Leo pressed the button, but nothing happened. No alarms, no doors opening, not even a damn light changed color.

"Did it work? I got a notice that said we completed the challenge," I said to the other two.

"Me too," Leo said grimly, his eyes scanned the gigantic room that we were still trapped in.

I stepped closer to the button, jabbing it a few times for good measure. But still, it remained a stubborn little jerk. I placed my head down, just above the button, trying to intimidate it. "Stupid damn thing! Work!"

I inspected the button, its creepy red glow still glowed creepily. The yelling at it hadn't seemed to have done anything.

"This is your fault," Milo said to Leo.

I looked over to see Milo's robotic body tense, his tail lashed back and forth.

Leo's ears flattened against his metallic head. "I'd be careful with..."

"I'd be careful with what," Milo said, cutting Leo off. "Once again you dragged me into the shit with you, 'one last job' you said, and now look at us!"

I took a step back from the two of them, using the button's podium as cover. I pretended to inspect the button as I tried to avoid any eye contact with either of them.

"We're trapped in robot bodies, Leo! Robot. Fucking. Bodies!" Milo's voice rose with each word. "I'm a walking, talking, tin can, in some psycho's wet dream. And it's all your fault."

I quickly glanced up from the button. Leo's tail twitched, his neon eyes glowing extra bright. "You think I wanted this? That I planned for any of this?"

"I don't know Leo. Maybe you did. If we make it out of this alive, robot or not! I don't ever want to speak to, or see you ever again!"

I winced at the venom in Milo's words. I quickly looked back down at the button, and as I stared intensely, I actually noticed something. A barely noticeable seam ran along the podium just below the button.

"I think I see something," I said as I ran my metal finger along the seam. "There's some kind of panel here."

"You just leveled up your perception skill!" And, you have begun a new challenge!" Said the girl.

'Perception +1' appeared in my vision as my experience bar ticked up by 250xp. Followed by 'Mission Accepted: Escape the big room'.

Leo and Milo walked over and stood either side of me, avoiding any eye contact with the other. I dug my fingers into the seam and with a grunt plus my upgraded strength, I pried the compartment open. Inside, comfortably sitting in foam padding were three vials filled with glowing red liquid.

"Are those what I think they are?" Milo asked, anger still in his voice.

I reached in and plucked out one of the vials, holding it up to the light.

"You found three medicines!" Said the girl.

"Health stims," I confirmed.

"Wait!" Leo said, eyeing the vials suspiciously. "I don't know if we should trust these voices. They were created by that lunatic, after all. This could be another part of the game."

Suddenly, a loud crash echoed through the room. I whipped around to see one of the glass panels explode. Shards of glass flew everywhere, amongst the shards was a figure flying through the air, it looked like a person. The figure slid along the pristine white tiles, leaving a smear of blood as it slid along the ground.

As the figure slowed to a stop, I got a better look. It was Dr. Purkins, and he looked, dead?

"Dr Purkins!" Cried the girl in my head.

The platforms slowly began to lower back down. As all the platforms reached the ground, blending back in with the tiles, two more figures leaped out of the newly created hole in the mirror.

I stumbled back, and my jaw dropped to the ground as they landed in superhero-like crouches on the ground. It was two robotic-humanoid-cats, just like us. Except one was pink, the other red.

"What the hell," I blurted out, unable to control my thoughts from coming out of my mouth.

The pink one stood up straight, its movements were fluid and graceful.

I glanced down at the health stim in my hand. My health was so low, if these two weren't friendly towards us, we were screwed.

"Can I trust you?" I asked the girl in my head.

She didn't respond.

"Awesome," I said, what a great time for her to stop talking.

"Rover, round them up," the pink one said in a feminine voice as it pointed towards us.

The red cat, Rover, let out a low growl that sent a shiver down my metal spine. It was the same size as us, but its presence felt bigger, even though its stance was hunched. It somehow was scarier than the saber-tooth. It approached the three of us.

I made a decision. "What do I do with the vial," I asked the girl.

She still didn't respond. I looked frantically around my body, pressing the stim against my body at different places, but nothing happened.

"Listen, I know this sucks," I said, hoping to appeal to the girl's artificial emotions. "But right now I could really use your help. Can you tell me how these health stims work?"

Rover let out a louder, more menacing growl. His red eyes had a feral look to them as he fixated on each of us as he slowly approached. The pink one seemed more calculated as she stayed behind the red one, assessing us with a cold, analytical gaze.

"Please, we need your help. Isn't that why Dr. Purkins created you? To help us? You know, otherwise, we are going to probably die."

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A moment of silence passed.

"You need to plug the medicine into your body," the girl said softly. "There should be a small thingy under your ribs. It should be the same shape as the top of the medicine bottle."

I fumbled around, searching for what she described. Eventually, I found a small indent on my right side, under my ribs. I pushed the health stim into the indent. It locked in place.

"Now just twist it," she said.

I twisted the stim, it made a hissing noise as I watched the red liquid leave the vial and flow into my body.

The effect was immediate. A surge of energy coursed through my body, and the pain from the injuries faded. I felt stronger, faster, more aware. My health rose back to 700hp.

"Thank you," I said to the girl.

"That's okay" she replied, her voice was still soft but there was a little more cheer to it.

"Newt!" Leo yelled at me. "What did you just do?"

"I took the health stim," I said, tossing the empty vial aside.

"I thought we agreed not to do that?" Leo said.

"We don't really have a choice," I said, gesturing to the new threat in front of us. "And it worked, I feel great!"

Milo didn't say a word as he plunged the health stim into his socket, the liquid left the vial as it flowed into his body. He immediately stood up straighter and his eyes seemed to glow brighter as he walked cautiously towards Rover.

Leo sighed as he injected the vial as well.

"You must be Project Q and R," Milo said as he stood only a few feet away from Rover.

The pink one nodded, her tail swishing behind her playfully. "That's right, I'm Quinn, he's Rover. And you must be the doctor's new little pets."

"Did you kill him?" I asked looking over at the doctor.

Quinn walked over to Dr. Purkins' body, lifting him up by his hair into a sitting position. She grabbed his jaw with her other hand and began to move his mouth like a puppet.

"I dunno," she said with a perfect imitation of the doctor's voice, "I feel pretty dead."

I looked away from Quinn and the doctor, as Quinn laughed at herself, she reminded me a lot of the doctor strangely enough.

"Look, we don't want any trouble," Leo said as he walked up to stand beside Milo. "In fact, we wanted the same thing as you. We are grateful for what you did, so we will be on our way..."

Quinn paced back and forth, her tail twitching erratically. "What do you think, Rover? Should we let them go?"

Rover remained silent, his eyes fixed on Milo and Leo. He didn't even acknowledge Quinn's question.

Milo stood tense, his shoulders rigid, his eyes darted between Quinn and Rover. Leo, on the other hand, was at least trying his best to look calm.

"Quinn, listen," Leo tried again. "We appreciate what you two did, but we really would like to go home."

Quinn let out a high-pitched giggle as she approached Leo and Milo. "Home? What home? You're just like us now, trapped in these bodies. There is no home!" Her smile faded into anger. "No home for us, and no home for you!"

She turned to Rover again, "I know Rover, shut up! Let me think!"

Rover remained silent, not a word came out of his mouth, yet Quinn seemed to be responding to some unspoken cue. She tilted her head as if listening to a voice only she could hear. Either Quinn was absolutely crazy, or they had some kind of telepathic connection.

"This isn't good. They seem super dangerous," said the girl, repeating my own thoughts. I felt a surge of panic rising in my chest.

"If you just let us leave peacefully, I promise you'll never hear from us again," Milo said to Quinn.

Quinn's gaze snapped to Milo, her eyes narrowed. "Peace? There's never any peace. This should have stopped his insistent nagging! But I can still hear him!"

She shot a crazed look over to Dr. Purkins. "Everyone just needs to shut up and let me think!" she screamed.

I could see the pain and anger in her eyes, they were, in a way, just like us. But they seemed way too unhinged. We needed an exit strategy.

I looked at the hole in the glass wall. We just needed to get through that hole, the only problem was that Quinn and Rover stood between us and our way out.

I stepped forward, going for my best 'let's be reasonable' pose - hands raised. "Look, what happened to you, to all of us, is a big steaming pile of doo doo, but keeping us here isn’t going to make the pile any less stinky. You know what I mean?"

Her eyes blazed with anger as she looked at me. "Which part of shut up don't you get?" She said as she stomped towards me.

"Hey, leave him!" Milo said as he rushed over, standing in front of me like a shield.

Quinn swatted Milo aside like he was nothing, sending him flying back, skidding along the tiles.

"Milo!" Leo shouted, charging right at Quinn. But Rover was too quick, he caught Leo and dragged him back like he was a rag doll.

I saw the rage grow in Quinn's eyes as she lunged at me, her claws extended. I dodged to the side, barely missing her attack.

Rover let out a roar as he held onto Leo, thrashing him about in his hands, banging his body against the floor like he was an enraged ape.

I ducked and weaved, trying to avoid Quinn's slashing claws. Milo ran to help Leo, but before he could even make it over, Rover threw Leo across the floor and began to run at Milo, slamming into him with the force of a freight train, sending Milo flying back and crashing to the ground.

"Whoa! We don't have to do this!" I yelled at Quinn, but my words didn't seem to register in her head. "Let’s just talk this out!"

She was lost in her own rage, her own pain. She lunged at me again, her claws raked across my chest. I yelped in pain as sparks flew, sending me stumbling back. Pain shot through my body as my health dropped to 490hp.

"Newt, run!" Leo shouted from across the room, his voice strained with pain as he lay helpless on the ground. "Get out of here!"

Milo was sprawled out next to him, struggling to get up.

"You should listen to him!" screamed the girl. "Run!"

But I couldn't do it. I couldn't leave my brothers behind.

"I'm not going anywhere!" I yelled back, barely dodging another swipe from Quinn.

I made a desperate run towards Leo and Milo as I saw Rover turn his attention back on Milo. Rover launched himself into the air as I sprinted towards him, hurling myself towards him, hitting him full force.

The impact didn't seem to do any damage but it did seem to surprise him - probably shocked that anyone could be this stupid. 'Strength +1' appeared in my vision, followed by a boost in my XP. Still way too far away from leveling up though.

We hit the ground hard as my health dropped again.

I lay on the ground. Rover was already back on his feet, standing over me, his eyes blazed with fury as he reached down and grabbed me by the shoulders. His claws dug in deep, piercing through my metal. I yelped in pain as he yanked me up into the air, slamming his skull into mine with enough force to rattle my circuits. My health dropped to 180hp.

"Newt!" Leo shouted, back on his feet.

I glanced up just in time, seeing Quinn rush towards me, her face twisted in rage. I managed to slip out of Rover's grip just in time to miss the brunt of her attack, she still managed to graze me with her claws though as my health dropped even lower to 40hp.

Warnings flashed across my vision. The weight of every blow and attack I'd suffered came crashing down on me at once. The pain was intense, sapping my strength, speed, and stamina.

Everything and everyone was telling me to escape. But I couldn't. I wouldn't.

"You need to run!" said the girl, "Your health is super low, you're going to die!"

But I ignored the girl and the warning flashes in my vision.

Leo made his way over to me, pulling me out of the way of another attack from Quinn.

"You need to run!" Leo said, I flinched slightly as he held onto me, it was the exact same spot where Rover had punctured me.

Rover and Quinn just watched us, not making a move. As if they were waiting for us to run.

"Milo," Leo yelled over to him, "Take Newt, now! Go!"

Milo rushed over to the two of us, grabbing me by the shoulder, but I didn't budge.

"I'm not going without you!" I said.

I was too caught up in my stubbornness to notice Rover had walked over to us, he grabbed me and Milo and threw us aside. I slid along the ground in one direction as Milo slid the opposite way, eventually coming to a stop. I struggled to get up as my health flashed.

I watched as Rover grabbed Leo by the throat, lifting him off the ground like he weighed nothing.

"No!" I screamed, forcing myself to get up.

I ran towards Rover as he held onto Leo. I lunged at him, hitting him with all my weight. But my impact only made things worse. Rover's grip on Leo's throat tightened.

CRUNCH!

Leo's eyes went wide, his green glow faded, and then his body went limp in Rover's hand.

"LEO!" Milo screamed, his cry echoed through the room.

Rover dropped Leo's lifeless body to the ground. It landed with a dull thud.

I stared in horror, my mind refused to process what I was seeing. This couldn't be happening. Leo couldn't be dead. But he was. And it was my fault.