His Heart Is Steel, Part 8

[jadedjada]

Title: His Heart is Steel, Part 8
Summary: We look into the universe from which everyone’s favorite mechanical monster first originated. A meeting is placed and a plan is set, as we begin the series of events and inner turmoils that cause the once lovable Pollo to become the evil, vengeful villain known as Mechakara.
Characters: Pollo, Saucybot
Warnings: Actual legit death this time for realz! And partly-suicide death too. Double whammy.
Disclaimer: I own nothing, all characters belong to their rightful owners.

Part 1 is here, part 2 is here, part 3 is here, part 4 is here, part 5 is here, part 6 is here, and part 7 is here. Enjoy!

It had been nine months since Pollo had last seen the sun.

He was stunned that he never realized this. It hadn't even crossed his mind. Yet as he stepped out of the seemingly still and quiet house that he had just teleported into, and looked up into the dawning pink sky, the reality of it hit him hard. He'd been cooped up in that base for so long...

But this was no time for sight-seeing.

Very quickly he moved on from the house. If whoever had lived there wasn't dead, then it just meant they were still sleeping, and the last thing he wanted was to wake them up. So far everything had gone smoothly enough; he'd seen the crew off early that morning, with Linkara saying they wouldn't likely return until late at night. No one seemed to suspect a thing. Nostalgia Chick seemed fine; he'd fed her and made sure everything was level before leaving. He hoped to do this as quickly as possible, so she'd still be fine by the time he got back.

The first thing he had to do was find PAOLAs base.

This actually didn't prove to be too incredibly difficult. He could hover fast when he wanted to, faster than running, faster than even a car. All around him the streets were bare, most of the buildings were just rubble on the ground, and nothing moved. Pollo only needed to travel about fifty miles or so before he reached what had to be his destination.

It was an enormous building. It looked like it had once been something smaller, or at least more underground, that had since been expanded upon quite a bit. Now it reached as high as at least six stories, and seemed to stretch miles wide. It had the look of a bunch of smaller buildings connected together by hallways, stacked and grouped together messily. Everything looked either metallic or made out of white concrete, and there appeared to be wires and circuit boxes wherever you looked. Had Linkara been there, he likely would have made comparisons to the Borg cube from Star Trek. Pollo hid behind a nearby pile of rubble to gaze at the site before him, and as he did so, he saw what looked to be dozens of robot drones come marching out the front door. He immediately recognized them as Paola-bots, for they were identical to the one Insano had analysed in his lab. One of them marched near the rubble, and Pollo froze in fear. But they kept on, as if not seeing him in the slightest, and he realized then that he would be safe. The Paola-bots were programmed to detect organic lifeforms, which Pollo was not. As far as they were concerned, he was just another metal thing in the area.

Comforted by this knowledge, he proceeded to move around the army of troops, careful to stay behind them in case they could also identify movement, and made his way through the doors as they were opening. He was in.

The hallways were vast, twisting and turning into something of a giant maze. Pollo zoomed through them for what seemed like hours, determined to find what he was looking for. At some points he would come across a hall that lead into a large room, or a doorway. According to the scanners he was following, however, none of these had what he wanted, so he moved past them. Other times a group of Paola-bots would come marching through, and Pollo had to duck out of the way to avoid bumping into them. They never noticed him. Still Pollo knew that his intrusion could not go undetected for long. He had to be fast. He had to stay focused.

Finally, just when he was starting to run out of steam, he came to a large metal doorway in the middle of a hall. It didn't take much scanning to prove that this was what he'd been looking for. It had cautionary tape plastered all over it, with a big sign on the front that read thus:

Warning: Do not enter this room unless under explicit orders from the master unit. It is highly dangerous, as you could disturb the contents within. This would prove most destructive, and will result in severe punishment to anyone responsible.

So the Paola-bots could read? That was interesting. Bracing himself, unsure of what was to come, Pollo pushed the door open and flew inside.

It was dark, unbelievably dark. Pollo couldn't even see how large the room was, it was so dark. What he could see was a small white device, emanating very dim blue and green lights that revealed it was attached to what looked to be hundreds of wires. It was making sounds, sounds to soft to be legible until Pollo flew closer. Right next to the device he hovered, realizing with shock and no small amount of horror that this wasn't a device at all. It was a robot. A
robot he recognized.

Saucybot? He asked softly. Saucy, can you hear me? It's me, Saucy. It's Pollo.

The figure who was undeniably Saucybot buzzed slightly, turning her head. For a moment she twitched, and made soft noises that sounded like they could have been words, if they were heard properly. Pollo couldn't believe he was seeing this. Was this all that was left of his old friend? If it was, then all hope was lost. There was no way she could tell him anything. Pollo felt dejected, as well as foolish for pursuing such a useless endeavour. He hung his head, and was just about to turn to leave, when Saucybot all of a sudden shot upright.

Everything is blue.

Pollo leapt back, startled to say the least. Saucy was now jerking her head every which way, as though frantically looking for something.

What happened? Everything is blue. Everything wasn't supposed to be blue anymore. The blue got lost. It's red now, I know it's red. No time for blue now, blue got lost.

Saucybot! Pollo called in alarm. The machine stopped, and turned to him.

Pollo... She muttered, as if everything was suddenly becoming clear. Yes, Pollo, that makes sense. It's you. I see you, and you're everything I see. You are blue. You are still blue.

To say Pollo was confused would be an understatement. Of course I'm blue. I've always been blue. Listen, Saucybot, I need your help.

Help? She replied, looking confused. I needed help once. One time when everything was a rainbow and I couldn't tell which colour was which, and looking at the birds didn't make it go away. I made a mistake, because I thought for a moment that everything was red, even though it was supposed to be blue. But it's not, it's red now, and there's nobody left to help.

Pollo didn't know what to do. Saucy was raving, that much was certain. Saucy...please listen. Do you know where you are right now?

Oh, nowhere in particular, thanks for asking. And how have you been? Have you seen any red around lately? I hope not.

Saucy, my eye is red. I see red all the time. I'm not sure...and then suddenly Pollo realized. Saucy...is the red PAOLA?

Upon hearing this, Saucybot began to shake uncontrollably, her head jerking every which way, making odd static-y noises. PAOLA. PAOLA PAOLA PAOLA, where are you? Are you in my head again, PAOLA? Are you here to keep me company? Please PAOLA, the night is so quiet...

Please! Pollo was getting frantic. Saucy, I need to know what happened. I need to know what PAOLA did to you. I need to know if it's happening to me.

You. Saucybot stared at Pollo long and hard. Yes...I see now. You're not entirely blue anymore, are you?

Pollo felt panic rising in his circuits. What do you mean?

It goes into your head. It tries to take everything right away, but it can't. Not for you or me, because we're blue. We have the colour blue, while the other bots have nothing. But PAOLA made special plans for bots like that, bots like us. PAOLA can take that colour away. It can change it, make you think everything's red when really it's not. All it needs is to find you. It finds you when you're scanned by the other ones.

The Paola-bots... Pollo thought about this with some confusion. He never went out of the base to fight Paola-bots, he always stayed inside the base. How was it possible...

Then at last he understood. The Paola-bot. The one Insano had in his lab, the one Pollo had helped him analyze. It must have scanned Pollo and sent out some kind of beacon, without anyone aware.

It took a while, didn't it? Saucy said dreamily. Slow and steady, that's what wins the race. PAOLA made a mistake in taking me, that's what everybody says. I'm too unstable, too unpredictable. It made the colours go fast, too fast. And now I'm all a titter.

Then PAOLA really is getting into my head? Pollo asked frantically. Is there anything I can do?

Do, do, do do do do. Doody doody...

SAUCYBOT!

The robot was silent for a minute, thinking. Then she looked back at Pollo and spoke with some level of clarity. You have to remember who you are, Pollo. You have to hold on to the blue.

I don't understand...

The blue, the blue is everything! Your mind, you body, your thoughts, your soul...you have a soul, don't you? Yes, I think you do. I did too, once, but then they muddled it all up and it disappeared into the red. Don't let that happen, Pollo. It'll only get you when you get weak, so you have to stay strong. You have to keep your soul as blue as you can. Keep your soul blue...and you'll be okay. You'll be yourself again.

Pollo thought about this. He thought he knew what Saucybot was saying, to some extent. It was all just so much to take...Thank you Saucy. You've been very helpful.

Pollo...do something for me?

Pollo hesitated. What?

The machines come, they come and they talk to me, and they prod at me with weird looking things. I don't like it, not one bit. And I can't move, and I haven't seen any light or sound, just this dark little room. And I'm sorry for what I did to the mistress and her friends. I was angry then, and it was fun. But now all I feel is a big red mess, and nothing is fun anymore. I don't like it here, Pollo. I don't like it anywhere. Here she gazed up at the sky, at nothing, and Pollo could swear her eyes looked sad. I want to leave.

He understood. It was horrible, but he understood. I will give you what you desire.

Saucybot sighed, from somewhere deep within her. Thank you Pollo. You're so kind to me. You always were.

Pollo tried to hold back his shaking as he reached for one of the wires. It was big and red, and he had a feeling he knew what it would do.

Your soul is blue, Pollo. So very, very blue.

Goodbye, Saucy.

Goodbye, rainbow.

And with that, Pollo yanked the wire right out of its socket. There was a loud hum, and the other wires around him began to tremble with the sharp electric current. Saucybot started shaking violently and sparking, making all sorts of bizarre noises, until finally a fuse was blown somewhere, and she came to a complete stop. Cautiously Pollo approached her, to see the lights of her eyes rapidly dimming, until the entire room became pitch black.

Keep it blue... was what he heard quietly uttered. And then, nothing.

But Pollo didn't have very long to grieve. In just a few seconds a red light started flashing in the room, in the hallways, everywhere. An alarm blared, deafeningly loud, and Pollo sped out into the halls in a panic. Security breach alert, came a robotic voice over an intercom, Breach detected in fragile AI quarters, level 5, subsection 62460...

This was bad. This was very, very bad.

Stay calm, Pollo thought to himself. The last thing he needed was another episode. He sped down hallways and around corners, as fast as he possibly could, looking for a way out. Paola-bots were coming in waves, out of doorways, in paths opposite him. He zigzagged around them with all his might, banging into the walls a couple of times as he did so. Did they see him? He couldn't tell. If they did, he moved too fast to notice them reacting.

Finally, miraculously, he found himself at the front entrance. Out he sped, down the street and over rubble, as fast as he could possibly go before at last, he slowed to a stop. He looked up at the sky. The sun was fully out now, peeping behind some clouds. Pollo could tell from its position that it was some time in the late afternoon. He pulled out his bracelet, the one he took from Doctor Insanos' lab. On it was a tracking device, which stated he had only to go around twenty miles south and ten miles west to arrive back at the Critics' house. It would take a while, even at top speed. Trembling, he looked behind him...and his heart sank.

In the distance, he could clearly see the gleam of dozens, maybe hundreds, of drones headed steadily in his direction.

So they had seen him.

Pollo flew, oh how he flew! His circuits told him he was exhausted from all this fast movement, but still he kept on. He sped, and sped, and sped, until finally in what seemed like forever he was where he needed to be. He rammed his way through the partially open doorway, not looking around not caring. One glance out the window told him it was only a couple of hours until sundown. And the drones were still coming. Quite some ways away, but coming just the same.

With not a moment to lose, Pollo pulled out the bracelet again, and hit the switch. There was a buzzing as it activated, and just before he began to beam out, Pollo heard movement, the noise of some person in another room.

“What the flying fuck...”

And then there was a flash.

And then he was home.

Comments

[lady-sci-fi.livejournal.com]

Oh my dear Pollo, having to see one of his former friends like that... Let me hug you

At least he got some questions answered.

[pigquet.livejournal.com]

Well, wasn't that just extremely dark and gloomy. O_O

Seriously, that ending...wow. I'm guessing this is only the beginning of what Pollo's going to have to see and go through. Poor thing... :(

[jadedjada.livejournal.com]

Wait till the next chapter.

That's all I'm gonna say.