A new addition [pt.5]

It was quiet. Too quiet.

“They’re up to something awful aren’t they.”

“You know you worry too much, Spine?”

The silver bot paused mid-pace and shot an expression of sheer disbelief at the sound engineer.

“…Probably well founded. But still, I’m sure they’re fine! I… I’m really naïve aren’t I.”

“Quite.”

Michael patted Spine’s shoulder and grinned cheerfully, “Junior’s in good hands, Spine. Don’t worry about him! I know Rabbit and Hatchy will take care of the little guy. They won’t let him get into any serious trouble.”

“It’s not my siblings getting Junior into trouble that I’m particularly worried about.”

The one man band opened his mouth to speak but was silenced as Rabbit, Hatchworth and Junior ran screaming past the doorway in a copper, bronze and silver blur quickly followed by a swarm of large chittering spiders. The group stood in stunned silence staring after them.

“Do we… do we go after them?” Matt suggested quietly.

“I- I guess so.”

Spine and the humans sprinted out of the room and into the corridor after the arachnid stampede, contemplating how large a rolled-up newspaper they may need to deal with this.

Further down the manor, Peter VI had stepped out of his study of the day to fetch some much needed coffee. Just as he put a single foot out of the room, he was nearly bowled over by the fleeing robots.

“Hi, Petes! Bye, Petes!” Rabbit shrieked over her shoulder.

He steadied himself on the doorframe clutching at his poor heart. He peered after them completely bewildered as they disappeared around the corner, and then back at where they had come from.

“I am getting too old for these shenanigans…” he whimpered at the sight of the spider tsunami and dashed after the automatons.

“Wait for me! Women, children, and pretty scientists first!!”

The Spine and the humans quickly rounded the corner closing in on the spider horde in the main hall. They screeched to a halt at the sound of a girly scream and looked up sharply. Six was dangling from the large chandelier frantically kicking at a large hairy arachnid as Bee-bop looked on in confusion.

“KILL IT! KILL IT WITH FIRE!” he shrieked.

“Right-away-Master-Walter!” Bee-bop chirped as he fired himself up and unleashed an enormous wall of flames.

“No no NO! BEE-BOP NO! DISENGAGE FLAMETHROWER!” Steve roared.

“Dis-engaged.”

All too late. The fire was spreading fast as the humans cowered behind Spine who merely looked on in horror. A series of robotic arms flew down from the ceiling carrying numerous flamethrowers and sprayed the entire room and its occupants with a tidal wave of foam.

“Fire-fire-eliminated!” QWERTY bleeped proudly.

The engineers fought their way to the top of the frothy mass, shaking their heads furiously in a vain attempt to get the most of the foam out of their eyes. Spine soon emerged, resembling a tall yet incredibly infuriated fluffy snowman, seemingly just in time to catch Six as he fell limply into his waiting arms whimpering.

“Are… are we fired?” Michael sniggered.

“Y-y-you w-will b-b-b-be if y-you m-m-m-make an-nother p-pun” Peter stammered.

A very sorry looking Hatchworth, Rabbit and Junior peeked around one of the large pillars after the flames died out and the last of the spiders stopped twitching. They’d missed the worst of the foam attack luckily. Poor Hatchy looked a little bit like Saint Papper’s Claus with a white foam beard underneath his orange moustache. They ambled shyly up to an unimpressed looking Spine, fumbling their hands behind their backs. He set Six down on the ground and glared angrily at his siblings.

“S-sorry, Da Spine…”

“Yeah, sorry friendo…”

“And just what do you think you were doing?” Spine growled as he folded his arms across his chest.

“Ha-ha-havin’ fun?”

“You could’ve got yourselves killed! Or eaten! Or both!”

“S-s-sorry, Big…” Junior sniffed.

“Rabbit. Hatchworth.” Spine narrowed his eyes at his troublesome brother and sister.

“Y-yeah?” Rabbit stammered meekly.

“You’re both grounded.”

“AWWW!!” They both yelled in protest, stamping their feet and whining loudly.

“As for you,” Spine cast his eyes down at the trembling tot, “You’re coming with me.”

Junior didn’t even think to argue. He swallowed hard and trotted after his taller counterpart as he stormed away from the hall, still scraping the remains of the foam off his personage. The robots and the humans stared after them.

“I’ve seen Spine get annoyed before, but not like that,” Michael whispered to the group.

“I hope he’s okay… for Junior’s sake more than anything” Matt added.

~*~

The Spine continued down the hall, not saying a word. Junior tried desperately to keep up with him, struggling with Spine’s long strides.

“W-where are we going, Big?” Junior finally piped up.

“You’ll see.”

Junior looked down at the floor as he felt tears form at the corners of his eyes.

“Big, I’m real sorry…”

The Spine stopped short just in front of a pair of mullioned glass doors that led onto the garden porch. He grasped the handles firmly and pushed them open, motioning for Junior to step outside. The little bot’s lip quivered as he scurried out the door with Spine following soon after.

He stood silent for a few beats, staring down at the floor completely motionless. Junior gazed up at him forlornly, not knowing what to expect.

“Big?”

Spine puffed a steady stream of vapour and closed his eyes.

“Are… are you mad at me?”

“No. Of course not,” Spine knelt down next to the robotic child and looked him squarely in the eyes as he spoke.

“I’m not mad at you.”

“Y- you seem mad…”

“I assure you I’m not. And I wasn’t before either.”

“You weren’t?”

“No,” he wrapped an arm around Junior and brought him into a tight embrace, “I was just scared.”

Junior blinked in confusion, oily tears still trickling down his face.

“W-w-why?” he stammered quietly.

“Because I could’ve lost you. And to be honest, pardner, I’m really not prepared to either,” Spine replied in a hushed tone, holding the tot even closer.

Junior gazed down at the floor before bursting into tears.

“I’m really sorry, Big!” he wailed, burying his face in Spine’s shoulder.

The silver automaton smiled gently, “C’mon now. It wasn’t your fault. You don’t have to be sorry. Just… don’t do that again, alright?”

Junior nodded and gripped Spine’s vest tighter as his sobbing quietened into tiny whines.

“Hey.”

Spine cupped the toddler’s cheek and gently raised his head to look at him.

“If you’re gonna be sorry ‘bout anything, be sorry for ruining my good shirt” he smirked.

Junior giggled and tried to wipe his face with the sleeves of the giraffe onesie. Spine smiled and took out his handkerchief to clean the remains of Junior’s oily tears away.

“Better now?”

“Mm-hm.”

“Good. Now let’s get cleaned up. After that, how’s about we watch some more Westerns?”

Junior thought for a moment then shook his head.

“No? What would you rather do instead then?”

“Aunty Rabbit and Uncle Hatchy told me about something fun they used to do.”

The Spine raised an eyebrow, hoping it wasn’t more spider related shenanigans.

“What’s a h-horse adventure, Big?”

He grinned widely.

“Oh, it’s something fun alright.”

He playfully grabbed Junior as the child shrieked and giggled before being placed over The Spine’s back. Junior grabbed hold of Spine’s shoulders as they charged off into the garden.

“Tally-ho!!”