Alex Heap shivered lightly at the cool October air. The chill autumn air had already begun to take the place of summer, but Alex didn't care. Today was a special day. It was her birthday. As of today, she was officially ten years old. Finally, she was in the double digits. Nobody could say she was 'just a little girl'. Oh no, she was far too old to allow such talk. And as such, she felt she was entitled to a special gift this year.

However, convincing her father of it proved to be quite a difficult task.

"Please dad!" The green eyed girl pleaded. "I'll be careful, I swear!"

"Alex…" Justin Heap sighed. His young daughter could be so persistent sometimes. "Your condition-"

"I've felt fine all week, honest!" She quickly interrupted. "If I felt bad, I'd tell you."

"I know. It's just you never know when the symptoms will come up."

"Yeah, but…" Alex chewed on her lower lip lightly. Her father had a valid point, and if she didn't come up with something soon, he would win, and she couldn't let her condition get in the way on this special day. "You'll be with me the whole time." She quickly added with a grin. She had him there.

"You really want to go that badly? It's really boring." Justin said in an attempt to talk his daughter out of it, but she only nodded. "Alright. You can come to the junkyard with me, but stay where I can see you."

Alex clapped her hands together in delight. This was going to be an amazing birthday.

Ever since Alex could remember, her father made trips to the junkyard. He would bring home all sorts of things- scrap metal, old electronics, and on a rare occasion parts from broken down Reploids. When Alex had been younger, she had thought of these things as treasures, but now she saw them as things she could tinker with. Before she was born, Justin had been a brilliant mechanic. He was supposed to go to school for an engineering degree, but he never finished. Why was still a mystery to her, but that wasn't important now. The birthday trip was the only thing on her ten year old mind.

The junkyard was a place she had heard of, but was never allowed to go. Her father would say things like "You're too young." or "You're symptoms have popped up again, you have to stay home." But not today. This was her day. She would find something on her own, and… do something with it. It all depended on what she found. Maybe she would find an old radio, or a broken down motorbike. As long as it was something, she would be happy.

Justin's old blue truck pulled into the parking lot, and the two emerged from the vehicle. He always brought the truck when he made trips to the junkyard. The space was needed for the items he retrieved. "We leave before dusk, Alex." He said in a firm voice. "And remember to stay where I can see you. This place can be dangerous if you're not careful."

"I know, I heard you the first five times." She grinned. Without any delays, the father daughter duo headed into the junkyard. Piles of forgotten technology laid scattered about. Alex felt her jaw drop ever so slightly. She hadn't imagined the piles would be so big. It seemed she had a lot of ground to cover. The young girl headed to the nearest pile, and began to carefully search it.

Two hours came an gone quickly, and Alex felt the sinking feeling of disappointment begin to settle in. She hadn't found a thing that caught her eye. Well, she found a few things she liked, but nothing she could repair. The whole point of this trip was to not only see the mysterious junkyard for her own two eyes, but to find something to restore, just like her father. Everything she knew about technology came from him. It was on of the only activities she could do, as it didn't cause too much strain on her body. She wanted to show him just how good she was at it, and maybe he would teach her more.

But she couldn't do that without something! A sigh escaped the ten year old. So far, this was not how she had imagined this trip. At this rate, it would be dusk before she knew it. The sun had already begun to set.

I was then that something caught her eye. A white shape was lodged in a pile next to the one she was currently searching. So far, all of the things Alex had seen were darkly colored. The white shape stuck out like a sore thumb. Naturally, this attracted her attention. She made her way over to the pile, and carefully pulled away the things surrounding it. Now she had a clear view as to what the white shape was. It was something she hadn't expected.

"A hand?" She muttered to herself. It was a small, feminine looking hand. It had to have once belonged to a Reploid, no doubt about it. Maybe it was outdated, or something happed for the owner to discard it. Either way, it was fair game now. Without hesitation, the young girl reached out to grab the hand, and pulled. It hardly budged, but now she could she that a wrist was attached to the hand. Alex blinked. Was there a whole arm attached? The possibility only made Alex pull harder. Now she just had to see what this was. She gave three much harder yanks in an attempt to free the arm. However, she failed to notice how her actions effected the stability of the pile. She didn't notice until it began to collapse.

"Alex!" Justin's voice broke through the air. Before the pile could crush his daughter, he knocked her out of the way. The both of them landed right beside the fallen pile. "Are you alright?" He asked her in a concern voice. Once she gave a quick nod, his concern turned to anger. "What were you thinking? I told you to be careful! You could have been crushed!"

"Sorry dad…" Alex grasped her light brown hair nervously.

"Come on. Were leaving." Justin said firmly as he pulled both of them up.

"What? No!" She cried out in protest.

"Now young lady!" He grasped her wrist, and began to pull her away. Alex glanced back to the pile in an attempt to see the arm, but instead she saw much more.

"Wait!" She pulled her wrist free, and bolted over to the pile. Her father called after her, but she didn't care. "I found something." Justin reached his daughter, ready to pull her back to the truck, but what he saw caused him to stop in his tracks.

A Reploid. Not once had he found a whole Reploid.

Alex carefully pushed off anything that covered the Reploid. It was a female with long burnet hair, and fair skin. She might have been considered a pretty one, but not now. Her body was heavily damaged, and judging by the dust that had gathered on her, what ever happened to her happened quite a long time ago. Justin looked over to his daughter, and immediately recognized that spark in her eyes.

"Alex, she's probably too far damaged to be-"

"I can fix her." She quickly cut him off. "Anyone can be fixed, right?" Alex looked over to her father with determination in her green eyes. He had seen that look many times, for she was a very stubborn girl, but there was something different. This was more personal.

Anyone can be fixed.

Maybe even herself someday.

"Alright." Justin moved over to the Reploid, and scooped her off the ground. Alex beamed. "But you're still grounded."