And Then There Were Robots (B-Team)

After an utterly uneventful weekend (other than the spare drag race or two) Monday was bound to come around and bring a sense of normality to the chaotic nature of watching after oneself. Domhnall found himself, towards the end of one of the most soul crushing days of school that he'd ever been forced to live through. That's right, he didn't skip a single class today because he wanted to stick around to see what this class B-101 would be all about. It would be his first day there and normally he would probably be a little nervous if he wasn't so freakin chill.

Dom rounded the bend that would lead to the mentioned classroom. The route he was taking would mean that the only other students that he'd come across would probably be one of his fellow 'Beamers'. As he'd walk past some students, he'd smile and pray that they weren't complete weirdos. "Hey, how you doing, heading to B-101 are you?"

Without leaving much room for a response, he'd continue, "It's my first day, you see, and I'm pretty excited about it. Well, I mean, I'm hoping that I'm pretty excited about it since this day's been really bland and I'm really looking forward to this class meeting jumping past my expectations. I mean it should, shouldn't it? What kind of ending to the school day would it be if it didn't bring up anything interesting at all, do you hear what I'm saying?"

Turning swiftly to eyeball whoever was walking along with him, Dom took a turn down a hallway. Realizing that he really wasn't sure where he was going, he paused as he looked down two hallways. One directly to the right and one directly to the left. With haste, he hustled down the left hallway and, while walking backwards, carried on, talking to the students.

"Well, who are you then? Come on, feel free to give me the grand tour, wo---"

But he was cut off. As he wasn't paying attention, a strong whirlwind made him lose his footing and sucked him towards the ceiling, into a strange surging purple and pink spiraling vortex. Dom was pulled straight through, losing all orientation of where he was, all relation of how much time was passing and all concept of color and feeling. He was experiencing everything and nothing at once. It felt like an eternity but also barely a moment, until he was plopped back into the hallway, except now things were different. He couldn't quite put his finger on it.

"Move along. Get to class or submit to the council's judgement."

A giant silver humanoid construct whirred methodically towards Dom, bearing down menacingly. "Where the heck am I!?"

As Dom, Titus and the girl who still didn't find the decency to introduce herself stood in confusion ahead of the eight foot tall robot that had commanded them to relocate themselves, a whisper broke Dom's gaze from the classroom door behind him.

"Quickly, if you want to live!"

Dom glanced back and forth between a darkened doorway that was slightly propped open with a hand gestured toward him and the automaton that had now seemed to become aggressive, raising one of its arms and revealing what appeared to be some sort of laser rifle, aimed at the group. Before Dom could make a choice, the hand grabbed Dom by his shirt sleeve and yanked him inside. The door hung open long enough for Titus and the girl to follow if they were quick but would close immediately after with a rough bang.

The lights in the classroom were off and things were eerily quiet for a moment. Dom scrambled to his feet and tried frantically to get his eyes to adjust. "We need to move! We-we need to find a way out of here, don't you know!? There's a freaking giant robot outside that's going to try to kill us!"

"Will you chill out man?" A voice in the darkness responded quickly. "As long as we're in class, they won't bother us."

Dom took a deep breath and recollected himself for a moment before continuing. "Who are you?" he asked genuinely.

At that moment the lights burst to life, blinding Dom for a moment before his eyes made out a silhouette standing in front of him. He could tell that the individual was holding some type of weapon and they had shaved their hair clean off. As they came into focus, he could see that it was a boy who had seemed to create his outfit from random things that he had found around the school. He was wearing an old ripped up crossing guard's vest over what seemed to be a bullet proof jacket. He had what seemed to be a sword strapped to his back and he was holding a machine gun.

"Hello Dom. Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Domhnall Fitzgerald, and you're going to help us take back the school!"

As the boy spoke, a huge grin was spread across his dirt covered face, and he was right, it was Dom, or not him, but it definitely looked like him... As Dom tried to wrap his head around the man who stood in front of him, he heard more people moving around behind this Domhnall character.

"Who's 'us'?"

The Domhnall native to this universe nodded seriously to his comrade's gesture. "Alright, we owe it to you to explain the situation." As he spoke, he leaned over a table that had a schematic view of the school's layout. "I don't know what your universe is like, but, here, the student council has let their power go to their heads. After certain students who will remain unnamed continued to sneak out of class without a hall pass, our council voted to fund an army of those robots you came across called 'Hall Monitors'."

The Alternate Domhnall looked back and forth between Dom, Amber and Titus respectively to gauge their reactions before continuing. "The Hall Monitors were given permission to incapacitate any student caught in the halls between classes and force them into work camps where they would mine graphite deep under the school for pencil lead."

Dom shuddered at the thought, "Those fiends!"

Alt Dom nodded in agreement before continuing. "Naturally a resistance was created to fight back against the council and to liberate those that are trapped in the work camps. It's been difficult though. Numbers are few, and we've realized that we can't succeed in our efforts alone. There's an ally deep past enemy lines. The inventor of the interdimensional transportation device has been taken deep, past the cafeteria, through the boys and girls locker rooms and deep into the gym, he's being held captive and we need your help to get him back. He's the key to our victory, so I need to know, will you help us get him back?"

It would be dangerous, Dom knew that. Death robots were nothing to turn your nose up about and it definitely wouldn't be easy, but golly, if he couldn't rely on himself, who could he rely on?

Dom brought himself to his feet quickly so he could speak up. "You can always count on me Dom. Sounds neato. It. Sounds. Neato."

Dom didn't know his classmates very well, but he prayed that they would help too. The situation was definitely dire and not silly or light hearted at all. This gritty world was a dark shadow that they once lived in. Honestly, he would understand if they'd back out, because he wasn't sure if he'd come home alive.

With a squint and a quick turn, Dom stared at the girl that still had barely said a word to him. She just said no? I mean, he was happy with the blunt response. It kind of made him smile actually but, for real? They were in a parallel universe! Robots! Adventure! How could she possibly say no? How many times would this opportunity come up in their lifetimes? Probably not many, hopefully. But...did she have any sense of excitement or spontaneity at all?

Dom walked up to the girl and guided her away from their apocalyptic doppelgangers, signifying that he wanted a few words. He thought for a minute before speaking, bringing his hands together and picking out his words carefully before making a sound. "Robots, man...like...for real."

"How many times...are you going to have a chance...to fight...evil robots? Giant. Evil. Robots." He whispered with intent. "I mean, forget accountability for protecting your alternate self or any morality to help your fellow human being but, I mean really, how cool is this? Doesn't it sound like fun? We're given an interdimensional mission for ourselves and you're just gonna say, 'Na, no thanks,' I mean, who are you even!? I don't know your name and I guess I don't get you, girl. Please, enlighten me."

Right, of course! Dom knew he was a fantastic negotiator, but he definitely didn't think that basing his argument on robots was going to work. Something was up, but he didn't care too much. As long as it led to him being able to go on a crazy rebellion crusade against their evil overlords. This was basically the exact same game he played when he was ten except a bit more vivid.

"Alright, well we're in, so what's the plan?"

Alternate universe Domhnall stepped towards the three with a smile. "Fantastic! Here's the plan, then. The natives here and I will lead a head on assault towards the cafeteria to serve as a distraction and draw their fire onto us. At the same time, you three will infiltrate the back lines by way of the vents. I know. I'm a genius. I came up with vents. You're welcome." He smiled and looked around for approval.

"Wow, an extraordinary mind, we have here, in our midst. We should all be grateful." Dom said, feeling satisfied with himself and wearing a stupid smile

"Thank you, thank you. From there, you will disembark into the locker rooms and then subdue whatever you need to before moving on to the gym where you will find our associate and get him back here to safety. With him, maybe we'll be able to end this goddamn war, finally. Any questions?"

With a few confident steps, Alternate Dom moved up to Dom and revealed a small and strange looking pistol from the back of his belt. "This is called a laser pistol, mkay? Use it if you get in trouble. I realize we've only known each other for a few minutes but...I feel like I've known you for my entire life. Take care of yourself."

He handed it to Dom like he was handing over a baby. "Wow. This means a lot. Thanks. You stay safe, too."

The two Doms walked towards the door, getting ready to exit and looking back to the rest of their party to see if they were ready before leaving, in case they wanted to share any final words with their friends or their alternate universe counterparts.