Soapy Situation
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All Wall-E Character Robots in this fic are humanized, but that does not mean they are actual humans, they may have human bodies, human emotions and human function, but their brains are 100% Robotic, like robots their brains are programmed, and their programs are what give them their logic, purpose and directive. but even though they may be programed for specific functions, their program does allow them to learn and expand both inside and outside their initial program.
All of my Wall-E fanfics are set after the Axiom returned to Earth, and while the Humans are out rebuilding their world, all of the Bots live within the Axiom forming their own comunity.
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Wally ran down the corridor of the Axiom, heading for the cargo bay, fear clutching his program, he had to find a place to hide, and he had to find it now.
He paused in the doorway between the cargo bay and the corridor, and strained to hear.
There, he heard it...the distinct sound of footsteps approaching.
Wally let out a small whimper of panic, sprinted inside the cargo bay, and looked around franticly for a place to hide. There were a stack of crates in a corner, but they were all filled coils of live wire, to the left was about three BnL barrel canisters half filled with sludge and a burned out portable alcove.
The faint footsteps were growing louder forcing Wally to make a choice. In a flash decision, he headed toward the barrels. With only seconds to spare he had manage to scramble over the side one of the large canister barrels. the muck inside did not really bother Wally since he was programmed for exposer to this type of thing, but it was very uncomfortable as he felt the cold liquid quickly beginning to seep into his heavy duty boots and thick canvas pants. He was at least happy that he had not been programmed with olfactory senses because was sure that sludge was not pleasant to smell. This thought was quickly purged from his memory banks as he heard the footsteps enter the bay area.
Wally shivered a bit closing his eyes, hoping upon desperate hope that he would not be found.
"Waaaaaallllllyyyyyyyy" Moe's called out even toned, trying hard not to sound as angry as he felt. In his hand he was clutching a bar of soap and various other cleaning supplies.
He scanned the cargo bay; it was easy to see that Wally had come this way, the filthy tracks left behind from his boots acted like a map to where ever Wally went. The question was..."was he still in here?"
Moe had spent the better part of the day searching for the errant little bot, it was Saturday commonly known as 'Cleaning Day' for Wally. So it came as no surprise that when he had awaken from his regeneration cycle that Wally was nowhere to be found.
"Wally!...you better stop hiding, you are only making things worse for yourself!" Moe called out, clutching the bath brush in one hand. He took a few steps forward and then noticed the BnL sludge barrels and inwardly felt his core temperature rising.
"Wally...if your hiding where I think you are you are in BIG TROUBLE!" that last part came out much harsher than he wanted, but it was too late. He had crossed over from being mildly irritated to outright frustrated.
Inside barrel Wally was trembling, he had learned through past experienced that when Moe's voice sounded that loud that he was upset at him, which usually meant other unpleasant things that often required the use of a bath brush being applied briskly to his bare behind.
But Wally had also learned that there was one word that sometimes worked to make Moe not angry at him anymore.
"SORRY!!!!" a loud echoing voice suddenly resounded from inside one of the barrels. Moe jumped back in utter shock at the sudden voice from the barrel. All of his supplies sprang from his arms and clattered to the floor, he had only made a guess that Wally might have been in one of the barrels but had not been prepared for the truth of it.
Wally slowly peeked his head up over the top of the barrel looking quite pitiful. Moe quickly regained his composure and glared at the filthier than usual unit.
"I suppose you think that saying 'sorry' is going to make up for mess you are in right now." Wally eyes began to fill with tears and he shook his head.
Moe closed his eyes and sighed, there was no use in lecturing him. Not right now anyways.
"Just get out of the barrel" he said finally and bent over to collect the scattered cleaning supplies. It became quickly apparent to Moe that he would have to make due with cleaning Wally there in the Cargo Bay as he was drenched from the waist down in foul smelling sludge. Could this day GET any worse?
Thankfully, this particular cargo bay was full of various items and in no time Moe had found a makeshift washtub and filled it with water from the emergency fire unit. It was cold water, but the temperature didn't really matter since Robots did not catch colds, it would only be slightly uncomfortable and Moe was really concerned about Wally's comfort at the moment.
"Come one Wally, lets get this over with." Moe called but was surprised to look up and see that Wally had not moved from the barrel.
"Wally get out of that sludge barrel and get over here now!" Moe said, once again calling from the well of patience that was quickly running dry again.
"no" came a small quick answered. Moe was surprised, Wally had never flat out told him no before, he was usually compliant, even if he did whine, and he always did what Moe asked of him.
"Wally…." Moe said slowly this time walking toward the barrel." I am going to count to three, and if you're not out of that barrel and in that tub by three you are going to be the sorriest bot on the Axiom." Moe waited a second, Wally suddenly burst into tears.
"I's STUCK!" he began sobbing. It was true; the gunk at the bottom of the sludge barrel was so gunky that it had congealed around his boots sticking his feet quite nicely to the barrel. Moe smacked his face with his hand; Wally's vocabulary was still so archaic it made doing these types of things so much more difficult.
"Alright, calm down " he sighed, feeling at least glad that Wally's 'no' had not been one of defiance, and grabbed Wally under his arms, after a few hard jerks, pulled him free from the barrel.
Moe was most unfortunate to have been programmed with olfactory senses and was almost overcome with the pungent odor of the sludge. He made quick work of removing Wally's clothes before plunging him into the cold soapy water of the tub.
Even on a good day Wally hated bathing, he really wasn't sure as to why, but he hated every aspect about it… the feeling of being wet all over, the way his damp hair stuck to his head, and then there was the uncomfortable scrubbing of places that in Wally's opinion had no business to be scrubbed.
Moe rolled up his sleeves and grabbed the bath brush and soap, and quickly set to work scrubbing the top of Wally's head vigorously. The earlier events of the day had removed Moe's feelings gentleness for the bot and felt it was a payback of sorts for all the trouble he had caused.
Moe's rough treatment while scrubbing did not go unnoticed by Wally who began to squirm and whimper under the heavy barrage of scrubbing bubbles.
"Auhhh! not so hard!" Wally whined
"Hold still." Moe said shortly with one hand holding onto his head and the other now scrubbing his face.
Wally opened his mouth to protest but found it suddenly filled with soapy bubbles, since he was a bot and his mouth was only used for communication, he thankfully did not have taste buds but the feeling of a mouth full of soap was still equally unpleasant.
Wally tried feebly to push Moe's hand away but the cleaning bot was determined to get Wally clean both outside and in.
"Here hold this in your mouth for a bit, while I get the back part of you scrubbed." Moe instructed then without warning shoved a whole bar of soap into Wally's mouth. The poor bot didn't even have time to protest before he found himself biting down on a large pink square of soap.
Moe was by now completely lost in his cleaning zone, Wally has almost ceased to exist in his mind as he was focused on the elimination of all traces of contamination hiding in every crack and crevice of the unit.
After what felt like an eternity of anguish for Wally, and a fraction of pleasure for Moe
Wally was "all-clean" and released from his soapy prison.
Moe stood back to admire his work, Wally looked perfect, his rust colored hair was now shining like copper, and his skin was practically glowing. The feeling of a job well done rushed over Moe and he felt himself smile deeply pleased with himself.
"Now then, don't you feel better Wally!" Moe said as he zipped up the front of Wally's fresh set of clean clothes.
Wally looked on the verge of tears and shook his head unable to make eye contact. Moe put a gentle hand on the other units shoulder and tried again
"Come on Wally, you must feel better, a clean bot is a happy bot…. right?"
Wally still looked down at his feet despondent then burst into tears.
This outburst surprised Moe, he knew Wally did not like baths but he had never erupted into tears before…especially after it was all over.
"Come on, it wasn't that bad was it?" but Moe was now beginning to feel a small pinch of guilt, he had been a bit rougher than usual, but surly he had not actually hurt him had he?
"Stop crying and tell me what's wrong."
"I CAAANNNTT" Wally sobbed
"Why?" Moe said almost frantic now.
"B-because you'll be mad at me and spank me!" Wally continued to cry. At this point Moe was thoroughly confused by the bots behavior but then he noticed that as Wally opened his mouth to cry a clear shiny bubble escaped his lips, Moe's mind suddenly remembered something very important.
"Wally? You didn't by any chance accidentally swallow the bar of soap earlier did you?"
At the mention of the soap, Wally began to cry harder and as he did, more bubbles began forming and escaping from his mouth.
"SSSOOOOOORRRYYYYY!!!!" he wailed. Moe feeling truly blameworthy now quickly wrapped Wally in a comforting hug.
Of course, he knew the soap was not harmful for the bot to ingest, but the fact that Wally had been afraid to tell him what happened re-enforced Moe's feelings of guilt that he had maybe been a little too hard on Wally earlier.
"There, there its alright, I'm not mad at you Wally, you didn't do anything wrong." He said gently and patted the smaller bots back in a comforting rhythm.
Wally quickly quieted down resulting in the flow of bubbles to stop also. It never ceased to amaze him how the things that he was sure would make Moe mad always turned out otherwise, and the things that he was sure were just fine ended up getting him into trouble.
Wally sighed and hiccupped one last bubble.
"See there now, no harm done." Moe said and giving Wally one last squeeze of a hug and a pat on the head.
"Now lets see about cleaning that bedroom of yours."