Chapter 20

My parents wouldn't let me go walking in the condition I was in. Mom called doctor Light to come pick us up from the crash site. I was a mess; the metal shards from my exploded buster were still in my skin. Blood was running off my body. My face wasn't fairing much better.

My cheeks, chin, lips and a spot on my neck had metal protruding from them. They dripped blood as well. My eyes were safe because of the visor but metal bits were still jutting out of there too. I sat with my back against the wrecked truck. Both my parents sat next to me and started helping me with my injuries.

"Alex, let me look at that." My dad said

He took hold of my left arm. When my buster blew up it took most of the armor on my left arm with it. My hand to my elbow was exposed. He looked it over before letting it o and starting to take off his belt. He took out a small pocketknife to poke a hole near the buckle.

He looped it around my wrist tightly.

"Ow."

"I know it hurts but this will help with the bleeding."

He was right; my arm had stopped dripping as much.

"Thank you"

An awkward silence set in. No one knew what to say next. What was there to say?

"How did all this happen?" Mom asked

"I'd like to know that too, please." Andrew said

Andrew propped Blues against the truck next to my dad. He and Molly sat across from us awaiting my explanation.

Don't you just hate being put on the spot like this?

I pulled my helmet off and set it to the side. I groaned as I started rubbing my forehead with my good hand. There was no point in keeping anymore secrets. How can I even begin to explain this?

"I…I've got no idea." I said sounding defeated "Hold on, I'm trying to figure out how to summarize this the best I can…okay. I tried to stop a mugging and got bashed on the head. It left a gash so in order to help my condition a doctor injected the cut with steroids."

"You're on drugs?" My mom asked with the kid of shock you would expect

"Let me finish please. The steroid reacted perfectly to my body so the doc asked if get inside a blue metal suit and fight giant robots for him. I'm assuming you've seen said robots on the news so I won't go into detail about them. I beat all of them and now the big bad guy behind all this: Dr. Wily has started his plan to…actually what his plan the whole time?"

I've got nothing. I think world domination somewhere down the line but I'm not even entirely sure.

"This whole thing just seems kind of pointless when you think about it. I mean, what did he do after the whole framing Dr. Light thing?"

I'm not…oh, he's stolen weapons and machinery here and there.

"Oh, so just theft and framing a guy. Was that really worth all this bullshit?"

Nope, the guy's just nuts.

"Totally."

"Alex, who are you talking to?" Dad asked

I didn't even notice all of their confused looks. I just had an entire conversation with Rock in front of them. I need to learn to stop doing that.

"Well, I guess this is a good a time as any to reveal that I have an Artificial Intelligence program that was formerly a robot wired into my head that gives me orders."

Complete silence followed.

You don't know a damn thing about tact do you?

"What are you talking about?" Mom asked

I lay the back of my head against the truck. I let out a groan as I stared up at the sky. I felt dizzy from the blood loss. I don't think I can talk anymore. Luckily I didn't have to; I heard the sound of the doctor's van pull up. I felt a little relief and let myself relax. I slipped away and went to sleep.

Alex's head slumped onto his dad's shoulder. It was then that a van pulled up to us and two men and a woman piled out.

"Load him up, quickly." The woman said

Without a single word Alex's dad picked him up under his arms. I stood up and took the legs. All of us piled into the van and sped off as fast as we could. It was when we all sat down and the quiet set in that I really looked at Alex. His skin was pale as a sheet and his face was covered in bruises and cuts.

If it weren't for his chest rising and falling with breath you'd think he was dead. I looked over to Molly and couldn't help but feel thankful that she and I weren't in the same condition.

"What's wrong?" She asked

"Scared as hell." I said bluntly

"We're going to try to help you." The woman said

"Who the hell are you people," Alex's mom spoke out "What have you done to my son?"

"My name is Dr. Thomas Light." The old man started "This man is my bodyguard Garret and the girl with you is my daughter Roll. As for your son I saved him from brain damage."

"What I meant was why is he in this getup fighting for you?"

"That was your son's decision, we asked him if he would and he said yes."

"Doctor, there's more to it than that." Roll said and then turned to Alex's mom "Alex saved me from getting mugged and was assaulted in the progress."

"We know that much. What's with the suit?"

"It's Dr. Light's creation; it was built with parts from another robot, Rock. He's been accompanying Alex in his fights. I know this is a lot to take in but you son hasn't been fighting by himself."

"Rock…is that the…thing in his head?" She asked

"Rock isn't a thing." She said "He's my brother and…"

"You're what?" I asked a little too loudly "You're a robot too?"

Before the discussion could continue the van came to a screeching halt. The two men picked Alex up and carried him into the house with all of us following close behind. They took him into their basement and told us to remain in the living room. Alex's injuries required immediate surgery. All we could do now is wait.

I felt an odd sense of peace despite what I had gone through. I opened my eyes slowly and my eyes were assaulted with an array of shifting colors. I rubbed my eyes and reopened them; the scenery was an unnatural shade of bleached white.

"What the hell?" I asked

"Are you alright?" Rock's voice echoed

"Where am I?" I asked

"You're unconscious at the moment. I decided to keep you company while the surgery goes on."

I pushed myself up into a sitting position.

"How long has it been going on?"

"It's been about six and a half hours. You're stable and are going to come out of this okay. There will be multiple scars along your face and all the way up your left arm unfortunately."

"How bad does that look?"

"Just be glad it's not Jonah Hex territory"

"Who the hell is…never mind."

"Are you feeling alright?"

"Not really, I'm shook up after all that. How can you do that to yourself? He's more machine than man."

"I couldn't tell you, I don't think Wily has ever been right in the head."

"He was so much stronger than us and I had two steroid shots in me."

"Listen, the worst thing you could do right now is harp on it. We need to keep our heads up and not back down."

"Right." I said standing myself up "How much longer until I wake up?"

"Hard to say, it could be few more hours."

Alex's surgery had gone through without much trouble. He was stable and lying on the bed sleeping. I sat next to him on an old fold out chair. This was too much to take in all at once. My son was right across from me, battle scarred and pale with an IV pumping into him. The bandages covered up the bottom half of his face and his entire arm. The scars were hidden but I felt them staring at me accusingly. I placed my head into my hands and let out a groan.

"Leonard, you moron." I berated myself "You should have done something, anything. You're a terrible father."

Dahlia walked into the room and sat beside me on another chair. We had barely spoken a word to each other. Maybe we were too busy blaming ourselves.

"How are you holding up?" She asked

"Better than earlier I suppose but that's not saying much and yourself?"

"The same.

The woman named Roll then came into the room. She took off Alex's IV and switched it out. My wife was glaring at the girl, blaming her for this mess.

"Do either of you need anything?" She asked

"No thank you." Dahlia said. I said the same shortly after

She turned to leave but turned back and began to speak.

"I know that we're not on the best of terms right now but I want you to know that Alex has been doing a lot of good. He's admitted to being terrified but still managed to man up and help people. I can only imagine it came from you raising him the way you did. I think you should both be proud."

Her attempts at making peace were appreciated. I was proud of my son and what he was doing but not enough to ease my own worry.

"Thank you." Dahlia said

With that Roll left the room and the silence returned.

I know this chapter is short and not a lot happens but after the last chapter I fell into writer's block. It also didn't help that college started for me on August 17th. Please be patient because school is important. Again, I'm sorry that its been so long but bare with me.