"Are you sure you don't wanna come to school with us today, Ro?" Tommy asked.

It had been a few days since Moshimo's dinner party and he had noticed that his robot friend had been acting strange. He didn't radiate the same level of sadness as he had done a few days ago, but Tommy was still growing increasingly worried about him. Disposing of Protoboy must have taken a bigger toll on him than expected.

Robotboy gave a small smile and shook his head. "No worry, Tommy. Robotboy tired. Stay home for day."

Tommy could still see something was off about the whole situation; Robotboy usually jumped at the opportunity to go to school with his friends. He looked over at Bjorn who was scolding his robot brother for chewing through his school backpack (again) and realized that there wasn't even any reason for Robotboy to have to stay at home anymore. Tommy and Lola collectively had decided that they could finally trust the Bjorns and it was safe for Bjornbot to go to school with them again, seeing as more than half of the students and staff couldn't seem to tell the difference between an android and a human being anyway.

Tommy had also talked with Bjorn and got him to promise he would look after Bjornbot and make sure he didn't do anything reckless or draw attention to himself. He trusted that Bjorn would make sure of that; he was very excited to have his robot brother attending school with him again. He felt much safer with him around and Tommy knew he wasn't willing to jeopardize that.

Despite all of his suspicions, in the end Tommy just sighed and gave his small robot friend a pat on the head.

"Okay." He said softly. "You rest at home. You can watch TV and play as many games as you want. We can talk when I get back, okay?"

Robotboy gave a small beep and nodded. He felt like something inside of him was being crushed. He felt awful that Tommy was so worried about him. He didn't deserve it, he felt.

But how could he tell him the truth?

As per usual, he watched from the window as Tommy and their two house guests left the house. As they crossed the road, Bjornbot turned and saw him in the window and excitedly waved goodbye. Robotboy gave a gentle wave back, feeling himself get a little warmer inside. Despite all that was going on, he still felt consistent joy whenever he caught evidence of how far Bjornbot had come since they had first met. He never imagined that he would feel completely comfortable leaving Tommy with him, let alone with Bjorn as well.

In fact, he was actually happy that Tommy and Bjorn got along now. It made him glad to see Tommy talk excitedly with him about robotics and science and other things that he didn't really talk about with Gus or Lola for fear of boring them.

It wasn't long until the guilt crept back though and he remembered that he had lied to Tommy. He had lied about something pretty big, too.

As soon as he was sure they were out of sight, the small robot made his way to the back garden. They could no longer use the garage; Dwight would go in there every morning to get into his car and every evening when he came back from work. Donnie would go in there too at random times to mess around with his dad's tools or whatever it was he was doing. It was too risky. His less conspicuous sibling could easily be discovered.

No one ever went into the shed at the bottom of their garden, however.

Robotboy opened the shed door and was faced with the daunting reality of the situation he was in now.

Protoboy was sat on top of a stack of plastic boxes, surrounded by shredded bits of paper. He was in the process of ripping a fresh comic in half when Robotboy sprung up quickly and snatched it from him.

"No!" He yelled firmly. "Read comic! No destroy!"

His slightly bigger brother just glared at him angrily. "PROTO BORED. ROBOTBOY SAY: NO MOVE. WHAT PROTO SUPPOSED TO DO?"

Robotboy sighed and began sweeping up the ripped bits of paper that covered the shed floor. Yet another thing he was going to have to explain to Tommy. When he eventually did tell him that Protoboy was still very much active.

"They were Tommy comics." He said sadly. "And Protoboy destroy them."

Protoboy stared at one of the visible comic strips that hadn't been swept up yet.

"PROTO TRY READ."

"Really?"

"YES. 0 MESSAGES DETECTED WITHIN COMIC BOOK IMAGES."

Robotboy blinked and suddenly couldn't help but giggle. He remembered when he was that clueless about human entertainment. Perhaps he should have explained what to do with the comics a little better.

"No!" He laughed as his brother's red optical sensors narrowed in irritation. "Pictures tell story, then you read text. It all make sense."

Judging by the way his brother was glaring at a torn image of what looked like Godzilla eating a person, he figured that it was going to be a while before Protoboy understood. It looked like he was losing focus now anyway.

"TAKE PROTO SEE DEAR NOW!"

Robotboy shook his head at the command.

"Proto forget? Ask nice."

Protoboy seemed to visibly cringe, before it clicked within him once more that the only reason he was even able to ask was because Robotboy had saved his life. He had disobeyed their father's orders to destroy him. The reasons his little brother had given were hard for him to understand, something about family and guilt, but he understood that whether he liked it or not, he owed his Robotboy his life now.

Even if he was weak and had been corrupted by emotion and genuinely enjoyed playing board games with humans.

Protoboy glanced to the ground and muttered,

"Take Proto see Dear, please."

"Good!" His smaller brother's thrusters propelled him up with excitement and he clapped his hands. "Never heard brother talk so soft before."

"SILENCE! PROTO WANT SEE DEAR."

Landing back onto the ground, Robotboy wrung his metal hands nervously.

"Robotboy not so sure if should take brother out yet-"

"-PROTO BORED!"

The smaller machine winced at the sound of his brother's fist coming down hard on the plastic containers he had been sitting in. Yes, he did agree that it must not be nice for him to be stuck in a shed all day for what was coming up to about three days now. The trigger happy robot had even surprised Robotboy and hadn't used any weapons or superactivated or left the area of his confinement at all.

It may have been down to the repeated reminder that he had the Professor on 'speed dial' and he wouldn't hesitate to call him if Protoboy decided to do anything shady again. He knew that this time, there would be no coming back for him. Robotboy still chose to have hope in him.

He just hoped that Tommy would forgive him. He hoped that all his friends would be able to forgive him. He couldn't exactly just get rid of Protoboy now. Above all, he didn't want to.

"Robotboy have idea. Let try?" He proposed.

His older brother looked slightly more interested. "IF YES, LET PROTO GO OUT?"

Robotboy nodded. Hopefully. As if afraid that someone might see, he opened his chest compartment slowly and took out a small chip that he had been hiding there. Protoboy eyed it suspiciously.

"No worry." The smaller brother reassured him before he could jump in with questions or defiance. "Trust Robotboy?"

"WILL CHANGE PROTOBOY?"

Robotboy thought for a moment before shaking his head.

"No change. Is just...enhancement. Robotboy have chip just like this one." He knew because it was one of his spare emotion chips. He wasn't exactly lying. It wouldn't change the nature or personality that Protoboy's AI had built up. It wouldn't affect his memories. "Will make you better. Maybe, Tommy accept you then. Maybe Moshimo accept you. Maybe will understand. Trust Robotboy do this? Then we go out."

Protoboy wasn't sure if he wanted his brother to insert this unknown 'enhancement' chip into his system. He hadn't been upgraded or undergone maintenance since he was kidnapped by Kamikazi. It had been a very long time since he had gotten anything new. Sure, his dear repaired him when he was badly damaged during his fights with Robotboy but never added anything new. He had always been the same.

He glared into his brother's hopeful blue optic sensors and realised that if he let him, he would finally get to leave this damp human shed. The other option was just blasting through the roof and waiting for Moshimo to inevitably find him and use his deactivation ray which he had no defence against.

What was the worst a tiny chip like that could do anyway?

"OKAY." The battle robot agreed at last. "PROTOBOY ACCEPT CHIP."