Oneshots, etc.

Darkened City AU (Pt. 4)

Bryan and Mario's backstory! I finally get to explain what the heck is going on with these two! Honestly, these two's backstory is my favourite thing I've made for this AU. I just like it. Not sure why.

This would've been done a lot sooner, but exams happened, and then I got Very Distracted(tm), but hey! I'm doing it now!
: D

TW:Mention of drugs (Not quite drugs,but close enough), death.

His heart pounded as he sprinted along the steel-lined corridor. The metal clanked beneath his feet, and he held back tears as another set of footsteps, slow and deliberate, followed behind him.

"Come out, come out, brother!" Bryan's sing-song voice rang out, false friendliness tinged with rage. "Won't you join me?"

There - a door, one to a long-abandoned project. His hands slammed against it, shoving the heavy door open with his momentum, and it swung closed behind him, stress-inducingly slowly, but closed all the same.

A tall filing cabinet stood next to the doorway, and he tipped it in front of the door after flipping the latch, locking it.

Finally, Mario took a moment to breathe, and looked around the room.

Old papers covered the floor, and wires lined the walls, all linking up to two tanks. One was a cryopod, an early development in extending lifespans. It had worked, but was deemed inefficient.

The second tank was a tall glass box containing a featureless, humanoid robot.

Rings of steel made up the organic shape of its body, small cameras set in between the gaps to help it see. It stood motionless in its prison, hooked up to wires and cables that held it in the air. Beside the glass box were another set of wires, designed to hook up to a person's head.

Mario jumped as something slammed into the door.

"I know you're in there! Won't you join me? Why won't you join me?" Bryan wailed, mind and voice distorted by anger and madness.

Mario shuddered, recalling the moment he'd seen Bryan inject that red substance - the Nullifier, it was called, a tame name for something so destructive - right into his bloodstream, claiming it would be fine. Why hadn't he stopped him? They both knew it wasn't ready yet, they only had one test subject, nothing to compare it to, why hadn't he stopped him?

That was a week ago, now. He'd thought nothing of it, thought Bryan was right, that it would all be fine.

And it was! Until it wasn't.

It was fine when Bryan seemed more vicious than usual during arguments - it was just stress getting to him, nothing to worry about! It was fine when his brother tore into his food without stopping, tearing it apart with no hesitation - no problem, he's just hungry!

It stopped being fine when he found him modifying his teeth to be sharper, to damage, to store the Nullifier in strange glands in his jaw. It stopped being fine when he offered to infect him too, demanded it and wouldn't take no for an answer.

It stopped being fine when he chased him through the institute like a wolf tracking their prey.

And now - now he was stuck here, with an experiment he knew nothing about, as the one closest to him tried to take his own mind, the only thing he had left, away from him.

"Let me help you! You're in there, I can hear you, won't you come out and let me help?" Bryan's voice had taken on a crooning tone, one he hadn't used since they were kids, and Mario shuddered.

He glanced at the headset of wires hanging next to the robot, then back at the door, shuddering on its hinges as Bryan rammed into it.

Did he really have a choice here?

Did he ever really have a choice after he ended up in this gods forsaken city?

No. He'd never had a choice. Not now, not ever. If this was what he had to do to survive, then so be it.

He crossed the narrow room, regretting his decision with every step. He shook his head, hair puffing out as he ignored the feeling of guilt festering in his chest at the idea of betraying his brother in everything but blood.

He lifted the mass of wires up, and pressed the sticky pads to his skull, bracing for the pain he knew would come.

And come it did; A wave of electricity washed over his body, picking through his brain and copying it into the computer beside him.

It all went dark as he felt himself awaken elsewhere.

--------------

His eyes snapped open all over his body, metal shutters watching as nanobots wove an illusion of skin over his rubber flesh.

Dark hair rippled into existence as features fell into the right places, clothes forming over his fake body.

He looked down at his hands, inspecting them. The scar he'd had across his right palm for years, the one he'd given himself to match Bryan's own when they decided to become brothers, was gone, leaving only smooth, not-quite skin in its place.

He thought he should be sad, but nothing stirred in the gears and cogs filling his chest.

Looking to his right, he saw the crumpled form of his old body, breaths coming out in wheezing, short bursts as he stared at nothing in particular. Tilting his head, he scooped the small body wearing a lab coat into his arms. He was taller now, he realised as he placed himself-but-not-anymore into the cryopod for safekeeping, as per his protocols.

Protocols he would have hated, were he still human, he mused, pressing the button to freeze the pod over, fogging up the glass and hiding the secret inside. And who was to say he still had to listen to them? He realised, feeling his code glitch slightly.

This must be why they stopped the project - a human mind is not compatible with a computer, and one will always win out in the end, forcing either strict, incomprehensible rigidness, or organised chaos.

He knew which he prefered, as he stepped through a panel in the metal wall, listening to the door to the room collapse inwards behind him. He made his way through the tangles of wires as Bryan screamed in mindless rage behind him, and he almost thought he should be smiling.

A/N: Oh boy oh boy oh boy! Finally done with... this thing!

If you need anything clarified just let me know! I may like being slightly cryptic, but I also like explaining things, and I want people to know what's going on here.

On another note, I was originally going to have human Mario just be straight-up dead, but as I was writing I realised that this gives me the opportunity for him to get a redemption arc-thing, since he's the closest thing to a villain this AU has! Because yes, that is what he's supposed to be.

He's an emotionless robot made out of the memories of a human, who has terrifying acting skills along with little to no moral compass, and a mild habit of murder (As evidenced by a future scene in which he kills Allumos. Because yes, he does do that in this AU. Haven't written it, but I probably will at some point). Why wouldn't I make him a bit evil?

Anyway, questions about what on earth is going through my brain for this mess of an AU will probably be answered now. I'm done with being ominous at the moment.
: )

Have a nice day/night, do not get consumed by the endless void please. If you do feel like it, may I suggest baking some cookies instead? It's a much more environmentally-friendly alternative, because the void doesn't then consume all of the environment.
: )