No one likes a trip to the lab. Broken arms, frayed wires, all easily fixed in theory by the brilliant scientists that Playtime employs, but their bedside manner tended to be. . . lacking in comparison.
Yet for whatever reason, Dr. Stanton always has such trouble with the Capture twins. They’ve heard the stories of mean scientists, even experienced some stories for themselves, yet they never seem to care about being in the lab so much. Any roughness they receive from the scientists is always shot back, though sometimes it ends in punishment.
But solitary confinement doesn’t seem to bother them either. It certainly doesn’t sway them from being so rough on one another.
“Poly broke my eye again!” Kody shouts the moment he steps into Dr. Stanton’s office.
Dr. Stanton gives a long, weary sigh. Since when was she their primary caretaker? Didn’t Playtime hire people for that? “Poly? Is that true?”
“Yes. . .” Poly says slowly. Everyone remains quiet, waiting for inevitable follow up. “But not intentionally.”
Kody’s reels whir loudly. “NOT INTENTIONALLY MY ASS!”
“Not my fault you got in the way of our cartwheel competition!”
Dr. Stanton looks at her. “You can cartwheel?”
“Oh!” Kody wails, lamenting to the ceiling. Dr. Stanton just sighs again, already typing up the incident report. “Oh, my picture perfect face! Ruined! How will I ever go on camera again?”
“You can’t even record yourself.” Dr. Stanton comments dryly.
“You’re the only one you can’t record.” Poly agrees. “Besides, BB and I have always said you had a face for radio more than anything else.”
“BB??” Kody shrieks, struck. “BB!! Not BB!!!”
“Enough!” Dr. Stanton snaps. The twins stop their bickering and stare at her. She feels very watched under their gazes, but she knows that Kody’s not recording, even as he whirs on in his anger. And Poly snaps when she takes photos, so any nervousness is unjustified. “If you want your eye fixed, Kody, then I suggest you calm down.”
“It’s Poly’s fault!” Kody whines, pointing to his sister. Poly just scoffs. “She always antagonizes me.”
“You’re the one that’s shouting murder!” Poly argues, crossing her arms over her chest. With several clicks, she lowers down to a shorter height, able to look Dr. Stanton in her eyes. Her arms are still long, however, which makes her look more cartoony than serious. “He’s overreacting to an accident, Doc-”
“-and I wanna see you replace his eye! It always looks so cool and freaky-!”
“Hey!” Kody shouts. A headache blossoms in Dr. Stanton’s temples. “That’s my head you’re talking about! Gross, Poly! Why do you wanna watch her open my head??”
“Cause I wanna see how empty it is!”
“ENOUGH!” Dr. Stanton shouts. Both toys leap into the air, startled by the outburst. Dr. Stanton just shoves at Poly’s chest, forcing her out the door. “Get out! Get out you stupid fucking thing!”
Poly stumbles out the door, balance off kilter with her arms longer than her legs. Dr. Stanton doesn’t care, however, slamming the door shut behind her.
The silence that rings out afterwards is a sweet, sweet balm on the doctor’s frayed nerves. She didn’t sign up for this when applying to be a toy engineer. Toys aren’t usually supposed to talk and argue and bicker. Toys don’t usually need to be punished.
“Let’s fix your damn eye.” Dr. Stanton grumbles.
Kody just nods, still whirring away.
By the time Kody walks out, his eye is good as new. Poly says nothing, waiting until Dr. Stanton yells at them to leave and slams her door again before she joins his side.
“Well?” She asks, voice hushed as they make their way back to the Studio.
Kody pops his loading door open, revealing the bright teal tape. “It’s called a debrief for someone named Claire Harper. I dunno, but it’s gotta be important, right?”
“Most of the tapes so far have been.” Poly says. The pair pause, watching some scientists walk by. “Hiya! Want to settle an argument?”
“No.” They both say, hurrying off. Poly just shrugs at her brother.
“I’ll work on burning it tonight.” Kody says, flipping the door closed again. “I’ll return the copy tonight after you bust my leg.”
“Solitary confinement!” Poly waves a fist in the air. “Woo! Hopefully there will be bugs to document.”
“If they let you keep your film.” Kody agrees, a hand hovering his stomach. “I hope. . . Do you think these will help anyone?”
“They’re proof.” Poly says.
“If someone finds them.” Kody sighs, dropping his arm. “I’ll need to hide them really well so no one bad find them. Someone good needs to find them instead. Someone. . . Someone who’s gonna fix all this.”
“Our guardian angel.” Poly jokes.
“Our superhero in disguise!” Kody says, pretending to swoon. “Who knows! Maybe they’re here right now.” He pauses, glancing at the three feet that walk across the ground. “Maybe they’ll save us.”
Poly carefully curls her fingers around Kody’s. “Maybe they will.”
