ST, Ch 5: Scarlet Traces

Chapter 5

Scarlet Traces


    606-6 had gone limp, he had no strength left. He hardly noticed his brothers keeping a firm grip on him as he stared blankly down at the floor; his ears deaf to the buzzing excitement around him. A searing pain short through his head as one of his brother grabbed a fistful of his hair. Six had his head tugged upwards to look at the table, the last place he saw his Lilly alive. The last place he wanted to gaze at.

    “No…” he whimpered.

    “What’s the matter Six? Just relax and enjoy the show!”

    Six glared at his brother through the film of tears in his eyes, “You’re all monsters…”

    “No more monstrous then you, brother,” Two replied.

    “Indeed. We wouldn’t have had our test subject if it wasn’t for you,” Five grinned.

    “S-shut up…”

    “Oh we will, Six. We wouldn’t want you to miss a second,” Five crooned, “Especially when she’s first in line.”

    “What are you…?” Six looked forward, feeling his metaphorical heart stop, “No! Not her!”
   
    Little Taffy screamed and cursed as her captors hauled her out from the store of recaptured Toons. Six looked at her, and felt himself on the verge of shutdown.

“No, please…” he sobbed.

     He couldn’t let her life end in this way. She didn’t deserve it, and neither had Lilly. He had to do something now, or she too would be lost. Little Taffy was strapped in, kicking and struggling all the way. But her struggles didn’t alter the fact that she could no longer get away.

    “Please! Let her go!”

    “Not a chance Six,” Two chuckled darkly.
   
    Six couldn’t stand it any longer, he had to try something. He struggled, but the strength of his brothers was too much. He slumped a bit, feeling helpless as the machine started up. A moment later, Little Taffy let off a blood curtailing shriek, that made Six flinch as if he’s been physically struck. The sight of her on that table making him relive that horrific night over and over in his mind.

    “Stop!” she howled, “It hurts…”

   Six felt sick when he heard the mocking laughed of his siblings and the other Bloodsuckers as she tried feebly to free herself. Paralyzed with horror, he could do little but watch as the machine slowly drained the life out of her. As the seconds ticked past, he could see her getting slowly weaker, and the Cog had to shut is eyes.

    “Taffy…I’ve failed you too…”

    “What is going on here?!” rang out the voice of the outraged Chief Justice.
   
    Every Bloodsucker’s attention in the room suddenly snapped to that of their Boss, including Six. They all wore shocks of horror save for him. He could have almost wept with joy at the sight of him. He still had a chance to save her. He just had to get away.

    “Stop this at once, all of you!” Ordered the Chief.

   Anger and hatred morphed onto their faces. It was clear none of them had any intention of backing down. It was a good thing he had brought back up with him. He’d had a feeling from the account that the Vice President had told him that they would be less then civilized. The Chief Justice signaled to his second-in-command standing next to him.

    Two nodded in reply, before giving his own signal. Several other variants of Lawbot charged out from behind his treads at the hoard of Bloodsuckers. Having stirred the proverbial hornets’ nest, the Bloodsuckers charged at the other Lawbots. Two and Five let go of their brother to help the others against the onslaught of other Lawbots invading their secret place.

   Six wasted no time, hauling himself up and running for the console. It was his only chance to save her, and this time he wouldn’t fail. He ran, dodging past the fights breaking out; nearly tripping over a few who had fallen, and almost getting nabbed by a few other Lawbots. As he neared the console, however, someone tackled him to the ground. Briefly stunned, Six’s vision took a moment to clear, before he realized who had slammed into him.

    “Where do you think you’re going, Six?”

    “Seven, you’re not going to stop me this time,” he growled, gritting his teeth as he squirmed to get free.

   “You’ll shut the machine off over my dead body, Six!” Seven snarled throwing a punch at the Bloodsucker he had pinned to the floor.

    The punch caught Six in region where his hard drive was located, and he flinched, curling into himself from the blow. Seven stood and smirked down and the other Lawbot, “You couldn't save Lilly, what makes you think you can save this one?”

     “I just…will!” Six stubbornly coughed from the floor as he attempted to stand.

    Seven sneered and delivered a kick to his side, sending Six back to the floor. Six wheezed, crawling towards the table where Little Taffy lay strapped. Seven growled and kicked at him again. Six yelped, stopping for only a second before he continued to make his way towards the Toon.

    “Oh Six…” Seven chuckled, bending down to his level as he reached the base of the table, pressing the other’s face into the concrete, “You just don’t know when to give up, do you?”

    “I can’t…Lilly would have wanted me…to keep going…”

    “Hmmp, Lilly is dead,’ he snorted, “And so is Miss Taffy…”

    “No…she’s not!”

    Six pushed himself upright from under Seven’s hold, knocking the top of his friend’s head into the emergency release switch that was on the underside of the table. The straps holding Little Taffy down withdrew, and the needles retracted away from her arms. She groaned weakly, much to Six’s relief. She was still breathing; she was still alive. While Seven was dazed, Six hauled himself upright. The Toon’s eyes were unfocused, but she looked over at him.

    “Taffy, can you hear me? It’s Six.”

    “S-Six?” She asked; her words faint.

    “It’s alright…you’re safe. I’m going to get you out of here.”

    “…safe?” Taffy paused, glancing at something to the Cog’s left, “Six…behind…”

    Six had no time to respond as he was pulled back from the table by Seven. Growling with anger, Six spun around in his captor’s hold, landing a solid punch to the other’s mouth. Seven yelped from the blow and felt something come lose in his mouth. He spit it out into his hand and his eyes widened when he saw it was one of his fangs. He snarled, enraged, and kicked 606-6 hard in his knee joint. Six howled in pain as his knee collapsed underneath him.

    “I’ve had just about all I can take of you Six…”

    “Believe me…the feeling is mutual…” he snarled back.

    Seven snorted and turned back to the console, and Six felt his metaphorical heart leap. Seven was going to start the machine back up. There would be no way that Taffy would survive it. He had to do something. His eyes scanned the panels for anything he could use. His gaze came to rest on a small box that had some of the power cables going into it, and he knew what had to be done.

    Finally his knee released and he could stand. Six mustered up one last burst of speed, and charged at Seven, knocking the Cog into the console frame. Seven grunted from the impact, but was dazed long enough for Six to grab hold of one of the cables from the power box and rip it free. It sparked as the wires became exposed. As Seven was trying to recover, Six slammed him back into the machine.

    Seven growled, “Get off me, now!”

    “Sorry Seven…I can’t do that,” he hissed, leaning closer to his ear, “Consider this my termination of our friendship.”

    Without another thought, Six jammed the exposed end of the power cable into the back of Seven’s neck. The Lawbot screeched in pain as the electricity began to hyper fry his hard drive. Six’s own agonizing screams joined his, as the electricity conducted through Seven’s body and into his own. Six finally let go of the cable when he noticed Seven had stopped screaming, and stumbled away from the now still body that slumped to the floor.

    Six stood there, dumbfounded by the site of what he had just done until someone touched his arm, bringing him out of it. He turned and was shocked to see Little Taffy standing there.

    “S-six, you…” she groaned, pitching forward.

    “Taffy!” He nearly shouted, grabbing hold of her, “You shouldn’t-”

    Six stopped when a sudden weakness overcame his entire body, sending him to his knees. Taffy went with him, unable to hardly stand herself.

    “Six, what’s wrong?”

    “I…don’t…” he swayed a bit, feeling his hard drive starting to sputter, “Something’s wrong...the shock…must have been…the shock…”

    “S-shock? What shock?” She asked, her awareness coming back a little.

    “Seven he…was going to turn the machine back on,” the Bloodsucker whimpered, clutching at his chest. He looked back up at Little Taffy, a painful smile on his lips, “I stopped him though…I stopped him.”
   
    The Toon covered her mouth, horrified, “But you…what about you? Are you okay?”

    Six winced as he attempted to moved, and shook his head, “No I…feel myself fading…”

    Little Taffy shook her head, refusing to believe he was dying. He couldn’t; not now! “No!” she cried grabbing hold of his shoulders, “You…you don’t deserve to die this way…” she sobbed, “I-I won’t let you! You s-saved me.”

    “It can’t…be helped,” he said simply, “It’s too late…”

    “N-no it’s never too late. We can still-”

    Six cut her off by putting a finger to her lips, “Taffy...,” he sighed, “This is just the way…it has to be. I’m sorry.”

    Little Taffy continued sobbing, and Six gently touched her cheek. She leaned into his touch, putting her hand over his. He sighed, closing his eyes.

    “Taffy, I’m…sorry I got you mixed up in this. I should have…should have remembered…Lilly…”

    “No…Six, it’s alright,” she sniffed, touching his shoulder, “You didn’t know…I forgive you.”

    Six smiled and opened his eyes slightly, “You do?”

    The Toon nodded, tears forming in her eyes, “I do.”

    The Bloodsucker closed his eyes once more, sighing in relief, “Thank you…” he paused, “Taffy?”

    “Yes? What is it?” She asked, leaning in closer to hear him better over the shouting in the distance.

    “Little Taffy. . . do you. . . do you think I. . . I'll get to see. . . Lilly. . . again?”

    “I…I don’t know, Six,” she replied, biting her lower lip, “But, I’d like to believe so.”

    Six gave the happiest smile Taffy thought she’d ever seen. And then, it was gone. Six’s body went completely limp as his hard drive finally shut down for the last time. Little Taffy sat there a moment, unable to register that Six was no longer responding. She gently shook his shoulder, trying to get a rise out of him; but he did not move.

   Little Taffy’s body began to shake, “Six…” she muttered, “Six? Oh God…no…”

    The Toon’s chest heaved with heavy sobs that drowned out the noise around her. She didn’t even register the fact that someone was calling to her until Roxy and Pearl were pulling her away from Six’s body. She was screaming at them to let her go. That Six needed help. But her vision was beginning to fade out, until she felt her mind recede into complete darkness.





    The Chief Justice looked around at the Bloodsuckers that had been rounded up before he looked to159-2. His second-in-command returned the look and sighed.

“Sir, what should we do now?”

    He took a deep breath and looked down at him, saying in a forced calm tone, “Release the Toon prisoners we currently have.”

    Two blinked, “All of them, Chief?”

    He nodded, “All of them,” he glanced back over the captured Bloodsuckers and scowled with a disgusted look on his face that matched no other, “We’re going to need all the room we can get.”

    Two nodded and gestured to the others, “All right you heard the Boss. Off to the jail blocks with the lot of them!”

    The C.J. watched as they filed out of the room and was about to leave himself when he heard the cries of the still incarcerated Toons in the cages behind him.

    “There’s more Toons over here!” Lamont shouted before gesturing to a random Lawbot, “You there, release them.”

    The Lawbot did as instructed and set about opening the cages. Most of the Toons ran for it as fast as they can, but two, the Lawbot Boss noticed, stayed behind. They ran over to a corner of the room where a familiar looking green feline sat kneeling by an unresponsive Bloodsucker. There was a second one, a short distance away. In all the commotion he hadn’t noticed them until now.

    Lamont looked back at 159-2, and halted his march with the other Lawbots. He directed Two’s attention to the scene across the room. Two nodded and began asking among the captured Bloodsuckers who were missing siblings.

   

    “Little Taffy? Hey, can you hear me?”

    “It’s no good Pearl, she’s out cold.”

    Pearl cursed under her breath, “We need to get her to a hospital….”

    “How? Neither of us have our shticker books!”

    The pink feline wracked her brain, trying to think of something to no avail. All the other captured Toons had already made a run for it. Not that she blamed them. That machine was a monstrosity.

    “By the Masters…Six?!”

    “S-Seven?!”

    Pearl and Roxy spun around when they heard the voices. Behind them were the remainders of the 118 and 606 batch. Some of the other Lawbots were close behind them, as to make sure they weren’t going very far. The 118 batch rushed over to Seven lying near the console and crowded around him. The 606 batch approached their fallen brother much more slowly, as if in shock. Roxy and Pearl relaxed a bit when they realized that the Cogs were no longer interested in them. However, one of the other Lawbot variants waiting, a Big Wig, approached them.

    “Why haven’t you Toons left yet?” 159-2 asked curiously.

    “Our friend needs medical attention. But we can’t teleport out of here without our shticker books,” Roxy replied.

    “And there’s no way we’re leaving her here alone,” Pearl chimed in.

    “I see…” Two pondered for a moment before pulling out his cellphone, “The Foreman will be arriving here shortly to assess the damage those two have suffered. I’ll ask him to bring one with him.”

    “Oh! Thank you,” Pearl blinked, surprised by the offer.

    Two simply nodded as he dialed the number into his phone. He spoke for a moment before hanging it up, and the room fell into silence. The occasional sniffle was heard from the 118 and 606 batches, but the quiet remained tense until the Foreman finally arrived. The Skelecog wasted no time once he was there, and asked the brothers to move Six and Seven to where he could inspect them better.

    Once they were placed, the Foreman hooked them up to a lap top he had brought up from Maintenance and attempted to boot up their hard drives. After a few moments of nothing, he stopped the program and sighed. Both sets of brothers looked at him, but he shook his head. Foreman stepped away from the Bloodsuckers as to give them the space they needed to grieve. He walked back over to Two, looking downtrodden.

    “I take it the damage was…irreversible?”      

    The Foreman nodded, “I’m afraid there’s nothing I can do…”

    “I’m sorry to hear that,” he paused, “Did you bring the shticker book for the Toons?”

    “Of course,” he replied, glancing over at the three felines.

    The Skelecog walked over to them, and handed the book to Pearl. She nodded her thanks, and opened the book up. She took out the black hole and slapped it on the floor.

“Thank you. I hope we’re not too late…” Roxy sighed.

    Pearl wiped a few tears away, “Me too…” the grabbed hold of Taffy’s legs, “Roxy get her other side for me, will you?”

    Roxy nodded and grabbed hold of her arms, “On three then.”

    Pearl started the count, “One, two th-”

    “Hey Toons!”

    Pearl and Roxy stopped when one of the 606 batch stepped towards them. They froze, looking alarmed by his approach. 159-2 made a move to stop him from trying anything when the Bloodsucker held up his hands in a sign of amity. Two looked Pearl and Roxy in the eye.

    “After what Six did for her…you make sure she lives. Understand?”

    Pearl nodded firmly at him and he nodded back before heading back over to his brothers. Pearl stared the count again and on three the pair heaved Little Taffy through the black hole.