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.