Rewind-Redux

“So that’s it? After all of this, all that bullshit you pulled for my safety. It was all just a ploy. Just something to keep your own ass alive.” Leith scoffed and turned to walk away. “I don’t know why I even trusted you in the first place after everything you’ve done. Hell, I put you in that goddamned body for a reason. But maybe I’m just too stupid and blind to see that it- this was all just to get a new body wasn’t it? You never trusted me. You never needed anything, just a damn reason and an alibi!” Leith started raising his voice, not daring to turn around and see the glee he knew was on Harley’s face. “I did so much just to keep you here and alive! I’m the one who put you in that body because if I didn’t, they’d want you gone! It was the only solution that kept you safe, and you couldn’t even see that! With all of your goddamn education, you cant even see shit right in front of you!” He whipped around to Harley, face red. “I hired you because I knew what you could do for the company! I vouched for you after the theater incident! I gave you the means to do whatever the hell you wanted, and you just piss it all away like you do everything you have! Fuck the company, fuck Ludwig, fuck the schooling, and fuck me! You only give a damn about yourself, you selfish bastard! Everything you’ve done is only for yourself and I fucking hate you for it!” He turned again, starting to walk away. “Ludwig was right. You’re nothing but a psychopathic piece of shit. You're not even a goddamn doctor.” He left, walking down to the lower levels of the lab just to get away from Harley.  

He reached the lower level where all of Harley’s other bodies were stored. The copies seemed to flicker on and off, their screens glitching and taunting. He hated it. The suffocating feeling of being surrounded by Harley no matter where he went, always being watched and hunted by him. Nowhere was safe within the factory, cameras and screens being everywhere. It used to comfort Leith but now… it felt like the whole world had turned against him, trying its hardest to claw away his insides before tearing him apart. Those cameras were nothing but eyes for the world to watch gleefully as he struggled to find any semblance of control or even understanding; the TV screens placed to replay every moment of despair and helplessness.  

The first body was hard to destroy. Leith had no clue how the electronic and mechanical components were arranged, how they fit together and bent. He spent several minutes just trying to knock the body over at first; the eight-foot robot disinclined to collapse. By the time it crashed down to the floor, Leith was consumed by anger. The metallic creaking pierced his skull much like Sawyer’s voice penetrated it. He closed his eyes and leaned his head back, reveling in the sound. He fell to his knees, straddling the robot before opening his eyes and looking back down at it. He could almost imagine Harley being inside, feeling Leith on top of him. Feeling the power he always had over Harley. He repositioned the robot’s arms to right above the TV it had for a head, barely able to pin the arms down due to the height of the robot. He pushed its wrists down into the ground, the metal biting back into his hand as if Harley were pushing back against his grip. He scowled at the thought and pinned the robot’s throat with his other hand, straddling its torso tighter with his thighs. The metal was cold and obedient, compliant with Leith’s whims.  

He wrapped his fingers around the wires on the robots neck, giving a gentle tug to test the strength of it. The wires stretched taught with the tug, the robotic having been in disuse for so long wearing down on the wires. Leith leaned forward, his lips almost brushing against the screen as he ripped the wires out of their place. He grunted and completely tore the wires out, dropping the now useless parts on the floor. His hands moved on, exploring the robots body to find its weak points. Leiths hands landed on the robots chest, fingertips digging underneath the plating and peeling up slowly. One of his hands wandered lower, brushing through the main wires that were tangled below its chest. He tugged them towards himself, tearing them out. He watched as the wires slipped out from under the chest plate, pulling out of the metal box. His hand dug further into the open chest plate, tearing up the metal brackets and components inside. His blood dripped down into the metal, but Leith hadn’t even felt the pain from the new cuts. He looked down to see his lacerated hand and the blood pooling beneath it. He slammed his fist down onto the robotic body, cursing Harley as he did so.  

“Look what you’ve fucking done! Look how you’ve scarred and mutilated me!” He shoved his hand down onto the TV screen, smearing blood all over its dark screen. “All of this is your fault! All of it!” He panted, his shoulders falling. “Why did I even care? Why did I even fall for your tricks?” His voice broke as his chest tightened. “Why would you do this to me? Why Harley...? I-....” His breath hitched.  

If only he had stuck to what he knew, what he could control... maybe this would have never happened. If only he never reached back out to Harley and hired him. If only he never let his heart get in the way. He was a businessman; he knew to keep feelings out of transactions. So why couldn’t he just push one more person away? Why did Harley have so much control over him?  

Harley gripped Leith tight, but restrained. He knew that he didn’t have the same control over his strength like he did when he was human. Harley knew that he could accidentally crush Leith as easily as moving a hand.  

The charade is over. Experiment 1006’s words echoed in Harley’s head. Was it right? Was Harley truly exposed? It crashed on Harley as he sat with Leith. Here he was, being restrained by his own body so as to not be a monster. Restrained back to his childhood, having to change and push down parts of himself to gain approval and attention. Now, he had to restrain himself so that he could be with Leith. He had to choose his words, consider his actions, play by the company's rules, less he get a worse fate than the stripping of his physical humanity—turned into the very thing he created. It was humiliating. To have a creator become the created. For a god to lose his pedestal.  

But Experiment 1006 promised another pedestal. Promised him the approval and attention that he swore he didn’t yearn for. To make him a god again. If only he’d abandon the lesser things around himself..  

He glanced down at Leith, the man’s face pressed against his electronic chest, obscured by the torn lab coat Harley wore around his shoulders. Could he? Could he leave all of this behind for a pedestal? He’d done it plenty of times, so why does this time feel so wrong? His screen narrowed in on Leith, examining him. The curve of his back, the grip of his fingers in Harley’s body, the breath on his chest…  

Why did he want this? Why did this feel good?  

A part of Harley wanted to shove Leith off, to turn away and walk towards the progress he’d been working towards for so long. He glanced at the door that Leith had come from, the security override still active, which meant that even if Harley wanted to leave, he couldn’t. They were stuck in the factories lower levels. A death sentence if he’d every heard of one in Playtime Co.  

“We need to get to a safer place. We’re sitting ducks out here.” Harley stood, helping Leith stand up as well. His robotic frame felt jittery, as if the electricity was buzzing and dancing through his wires. Almost akin to when Harley’s arms and legs would fall asleep, back when he was still human.  

Leith stood, the shakiness evident in his limbs. “Right… Right, we should… get to a safer place first. Not… out here.” His voice wavered, the confidence that Harley was accustomed to… gone. It never hit Harley until now how scared Leith was. The man he couldn’t get rid of, the man who pissed him off by being so unmoving was… scared. It felt wrong. Wrong in the sense that Harley had never been frozen in shock before today. Wrong in the sense that Harley felt when waking up in his robotic body. It was just… unnatural.  

“Harley? We have to go, come on.” Harley snapped out of it from Leith’s voice, and the small tug he gave to their still connected hands. Leith pulled him along for a bit until Harley got his bearings.  

“And here I thought you were the infuriatingly collected one in the company.” Harley’s words lacked their usual bite, the jab said to break the silence rather than go after Leith like he usually did.  

Leith’s chuckle was hollow, the sound not quite leaving his mouth. “Yeah well, I’d like to see you stay cool, calm, and collected when you have a giant carnivorous experiment barreling right towards you.” He let the retort sit for a second, then sighed, deflating.  

“…I don’t think… I would have… been as collected.” The words came out strained and forced, as if it physically pained Harley to say them. “You did… good. Following my instructions.” He looked anywhere but at Leith, his screen glitching from the embarrassment of complimenting someone.  

“Thanks. And… thank you. For… yknow. Helping.” Leith’s words caught halfway in his throat, trying not to come out. He swallowed his pride and got the sentence out, his hand gripping Harley’s tighter.  

“…I’m not that unreliable. You know me, I’m always punctual and a leader.” Even if the acceptance was Harley focused, Leith could see behind the façade. Harley truly did want to help. Maybe it was out of his own good will, maybe it was because Leith had the blueprints for a new body for Sawyer. But either way, it was a win in Leith’s book. Even if it came at such a high cost.  

They walked through the hallways silently, hand in hand. Neither of them acknowledged their joined hands, and made a point to ignore when one of them would squeeze harder or link their fingers tighter together. They could always blame it on the dark and needing to keep track of each other later. They ended up at Harley’s lab, the areas surrounding it relatively safer than other areas around the factory. Leith knew it was because of Harley’s paranoia. The thought of one of the bigger bodies or even other staff attacking him was such a prevalent thought that he practically made his lab into a mini fortress.  

Leith shuffled a little closer to Harley when he saw the amount of robotic bodies Harley had. He knew that Harley had quite a few—after all, he did get damaged and short circuit every once in a while—but it never occurred to Leith how many Harley actually had.  

“They’re all inactive right now. They can’t activate unless I’m controlling them.” Harley’s tone was condescending, but had an undertone of actual concern. He didn’t want Leith feeling unsafe around him, that he would attack Leith at any moment when his back was turned. “Besides, I prefer a more… personal approach.” He sealed the doors and flicked on the TV’s, the screens flickering between security camera footage.  

“I'll start gathering everything around for supplies.”  

“In this room?”  

“Yeah, I don’t think I’d like another face-to-face meeting with an experiment any time soon.” Leith set off to take count of what they had in the lab.  

“How the hell is that idiot Eddie still alive?” Harley’s voice cut through the comfortable silence they had been working in.  

“Eddie? Ritterman? He’s still alive?” Leith rushed over to the TV screens, trying to find which one had Ritterman on it.  

“In the construction zone near the gondola to the Playcare.” Harley pulled up the screen and zoomed in. 

“That gondola?” Leith leaned forward to look at the screen more closely.  

Harley gripped the desk harder, his screen glitching. “Yes, that one Pierre. Now focus on the fact that Ritterman is still- regrettably- alive and well.” He watched where the man on the TV was going, trying to find what path he was taking.  

“You want to try and help him?” Harley scoffed at Leith’s suggestion.  

“Ritterman? Why would we help him? He’s nothing but-“ 

“A potential asset.” Leith cut Harley off, pulling the keyboard to himself. “Think about it Harley, we could use him for work, fixing things, supplies..” 

“Right, Right, the very supplies he’s going to use. Pierre-“ 

“Don’t Pierre me. You and I both know it’s a good investment.”  

Harley sighed, his screen glitching in anger. “I suppose it could…” 

“It will. And if it doesn’t pay off, we can always get rid of him. You know how we operate.” Harley paused, considering the offer. It… was enticing to have the satisfaction of getting rid of Ritterman, rather than having a bigger body kill and eat him.  

“I get rid of him if he screws up. Not you. You hear me, Pierre?”  

“Crystal clear. Now, how can we get to him? You know these places better than I do.” 

“Of course I know them better. All you do is sit in your office and pretend to be important.” Leith smiled softly at Harley’s jab. His personality was coming back through the fear that had taken hold of them hours ago. Harley zoomed in on the path Eddie was taking, making sure to open doors that led to them, and shut the doors that weren’t where he wanted Eddie to go. “He’s more… trusting of you, Pierre. You should be the one to talk to him so that he doesn’t try to turn on us.”  

Leith sighed and scooted over to the intercom system, watching the TV screen to see which room he had to ping through. “Ritterman, can you hear me?” They watched as Eddie whipped around on the cameras, his eyes looking around frantically. Harley chuckled to himself, enjoying the sight of Ritterman so frantic. “It’s Leith Pierre. I’m using the intercom system. Look at the camera.” Eddie turned to the camera, his face skeptical.  

“What do you want, Pierre?” His voice was fuzzy and muffled as it travelled through the screen.  

“I want you to come to me. Then we can work on how to get out of this mess, understood?” Eddie scowled and cursed to himself, looking reluctant to agree.  

“I need to find Stella first.” 

“You can’t be sure she’s alive in this, Ritterman.” Leith watched Eddie's reaction to his words, the guilt and anger flashing across his face. 

“I can’t be sure she’s dead either.” Leith sighed and slumped back into the chair, rubbing his face.  

“Fine- Fine. We’ll look for her over the cameras and get her here-” 

“We? Don't tell me you’re working with the psychopathic doctor.”  

Harley chuckled, his voice coming through to Eddie clearly. “Don’t tell me you’re surprised. None of you would have survived this without me.” 

“Shove it, Sawyer. I didn’t see you doing anything to help anyone during that. Or ever.”  

“Oh. Well then, let’s keep to tradition, shall we?” Harley shut all of the doors surrounding Eddie and cut the lights to the room he was now locked in. 

“Sawyer, Ritterman, this is not the time to fight. Eddie, we’ll look for Stella over the cameras. Harley, you keep your mouth shut.” Harley glanced over at Leith, but didn’t say a word, instead opening the path back up for Ritterman to meet up with them while simultaneously flicking through the security cameras to find Stella. 

Leith shook his head in disbelief. He let go of the intercom button, Ritterman’s side going silent. After a few seconds of recovering from the spat he had to break up, he glanced over at Harley, taking in his frame. The frame that he allowed to be made.  

“Do you... want your glasses back?” The question felt awkward and heavy as he said it. Filling the silence with an emotion he couldn’t name. 

“They’re of no use to me anymore.” Leith cringed internally at Harley’s response, knowing that he was to blame for it.  

“There. In the Playcare.” Leith sat up, looking where Harley was pointing. He connected to the Playcare intercom. 

“Greyber, can you hear me?” Stella instantly looked up at the cameras. 

“Leith? You’re still alive?” She jogged over to the camera, wincing with every other step. “Have you seen Eddie at all on the cameras?”   

Leith sighed again. “Yes, Greyber. He’s on his way to Sawyer’s lab right now.” 

“Sawyer? We’re trusting him?” 

“Well, I'm sure that Pianosaurus and Huggy Wuggy would love to give you some of their trust instead, but sadly, Harley is our only option right now.” 

“Fine. I’ll be there before long.” 

Harley chimed in over the camera. “Don’t worry. We won’t miss you if you aren’t here.” Leith glared at Harley, the doctor’s screen glitching before changing to a mischievous eye.  

“Stay safe, Greyber. We’ll be waiting for you in his lab.” With that, he shut off the intercom and turned to Harley. “Really? I’m here trying to get them to trust us to lead them to safety and you’re telling them that you don’t care if they die.”  

Harley shrugged and kept watching the cameras. “I’m not going to lie to them so that they feel better about being two bumbling idiots that don’t know their way around the factory or danger. Besides. I don’t care.”  

Leith groaned in frustration. “That’s not the point, Harley. The point is, you at least don't tell them you want them dead so that they trust us enough to come and help with the situation.”  

“Instead of what? They have nothing else. They have no other options. No one else to turn to except for me. I’d be better off without them if they refused anyways.”  

Leith stood, his voice raised. “Put your pride away for one goddamned second, Harley! Are we trying to get out of this together or are you only trying to save yourself?!” 

Harley stopped flicking through the cameras but didn’t turn to face Leith.  

You know you have a choice. And you know who can lead you to safety. Harley looked away as the words echoing from Experiment 1006’s voice box went through his mind again. They were his own words spilled from the mouth of the experiment. The very thing he’d said to Pierre. The very promise he made to Leith. Safety.  

But what did safety matter if he was nothing? What did it matter if all that was left was four people in charge of a shut down factory overrun with rioting experiments? What did it matter if he didn’t become what he was meant to? He thought back to the violence that Experiment 1006 showed. The glee he felt through the experiment was as if he were connected to it. The perfect focus he had. The perfect purpose. He didn’t have any of that here, with these people that had chained him into this experimental robotic body. These people who had stripped him of his dignity and humanity, who never truly saw him as human in the first place.