Teamwork is a skill we lack. (II SUPERHERO AU FIC)

30

Leaving the room, Fan stood outside Lightbulbs, waiting for her to come out as well so they could walk out of the lab together, but after she didn't even seem to budge for a few minutes, he stepped in, looking over to the robot that looked like... her.

She sat in the corner of the room, her head in her hands, and her knees close to her chest. He stepped over, calling out cautiously;

"Lightbulb?" He reached out a hand, putting it on her shoulder as he knelt down beside her.

"Are... you okay?"

"... No." Her speech was muffled through her hands, though she didn't move them.

"I... I'm sorry you had to fight yourself... That must've been pretty rough,"

Lightbulb didn't respond. Jeez Fan, great going, he thought to himself, feeling like he'd just made things worse.

"Is... there any way I can... help you feel better? I mean, now that we're friends, I'm sure there's something,"

"You... Think we're friends..?" Lightbulb looked up, tears in her eyes.

"I-I mean, only if you do!" Fan looked away, honestly a bit caught off guard at seeing her cry.

"No-no I mean- Yeah, we're friends, right?" Lightbulb gave a small chuckle, her smile finally faintly shining through. She looked to the side, now pulling her hands away, and letting her legs lie flat on the ground.

"Jeez that was a total bummer," She huffed, looking over to the robot. Fan looked over at it too. It looked completely undamaged.

"Did you not hit it at all?" Fan raised an eyebrow.

"No. I couldn't bring myself to. I don't like hurting people... I've made this clear so many times but it's like, even despite knowing this, Testtube wants me to fight anyways... It's... frustrating..." She frowned again, looking to the floor in front of her.

"I... I can go talk to her about it, if you want... Y'know, after we're out of the lab..." He looked around the empty room.

"Is this what the room projected you into? It's... empty?"

"Uhm... She told me it turned out like this because of my fear or something-- but... It's just... It looks like a room I've been in before and it really threw me off my game..."

"Do... you wanna talk about it?" Fan stood, offering to help her up, to get her out of the room. She took his hand, him lightly pulling her up as they left the room together, not even noticing that Paintbrush's door was still closed as they walked past it.

--

Taco-Bot finally pinned Paintbrush to the ground, throwing a few hefty punches, then stepping away, believing it had knocked out its opponent. It now walked over to the door, starting to punch it, to try to get it open to escape, not noticing Paintbrush behind them, weakly getting up, and igniting themself. They had enough of this. They were pissed, and didn't care anymore, the rage once again blinding any rational thought as they weakly walked over, punching Taco-Bot to the floor, and stepping on them, watching the flame from them spread onto the robot, melting the metal.

They stood like this for several minutes before the room's sprinklers activated, and the robot stopped moving completely.

The door opened, and Paintbrush was no longer on fire, or able to ignite, due to the water, but they were still angry. They wordlessly made their way to Testtube's office, swinging the door open. She sat in her rolling chair, head in hands, only just looking up as the door opened.

"I'm sorry. I took all of this too far--"

"Yeah, you absolutely did." The rage in their voice was still apparent.