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In a way, the human body worked just like a machine.
If something was broken or wrong, all one would have to do is examine the (bug reports) symptoms and make a diagnosis, arrange the (robotic) broken parts into their correct places and (weld) stitch the (metal) skin back together. It was a logical process and he never faltered in his work.
Doctor Legundo didn't need to look back on his past. He was happy looking forward to his future as a doctor, to no longer spending hours in a cramped warehouse analyzing scraps of metal for projects. Just because the human body was like a machine did not mean he would treat his own like one. Not anymore.
Then why did he find himself back at the place that started it all? The place he had tried to ignore for so long and pretend it no longer existed? The place that judged him from the newspapers that were plastered on his walls?
The Bistro. Even the name was enough to send distress leaping into his heart. Yet, he jumped the outer fence and kept on a straight path, never letting his doubt stop him.
There was still time before the sun peeked over the horizon, leaving the fading moon to be his only guiding light as he sorted his way through the back of the building. Legundo kept going until he stopped at a rickety looking door, pulling his old keys out of his pocket and twisting the right one into the lock. He would be here for a little bit, and then he would leave. He just needed a quick look at the place to satiate his curiosity. He needed to analyze the structure, get his bearings for what to do next.
The door opened easily with barely a creak.
"Seems they still haven't gotten around to changing the locks." Legundo remarked quietly to himself. Not that he was surprised. The business usually tried to cut corners whenever possible.
Without another word, he slunk silently into the building.
The door entered into a dark hallway, the only comfort in the vast void being the half-working lights on the ceiling. The bulbs flickered, providing the best light they could, but only ended up casting more shadows. Legundo stood close to the door, taking a deep breath and swallowing. It was fine. The only truly terrifying thing about this hallway is how the company let it get this bad back here. Legundo thought to himself with a touch of humor.
As he walked forward into the hallway, he noted the peeling wallpaper and posters on the sides of the area. Small, playful graffiti was tucked under some of the posters, with silly little clown or pirate doodles being a majority of the chosen designs. Legs could only see them for a second in the dim light before the bulbs would flicker off again. He couldn't help but tug at his sweater vest with a little bit of anxiety.
He really should've brought a flashlight. He had to keep stopping and waiting for the lights to flicker on before he could continue on his path, being unable to see any helpful landmarks or signs to indicate where he was going in the complete darkness. It was slow going and his only company being the clunking sounds of his boots or the buzz of the lights was starting to send unease tingling into his spine. Nobody had come out to try and stop him yet, despite the tiny red pinpricks in the distance indicating that the security cameras were on.
The lights turned off and he had to stop again. Legundo shuffled slightly as he tried to adjust his eyes to the dark, failing to find any helpful indicators of where he was in the shadows. One, two, three…the lights had missed their pattern. Four, five, six, seven, eight…
The lights weren't turning back on. Now there was only silence and the dark to accompany him. Legundo frowned and took another step forward.
A beeping noise pierced through the quiet. Legundo immediately stopped in his tracks and whipped his head around, trying to pinpoint the noise. The beeping continued in different tones and frequencies, almost sounding…musical. The tune echoed throughout the hall, the familiar music coming from down the hall in front of him. Legundo squinted at the dark, trying to see what radio had been turned on or what alarm had been triggered to cause such haunting noises.
The only thing he could see from this far away was the two red, glowing pinpricks of the security cameras. Legundo blinked and tilted his head. The red glow turned off, then on. Then it shifted diagonally.
A cold shock caused Legundo to step back, a soft gasp falling out of his mouth uncontrollably.
Those aren't security cameras.
The red pinpricks disappeared completely, causing Legundo to freeze in his shock. The music didn't stop, the rise and fall of the beeps moving from place to place. It was almost comfortingly mechanical-sounding, not a single ounce of human soul in the rhythm of the bouncing tones.
Legundo wasn't sure if he would be less scared if there was another human here. Nobody was supposed to be in the building except for the night guard and animatronics, and Legs had ensured he would be in a part of the building that had neither.
The music was getting closer. Somehow, it now sounded like it was coming from behind him-impossible! Hadn't it just been coming from the beyond in front of him? Before the doctor could turn around and search for the source of the music once more, the feeling of sheer coldness on his back stopped him in his tracks. "Hi there!" A mechanical voice entered his ear. Legundo jumped to move but found himself unable to do so, the cold metal pressing in on all sides.
He didn't need his doctor's degree to know that his heart was racing dangerously fast.
"Do you recognize that tune?" The voice continued, words almost sounding…amused. "Aw, don't go quiet on me now, mechanic."
"Doctor." Legundo panted slightly. "I'm a doctor. Who…who…?"
"Really? After all this time, I can recognize you, but you can't recognize me?" The voice chucked, a rough and unnatural sound. "Ah, wait. I know the problem." A second passed before red light filled the corner of Legundo's vision. A cold, sharp hand slowly cupped his chin and directed his head to look behind him.
Red eyes and an eerie smile greeted him back.
It was the Count.
Memories flashed across his mind, of days back in a warehouse and working on anything that wasn't human. Of being asked to remodel a few animatronics from a relatively old bistro. Back when he had taken one apart into many pieces and gave it the closest thing a computer could have to life. Back when it was working through its own glitches and attempting speech. To sing on its own, unprompted.
He had only gotten the chance to remodel one. The Count. An animatronic with a hyper-intelligent AI that he had worked on for weeks.
Based on the smell of blood that radiated off the robot, he had gotten dangerously intelligent. The missing pieces were starting to click in his mind.
The disappearing night guards. The newspapers. The case that was still open that had yet to be solved.
Of course it all lead back to him.
"Isn't it so intriguing? How you've changed so much but I've stayed exactly how you left me?" The Count let go of the other's chin, not moving from where he had entrapped Legundo's body in his hold. He could properly feel how human-like his captor was as he adjusted to the position. "I'd be far more interested in humanity if it weren't for their many annoying qualities. I'm sure you'd agree, right? I don't recall you exactly throwing parties in that dirty old workshop of yours."
"I'm surprised you remember that, Count."
"Please. We're practically old friends, aren't we? You can call me Scott. A name given to me. And you doubt my memory? Really? Surely you out of all people would recall my capabilities. I never forget a thing." Fascinating. Not only does he have his own autonomy, but can choose personal preferences of things relating to his outward identity. Legundo mentally started to work out how that would even happen before stopping. He was in danger. Now was not the time to pick his captor apart.
"What are you going to do to me?" Legundo managed. He knew his voice was ticking on the edge of annoyance. If this kept up, he had a feeling his fear would slip over the edge into anger and-well-that wouldn't end good for anyone.
"See, usually I would just kill trespassers like you." Scott stated flatly, raising a single claw to Legs' throat. The doctor could feel the sharpness of the appendage digging into his skin. He remembered adjusting the same hand from its previously broken state, forging it into something beautiful and complete with the theme given to him. The theme of nobility. Of power. "But I'm bored, and the dawn is close. Let's play a game."
"A what-?" Legundo nearly laughed out of incredulity before he felt his glasses be slid off his nose. He blinked and realized his vision was dark and blurry. Curse his lack of ability to see far away. Blindly, he tried to reach for the glasses back to no avail.
"You are going to try to find me before my song ends. If it ends and you haven't found me, I'll kill you. If you find me, you win and get to leave. Good luck, doctor." Scott purred, the sound cruel and confident and utterly inhuman. The cold feeling disappeared from his back, and Legundo was alone again.
For a few minutes, the entire building held its breath in wait. Legundo briefly considered running but dimissed the idea near instantly. He was in far too deep now. He highly doubted any sort of escape would be easy.
"There is a flower within my heart…" Legundo stiffened as the mechanical singing started up again. Now, instead of wordless beeps, Scott was actually singing.
Just like he had in the beginning. Daisy Bell had been the first song he had taught to the AI in hopes of adding it as a feature to entertain guests. Back then, it had been clunky, but it had worked well enough for the company to be impressed. Now, however, it had improved. It sounded close to an actual human singing instead of random human and beeping noises thrown together into a string by a computer. There was still the occasional crackle as the sound emerged from the Count's voice box, but it was as good as it was going to get.
"Daisy, Daisy…"
There was nothing he could do but follow the sound of the singing further into the dark building. "Planted one day by glancing dart…" The sound was still coming up from ahead of him. Legundo kept moving. He had to keep moving or he would run out of time.
The missing posters. The warnings. His scars pulsed on his face as he thought of his potential end. He couldn't die here. Not today. Everything was an inky black and whatever he could make out was hard to see with the overall blurriness of the world. "Planted by Daisy Bell…"
With each step, he could hear the song getting closer. If he had more time, Legundo had a feeling he would like to dive into what exactly made Scott turn out this way. To pull out his wires and data drives and physically see how Scott's "memories" made up his very essence. To grab onto his inner metal intricacies and mold him back into shape, to fix him into something great. Something better.
"Whether she loves me or loves me not, sometimes it's hard to tell~"
Because, truly, he understood machines more than humans. More than the emotional troubles and tribulations that came with conversations upon conversations. The inanimate objects were just so much easier. He could handle them. If he broke them, they could be fixed. If an accident happened, they could be good as new in a matter of days.
"Yet I am longing to share the lot of beautiful Daisy Bell!"
If a machine wanted to kill someone, it could be scrubbed from their system and could be forcefully buried under lines of code, never to be thought of again.
"Daisy, Daisy, give me your answer do…"
If a machine needed to forget something, it would only take a couple of buttons.
God, he wished the human brain could forget that easily.
"I'm half crazy, all for the love of you~"
Legundo reached out and felt the edges of a corner. He was pivoting to a different spot in the building. The singing was getting closer. He kept his hands out, trying to gain information without the use of his eyes. He could feel the dry texture of the wall, occasionally brushing over a shelf or two.
"It won't be a stylish marriage-"
The singing was practically on top of him now. He whirled frantically back and forth, trying to see or touch anything relatively human-shaped.
Legundo was running out of time.
"-I can't afford a carriage…"
Finally, finally, he came across a divot in the wall. It was large and clearly man-made. Legs leaned down, trying to make out anything in the dimness. The singing was so close that if it came from human lungs, their breath would be in his ear. I have to be in the right spot.
"But you'll look sweet upon the seat of a bicycle made for two!"
Silence.
Legundo's heart thumped wildly in his chest as he wondered if he was wrong and that his demise was imminent any second.
"Good work, doctor!" Scott's face was suddenly in his, expression blank and voice booming. Legundo yelped and fell backwards, scooting backwards as soon as his instincts snapped into action. He let out a low grunt as a dull pain throbbed through his back from hitting the opposite wall. Clanks and whirrs echoed from the divot as Scott lifted himself up. The light above them flickered on, allowing Legundo to fully see the animatronic.
The Count was so pristine it was almost a miracle. Every plate and wire was perfectly in place, looking exactly as Legs had intended them to look when he had designed the remodel. And god, he had forgotten how tall the animatronic was. He had to crane his neck just to look him in the eyes-a rare occurrence for someone like him who surpassed many people's heights easily. If Scott wanted to, he could crush Legundo's bones easily.
Scott leaned down, nearly folding himself in half just to stare at the doctor directly in the eyes. "I can tell what you're thinking." His voice box made a low hum. "I should be thanking you, really. You made me far better than anyone ever could. Perfect, honestly." Legundo couldn't say anything, his lips stuck being slightly parted. His hands shook from where they scrabbled the tiled floor. He was overcome with fear, yet he had never been more starstruck in his life. The thing before him had likely killed so many, but yet all he could manage to summon up in his emotions was a twisted awe.
Scott reached a hand out to his face, tracing his scars with an almost sort of gentleness. Legundo flinched, nearly throwing himself out of the touch, but Scott grabbed his shoulder with his other hand and held him tight.
Legundo couldn't do anything but stare as the Count's face looked at him with an unreadable expression. His touch was freezing compared to Legs' adrenaline filled, heart-rapidly-pumping body. It would be comforting if it was anybody else.
The silence stretched on until the Count broke it with a single sentence.
"Hm." Scott murmured. "If only I could feel something worthwhile when I look at you."
Legundo held his breath and braced himself for claws to rake his face and pain to explode across his body. His entertainment, his use, had come to an end, then.
He didn't expect to feel the familiar material of his glasses slide back onto his face. Shocked, he reached up and adjusted them on his nose, his sight returned to him. Scott stepped back from him, turning away. "It's almost morning. It's time for you to leave."
Legundo slowly lifted himself off the floor, never taking his eyes off the other. Now was his chance, wasn't it? The other had his back to him. He knew exactly where to turn him off and if he got a big truck, he could-
No. He couldn't even pretend to entertain the idea. He just wanted to go home and put his adventure behind him.
"Apo? Be a dear and help him find his way out?" As soon as Scott spoke, the lights in the hallway blinked on. Scott turned his head and made a stiff gesture towards them. "Well? Go ahead. Don't come back here. I'm not usually a lenient man."
Legundo looked at him, then looked at the lights. Without a word, he made his way down the hallway, never looking back once.
Tonight, he'd made a visit to Ren. He could use a drink.
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When Scott made his way back into the main area, Shelby was instantly on him with questions. The Captain stood in the corner, pretending to not pay attention to either of them.
"So? Why did you need us to leave you alone in the back area?" Shelby asked as she watched Scott make his way over to the place where they had to "power down" during the day. "And who was that guy that broke in?"
The Count said nothing until he set himself into place. His face was blank as he stared back at Shelby. "…Nobody important. Good day."