Page 61 of Garbage

“I’m fine,” Quincy agreed quietly.

“I know that was a lot to go through, but after this we’re just going to talk.”

“Alright.” Quincy agreed, though he really didn’t want to talk about it again. “I already told the police everything.”

Mr. Pierce nodded. “Actually, I wanted to ask you about Evan.”

It was like warmth coming back to his body, as dozens of memories and stories crowded him for attention. He could talk about Evan forever.

And he did.

No one interrupted him, and they only asked a few easy questions. He caught smiles on their faces when he shared his favorite stories. Ben even nudged him a few times, like a little hug with his shoulder when he shared Quincy’s happiness.

“Can I ask how you two met?” Mr. Pierce finally asked. “I heard that was the scene of the first attack.”

Quincy’s limbs froze, but his fans whirred.

Ben wrapped an arm around him and offered his other hand for Quincy to hold. Quincy latched on.

It was both easier and harder to talk about it now. He’d reported all the facts before, but with Ben here, keeping him safe until Evan could come, he found himself trembling.

The Bad Men had been so angry and hateful. He’d been so, so scared, even before he fully understood what he was scared of.

He pressed through, though, describing the first attack and the one yesterday.

“Can you tell us what you were thinking about when you used the Rescue protocol?” Justice asked at the end.

It was the same question the police kept asking, which scared Quincy because he knew it was important, but he didn’t know why.

“I just… I knew I couldn’t harm a human. And I knew they were going to… They were going to hurt Evan. They could have…” He couldn’t even think the other word for what might have happened to him. Seeing the men standing over him, and then watching him lie still on the pavement, was bad enough. “I had to rescue him. I just focused on that.”

“You did hurt the other humans, though,” Rashid pressed. His voice was gentle, not like the barked questions of the police. So maybe Quincy could actually tell him.

Ben squeezed Quincy’s hands.

“I… I…” He hated to admit this. Even to himself. “I told myself that the humans were just things. That they were objects that were endangering Evan. I didn’t even look at them. I just… moved them out of the way so that he’d be safe.”

He looked up at everyone watching him. “I didn’t want to hurt them. I just wanted to get Evan away from them. I just… I don’t understand how they could hate me so much! I did nothing to them! They wanted to treat me like I was… like I was a machine. An object. But I know they couldn’t really hate an object that much. They hated me because I had feelings! If I were really an object, they wouldn’t have wanted to hurt me.” He’d started out angry, fans whirring, but by the end of his speech he just wanted to curl up in Evan’s arms and make everything go away.

He ended up hiding in Ben’s chest instead.

“I know the Bad Men weren’t really objects,” he whispered. “But they hated me because I wasn’t one, either. All I wanted was for them to leave us alone.”

Ben’s fingers carded through his hair. “We know, Quincy. You were keeping Evan safe.”

“You have a very clear case of self-defense,” Justice added. “Do you know why you’re here right now?”

Quincy shook his head. But he also sat up so he could find out.

“Two of the men who attacked you are dead. The other is in critical condition and might not make it.”

Quincy drew his arms into his chest. When that wasn’t enough, he hugged himself with his hoses and pincer arms, too. Protocols piled up, subroutines bumping into each other and spinning. Error messages pinged. Data calls came back nonsensical and empty. “I didn’t know! Oh, no! I didn’t…”

Ben squeezed him, adding a layer of comfort he couldn’t provide for himself. “We know you didn’t realize. And they were terrible, terrible people.”

“I didn’t know!”

“Deep breath,” Ben commanded.