When Steam meets Clockwork (A Steam Powered Giraffe fic)

Broken Gears

It was the evening after the copper robot's malfunction during the song "Honeybee", performed by the robotic automaton band known collectively as "Steam Powered Giraffe."

The robot who malfunctioned, known as Rabbit, had a few wires loose causing his body to flail and his voice to go 100 miles an hour halfway through the song before powering down, helplessly stuck as he got fixed while on stage.

The screech of the microphone and equipment before hand may have disrupted something; the engineers weren't entirely certain.

But now safe back in Walter Robotic's lab, Rabbit stared aimlessly out of the window, his blue and green photo-receptors seemed to have lost their mischievous glimmer.

His copper hands twitched a little in their red glove confinements and his gears whirred as he made his way towards the window.

The view outside was that of a magical, silent environment with a sea of stars above the lab and grounds outside, the moon shining with the luminescence of a thousand silver lanterns.
From behind him, he could hear two of his brothers, known as Hatchworth and The Jon, being powered down by the main technician, Michael. The Spine was allowed to roam for a little longer than the others, as if he was the eldest, which he seemed to be.

"Rabbit?"
The robot who had been addressed, turning around to the tall titanium automaton male who owned the rich, baritone voice.
"Y-yes, Spine?" he replied, a little annoyed the glitchy stutter got in the way of his words.

"What happened to you wasn't your fault. Don't be so hard on yourself" Spine told his sibling.

"But I feel like it W-W-WAS my fault! After all, I-I refuse upgrades" Rabbit snapped.

Spine's expression was indifferent, his brother glanced away for a second.

"I'm sorry. It's just...that's never happened before. I thought I was gonna have to be shut down" he murmured. The Spine smiled knowingly.

"I know, you don't have to apologise. Who was to know what was gonna happen? besides, you're all fixed up now, huh?" Spine commented.

"Come on, we're gonna have to power down in a bit" he added.

Rabbit pouted like a spoiled child.

"But Spine, I hardly get to see the nightly view outside. It's not fair" he replied moodily, turning back to the window.

Spine stood beside Rabbit, looking out the window at the cosmos above them, their photo-receptors glowing in unison.

"It IS beautiful" Spine said, almost in awe.
After a few more minutes, Spine allowed the Colonel to power him down beside his two 'younger' brothers.
Rabbit was still totally wired (no pun intended), his torso let out a whirr and a hiss sound as he turned to his brothers who were now completely immobile and unable to talk.
Taking his chance, he swiftly left the building, walking beneath the starry sky.

It seemed like he'd only been gone for a few minutes before reaching the bench by the pond where a family of ducks resided.

He smiled, turning back to the path.

Something caught his eye.

Two silver things were in the middle of the path.

Rabbit strode over and picked them up, turning them over in his gloved hands; they were two silver clockwork keys with intricate carving details on it.

"W-w-where did the-these come from?" he asked himself, clicks and ticks sounded as the copper automaton glanced around for any sign of their owner or owners.

There, protruding from a hawthorn bush was a small-ish porcelain hand, a few cracks revealing clockwork gears within.