Writing idea/prompt:
Misty x Chip
Misty is the one with the override, and how that changes the dynamics of their relationship.
This was a fun one!! Thank you!!
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Everything had been so… perfect, hadn’t? Well, until they both got hired. But that was supposed to be when things got good. Job security, right? The very thing all cogs wanted.
Then why?
“Mist, I have time today after my shift, would you want…”
Misty had jumped away from him as if he’d grown another head, another saw.
“I uh… I have something else going on, lots of work! Sorry Chip! Another time maybe.”
Chip blinked, completely baffled as she rushed away.
Before, she’d been so eager for any chance to curl up next to him, to hold his hand, to grab onto him, and even if he was slow at first… he’d become just as eager.
But something had gone off.
He was hired on to basically ‘get rid of dead weight’ along with spearheading clearing out ‘Acorn Acres’ for development. And Misty, his Misty had been assigned clearing out the boatyard area. She had been excited, at first. A whole new experience, a chance to make headway with the ongoing conflict with toons and create a new route into the new territory.
Yet… Ever since then… it was like she didn’t want to see him, or wanted to avoid him as if he was carrying a trojan virus.
At first he was hurt… mad even. What did he even do? When asked she’d say ‘nothing’ except it was so obvious she was avoiding him.
So that’s why he was here now, betraying a key role of relationships ‘to mind your own business unless invited.” He’d taken off work early under the excuse of needing an oil change (which was coming up anyway), and slipped down to the docks.
He considered himself a pretty strong cog, but he was struggling to keep his footing, multiple toons went flying through the air past him, taken by the intense winds. His fellow cogs had already taken shelter in buildings, looking at him like he was crazy.
This kind of wind could only be conjured up by one cog, but even then… she never tried nor wanted to maintain this kind of weather for this long, he squinted, looking up and holding his hat on his head.
The clouds were rotating around a particular spot of the boatyard.
Shit.
Suddenly a small toon caught in a miniature vortex collided with him, he only barely kept his grounding.
He tried to pull it off him, like it was gum stuck to him.
“NOooOOOOO!” It cried, a small annoyingly bright colored cat toon.
“Remove yourself from me critt-” He became aware of a tearing sound as he tried to peel it off. “OI!”
The toon was shaking, gloves off apparently, the damn thing had claws! Did toons always have those? Or was it only when in their logic, it would be ‘’’’funny’’’?
His outer suit tore as he finally pulled the annoying thing off him, it pleaded with him as he glared at it for ruining a well built suit.
“PlEASE! It’s a monster! I’ve been spinning around for hou-RRSSSSss!” He shouted as Chip let it go and allowed the wind to take it.
Misty was many things, but she was not a monster. Something had to be hurting, probably one of these critter’s doing and they caused this damage themselves. So he pressed on, reaching a tall lighthouse, he felt a dry joint in his leg creak in protest. He was never tested for this amount of pressure on his joints.
Guess he’d find out just how much he could take.
As he got closer to where he knew Misty should be, rain started to lash at him, he tried to keep his head tilted, he really really didn’t want a lot of water getting close to his saw motor.
“Hey! Are they really sending more cogs!? This thing is enough trouble!” A squeaky voice came.
Chip glared angrily in the direction of the voice, he saw a group of toons plastered to the ground, somehow sticking.
“I’m trying to figure out what you toons did to Mx. Monsoon!” He snapped.
“Us?! You cogs are the ones that unleashed an out of control cog that can control the weather out here! This is an eepy move even for you suits!”
“Sticky Lou wasn’t joking about this glue…”
“I…the company, and especially not Misty would do anything to cause any sort of damage.” Chip defended, saw revving, his body creaked again as the wind shoved against him.
“EEK! Here it comes! Everyone have their traps ready? We’ve got one shot!” One of the toons cried.
“What..?”
He was relieved for about two seconds when he saw Misty emerging from the cover of heavy rain, except something was wrong. Very wrong. There was not even a glimmer of light in her eyes, nothing but black nothing in her sockets, her hair was a dim grey.
“TERMINATION SEQUENCE IN PROGRESS”
That wasn’t her voice. No toon would know how to tamper with a cog like that either…
He saw a toon about to use a magnet on her… when suddenly the wind picked up… the toons all yelped as they came unstuck and blew away.
His eyes and her… well… lack of them locked. Her head twitched slightly as she seemed to pause in recognition.
“REVVINGTON, CHIP, YOU HAVE NOT BEEN AUTHORIZED FOR THIS EXCUR- EXCUR- Chip…! Please I don’t want to-! EXCURSION. VACATE THE - hurt you! PREMISES IMMEDIATELY.”
Chip pressed forward. “I’m not leaving. Misty! Fight this! You would know better but you know this goes against… some kind of law! Whatever’s been done to you, they can’t get away with it.”
“LEAVE THE PREMISES IMMEDIATELY.”
She pointed in his direction and he jumped, vision going blurry for a second as a bolt of lightning hit the ground near him. He shook his head, eyes flipping back on as he refocused.
He saw Misty’s glowing yellow eyes staring at him alarm, there was tinges of blue and yellow flickering in her hair, at war with the deep grey.
“Ch-Chip!” She cried. The wind calmed but she backed up away from him. “It’s… I can’t…”
“You can Mist, you already are!” He insisted, stepping closer to her.
“REMOVE- REMOVING… I can’t!” She cried.
Her eyes flickered, threatening to be swallowed again.
“You can.” He said again.
Her head twitched back and forth, he the wind began blowing inconsistently. She keeled over and grabbed at her own head as if she wanted to pull something out of her own shell.
“Ch-Ip… I need you to- TERMI - break … knock me out-!”
“Misty I’m not going to-!”
“DO IT! Pl ease! I don’t want to hurt anyone else-! I can’t hold o- RECOVERY COMPLETE”
The wind picked up massively again, his joints began to creak again, he could feel the bar in his left leg dangerously close to snapping.
“Dammit….”
He ran his finger along his saw blade. She had asked… and he was going to find a way to get that damn thing out of her.
He aimed and…
—-
“Misty?” Chip poked his saw into her room.
Misty had been stationary for days now, recharged completely but unable to bring herself to move.
The override had been removed, the amount of damage to toons and cogs alike far too much to ignore. However in terms of justice…
He’d quit from C.O.G.S INC. In protest when they pushed Misty into a settlement, the amount of money and time the court battle would have taken was not something two cogs could take on against such a massive company, they were using Misty’s signed contracts when she came onto the company to try and say she’d consented to experimental upgrades, (she had not) but there was enough of an argument that the lawsuit would have dragged on for cog knows how long.
He strode in and sat beside her silently, taking her hand and plugging himself into the wall next to her.
For what it was worth, the whole ordeal becoming public had caused a massive split in the company, so much infighting was going on… yet seeing Misty so defeated… tired…
He leaned his head against hers. She closed her eyes and quietly squeezed his hand back.
Maybe one day… one day she’d feel okay again. At least she wasn’t alone.
