Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

B-12 was lost. What was he doing?

Where is the cat?

Where is everyone?

Where was. . . where was he?

It was all dark. He called out. No one answered. It seemed like a black pit, but with no up or sides or even floor. No, it’s not black. It’s colorless, but not clear. In fact, there was nothing. Nothing there.

B-12 could feel his memory corrupting. It was small and slow, but it was there. He remembered sacrificing himself to open the city again. He remembered saying goodbye to the cat, his best friend. Wait . . . the cat. . . how did they meet again? B-12 gasped. He scurried in a random direction, looking for a way out, calling for anyone. He did NOT let himself think that it was hopeless or that there was no one. He only thought about getting out.

_____________________________________________________________________________

Clemintine watched the Sentinels fall with growing amusement. They weren't made to handle temperatures above 80° F, and it was definitely above 80°. One tried to fire a laser at her but missed spectacularly. It was the 2nd best thing she had ever seen, 2nd only to that cat, who she had fondly nicknamed “Tiger,” trapping those Sentinels in those jail cells.

She looked up at the massive control room window, always there, always making her feel watched. For once, it was a sight of comfort. She knew good, well, not people, but a good living being and a good robot were up there. Clemintine hoped they were okay.

She headed home, and contacted Zbaltazar in the Antvillage. There was a secret hidden encrypted phone line that connected the two places. It was really old, and it looked like it hadn’t been used since the Humans. They used it to keep in touch.

“Hey Zbaltazar. Notice anything different on your part of the woods? It is a little brighter, don’t you think?” Clemintine smiled and bounced on the balls of her feet.

Zbaltazar sounded excited, but also tired, “Yeah, yeah. I got it. I was expecting you to call me.”

“Oh, come on. Don’t you want to explore it?” Clemintine asked, a little bit hurt. “You could always climb into that ambulatory robot body anytime you want. What changed?”

“I have to stay here and look after my people” Zbaltazar protested. “And we can’t get ahold of Momo or Doc, because the phone line doesn’t go that far. I did get a transmitter message from Momo, though. It was a couple of days ago, before the cat crossed into Antvillage through the sewers. I wonder if Doc could get the transmitter working again, so we could all contact each other.”

“Well then, "Clemintine sighed, “I wanted to get up to the control room, to see if Tiger and B-12 are okay”

“Tiger and B-12?”

“The cat and the robot. I gave the cat a nickname. B-12 was what was on the drone’s exterior.”

“Oh, okay, keep in touch with those Walkies we discovered in that safety room in the sewers. See you soon, Clemintine.” Zbaltazar said

“See ya outside, Zbaltazar,” Clemintine hung up the phone and grabbed the Walkie Talkie so she could keep in touch with him. She headed to the old subway station. That cat was incredible, getting it to work again. She boarded the train, hoping for the best.

_____________________________________________________________________________

Doc and Momo were having lunch. Well, not really lunch, because they can’t eat, but they were sitting at a table in the afternoon talking about their lives and catching up. Suddenly, there was this blinding light, and Doc shielded his eyes

“What is that?” He asked Momo.

Momo came out onto the balcony and looked up. There it was. In all of its glory. He could not believe that it actually existed. The sky.

It was blue. This rich but light blue, and it was dotted with these little white fluffy things, and there was this really bright light in it too, which he read about once. The humans called it a “sun.” Honestly, Doc could have come up with a better name for it, but Momo was not complaining. It was beautiful.

“Hey, Doc, you might want to come out here,” Momo could not contain his glee. “That cat is fantastic!”

“It’s so bright though- WOAH," Doc gasped. Momo watched as he took it all in as well. He was speechless for a full minute; Momo had a stopwatch and was counting.

Momo did not waste time. After their initial reaction, Momo snapped right back into business. “We need to get the Transceiver working. I contacted Zbaltazar last time I used it, and I think he is in touch with Clemintine. We need to get out of the slums, as well, and also need to get that elevator working to get to Midtown. It is hard to get to Antvillage from Midtown, but we will figure something out. Like the plan, or no?”

Doc was stunned, “Since when were you the planner? That’s Clemintine’s turf.”

Momo shrugged, “Since the cat inspired me to get back into this Outsider stuff.” Doc shot him a strange look. Momo retaliated with, “What is that look for?”

“Nothing. Just never thought I’d see you with your mojo back. I forgot how determined you can be.” Doc said matter-of-factly.

“Wow, thanks” Momo rolled his eyes. Doc chuckled. “Anyway, we need to get to the bar. They have the best cell and radio tower in the slums. I speak from experience.”

“Alright.” Doc said, getting his things ready. “Let’s go.”

Chapter Text

B-12 cried out for someone, ANYONE, to hear him. Suddenly, he saw something. A major difference from the colorless void he was stuck in, that’s for sure. He moved toward it, smiling in relief.

It was a computer.

He felt a spark of joy, and booted it up, trying to hack into the city again to find his friend.

Wait. What did they do together again?

No! Come on!

He hacked like his life depended on it, which it kind of did, actually.

_____________________________________________________________________________

Clemintine boarded the old subway, which was working again. She knew that there were two more stops to the Control Room, so she used that time to think.

Her goal? Getting outside and seeing the Tiger again. Check if they were okay. Also try to help get Momo and Doc out of the slums at any cost from afar. She had stolen some books from the banned book section of the library about how the city machinery worked, but she was still. . . what’s the word? She thought for a moment.

Not nervous. Nervous would be like something bad would happen to her. Not scared either.

Apprehensive? Yeah. That sounds right. Apprehensive.

Exactly 23.5 minutes later, the subway clattered to a stop rather noisily at the Control Room Station. She got off. It was the last stop after all. The subway was dirty, and there was dried gum on the floor, so she was glad to get off.

The first thing she noticed was that the orange Companion Bots were still working to keep the place clean after all this time. Huh. Weird. She approached one.

“Hello there! Where can I find the Control Room? I’m trying to help a friend,” Clemintine asked it.

They looked back, and spoke in a weird, gender-neutral, stereotypical robot voice that made Clemintine cringe. “Hi there, fellow Companion Bot! Sadly, the control room is off limits for robots. If your human was here, they could access it, but you can’t. I apologize. However, the outside is now open, and you are welcome to explore it!”

As tempting as that offer was, she said, “No, I am going in there. You can’t stop me, sorry!” She held out her middle finger as she made her way to the control room. However, when she crossed the threshold, an earsplitting alarm went off. It sounded oddly like a school bell.

BRING, BRING, BRING, BRING, BRING!!!

Suddenly, Clemintine heard loud footsteps behind her. She spun around, and saw 2 really big Robots heading her way. They were huge, twice her size, and if that didn’t make her scared, they also had EMPs in their belts.

Fuck. More security. First, it was the sentinels, and now it was THESE morons. Just great.

_____________________________________________________________________________

Doc and Momo arrived at the bar. On the way, Doc had been inspecting the Transceiver’s readings on a computer, because it was currently on an old Nico Corp. cell tower. When they sat down, he sighed.

“There is nothing wrong with the Transceiver” he told Momo after he sat down.

“. . . what?” Momo just looked at him.

“It's this computer,” Doc explained. “It's not equipped to handle the readings that the transceiver sends out. It's like the transceiver is speaking a different language than the computer and it's really hard for them to bond and communicate. It can, somewhat, and that's why you talked to Zbaltazar, but it's very spotty and it probably won't work. What we need to do is be able to teach this computer at the bar to speak the transceivers language, and that's easy. I can do that.”

Momo blinked. He sorta understood. He wasn’t the geek of the group, so, he just nodded. There was really nothing else to do when Doc started talking about that stuff.

“I actually made this handy thing-a-midgige a while back!” Doc pulled out a thing that looked like a mini antenna. “Never thought I would actually use it!”

Momo looked at Doc. “And you just carry it around. . .?”

Doc looked at Momo with an exasperated expression. “What? I'm proud of it. It's cool,” Dock protested. Momo snickered. He hooked the tiny antenna onto the computer. The computer sputtered to life.

Chapter Text

B-12 got into the computer after some time. He spent some time trying to figure out how this computer system worked. Once he figured it out, he tried to hack into the city's mainframe. But he realized he didn’t have to.

He was already in it!

That fact was confusing enough, but he didn’t dwell on that. There would be time for that later. He needed to get out of this place before his memory corrupted all the way.

Suddenly, his eye got caught on a security camera. 2 security robots had been unleashed on a companion bot that was trying to enter the control room. Strange that that’s what they were programmed to do.

Wait a minute.

He knows that companion bot! The one that’s getting attacked!

That’s Clementine!!!

B-12 had an idea.

He hacked into one of the security bot's controls, and realized that the bot lacked consciousness, so he decided to give it one.

______________________________________________________________________________

Clementine backed up slowly, fear filling her CPU.

What was she supposed to do now? She was the strategist of the Outsiders, not the muscle! And she didn’t even have any weapons on her! What was she thinking? The two Security bots were approaching her, and she had no means of self-defense, and nowhere to go!

Her back hit the wall of the control room, and a new wave of fear hit her. One of the security bots reached her, grabbed her wrist, and spoke in a deep voice.

“You have broken section 7930, article 4 of the Companion Bot Code of Conduct for the Control Room. Prepare to be sent to jail and be repurposed.” It looked at her with expressionless eyes.

Then, something happened to the other one. Clementine would later try to describe it as looking like a flash of recognition or suddenly seeing color after a life of seeing black and white. It looked around, spotted her, and then punched the other Security bot.

It fell down hard, letting go of her wrist in the process. It then grabbed her wrist, and dragged her, not to the subway, where she would have gone if it was taking her to jail, but to the stairwell, leading to the Outside. It then turned to her, speaking in a familiar voice.

“Hey there, Clementine. It’s me. B-12. I was the-”

“Drone with Tiger!” She interrupted him with excitement.

“. . . who?” B-12 looked at Clementine in confusion.

“The cat.”

“Oh.”

They looked at each other in mutual confusion for a moment, then Clemintine broke the silence.

“What happened? Why aren’t you. . . you know. . . a drone?”

“Long story.” B-12 sighed. “Really, the jest of it is that I sacrificed myself to open the city, and instead of being dead, I woke up in the Network, so I hacked into this security bot and uploaded my consciousness into it. What about you? Why are you getting arrested by Security bots?”

Clementine smirked. “Well, I wanted to make sure you and Tiger were okay, so I headed up here. But then, I found out rather forcefully that Companion Bots weren’t allowed into the Control Room. So. . . you know. . . delightful!”

B-12 laughed. “Fair. So, what now?”

“I want to see if I could help Momo and Doc to get out of the Slums from afar, but I need access to the control room. You have that sick EMP in your belt. You can handle security, while I do what I can.” Clementine explained.

B-12 nodded. “Sounds like a plan.”

______________________________________________________________________________

Zbaltazar was meditating, when one of his computers sputtered to life. His eyes popped open, and he focused his energy on it. There was no way.

It couldn’t be the Transceiver. He thought that it was broken, when Momo contacted him last! At least that’s what it sounded like. But it was the Transceiver. He spoke into it.

“Momo? Is that you? Did you get the Transceiver up and running again? How?”

“ZBALTAZAR!” Two voices shouted in unison. It sounded like Momo and. . . Doc. No. It couldn’t be. That was impossible.

“Doc? Is. . . Is that. . . you?” Zbaltazar gasped. “I thought you stayed in the sewers to work on that Zurk weapon!”

“Yeah, well, I’m back!” Doc said in an awkward tone of voice.

“It's so good to hear your voice, Doc.” Zbaltazar grinned. “Anyway, what do you two need?”

“I have been doing some research on how the elevator works from the Slums to Midtown. Apparently, for it to work, we need someone to be in the Control Room.” Momo started explaining quickly. “Maybe Clementine, since she is in Midtown-”

“She is already heading towards the Control Room as we speak, actually.” Zbaltazar interrupted Momo. “She wanted to find Tiger and help you from afar.”

“. . . Tiger?” Doc said in a confused voice.

“The cat.” Zbaltazar clarified. “Clementine named it.”

“Wait, that’s so cute!” Doc commented in a happy voice.

“Do you have any way to contact her?” Momo asked Zbaltazar.

“I do. We have some long-range walkie talkies that we found in the sewers.” Zbaltazar answered.

“Okay, cool.” Momo said. “Also, I don’t know how or why, but that old subway started working again. There is a stop near Antvillage, but you have to go partway into the sewers. That means Zurks, so. . . I understand if you would rather not, but. . .”

“Wait, you are telling me that there is a chance to go outside?” Zbaltazar asked.

“Yeah, but again. Sewers. So, I am not sure it’s worth the risk.” Momo said.

“Okay. It is. We will all meet up in the control room, okay? I will try to contact Clementine and tell her everything. See what progress she has made. See you soon?” Zbaltazar said.

“See ya.”

And then the connection died, and Zbaltazar was left with hope, for the first time in years.

He decided to do something that he hadn’t had the guts to do in a long time.

Zbaltazar connected with his robot body wirelessly and then started to upload his conscience into it.

His vision blurred, he heard a loud, high-pitched voice, the world started spinning, and then, everything rightened itself.

He lifted an arm. Wow! He had an arm!

He could walk!

Zbaltazar took a few steps, and then immediately stumbled. Huh. He was way out of practice.

This was weird! Zbaltazar decided that he couldn’t walk, so what about crawling. Yes! He could do that.

On hands and knees, he crawled over to the Walkie Talkie that he and Clementine had found and set it to the right encrypted channel. Then, he spoke into it, hoping, praying, that he could reach Clementine.

______________________________________________________________________________

Doc and Momo disconnected from the Transceiver chat with joy on their faces.

“THIS IS GONNA WORK!” They both shouted in unison, and then embraced, with glee, and then came back to their senses, backing up and looking awkward.

“Let’s. . . pretend that that didn’t just happen.” Doc scratched the back of his neck.

“Agreed.” replied Momo, avoiding eye contact.

There was an uncomfortable silence between them.

“ANYWAY!! Let’s go see the elevator, and see how it is, and if the machinery is working or not!” Momo almost shouted.

They hurried out of the bar and then stopped right at the edge of the Slums, where the safety zone stopped, and Zurks used to roam free. Doc turned to Momo.

“Alright, so. With this sunlight, that provides a natural weapon against Zurks, because the sun gives off natural UV light. If we stay alert, and make sure to get home by sundown.” Doc said quietly.

Momo nodded, and they passed the caution line. The duo was still cautious, but there were no Zurks for the eye to see. Cool thing was that it was morning, so the sun would be out for a long time.

They got to the elevator, and Doc quickly explained how the elevator worked.

“This is an old-style freight elevator.” He explained. “They usually use ropes and counterweights or a hydraulic piston system to raise and lower the cab. They’re controlled by motors, pulleys, and safety brakes to keep everything stable. This one uses ropes and counterweights to pull it up and down, but instead of the elevator operator being here, the manual crank is in the Control Room, which is why we need Clementine in the Control Room.”

“Okay, I did not get any of that, but you got it!” Momo said with an awkward grin.

Doc walked into the broken elevator and inspected the machinery.

“It seems like the pulleys are jammed. We will need to fix them to be able to meet Clementine up at the Control Room.

Momo nodded.

“Well, let’s get started then, Doc!” He said enthusiastically.

Chapter Text

Clementine got Zbaltazar’s message at the exact worse time possible.

She had snuck back into the Control Room, B-12 behind her. They finally had gotten into the control room, finally, without attracting any attention, when the Walkie Talkie at her hip crackled loudly, and a loud voice came out of it.

“CLEMENTINE? CLEMENTINE, CAN YOU HEAR ME???” rang out across the quiet, dangerous room, and all the working; orange companion bots turned their heads toward them.

The security bots turned on, and started to walk towards them, in the same slow, menacing fashion that they had done earlier.

Clementine was not having it.

Like, come on! Speed up already!

She wasn’t scared.

Instead, she smirked and turned to B-12.

“Do. Your. Worst.” She told him, a victorious smirk on her face.

B-12 grinned and took 2 steps forward. While he did that, he cranked up the EMP he had. He did a quick evaluation of the specific device in his possession.

The specific EMP he had was a scaled down, remodeled version of the Epirus Leonidas, which is a High-Power Microwave Device. That means that Microwave energy is generated, and then they are aimed at the electrons in the other device. That will create currents in the circuits, overloading them, and frying them. Since they admit focused microwave beams, the EMP can be aimed at specific targets, which is good. B-12 doesn’t want Clementine to get hurt when he uses the EMP.

“Alright, B-12. Stop being a nerd,” he muttered to himself, shaking his head.

B-12 then charged at the security Bots.

B-12 was outnumbered, 5 to 1, but that did nothing to his confidence. The first robot reached him, grabbing his wrist firmly, and started speaking.

“You have broken section 7930, article 4 of-” he didn’t get the chance to finish because B-12 punched him in the face, the sound of metal on metal echoing around the room. At the same moment, he aimed the EMP at another robot. You could see the circuits literally fry inside his brain.

The third robot charged at B-12, his face vermillion with anger. B-12 dodged and the robot ran straight into a wall, where he got stuck inside the fiberglass, his muffled, mechanical screams of rage still audible.

B-12 spun around quickly and then aimed the EMP at the fourth robot, and again, his circuits fried as the EMP did its work.

The last robot’s eyes widened, and he held up his hands in the surrender gesture. B-12 paused. Then, he gestured to the stairs leading to the Outside.

“Stay out there, and I won’t hurt you.” He ordered. The robot nodded and practically ran to the stairs.

While this was happening, Clementine was talking (rather loudly) to Zbaltazar.

“ZBALTAZAR, I SWEAR. IF WE GO TO JAIL TODAY, IT’S ALL GOING TO BE YOUR FAULT!” exploded Clementine over the walkie talkie.

“Okay, okay, jeez! I’m not a supercomputer, okay! I don’t know when you are in life-or-death situations! Anyway, Doc and Momo need you, and I am the only one with a walkie talkie, okay?” Zbaltazar protested.

“Yeah, yeah, anyway, what do they need?” Clementine sounded so aggravated; it was a wonder she didn’t snap the Walkie Talkie in half.

“Well, Momo and Doc need you to find the manual crank to the old freight elevator that connects midtown to the slums. Apparently, there is one in the control room. I don’t know. That’s what they told me.” Zbaltazar said calmly.

“Yeah, okay, WHERE THE FUCK IS THIS CRANK THEN!” Clementine shouted into the walkie talkie, dodging a robot as they tried to attack B-12 and crashed into a wall.

The static crackled. “. . . don’t know. They just said that the crank existed. They asked if you could find it.” Zbaltazar admitted awkwardly.

Clementine groaned, and then quickly and anxiously examined the machinery, calling back some old articles about the construction of the control room from the back of her memory bank. She knew the general layout of the Control Room from some blueprints she stole in Midtown. It was a memorable experience. She almost got caught by the Sentinels. It was her narrowest escape and really raised her bounty.

She would brag about it later.

ANYWAY, BACK TO THE STORY AT HAND!!! Clementine found an old, retro-looking crank that had a label with “Elevator Operator” on it. She then turned back to the walkie talkie.

“I think I found it. When should I crank it?” Clementine asked Zbaltazar.

“. . . I don’t know!” Zbaltazar said awkwardly.

“Do you even know ANYTHING?” Clementine accused.

“It was a very brief conversation, and I was really happy that Doc was still alive, and with Momo in the Slums!” Zbaltazar protested.

Clementine stopped. “Wait, Doc’s in the Slums?” She said in a shocked voice... “I thought he stayed back on the other side of the sewers! You know, the side that’s infested with Zurks! It’s so good to know that he’s safe!!!”

“. . . you do know I said that Doc was there earlier, right?” Zbaltazar pointed out, exasperated.

“Yeah, well, you know I was too busy yelling at you.” Clementine admitted. Then, something caught her eye. “Hold up. . .”

Zbaltazar said something, but she wasn’t listening.

There, on the wall, was a pully system with a rusty label that she hadn’t seen before. The label said “Elevator System” with a bunch of levers, pulleys, and buttons.

“I found the crank.” She said to Zbaltazar, interrupting whatever he was saying.

The walkie talkie sputtered with static.

“. . . . Oh. Okay. Great.” Zbaltazar said. “Also, I wanted to tell you. You know the old subway? Well, there is a station near the Antvillage!” He said.

“I’m hearing a but coming.” Clementine said, her eyes narrowing. “Also, what about your body? Aren’t you just a pile of computers?”

“I transferred my consciousness into that ambulatory body. It’s pretty cool actually. To have arms and feet again.” Zbaltazar said happily.

Clementine gasped (or, as well as a robot could gasp anyway).

“No. Way. NICE!!!! FINALLY!!!!” Clementine yelled into the Walkie Talkie. “Took you long enough, you big coward!”

“Okay, first of all, rude?” Zbaltazar retorted. “And secondly, the station is partway through the sewers.”

Clementine’s exited energy died faster than a Zurk exposed to UV light. Speaking of Zurks:

“Zurks.” She said in what can only be described as a weird tone of voice. “Zbaltazar. You sure you want to take that risk?”

“I am. If it means seeing you, Doc, and Momo again? Absolutely. Besides, I’ve run for my life before and I’ll do it again.”

“Keep in touch, Zbaltazar. Take the walkie with you, okay?” Clementine said anxiously.

“You got it. Now figure out the elevator system, Clem! I’m also going to connect a spare walkie talkie to the Transceiver. That way I can connect with Momo and Doc.” Zbaltazar mused.

“Cool. See ya!” Clementine said, and put the walkie talkie away, and started to examine the pulley system that was the elevator system.

_____________________________________________________________________________

Zbaltazar was, in fact, lying on the floor while talking to Clementine because he hadn’t figured out how to stand yet.

However, when she ended the walkie talkie conversation, he attempted to stand again and immediately failed. God DAMN! When did it become so hard to stand? Like actually!

Whatever. He could do it. He was ZBALTAZAR after all! He was the calmness of the group! The one who listened to reason! THE ONE WHO HAD COMMON SENSE! IF HE COULD DO THAT SURROUNDED BY HIS ABSOLUTELY CRAZY YET AWESOME FRIENDS, HE COULD STAND UP AND WALK, GOD DAMNIT!!

He got onto his hands and knees and pushed himself onto his feet. NICE! He was STANDING! LET'S GO!!! We are also going to totally ignore the part where he is holding onto his desk for dear life. BUT IT’S A START, OKAY!?!?!

Okay, he can do this. He slid his foot to the right and then slid his other foot to the right. And then he adjusted his weight. Not really a step, but close enough.

He did that a couple more times, and he realized he had gotten all the way to the other side of the desk! NICE!!! FANTASTIC for a robot that hasn’t walked in I-don't-even-know-how-many years.

Alright! Now time to only hold onto the desk with one hand and ACTUALLY take real steps! Let’s do this!!

AAAAAAAND, he fell. Great.

He just got up again.

Okay, so it takes a while for Zbaltazar to finally be able to walk, and I don’t feel like writing all of that, and I don’t think y’all would want to read all that! So, we are skipping 31 minutes and 28 seconds ahead. Okay?

Zbaltazar walked down the stairs of Antvillage, carrying the Walkie Talkie so he could communicate with Clementine, and a little gizmo that Doc had made that remotely connects with the Transceiver. And, naturally, everyone in Antvillage stared. Come on! Could you blame them? This is the first time any of them had ever seen him in a working robot body. Anyway, he walked past them and grabbed the Zurk Weapon that Doc made for him and Clementine and checked the battery.

Cool! Fully charged! Nice!

Alright, now time to find the holster, because, one, Zbaltazar doesn’t want to carry this weird light gun thing, AKA, the Zurk Weapon, around all the time because it is heavy, and secondly, because if he needed to run for his life, he doesn’t want to lug a really heavy weird light gun thing, AKA, the Zurk Weapon. Also, Clementine always used to tease him about it, and he said that it made him look like a badass, but that’s besides the point.

Anyway, he grabbed the holster, put the Zurk Weapon in it, and then walked outside.

Woah.

The sky was beautiful!

It was a dark blue, almost black, with little pinpricks of light here and there. It just. . . went on and on, until the wall stopped it, and the pinpricks of light sort of twinkled.

Zbaltazar remembered an old book that Doc had come across, and apparently those pinpricks were called ‘stars’ and they made shapes called constellations.

Weird names. Oh well. Zbaltazar didn’t have the imagination to come up with new ones, so stars, constellations, and the sky would have to do.

It was a beautiful night. The temperature was just right, and a breeze flowed through the trees, sending the scent of pine needles and greenery through the air.

Alright, to the death pit, also known as the sewers. Let’s go.

Zbaltazar walked towards the sewers, knowing exactly where to go. He remembered using the station as a safehouse for a couple of days with Clementine and trying in vain to repair his hardware. Sadly, it’s in the most infected part of the sewers, and he wasn’t as fast or agile as Tiger.

Dammit, Clementine! Your stupid nickname stuck, he thought.

He walked into the sewers

Like, ew?

The entire thing was coated with this fleshy-looking membrane. There were pods everywhere. It assaulted your eyes with all different types of red, and not the pretty kind. There were some cold fluorescent lights, which really didn’t help. When you took one step, it sounded like you were walking in a rather gross puddle. Absolutely disgusting.

Zbaltazar took a deep breath and took out the Zurk Weapon.

Let’s fucking do this!

_____________________________________________________________________________

Momo was getting supplies and Doc was checking the damage to the old elevator.

Here’s what Doc has figured out so far:

One of the pulleys in the elevator has a huge piece of debris stuck in it and is now locked in place. That causes the cables of the elevator to not be able to move freely. The motor overheated, so it caused an automatic shutdown. Thankfully, the elevator was on the bottom floor when this happened, so he didn’t need to worry about breaking the brakes.

Doc narrowed his eyes.

His brain was working overtime to see how he could fix it.

Alright, first thing first, he will have to cut the power to and from the elevator. Then he will have to release the tension on the cables manually. That will help take the weight off the pulley, so it can be inspected. Then the piece of debris can be removed. It would also be a good idea to add some lubrication to the pulleys, to reduce friction. This will have to be perfect, because they don’t have time for a system test.

Momo came back, arms full of toolboxes, cleaning supplies, and different things that Doc thought they might need.

“Alright! Everything you asked for, right here!” he stated proudly.

Doc rolled his eyes good naturedly and pointed to an old metal table coated in golden-brown rust. “Put everything over there,” he instructed.

Momo did, almost tripping and eating pavement on the way. Doc snickered, and Momo shot him a dirty look.

Anyway, he placed all of the stuff down, a little clumsily, and then Doc picked up a small piece of metal, and walked to the Machine Room. He quickly picked the lock, much to Momo’s amazement.

“Woah! When did you learn to do that? I thought you were into lame stuff, like science and machinery!” Momo exclaimed, impressed.

Doc shot him a glare that, if looks could kill, would have killed Momo three times over. “I do read books, you know. And one book briefly touched on lock picking. And science and machinery? Not. Boring.”

Momo rolled his eyes but made the very wise decision to shut his mouth for once.

Doc walked into the machinery room with a purpose, literally strutting like he was in a fashion show. Momo followed, uncharacteristically quiet. Doc pointed to a lever on the wall that had a sign that said Only Flip In Case Of Emergencies on it, and said to Momo, “Flip that lever, please.” in the coldest voice imaginable.

Momo flipped it obediently. Man, he forgot how scary Doc could be when he was angry.

Momo scratched his neck awkwardly. “Listen. Doc. I’m sorry for the comment. I didn’t mean it. It’s really cool that you know science and machinery.”

Doc turned around, not used to hearing genuine emotion from Momo, but stayed quiet, listening to what Momo had to say.

“Just, sometimes I sort of feel inferior to you. I mean, you are so smart, and I’m just-” He paused. “I’m just here. So, yeah, I’m sorry.”

Doc stepped forward and placed a hand on Momo’s shoulder. “Hey, I get it. It sucks, being the one who just exists. We’ve all been there, and I’m sorry I got mad.”

Momo looked up and gave Doc a small smile. “Thanks.”

“Now, come on, you going to help me or not?” Doc turned around sharply, grinning.

Momo laughed and followed him.

Doc walked to an old steel wheel, coated with grime from years of just sitting there unused. “Alright, we need to turn this to release tension in the wires. Then we can inspect the pulley and remove that giant piece of debris, okay?”

Momo nodded and put his hands on the wheel.

Ugh!

The wheel literally felt like it was coated with furry rotten soft cheese. His hands sunk through about a centimeter of the stuff, before hitting metal. He then quickly pulled his hand back and shivered.

“There is NO WAY I’m ever touching that again!” Momo gagged, shaking his hands like he was trying to disinfect them, which he kind of was.

Doc laughed. “Fine! We’ll clean it.” Doc chuckled and grabbed a washcloth and cleaning spray from the table.

When doc was done with it, it wasn’t completely clean, but it was clean enough that your hand would not sink a centimeter through that weird rotten cheese stuff. In fact, it was all gone! But the metal underneath was rusty, and there was nothing Doc could do about that.

The wheel was EXTREMELY hard to turn, but working together, Doc and Momo did it! Yay! Teamwork makes the dream work! Anyway, when they were done turning it, they leaned against the front of the wheel and high-fived, exhausted.

“Good job.” Doc gasped, and Momo nodded, just as tired and breathless as Doc.

They just sort of leaned there for a moment, pathetically catching their breath because they are a couple of robots that need to hit the gym! Sorry, sorry, I know that’s rude, but AM I WRONG?

Anyway, back to the story! So, then they found the pulley that was jammed. Zurks had caused a part of the building to collapse, causing a medium sized shard of metal to fall onto the pulley, jamming it. So, now, it was Momo and Doc’s job to get it out. Thankfully, it wasn’t lodged deeply in the pulley.

“So, think we can get this out on our own?” Doc asked Momo. “Like, without any machinery?”

Doc thought for a moment. “Well, only one way to find out, I guess.”

And then, with that said, they both went to opposite sides of the pulley, and they actually managed to lift it. Moving it though, that was another story.

“Okay. Take one step to the right, NOW!” Momo said, and then they both did. Then they dropped the debris, and Doc started checking for smaller pieces of debris, and instructed Momo to get the lubricant to decrease friction for all of the pulleys. Might as well do this right.

Momo started to make sure that the pulleys were completely frictionless, while Doc fould little pieces of debris. There was a lot. Momo also kept finding little peices of debris and threw them out. Doc finished with the pulley he was working on and then started to check the door systems on both ends but found those in working condition. Momo finished with the pulleys and waited for instructions.

Doc turned around.

“Momo, go inside the elevator, and look for a hardwire phone box. See if it’s working.” Doc said, now occupied with checking the brakes.

Momo nodded and entered the elevator.

It was huge. Wow. The humans were really good at building pretty stuff. Thin metal on the walls swirl and intersect to make an elaborate design. It must have been so pretty when it wasn’t covered with rust. Man, if only Momo could clean it and make it shine again. . .

Whatever. He isn’t here to marvel at the architectural and archeological brilliance of the elevator! No! He is here to fix it! And now he was going to do what Doc said and take a look at the phone box, which was against the wall.

He opened it. It creaked loudly, and a spider or two crawled out of it, which made Momo jump.

Anyway, he poked at the phone wire, and, miraculously, it wasn’t fraying or even looked damaged at all. Huh.

“Hey, Doc! The phone looks okay to me. What should I do?” Momo called, but Doc, too engrossed in trying to fix the brake system, didn’t hear him.

Momo shrugged and then picked up the phone. The dial tone played which made Momo almost jump out of his motherboard.

And then someone picked up, and it was someone who Momo hadn’t talked to in years.

Chapter Text

Each step Zbaltazar took, he winced.

It made this disgusting sound. It was like stepping into a pile of mud. It was, just, indescribable. It was absolutely retched, and he missed the sturdy wood floors of Antvillage. Instead of (this is literally the best word for it) Squelching, it creaked, and it was sturdy beneath your feet. Not this... fleshy nonsense.

Okay, Zbaltazar, your life is on the line. Get back to the present.

Zbaltazar silently creeped around the pods on the walls and around the floor. If you got too close to them, they exploded, and Zurks attacked you. It was not a pleasant experience.

Just in case you don’t know what Zurks are, and what they do, they are these little fleshy blobs that basically exist because some waste bacteria mutated, so now they can eat anything. INCLUDING metal. Yeah, he was screwed.

When he finally got to the end of the hallway, there was a locked metal door that could be hacked into.

He wasn’t the techie of the group. That was Doc. WHAT WAS HE SUPPOSED TO DO?

Oh well, he’d have to try. He booted up the computer, and it immediately asked for a password. Great.

He shrugged. Oh well. Brute force attack was the only hacking strategy he knew, and he was... moderately good at it. Besides, he had watched Doc do brute force attacks in the past, and it looked easy enough.

Alright, the first guess. Control_Room_Worker_65. It was the code to open the gate in the Slums to enter or exit the city. Worth a shot.

The screen flashed red. Zbaltazar groaned loudly, and then immediately shut up, remembering that he was, in fact, in the sewers. Some of the pods wiggled and glowed a menacing pinkish red but thankfully didn’t explode.

He tried the same thing without the underscores. The screen flashed red again. Great. He thought back to the code that had let him and Clementine into the sewers in the first place, all those years ago. He still remembered it.

SewerRepairTeam/4290

The screen flashed green, and with a loud grinding sound that completely shattered the careful silence, the door started opening. All the pods exploded.

They came from both sides of the door, a raging mob of globs with one cloudy yellow-and-red eye, making infernal squelching sounds against the membrane covering the floor. They locked on to Zbaltazar and came at him, looking like a tidal wave of doom, death, and absolute disgustingness.

Zbaltazar fumbled with the holster holding the Zurk weapon, his fingers fumbling because they were shaking so much. He finally got it open, and just in time too.

He powered it on, shooting a strong ray of ultraviolet light against them, making them explode like cursed balloons.

He swiveled to the side, trying to cover every angle, because there were Zurks everywhere. They just kept coming, too, even when the door finished opening. Zbaltazar backed into a corner, and defended himself, but then finally, they stopped coming, thank goodness.

Zbaltazar took a moment to calm down. That. Was close.

Then, he crept into the next room, staying close to the wall.

The good news! There was a sign on the wall that told him that he was a 3 minutes' walk away from the subway station. Nice, not that long!

The bad news: What the heck would those three minutes entail?

This part of the sewers looked less infected, and there was an occasional Zurk that Zbaltazar had to burst, but other than that and the fleshy membrane covering everything in its reddish hue, it was pretty okay, which was good. It gave Zbaltazar a little time to collect himself and prepare. It also gave the Zurk weapon time to automatically recharge, which was really needed.

After crossing this part of the sewers, which took about 2 minutes, he arrived in a cavernous room, with a small door on the opposite wall. He could tell that that’s the entrance to the safe room where the subway station is. However, this was a treacherous room.

There were eyes on the walls, literal eyes, that when awake, can summon Zurks out of nowhere just to come and get you. Zbaltazar shivered, remembering them from his last visit with Clementine, and the horrors that they were. It was thanks to them that his original body was broken.

Yes, back then. There was a huge one. It was capable of summoning an overwhelming number of Zurks. So many that even the Zurk weapon couldn’t handle it. Zbaltazar and Clemintine ran for their lives, but they weren’t fast enough, so Zbaltazar took ahold of Clementine, literally picked her up, and threw her to safety, sacrificing himself.

However, Clementine was able to find his consciousness in the digital network, brought him to life, and built him the body that he is now using (which is, he must say, remarkably built). He survived the ordeal barely, and he didn’t want to go through anything like that again.

However, if he wanted to see his friends again, that’s what he needed to do.

They were sleeping, or, at least closed right now. And none of them were that large, thank goodness, but they still freaked Zbaltazar out.

He took a tentative step forward, and then another. The trick was to keep it slow, and then he wouldn’t make any noise, and no sudden movements, and then, hopefully, they wouldn’t wake up.

He made it halfway across the room, before disaster struck.

The holster, now empty because Zbaltazar was holding the Zurk Weapon in a death grip, fell to the floor.

Something about this particular holster, is made of really heavy leather. Don’t ask what type, he doesn’t know. TL; DR, it’s ridiculously heavy, and it makes an extremely loud sound when it drops.

So, it made an extremely loud sound when it dropped.

All the eyes popped open.

They were a deep red, with tiny little pupils in the middle of them they stared at Zbaltazar menacingly, and they blinked their eyes quickly and...

Okay, calm down. It’s going to be okay.

Zbaltazar ran. He ran for his life.

The ground shook. Zurks came from everywhere. Zbaltazar aimed the Zurk weapon behind him, and heard the noise of some Zurks exploding, but he didn’t look back; he didn’t want to see them.

He got to the door just as a Zurk jumped onto him and started eating his shoulder. He opened the door, rushed into the room closed it, and just as the door closed, a very strong beam of ultraviolet light, the same type as what the Zurk Weapon used, beamed down from the overhead lights, killing all the Zurks.

Zbaltazar sunk to the floor in relief.

He checked his shoulder. It was still operational. That’s good.

He looked around the room. He was in a small room with a lot of lights everywhere. There was another door. He went through it.

Now he was at the subway station. Sterile white tiles covered the floor. White, fluorescent lights lit the station in a cool light. The only strip of color was the yellow line, telling you not to cross.

Suddenly, there was a noise. The screens overhead announced that the subway was coming.

It came. It was a little bit dirtier than Zbaltazar was expecting. That’s okay though.

He boarded it, leaving the sewers far behind.

_____________________________________________________________________________

There was a click, then a voice that came out of the receiver that Momo was holding.

“OKAY! So, this PHONE was ringing SO GOD DAMN LOUD that I decided to answer it and yes, I know, it’s not the normal control room people or whatnot, so if that bothers you, WELL TOO BAD, HUH? Anyway, who’s this?” The voice said, ending on a sweet, innocent note.

Momo just paused for a moment, caught off guard by the voice and familiar mannerisms.

“Uh... CLEMENTINE?” He shouted enthusiastically. He didn’t see it, but Doc overheard that, dropped everything, and started running towards Momo.

Clementine paused for a moment. Momo could almost picture her look of surprise and utter joy. It almost made him laugh aloud.

“...Momo?” She said quietly and then shouted so loudly that Momo dropped the phone from pure shock and fumbled with it for a moment, “OH MY GOD, MOMO!! THIS IS INSANE! HOW THE HELL DID YOU GET ON THE OTHER END OF THIS PHONE THAT LOOKS LIKE IT’S, LIKE, 12 GAZILLION YEARS OLD?”

Momo, still recovering from the joy of Clementine actually being on the other end of the phone, and the shock of her volume, said shakily, “Uh, the elevator that we are fixing had a callbox and Doc told me to see if it worked? Also, Gazillion? Not a number, sadly.”

Clementine scoffed. “Shut up. Gazillion is SO now a number. It’s part of the Clementine Number System!”

Momo laughed aloud. “Oh my god, you are ridiculous.”

Doc then dramatically burst into the elevator, looking exactly like Momo felt. Astonished, ecstatic, and just completely overjoyed. He just sort of stood there awkwardly. Momo muffled a laugh. Clementine heard it and got a little offended.

“What’s funny?” she asked curiously, but not meanly.

“Doc just flew in here looking like an elated missile. Sorry.” Momo grinned at Doc silently, as Doc shot him a playful glare. Clementine also muffled a laugh.

“Well, tell him I say hi. So, Momo, I heard from Zbaltazar that you need my help cranking this thing and getting it up and running. Is that true?” Clementine jumped into business sharply.

“Uh, you might want to talk to Doc about that.” Momo said and quietly handed the phone to Doc. Doc took it, and then spoke into the phone, “Hey Clem.”

Clementine made a sound of excitement over the phone.

“Doc! It’s so good to hear your voice! Anyway, hi! Uh, So, Zbaltazar and I have a means of communication, and he told me that you guys need my help up here in the control room to crank the elevator, and bring you guys up to midtown. I’ve figured out how to work it, that was the easy part, and now I’m just like a sitting duck over here! So, how long do you think it’ll take to get it up and running?” Clementine said in a really fast, confident voice that leaves Doc a little shocked. God, he forgot how much Clementine talked.

“Uh, surprisingly, the elevator looks in good shape. Really, the biggest problem was the pulley. It was jammed.” Doc said matter-of-factly, getting into mechanic mode. Momo rolled his eyes.

“However, the Door and brake systems look good, and I was checking the thermal systems, which also look okay, or at least, okay for one ride. Power supply is good, I just need to replace one wire, which should not take long. Ropes and wires are fine, and we won’t overload it, so we don’t need to worry about that.” Doc continued

Clementine knew better than to interrupt one of Doc’s lectures, so she mentally prepared herself for it, and then when he finished, she cut in, “Okay, yeah, cool, but When. Should. I. Start. Cranking. The. Elevator?” She sounded very annoyed. Momo bit back a laugh.

Doc sighed and rolled his eyes. “Give us the rest of today, okay?” He said, exasperated. “We’ll call you on this phone when it’s time.”

Clementine replied. “Okay. It’s really good to hear your voice. I know I said that earlier, but I wanted to reiterate it.” Then there was a click, and the line went dead.

Doc turned to Momo and grinned. “Well, we got our work cut out for us, don’t we?”

Momo nodded.

And for the next 5 hours, 41 minutes, and 16 seconds, the duo inspected various parts of the elevator. They changed the wire that Doc mentioned, which actually took a considerable amount of effort from both Doc and Momo. There was a slight change in the ideal weight of the weights that pulled down the elevator, so those had to be changed. It took a while for Momo to find new ones. (He was literally running around like a Zurk with it’s eye cut off, looking in all the black markets for old elevator weights. You should have been there. It was hilarious!) And, also, there was a problem with some of the metal over rusting, so Momo got to live his dream and scrub all the rust away, which made him irrationally happy. Something that DIDN’T make him happy though, was that there was a lot more of that furry rotten cheese stuff that Doc said was actually a certain type of mold that had mutated to survive the Zurks.

Anyway, when they were done, the elevator looked good as new. It gleamed in the evening sun, thanks to Momo polishing it and getting rid of all the rust. Doc went back in to phone Clementine again.

Clem answered on the first ring. “Ugh, FINALLY! I’ve been reading all the books that they have in the control room, and I think that I’m the new master of all the machinery in the city. Anyway, are ya done?”

Doc smiled and looked at Momo in amusement. “Yeah, we’re done. Get to cranking, Clem!”

Clementine laughed over the phone. “Alright. Wanna keep in touch, or should I hang up and crank?”

Momo cut in. “Uh, Doc? I think she should hang up and crank. It would be hard for her to do”

Doc nodded “Makes sense.” He relayed those instructions to Clementine. Clementine, however, had an idea.

“Actually, I met an old friend. He could probably crank.” She then covered the receiver and yelled at someone. The receiver was muffled, so Doc and Momo didn’t hear who.

Clementine came back onto the line. “Okay, it’s going to start in 3... 2... 1...”

The elevator gave a sickening lurch. It started rocking back and forth, making both Doc and Momo’s heads spin, and making them stumble. However, it was moving up. Slowly yes, but it was moving up.

Doc took a breath and then made his way back up to the phone. “Uh, Clem? Are you... are you cranking it correctly?”

Clementine paused for a moment and then yelled and walked away from the phone. After she did that, the movement stopped being rocky, and the elevator significantly sped up.

“There you go. Sorry, B-12 was not doing it right.” She said matter-of-factly, returning to the phone.

“Who’s B-12?” Doc asked, a little baffled.

“The drone who was with the cat. That’s what he said his name was.”

“Oh. How is he cranking then?”

“He uploaded his conscience into a robot body.”

Doc paused, even more baffled.

“You know what?” He said. “Tell me later. Anyway, we are almost near the top.”

The elevator reached the top and with a little click, it locked into place, allowing Doc and Momo to make a safe exit. Doc said goodbye politely to Clementine, and she stopped them.

“Yeah, bye, I guess. Really quickly, You guys are getting dropped off at Midtown, right?” She asked.

“Yeah.” Doc answered.

Well, if you come across a guy named Blazer, punch him in the face for me, okay? He turned me in, and he’s the reason that I went to jail. I’ll tell you about it later. But if you see him, don’t trust him, and punch him.” Clementine said with an evil little twinge to her voice.

“You got it. Bye!” Doc hung up the phone and gave a shocked look to Momo. He mouthed “She went to jail?” And Momo just shrugged.

Then they exited the elevator and walked into Midtown.

The sunlight flooded the streets of Midtown, and wow. The city itself was beautiful. Glowing neon signs lit every dark place, which there weren’t many. The architecture was beautiful; tall buildings cut through the sky, hung with string lights, and there were little quant neighborhoods on the outskirts of the city. Momo, always a fan of architectural glory, nodded in appreciation.

However, the people? Well, that’s another story.

Sence the Sentinels could not handle temperatures over 80° F, and that they all collapsed, the companion bots of midtown were celebrating. No more oppressive government is something to celebrate; it makes sense. However, they were celebrating in a way that was pretty, there’s no other word for it, vehement.

The companion bots were ripping out the security cameras and cheering as they smashed them on the ground. They were taking spare vests and helmets that NECO Corp. Employees wore and were burning them. Someone even stole the battery that powered the entire NECO Corp. Factory! Doc was impressed with that. He’d been wanting to get his hands on one for a while now.

So, getting back on track, Momo and Doc carefully weaved through the streets, careful of all the chaos. Momo cheered it on. Doc just seemed exasperated with it all, but didn’t stop it.

The subway station was on the other side of Midtown. Halfway there, someone approached them. He was wearing a puffer jacket with a sick gold chain that Momo appreciated.

“Hey! Name’s Blazer.” The stranger introduced himself. “I noticed that you two dudes aren’t participating in the celebrations. Why is that?”

Momo and Doc exchanged dark glances, replaying what Clementine had told them. Doc knew what Momo really wanted to do and gave him a small nod. Momo smirked and stepped forward.

“Why the hell do you care, buster?” He said sassily, putting one hand on his hip like a complete DIVA.

Blazer blinked. “Man, no need to get defensive. I was just curious. But, back to my question. Because do you guys also think that the Sentinels should be put back into power? Because they were benevolent, no matter what anyone else’s opinions are. I mean, I put one criminal behind bars, and they give me enough money to live the rest of my life in luxury! Can you believe that!”

Momo’s eyes narrowed even further. “Was this criminal’s name Clementine?”

Blazer smiled, looking proud of himself. “Why yes, it was her! You know, the one on all the billboards and-”

He didn’t get a chance to finish his sentence, because Momo yelled “THIS MAN, RIGHT HERE, THINKS THAT THE SENTINALS WERE BENEVOLENT!!!” And man, oh man did that catch the attention of a lot of surrounding companion bots.

They all came toward Blazer, and then he backed up slowly, suddenly realizing how unpopular his opinion was, and then Doc and Momo ran away, laughing like little kids as sounds of a fight broke out behind them.

After a couple of minutes, they got to the train station, just as the train was arriving. They boarded the train.

The train was deserted except for one familiar face.

“Hi guys.” Zbaltazar said.

_____________________________________________________________________________

Clementine was waiting as the train pulled into the station.

She heard it coming, a grinding of metal, and then saw a bright white light at the end of the subway tunnel, and then, at last, the subway flew past her, almost knocking her off balance. Then the doors opened.

She barely had time to react before the three of them engulfed her in the biggest bear hug the world has ever seen. Seriously, this is one for the history books, people.

The group laughed, and Zbaltazar even teared up a little, and then they all started talking at once.

“It’s so good to see you guys! I’m so glad that Tiger came and helped all of us find hope! I just... oh, it’s good to see all of you.” Momo said, while Zbaltazar was saying “I had to go through the sewers, people! The sewers! But you know what? It was worth it. I’m really happy that we are all together,” while Clementine was saying “Yeah! The Outsiders are back together baby! Seriously though, I just- well- it's great to see you guys again.” while Doc was saying, “Man, I forgot how great it is to see you guys again, really. I can’t believe we actually did it!”

Then they all paused.

And then, in sync, they all said “I’ve missed you guys.”

Zbaltazar’s voice, choked with emotion, quietly carried as he said. “I can’t believe we are all back together.”

Clementine roped an arm around Zbaltazar and reassured him, “Hey, we always find each other. No one can stop us.”

Zbaltazar smiled shyly, and then Momo added, “Yeah, no one in the history of the world! We’re just better.”

Zbaltazar laughed shakily. “Thanks guys.”

Doc nodded. “Hey, no problem. That’s what friends are for.”

The other two nodded in agreement.

Clementine, a little excited, bounced on the balls of her feet.

“Well, what are we waiting for?” She asked, excitedly. “We have a whole outside to explore!” The others laughed.

“Alright, let’s go.” Doc smiled.

The group walked into the control room, and then paused at the opening of the stairs, and all took in one collective breath.

“You ready?” Momo whispered.

“I hope so.” Zbaltazar replied.

The four robots all took hands, and walked slowly up the stairs, one step at a time, perfectly in sync.

They got to the top, and- oh. Oh WOW.

The sun filtered through the green leaves, and the sky just went on and on. A little way off from them was a patch of very soft-looking narrow leaves that looked planted into the ground. There was a slight breeze as well, blowing the scent of fresh greenery around them. The Outside was... Beautiful.

Then they heard a small noise.

A meow.

And then more!

It was the cat! Tiger!

And Tiger had friends!

Tiger leapt into Clementine’s arms, while a black cat nuzzled Momo’s legs, making him laugh. An orange and white cat went up to Doc and then jumped onto his head, messing with the cables on him that looked like hair. Lastly, a tortoiseshell cat approached Zbaltazar carefully and then bopped his leg with its nose.

B-12 followed behind them, and said something in the cat’s language, and Tiger purred in response, vibrating in Clementine’s arms.

Clementine looked at Doc, muffled a laugh, and then nodded. “Yeah. It’s all going to be all right.” She said.