Spine sighed, exhaling a small cloud of steam as he slid out of his chassis. He glanced around, sliding along the floor like a caterpillar as he left his chassis standing in the corner of the Hall of Wires.

Nothing for him to do, no gigs for the day. It was the perfect time to just relax.

The atmosphere was nice and quiet in the Hall of Wires, and a silvery automaton in the Walter Manor known as The Spine was content as he grabbed a nearby wire and slithered up. He needed a much needed nap.
He eyed the closed door and smiled sleepily as he closed his optics, allowing himself to power down slowly, 'feeling' content while the world turned dark.

A sudden rattling sound echoed through the cavernous Hall of Wires, jolting Spine out of stasis. He glared, his emerald photo-receptors glowing in the dark like car headlights.
"What is it now?!" he growled, wrapping the 'tail end' of his snake-like body around a few wires and dangling from the ceiling.

It was a familiar bronze mustachioed automaton entering the room, seeming to look for something.
"Oh, hi, The Spine" Hatchworth said casually, looking up at him.
"Hello, Hatchworth. May I be of assistance?" The Spine asked as if he was still half-asleep, their eyes meeting.
"Yes, I'm looking for my bass" Hatchworth replied with a sheepish expression. "Have you seen it?"
"Sorry, Hatchy, I haven't" The Spine sighed, Hatchworth helping him onto the floor.
"I could have a look, if you like?" he offered.
Hatchworth nodded.
"Yes please" he answered, his core glowing and producing a little bit of light in addition to the flickering fluorescent light above them.

Spine gave him a grin before moving across the floor in a worm-like fashion, small creaks sounding from his joints followed by a snort of stifled laughter.
"What are you laughing about?" The Spine asked while cocking an eyebrow, a half-curious, half-irritated glare being shot at his bronze brother.
"You look like an inchworm," Hatchworth giggled.

The Spine sighed. It was probably a good idea to go into his regular chassis to help his sibling.
He glanced around and frowned when he saw that it wasn't anywhere to be seen.
"Where's my chassis?" He asked while turning to Hatchworth. Hatchworth only shrugged his shoulders.
Spine sighed in annoyance, rolling his eyes as he heard another snort of laughter.
Choosing to ignore it, he continued to scrunch around on the floor like a robotic worm.

"Ha! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!! O-O-Oh my God! I've heard of an inch-inch-inch-inch w-worm, but never a 12 inch wo-worm!!" a female guffawed from outside.
Spine let out an annoyed "Uugh" as he moved faster, Hatchworth covering his mouth and trying not to laugh any more.

"Very funny, Rabbit(!)" Spine snapped sarcastically.
"Where's my chassis?" He demanded as Rabbit walked in. She held her signature squeeze-box as she approached.
"I have no-no-no idea what you're talking about," Rabbit said in an innocent tone. The Spine only raised on eyebrow at her, making her and Hatchworth go into a fit of giggles.
"You almost look cute," Hatchworth chimed while picking up The Spine, earning a huff from the titanium alloy male.
Spine pouted after being picked up, curling up in Hatchworth's hand, staring up at his siblings from his coils.

"Are you gonna let me help you, Hatchworth, or are you and Rabbit just gonna make fun of me?" he asked, looking almost hurt.

Hatchworth glanced down in a guilty way, murmuring "we'll let you help" before placing him back down on the floor.
Rabbit scrunched up her nose, looking down at her accordion before looking at Spine.
"It was just a joke" she grumbled, watching her brother slither towards his chassis in the corner of the room.
Once he was a safe distance away, she made little noises with her accordion, Hatchworth falling to the floor laughing.

"Could you stop?" He asked as he slithered up the leg of his chassis to rest on its shoulders. He glared at his siblings as they held back their laughter.
"It's f-f-funny, The Spine," Rabbit chimed.
"It's annoying. We need to focus on finding Hatchy's bass now," he muttered while slithering into his chassis.

Rabbit made a "Pbbt!" noise, smirking as Hatchworth was trying to use the glow from his core to light up any darkened areas in the room, his blue optics glowing in the dark and gloom of the Hall of Wires.

~~~

"The Spine, is this helping?" Hatchworth asked, using the glow from his eyes and core where Spine was.

"I can just turn on the light, Hatchy," The Spine said while walking over and flipping a switch, illuminating the Hall of Wires with a dull red glow.

"I still don't see it. I guess it's elsewhere," Hatchworth said while heading for the door.

"I'll come with ya-ya-ya, Hatchy," Rabbit said while following him.

"I'll be here if you need me," The Spine said while walking over to his armchair and settling in. He slithered out and rested on his shoulders for a bit before grabbing a nearby wire and climbed up.

Hatchworth continued his search for his bass, peeking in all the rooms and cabinets, anywhere the bass might possibly be.
"Either I left it at the stage, which is highly unlikely, or there's a massive magpie that's taken it. Or it's in one of the other rooms" he said aloud
"Aha! there it is!"
Hatchworth picked up the bass and smiled. Sure there was a replacement lying around, but this bass had sentimental value to it.

He turned around and paused when he saw The Spine's headless chassis standing in the doorway. It swayed side to side, it's fingers twitching.

"What are you doing here? You're supposed to be with The Spine, silly," Hatchworth chimed while approaching the chassis. It made an unpleasant sound as it stepped forward. Hatchworth paused and frowned.
"The Spine must be dreaming," he muttered as he kept his eyes on the chassis.
"Huh?" Rabbit replied, walking over to the chassis and crouching down.

"Do you remember when The Spine's chassis karate-chopped the fridge when he had a bad dream? I think he's having one. His chassis is ready to fight," Hatchworth explained.
"What sh-sh-should we do?" Rabbit asked.
"Be quiet and don't touch the chassis," Hatchworth said while lowering his voice.
Rabbit backed away and bumped into a houseplant, making it fall and shatter on the ground. The chassis made a hissing noise as it turned to Rabbit.

"Run, Rabbit!" Hatchworth sent over their wireless connection as the chassis advanced on her. Rabbit nodded and sped out of the room and down the hall, leaving Hatchworth alone. He had to wake up The Spine.

Hatchworth burst into the hall of wires, seeing nothing but wires.

A soft murmur of "No...no.....get...get away...... I'm warning you..." could be heard above him.
"Spine?" he called up to the wires.

"Leave me alone! I'm not your prisoner!!" Spine groaned sleepily, sounding distressed and defensive.
"SPINE, WAKE UP!" Hatchworth yelled, batting the wires like a cat.

"No, I- huh?" Spine murmured. The yells of his brother woke him up instantly. Still a little disoriented from the sudden wake up call, Spine stared around the room a little before focusing on Hatchworth.
"You're dreaming, Th'Spine! It's making your chassis act out!" Hatchworth exclaimed. He watched as The Spine slithered down a wire to look at him with heavily-lidded eyes.
"Just a dream," he muttered, shaking his head.
"You gotta get to your chassis before it hurts anyone," Hatchworth said while reaching up to gently take The Spine in his arms. The Spine curled up and looked straight ahead as Hatchworth carried him out.

"You're here, great! Now-now-now help me with this thing be-before it causes any more damage!" Rabbit called as she restrained the squirming chassis in some kind of martial arts shoulder lock.

Hatchworth walked over to the empty case and inserted Spine into it who, after a few seconds, managed to take full control of the chassis, tilting his head both ways to ease himself into the body.

"Uh....Rabbit?" he spoke up, the response being a brief "yup?"
"You can let go now" The Spine added matter-of-factly.
"Oops! S-S-Sorry," Rabbit said while letting go of her brother.

"How do you feel?" Hatchworth asked.

"Tired," The Spine muttered while rubbing his forehead. He swayed side to side as he frowned.
"Well, stay in your chassis if you want to take a nap. We don't need it to go rogue if you have a nightmare again," Hatchworth suggested.

"Don't wanna have ta go and find you again. Last time you really gave Ste-Ste-Steve a fright!" Rabbit laughed.
"It was the funniest thing I e-e-e-ever saw!"

"Uh-huh" Spine replied with a half smile.
"I'm gonna go back to the Hall of Wires. I'll see you later, you two" he stated, and with that he was gone.
Hatchworth gave a sigh of relief once The Spine was out of earshot.
"All's well that ends well. What would you say, Rabbit?" he asked Rabbit.

"Y-Yup! and l-look what I have" she said, taking something out.
"Why the smirk?" Hatchworth asked, adjusting his glasses with a confused expression.
In Rabbit's hand were a few Polaroid photographs of the Spine moving like an inchworm. Hatchworth giggled.
"What?! how?"
"I have my-my-my ways. Plus, we need a-a-a little somethin' to entertain our fans," Rabbit crowed.

"Very true. He'll find out soon enough," Hatchworth said while stifling a giggle.

"I can't w-w-wait to see the look on his face when he sees these," Rabbit said while looking through the photos.
Hatchworth laughed softly, as did Rabbit, Michael walking past them.
He walked backwards and looked at the Polaroids, smirking and trying not to laugh before walking away.

The Spine let out a mechanical yawn as he settled himself into his armchair. He had had enough of the shenanigans that had happened today.
He resisted the urge to slither out of his chassis and closed his eyes.

He frowned when he heard laughter somewhere. It was Rabbit and Hatchworth. The Spine chose to ignore them and tried to go back to sleep.

"These pictures are fantastic!" Hatchworth chimed.
'Pictures?' The Spine opened one eye and listened to the outside conversation.

"Yeah! I-I-I can't get enough of 'em!" Rabbit replied with a grin.
"Just when I thought our brother c-couldn't get more awesome!"

Spine opened both eyes, turning to the door.
What did his sister and brother mean by 'pictures'?

Did they....?
OH NO THEY DIDN'T!

*THE END!!!! :D*