There's an obscene amount of noise. A lot of screaming, a gunshot, more screaming, and the sound of electricity. Dakota ran out into the street, his knuckles covered in blood, his eye panel bent out of shape. After cheering himself on, he started to run as fast as he could to a house that was decently far away from the lab.
Dakota tiredly stumbled upon Harmonia’s house, knocking on the door before crouching down with his hands on his knees to catch his breath. He knocked again, just for good measure, hoping someone opened the door quickly. He held up his hand, catching his breath for one more minute. "Fuck, can you help me please?" He struggled to get out in his thick, old-timey southern accent. He brought his hand up to cover his eye panel, standing up straight. "Quickly, please. Someone's... after me."
The door is opened by Kade, who blinks in surprise for a moment, before nodding quickly and offering a hand, or shoulder, whichever's better. "Yeah, come in, we have a lot of people who can help."
"Thanks." Dakota groans, placing his hand on Kade's shoulder. Dakota stumbles in, breathing heavily and looking pretty messed up. "Howdy, hope you don't mind me bargin' in here. "
Luna waves, "nah, it's fiiiine. We're used to it at this point. Can I get you fixed up?" Kade watches, standing by.
"Anyone here work with metal? I need someone to fix this. " He moved his hand away from his eye, revealing a large metal panel that was dented in the side and nearly pryed right off. "Oh, yeah, name's Dakota by the way. Dakota Mayfield.. I can explain everythin' in a second if needed. "
"Ooof yeah that's more likely Cole's thing." Luna says.
Lock whispers from under the sofa "part phone too..."
Cole walks in, looks around, and cracks his neck "I heard my name?"
Luna turns around, "yeah this dude needs some help with um... cyborg stuff. I'm only good with human-type injuries."
"I ain't a cyborg. I might look a little human but it's... a long story. I'll explain after I get my eye fixed, y'all do not wanna see what it's like under here if this here panel falls off. " Dakota chuckles, before wincing in pain slightly. "Oh yeah, and if I can get something to clean my knuckles off with that would be nice. " Jeez, his knuckles were really bloodied.
"Oh I gotchu for the knuckle part." Luna blinks and a handkerchief appears in her paws. "Here ya go... Dakota right?"
He nodded, taking the handkerchief and rubbing the blood off his knuckles. "Thanks, what's your name?"
"Mine's Luna Grey." she smiles warmly.
"Are you a robot? I'm very well versed in mechanical things considering I'm partly mechanical" Cole's head tilts slightly.
Lock crawls out from under the sofa and straightens her hoodie as she looks at him.
"Robot, but with a little bit of a... twist. My exterior is actually mostly all real human, but underneath it all its purrrre metal and fuel!" Oh god. He slaps his knee. That was a knee slapper. He's a knee slapper.. He chuckles, moving closer to Cole and holding out his hand. "Pleasure to meet ya!"
Kade mutters "Robonerds...."
"Great...two machines..." Lock grumbles.
Spider had disappeared at some point, they appear leaning against the wall
Cole shakes his hand with a firm grip and a smile "same but I have servos combined with my muscles. Now I see that your panel needs to be bent back into shape?"
"Yeahhh, or maybe just replaced entirely. I dunno how easily it'll go back. It's medical grade steel..." Dakota shrugged, shoving his hands into his pockets. "Don't know how he managed to pry this thing off..." He muttered to himself.
“Do you mind if I take the panel off for a second?" Cole gestures at the bent panel.
Locks ears perk up as she remembers "You want some tea? Can you even drink tea?"
"You can take it off, I just don't know if everyone else wants to see that.. And tea would be nice! I can have tea!" Dakota smiled at Lock, nodding his head.
Lock grins and rushes off to the kitchen.
Cole snaps as a eye patch appears and offers it to Dakota, "you can put this on right after I take the panel off"
"Thank...you?" Dakota raised an eyebrow, taking the eye patch. He was extremely confused on how he managed to create that out of thin air. "What did that lady say your name was? Kane...? Cody...? No.. What was it?"
"Cole, my name is Cole" Cole smiles as he reaches to take the panel off
"Cole.. Okay, I'll remember that. " Dakota smiled before freezing up in anticipation of the panel being removed. "Be gentle with it, I think I can feel it. Don't make it hurt any more than it already does."
"Just keep talking to me and don't focus on what I'm doing, what's your favorite food?" Cole starts trying to gently remove the panel
Lock walks in with several cups of tea. She holds one out to Dakota. If he drinks it, it will taste like stale watered down medicine. If he drinks half or more it makes most people slightly tired and happy. It looks like a foggy grey with a nasty smell.
"Well, I ain't eaten anything in awhile, but I'd probably say... Steak and beans?" Dakota frowned, trying his best not to focus. He reached one hand out, taking the tea. "Thanks for the tea. "
Lock nods "Of course"
"Do you have any friends or family that you know?" Cole continues gently removing the panel
"Not... not anymore. " Dakota got quieter, sulking a bit. "I thought I had a friend, Joey, you probably don't know him..."
"I don't know a joey, do you have a favorite animal?" Cole notices him sulking and changes the topic as he goes slightly faster in removing the panel. Lock is staring intently.
"Horses, I love horses! And cattle." Dakota perked up now, smiling at Cole. "I used to have a horse named Cornflower, sweetest and prettiest little lady you'd ever meet!"
"I met a horse guy once"
"cattle like cows?" Cole finishes removing the panel. "you can put the eye patch on now"
Dakota quickly put the patch on, sighing in relief. "Yeah, cows. I used to work with them a lot. " He smiled more, taking a sip of the tea. His smiled quickly turned to a frown. "Excuse me, what kinda tea is this that you just gave me? Sorry to be so rude, but the taste of this reminds me of horse shit. " He frowned.
Cole snickers "I wouldn't drink much of that tea if I were you" Cole's hands start heating up as he carefully watches the metal's color. Kade stifles his fucking cackle. Luna nods and agrees.
Lock tilts her head some "Why not? You guys said it was good. It's my own blend"
"I still haven't ran tests on it but I bet with my entire soul that it's mostly sleeping pills or something similar"
Cole starts carefully bending the metal back into shape
"No offense Lock, but it smells like stale medicine."
"What? Sleepin' pills?" His southern accent really showed on this. "What are you plannin' on doin' , little lady?" Dakota moved closer to Lock, furrowing his eye brows. "Why would you give me tea with sleepin' pills?!"
A skrunkly teenager walks into the room. Theyre white and have short purple hair that is slowly growing into a mullet. They have a few scars on their visible skin and wear a simple hoodie and sweatpants. There's what looks to be a fingerless glove on their right hand but more... high tech than a glove?
Oleander looks around and notices Dakota, a hint of red coming across his face. prebbt... man....
"Oh- hello- are you new?"
Cole's hands start cooling down slowly as he makes sure that the metal is perfectly straight
"I doubt it's sleeping pills, just don't drink it"
"It's not sleeping pills if everyone hates it so much I can go pour it all out" Lock's ear flicks as she holds out a paw for the cup of tea
Dakota practically slammed the cup into Lock's hand, mumbling angrily to himself as he stepped back. "I apologize, I'm a little on edge right now. "
Lock scoffs and takes it back to the kitchen
Oleander watches her go. "Um... what was that about?"
Cole hands Dakota the now straight panel with a smile
"here ya go, lock tried to give her tea to the new person that's here"
"Oh..." Oleander cringes. "She doesnt mean any harm. I think its something she has from when she lived with her family-"
Dakota took the panel, removing the eye patch. He accidentally dropped the panel. "Whoops!" He reached down to the floor to grab it. The space where his eye SHOULD have been was occupied by a bullet hole, which rather than looking bloody and fleshy, looked like it was filled with metal and wires. He quickly put the panel back on the best he could. "Well, I don't take very kindly to people givin me suspicious tastin' beverages."
Lock walks back in with a quiet huff.
Oleander nods, noticing the socket. Was everyone a cyborg now? "Thats understandable-" He says, noticing Lock’s come in. "Anyways, whats your name?"
Cole is completely unfazed as he chuckles, "oh I see you got shot a little bit there."
"Name's Dakota.. And yeah, it's a long story.. Should I explain?" Dakota tilted his head, sighing in relief with his fixed panel. "It'll take awhile, but I think I won't look as crazy if I explain. Maybe.."
Oleander chuckles. "Trust me, you're fine. Weve met weirder. But yeah, if you want to explain I’ll listen-"
"Could you? I'd love to listen." Luna nods.
Cole shrugs and smiles, "you can't possibly sound more insane than me but I'm willing to lend an ear"
"Mind if I take a seat?" Dakota asked, gesturing to the couch.
Luna scooches over on the couch. "Of course, be my guest."
Oleander nods and leans against the wall. Cole nods as well as he leans on the wall near oleander and stuffs his hands in his pockets.
Dakota rushes to the couch, taking a seat and letting out a happy sigh. "Ohhh, yeah. That's good. I haven't sat on something so comfortable in years!" Dakota grinned and chuckled before clearing his throat. "I will warn y'all, this might be a little depressin'. At least it is for me. " He frowned, looking down at the floor.
Reembaleembaloo has been squished.
Oleander nods. "Take your time,, If you need to stop just say so."
Cole waves his hand dismissively, "take as much time as you need"
"It's all good Dakota." Luna smiles.
"Well, first let's start off with today. My friend, Joey... well, not friend anymore, owns this lab, right. Katz Laboratory, bit of a ways a way from here. He has all these.. subjects.. me included. Number 843!" Dakota said with a grin, despite it clearly being a bit hard to talk about.
Cole nods as he closes his eyes for a brief moment. Oleander nods, having a feeling he knew where this was going. Luna nods and closes her eyes to focus on his words.
"He uses us for science. Different research projects and such. We are all robots... Today, he was gonna show us the outside! None of us had ever been outside. He... brought me up onto this stage, telling me he was gonna use me as an example. An example for what would happen if you broke the rules. And then he tried to shoot me! He was gonna shoot me again !" Dakota shouted, leaning back into the couch and crossing his arms.
Luna sighs knowing full well what that's like. If she could hug Dakota right now, she would.
"Well did you break the rules?" Lock asks nonchalantly
Oleander looks to Lock. "Lock no-"
Cole closes his eyes for a brief second again then glares at Lock with a "don't do it" face.
"I didn't do shit!" Dakota said angrily, getting up from the couch and storming over to Lock. He raised a fist, seeming like he would've punched her right then and there, but he lowered it, tears welling in his eyes. "I didn't do shit... And he was tryin' to kill me again.. I didn't do nothin' wrong.."
Oleander quickly steps between them prepared to grab his arm. But when he lowers it Oleander nods.
"I know... I'm so sorry he did that to you." He says softly
"Kill you again?" Luna asks, head tilting slightly.
Cole breathes a sigh of relief as he keeps his hands in his pockets.
Lock flinched some
"Yes, again ." He mumbled, slowly walking himself back to the couch. He plopped himself down, huffing in anger. "I ain't from here, not this city, not this time. He came struttin' into my town actin' like he owned the place, lookin like he'd come right from the future! He became my best friend but only cuz' he wanted to use for his sick little game. He was my best friend..." Dakota threw his head into his hands, crying a little bit. "He killed me! He killed me so he could bring me here and turn me into this piece of tin! I'm not supposed to be here!"
"You had to have done something wrong at some point, no one's perfect" Lock adds.
Cole glares at her. “I swear to god.”
"What??? Its an honest question!"
"I mean Lock isn't in the wrong for asking, but perhaps the timing is a bit off?" Luna tries to repair the situation.
"Yeah, the timing is way off to be asking that question," Cole grumbles.
Oleander turns to Lock. "Nothing to warrant being murdered. Its insensitive to imply that" He explains before walking over to Dakota. "Is it okay if I touch you?" He asks gently, wanting to comfort the cowboy
Lock mumbles under her breath "why do you never ask me that?"
Dakota lifted his head from his hands, wiping away his tears. "You aren't gonna hurt me right? You guys aren't workin' for him or something? What if you guys are secretly workin' with him and you're just gonna drag me back to him?!" Dakota got up from the couch, stepping backwards a bit.
"Gods no. We're just your average run of the mill survivor group trying to not die." Luna nods.
Oleander puts his hands up and back away to give Dakota some space. "Nope. Some of us have had experience with being experimented on-" He looks at Cole
"why are you looking at- oh yeah that's riiiiiight" Cole chuckles and smiles.
Kade is sipping from his mug.
Spider has just been listening and watching everything going on.
Luna nods as well, "definitely been there, done that. It's fucking horrible, and I am so sorry that you have to deal with that Dakota."
Lock looks down some as she gets a hint nervous
"I'm gonna be honest with y'all, I seriously ain't from here. I mean like..." Dakota looked around the room, fumbling around with his hands in front of him. "I'm from the like... 1800's?" He said reluctantly, cowering into himself.
"oh I was made in 1730, you’re young as hell" Cole chuckles as he shakes his head
"I was made 18 years ago" Lock says.
"Created almost 35 years ago." Luna adds.
"Made?" Oleander whispers, noting it
"Are we just sharing our ages now?" Spider smiles, slightly shaking their head.
"Well, I think in real age I'm.. 22, but I was technically only really.. made.. again.. a month or so ago. He hauled me into his lab, tore me all apart, filled me up with metal, wires, fuel, and somehow managed to keep me lookin' mostly human. Then, you won't believe this, he threw me into solitary because I was breaking his rules!" Dakota was gossiping like an old gay man.
Oleander listens. "Thats horrible..."
“Oh my god that's happened to me before bestie I'm so sorry." Cole says while looking at his nails.
Kade just stares at Cole
"Now, his rules didn't even make much sense anyways. Saying that if I remembered anything from my past life, or if I disobeyed him anyway, that he'd dismantle me. With all the things I remembered, I'm surprised he didn't dismantle me on day one. " Dakota sighed, getting back on the couch. "I guess today was his last straw, I didn't do nothin' but he was gonna shoot me in the eye again like he did before. Oh yeah, he also shot me in the chest that day!" He hopped off the couch again, raising up his shirt to show the other metal panel covering part of the left side of his chest.
"So you did break a rule!" Lock exclaims at the worst time possible.
"Lock! Anyways god damn that's a big panel...." Cole is already overthinking how to make Dakota more efficient.
"Gods do I feel ya Dakota." Luna says trying to console.
Oleander nods. "I’m sorry that happened-"
"I didn't break shit. His rules were stupid, I can't help rememberin' what he did to me before.. " Dakota pulled his shirt down, tucking it back into his jeans. "You see, he came into town one day, and immediately chose me to be his friend or somethin'. I was the town outcast, and he was new. So we went together perfectly. I loved him, y'know? He was like family to me.. But he told me that he never felt that same way about me, and he was just fakin' the whole time. He wanted to make me into his robotic assistant. But I shot that fucker in the leg today and ran away!" Dakota cheered himself on again, throwing his hands in the air
"Good!" Oleander smiles. "Deserved. Fuck that bitch"
"I mean I would have killed him but to each their own" Cole smirks and shrugs.
"Honestly, normally I'm rather nonviolent, but someone like that deserves more than just a crippling leg injury." Luna nods.
"Why didn't you just kill him?" Lock asks.
"I couldn't bring myself to do all that.. Something in me still thinks maybe he deserve a second chance. Or I guess it's more of a third chance now. " Dakota sighed, stuffing his hands in his pockets. "He'll probably fix up his leg and come after me, especially since I might've let out about.. 25% of his subjects along with me. He's gonna be so pissed when he finds me. " Dakota's voice quivered in fear.
"We wont let him hurt you."
Cole draws his revolver from his jacket and looks around. "Where the fuck is he?"
"Seriously, we'll protect you Dakota!" Luna says.
"Okay, but I ain't lettin' any of you kill him! He's not that bad.." Dakota sounded very unsure of the last part, shrugging his shoulders. "I mean, he hurt me and a lot of other people, but he could get better... right?"
"No he's that bad. Kill him" Lock says.
"He attempted twice on your life? How is he not that bad?" Luna asks.
"Manslaughter is always morally correct." Kade says.
Lock suddenly gets up and walks into the hall.
Oleander rubs his neck. "Who knows... but yours and the other subjects safety comes first, you know?"
Dakota nodded, looking at the floor. He scuffed his feet on the floor, grumbling something to himself before a realization hit him. "Wait! I gotta go back then! I gotta save the rest of em, and the animal ones too! Fuck, fuck, fuck! How could I just leave them there!?" He groaned, pacing back and forth with his head in his hands.
"Do you need a gun?" Cole starts slowly reaching into his jacket
"We can help-" Oleander says
"Absolutely!" Luna adds
"I don't wanna go back though.. But I don't wanna just leave them there. There was a horse there too, looked exactly like my old one.. I wanna get her out at least. " He said quietly, looking down at the floor and continuing to pace. "It ain't gonna be easy, he has pretty high security, and all the subjects are below ground level. I don't think I can do it. "
"Cole Genesone Industries has no issue assisting with breaking through security." Cole holsters his revolver in his jacket as he folds his arms.
"I'm down." Luna grins.
"Same here" Spider shrugs
"Not tonight. I.. I can't go back there yet. I don't wanna see him again yet.. " Dakota sighed, holding himself in his arms. "Do y'all have any extra space here? I need some where to stay.. Just for a little bit, I promise. Hell, I'll sleep on the floor if I need to. I just need to be somewhere where he can't get to me.. "
"Yeah you can chill here if you want. We have plenty of beds, plus running water, showers, and easy access to food" Luna smiles.
"We have plenty of room" Cole nods
"Oh, thank you, thank you!" Dakota grinned, going back to the couch and sitting. "I won't stay long, I promise. And I'll try... to not be rude.. I'm just on edge today.."
"Dakota, you are wonderful. Take as long as you need." says Luna.
"Take as long as you need man" Cole smiles
"Thank you. " He smiled, relaxing into the couch. "For someone who isn't supposed to feel anything, I sure do feel sore.. and very painful. "
"I mean you did get shot...twice that usually hurts a little bit"
Dakota chuckled. "Yeah, got my face jabbed at with a screwdriver today too. And punched a few times.. Don't understand how Joey didn't break his hand punching me. I'm pure metal. " He flicked his cheek, making a small 'dink' sound.
"Deleting files?" Luna mutters looking at her laptop. "Hm. Lock must be doing some housekeeping."
Oleander looks confused. "Um... what do you mean?"
"Huh? Oh did you not see Datrrs? It's something connected to Lock." Luna shows him her laptop. It's on twitter.com/wickheck and it says [353 files deleted]. "This is how we contact the nonferal world."
"I... I see... I'll go check on her." He nods to Dakota. "Nice to meet you." Then leaves
Luna nods and returns to her archival efforts.
Dakota turned to Luna. "Excuse me, Luna, was it? Would you mind showing me to a place I could sleep? I've had a long day and could use some rest..." He asked, getting up from the couch.
"Oh for sure." Luna gets up and walks towards the hallway. Dakota follows her. She shows him the guest bedroom. "We have a couple bunk beds in here if that's fine for you?"
Dakota nodded, smiling at Luna. "Anything is fine, I just need to sleep. "
"Alrighty, hope you sleep well then. If there's anything else we can get you, feel free to ask."
"Mhm, thank you again, y'all are too sweet." He grinned before walking into the room.
"Good night!" She walks back.
Dakota rushed inside, quickly plopping himself down on one of the beds. He quickly took off his boots, belt and took his hair out of his braid before laying down and falling asleep almost immediately.