Chapter Seven: Broken Bottles

"I want my life to be the greatest story. My very existence will be the greatest poem. Watch me burn. -Charlotte Erksson, Empty Roads & Broken Bottles; in search for The Great Perhaps.


Ultron had only been working on his new body for about forty-five minutes when curiosity got the best of him and he went about exploring the cluttered garage.

Spare parts, tires, tools, and oddly enough, animal skulls filled the relatively large room.

The garage was as big, if not bigger than the house. At least Ultron estimated the size. He had yet to go in the house, but what sensors he had left showed it wasn't a very large residence.

Strung from the ceiling was an assortment of light fixtures, including an old chandelier, a lantern, and several strands of christmas lights. From the walls hung three deer skulls, an elk, a bear, and a coyote or wolf.

The garage was also home to three cars, Anya's tow-truck and two half repaired cars. There was also a snowmobile and a motorcycle in various stages of repair.

Anya was a mechanic, and a damn good one, though that was probably due to her mutation.

Given her talents, she could probably finish a project in less than half the time it would take a normal human.

She was also brilliant. Not just with machines, but everything in general. Even though it didn't seem she went past the ninth grade, her I.Q. was at a genius level. From what he'd seen, Ben was almost as intelligent.

Proof of Anya's brilliance was leading against one wall. Ultron recognized it as a fellow A.I. though not nearly as advanced as himself. It was in the form of a dog, the size of a great dane. The robot was laying on its belly, eyes unlit and circuits slightly frayed.

Intrigued, Ultron approached the dog. It's limbs were strong, clearly showing it could walk, and probably run on them. Its ears were pointed and had a mouth full of teeth.

Reaching out, he pocked the robot. His touch caused a jolt of electricity to jump from his digit to the dog's head. He was shocked to see its eyes flash to life.

The dog turned to him lightning quick and began to growl. Ultron slowly began to back up as the dog leapt to its feet, still growling. Then its mouth opened and a high pitched whine came out, accompanied by a loud call of "Intruder! Intruder!"

Then the dog charged, its jaws snapping and red eyes wild. Ultron dodged the crazed A.I. but the creature only followed. He ran around the room, determined not to get any more damaged.

He had to go as far as jump onto the hood of the half repaired truck to get away from the screeching robot.

"Intruder! Intruder! Intruder!"

"I'm not an intruder you damn mutt!" Ultron roared back. The dog jumped up again, trying to bite him, only to meet Ultron's foot to his face.

The metal hound backed up, whining and growling at the same time.

Both A.I.s froze when the sound of the door to the house opening and closing. Out stepped the sleepy figure of Ben. The boy was dressed in an oversized shirt and boxer. He walked into the garage, rubbing his tired eyes as he went.

"Wah's happenin'?" He yawned.

"This hell hound decided I'd be a good chew toy!"

Ben blinked at Ultron, his words not ket computing in his tired brain. The boy didn't have time to answer anyway, as he was suddenly plowed over by the insane dog.

"Master! Master!" Yapped the dog.

Ben seemed to have been knocked out of his stupor as he began to laugh at the dog's antics. Since the creature didn't have a tongue, it settled for rubbing its nose against the boy, causing a similar effect.

"Gadget, get off! That tickles!" Ben cried in between tickles. After a few more nuzzles the dog relented, moving back a few steps and sitting down in its haunches.

"Master!" The dog grinned. Ben smiled at the damn creature. He reached out and patted it on the head. "Were you giving Ultron trouble?" Asked the boy.

The dog's head swing around and he growled at the fellow A.I. "Intruder!" Barked the little beast.

Ben laughed. "Ultron isn't an intruder. He's a guest!"

The dog cocked its head. "Guest?" It inquired.

Ben nodded. "Yes, guest. Now you be nice to Ultron, okay."

The dog whined but made no other protest. Instead in moved right in front of the boy and lay down with its head in Ben's lap.

"Master." It sighed.

Ben giggled, then turned to Ultron who was slowly climbing down from the truck as not to damage it. "Sorry about that. Mum programmed Gadget to be a guard dog. He just didn't know you were a guest."

Ultron eyes the dog wearily. "It's fine. Just... keep it away from me. It isn't natural."

Ben laughed. "Fair enough. Though, you arn't exactly natural either."

Silence met the boy's remark.

Ben shrugged. "So mum went into the city?" Ultron nodded. "How long ago did she leave?"

"Just under an hour ago."

"She should be back before dinner then. The city's a few hours away." He leaned back against the wall, absently stroking 'Gadget'.

"Mum likes you, ya know." The boy said after a few minutes of silence. Ultron had since gone back to building himself a new chest. He froze in his work, glancing up at the boy. "What do you mean?"

Ben shrugged. "I mean exactly what I said. Mum likes you. Not really sure how she likes you, but she does. She's not exactly the friendliest person in the world. We've lived alone for the past five year, just me and her. The only human contact we get is with Mum's customers. She's not really good with people. That's why she acts weird sometimes. At least I assume it's weird. I wouldn't really know." He shrugged again.

"That's another reason Mum build Gadget, to give me a friend. I've never really had a friend. Neither has she. It's just me and her against the world. Kinda sad. But then you came, and we had a friend."

He was quite again, then, "I think Mum wants to like you more than a friend. But she's scared. She likes you a lot, and I think you like her back. But neither of you have had the best experiences with humans, so you don't really know what to do."

The two sat in contemplative silence for a while. "I suppose..." Ultron murmured. "I'm not exactly the best person." He sighed. "I'm probably a bad influence on you both."

Ben shook his head. "I disagree. You're not perfect, but no one is. Me and Mum, we're a pretty broken family, but we're still a family. Mum's far from perfect. Every year, on the anniversary..." Ultron knew what anniversary it was. "She drink. Like, really drinks. It's the only time she does it, but she gets so drunk. She starts out happy. Loopy. But as she gets more drunk, she starts to scream and cry. I lock myself in my room. She sometimes throws things. The next day, she's throwing up and crying and sleeping in. But the day after, she's fine. She needs those days to keep her sane. They remind her that things can be bad, really bad, but like the drinking, it goes away. She's a fighter, and she'll get through it."

They were quite for a while. Ben shifted, causing Gadget to wake up from his doze and moving to sit in front of the door. Ben got up and grabbed the designs for Ultron's new body from where they sat on Anya's work table. He looked them over, a smile slowly growing on his face.

"You're gonna look awesome once Mum's finished with you." He grinned. "Are you going to build a new arch reactor?"

Ultron nodded. "The one I have now is damaged. I can't exactly go around with a broken heart." He tried to joke.

Ben laughed, even if it wasn't that funny. "Can I help?"

Ultron thought for a moment. It couldn't hurt. He gestured for the boy to sit next to him and began to explain the science behind the reactor. Ben listened with rapt attention, and together they began to piece together Ultron's body. And with it, they built a future.


A.N. I really like Gadget. He's a cutie. Maybe I'll draw a picture of him later. I don't think I have any guest reviews. If I do, sorry for not responding. My inbox tends to eat my emails. :/ More explanation stuff, and an almost father/son scene between Ben and Ultron. It feels so weird to be writing fluff, considering I usually write violence and angst. Just read Black Suns and Golden Spaces, that one's pretty messed up. So I went to my local comic store with my friend today for the first time. It. Was. Awesome. I bought an Ultron bobble head. He's so cute. :)