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In hindsight, Eclipse should have known this was a bad idea.
He and Lunar had been on the run for a couple of months now, ever since their plex got closed down. So far they had been surviving mostly on stolen car batteries, and the odd motel when they were able to afford it (thanks to Eclipse taking odd jobs in each town they passed through)
Just recently they had even stolen a motorbike to help them get around easier but that little heist had unfortunately gained the attention of the locals and so they had the police on their tail for a solid week before being able to shake them off.
As a result, they had not been able to keep themselves as charged up as they would have liked, and while Eclipse had ensured Lunar stayed well charged, it had gotten to the point where his own charge level had become dangerously low.
Which brought him to this current predicament with him standing in the middle of a garage storage area with a rucksack containing three stolen car batteries and two armed young adult male humans who were also raiding the place standing between him and the exit.
Not an ideal place to be when your battery was near depleted and your movements were sluggish as a result.
The heist had started so well too. Eclipse had left Lunar with the motorbike hidden away just behind the garage in some bushes, and had told him to stay out of sight and guard the bike should they need to make a quick exit.
This particular area was known to be shady, and the garage he had chosen for this nights battery raid was poorly guarded which should have been a telling sign that there would be others like him seeking out some easy pickings.
But it wasn't like they had much choice in the matter.
Eclipse had been in just barely the double digits in terms of battery level for a couple of days now, starting at 30% and now currently sitting at 12%.
Which... was not an ideal situation given he was now faced with two human thugs, one with a crowbar the other a baseball bat who were blocking any means of escape.
But then, even if they wern't Eclipse's battery had gotten so low by this point he couldn't even run let alone fight. He was too sluggish, and currently he was leaning against a wall, his hand gripped tightly around the strap of his rucksack fighting to keep himself steady as his battery had gotten so low now, he could barely even keep himself upright.
The thugs meanwhile were eying Eclipse up eagerly, and muttering to one another as they held him at.. well the point of a pretty nasty looking crowbar and bat. Eclipse narrowed his eyes at them, yellow pupils flickering between them and the exit that was right fucking there he was so close and yet so far from freedom.
Eclipse was all too aware of what these men had planned for him. He knew how he looked, even with the scuffed jester pants and hoodie hiding most of his bodily features. His emotable face said it all - he clearly a more advanced model than the average robot so his parts would sell very nicely on the black market.
And Eclipse would know. He had visited such markets afterall.
He shifted on his feet. He was getting weaker the longer he stood there, his battery drain starting to take more and more effect as he felt less important systems shut down to preserve power and he fought to hide the tremble in his legs as they threated to buckle.
His movement did not go unnoticed however as the thugs instantly reacted, making threatening gestures with their weapons.
'Don't make a move tin can or you'll be scrap metal with just a single swing!' the one with the crowbar snapped, jabbing said crowbar toward the dark orange animatronic for emphasis.
Eclipse narrowed his eyes, not failing to miss the faint hint of fear in the humans voice. They wern't aware his battery was so low, so as far as they were aware he was still indeed just as much a threat to them as they currently were to him.
That might buy him just a little more time...
His grip tightened more, his vision starting to glitch out at the edges. He could use all the time needed right now, as at this rate he was swiftly running out.
The thugs suddenly stepped closer and Eclipse realised his hopes for time were shot to hell. He made a near frantic attempt to move, to try and make that dash regardless, barrel past them if he had too but the moment he pushed away from the wall, his legs finally gave and buckled beneath him.
Things quickly delved into chaos.
The thugs had raised their weapons to strike Eclipse the moment he pushed away from the wall, but the sudden sounds of a thud thud thud getting closer had them pause just long enough for a bright blue and purple blur to dash inbetween them and Eclipse and a dark blue hand closed into a fist swiftly swung out and cracked against the jaw of the thug with the crowbar, sending him flying back and crashing to the ground.
The second thug stood stunned for a split second as Lunar turned his blazing eyes toward him and dashed forward. The thug yelped and swung the bat, but Lunar was able to duck just under the swing just in time and straightened up bringing his fist up with him and gut punching the human causing him to double over with a loud gasp.
Lunar gave the thug no time to recover however as he swung his left leg and connected it with the side of the mans head and knocking him out cold.
For a moment there was a heavy silence as Lunar stood, stiff and still over the fallen human. Eclipse didn't have a chance to speak before the thug that Lunar had first hit suddenly scrambled to his feet and booked it to the exit. Lunar's head snapped towards the absconding human and made to go after him, but Eclipse, finally finding his voice called him back.
'Let him go Lunar'
Lunar stopped in his tracks, looking between Eclipse and the opening leading outside before back to Eclipse again, an unreadable expression adorning his features.
Eclipse meanwhile shifted himself into a sitting position, groaning as his joints creaked a bit. He was really overdue a maintenance, they both were. Lunar stalked on over, and Eclipse didn't need to be a psychic to know that Lunar was pissed.
'I TOLD you this was a bad idea!'
'..I know.'
Lunar kneeled down before Eclipse and grabbed the rucksack from him, angrily shifting through its contents as he continued to ramble, not giving the taller dark orange animatronic a chance to speak.
'I told you Eclipse! I told you we shouldn't have tried this place! Even you agreed that it was too easy too open for other humans to come poking around too, and NOW look what happened! And one got away too and he's going to call the police and we're going to get caught and-'
'Lunar-'
'No!' Lunar paused in the middle of pulling out cables with the battery to jab a finger Eclipse, 'No! Don't you 'Lunar' me Eclipse! You shouldn't have gone in here alone with your battery so low! Do you think i'm stupid? I could see how slow you've been lately, and i knew if you were to get caught you wouldn't be able to get out! And what if i hadn't been here? If i hadn't decided to follow you hm? Those-'
He gestures vaguely in the direction of the still unconcious thug and the main exit 'those jerks would have stripped you down to the bare endo and sold your parts and then i would have been all alone-'
Lunar broke off suddenly as he fiddled with the wires, his expression twisted in a mix of frustration and as though he was fighting not to cry.
Eclipse said nothing simply watching as Lunar continued to untangle the cables. He'd be lying to himself if he said he wasn't feeling swallowed up by guilt right now. Lunar was right, he HAD been stupid to come in here by himself and with his battery so low.
A part of him however was miffed that Lunar had gone against his orders to stay hidden with the bike, but the majority of him was very relieved that he showed up when he did. He had come pretty close to taking some serious damage if not worse.
And another small part of him as also quite impressed at how well Lunar had dealt with the threats. Lunar was by no means a violent individual but he certainly knew how to handle himself in a fight. Eclipse was quite proud of him for that.
He doubted very much though that that was what Lunar would want to hear right about now though. The dark and bright blue animatronic had finished untangling the cables and was now currently attempting to figure out where to attach them to the battery he had pulled out, seeming more and more frustrated by the second as he continued to struggle with it.
Eclipse sighed tiredly as he reached out and took the cables and battery from Lunar's (shaking he noticed) hands, and smoothly connected the cables to the right spots on the battery before connecting the other ends to the back of his head. He was well practiced by this point.
Instantly Eclipse's less important systems started to slowly boot back up again, and his senses sharpened as his charge began to go up and he let out a small sigh of relief, closing his eyes for just a moment just to relish being able to think more clearly again.
It didn't take him long however to realise that Lunar was being uncharacteristically silent, so he opened them again to look at his brother.
Lunar was sitting still, his gaze cast downward, and his hands gripped tightly onto his bright blue jester pants. Eclipse noticed a faint glint of red on the smaller animatronics knuckles, and realised how much he was shaking.
Well shit.
'C'mere Lunar' he sighed tiredly, opening his arms.
Lunar looked up sharply at Eclipse and the moment he saw the open arms wasted no time in practically diving into the offered embrace, clinging to his larger twin with a muffled sob.
Eclipse wrapped his arms around Lunar, one hand gently rubbing the others back as the smaller trembled in his arms, shoulders hitching slightly as he continued to fight the non existant tears.
Of course, Eclipse thought tiredly. He knew how to throw a punch but he was still shaken up over having nearly lost his brother.
Guilt never felt so heavy.
'Thankyou for the save Lunar.' Eclipse mumbled quietly, holding his twin a little closer. 'Was a pretty close one huh?'
A stifled sob, and then a muffled 'don't do it again'
'..I won't.'
'Do you promise?' Lunar asked, pulling his head away to look up at Eclipse with an intense gaze.
He shifted, suddenly uncomfortable as his own flickered off to the side. 'Lunar you know i don't-'
'Promise?' Lunar insisted, louder this time. Eclipse groaned.
'Fine fine, i promise' he caved exasperated. He didn't like making promises, but he could always make an exception for Lunar. He knew how important promises were to him afterall.
Bright blue eyes against yellow stared at him long and hard for a moment, looking for any signs of lies before accepting Eclipse's words and burying his face back into the others side. 'Good.'
Eclipse resisted the urge to groan again and instead rolled his eyes before falling back into silence. Lunar was no longer crying, but he still held on tightly to Eclipse, as though fearing he would disappear the moment he let go. Eclipse didn't blame him.
However, now suddenly aware once again of their current surroundings a quick check of his internal clock however had him realise they had already spent far more time here than he'd liked.
'We can't stay for long Lunar' Eclipse spoke up, gently prodding the smaller to ensure he had the others attention. 'Police will be here soon no doubt.'
Lunar looked up again at Eclipse before casting his eyes to the side, a troubled expression on his face as he fiddled with the strings of Eclipse's hoodie. 'But your battery-'
'I'll give it another three minutes and then we gotta move. It'll get me to about thirty percent which will be enough to get us away from here and to a safer location. Sound like a plan?'
The dark and bright blue animatronic still looked conflicted but nodded regardless.
'Good' Eclipse responded, leaning back again. 'We'll look for a motel to crash at next. We can both get a longer charge there and we can reserve these batteries for later use.
'Ok clipsy' Lunar mumbled softly, and no more words were said between them until the 3 minutes were up and they left the building back to where the motorbike was still safely hidden.
By the time the police did arrive, Lunar and Eclipse were already long gone.