Steelbeak and Ellie sat in his personal office on the sofa that was placed in front of the large window. Something Steelbeak had requested the other day so he could watch the city, his city, burn in the distance and his people slave away during his free time.
Ellie didn't understand why he chose this place to take her out of all places; the view made her rather upset and he probably knew that, but she didn't say anything. She was just happy to be out of that dingy lab where she assumed she was safe from torture at the moment. Emphasis on "assumed". Nonetheless, she was just pleased to be by his side, even if they sat a good few feet apart.
Truthfully, she was quite embarrassed about her sudden feelings that had blossomed toward him, not to mention the fact that she admitted all of her feelings to him with no control or warning. In fact, she was so ashamed that she kept her mouth shut the entirety of the walk to his office, as well as the time they sat together. Steelbeak had done the same for unknown reasons that she didn't bother questioning.
He was currently leaning on the armrest in a relaxed position, puffing on a much too expensive cigar and every so often tapping ash in the ashtray beside him. Every time he blew out a trail of smoke, the air conditioning blew most of it in Ellie's direction. The warmth of it had recently started to irritate her man-made skin, but she avoided scratching herself or waving it away so she wouldn't draw attention or make him upset with her.
The tense, silent air made the minutes seem like hours. But according to Ellie's internal clock, it had only been a little over one hour. She passed the time by thinking about Boyd, hoping he was doing alright with the pain he had to deal with that she had failed to retrieve tools for. She longed to hold him again almost as much as she longed for Steelbeak to hold her. Her subconscious was aware how messed up that thought was, how she was betraying her actual love, Mark, for a sickening enemy that had hurt her and all her loved ones. A murderer who killed her best friend. But her current conscious, the one in front and in charge, was not aware of that anymore. However, it didn't stop her from shivering. Steelbeak had noticed her sudden flinch and glanced over in her direction. That embarrassed Ellie even more and she hoped to Duck Jesus he wouldn't say anything. Starting a sudden conversation now would be too awkward. She knew that, even with an obsession for the man next to her.
Ellie could still feel Steelbeak's gaze on her after she had flinched unintentionally and she waited in anticipation for him to look away and continue smoking so her "heart" could stop fluttering for one second.
"So... you like me... how did that happen, huh?" This himbo ass knew the answer but Ellie didn't. He also knew her reprogramming had made her forget what he said about changing her emotions for him. Right now he just wanted to watch her suffer trying to come up with an answer.
Ellie internally cringed. He indeed started a conversation when she least wanted it. "...I don't know..." She said, continuing to stare at the horrid view in front of her.
"Well, I guess I'm not surprised. I mean, we went on a date a few months back. Do you remember that?"
She did remember, but the memory had become rather blurry when she tried to look back on it and analyze what had happened that night. That was just another strange thing happening to her that was added to a large pile of many other questionable things. "No... I don't." She settled on saying.
"Oh really?! Well it was great! We went to Red Lobster and I think we totally hit it off! To be honest I wanted to ask you out on another date before all of this chaos broke out."
"That does not make any sense. Why would I have gone on a date with you when I was with Mark?" Ellie was flattered he had wanted to ask her out again but this whole thing still felt like a huge pre-planned lie. She still wished he was telling the truth, it just wasn't quite believable.
Steelbeak shrugged "Beats me. I tried asking you about Mark but it only made you cry so I changed the subject." He opened up one of his drawers attached to his desk and moved some important documents around until he found the receipt from Red Lobster. "Here's the receipt. Maybe it'll help retrace your memory."
She slowly took the receipt from him to study it. The date sounded very familiar, she had been upset with Mark at the time. Ellie handed the receipt back to him without saying anything else. There wasn't anything she thought she could say.
He put the receipt back where he found it and shut the dware. "Anyways, since I'm like, in charge of everything around here now, I would love to take you on another date again sometime."
Her chest warmed up again and it took every ounce of her willpower to not spill out everything to him. How she wanted him to stop talking and just embrace her. But she wanted to try to keep some of her dignity and countered his question. "What are you going to do to me? I did not give you the information you wanted so why are you...being nice? I'm not useful to you. You... you got rid of Gloria when she wasn't useful to you." She choked out. "I am not any different."
"I don't get it... We both like eachother and I want to take you out on a second date so why are you questioning my reasoning? Aren't you happy that I asked you out and stopped electrocuting you?"
"What? Of course I am!" Ellie waved her hands frantically, trying to get herself out of the hole she just dug herself into. The last thing she wanted to do was push him further away when he was just getting closer. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said anything. I'm just very confused about everything going on right now."
Steelbeak inhaled the last bit of his cigar before putting it out. "So is that a "yes"? On the date?"
She quickly nodded her head, giving him an immediate yes. She was in anguish while waiting for him to move closer to her; hoping he did. Her programmed emotions were going haywire and she awkwardly twiched again.
Steelbeak smirked, knowing what her programming was doing to her, and that her subconscious was trying to stop it. "What's wrong."
"N-nothing." Ellie stammered out quickly, looking away.
"You've been twitching all day. Why is that?"
Stop asking questions. Ellie internally demanded of him. She was still much too embarrassed to admit to anything. "It's just a- just a habit of mine."
"Really? Because I don't remember you doing that during our date."
She gulped. "That's... weird."
"It is..." He scooted over and took Ellie's hand to stare at it as if he was in deep thought. "I'm sorry that I had to hurt you yesterday. You know I didn't want to, right? I've just been angry as of late and Mark Beaks, the thorn in my side, has not been much of a help. It pains me to think about all the horrible things he's done to you in the past- but that's another story. We shouldn't even be talking about him! I'm sure you're much happier here now with me than you ever were with him."
Ellie squeezed his hand and smiled softly. "Don't apologize, I understand." She insisted. "Mark has intentionally hurt me many times but I- I know that you don't mean to and I appreciate it. I deserved it for... not complying."
He smiled back "Thank you for seeing it from my perspective. It's been so stressful being a dictator and all but you've been great at helping to remind me of what truly matters in life."
Her chest was so warm and full; she couldn't tell if she was in pain or in bliss. Ellie twitched awkwardly again causing her to lean forward a bit. "You remind me of what matters too."
Steelbeak cupped Ellie's cheek with his hand before gently kissing her. The kiss didn't last long but to Ellie it felt like an eternity. "Damn, you're so beautiful..." He broke the kiss long enough to compliment her before kissing her again. This time it was longer. Much longer.
Ellie grabbed onto his shirt to pull him forward to deepen it. She finally felt whole for the first time in what felt like forever. His warm embrace and the comfort she felt with him felt so...familiar. She pulled away before coming in close again, but this time nuzzling her head into the crook of his neck and wrapping her arms around him. Ellie finally felt relaxed after all the torture she had been through and she was finally with the person she missed dearly. "I love you, Mark." She whispered.
Steelbeak froze and grabbed Ellie's hands, pulling her off of him. "What did you just say?"
Ellie wondered what he meant until it dawned on her. She tensed up and tried to pull away but his grip only tightened. "I- I didn't mean it! I don't know what I was thinking!"
Steelbeak shot up and slapped her right across the face. "AFTER EVERYTHING I'VE DONE FOR YOU, YOU ARE STILL THINKING ABOUT MARK FUCKING BEAKS?! YOU BITCH!"
Holding her cheek, Ellie slowly stood up and backed away from him, holding a hand out in a calming manner. "I wasn't in the right state of mind! It just slipped out!" Ellie couldn't believe what she had just done to him. Why had she started fantasizing about Mark after how badly he had manipulated her?
Steelbeak ignored her pleas and took out the remote again. "OH I'M SURE IT DID!" He kicked her in the stomach, letting her fall on the ground, before pressing the button.
Unlike yesterday, Ellie managed out a blood curdling scream as she grabbed her chest, curling in on herself on the floor. "STOP! PLEASE! I CAN'T TAKE THIS ANYMORE!" She begged, sobbing.
"YOU SHOULD'VE THOUGHT ABOUT THAT BEFORE YOU SAID MARK'S NAME INSTEAD OF MINE! YOU DESERVE TO BE IN PAIN!"
"I know I do!" Her voice was weaker now, she felt like she was going to shut down from pure shock at any moment. And who knows if she would actually wake up. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry Mark keeps getting in the way!"
"Oh trust me... Soon Mark won't be in the way for very much longer."
He walked close to her so he could glare down and watch her body twist in unnatural positions. Steelbeak's smile faded when he noticed she had shut down, probably from the shock of pain. He kept the button on anyway so she could feel it when she woke up.
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Although Gyro had insisted that they talk plans over waffles, they didn't. Mark ignored his rambling as he tweeted and took selfies while Boyd was having a blast sorting his sprinkles into different sections on his own waffle. Gyro gave up eventually and huffed, drinking his own black coffee in an angry silence.
Boyd looked over at Mark, adding more sprinkles along with chocolate syrup on his breakfast. "Can we do something fun today, dad?"
"Well DUH!? What else would we be doing today?"
Gyro almost threw his coffee at Mark. "COMING UP WITH PLANS!"
"Oh right..." Mark turned to look at Gyro "You're still here. I guess you can tag along if you want."
Scowling, Gyro bawled his fists.
"Grandma Glamour has a bowling alley, right?"
Mark nodded "Obviously! Is that what you wanna do today, sport?"
"Yes!"
"No!" Gyro countered, crossing his arms.
Mark scoffed. "Then stay behind! Trust me, I don't want you to come bowling."
"Oh no, I'm coming." Gyro leaned over the table. "And we're going to continue this discussion when we're there, got it?"
"UGHHHHH BUZZKILL!" He nudged Boyd to help back him up "Am I right?!"
"um....#buzzkill?" His son added.
"Oh yeah!" Mark gave Boyd a hive five "Two against one, Gyro! You suck!"
He rolled his eyes, following Mark and Boyd to the bowling alley; but he kept a good distance between them so he wouldn't murder right in front of a child.
The bowling alley was exactly as you would imagine, the only difference being that it didn't smell of old shoes and the place was actually really clean. Gyro could see his twig self in the reflection of the unused bowling balls. At least the illusion made him look a bit more muscular.
Boyd put on Gucci bowling shoes as fast he grabbed the heaviest bowling ball possible, which was the size of his head. Without asking, he started already, getting strike after strike.
Mark relaxed and sat down, going back to his phone when his son did whatever.
Gyro sat across from him and annoyingly crossed his arms again. "Soooo... are you concerned about Gloria and Ellie now? We have to come up with something, dumbass."
Mark held up his index finger at him while he continued to text with his other hand. After a minute he finally responded. "Gloria? No. Ellie? Of course. But there really isn't anything we can do soooooo...like you said, it's not like he's going to kill them without getting his hands on us first."
"I know. That's the issue. We can't just leave the mansion, but we also can't leave them there or we'll never see them again."
"They've escaped jail all the time, I'm sure they'll figure something out."
"Unbelievable." Gyro stood up and started doing that thing where he paced out of stress. "Maybe... if I can get my hands on some tools and a God Bot I can reprogram it to be on our side to help us with the rescue mission because we obviously can't do it by ourselves. Especially you."
"LOL don't, like, ALL of your robots turn evil or something? I don't see how that would be any help!" Mark began tweeting about how dumb Gyro was and also messaging in the Anti-Gyro groupchat.
He had a point but Gyro got defensive anyway. "They're already evil so it's not like I could make it any worse if I at least tried!"
"Hey man, if you wanna go outside, fight a God Bot, capture it, reprogram it, and hopefully have it be on our side, be my guest."
"Oh, you think you're so snarky, don't you?" He bit. "Fine. We'll come up with another plan. How about this?" Gyro got all up in Mark's personal space like a little bitch. "If you think your robots don't turn evil, why don't you break back into Waddle and build us an army because you're the one who built the God Bots to begin with. Am I wrong?" He paused. "Or, better yet, YOU reprogram them if you're so confident in your inventing abilities."
Mark held his hands up and closed his eyes "Alright alright you got me. FINEEEEE I will attempt your STUPID plan!" He paused for a moment. "Because I have nothing else better to do."
"Now we only need to figure out a way to actually get our hands on one or more without being kidnapped!"
Before the conversation could move any further, Boyd walked over having already worn down the floor the ball rolled across. "Is it true?" His voice was quiet and concerned.
Mark turned to look at Boyd before scruffing his hair. "Is what true, bud?"
"That Steelbeak kidnapped Aunt Gloria and Mom..."
Mark stayed silent, trying to think of something to say to that. Both him and Gyro were caught red handed talking about such a serious topic in front of him. Boyd continued on.
"Why aren't you trying harder to get them back? You- you saw what he did to mom last time."
Mark sighed "We're trying, bud."
"No you're not! You just decided to do something! You didn't care until just now!" That was the first time Boyd had ever yelled at Mark, and Gyro got sick satisfaction from it. It was also the first time either of them actually saw him get angry. "Aunt Gloria and Mom are the only people that try to raise me and you're just shrugging the situation off like it's nothing! He's probably hurting them right now and they're suffering why you continue- while you continue to be on your phone and take silly pictures of yourself! You're a terrible dad!" Boyd started crying in the middle of his sentence. "Dr. Gearloose was a better dad than you ever were! I'm tired of pretending to hate him just for your sake!"
Mark widened his eyes, not expecting his son to blow up at him. But something in particular caught his attention. "I'm sorry, what now?"
Boyd wiped his tears away "I'm sorry Dr. Gearloose, but I can't keep pretending anymore! My mom is in trouble and we have to do something about it!"
Gyro sighed, resting a hand on Boyd's shoulder. "It's okay. It's getting hard for me to act too."
"What is going on?!!!!"
Gyro turned to Mark. "Ya know, Mark. This whole time, for 50 chapters, you have pretended that you were the one who built Boyd. Why do you feel the need to lie to everyone, including yourself and Ellie? All you did was copy his programming to build other robots yourself!"
Mark put his hands up. "Techhhhhhnicalllllyyyy I did create Boyd! He wasn't cool when I found him in the dump but I took him in and made him cool! I gave him new speakers so he could play my mixtapes and everything!"
Boyd started tearing up again and bawled his fists. "You're tricking Mom and Aunt Gloria and- and everyone! I was mean to Dr. Gearloose for your sake but I love him more than you! How can I view you as a dad if you're going to let mom die?! I don't want you as a dad anymore! I just want mom and I to get away from you!"
Gyro gasped. "Boyd, I don't think now is the time to-"
"No! I want to hear what he has to say!"
For once in his life, Mark was at a loss for words. "Okayyyyyyyy I feel really attacked right now and everyone seems to be ganging up on me sooooooooo" He pointed to the exit door with his thumb. "Imma just," He slowly got up "Go. BYEEEEE!" and ran out the room.
Gyro and Boyd watched him leave.
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Gloria and her newfound ally, sort of, sat together by a pile of shit as they ate their frozen turkey sandwiches on their lunch break. The day was far from over .
"OY!" Glomgold spit, pointing to Gloria's sandwich. "YOU GONNA EAT THAT!?"
Gloria looked at her sandwich in disgust before throwing it at him. "Knock yourself out."
Glomgold caught the sandwich mid air and ate it in one bite like a feral dog. He made several disgusting noises as he choked on the sandwich, spitting it back out and then shoving it down his throat again. "DID YOU PUT ENOUGH SHIT IN YOUR MIC?!" He pointed to her collar, his mouth still obnoxiously full. "YOU KNOW! SO THEY CAN'T HEAR US AND CATCH US TRYING TO COME UP WITH AN ESCAPE PLAN!"
"If you keep yelling, yeah, they'll hear us!"
"DON'T YOU TELL ME WHAT TO DO, GLADIS!"
Gloria held her hands up like she was praying "For the LAST TIME! My name is GLORIA NOT GLADIS! Get it right or I'll start calling you..." Gloria paused to think of a name that would be insulting to him "Scrooge"
"EWWW GROSS! FINE, WHATEVER! I JUST WON'T SAY YOUR NAME AT ALL FROM NOW ON!" He definitely was going to say her name, or not her name, again sometime soon but Gloria let him think that he would be smart enough to stop. He jumped up, turning to her in a scuttle. "Can I ask YOU a question?"
Gloria sighed "What now?"
"Well, people are saying that Steelbeak is a God, but I am the true GOD!" He announced, throwing his fists in the air. "...but do you think Steelbeak is a better dictator than me. If I had a grade on being a dictator... would I get an A?"
"Well, you DID put me and my friends through a horrendous camp for a few months. But Steelbeak is MUCH more threatening. Overall I'd give your reign as dictator a solid B-."
"WOT?!" He stomped his foot before plopping back down on his ass. "YOU'RE JUST SAYING THAT BECAUSE YOU'RE JEALOUSSSSS!"
"Jealous of you?! Right..." The two didn't speak for a few awhile until Gloria piped up again. "I don't get it... You wanted me and Ellie dead right? That was the whole point of sending us to the summer camp. So why the change of heart, Flintheart?"
"THAT'S FLINTHEART GODGOLD TO YOU!" He screamed, but went silent as he started to scratch his beard in deep thought. Or however deep his thoughts could go which wasn't very deep at all. "I dunno..." He shrugged. "I guess I secretly wanted a..." He leaned in closer to Gloria, blushing. "A real family. I didn't realize that until, like, just now." Glomgold started getting more character development which was horrifying to say the least. But he never got to see therapy so he used Gloria as his free trial to "share feelings" or whatever. "I got scared I would mess up being an uncle so I decided to push everyone away and I only ended up letting Ellie get hurt by Steelbeak and eventually killed. As for you. Yeah. I don't care about you." He added.
Gloria was nodding along while he spoke. "And you don't have any sort of backup file or whatever to bring Ellie back? Is there anything Mark could do? Imma be honest with ya, chief, that story struck a chord in my empty black heart. I wanna help you out."
"Uh well, I know this is hard to believe but I'm not thaaaaat smart. I AM SMART, but not robo smart. I do know there are no backup flash drives. As for Mark," He shrugged and made an "I dunno" sound, you know what I'm talking about. "Sooooooo Robo-Babeh is no more, I'd say. And I am a God."
God Glomgold was impossible to talk to. "I'm sorry you lost your family, Glomgold. I really am."
"I DON'T NEED YOUR PITY YOU-"
"Gloria?" A familiar voice asked.
"WHO?" Glomgold asked rhetorically.
Gloria whipped her head around to see who was talking to her. It was baby boy Fenton himself, bitches! "Oh hey! You're the guy who was fired!... oh sorry about that..."
He smiled sheepishly. "It's okay. I get paid to be GizmoDuck, er, did before all this happened."
"Yeah! Speaking of GizmoDuck, where the FUCK have you been during all of this?!"
Fenton looked at Glomgold.
"Oh... I see..." He turned to Gloria. "I may or may have not shot him down and executed the suit thinking it was him during my reign."
"Yeah he ruined it and I can't find Gyro anywhere." He sighed. "Not that matters since we're here now."
Gloria used her hand to cover the mic part of her collar and whispered "I know where Gyro is. He can help fix the suit but we have to come up with a way to escape."
Fenton followed her lead and covered his own mic as he spoke. "What? Where is he?!" He whispered.
"Have you heard of Miss Glamour? It's Mark Beak's mom. We've been camping out there until I was caught."
"MARK BEAKS HAS A MOM?!" Glomgold shouted.
Fenton ignored him, along with Gloria. His eyes widened. "Of course! I never checked the place because I figured Gyro would be nowhere near a family member of Mr. Beaks." He put a thumb to his chin. "That was very clever of him."
"Your name is Fenton, right? Do you have any idea on how we could escape?"
"Yep! Fenton. Fenton Crackshell." He held out his hand to shake Gloria's. "Nice to meet you. Formally this time." He stood back up. "But, um, yeah... I've been trying to figure out a way out of here for weeks but the God Bots are impossible to avoid. I was lucky enough to be working in the capitol building yesterday so I figured that was my shot since I was above ground... that didn't go so well."
"Why? What happened in the capitol building?"
While the two adults were talking, Glomgold continued to sit and shuffled his feet back and forth in the dirt and mud.
"I tried hacking into some God Bots software when they were standing outside some science lab, but Steelbeak exited and caught me red handed... I'm supposed to be executed this Sunday so..." He laid a hand over his forehead. "It was stupid of me. I heard him talking in there but I figured he would be more occupied for just a bit longer. I know hacking into Steelbeak's personal God Bots sounds stupid, but I figured if I did so successfully I could've taken him down before my escape."
"That's so weird... What would Steelbeak be doing in a science lab of all places?"
"I don't know but he left some girl crying in there. Maybe he's experimenting on people now." He frowned. "He's so messed up."
"Wait, what girl? How did she look?!"
"Ummmm... I wasn't paying that much attention." He admitted. "She was a white duck with a messy bun but that's all I can recall. Why?"
Gloria's jaw dropped and turned to look at Glomgold to see if he was catching any of this. He wasn't. He was too busy playing in the mud. "Glomgold, I think Fenton is talking about Ellie! I think she may be alive!"
"WOT!?" He looked up at Fenton with his large bushy eyebrows narrowed. "How would YOU KNOW?!"
Fenton raised his hands up in the air in defense. "I don't even know who you're talking about!"
"Ellie is Gomgold's niece who also happens to be a robot. Long story. But anyways we gotta help her! Steelbeak has some weird beef with her and the fact that she's still alive means that she is in even more danger."
"Oh goodness no." He shook his head. "That must've been the robot he was talking about reprogramming when I was escorted away."
"ROBO-BABEH?!"
Fenton ignored him. "I'm sorry but I think she's already been reprogrammed by now..." He trailed off for a second. His face lit up. "But if we can retrieve her I bet Gyro can do something! He's changed a robot's programming just with his words before!"
"What are you talking about? He's never mentioned that to me before."
"Oh," Fenton rubbed the back of his head awkwardly. "I guess he still doesn't like to talk about it..."
Now Gloria was getting worried. "Talk about what?!"
"Back in Japan, Boyd was going haywire and Gyro was about to shut him down but stopped him last minute by convincing him he was good. That's the best way I can describe it."
Gloria sat there for a moment "No that's not right. Gyro has never met Boyd before. How would he know him?"
"Wait. Did he tell you he didn't know Boyd?" Fenton started to look concerned. Gyro was always an enigma to him, but he didn't want to rat him out either.
"Yeah! They both acted like they didn't even know each other! How does Gyro know him?!"
"Gyro... built Boyd years ago with his old mentor."
"Wait... so Gyro built Boyd and not Mark?" Gloria got up. Now she was pissed. "So everyone knew about this except for me?! GOD! Even Mark was involved in this lie?! What the fuck?!"
Fenton put his hands in the air. "Woah, I'm not claiming you're the only one who doesn't know, I promise! I don't know what you mean by Mark being involved with the lie, but if you didn't know I'm sure your other friends didn't, er, don't know either..."
"I still don't understand why he didn't tell me! We have been around Boyd and Mark for months and he didn't think to tell me?! I'm gonna kill him..."
Fenton began twiddling his thumbs. "Are we still going to come up with an escape plan?" He squeaked out.
Glomgold finally piped up "ARGH! FINALLY! I THOUGHT YOU TWO WOULD NEVER SHUT UP! LET'S GET SHARKS INVOLVED!"
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