAAAAH —!”

Rekka proceeded to chuck Mimosa upwards and onto the upper platform, before teleporting away. Flashing back in a second later, now on the upper platform, she saw that Mimosa had faceplanted.

“Get up, twinkle toes, we’re on a mission here!” She said, stepping over Mimosa’s faceplanted body.

Mimosa grunted and stood back up with K-9's help, who growled in Rekka's direction. She stumbled after her.

The road only became rockier from there, falling, raising, and vanishing before their eyes. It was like playing a very dangerous game of hopscotch, a sweaty balancing act of epic proportions. The path slowly curved back around, starting to head back towards the goal post.

Mimosa wiped her brow, exhausted from the running and the heat. “Of course the temperature had to transfer here too…”

“Hey, if you can’t take the heat, get out of the kitchen!” Rekka mocked.

THUD!

Rekka yelped and fumbled back as a giant, searing hot ball of fire struck the ground in front of her. With a rumble, something rose from the lava around them.

A volcano. Of course. Just what they had been missing!

“One of these should work…”

Macaron popped back in. “Throw in a few more, for good measure.”

“Are you sure, sir? It'll just put more stress on-”

"Now."

With a blip, he was gone yet again, and with another earthquake shaking the very little floor beneath them, two more volcanoes rose up.

“Wonderful…” Mimosa groaned, watching as more flaming balls of fire soared through the air. She barely dodged one that hit the ground beside her and kept running, scooping K-9 up protectively. Rekka, however, wasn’t being cautious in the slightest.

“Ha! As if a bit of brimstone is gonna stop Rekka!”

“God dammit, Rekka!” Kale exclaimed, annoyed. “Stay with the group!”

“Rekka’ll stay with the group so long as the group stops being a coward!” She exclaimed, casually side-stepping another blast hitting the ground next to her.

“Confidence isn’t a substitute for idiocy!” Mimosa exclaimed, slowing down as lava rained around her. She could feel the balls of fire smash the ground at a steady beat, as per usual, but that didn’t make her any less cautious as she traversed.

She found herself looking just about everywhere as she ran, having to do a 360 head spin to pay attention to everything. A platform vanishing under her feet here, one raising up there, a flaming wad of death and destruction almost brushing her feet on occasion...

So of course it wasn't too hard to see one of those fireballs heading right towards Rekka, who was none the wiser.

“REKKA! ABOVE YOU!"

“Huh?” Rekka slowed to a stop, looking up to see nothing but fire headed straight for her.

And then, Rekka was shoved out of the way. Mimosa pushed her aside with one hand, instinctively raising her mic up with the other.

BLOCK!

Parrying the fireball, the blast soared back into the air, flying off course and hitting the wall of the cavern, leaving nothing but scattered pixels and crumbling rock.

Both women froze for a moment, looking at each other. Rekka was the first to speak.

“Did you just pr-”

“PARRY A FIREBALL!?” Zanzo exclaimed, sounding absolutely giddy.

“I… I guess I did!” Mimosa exclaimed, bewildered as to how she did that. Eh, this was a simulation. A very terrifying, painful simulation. Anything can happen. Now wasn’t the time to dwell on that, or anything else at the moment. Mimosa quickly pushed Rekka aside and kept running. Rekka hesitated before she ran after her, while Zanzo geeked out in the background, making several notes about what happened.

"You need to do more of that!" He squealed.

"Maybe later!"

Hopping onto a rail, finally, after much trial and error… they finally made it back to the goal post. Landing, Rekka teleported in next to her. Both of them settled their eyes on the gift basket.

Both jumped for it at the same time, only to phase through it, headbutting each other in the process. Both ladies fell back, clutching their heads in pain.

“Did… did you two forget this wasn't real?” Kale asked.

“Shut up!” Both of them exclaimed at the same time.

“Crap, crap, crap… sir, they’re near the end! The projection is straining!” The programmer bot exclaimed.

“Just… just throw anything at them! Everything! I just need a bit longer…” Macaron muttered.

“But sir, it’s going to crash! I don’t think we can keep this up–!”

“JUST DO IT!” His voice boomed. Frightened into silence, the programmer bot upped the ante.

The goal post and the gift basket both vanished, and with a shudder and a tremor, the platform dropped, almost knocking them to the ground. And then, with several little fwishes and zaps, a couple dozen bots phased in, all of various shapes and types.

Seeing a few of them popping up some blue shields, Mimosa snapped her fingers. “Kale!”

Hopping in, Kale readied his blade. “Zanzo! Keep an eye on the defense meter!”

“Got it!”

With that, the other three got to work destroying as many of them as possible. Rekka charged at anything with z-shielding, Kale tore and sliced through whatever had a blue bubble around them, and Mimosa dealt with the small fry leftover, keeping her eyes on the skies to nudge the others out of the way of incoming magma overhead. K-9 even hopped in from time to time, gnawing at anything his teeth could get a hold of.

"Can't... keep this... up..." The programmer bot gasped, followed by the sound Mimosa could best describe as someone's face smashing into a keyboard.

“I'm guessing the programmers collapsed! The percentage just dropped..." Zanzo chimed in. "With them out of commission, it'll crash at any moment!"

“We can tell!” Kale exclaimed, ducking a swipe before slicing through the arm of the bot that attacked him. The swarm of attacks thrown at all of them were lessening bit by bit, little by little, until eventually... there was only one thing left in their way.

With another crackle, the pixels faded away, revealing the projection eyeball yet again.

"I'VE GOT IT!" Both Mimosa and Rekka called out, dashing straight for it.

The eyeball's pupil shrunk in fear seconds before they struck it. In one swift strike, Mimosa's mic stabbed into the lens, and Rekka's fists obliterated every bit of open space remaining.

Pulling themselves back, the eyeball once again crackled with electricity. Kale quickly hopped away, vanishing back to the hide out, while both Rekka and Mimosa were forced to duck for cover for the third and final time.

BOOOOOM!!!

And once again... everything was still. And empty. Before them wasn't the same gap with pipes, wires, and lava stretching out before them... but lights from the next room over.

Macaron's office.

With the dust cleared and the wall destroyed, Mimosa didn’t hesitate. She scrambled to her feet, gripped her mic and hopped into Macaron’s office before Rekka could.

Rekka shot up as well and ran after her...

...Only to vanish away.

Fwish!

“Wha-!?” Rekka blinked, finding herself back at the hideout. "What the...? What is Rekka doing back here!?"

Zanzo raised a brow, swiveling around to face her. "Wait, why are you back here? Weren't you running after Mimosa?"

“Yeah! I was! And now Rekka's... here...?" She trailed off.

She squeezed her eyes shut and clenched her fists, trying to urge her body to jump back... but nothing. Hell, she even jumped in place a few times, to give it a little extra oomph, but... nothing.

"Kale, your stupid temporal whateverthehell is busted!"

"What are you talking about!?" Kale asked, confused.

"Rekka can't jump back!"

Chapter Text

Click!

Mimosa’s heels hit the floor as she landed in Macaron’s office, with K-9 hopping out of his ball form and landing beside her.

His office was far more furnished than the labs, covered wall to wall in metal pipes, glowing devices blinking several different colors, a few different tables, boxes and blueprints… and two bizarre looking, massive antennas in the back corners. They glowed green and red, framing the massive door behind her that any normal person would enter through, rather than blasting a hole open in a wall.

And yet… no Macaron in sight.

Until she looked to her left and noticed an open doorway, where she could hear some panicked muttering.

Suddenly, Kale spoke up. “Mimosa! There’s something-”

“Not now.” Mimosa interjected, heading straight for the doorway.

Walking through it, she found herself atop a small platform overlooking a lower floor, led into by a double staircase. She found herself staring at a wall encased entirely in screens, with the rest of the wall being entirely black. The other two walls were glass windows, leading back out to the fiery, rocky hellscape she had grown familiar with. 

Among several more machines, a bulky green couch and a coffee table, was Macaron at his desk. He was sweating, frantically typing away at his keyboard and occasionally pressing one of the dozens of glowing buttons on a control panel.

“Yoohoo~” Mimosa called, causing Macaron to flinch and whirl around in his office chair. “Look, you gave it your best shot, but it’s about time you called it quits, honey. Move aside, and I won’t have to hurt you.”

To her surprise, Macaron barely even stuttered. "How about... uh, no."

"...No?"

"No."

“Would you look at that, you finally got that confidence boost you needed! Not like it’ll do you much good.” She said, holding her mic out confidently, pointed at him from above.

"Dammit, Mimosa, there's something wro-"

"Hold on, Kale, I've got him on the ropes right now." She hissed, turning back to Macaron. “If you want to fight so badly, Macaron, then it’s your funeral.”

Macaron flinched at the threat, before clearing his throat.

"Actually..." His voice was chillingly quiet, his hand drifting over the many buttons on the control panel before pressing one of them. "It's yours."

Two more antenna-shaped devices shot up from the ground next to him, just as large and bulky, but glowing orange instead. This time, they framed his desk, standing guard on either side of the row of monitors.

There was a steady vrrrr… sound, followed by a fwoosh! as an orange shock wave shot out from them.

Mimosa flinched, bracing herself for impact, to be knocked over or struck with pain…but nothing happened. She even stopped and patted herself down, checking for any bruises or cuts... but nothing. Not a scratch on her.

"...Is that it? Huh. Boring."

Clink!

"Huh?"

Clink! Clank! Clink! Clunk! Clank!

A cacophony of rattles rang out as scrap metal crumpled off of her mic, falling in a heap on the floor. Her wire unraveled as well, curling into a pitiful pile on top of it, like a disappointing spaghetti noodle. "What the...?"

She shook her squeegee around, trying to pull the metal back towards it. No luck. She grabbed a piece of metal and pressed it to the squeegee, as if hoping to glue it back on through force... but it fell off the second she let go.

"How did you...?"

Macaron didn’t respond. He just stared at her.

"Whatever! Ugh, I wanted to take you out on my own, but I'll just call in some backup." Rekka better not gloat about this afterwards...

She snapped her fingers. "Rekka!"

...

A beat passed. Nothing.

Snap!

"Rekka!"

Another beat passed. Snap!

"...Rekka."

Another. She looked down at her hand. Maybe someone else…?

Snap.

"Kale?"

Another. She gulped.

Snap...

"...Zanzo?"

Macaron smirked. Mimosa kept snapping.

Nothing.

"Kale, what's happening!?"

"We were trying to tell you! We can't jump in! Something's blocking our connection!"

Macaron laughed. A soft, heavy, rumbling sort of laugh... a mocking one.

“Did you…?” Mimosa asked, her voice trailing off, slightly more fearful.

“That was part of my three-step prevention plan: Take out your temporal displacement, take out your magnet, and then… take out your crew.” He commented. “As for you…”

He straightened his glasses, the glare hiding his eyes.

“What’s about to happen should be relatively simple, if you cooperate.” He pointed right at Mimosa. "You and your KUT-WAN are to be taken in to see Peppermint.”

“Wait, what?” Mimosa asked, thrown aback by the surprising pacifism being shown towards her specifically. “I thought you wanted me dead!”

“Oh, I still do.” He said bluntly. “Unfortunately, Peppermint has some… other plans for you. As for the others, well, they’ll be disposed of.”

“You mean you’re going to kill them.”

“Well, uh, yes, but semantics are unimportant right now.”

“And you seriously think you can kill the three of them?” She asked, straining her voice to appear more confident than she actually was. Sure, maybe Zanzo was toast, but Kale had a whole laser blade, and Rekka could probably handle him on her own with one hand tied behind her back. That woman could probably take out an army.

…Not like she’d say that out loud, though. The day she had anything nice to say about Rekka would be the day that these robots start flying. Or the day she got that gift basket they promised her.

“Who said I’d be the one killing them?”

Mimosa blinked. “But who else would??? You have no more units! We got rid of them all!”

“Well, technically you got rid of my units, but…” He pressed another button.

Suddenly, the dark wall behind Macaron lit up. Mimosa gasped as she looked up, and up, and up… and...

Before her stood a robot the likes of which she had never seen. Or, rather, the skeleton of one. The limbs, the torso, the head… they were all separated, suspended in the air by chains, but each individual piece was ginormous. She could only describe it as if QA-1MIL legs, and a more awkward face, with crooked eyes and a big, open jaw. She could make out the label “ZP-1500 ” on the front of the torso, in big, bold letters.

Macaron gestured to it with one arm. “I figured I could borrow one of yours.”

“One of ours…?” Mimosa trailed off, putting the pieces together in her head. No normal person would make a robot of this size, and the one person would have these pieces ready in R&D would be...

“Zanzo!”

“Eep!” Zanzo flinched. “Wh-Why are you looking at me like that!? You think I built this!?”

“Yes. Yes we do.”

“...Okay, you’re right, but in my defense, I was in the middle of making this when I got replaced! They didn’t give me time to put it away!" He exclaimed.

Mimosa nervously looked at the robot, sweating. “Please tell me it’s harmless…”

“...”

“Zanzo. Tell me it’s harmless.”

“...Well-”

“ZANZO!” The rest of the team exclaimed in unison. Zanzo shrunk down.

“Look, I had a lot of ideas going on, okay!?” He retaliated, tugging at his wires. “The high-powered hand laser and claws may have been a bad decision, in hindsight…”

Macaron smirked. “I have to thank you, Zanzo, for all your hard work. It’ll make dealing with you all a lot easier.”

"Ugh, the one time I get praised for my work..." He muttered.

With that, he pressed another button. A few words appeared over the glass pane screen in front of the bot, along with a monotone voice reading them off.

"TARGETS ACQUIRED:"

This was followed by images of the other three popping up. Zanzo posing dramatically and talking to O5-KAR, Kale taking out the bubbled shield of another bot, and Rekka stabbing that one bot with their own sword.

"BEGINNING CONSTRUCTION…"

With a whir and a groan, the pieces began to shake, slowly sliding towards each other. Mimosa and the others gasped in fear!

…And then 5 seconds later, they realized barely anything was happening. It was being assembled, sure, but... slowly. Like, surprisingly so. Almost at a snail's pace. Even Macaron seemed bewildered by this.

“Huh? Uh… why is it going so slow?” He asked, looking back at the robot.

"CONSTRUCTION MUST BE PRECISE."
"CONSTRUCTION MUST BE PERFECT. "
"ZP-1500 WILL BE READY FOR USE IN 10 MINUTES."

“10 minutes!?” Macaron exclaimed. He bit back an anxious groan and wiped the sweat from his brow. “Any way you can speed things up a little…?”

"SORRY DUDE, THESE THINGS TAKE TIME."
"I DON’T MAKE THE RULES."

“Hmph…oh well, I can wait.” He said, mostly to himself. “I have other business to attend to anyways…”

He shot a look at Mimosa. She felt her stomach drop.

“Mimosa! Get out of there!” Kale cried, and Mimosa proceeded to do a 180 and make a break for the door behind her.

Click!

Those familiar red sirens started blaring.

“Initiating emergency full-scale lockdown of R&D. I repeat, initiating full-scale lockdown of R&D. No one will be allowed exit or entry for the time being.”

Crap.

Reaching the door, she tried to pry it open with all her might, but…

“It won’t budge!” She huffed.

“Dammit! We’re locked down over here too!” Kale exclaimed, frustrated.

“Grr…”

Mimosa tensed up, hearing K-9 growling. She turned and–holy crap how did Macaron get behind her so fast she didn’t even HEAR HIM–!

“Peppermint said she wanted me to take you in.” Suddenly, his eyes gleamed, as red as the lights flashing around them, with a wicked smile on his face. “But she didn’t say you had to be in one piece.”

Mimosa brandished her scrap-less squeegee out of desperation, trying to keep distance between them. “St-Stand back! I’m armed!”

He took a step forward. She immediately swung the squeegee... and it just bounced off of him, not even leaving a mark. She paused and nervously slotted it back into her spine implant, lifting her hands up in surrender.

“Hey, listen, w-we can talk this out…” She began, sweating a little as he loomed over her, casting a shadow. “I really didn’t mean any of that stuff I said about CNMN, honest! In fact, I’m feeling super guilty about it! I–”

Macaron took another step forward.

“K-9, NOW!”

K-9 jumped at Macaron, his teeth meeting his calf… hitting nothing but metal, barely making a dent in the implant's casing.

Macaron didn’t even bat an eye, catching Mimosa as she tried to run past him.

His massive arms wrapped around her from behind, yanking her off her feet and into a not-so-friendly bear hug, trapping her arms at her sides. In a matter of seconds, she felt the life squeezed out of her, his grip tightening around her like a boa constrictor. She gasped for air, but nothing could enter her lungs.

And his grip just got tighter and tighter…

She fought and kicked, feeling like her bones were about to be snapped in half from the pressure, especially her ribs. All she could hear was Macaron's low, satisfied chuckle.

...And then his yell of pain, as K-9 bit him again, this time on his upper thigh, tearing right through his pants.

"9 MINUTES REMAINING…"

Now Playing: Venus Fly Trap by Marina and the Diamonds
They'll shame you,
Blame you,
Pretend to even hate you.
Take away your rights,
Pacify you with their lies.
Whatever you give life,
You are gonna get back.
Why be a wallflower when you can be a Venus fly trap?

He shot one of his arms down to pull K-9 away, loosening his grip on Mimosa just enough for her to suck in a breath. The air rushed into her lungs just as fast as the music rushed into her ears.

"DROP YOUR WEIGHT! SLIDE OUT!" She heard someone yell, and her brain was too dizzy and panicked to really focus on who was saying it or why. All she knew was that it wasn't Macaron, so she was fairly certain it was good advice.

She propped her hands up on the underside of Macaron's arm, before allowing her body to go slack. She slid out from under his arm and turned around. Wanting to catch him off guard, she curled her fingers over her thumb into a fist and threw a punch at him just as he pushed K-9 aside.

He caught her fist before it could connect, with her hitting nothing but his palm. He glared down at her coldly. Uh oh.

Holding her by the fist, he proceeded to swing around, before throwing her. Hard. She soared through the air with a yelp, flying over the banister and to the lower floor.

With a huff, he approached the railing and hopped over it, landing on the ground with a THUD!

…Only to see nothing.

He looked left, he looked right, but nope. Nothing. All he could see was his usual set up. He started to pace around, narrowing his eyes. She couldn't have gotten far.

“Hiding, are you?” Macaron muttered, peering under his desk in search of her. “Well go ahead. Catch your breath all you want. You can hide… but you can’t run.”

Underneath his couch, Mimosa held her breath. Quietly, K-9 slid under the couch beside her. One hand was clasped over her mouth, and the other covered her music player, trying to steady the heavy beat in her chest.

Good lord, this went from action to horror real quick!

Annoyed at the volume of her music player rumbling through her ears, she tapped her fist against the glass case on her chest, as though it'd calm it down.

The second she hit the glass, she winced. She sucked in some air through her teeth, looking down at her hand. She ran her hands over the knuckles and her thumb. "Why does my fist hurt so much...?"

"Probably from the shoddy punch you threw at him."

"What do you mean!? That was a perfectly good punch!" She exclaimed.

"Ya didn't put your thumb in the right place! You tucked it under your fingers.” Mimosa felt tiny paws grabbing her hand and forming it into a fist, putting her thumb over top her fingers this time. “You’re supposed to put your thumb here, otherwise it hurts your thumb.”

“...Huh. Never knew that.”

“Didn’t expect ya to, Barbie.”

“Oh shut up, Rekka!” 

A beat passed.

...And then, Mimosa did a double take. Realizing what she just said, she glanced at K-9, noticing how he was no longer glowing a steady orange, but a blazing red, and part of the fur on his head was standing on end in 3 big strands, just like a certain someone's hair.

"Rekka!?" She exclaimed in a hushed voice, jolting up in surprise…only to bump her head on the bottom of the couch.

She winced and rubbed her head. "Since when could you control K-9!?"

Sure, she knew the others could speak through him, like one very annoying voice chat, but as far as she knew, Kale was the only one who could directly take over and control his movements. 

“Since now!" Rekka, or, rather, Rek-9 huffed.

"What the hell are Kale and Zanzo doing???"

“Those two are running around like a bunch of headless chickens trying to stop that!” She gestured to the giant robot.“They ain't making any progress, so Rekka took over!”

“I… see…”

"8 MINUTES REMAINING…"

“God, we’re so screwed.” She mumbled.

“Hey! Don't just give up like that, stop him!" Rekka huffed.

"What exactly am I supposed to do??? I can't call you guys in, my music player is basically useless if I can’t use my weapon, he’s more than twice my size… I can't do anything! I've got nothing! I..." 

Mimosa trailed off, her expression sinking as she buried her face in her arms. “I’m… I’m nothing. There. You were right. Are you happy now?”

A beat passed. A paw reached for her shoulder…

Just then, a massive hand hooked under the couch. With a grunt, Macaron lifted the entire couch up with just one arm, looking down at the two through red-tinted glasses.

“There you are!”

Mimosa screamed and dashed away, with Rek-9 right on her heels, just barely moving out of the line of fire as he slammed the couch back down where they once were. A chunk of it broke off with a crunch!

Mimosa stopped running once she reached his desk, and Rek-9 piped up. "Quick, start hitting buttons! One of them should stop it!"

Mimosa whirled around to face the desk... and froze. A good chunk of the desk was now covered in a glass case, including the control panel. Hell, she couldn't even reach one of the basic looking keyboards. The only things uncovered were a few smaller, useless, decorative items, like a framed photo of him and CNMN, as if the robotic Head of Production himself were taunting her for the consequences of her actions.

"Crap." 

"It's glass, idiot! We'll just break it-OH CRAP! "

Grabbing Mimosa by the jacket around her waist, she yanked Mimosa out of the way as Macaron chucked the remains of the couch at them.

The couch SLAMMED against the glass... and didn't even crack it. Hell, the couch looked more damaged than the glass.

"You were saying?" Mimosa said. Rek-9 glared at her.

Looking past Rek-9, she spotted a small slot in the desk in front of the control panel, uncovered by the glass. It looked familiar. A little slot, tailored for something like... a massive USB stick.

"Oh don’t tell me…”

Macaron chuckled behind her, waving his pass key at her. It was colored green, with a white X with a blue outline across it, and, of course, the iconic Vandelay V logo on the front. "Looking for this?"

"Dammit!" Mimosa groaned.

"Look, I planned for just about everything, so you might as well just give up–”

Mimosa and Rek-9 immediately ran past him while he was distracted, dashing up the stairs. "Wha-!? Hey! I didn’t plan for that!" He called out, following behind them as he shoved the pass key into his coat pocket.

What followed was a few moments of just pure, panicked running, as Macaron chased Mimosa and Rek-9 around the lab. Several times he swiped at her, only to miss and form a fist-shaped indent in the wall or break a pipe (thank god none of them were filled with lava!). All the while, Mimosa frantically scrambled away, sliding, dashing and ducking.

"7 MINUTES REMAINING…"

“Mimosa, DO SOMETHING!” Rek-9 cried, hopping onto her back.

“I already said you were right! What more do you want from me!?”

“Well Rekka doesn't want to die in 7 minutes! So just... do something! Anything!"

“I AM doing something! I’m running and I’m brainstorming, but I don’t know what to focus on first!” She exclaimed, ducking as Macaron’s fist whizzed over her head. Good lord, she was starting to get exhausted…

“Just start with the biggest problem and work backwards, then!” Rek-9 rolled her little arms in a backwards motion to emphasize this. ”Once you can do something, do it!”

Work backwards, huh? That was... surprisingly useful advice. Okay, okay… she took in a deep breath, struggling due to how hard she was panting, but she managed.

Okay, so obviously the biggest concern for them was that giant robot, but the only way she can see to stop it is to press one of those buttons on that control panel. The only way to get to those buttons was to get his pass key. And the only way to get to the pass key from him was to fight him for it, because he sure as hell wasn't going to give it over willingly… so she needed…

“Okay, I got stuck at getting my weapon back.” She said.

“Then we’ll start there!”

“And how do I go about doing that!?”

“Just break the thing that’s stopping you!"

Mimosa paused, skid to a stop and gestured to the massive glowing orange antennas. “I’m supposed to break these!? I don’t have anything strong enough to even make a dent!”

Regretting the pause, she barely avoided another swipe and ran around the antenna, with Macaron right on her heels.

“Well…” Rek-9 trailed off for a moment, trying to brainstorm on her own. “...Wait! Break them on the inside!”

“On the inside?”

“Yeah! Mess with the wiring and junk in there. These things always have a control panel… aha!” Rek-9 pointed at a section near the base of the antenna she was running past, noticing a small panel on the side. “Just pop that sucker open and get to ripping!”

“With what!?” The panel didn't exactly have any screws she could just remove, it was just a smooth, square surface.

“Something sharp and thin should do the trick…”

Mimosa gasped, an idea striking her. She grabbed Rek-9 and set her down. “Quick, you go grab some of the scrap metal that fell off my mic! I'll keep Macaron distracted!”

Rek-9 nodded before taking off, while Mimosa managed to duck behind the coffee table, watching as Macaron approached. What proceeded was a brief, awkward sort of back-and-forth. When Macaron would try to round in from the left, and Mimosa went right. When he tried to cut her off by going right, she went left, so they kept their same distance, doing awkward little half-steps as they watched each other's movements.

"That's it!" Macaron got frustrated and leapt over the table at her. Mimosa yelped and ducked, crawling under the table and popping out the other side as Macaron struggled to right himself.

“Here!” Rek-9 said, skidding to a stop next to Mimosa with a bunch of scrap metal shards in her paws. Mimosa grabbed the biggest shard and dashed to the closest orange antenna.

Reaching the control panel, she dug the sharper end of the metal between the tiny grooves, before grunting and popping it off. She then reeled the shrapnel back and threw it forward like a knife, to which it stabbed right into the bundle of wires and other internal workings. She knew better than to grab and yank at wires. She had already been electrocuted plenty of times during her trip in Production, thank you very much!

With a spark and a sputter as the wires were severed and torn, the antenna dimmed, before turning off altogether.

“Alright!” She exclaimed, running for the next antenna. “One down, one more to–”

Macaron jumped in front of her, standing in front of the second orange antenna. Mimosa flinched and scrambled back a bit.

“Y-You’re not getting anywhere close to this.” He stuttered, crossing his arms over his chest. She could see a bead of sweat go down his temple.

The two of them once again did their awkward little back-and-forth. Mimosa would move to the left, Macaron would follow, and vice-versa, blocking the antenna like a massive, surprisingly intimidating shield.

"6 MINUTES REMAINING…"

“I can’t get around him!” She groaned.

Rek-9 hopped back up on her shoulder. “Then ya gotta go through him!”

“What!?” Both she and Macaron exclaimed at the same time.

Mimosa did a double take. “Do you see what I’m up against here!?”

“Yes, I do, and I see a whole bunch of weapons too!” Rek-9 said, gesturing to the entire lab.

"Maybe you need to get your eyes checked out." Mimosa snapped.

“Anything’s a weapon if ya swing it hard enough!”

She looked at the items around her, unimpressed.

“...At this rate, I'm bequeathing everything you guys own to K-9.”

“Hey!"

Rek-9 suddenly grabbed her face in her paws. "If you wanna be successful, if you wanna be productive, then ya gotta be AGGRESSIVE!” Rek-9 exclaimed, pulling her paws back to pound them together with a tiny ‘tink tink!’ noise.

She felt her music player skip a beat for a moment, thudding in her chest to the same beat as that noise for a second. It made her feel... pumped!

Macaron nervously laughed, his voice wavering only a little bit. “I-I don’t think there’s anything you can throw at me that can't handle-woah! Hey!”

He flinched as Mimosa started grabbing items from his desk and started throwing them. He largely ducked out of the way of most things, and anything that actually hit him was so small that it just bounced off. A decorative cactus flew over his head, a tissue box bounced off his shoulder, it just kept going. The most danger she posed by doing this was throwing some of that extra scrap metal she couldn't use, but at most it just tore his labcoat.

Suddenly, Mimosa threw the photo of him and CNMN, and he yelped and barely caught it, fumbling with it for a moment before carefully setting it back on the edge of the desk.

“Hey, hey, be careful with that!” He exclaimed.

POW!

Mimosa threw her heel at him while he had his guard down, the outsole hitting him in the forehead.

“Gah! Ow! Your shoe!?”

She took off her other heel and threw it too. He managed to dodge that one. He sighed with relief.

“Well at least you’re out of ammo.”

POW!

“OW! A third heel!?”

Frustrated, he charged and leapt at Mimosa, about to give her the ol one-two. In a panic, she grabbed his office chair and pushed it towards him, unable to lift it. He landed on it, losing his balance as he slid forward before collapsing with an "oof!" Dammit, now I need to change this fic's rating to explicit for not-safe-for-work material. Thanks a lot, Mimosa.

Using this opportunity, Mimosa sidestepped him and darted for the next antenna.

With too many items scattered about for her to focus on, she grabbed the closest, sharpest thing to her, that being one of her heels, and wielded the heel tip with determination.

With a pop and a yank, she pulled the cover off and then threw her heel into there, shoving that shoe in with all her might. The heel tip was able to slice and dice enough to get the job done. Damn. Deadly.

With the second antenna shutting down, dulling to a depressing grey, Mimosa could feel a rush of something run down her spine. Her squeegee popped out of the slot in her back, and she caught it with ease, pressing the button and shooting it out to its full length.

The excess bits of scrap were called back in, flying and clicking back into place, startling Macaron as he got up. Her wire fluttered towards her and wrapped around the mic as a final touch.

"5 MINUTES REMAINING…"

Meanwhile, back at the hideout, Kale and Zanzo finally pulled their eyes away from their panic to see Mimosa with her weapon back. Kale did a double take.

“What the-!? How did she…?”

“YOUR WELCOME, LOSERS!” Rekka exclaimed. “While you two were too busy running around and being useless, we actually did something!”

“Take some notes, boys! This is how you get a job done!” Mimosa exclaimed. Twirling her wire around like a lasso, she threw it forward, trying to snatch the pass key out of a shaken Macaron's pocket. Macaron blocked the attack with his arm, however, grabbing her wire and spinning her around before throwing her. This time, with her weapon in hand, she managed to dig the metal into the ground to stop herself, digging into the ground with a sharp skrrr!

She lifted her mic up just in time as Macaron hurled himself forward, blocking his fist just barely. 

Launching back from the block, he skid to a stop, before cracking his knuckles and rolling his shoulders. She noticed the tiny tenses in his hand as he reeled back, all of them to the music thundering in her chest, before launching himself again.

Block, block, block... miss! 

His hand shot forward and grabbed her mic, trying to yank it out of her hands. Keeping an iron grip on it, she was yanked along with it, thrown across the room and into the wall. She barely ducked as his fist met the wall instead, leaving a massive crater. 

Ducking around him and crossing the room to put space between them, she tried to steady her breathing. "Okay, I don't think I can parry a grab..."

"Just get out of his way, but don't back down!" Rek-9 chimed in beside her. "Stare him dead in the eyes, and show him you ain't afraid!"

A beat passed.

"...You still look afraid!" Rek-9 exclaimed.

"I'm trying here!" Mimosa hissed.

Mimosa nodded, tightening her grip on her mic as she saw Macaron tense his arms again. "Just hold still!" He exclaimed.

And then, Macaron jumped again. 

Block, block, block...dodge!

He stumbled as she slid out of the way, leaving him grabbing nothing but air. She turned and swiped, kicking him in the side. He fell over, and she jumped on him, reaching for his pass key–!

BLAM!

He punched her in the chest, sending her flying across the room again. She rolled across the ground, lying there with a groan.

“Mimosa, we need a new approach! You need to get the teleporter back online!” Kale exclaimed, taking over K-9 for a brief second.

“I've got it covered, Kale! I don’t care how long this takes, he’ll drop eventually.” She muttered, pushing herself upright with her mic.

"4 MINUTES REMAINING..."

“...Oh. Right. That.”

Rekka smirked. “Heh, looks like you need some muscle to get the job done."

Mimosa let out a long "uuuuuuuugh" and started marching her way towards the green and red antennas. If she didn’t say anything, that meant she didn’t admit anything, therefore she won the battle, and Rekka couldn't take any more satisfaction from the situation.