Whumptober2020 Crewton Wrongfully accused
It had been a long trek to catch the young rabbit that had been sending out threatening letters, still seemingly at random. But with Lola’s help, they managed.
By the time they had caught him, it was late, so he sent her ahead to go home. She needed sleep more than he did. It hadn’t been a fight.
While turning the rabbit over, Edge suddenly found himself in handcuffs. Confused, he didn’t struggle. Following along, he tried to get one of the men pulling him to look at him. “Do I at least get to know why you’re throwing me in handcuffs?”
“You’re accused of stealing from the first national bank,” one explained as they took him below to a holding cell.
“What?! I’ve never stolen anything in my life! Besides, why would I be waltzing in here if I had done something so horrible?” He tried to reason with them. Nothing. “What proof do you have? You need some kind of evidence before you lock me up!”
“You just sit in this cell and wait.” They all but tossed him in and locked the cell door behind him. “They’ve got enough.”
Turning around Edge grabbed the bars of the cell. “This is ridiculous! You can’t hold me without reason! And I’m permitted a phone call!”
“Not for something like you,” the other sneered and left him alone in the cell.
Edge paced the length of the small cell, trying to understand what was going on. He’d never try to knock over a bank! He hadn’t even heard anything about a bank robbery. This had to be some kind of misunderstanding!
They had to be down at some point, he could talk with them then. This wasn’t right. Not even a phone call!
But night came, and they had shut down the lights. That was concerning no one had come down. They had to feed people in custody. Sure, he didn’t eat, but he would power down without caffeine.
Edge sat on the small cot, wincing when it whined. “Maybe I was just late. Someone will come down in the morning. I can get this figured out.” Laying back on the small bed his feet hung off the edge. These really didn’t have comfort in mind. Closing his eyes, he tried to get a little sleep. If nothing else, to pass the time.
Come morning, nothing. He stayed lying down, trying to conserve energy until well past noon. No one was coming. Edge was starting to fear he would be left here and forgotten. He couldn’t stay powered on for too much longer, the rest of the day, perhaps. He could hear them all upstairs. He wasn’t alone, but he certainly felt that way in the cell.
He wondered if Shale was mad at him. He would be very late by now. Lola had probably called him a layabout three times by now. Edge laughed. She would probably be pouting at her desk that there was no one to bother.
When he could feel himself nearing powering down, Edge started to panic. They really were going to leave him here to turn off. Trying to conserve what little power was left he slipped into stasis. Hopefully, things would be better when he woke up.
He woke up to being lifted up by a pair of gorillas. Not the most common animal in Crewton, but at least they were strong enough to lift him. He couldn’t even stand on his own anymore.
He had tried to greet them, but they didn’t even grunt. Rude, he thought, but he supposed to them he was a criminal.
Up he went, and they dragged him out of the cell. It must be time for trial, he thought, hopeful that this mess would clear itself soon. And hopefully, someone would be kind enough to give him some coffee.
Only they weren’t going in the direction of the courtrooms when they dragged him down the hall. That was highly concerning. “Guys? Where are you taking me?” He asked, a little nervous to know.
“Your sentence has been passed,” they explained, not bothering to look at him.
“What? But I haven’t even stood trial yet! They couldn’t have passed sentencing yet! You must have me confused with someone else!”
“Don’t need one. You’re just a robot,” said one, a bit of malice in that one’s voice.
Edge seethed at that. That wasn’t right! Robots may not have had all the rights of humans, but he still had rights. He struggled in their grasp, trying to break free. This was ridiculous! He wouldn’t be compliant any longer!
Only he couldn’t get away. It had been too long since he had had coffee. Edge didn’t have the energy to get away from them. Try as he might, they just gripped tighter. Tight enough, it hurt as the metal started to bend.
At the end of the hall, one of them opened a large door. It was a mostly empty room, save the large conveyor belt in the middle that led away. It filled the room with a deafening grinding sound and hummed loudly. There was a machine on the other end. A grinder.
He tried to thrash in their grip. “No! Please, no! I’m innocent! I didn’t rob the bank. Please!” He cried as they threw him on the belt. “This isn’t a fair punishment for robbery!” He tried to get up, but he couldn’t even lift his body, arms weakly sliding in front of him
Still, he tried to get away. He watched as the gears of the machine grew ever closer. Too weak to fight it, he begged for his life. This wasn’t right! Doing this while he was powered on!
His hand was the first part of him to meet the grinding gears. As each piece of metal tore apart, he screamed and cried out in pain. Slowly, the rest of his arm was fed into it. What little he could, he struggled, begging for the pain to stop the more of his arm the machine ate.
Just as his nose nearly touched the moving parts, he closed his eyes tightly. He waited for the pain, but it never came. One second passed, then two. Edge cautiously cracked open an eye to look around. The machine had stopped.
“EDGE!” Lola was screaming his name. Lola was here! She rushed down the side of the belt to him. As soon as she was close enough, she grabbed onto his coat, trying to pull him off. She was talking so fast, Edge couldn’t understand her.
The gorillas came down to help, yanking at him. Trying to get him loose.
It hurt! “Stop! Please, stop!” He cried.
They were ripping his arm off from the weakened metal. Every motion of his arm sent searing pain through him. They had to bring someone down to remove his arm. That at least hurt less. It took far longer than he would have liked, and the pain still throbbed through his shoulder.
Once he was free, he held Lola tightly with the arm he had left and sobbed. He had almost died for a crime he had never done. This wasn’t fair to him. This wasn’t fair to any robot. He had to do something.