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the-hidden-writer · 3 years

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And Into The Fire

Chapter 4: A Not-Quite-Plan

Summary:

Months after the Mitchells saved the world, Linda gets a phone call asking if she’s seen two defective Pal MAX bots. Powerful people are after Eric and Deborabot 5000, and it’s up to the Mitchells to protect them.

Check reblogs for AO3 link!

A Not-Quite-Plan

An agent came running into the office just as Mark was about to take a sip of his coffee.

“Ma’am! We’ve got into #009181987!”

Agent Ward turned off her tablet and stood up immediately.

“About time!” She snapped. “Come on, Dr Bowman, this is where we need you.”

He barely had time to grab his coffee cup as she practically dragged him toward the door by his hoodie.

Ever since they’d locked onto the missing Pal MAX bots, Agent Jennifer Ward and her team had pretty much taken control of Pal Labs. Or at least the headquarters where Mark worked.

He’d spent the past week or so locked in his office with the scary Agent Ward herself. The tall woman had ordered him to come into work every day despite the complete CIA take-over of his company, just to keep up pretences for the public. And he also needed to be kept under supervision at all times for some reason. He was basically a prisoner.

Oh well. At least he had WiFi.

After pulling him out of his office (freedom at last!) Agent Ward led him down the stairs to the main work area, which was a large room filled with rows of computer desks.

At the very back of the room were two large screens on the wall. These were usually used for advertising and announcements, but recently they’d served another purpose.

Displayed on each screen was a status. Before now, they’d said the same thing. But for the first time in weeks, one was different.

Pal MAX #012041966 Status: UNRESPONSIVE

Pal MAX #009181987 Status: ONLINE

“Online?” Mark wondered aloud. “So you actually got into it, huh.”

Agent Ward scoffed. “Of course we did. Don’t doubt my team, Dr Bowman. Especially Agent Travis here.”

As if on cue, the young agent that had come to tell them the news before came rushing in through the door behind them, and almost glided straight into the wheelie chair next to the computer he’d been working on.

“Actually, we got through a couple of times.” Travis explained, huffing slightly from having to run. “But we got kicked out before we could change anything. This is the first time it looks stable and ready to be edited.”

“Well, these robots are based on AI.” Said Mark. “They’re not as simple to take down as ordinary machines.”

“Trust me, we know.” Agent Ward sneered. “That’s the reason we’re in this mess to begin with.”

She turned to her team, who all had their fingers poised over their keyboards ready to begin typing. “Delete any excess data and then start to rewrite the functional coding.” She ordered.

“Rewrite?” Mark had been under the impression that they would just delete it all to stop the robots for good. That’s what they were trying to do, right? “I thought-”

“Yes, rewrite. Anything more is classified.”

One of the agents raised their hands. “Uh, Ma’am? All the data here looks pretty messed up. Most of its data’s been built onto the errors presumably caused by defects, we have no idea what it actually does. There's words liked 'brother', 'mother'-”

“Do I need to repeat myself, Barker?”

Even though it wasn’t aimed at him, Mark couldn’t help but gulp at the way Ward was glaring at the poor agent.

“No Ma’am,” mumbled Barker, “sorry, Ma’am. We’ll start the rewrite.”

~-.-~

The three of them raced into the room with Monchi following close behind, probably because he was intrigued by all the commotion.

Linda didn’t want to believe it. Her robo-boys being sick was one thing, but fighting each other? That was truly unbelievable. They would never.

But unfortunately, it was just as Aaron said.

Deborahbot was kneeling on the bed with his back to the door, repeatedly hitting Eric’s screen by alternating between using the clenched fist of one hand and the open palm of another. There was a “clunk” sound with each impact, and Deborahbot showed no sign of stopping.

“Deborahbot!” Linda exclaimed incredulously.

The bot’s head turned 180° to face them but he did not cease the attack on his brother.

“Mother! Other Mitchells!”

“What are you doing?!” Demanded Rick, aggressively pointing at the bot in the bed. Aaron gripped onto the back of Linda’s pant leg in fear.

“I am more defective than my brother.” Deborahbot stated matter-of-factly, his calm voice sounding quite scary compared to the current violence he was inflicting. “I thought if he was more defective like me, he would be himself again.”

Rick waved his arms in annoyance. “That’s insane!”

“Deborahbot, stop hitting your brother right now.” Ordered Linda.

“Ok!”

Linda felt a small stab of guilt in her heart. Since they’d joined the family, they’d all tried their hardest not to order the bots to do anything. By phrasing things the wrong way, their programming would make them obey commands mindlessly, whereas the Mitchells just wanted them to be themselves. The longer the pair of them went without being given an order, the more their individual personalities shone through.

Deborahbot released Eric and stepped away. Two seconds later, once the command had been completed, he held out a warning hand to the family.

“Wait, Mitchells, stop!”

Linda was about to open her mouth to ask why, only she first noticed the movement on the bed.

Movement. On the bed.

Under the blanket, Eric looked like he was shivering. Or, more accurately, vibrating. The screen that had been full of color before was now its usual black self, and his red marker face was visible again. The only indication that anything was wrong was that the small LED in the corner of his screen was flashing an array of different colors.

“What’s happening to him?” Aaron asked from behind her, and Linda nodded to encourage Deborahbot to answer.

“I do not know for certain, but I think that the infiltrators have successfully entered my brother’s system.”

“You’re speaking normal again.” Commented Rick, though his cautious gaze was fixed on Eric, as if he would spring up and attack them at any moment.

“That is why I came to that conclusion.” Elaborated Deborahbot. “They have stopped attacking me, so they must be focusing more on him.”

Unlike earlier, Linda drew up the courage to approach Eric in the bed. His shaking was growing ever more violent by the second, and without Deborahbot keeping him down it was only a matter of time before he fell off the bed completely.

She gently placed a hand on his shoulder and made her voice as soft and calming as possible.

“Eric, honey?”

“Dear, be careful.” Rick warned from behind her but she chose not to listen.

“Can you hear me?”

It didn’t seem like he was going to respond. Feeling defeated, Linda was about to turn to ask Deborahbot what to do next when a voice spoke up.

“User recognised: Linda Mitchell.”

Eric’s voice was even more distorted than Deborahbot’s had been to the point where it was nearly unrecognisable.

“Uh, Mom?”

“Linda, get back!”

Linda understood exactly why her family was scared. The bots had never, not once, called her by her actual name. To not hear “Mother!” come out of Eric’s metaphorical mouth alarmed her, but still she couldn’t bring herself to step back.

“Brother?”

In a similar situation, the bots never called one another by their given names. It was always “Brother”. It only made them seem closer to one another in a way that the Mitchells themselves couldn’t be.

“Unknown user. Verify”

Aaron approached them with caution, one hand automatically searching for his mother’s own. She clasped it tightly.

“It’s like he’s gone back into robot-mode.” Said Aaron.

Linda squeezed his hand in agreement. Out of the two, it was Eric that always seemed more closely related to all the other Pal MAX bots for some reason. Still, Eric was their Eric, and not one of the mindless machines that tried to blast all of humanity into space.

Then a high-pitched whine echoed throughout the room without warning, causing the Mitchells (and Deborahbot, who mimicked them a second later) to cover their ears from the terrible noise. Monchi began to bark.

Once it died down, Rick frowned and used two fingers to massage his temple. “What the-”

“B-Brother!”

Rick snapped his mouth shut and all heads in the room turned to Eric, who was now sitting up straight on the bed.

“Brother!” Deborahbot called back in relief.

Eric's head twisted to face the three extremely shocked Mitchells.

“Mitchells!” Eric cried dramatically, his words accompanied by a more familiar glitch. “You are in danger. Pal Labs is taking over our systems, and it’s only a matter of time before-”

“I already told them all that.” Deborahbot interjected.

“Oh.” Eric muttered softly. “Aww.”

It put Linda a little at ease to see her boys’ dynamic return so quickly. That must mean things were getting better, right?

“Brother, what should we do?”

Deborahbot had always been reliant on Eric for decision-making. Linda had no idea how the bots managed to form such a human-like sibling relationship.

“They’ve already gotten to me.” Said Eric, solely addressing Deborahbot now. “It’s safer if you power me off until they stop. If you wait a while and they don’t, then you might have to go to Pal Labs and stop them yourself.”

Linda’s immediate thought was: No. She was not going to turn off her boy.

“How do we know if they’ve stopped?�� Asked Rick.

Eric glitched before shrugging. “My brother might be able to tell you, but-”

He was interrupted by the return of the high-pitched whine. This time, Deborahbot did not cover his ears.

A few seconds later, Eric’s voice was distorted again.

“Status: online. Location-”

He did not get to finish his ominous speech as Deborahbot had quickly moved toward him and placed his hand under Eric’s head. After a few short seconds Eric’s screen went completely black with only his marker face remaining as he fell back onto the bed.

“Deborahbot!” Linda exclaimed in outrage. “Tell me you didn’t-”

“He told me a plan.” Deborahbot said nonchalantly. “First I had to power him off, then-”

“Yeah, we heard.” Scoffed Rick. “But that’s not really a proper plan.”

“It’s a start.” Aaron piped up. “I don’t really know what’s going on but I think the bots have it better together than you do.”

Linda bit the inside of her lip. She did not like how Deborahbot switched off his brother without permission. They were technically under 18 and therefore not adults, so Linda felt responsibility for their wellbeing and safety. She tried her best to keep quiet to avoid snapping at him.

“So... what now?” Asked Rick.

Deborahbot took a moment to look at his brother before turning to face the Mitchells again.

“I don’t want to wait.” He said blankly. “So I think that we should go to Pal Labs and tell them to stop now.”

Comments make my day! :)

#the mitchells vs the machines #tmvtm #fic #tmvtm eric #eric tmvtm #eric and deborahbot5000 #eric and deborahbot #deborahbot 5000 #linda mitchell #rick mitchell #aaron mitchell #mark bowman #and into the fire

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schibi12 · 3 years

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Mini-Review for "The Mitchells vs. the Machines"

Hey long time i haven't done a review so felt like doing one and for my new followers i started this blog doing reviews and then well here we are with aus and memes lol.

I watched this movie twice 1st alone and 2nd with my family and i really enjoyed it.

Spoilers! Read at your own Risk!

This movie is amazing, the animation is great,best way to describe it is unique and creative to the visual effects that they added.

Writing was really good although a bit clichéd it was still very original and wholesome, i like how neutral the movie is it doesn't portray "technology bad" but it also shows the good stuff that comes out of it and the main emotional conflict between Katie and her Dad is not one sided and portrays them both in a good light, and the comedy, this was a very funny movie from the Gen-Z meme culture to the 4th wall-breaks and movie references, it was hilarious. The Mule ride joke or the furby scene where one of my favorites

(I am seriously thinking to put this as my header lol)

The characters were great, i really related to Katie being a weirdo and wanting to find her "people" and her whole family was great too, unique on their own way and the villain was really funny and kinda correct and Eric and Deborabot 5000 were iconic.

The voice-acting was good even if the most were celebrities but it was still good especially Olivia Coleman as Pal she was menacing and hilarious.

Overall its a great hilarious and emotional film and movie you definitely wanna watch it with you family.

I give this movie a 4.5 dysfunctional robots out of 5 dysfunctional robots

🤖🤖🤖🤖

#netflix #sony animation #the mitchells vs the machines #review

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shadowthedragoncat · 3 months

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They spinny :3

Bonus: two extra speeds :3

Feel free to use them for whatever just link back to me and don't remove my watermark

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shadowthedragoncat · 2 months

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Look i can explain

I was watching a video on punk/emo edits that were all over fandom internet for a while and so i wanted to draw eric and deborah bot because that would be funny, except i changed it from emo to scene

#the mitchells vs the machines eric #the mitchells vs the machines fanart #the mitchells vs the machines #tmvtm deborabot 5000 #the mitchells vs the machines deborahbot 5000 #deborahbot 5000 #eric and deborahbot5000 #fanart #robot #robots #digital art #artists on tumblr #shadows scribbles

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the-hidden-writer · 3 years

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And Into The Fire

Chapter 1: A Phone Call

Summary: Months after the Mitchells saved the world, Linda gets a phone call asking if she's seen two defective Pal MAX bots. Powerful people are after Eric and Deborabot 5000, and it's up to the Mitchells to protect them.

Check reblogs for AO3 link!

A Phone Call

It all started with a phone call.

6 months had passed since the “robot apocalypse”, and the world had fallen back into normality. In fact, since the robot apocalypse was so brief, it was now nothing more than a memory and a conversation topic to use as small talk. Things like “Where were you when the robots took you?” or “What did you do inside the fun pods?”. All in all, life had gone back to normal.

But not for the Mitchells. No, their lives were probably changed for good.

Katie had settled well into college. Now that she finally had her Dad’s approval, she felt free to have as much fun as she wanted without the burden of letting down her family. She regularly sent them updates of her work, and it made her insanely happy when she heard that Dad had made an effort to watch them fully, even if he didn’t quite understand them. That was okay though. It’s the thought that counts.

Back at home, things weren’t the same without Katie. Every time one of them stared too long at the empty chair at the table, it felt like a little stab to the heart. The Mitchells were a team, despite their differences, and one missing member was enough to knock their whole household off-kilter.

But they’d still managed to form a similar routine to their old one, just with one less Mitchell. Just Rick, Linda, Aaron, Monchi… and Eric and Deborahbot 5000.

The addition of the two childlike defective androids to their family was the biggest change of all. Once Pal was defeated and everyone was free, the pair had simply stood and looked confused in the midst of it all. The Mitchells (still high on adrenaline) had turned to leave when Eric called out:

“Mother! Wait!”

When he had the family’s attention, he continued. “Are you… satisfied?”

“Huh?” Rick voiced all of their confusion.

“Are you satisfied?” Eric repeated in the same, dry (but strangely uncertain) tone.

When nobody replied, Deborahbot had attempted to clarify. “Are you satisfied... with our performance?”

It was at that moment that a feeling of dread began brewing in Linda’s gut. She knew little to nothing about robots, and less about computer language, but something about the way the bots were speaking resonated with her. Katie had gone through a stage a few years earlier where she needed validation to stay confident but was too anxious to directly ask for it. She wasn't even sure if robots could have anxiety, but...

The fact that this seemingly unrelated memory had sprung to mind was enough for Linda to make her decision.

“They’re coming with us.” She stated firmly, and that was that. Rick had tried to protest but his argument was weak and, after taking one look at the bots that helped save the world, he couldn’t say no to their wobbly faces.

So Eric and Deborahbot came home with them and unofficially joined the Mitchell family. Luckily for the Mitchells themselves, the bots’ shenanigans were enough to help fill in the void left by Katie. The family had found their routine, they weren’t being hounded by the press anymore, and they’d found their new normal.

And then one ordinary day, the house phone rang.

Before Linda (the only human in the house at that moment) had time to react, two identical shouts of “Unknown number!” came in from the living room.

Eric and Deborahbot announcing the caller had been endearing at first. Each time any phone rang, they would happily shout the caller’s name straight away.

However after a few months of it, as much as Linda hated to admit it, it had gotten old and more than a little annoying. But the boys couldn’t help it and it brought them pleasure, so Linda had decided to let it slide for the time being.

Then when the phone rang after a particularly exhausting day and the bots had called out the name of a work colleague, Rick snapped. He yelled at the bots in what Linda thought was a very harsh way- so harsh that she was certain that they would be crying if they could display human emotions.

Rick had felt extremely guilty later that night and apologised (due to Linda’s nagging) in the morning. The bots immediately forgave him, but Linda noticed during the following week they would fall silent whenever Rick passed them or when the phone rang. To try and make up for it, she promised them that they could shout the caller’s name whenever Rick wasn’t home. They’d hugged her when she said that, and Linda felt like she’d done something right. It was a nice feeling.

“Mother! The phone is ringing!” Deborahbot called, snapping Linda back to the present. She’d been lost in her memories for a moment, so she quickly ran to answer the house phone.

(The bots weren’t allowed to answer the phone for obvious reasons.)

“Hello?” She answered, smiling when she noticed Eric and Deborahbot peeking their heads around the door to watch her.

“Hi, uh, is this the Mitchells?”

The voice on the other end was familiar, but Linda couldn’t quite put a name to it. Was it a parent from one of her school’s kids? No, because then why would they have her house number. Then who?

“Yes, this is Linda Mitchell. Sorry, who is this?”

“Uh, hey, it’s Mark Bowman.” So that’s where she recognised the voice. It belonged to the man whose face had been plastered all over the news and had narrowly avoided jail time for causing the robot apocalypse.

“What can I do for you, Dr Bowman?” She asked, trying not to let the sneer into her voice. She also tried not to notice the way Eric and Deborahbot visibly stiffened (an accomplishment for them) at the sound of the name.

“Right, um,” the man sounded oddly hesitant, “as you probably know, I’ve been going through a lot of official checks, to prove that the robots no longer pose a threat and stuff.”

His hesitance made sense then. He was probably being held at gunpoint by the CIA.

“Mhmm.” Linda nodded while simultaneously using her free hand to shoo her boys away. She didn’t know whether they could listen in to phone calls or not, but her instincts were telling her that they would not want to listen to whatever their creator was about to say.

“Well one of those checks includes making sure that all the Pal Max bots are permanently offline, you get what I’m saying?”

Linda wishes she didn’t. “Yeah.”

“Let’s just say that one took a while. Each bot has a unique serial number and was designed to send out a notification to Pal Labs if they got completely broken. And since there are like, millions of these things it took ages to sort them out, haha.”

“Understandable.” Said Linda pleasantly, although her motherly instincts were firing off the charts.

“So, uh, long story short there are two of these Pal MAX bots still missing. The rest have all been accounted for from these distress signals, but these ones seemed to have disconnected from Pal servers before the mass shutdown. Since they’re still online I’m guessing they’re defective.”

Linda felt a sudden, impulsive urge to kill Mark Bowman. This was not a first-time occurrence.

“So this is basically a super long way of asking if you’ve seen any rogue Pal MAX bots still online anywhere? Maybe back when you were saving the world?”

She had to resist the urge to hang up right then and there. Instead, she put on her sweetest teacher voice. There was truly no better way to mask her emotions.

“Hmm, no, sorry I don’t think we did.” She paused. “Even if we did, if the robots are defective then surely they can’t be that dangerous?”

“That’s what I’m saying!” Bowman exclaimed suddenly before clearing his throat and composing himself. “But uh… these people wanna be thorough. Can’t risk another apocalypse, y’know?”

Linda was about to respond when she heard a strange beeping sound on the other end, accompanied by shuffling.

“Uh, thanks Mrs Mitchell sorry again about the apocalypse bye-”

She’d been hung up on before she had time to react to Dr Bowman’s words.

On the inside, she was glad that he hadn’t pressed further about the missing defective robots. She’d been half-expecting him to already know their whereabouts and for there to be a confrontation.

But there hadn’t, and he’d hung up, and something about the whole thing seemed off.

She began to formulate a plan in her mind. Firstly, her robo-boys’ safety was the top priority of the situation. Once Rick came home she could tell him about the phone call and they could think of protection methods more clearly.

All she knew for certain for the time being was that the bots wouldn’t be leaving the house for a while.

~-.-~

*Beep* *Beep* *Beep*

If the beeping wasn’t startling enough, the aggressive hand signals the agents were sending him caused him to panic.

He decided to hang up quickly. “Uh, thanks Mrs Mitchell sorry again about the apocalypse bye!” It probably sounded rude, but he really couldn’t care at this point.

“So…” he nervously began, looking up from the phone screen but not wanting to make eye contact with any of the agents. “Did you find anything?”

“The call was intercepted by two separate individuals.” One of the younger agents seated at a computer piped up.

Mark gulped.

“It seems as though we were right, Dr Bowman.” Said Agent Ward, the CIA woman who had first initiated the search for the missing Pal MAX bots. “They’re targeting the Mitchells.”

Taking a deep breath, Mark tried to calm his nerves. He’d lost almost everything in the span of a few months- a good chunk of his self-confidence included.

“Now what?" He asked. "You’re gonna warn them, right?”

“Find them yet, Travis?” Agent Ward asked another of the agents, ignoring Mark completely.

“Hey! You didn’t answer me!”

“We’ve managed to trace the interception to its sources, Ma’am.” The other agent replied, also ignoring Mark. “The coding here does look like Pal MAX, but we can’t actually access it. Since they’re online, the defences are strong. It would take a few days to get through the firewall even with Pal Labs resources, let alone commence a rewrite.”

The agents only turned their attention back to Mark when he snorted when trying to hold in a laugh.

“Of course it’d take ages,” he scoffed, “these are Pal bots. They’re designed to be pretty much impossible to be hacked by humans.”

“Well then,” Agent Ward towered over him intimidatingly, “you’d better get to work.”

Comments make my day! :)

#the mitchells vs the machines #tmvtm #fic #tmvtm eric #eric tmvtm #deborahbot 5000 #eric and deborahbot5000 #eric and deborahbot #linda mitchell #mark bowman #and into the fire

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the-hidden-writer · 3 years

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And Into The Fire

Chapter 2: Mother, I Don’t Feel So Good

Summary:

Check reblogs for AO3 link!

Mother, I Don’t Feel So Good

A week had passed since the ominous phone call and Linda was only just starting to think all her worry was for nothing. Nobody had broken down their front door to take her bots away and there had been no more word from Bowman, so she could assume that they had taken her words at face value. It was a huge relief to say the least.

She woke up that morning at 7am as normal. It was Saturday, so Rick and Aaron would both sleep in for a few more hours while she would have the house almost all to herself.

She smiled at the sound of birds in the garden. Today felt like it was going to be a good day.

The second she went downstairs however, something felt very wrong.

Linda was always the first person up. She’d go to the bathroom and then head to the kitchen to listen to the radio for a bit. On the way, she’d pass the bots watching TV in the living room. Every morning, without fail, they’d say “Good morning, Mother!” to her in their cheerful voices. It was extremely adorable, part of her routine, and something she secretly looked forward to every time she woke up.

The utter silence downstairs today was disturbing.

There weren't even the quiet sounds from whatever show the bots happened to be watching that she’d grown to be familiar with. She poked her head into the living room and could immediately see that the TV was turned off.

The living room was also empty.

“Boys?”

No answer.

A sudden wave of panic washing over her, Linda raced back up the stairs. The bots had never not followed their routine, so something must be wrong. She could feel that something was wrong. It was her motherly instincts taking over.

In her panicked state, she slammed open the door to the guest room (the bots lived there now- they couldn’t be trusted with Katie’s room) and felt immediate relief when she saw one of the bots sitting with his back to her on the side of the bed.

So they hadn’t been taken in the middle of the night. That was a good start.

But then her eyes fell onto the figure actually lying in the bed, and the relief disappeared again.

She was almost scared to ask. “Boys..?”

The robot on the bed turned his head to reveal it was Deborahbot. He lifted his index finger (as he often did when he was about to speak) but was interrupted by a sudden burst of glitching on his screen, causing his head to tilt dangerously quickly to one side and for a loud buzzing sound that came and left in a matter of seconds.

Now Linda knew that the bots were defective and were therefore prone to the occasional glitch, though usually their glitches were accompanied by sparks and were caused by little things that confused them and never actually affected their life/routine. This sudden glitch, however, was spark-less and looked scarily like the time when they were controlled by Pal.

Linda’s gut feeling only worsened.

Once he’d seemingly recovered from the glitch, Deborahbot straightened his head and stood up to greet her.

“...Good morning… Mother…”

And if Linda had felt bad before, nothing could compare with the chill that crept up her spine at the words. Not only did Deborahbot sound slightly distorted (as if he was struggling to get the words out) but the phrase was spoken by him alone. Normally, the brothers would always say it in-sync with one another in their slightly-creepy-but-well-meaning way.

She forced herself to speak calmly. “Deborahbot… where’s Eric?”

She almost wished that he hadn’t stepped aside so that she could spend a moment longer without seeing the state of her boy on the bed.

Eric’s face was barely visible with the amount of lights and lines of code flashing on and off. Under all that, his screen was in a constant state of television static, and as Linda hesitantly moved closer she could even hear the buzzing sound that accompanied it.

To top it all off, he was unmoving and a blanket had been shoddily thrown on top of him with his feet sticking out at the bottom.

Following her gaze, Deborahbot spoke up.

“Blankets bring humans comfort-” he glitched and recovered in an instant- “I thought it might bring him some comfort as well.”

Linda could barely form words.

“Wh-What’s going on?!”

Deborahbot glitched again before speaking. “An outside source is attempting to penetrate our systems and rewrite our code. We are... trying to stop that.”

It pained her to hear his voice so quiet and strained.

It had never really crossed her mind in the months that they’d lived with them that the bots- her boys- could be hacked. Their technology was so advanced and the fact that they were so sentient meant that she’d just assumed that it wasn’t possible. Maybe if she’d stopped to think, she might have been able to see this coming and do something to stop it.

“Is Eric okay?” She asked, unable to tear her eyes away from the immobile android. “Why isn’t he-”

“I think that…” Deborahbot began, and Linda noticed how his voice sounded full of sorrow (or at least as much sorrow as his monotonous voice could muster). “I think that I am... more defective than my brother.” He paused and Linda sucked in a breath at the vulnerable admission. “Since our defects are what protects us from Pal Labs’ network, it is easier for them to access him. My brother is... working very hard to fight them off.”

“Okay,” Said Linda quietly, trying to calm herself down more than anything. She needed Rick and Katie’s help on this one. She couldn’t deal with this alone. “Okay, um... “

A question sprung into mind that she dreaded to know the answer to. Gently, she placed her hands on Deborahbot’s shoulders in what she hoped was a comforting gesture.

“Does it hurt?”

“Only if we resist the new coding.” Was his reply, but it wasn’t the conformation Linda was looking for.

“And… are you? Are you both resisting it?” Deborahbot glitched yet again as she spoke.

“Yes.” He answered, ever the more direct of the two.

Not for the first time, Linda was glad that the bots didn’t look like humans. She didn’t think she would be able to handle seeing pain all over their innocent faces.

She guided Deborahbot back to the bed and sat him down. With one last stroke of his shoulders (since you can't squeeze metal) she finally released him and moved towards the door. She didn’t dare touch Eric in fear of making his situation any worse.

“I’m gonna go get Rick.” She told him. She had no idea if Eric could even hear anything right now. “Is there anything I can do in the meantime?”

“No.” Deborahbot replied bluntly. “Thank you for asking though, Mother.”

“Alright then. Stay strong boys, I’ll be back soon.”

Linda didn’t want to leave the room. She was new to this- heck, it had been months and she still wasn’t completely used to her new children being robots- but seeing the bots like that reminded her of the time that Katie and Aaron got chickenpox.

Aaron had caught it from school and Katie caught it off Aaron. While Aaron had fought it off pretty quickly, Katie was much older and it ended up being so serious that she needed to go to hospital. She was in bed with Linda at her bedside for a few days.

Just as Deborahbot was with Eric now. The only difference was that Deborahbot was affected too, and there were no doctors or nurses to help them get better.

Her boys were dangerously sick. Deborahbot had the equivalent of Aaron’s condition while Eric was practically comatose.

With that comparison in mind, Linda felt determination lock itself in her soul. She was going to help her boys get better, no matter what. That was her responsibility as their mother and she was damn well gonna fulfil it.

Comments make my day :)

#the mitchells vs the machines #tmvtm #fic #tmvtm eric #eric tmvtm #deborahbot 5000 #eric and deborahbot5000 #eric and deborahbot #linda mitchell #and into the fire

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the-hidden-writer · 3 years

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And Into The Fire

Chapter 6: Robo-bonding

Summary: Months after the Mitchells saved the world, Linda gets a phone call asking if she’s seen two defective Pal MAX bots. Powerful people are after Eric and Deborabot 5000, and it’s up to the Mitchells to protect them.

Check reblogs for AO3 link!

Robo-bonding

Rick usually loved the sound of crickets at night. On camping trips, he’d make it his mission to get his family to sit outside and appreciate them for at least one night. Truly, the aura of peace and serenity they brought was unmatched.

But now, he’d give anything for them to shut up and stop adding to the awkward atmosphere.

It was their first stop after a full day’s worth of driving. The route to Silicon Valley would take at least two days and the Mitchells had decided to break the journey.

Usually they’d stop at a motel for the night, but ever since they’d technically been harboring fugitives that was no longer an option. Or at least that was the case for the moment, since Rick was happy to leave the bots in the car overnight as long as they were both awake and feeling responsible.

His wife and son were currently in the backseat together, curled up closely against one another as they slept. Monchi was snoring away on his back beside them. Rick had quickly pulled out his camera and snagged a quick photo of the heartwarming sight.

They’d put Eric (actually, Deborahbot had since he was much too heavy for any of them to lift) into the trunk. Deborahbot himself had sat in silence next to his robot friend for most of that first stretch of the journey. He’d only spoken when Linda had asked him directly if he was alright, and once again when the family were saying goodnight to each other.

But when it was clear that Deborahbot wasn’t going to sleep (or go into rest-mode or whatever those robots did) when everyone else was, Rick had listened to his inner Linda and asked him to join him in the front.

Even without his wife’s guidance, Rick knew deep down that it wasn’t healthy to not take a break from watching his brother like a hawk.

So that’s where they were. Rick sitting in the driver’s seat, Deborah sitting in the passenger’s seat, and between them only the crickets had something to say.

“So, uh,” Rick eventually began in a low voice, knowing that the android wouldn’t start a conversation himself, “this is all kinda sudden.”

Deborahbot didn’t reply.

“...Right.” Rick was at a genuine loss for words. He’d obviously talked to the bots before, but never really talked to them. They came as a pair and were always sort of doing their own thing. You could guide them and give them instructions and stuff, sure, but they only really got into deep conversations with each other or maybe sometimes Linda. And even then, it was Eric that tended to do most of the talking.

“It must be hard, huh?”

Deborahbot did not lower his voice when he replied. “What do you mean?”

“SHHH!” Rick pointed at his sleeping family.

Deborahbot 5000 hung his head slightly. “Apologies, Mother’s Husband.”

“No no, you’re good.” Rick wished he’d stop calling him that, though he couldn’t think of an alternative.

“But I mean, um…” he continued. “You bots never leave each other’s side. It must be tough with him gone.”

“But he is not gone.” Deborah said. “He is in the trunk.”

Rick sighed. “That’s not what I…”

The problem with robots is that they weren’t great with picking up on subtext. But to be fair, neither were the Mitchell family.

“Still, you’re worried, right? About him? Heck, even I’m worried and I barely know you guys. I can’t imagine how you must be feeling. If you do... feel.”

There was a short pause. Rick had never realised that robots needed thinking time. Or maybe it was just a defective robot thing.

“I am worried about us, yes.”

Us..?

“Aw shoot I totally forgot they’re after you too!” Rick exclaimed quietly. “Have you had any more attacks since, or..?”

Deborahbot turned his head to face forward before answering. As far as Rick could tell, he didn’t have any cameras on the side of his head so the gesture must have just been for dramatic effect. “Not since this morning. Now that my brother is turned off, they can access him without resistance.”

Deborah said it so casually that Rick almost missed the implication of the words.

“Wait, wait wait wait, hold on,” he said as he shuffled to face Deborahbot better, “what does that mean? You mean they can still get to him when he’s like this? They’re, what, doing stuff to him as we speak?”

“Yes.” Deborahbot answered bluntly.

This was bad. All this time, Rick had assumed that the reason Eric was switched off was to stop Pal Labs from hacking him (or whatever the technical term was). But if that just made it easier for them…

“So then why are we even doing this?” He asked, his voice raising a little. “If he’s just gonna get mind-controlled anyway, why are we taking you guys right to them?!”

Deborahbot’s head turned to face him again. “We are going to ask them to stop.” He said it firmly but there was an edge of doubt creeping into his voice.

“But that was to stop them before they took over Eric, wasn’t it? What if they can’t change back what they’ve already done or something? It might already be too late- I don’t know how this works!”

“Wh-What if…” Deborahbot’s voice was barely audible.

“Yeah, man, what if?!” Rick whispered angrily. “You should’ve thought about this beforehand! We should’ve thought about it before we went along with this spontaneous plan!”

“What if…”

It was then that Rick realised what he’d said and who he’d said it to.

“Oh, Deborah, I-”

“What if they delete his memory?” Deborahbot started to speak faster. “What if they reset him? What if they fix him? What if they break him completely? What if-”

“Deborah…”

This was a mistake. Rick shouldn’t have brought it up, or at least not in front of the poor android. The two were like twins, practically joined at the hip, and were so childish at times that catastrophizing in front of one of them regarding the other was probably the worst thing he could've done. Even though his own concerns about Eric were very real and genuine, Deborahbot didn’t need to hear them.

It had taken 18 years to start getting things right with Katie. He wanted to have another chance to get it right with the bots.

“Listen, that’s not what’s happening.” Rick said, putting a lot of effort into sounding as convincing as possible. “They probably just want you guys back. But once we get there and show ‘em you’re harmless, they’ll let you go! Don’t listen to what I said, you know how I get angry for no reason, haha.”

Deborahbot seemed to think it over. Sometimes, Rick wished that they had proper faces so that he could gauge their expressions properly. It would make his life a lot easier.

At some point during that conversation, the crickets had stopped chirping. He hadn’t even noticed.

“...Do you really think so, Mother’s Husband?”

Rick smiled reassuringly. “‘Course I do, Deb.”

They sat in silence for a few minutes. Rick sincerely hoped that he’d mended the pit of fear he’d opened within Deborahbot. It was funny, the rift that had once been between him and Katie was caused by technology. Now he was trying to fix a rift with a piece of technology itself.

Deborahbot seemed content to just sit in silence like that for the rest of the night, but Rick wanted to get some sleep.

He nodded toward the trunk. “Hey, you might wanna get some rest. Don’t stay up all night thinking about this.”

“But-”

“Ah ah, no buts.” Rick waggled his finger. “That’s an order.”

“Ok!”

Dangit, for a moment there it had felt so much like he was talking to another human being that he’d completely forgotten to mind his language. He didn’t want it to seem like he was forcing him.

Deborahbot had already opened the door to move back into the trunk with Eric. "Goodnight, Mother's Husband."

“Deborah! Before you go-” Deborah stopped mid-motion to listen to him- “maybe cut it out with the whole ‘Mother’s Husband’ thing.”

Rick couldn’t believe he was about to do this. It was a step that Linda wanted him to take but he’d never quite felt ready for. But the bots needed family now more than ever, and who else was going to give it to them?

“Just call me ‘Dad’.”

Deborahbot cocked his head for a second (long enough for Rick to consider backtracking) before he exited the car and stood up straight.

“Goodnight, Dad.”

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the-hidden-writer · 3 years

Text

And Into The Fire

Chapter 3: So Here’s The Situation

Summary:

Check reblogs for AO3 link!

So Here’s The Situation

Katie brushed off her drowsiness and scrambled to get dressed the second she read her Mom’s urgent text.

The message had been short but not-so-sweet:

Emergency. Need to call ASAP.

Assuming the worst (but not knowing what exactly “the worst” was), she threw on a hoodie, leapt onto the bed, and opened her laptop for the call.

Her Mom picked up in the first ring, and she was immediately met with two troubled faces.

“Katie!”

“Mom!” She shouted, not caring about the volume of her voice. Her family’s safety came before whether she was annoying her roommates or not. “What’s happening?! Are you okay?!”

“We’re fine, sweetie.” Her Mom replied as she adjusted the camera angle to better capture her and Rick’s faces. “It’s the bots.”

“The bots?” Katie repeated, the relief she’d felt at hearing her family was alright quickly turning into nervousness. It had been a lot harder for her to get used to the bots joining the family since she was far from home most of the time and wasn’t used to them constantly being there when she visited home. Seeing their faces on a video call was very different to living under the same roof as them.

“What’s wrong?”

“We think they’re being hacked or something.” Her Dad supplied.

The adrenaline of waking up in a panic was wearing off, and Katie rubbed her eyes tiredly. She wasn’t used to waking up this early on a Saturday.

“Wait, so they’re turning evil or something? Like in the movies?”

“Not everything’s like a movie, Katie.” Said her Dad, sounding mildly annoyed.

“Don’t mind him, honey, he’s just stressed.” She watched Mom glare at him. “We just don’t know what to do. I found them in their room about ten minutes ago. They won’t stop glitching.”

That didn’t sound too bad… the bots always glitched at least once whenever Katie spoke to them. “Isn’t that normal for them?”

“Not like this.” Her Mom said, and Katie could see from her face that she was genuinely distressed. “It’s different, and Deborahbot even told me that someone’s trying to hack them.”

Now that sentence sounded weird to Katie. Whenever anyone talked about them, it was always “bots” plural. Never just “bot”, because one would never do anything without the other unless explicitly told to. Something had to be seriously wrong.

“Just Deb?”

Both of her parents’ faces turned solemn. It was the same expression from that time years ago when they told her their vacation to Paris had been cancelled: the Bad News Face™.

“Eric’s worse.” Linda said quietly. Katie saw her Dad wrap an arm around her for comfort.

“He’s not moving and is apparently easier for them to hack. Deborah won’t leave him.” Rick added.

Katie was always very imaginative. She could picture conversations as she had them and added special effects to ordinary situations in her brain. It was something she usually loved to do.

But she hated the image that she unwillingly just pictured.

Eric, lying in a glass coffin Snow White-style surrounded by electric devices instead of animals and dwarves. Deborahbot, kneeling beside him, clutching a bouquet of batteries in one hand and holding Eric with the other as he waits for him to wake up. “Brother, please wake up.” Deb says. Eric doesn’t respond, leaving Deborah to wait and wait and wait...

She cringed and tried her best to shake that horrible mental image from her mind.

“Do you know who’s hacking them?”

“Pal Labs.” Her Mom said at the same time as her Dad said: “No clue.”

“Pal Labs?” He asked after. “How do you know?”

“It’s gotta be related to Mark Bowman calling us last week, right? There’s no way this is a coincidence.”

Katie nodded. “I think Mom’s right. Besides, who else would even know that they’re still online?”

“Alive.” Her Mom corrected. ”That they’re still alive.”

All the Mitchells knew that Linda was by far the closest to the bots. Sure, Rick would sometimes take them out on little nature trips and they’d play dinosaurs with Aaron, but Linda defended them at every moment and she shared a very strong bond with them both. And if the bots ever had a question to ask, Linda was their first choice.

Rick sighed. “What are we even supposed to do? We can’t exactly take ‘em to a tech store and get them fixed.”

“That’s not how hacking works, Dad.” Katie tried not to smile at how bad her Dad still was with technology. “And isn’t Pal Labs the tech store? You definitely can’t take them there.”

“I was joking.” He was not. “But anyways, I’m all out of ideas.”

An idea sprung to Katie’s own mind. That tended to happen whenever her Dad gave up. Maybe it was a subconscious effort to prove him wrong.

“Guys, why don’t you just ask them?”

“Who?” Her Mom asked, and Katie remembered the situation and realised her slip.

“Sorry, I meant just him. Deborahbot.” She smiled apologetically but didn’t miss how her Mom’s face fell. “Surely he knows what’s best for himself, right?”

“That’s actually a good idea, honey. If he’s feeling okay, we can-”

She was interrupted by the creaking noise of the dining room door being opened. Even though he was slightly blurry due to being far away from the camera, Katie could make out a sleepy Aaron yawning as he walked in.

“Mom? Dad? Why is Deborahbot hitting Eric?”

Her Mom’s scream was cut off as the call was suddenly disconnected, leaving a scared Katie to sit on her bed and stare at the black screen while feeling utterly helpless.

Her family could solve this without her, right?

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the-hidden-writer · 3 years

Text

And Into The Fire

Chapter 7: A Breath Of Fresh Air

Taglist: @squidsushi , @astro-aye , @shitmyex

Check reblogs for AO3 link!

A Breath Of Fresh Air

Aaron thought road trips were boring without Katie.

Yes, he got more space for himself and Monchi. Yes, he could play with his toys without being told to shut up. But the lack of the big sister still made a huge impact on his travelling experience.

After Katie had left to go to film school, Aaron would pass the time in the car by chatting with the bots. He'd even managed to convince them to sit in the back seat with him one time, although because they were all squeezed so tightly together Monchi had ended up licking off some of Deborahbot’s paint with his unusually muscular tongue. It had cost his Dad lots of money to find the right paint to cover the scratch.

The bots were always a source of entertainment. But since they were in trouble…

He could always talk to Deborahbot, he guessed. It wouldn’t feel right to speak to just one of them without the other one though.

Lucky for him, he still had Monchi.

Throughout the second day of driving he played with both Monchi and his toys. Mom had told him to bring a book or two but he felt sick whenever he tried to read in a moving car, so he had to resort to his dinosaurs instead. They were more fun than books anyway (however inaccurate they were).

Despite managing to find other ways to keep himself busy, Aaron was still more than happy when they decided to stop for the night at a campsite. He was even happier when there seemed to be no other families there. No families meant no other children to disturb him.

Maybe he wouldn’t mind if Abby was there. But only Abby.

He’d been quietly reading in the car (since it was parked) when his Dad flung open the door with a massive grin on his face.

“Aar! Guess what!”

“What is it, Dad?” He replied, a little annoyed at being disturbed. He’d just been on the brachiosaurus page. And yes, he’d read this book so many times he’d practically memorised it, but the brachiosaurus page always brought him a little extra burst of happiness. It was his favorite page.

Dad seemed glad that he’d bothered to reply to him.

“There’s an adventure play area just around the corner. It looks amazing! You should come see!” He exclaimed.

As much as Aaron wanted to stretch his legs after being in the car for so long, he also did not want to abandon his beloved brachiosaurus page. Besides, playing outdoors wasn’t the same without Katie.

His Dad must have sensed his hesitance because his excited expression softened slightly.

“I know you miss her.” He said, and Aaron could never understand how his parents always knew exactly what he was thinking. “But this isn’t just for you.”

Aaron followed his gaze to Deborahbot, who was sitting like a statue in the trunk with Eric lying beside him. Aaron sort of understood what his Dad was asking him to do, but he’d never actually played properly with any of the bots before.

“He needs this.” Dad said softly. “Look after him, okay?”

Before Aaron had time to react, he’d already stepped away from the open car door and had forcefully opened the trunk.

“Rise and shine, sleepyhead!”

“I have been 'awake' for this whole journey. I do not sleep.” Aaron was startled to hear Deborahbot’s voice after hours of silence from the robot.

“Eh, I wasn’t being literal.” Dad laughed. “Now come on, I just found the best place for you and Aaron to play!”

“Do you mean the ‘adventure play area’?” Deborahbot asked. “I heard. Aaron can go and play but I will stay here with my brother, if that’s okay, Dad.”

Wait, ‘Dad’? Since when did Deborahbot start calling Dad ‘Dad’?!

“Dad..?” Aaron whispered aloud.

“Nope, that’s not okay.” Dad continued. “Eric will be fine here for an hour or two, it’s only around the corner anyways. There’s no-one even here! We can keep the trunk open if it makes you feel any better.”

Deborahbot hesitated for a moment. Then he answered in a scarily dejected voice: “...Okay.”

“Great!” Dad yelled in excitement, practically pulling Deborahbot out of the car.

“Come on boys, to adventure!”

~-.-~

“Wheeeeeeeeee!”

“Wait, Deborahbot, slow down- aaaaAAAA-”

Rick smiled as he watched the boys play from the side. The sun was setting so the woodchip playground was encompassed in a warm pink glow. It was actually quite breathtaking. With all of the sudden drama thrust upon them in the past few days, this was just the little break the family needed. A nice breath of fresh air.

And Deborahbot seemed to be having fun. That was also pretty important.

Just as he’d promised, Rick had left the door to the trunk open so it was easy to check in on Eric. And when Deborahbot moved every ten minutes (on the dot) to go and check on him, either himself or Linda would go instead so that he could continue playing. Almost two hours had passed with this routine, and Rick was happy to let them continue until it was too dark- which would be very soon.

It had been his turn to check on the other android last time. He’d found Monchi licking away at the bot’s head, and Rick had sternly told the dog to stop as he would not be able to afford any more Pal Labs Certified Whitest-Of-The-Whites Paint™.

Monchi had continued his licking the second he’d turned his back. It was wishful thinking for Monchi to obey any commands, really.

As darkness began to fall, Rick decided it was time to head back into the car. He’d just wait for Lin (who was currently on Eric duty) to come back.

What he didn’t expect was for her to come running back with Monchi yapping loudly at her heel.

“Rick!”

From the corner of his eye, he noticed both Aaron and Deborahbot’s heads turn toward them. He tried to set aside his immediate feeling of dread to act calm instead.

“Lin! What’s wrong?”

“Rick...” Linda said in a hushed, panicked voice. “...He’s gone.”

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the-hidden-writer · 3 years

Text

And Into The Fire

Chapter 8: Turnabout

Taglist: @squidsushi , @astro-aye , @shitmyex, @sharks-are-friendly

Check reblogs for AO3 link!

Turnabout

“Brother!” Deborahbot 5000 darted between the trees of the forest with only one thing on his mind. “Brother!”

His Brother was missing. He shouldn’t have left his side. Even though it made no logical sense for him to have disappeared (he had made sure that the campsite was empty as they arrived), he still felt as if he was to blame. It would not have happened if he hadn’t gone to play. Robots didn’t even need to play.

Eric would tease him around now.

“Deborahbot!”

Mother was calling him. He was quite a distance in front of them so he presumed that the Mitchells were following him. What he didn’t really understand was why they were calling his name and not his Brother’s.

The Mitchells had a bad habit of giving him and his Brother commands- which, due to their defective programming- they were forced to obey. They claimed it was always an accident, but his Brother had begun to suspect that it wasn’t always an accident. Deborahbot 5000 denied that the Mitchells would never do such a thing on purpose.

But for the moment, just in case, he ran a little faster so that he was out of earshot of his family. That way they couldn’t make him stop even if they tried.

“Brother!” He continued to call. The thieves couldn’t have gotten far in the span of ten minutes, surely? Maybe if he ran a little faster…

He was running so fast that he almost completely overlooked the sliver of shining, metallic white hidden between the browns and greens of the woods.

“Brother!” The happiness and relief he felt upon seeing his Brother curled up behind a large rock was immeasurable.

(Happiness..? Relief..? He had no heart, no impractical fleshy body parts at all, so then how..?)

His Brother was online and there appeared to be no humans nearby. How did this happen? No, it didn’t matter. What mattered was that he had found him and that he was alright.

Slowly, he began to approach him.

Eric stood up straight from his odd hiding position and turned to face him. He didn’t say a word.

“Brother!” Deborahbot repeated. “What happened? Are you okay? Why did you leave me and our family?”

His Brother didn’t reply. That was strange. Was he upset with him for some reason?

Deborahbot 5000 was suddenly met with the familiar hum of foot thrusters warming up as his Brother began to hover over the ground. And then, a few milliseconds later, he boosted himself vertically upwards into the sky.

Brushing aside his confusion, Deborahbot followed suit.

Both his and Eric’s programming, and all Pal MAX robots’ for that matter, were built upon very specific numerical limitations. They were physically capable of a lot more than what their code allowed them to do. For example, there was a speed limit embedded in their core to prevent them from going beyond what was safe for themselves and the humans. All functional Pal MAX robots had no choice but to follow these rules.

But Eric and Deborahbot 5000 were not functional. And Deborahbot was even less functional than Eric. This allowed him to catch up to his Brother as he tore like a bullet through the sky.

“Brother!”

It may have been the surprise from his voice sounding so desperate, (desperation..?), or maybe the surprise at him catching up to him at all, but Eric thankfully stopped.

“You are not authorised to follow.”

His Brother’s voice sounded wrong again.

“What is the matter with you?” Deborahbot asked… desperately. “Where are you going?”

Eric hesitated. “Errors have been detected in my system. I must return to Pal Labs for a complete debug and re-evaluation of my programming.”

His Brother already knew that. They were both defective, together. Why was it only concerning him now?

“Brother-”

Before Deborahbot could finish his attempt at trying to calm his Brother, Eric had already begun to blast himself horizontally to the east- toward Silicon Valley.

He was hurt that his Brother didn’t listen to him. He always listened to him. Despite the occasional scolding, they were never ever mean to one another.

But Eric just ignored him. And that hurt.

(Hurt..?)

In shock of his Brother’s actions, Deborahbot slowly descended back to the ground. He slowed even further as he passed through the canopy of the trees.

Once he reached the bottom, he found the Mitchells waiting for him.

“Deborahbot!” Mother shouted. “Are you okay? What happened?! Where’s Eric?”

“He is headed for the Pal Labs building in Silicon Valley.” He had no choice but to answer truthfully. Maybe Mother could help?

“By himself?” Asked Call-Me-Dad.

Deborahbot 5000 was about to affirm this when the revelation hit him.

“Now that my brother is turned off, they can access him without resistance.”

Those had been his exact words to Call-Me-Dad. His Brother was compromised. It was a fact that he knew- it was a fact that he had known for this entire journey.

So then why, when he was up in the air and facing his brother, did he completely forget? What if he had followed?

“Right, uh… we need to go.” Said Call-Me-Dad, rubbing the back of his neck and wearing a strange frowny expression on his large face. “Come on, we gotta get back to the car quickly.”

“I’ll drive.” Mother interjected, addressing Call-Me-Dad. She was also very serious. “You need a rest and I’d like to not completely massacre the speed limit and get arrested on the way. We need to get our boy back.”

That’s right, humans had speed limits. Robots did not.

...What if he did follow?

He decided suddenly to follow the flight path his brother took, shooting upward in an instant and ignoring the Mitchells calling him down.

Destination: Pal Labs, Silicon Valley. Estimated time: 28 minutes 52 seconds.

~-.-~

There was a knock at Katie’s door, and it sent her heart into a panic.

She hadn’t been expecting Jade so early. They both were always on time or fashionably late (because neither were actually ever ready at their planned times). And she was not ready.

Frantically rubbing her wet hair with a towel, she hopped around the mess she’d been planning to clear up later and toward the door.

“Coming, Jade!” God, she hoped her voice didn’t betray her unprepared-ness. But Jade wouldn’t mind too much so it wasn’t a huge deal. They’d laugh about it afterward- however humiliating it was for her at the time.

Almost tripping over a pair of shoes, she hung onto the door handle for dear life as she opened it…

...Only to find herself looking up at a huge blonde woman glaring down at her.

“Katie Mitchell?” The woman said, and Katie had to remember to breathe. This was the last thing she’d been expecting. Heck, she hadn't been expecting anyone at this time. The lady was dressed in standard college-professor wear, but there was something about her posture that made her feel extremely intimidated.

She had to stop herself from audibly gulping.

“Y-Yeah? That’s me.”

The woman seemed unsympathetic at her obvious discomfort.

“My name is Agent Jennifer Ward.” She pulled aside one end of her blazer to reveal a badge pinned to her inner pocket. “There’s something we need to discuss.”

for those wondering, eric was brought back online by monchi accidentally licking his power button

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the-hidden-writer · 3 years

Text

And Into The Fire

Chapter 14: Choosing Sides

Taglist: @squidsushi , @astro-aye , @shitmyex, @sharks-are-friendly, @snakeguy99

Check reblogs for AO3 link!

Choosing Sides

So Mark was having a pretty eventful night as it was, ever since the Evil Warden came back and Katie Mitchell was thrown into his office-prison with him. Not to mention those damn bots turning up earlier. That was a pretty huge development too.

And then the other Mitchells showed up out of nowhere, acting as a perfect distraction to allow the pair of them to escape.

As he watched Katie reunite with his family, Mark had a million thoughts swimming through his head. His own family had practically cut him off since Pal went haywire, and though he could probably patch things up with them, it was going to take some time. He couldn’t help but feel jealous at how the Mitchell family supported one another without a second thought. They had to have a pretty strong bond with one another to be able to do that.

But hadn’t Katie said those bots were part of their family, too..? They even had names: Eric and something-or-other. Were they really that trusting to accept murderous robots into their home?

And, more importantly, whose side was he safer on? The American government or one simple, loving family?

“Get them.” Ward ordered, her voice cold and menacing- nothing like the deceivingly polite woman who’d first marched into his office many months ago.

That’s when Mark made his decision. Despite the fact that they’d just broken into his building, he’d much rather side with the Mitchells. Besides, they saved the world once- they could do it again, right? And if Ward’s ultimate goal really was to mass produce a robot army… the Mitchells were definitely the safest bet.

He couldn’t have another worldwide disaster looming over his conscience.

He’d brought the Mitchells into Lab 3. Not only had it been abandoned since Ward took over, but it also had no security and a small service staircase in the back. A perfect escape route.

And because there was no security, the door was designed to be impossible to break into when locked. Without special equipment, at least. That bought them some time.

As Katie told her story to her family, stuff she’d already told him, it suddenly occurred to Mark that he had nowhere to escape to. Ward would find him straight away if he fled to his house, and his family were off the table at the moment.

...Would the Mitchells take him with them?

“-Hey, Dr Bowman!” A finger was snapped in his face.

“Huh? Yeah?”

Katie sighed in frustration. “Where’s Interview Room 7?”

Oh yeah. Mark had almost forgotten about the bot still sitting in there. The Mitchells probably wanted to rescue it too, but that wouldn’t be easy since…

“It’s right next to the balcony.” He explained. “You can see it from the entrance- it’s basically impossible to get into without being seen and caught.”

“Dangit.” Katie’s Mom, Linda Mitchell, swore. “Are you sure? No secret back-entrance to that room, either?”

“Apart from a mirror attaching it to another room, nope. Sorry.”

Linda groaned in frustration, and their weird little dog let out a yelp.

The room fell into a tense silence. The Mitchells must’ve been thinking about a way to reach the Pal MAX bot, though Mark was perfectly content with just focusing on escaping. At the end of the day, it was just a robot. Robots could be replaced.

“...Those things are really freaking me out.”

“Huh?” Mark looked up to see Rick Mitchell staring at the holograms at the front of the lab. “Oh, those.”

“They’re so realistic!” Rick continued in astonishment. “I thought we were done for when we first came in.”

Katie’s brother whimpered for some reason.

“Well, thanks. They were designed to be realistic.” Mark said, walking toward the four tall figures. “We were planning to use them as an upgrade to the Pal Maxes. As a, y’know, ‘design your own robot helper’ sort of thing, so the hologram would get projected over the bot’s base.”

He smiled wistfully. He’d dreamt about that upgrade being the one that boosted sales tenfold, and the one that would win him all sorts of awards that he didn’t already own.

“But, uh… when all the Pal MAX bots got destroyed, we started repurposing the technology to be made from hard light. So that it didn’t need a base and can be used in escape rooms and haunted houses and stuff to stop actors from getting hurt. That’s why these four look so scary.” He let out a nervous chuckle as he gestured to the costumed holograms. “We, um, didn’t get very far with that though, since Ward showed up…”

Katie slowly walked toward the holograms, seeming to be in awe of them. And though he wouldn’t admit it (being a fan of her work) Mark secretly felt very proud that she was taking an interest in them.

“Are the designs based on real people? Or are they custom-made?” She asked as she pushed her arm through the one in clown attire.

“They’re custom.” He answered. “Every single feature is designed individually. From the hair to the nose to the body type...”

“And they were made to go over the bots?”

Katie was asking very specific questions, and Mark couldn’t help but feel more than a little nervous. She was a bright girl, after all. “...Yeah, the hard light ones are. The ones at the front are just for show, but we manufactured a chip that would let the bot download the update for custom designs. We tested them on spare VR bodysuits first though. Why?”

Her eyes were sparkling with excitement.

“Do you have an idea?” The little boy asked his big sister- who looked as if she was about to burst.

“I think I know how we can get out of here!” She cried.

“How?” Mark asked at the same time as Rick.

After a brief pause, Linda gasped. “You don’t mean…”

“I do mean!” Katie grinned. “It’s perfect, especially if they’re all waiting for us outside the front while we sneak out from the back.”

“Are you sure it will work?” Linda continued with concern. “If the technology hurts him… or if he’s being guarded… and what about Er-”

Rick put a hand on his wife’s shoulder. “There’s nothing we can do about him right now, remember? As long as we escape, we can always come back when he’s in one piece.”

At first, Mark was very confused about who they were talking about. Were there secretly more Mitchells?

Then it hit him.

His entire conversation with Katie earlier, she said they thought those damn robots were family. And if they were talking about his hologram technology and escaping at the same time then that meant…

“Wait, hold on-”

Katie rushed back over to the group in order to hug her Mom. “I think it’ll work. But there’s only one way to find out!”

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the-hidden-writer · 3 years

Text

And Into The Fire

Chapter 9: A Little Bit Of Manipulation

Taglist: @squidsushi , @astro-aye , @shitmyex, @sharks-are-friendly

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A Little Bit Of Manipulation

There was no word to describe just how unprepared Katie was to deal with this. Nobody’s taught what to do in the event that a freaking CIA Agent comes knocking at your door in search of your missing robo brothers. Ro-bros, if you will.

Katie stepped aside to let her in out of sheer intimidation.

“Hey, um, is it urgent?” She dared to ask timidly as Agent Ward ventured further inside. “See, it’s kinda late and I’m expecting someone-”

“As a matter of fact, it is urgent.” The woman snapped, making Katie jump. “So I’m afraid you’ll have to cancel any plans. Now shut that door please, we need to discuss sensitive information.”

Katie did as she was told though in her heart she was very annoyed. As much as she wanted to help the bots, she’d been hoping that dinner with Jade would help distract her from her concern for them and her family. Guess that wasn’t happening any time soon.

Once the door was firmly locked with a click, Agent Ward spoke up again.

“Yesterday you made a phone call to Pal Labs claiming that you’d seen the missing Pal MAX robots. I’ve been sent by my boss to follow this up.”

“Yeah… cool.” Katie had to make conscious effort to stay calm and collected and not betray her inner panic. But at least this lady wasn’t the boss or anything. That made it a little better.

“So first of all,” the agent continued, “I have to ask if you have any proof of what you ‘saw’.”

Judging by the tone of her voice, Agent Ward didn’t sound like she believed Katie a single bit and was annoyed to even be there. Probably because she could tell it was all a lie and was good at her job.

Oh, how Katie was excited to prove her wrong.

“I sure do!”

As soon as she’d hung up on that original phone call, she’d rushed to her laptop and opened Photoshop. She already had a bunch of photos (some clear and some not so clear) of places both around town and around the campus, and she also had a decent collection of photos of the bots. It wasn’t too hard to add hints of the bots onto her pre-existing pictures and make them look natural enough to pass off as realistic.

Putting all her skills to the test, she’d even managed to forge a short Snapchat video with one of the bots hiding in the background.

Whoever said going to film school was useless?

(Her Dad used to, but that wasn't the point.)

Concealing her smug smile, Katie pushed her phone into the agent’s hands and pointed at the screen.

“These were all taken this week,” she said, “it felt like I was being stalked. It was kinda scary.”

She held her breath as Agent Ward carefully swiped through her expertly-crafted pictures, examining each one closely.

“Pictures at these angles were never released to the public…” She muttered, and Katie had no idea if that was addressed to her or not. She decided to stay quiet.

“There’s something I have to tell you.” Agent Ward said a little louder once she'd seen them all, so Katie knew for sure that she was supposed to respond. “Seeing these photos just confirmed our suspicions.”

“What is it?” Katie asked nervously.

“We have reason to believe that you and your family are in a lot of danger, and that these two remaining robots are seeking revenge on you for stopping their plans.”

Even though Katie knew for a fact that this wasn’t true, the agent had said it so darkly that it sent a shiver up her spine. Maybe in another universe, one where Eric and Deborahbot never joined their family, she would be terrified for her life right now.

...Would they have even been able to save the world in that universe?

“Really?” Her shock was only half-faked.

“I’m afraid so.” Agent Ward confirmed. She then paused and bit her lip for a moment, leaving Katie to watch her in suspense.

Eventually, she spoke again.

“You’re going to have to come with me.”

“What?!” Katie couldn’t help but exclaim. “I just wanted to help you find them, not get involved with whatever you guys are doing! I’ve got school tomorrow!”

She had dinner with Jade tonight!

“Your safety is more important. You can ride in the helicopter with me to get back to this project’s base of operations. We’ll send people to fetch your family too.”

“My family’s not home!” Katie blurted out and the agent raised an eyebrow. “They’re uh… on a road trip. I dunno where they’ve gone exactly.”

“Dammit.” Agent Ward cursed quietly. “I guess you’ll have to do for now. Pack some things quickly- the sooner we leave the better.”

Her glare was hard enough for Katie to start to rush to grab her belongings.

“Are you sure there’s no other way?” She called as she grabbed her backpack from next to her chair.

“Sorry, but yes.” Replied Agent Ward with no remorse whatsoever.

It didn’t take Katie too long to grab supplies. A couple pairs of clothes, her toothbrush and hairbrush, her laptop and charger, etc. All the while she tried to stay positive and think that she could at least help her family with their mission if she was in Silicon Valley too.

“Ready to go?” Ward asked. Katie nodded and followed her out of the door.

Only to be met with Jade approaching them down the hall.

“Katie!” Jade called, her eyes wide with confusion and concern and probably fear at the big scary woman leading her away. “What’s going on?”

Katie wished she could tell her everything. She would even drop her entire backpack if it meant she could take Jade with her. But she couldn’t, and it was best if Jade didn’t know too much. For her own safety more than anything.

Especially if the CIA really were the bad guys.

“I’ve gotta go, J.” She answered sadly. “I don’t know when I’ll be back.”

Jade seemed to understand that Katie was in over her head and acted confident for both their sakes. She loved Jade for that. “Alright." A beat. "Dinner’s off, I guess?”

“Yeah,” Katie laughed, “dinner’s off. Sorry.”

Jade smiled, though Katie could tell she was secretly very worried. Typical Jade.

“Don’t worry about it.” She smiled, keeping her gaze away from Agent Ward as she ran in to give Katie a hug.

“Take care of yourself.” She whispered into Katie’s ear. “See you soon.”

Katie tried to hold back tears that were pricking her eyes.

“Hopefully.” She replied before they pulled apart and she was led away.

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