Chapter Text
Quick sat in the armchair, resting his head on the palm of his hand.
He had never gone beyond the front desk of the Monsteropolis Light Labs so this was a mildly novel experience. For a man so renowned, his office was more humble than what Quick expected. On the walls hung Light’s doctorates and various certificates but it seemed unimportant next to the picture of the good doctor’s research team who all smiled proudly next to Light, Rock, and Auto and another of his Robot Masters standing professionally in the labs. On the high quality desk in front of Quick were pictures of Rock and Roll as well as a little desk knick knack. It was a drinking bird. He reached out from his seat to poke it, and it dipped forward.
“Don’t touch anything,” said Elec, who stood to his left.
Quick made eye contact with Elec and poked the bird again just to annoy him. There was no cup of water so it fell down and sat back up and remained motionless. He sat back in his seat and crossed his legs.
“So, why does Light want to see me?” asked Quick.
“Doctor Light,” Elec corrected with a scowl. “And you know exactly why.”
“Finally my turn, huh?” Quick snarked. He leaned back and closed his eyes. “He’s done this six times already. You really think a seventh one is going to get him something new? Is he that desperate?”
Over two weeks have passed since Metal up and left their lives. The morning he ran, the second line had all received the notification of his disconnection and when the rest of them rushed home, Dr. Light was already there talking to Air, Heat, and Crash. He said he would have some tracking Robot Masters find Metal but wanted them to answer some questions first.
Air was the first to be interviewed privately but he became completely uncooperative after a while and even demanded Light to leave without talking to the others. Air was furious but refused to talk about it. So furious that he never told Light that he was the last person Metal talked to before he ran.
Over the days, every one of the remaining second line robots had a summoning with the good doctor to talk about Metal’s disappearance, and every one of them left not wanting to discuss it, not even to those who were already interrogated. Even Crash, who looked as if he wanted to destroy everything in sight when he came home, refused to talk about it and quietly seethed in his room for days instead. What the hell did Dr. Light say to them?
“We still have no leads,” Elec admitted. “The doctor is stressed.”
“Why? Nothing’s happened and nothing will happen. The public barely noticed until the others started asking around.”
People don’t really care about the older Wilybots anymore. Quick was the one most people remembered when it came to the second Wily War and even then he still got mistaken for Metal or Nitro Man half the time when they saw him in person. When the public heard one of them went missing, they were only mildly interested but nothing more. Metal was never going to make national news but Dr. Light was adamant in finding him as if he would.
“He does realize that trying to keep this crazy search a secret is going to make them think it’s worse than it is, right?”
Elec looked about to defend the good doctor before he paused. A bit defeated, he said, “I don’t know anymore. The doctor has been weird about it ever since I told him about the beach incident.”
“See? Even you think it’s ridiculous,” Quick replied. “It’s just Metal who disappeared so who cares?”
The second it came out of his mouth, he wanted to take it back. That was more callous than he meant it to be.
Elec sharply turned his head to him, a look of disgust crossing his already stern face. “How could you say that about your own linemate?”
“You know I didn’t mean it like that!” Quick replied indignantly. He didn’t want to be lectured about how to be nice by Elec of all people. “Why do you care so much?”
Elec scowled and answered, his voice smoldering, “I found him on the beach. If you saw what I saw that day, you wouldn’t forget it.”
As if Quick could ever forget. He was there to see Metal in the after. Quick had never seen his eyes so empty and vacant. As if he lost the will to live.
Just then, Dr. Light finally made his appearance, entering the office with a serious expression.
“Thank you for coming in today, Quick,” he said politely as he sat down in his chair across from the two robots.
“Sending your robots to escort me here doesn’t exactly give me an option,” the scarlet bot replied flatly. Elec scowled next to him, but he remained ignored.
Quick didn’t particularly like Light. He was better than Wily, and Quick was grateful for his and his fellow robots’ second chance at life but it didn’t mean that Quick was going to blindly trust him. At some capacity, all of the Wilybots were wary but also knew Light was all they had. The second line just held a stronger grudge towards both doctors than the rest.
“Elec, please wait outside. I need to speak with Quick privately,” Dr. Light ordered. With one last glare at Quick, Elec wordlessly left the office, leaving the two alone. Once he was gone, Light asked, “How are you, Quick? I hope it wasn’t too busy of a day at your work.”
“Let’s just cut to the chase, doc,” Quick said, settling back into his seat. “You want my thoughts on Metal, yeah? Ask away.”
Light nodded, used to the curt way that the second line talks to him. “Given your turbulent relationship, I feel that you might be a very important person for me to talk to about this.”
Is that why I’m last? Quick wanted to snark but he held his tongue. He gestured for Light to get on with it.
The good doctor settled in, solemn and stern. “The questions I’ll ask you might make you uncomfortable but I still need complete honesty. Everything we talk about here is completely confidential so do not be afraid to speak your mind.”
Quick nodded, not paying much attention and just wanting this over with. He already had the answers for the questions that Dr. Light was going to ask. No, none of them had any idea he was going to do this. Yes, they probably would’ve talked him out of it if they did. No, he doesn’t know why Metal ran away or what could be something that they could do to convince him to come back. No, he didn’t have a clue where Metal went. Can he go home now?
“I was told by my robots that Metal had always kept to himself but any time that he has acted strange was very offputting like the meeting day where he broke off his own fingers or Elec finding him on the beach,” Dr. Light began. His expression turned severe, very unlike what Quick was used to on the man. “Was Metal always like this? Was there anything he had done before that you considered troubling, and did that get worse after his upgrade?”
…What?
An uneasy feeling filled Quick’s core. He sat up straighter, more alert. Hesitantly, he said, “Metal has always been…quiet. After the upgrade, he talked a bit more but he usually kept to himself. Doing his own thing and all that.”
“Do you have an idea of what kinds of things he was doing?”
“He read books. He drew pictures,” Quick replied brusquely. “And he liked working in the med bay. He…”
Metal always had a thing for tools. He preferred when his linemates came to him for repairs as opposed to Light. He even chose to operate on himself instead of seeing the doctor for a modification. Even though he couldn’t fix it, he begged everyone to keep quiet about it to Dr. Light with an uncharacteristic fear that he had never shown before even when they were with Wily. Any mention of seeing Light was met with either anger or apprehension actually, especially after his upgrade.
After the beach incident, Metal practically became a ghost, only haunting the med bay when he bothered to leave his room. Rarely spoken unless spoken to, rarely with the others unless dragged by them to join. Now, Quick suddenly recalled once catching Metal sneaking back into the house one night. He had been muttering about the railways. Somewhere east.
“Look, I don’t keep track of his hobbies or what he does in his own time. I’m not his babysitter,” Quick said firmly.
Dr. Light looked at him for a long moment as if expecting Quick to elaborate further before letting out an almost defeated sigh when there was none. Quick wondered if the rest of his linemates had felt this unease and did the same thing and kept quiet.
“If you truly don’t know then we can move on to the next question,” Dr. Light finally said. Quick scowled, the passive aggressive tone not lost on him. “Has he ever expressed wanting to harm others or has acted upon them?”
What were these questions? This wasn’t what Quick was expecting at all. He had thought that Light would give generic condolences and questions that would help understand what caused Metal to run away. Not…this.
Quick shifted slightly in his seat as he answered, “Metal never did more than he usually did.”
“What was his ‘usual?’”
“He got annoyed when we got hurt over something dumb and made threats. Stuff like that. The kind no one believes he’ll actually do.”
As much as Metal threatened violence upon them, he never did anything beyond an angry flick or smack to the head which was often deserved at some capacity. It had always been banter to them. Wily often made threats to them the same way but never followed through during their war. Hell, Metal probably adopted that habit from Wily.
“What about any violence towards humans?”
A deep unsettling feeling burrowed into his core. Why would Light ask this?
“I don’t know? We watched a gory movie or two every once in a while but that doesn’t mean anything,” Quick said, unable to hide his agitation. He tapped his fingers on the arm of the chair to ease the frantic energy that suddenly gathered.
Dr. Light seemed very focused on this part. He implored, “But has he ever expressed any hatred towards humans? Did he ever seem to have a fixation towards harming humans in any way? Even in a neutral sense?”
Quick can’t recall a time Metal seemed particularly hateful about humans, only having disdain towards those that treated them like collectibles. If anything, during the last few months before he left, Metal seemed scared of them. He never looked a human in the eye anymore, always looking above them and to the side. When he had to interact with them, his fists were always clenched so tightly he scratched the insides of his palms. He always looked tense, as if unless he forcibly restrained himself he would end up hurting them. But he couldn’t; no Wilybot could harm humans and yet Metal acted as if he somehow could. Light should know this.
“Like I said, I don’t know what he does in his free time. We weren’t exactly friends, doctor. If he had any of those…desires, he wouldn’t be telling them to me.” Quick kept his voice even, not wanting Light to notice his slight hesitation.
The scarlet robot wanted to end this as soon as possible and run. He didn’t like how stifling Light’s office was suddenly becoming. He was always skeptical that these talks were for the second line’s benefit but this was unnerving.
It didn’t feel like Light wanted to find Metal. It felt like he wanted to stop him.
But why?
The good doctor didn’t seem satisfied with Quick’s answers. He tried to keep a polite, neutral expression but Quick could tell he was getting frustrated. Like he didn’t believe what Quick was saying. This began to feel less like an interview and more like a standoff.
“I don’t want you to be alarmed when I ask you this,” Dr. Light warned carefully.
Quick already knew he wasn’t going to like the question.
“Has Metal ever tried to seriously harm any of you?”
“Where the hell is this coming from?” Quick demanded, standing up. He slammed both hands on Light’s desk, knocking over the various items on top. His sudden movement and subsequent attack of the desk caused Light to get up from his chair. Quick could feel his circuits acting up as he shouted, making him even more riled up and restless than he already felt. “No. Fuck no. He would never harm any of us. I know that all of my linemates said the same thing.”
Light backed away from him. “Now, Quick. I want to see the best in you all–”
“But I know you don’t believe us. If you don’t even trust us, what’s the point of this? Why the fuck would you ever ask something like that?” Quick countered. What Light had said earlier popped back into his mind, and his fury grew even stronger. The building electricity in him began to spread out, sparking some of the metallic objects on Light’s desk as he punched the desk again. “Is that why you thought I would help you? ‘Cause I didn’t like him? How fucking dare you assume I would make up lies about my own linemate!”
The door slammed open behind Quick and he could hear Elec sprinting towards them. His body moved before he registered what he did. He whipped around and knocked Elec to the floor with a swing of his arm, his battle protocol kicking into high gear. He felt his electricity coursing through his body as he shoved Elec into the arm chair. None of Quick’s residual electricity would harm Elec due to the rubber material lining his body but Quick felt a sense of satisfaction pinning the other bot down.
Still Elec did what was needed of him. He nullified Quick’s electricity that ran through his body when he was in his battle protocol–a side effect of Wily’s programming that gave him his speed.
Elec pointed two fingers at Quick’s chest.
“You’re not immune to electricity despite your source of power,” taunted Elec with a sneer. “One shot and you’re done.”
Quick snarled, “I can fucking take you, asshole–”
“Both of you, stop this. Please,” Dr. Light interrupted. He had gotten out from behind his desk though he was smart enough not to come any closer.
“Quick, please release him.”
The scarlet robot huffed and with much reluctance, he backed away from Elec to allow him to stand back up.
“Thank you for trying to step in, Elec,” Light said. “Please wait back outside.”
“But doctor–”
“It was my fault this happened,” interrupted the good doctor, looking at the scarlet robot apologetically. He kept his gaze on Quick as he spoke. “I won’t do it again. And I know that he won’t do it again either. Wait back outside.”
Reluctantly, Elec left but not before giving Quick a sharp glare. Light went back to his desk and gestured for Quick to take a seat again.
“Are your levels stable, Quick?”
“It’s fine,” he replied roughly. He sat back down, mindful not to touch anything regardless.
Quick was dangerous when he was angry—literally. While the scarlet bot was capable of activating his electricity based battle protocol on command, when he got mad, it had a chance of initiating involuntarily. It was a volatile and experimental method that Wily was concocting in hopes the emotional boost would give him an advantage in combat and clearly he considered it a dead end since he never made another like Quick since. Now it left Quick always having to be mindful of his temper.
“I’m sorry for angering you, Quick. That wasn’t my intention,” Light said. He ignored the scarlet bot’s scoff. “I am only asking this because the others were concerned about Metal’s behavior. I wanted to make sure that he would not repeat any of it now that he’s disappeared. If Metal were to be out there with that kind of danger, it wouldn’t be good for anyone.”
At the words, a memory that Quick wasn’t supposed to see resurfaced in his mind. Metal, without his helmet and mask and completely vulnerable, clinging on to Air like he was the only thing keeping him alive. He was sobbing and apologizing and sounding nothing like himself because his voice was too destroyed to be recognizable. As soon as it was remembered, Quick tried to think of something else.
He couldn’t imagine that Metal being anything like Light was talking about right now. Even at his worst, Quick couldn’t picture it.
“Metal didn’t do anything. He won’t,” Quick stated through gritted teeth. “That was the problem. He just…really needed help. No one knew what was going on and he wouldn’t tell us. The more we tried to get him to open up, the more he backed away and hid.”
Quick had thought Metal would get over himself with time. Maybe he would reach out to one of them to remember he wasn’t alone, that he had seven other people to talk to, but he never did. He seemed to think he was too special to ask them for any help.
“I’ve never seen him like that before. Not even with Wily. Then he left,” Quick said quietly. He looked up at the doctor. “Shouldn’t you have known about this, doc? I thought you were supposed to do those talks with him about his new body. Did Metal just stop showing up?”
A flash of guilt crossed Dr. Light's face before he looked down at his desk.
“There were many factors at play that led to our sessions ending early. Metal wasn’t comfortable with our future discussions so I didn’t want to push him too far,” the doctor replied. “I would have never imagined him running away. If I had known, I would’ve tried harder to keep in touch. But that isn’t the case anymore, so I can only have my robots look for him now so we can try to talk.”
“Why can’t we look for him?” Quick asked. “I know I made that whole spiel about him not talking to us but if there’s anyone that Metal would actually listen to, it’s his linemates. Sending your robots or whoever else isn’t going to bring him back. They don’t know him like we do.”
“Your linemates have asked about it—
“Then why haven’t we started? We’re just wasting time with this whole interview thing when my linemates and I should be out there looking!” Quick insisted. “We’ll make time out of our schedules, take shifts searching, whatever we need to–”
“I’m afraid that I can’t allow that.”
The scarlet bot sputtered before scowling.
“So…what? We can’t look because you said so?” Quick asked, not disguising his frustration. It wasn’t fair. Light wouldn’t even let them try. “You just said that we all want to—”
“I can’t allow you to search for Metal. I don’t believe it would be beneficial for his betterment if any of his linemates were involved,” Dr. Light stated. His tone was resolute.
Quick’s eyes narrowed, the words striking in a way that nearly made him go electric again. Through gritted teeth, he growled, “What’s wrong with us?”
Immediately the good doctor switched back into his placating tone. “I would allow you to search if I could but unfortunately Wilybots still have a dark reputation. Even though I know that none of you want to go back to Wily, the general public refuses to understand that. Those who do remember Metal remember him for the war or for the Deesey scandal even though he had no part in it,” he explained. “If other Wilybots begin looking, the rumors that have already started will spiral even further and your line searching will alert the public of which robot went missing. I don’t want Metal or any of you to face more negative public scrutiny.”
It was understood once the Wilybots came back online that they would be under more scrutiny compared to other Robot Masters, even to ones who were taken and modified by Wily. To some people, they were built to be evil and that can’t be changed. It made liking the general public in the beginning very hard and Quick will always hold resentment to that. Even so, none of the Wilybots held a dangerous hatred over humans. They owe their existence and maintenance to humanity.
But it just…left a bad taste in his mouth. The public will hear about this and the Wilybots will face scrutiny regardless if Light confirmed a missing robot or not. What any of them did didn’t matter. Somehow Quick could feel that it wasn’t actually because they were Wilybots. Light didn’t give them permission to search because they were the second line looking for Metal. But Quick couldn’t prove that; it was only a hunch.
Dr. Light said further, “This was why I wanted to ask you all privately. So if any of you might have information about Metal that you believe is relevant to this situation, now would be a good time to tell me.”
Air might know, thought Quick.
But Air didn’t tell Light during his interview for a reason. The fact that Quick was the last one of his line to talk to Light and the good doctor still hadn’t come back to Air meant the others hadn't told him either. And after all of the questions, Quick wasn’t inclined to give any information whatsoever.
Air had always been the closest to Metal, close enough that he was the only one that Metal bothered to tell that he was leaving. However, no matter how much they tried to pry from the blue bot, he wouldn’t tell them what they talked about. He had said that Metal would return one day; he just didn’t know when.
Metal ran from them. No matter his reason, he left them with nothing but a paltry, secondhand reassurance that he’ll be back “when he’s ready.” He expected them to wait, like they always did for him, as if none of his actions the past few months affected them. Metal hurt them and he ran and he left them to pick up the pieces. Like always.
The realization made Quick’s circuits spark and he clenched his fists, trying to dampen the electricity running back through him before it got too strong again.
He stared at his hands, feeling numb. “I don’t know. None of us know anymore.”
–
The house was in a low mood again.
Usually Quick would hear Crash complaining about whatever was on his mind or the sound of a nature documentary that Wood was watching in the living room or whatever commotion that was going on in their house that day. Lately, everything was quiet. They had their ups and downs ever since the incident but they slowly built themselves back together. Then Shadow disappeared and returned, and the second line fell back into a funk because how could they not be bitter? Week by week, they went through a period and, if Quick was being completely honest, he wished it was over. It wasn’t fair to hold on to something that wanted to let go. They had to move on too.
Flash seemed to think the same as he gathered everyone into the living area that evening. He stood in front of the TV with the remaining six sitting on the couches. Quick leaned against the arm of the couch, resting his chin on the palm of his hand. Crash was idly playing with a Met shaped stress toy and kicking his legs against Wood who sat beside him and attempted to get him to stop. Air sat in the center of the couch, annoyed that Flash was interrupting his downtime and Heat squeezed himself on the arm of the couch on the other side. Bubble, having nowhere else to sit, chose to sit on the carpet. They (sans Crash who focused on his toy) looked at Flash with bored eyes.
“Everyone’s been kinda down lately,” Flash stated. Heat scoffed but he ignored it and pressed on. “So I think we should take our minds off of it for a little while. I got plans!”
Quick perked up at that. While he hated to admit it, Flash was pretty good at finding cool venues and clubs to go to. Whatever he came up with has gotta be good.
“There’s a music festival in the next city over and I got us all tickets!” he announced, brandishing seven tickets for all of them. “There will even be a few robot lead bands. How awesome is that?”
A music festival? With robot bands? That sounded fun. As long as it’s not another rock band maybe they’ll be something worth getting into, thought Quick.
Bubble raised his hand. “I already have something to do tonight,” he said. “Splash, Hornet, and I are going to an underwater greenhouse grand opening. I’ve been telling you guys that for weeks.”
Flash’s smile faltered at that. “Oh right. Well it can’t be helped.”
Wood spoke up next. “I don’t want to go,” he stated simply. “You know I don’t like loud music. And plus I can’t stand the amount of litter that’s going to be there. I’m getting chills just thinking about it.”
“I’ll just give some of the extra tickets away I guess,” Flash sighed. He turned to the rest. “Okay, the concert starts in a few hours so we should head out early. Let’s get ready.”
With that, the rest left for their rooms.
A few weeks after Shadow returned, Dr. Light had offered the Wilybots modifications, and many had jumped at the chance to shift into more inconspicuous “civilians” forms. With the new mods, they didn’t look like Wilybots at first glance anymore, which made the paranoia less of a worry. Quick couldn’t help but notice that Dr. Light suddenly had time to give them out after nearly losing another Wilybot but he’s not going to turn down free and completely customizable upgrades.
Quick and the others were slowly building up wardrobes for themselves now that they can wear them more easily. For the festival, Quick picked a white shirt, a red bomber jacket, and some jeans. He looked at himself in the mirror and began to apply hair gel into his vibrant scarlet hair (his line scoffed at him for choosing such a gaudy color but it’s Quick’s hair so he can pick whatever he wanted) and fashioned it into his favorite tousled style, making sure the gold strands made a nice “V” shape. He winked at himself in the mirror. Looking on fire, as usual.
Satisfied with his choices, Quick went back downstairs to wait in the living room for the others. Air was still on the couch. He didn’t look like he moved at all since Flash’s announcement.
“Hey, you coming?”asked Quick, leaning against the couch. “Can’t really tell since...you know.” He vaguely gestured to him.
Air (and also Wood) didn’t get an upgrade for a civilian from. To have one with his build would require a complete reconstruction of his frame to accommodate for a head and neck which would also reduce his wind based abilities so he didn’t want to go through with it. Air had said he would be alright because, as he put it, “there’s no upgrade for perfection” (and everyone said Quick was the vain one). However it also meant that Quick could never tell when Air did want to go out for the night anymore.
“I don’t really feel like it today. A festival isn’t something that I’m in the mood for,” Air replied dismissively.
Quick frowned. “You sure? You’ve barely been out lately. Maybe some outdoor music would help.”
“Music inside my house won’t be any different,” Air reasoned. “Go on ahead. I’ll just be here to greet Bubble when he comes back home.”
Before Quick could reply the other three—Flash, Heat, and Crash—came downstairs.
Flash now had long blonde hair (yes, they all made jokes about him overcompensating for something; yes, it’s still funny seeing him get flustered about it months later) which he kept in a low ponytail. Heat had upgraded to make his box removable which made him look even smaller than he already did. Despite being too lazy to bother with styling, he had gotten a mop of curly dark red hair. Crash now sported freckles and his orange hair was slicked back though wisps of hair still spilled over his forehead.
They were already heading out. With a final glance at Air, Quick soon followed them. They all wordlessly piled into the car; Flash in the driver’s seat, Quick at the passenger, and Heat and Crash sitting in the back. Flash started the engine but didn’t pull out of the driveway for the first few minutes and Quick was about to ask why when Flash spoke up.
“Looks like Air really isn’t coming,” Flash sighed. He pulled out of the driveway.
Crash scoffed in the backseat. “Of course he wouldn’t. He’s still waiting for him.”
“Here we go again,” Quick groaned, rolling his eyes. They barely even left the driveway and somehow Crash already found a way to get angry.
“It’s been six months. Six fucking months and we’ve heard nothing. Air doesn’t need to wait for that useless piece of scrap anymore. Metal abandoned us. End of story!”
Immediately, the mood in the car dropped. Even after all this time, Metal’s departure was still a sore subject for them, for Air and Crash especially. Air was devastated but still hopeful that Metal would eventually come back when he was ready. Crash was the most vocal about otherwise. He’d spent the first week ranting and raving about how horrible Metal was for leaving. However despite Crash’s angry tirades and mutters of hatred under his breath, Quick knew that Crash missed him just as much as Air did. Even though Quick was sympathetic for Crash, it was still annoying that his intensity never dropped no matter how often he would go on this lengthy rant.
“I can’t stand it. He won’t do anything but work and mope about how Metal’s gone but he’ll be back some day,” Crash continued. He fidgeted in the back seat in frustration, rocking his foot and kicking Quick’s seat. Quick grit his teeth at every push forward and Crash was still ranting. “Does he expect that fucking idiot to come back after all this time? If Metal does come back I’m killing him with my bare hands before he even sets foot in the house. I couldn’t care less—”
“Then can you shut up about him? He’s already gone!” Quick snapped before he could stop himself.
He spotted Crash narrowing his eyes and scowling at him in the rearview mirror. “Says the guy who never cared about him in the first place,” he snarled.
A jolt of electricity shot through Quick’s circuits like an attack. He turned back to face Crash. “What was that?” he growled.
Flash gave them both a warning glance. “Guys—”
“You never liked Metal in the first place. I bet you’re fucking happy he’s not here anymore, aren’t you?” Crash said, leaning closer until they were face to face, his bright green eyes meeting Quick’s gold ones.
“We didn’t really get along, yeah, but I never wanted him gone,” Quick argued back.
“But you’ve gotten over it a lot faster. What was up with that?” Heat accused.
“Yeah! You don’t get a fucking right to say anything about Metal!” Crash followed up, apparently forgetting that he was cursing his name just moments ago.
Quick’s circuits flared up, electricity charging through him. If it got any stronger, he’s sure sparks would come out of him. He didn’t deserve to be ganged up like this. “I’m not the bad guy for wanting everyone to get over it and face the truth! If Metal wanted to come back, he would have by now.”
“Shut up–”
“Alright that’s enough!” Flash roared causing the other three to flinch at the volume. “This was supposed to be a nice night out and we barely even left. I wanted just one night of us not fighting or sulking. So if none of you behave right now I’m kicking all of you out of this car and you’re all walking home.”
Finally, Crash slumped back into his seat but not before sticking out his tongue at both Flash and Quick in a childish act of defiance. Quick settled back too, sighing loudly.
Why was it always this heated whenever they talked about him? And why did Quick have to explain himself anyway? Metal never had to so why should he?
The atmosphere in the car was tense. None of them spoke for what felt like hours though it was probably only a few minutes. Quick sighed again and put his elbow on the side of the car door, resting his temple on the knuckle of his hand.
“Where is this festival anyway?” he asked, trying to ignore it and make everything casual again.
Flash glanced at him and answered, “Daemont.”
