There sat a boy, on a ratty old couch, eyeing the remains of a backpack. The contents of the bag we're lost long ago. Two months at least, lost to the blast of a warship. The items of the bag, he didn't mind losing. The bag itself, he kept only as a memento of his time with his father. His father, along with the entirety of his friends, whom all think said boy is dead. The boy's name, Atom, he'd chosen himself, after being thrown out by his father. He wound up stranded, on the surface of an earth long-lost to pollution and scrap metal. Though he wound up in this dark, confusing place, he'd found happiness almost immediately. He'd stumbled into the trap of several vagabond children, and they soon ended up becoming friends. He hadn't said a word however, about his secret. This secret, was that he was not a boy at all. He was, and continues to be, a robot. A robot built by a grieving father to replace his son, whom he'd lost to his own invention. And that little robot boy, programmed with the memories of the scientist's own son, had been cast out of his home for worsening his father's grief.
Atom felt pathetically guilty, knowing that he hadn't told anyone that he wasn't, in fact, dead after that deadly fight with a rogue machine built to destroy. That he'd been revived nearly a week ago by an enemy-made-friend.
He closed his eyes and remembered the time he'd left, hearing his father on the phone with another scientist, and acquaintance of his, Doctor O'Shay. He'd spoken of guilt, and that he'd only reminded him of who he lost. His Tobio, his flesh and blood son. The little robot, who didn't know just what he was, didn't comprehend the situation at all, this talk of 'shutting it down' and 'the machine'. All he knew, at that very moment, is that he'd been cast out of his home by his own dad. He wished he was back in his penthouse, with his father. He wondered if his father still wanted him, like he'd said before the final battle.
With a sigh, he reopened his eyes. He didn't consider this place to be home either, which gave him an inevitable feeling of not belonging. Hammeg's makeshift home is where he currently stayed. The man who'd taken him in, and used him as a fighting machine just days later. Though, after refusing to fight a 'bot Atom himself had revived, He ended up saving the man's life after the man angered the other robot. Hammeg, after reviving the boy, had expressed almost immediately that he felt in debt to him. Soon after, they came to an understanding. Atom had stayed at this abandoned orphanage ever since. Atom grabbed the pop can sitting on the oil-stained coffee table next to him, and finished it off with a long, drawn out sip. He then crushed the can, and threw it against a wall, which sent it careening into the pile of several more crushed cans beneath it.
Hammeg, who was in the other room, jumped at the noise, and peeked around the corner of his workspace.
"Atom, What's gotten into you?" He asked, a with a concern laced voice.
"It's nothing Hammeg, I'm alright." Atom faked a smile, his eyes clearly betraying the worry shining in the robot boy's eyes. Hammeg let him be, not pushing things any further, and turned back to his work. Atom soon decided to lie down, and his eyelids became heavy. Atom fought off sleep, but the dimly lit warehouse wasn't helping. Soon after his eyelids shut, he drifted off to sleep. And then the events of the past three months came reeling through the poor boy's head.
He was back at his father's penthouse building, and an immense feeling of joy washed over the space before him. Bits and pieces of the books in front of him, were converted to beautiful models of Da Vinci's work. The papercrafts floated gently through the air, creating a surreal atmosphere. Orrin, the household robot, was enjoying the show as well, using a little fan on the end of his spindly arm to propel them back into the air. It still amazed Atom to this day, that he'd completed small-scale working models out of merely paper. As fast as the scene came, it flashed away even faster, changing to one with a completely different feeling. This was the moment he'd fallen out his window. He re-lived the feeling of his stomach dropping, and unrealistic fear sent chills running up his spine and down his arms. A yell tore from his throat, as he dropped at a breakneck speed, the cool air whipping around him, fast and freezing cold. He braced for an impact, but all he felt was himself slowing to a stop, and eventually regaining elevation. The boy's eyes widened as he removed his palms from his face, only to see columns of blue fire protruding from the bottom of his boots. Then memories of flying for the first time, flooding his mind with excitement. Though that excitement came to an abrupt stop as he remembered approaching his father's penthouse and hearing his words. "...and I…..I don't need you…..anymore," Atom felt life as he knew it shatter around his feet, and after sharing a few fleeting words with O'Shay he lept out the window of his father's penthouse and left. He ended up on a building a few miles away, staring down at his hands and confirming his suspicion. He is a robot, and there was no changing that now. Artificial tears brewed in his eyes, but he blinked them away before being assaulted by a fleet of warships. He'd ended up on the surface, surrounded by the mauled mangled faces of discarded robots. He'd been attacked by a gang of sorts, a large group of hostile robots. They wanted him to join them, to help "liberate them". Frankly, they just ended up terrifying the poor kid to the point of running until nightfall, and his feet aching along with his head. He then sat, on a pile of junk metal and robot parts until he fell asleep. He'd woken up that morning accompanied by a trashcan robot, modeled after a dog of sorts. Atom followed the robot, who'd alerted him there was someone or something in danger., He followed to help, only to be trapped. He was thrown into a pit, which held a large net by Trashcan. Heaved onto the scrap metal, and banging his face on a chestplate increasing the already pounding pain behind his eyes caused him to cringe. Then, soon after, he was released, by kids, his age. His friends, now. Zane, Widget, Sludge, and Cora. He immediately felt warm, even whilst dreaming when he thought about the girl. He's still glad he'd met her. His thoughts soon shifted back to when Hammeg found out he was a machine, he had tasered him, and shorted out his systems temporarily. Next thing he knew, he was running purely on program, fighting without thinking. The guilt of destroying all those robots still nagged at him, His dream skipped, to when he'd been captured by Stone's men. To when Atom had lost everything important to him again, for the second time in those three short months. He was walked over to a lab table by Stone's soldiers, O'Shay protested, and his father's only reply was
"The president is right, it's only a machine." The robot boy's response was a simple
"Bye, Doctor O'Shay."
He lied down slowly on the cold metal table, and his father opened his chest hatch. The robot boy glanced down to his father's hand, hovering over the invisible hatch, fear flashed across his eyes. But soon after, he gave a small nod to the man, and smiled weakly at his fate. His father's body was shaking and he was muttering something under his breath, that could only be heard loud enough after the core was removed.
"I'm sorry…." His father choked out sincerely, looking the robot boy in the eyes.
Immediately Astro felt numb, and was relieved of all feeling in his limbs, though he wasn't scared. The feeling in the boy's body was fading, and he could no longer move. It didn't bother him though. He'd lost everything after all. The last thing the boy remembered saying though, was an apology, despite everything he'd gone through.
"Don't be, I'm sorry I couldn't be a better Toby for you…..Dad." Astro's voice was strong and calm, but slipped away at these last few words. His head fell to the side, limp. Everything was dark, black, unmoving. He was dead, again, for who knows how long.
First his hearing came back, slowly but surely, and suddenly he was conscious, his father standing over him once again. His eyes shot open, and he looked at his father. "Dad," He whispered his words slurring "wha….." He blinked, registering his surroundings "W-w-what are you doing?" Tenma grabbed the boy's shoulders and looked at him confidently.
"You may not be Toby, but you're still my son." The man told him, and Astro smiled.
"Dad." His father pulled him into a quick hug, and released, looking at him with pride.
"Now, fly. Fly!" Tenma proclaimed as Stone's soldiers lunged towards him. Astro took off immediately, and fled. As he was flying, he heard a gunshot, and he faltered. Continuing to fly away from the lab, against his better judgement, he slowed and looked at the city behind him. Several large explosions crackled against the silence, and they were unsettlingly close to the lab he'd just left. His flashback skipped once again, to when Cora had rescued him, pulling him into Hammegs hover car and trying to get him away from the conflict. To his surprise, no one had seemed to care that he was a robot, and that gave the boy hope. Then to his father, finding him fallen in a building and begging the boy to come with him, exactly as Cora had. Astro declined, to save his friends, who had turned around to try to help the boy again.
"This is it, this is what I was created for. This…..is my destiny." The boy clenched his fists.
"I'm sorry, but this is who I am." He looked his father straight in the eyes.
"Onward and upward…..Dad." He said weakly, and at that took off, leaving his father in the remains of the building. Focused, Astro put his arms to his side, jetting towards the Peacekeeper's chest where the Red Core was contained. Without fear, he had reached the core and expertly waited for what was to come. He smiled, recalling his own memories, not Toby's. And closed his eyes. He was at peace when the cores exploded. He vaguely remembered hitting the ground, hard. The energy in his core had almost vanished, and the only thing he could do was wait, and listen. Distantly he began to hear a familiar voice. He thought he was hearing things, his systems malfunctioning, but the voice got closer.
"Astro?" I'm here Cora!
"Astro? Astro!" He heard her gasp, and footsteps closing in on him. Cora, I'm still here!
"Oh no…" She sighed, dropping to her knees beside the boy. Cora I'm still here I can hear you! His mind was screaming, trying to move, to show some sign of life.
"Oh, Astro," She whispered, sounding defeated. He soon heard more whispers start to surround him, his vision completely black. I am still here! Dad! O'Shay! Cora, I'm still here! He cried to himself, knowing no one could hear.
"Who was he?"
"He saved the whole city!"
"Why would he care?" O'Shays familiar voice cut through the strangers, boldly responding to their comments.
"Because that robot had more humanity than most of us." Astro made a noise that he never thought he could make, pure anguish and sadness. He was the only one who could hear it. He'd realised that O'Shay cared for him, but he hadn't realised just how much, and hearing this, made him feel worse. That statement was the only thing he'd been needing to hear for a long while.
"Who are you?" O'Shay asked a stranger, whom the robot boy couldn't see. A female voice responded sadly.
"I'm a friend of his," Cora whispered, laced with sadness, "from the surface."
Astro heard gasps, and was once again screaming into the void of his own mind, wanting her to hear him, wanting everyone to know he was still there, if barely.
"Can you fix him?" Cora said softly, and Astro cried out to nothing again, Cora please! I'm still here…..
"No, I'm afraid not." O'Shay sighed. "His blue core was unique, now it's died with him."
"It's not fair," Cora had cried, Astro choking on his own mental words, wishing by some miracle she could hear him.
"All he ever did was help people." The girl whispered, sniffing again. Astro could hear the pain in her voice.
I'm still here…
The sounds faded out around him, and it was black once again.
