Chapter 26 : Fed up

Otto came through a lot of things in his young life: he had been an orphan, used as a slave for a monstrous and tyrannical nun who never cared for toddlers under her charge. He had met Tuddrussel and Larry who now welcomed him as part of their family. He had been put in many dangerous situations while trying to fix the past.

However, while his greatest fear had been Sister Thornley, this came close second. He was gagged, being carried over by another gold and pink robot without any spacesuit. "Bring him over, Phil 450. We leave"

Otto tried to speak despite he couldn't. Phil 450 said. "The boy would like to know who you are and what you do want with him."

It surprised Otto greatly. How could the robot read his own thought? Though that shouldn't surprise him. The robot was very advanced, a lot more than Larry was. He definitely possessed more abilities than he could.

"My name is Ernest Canoon, young boy." Ernest kept walking without looking back at him. "I'm one of Time Squad figures."

Time Squad? Otto didn't understand. Why would someone in Time Squad come to get him? Why would they kidnap him?

Then he remembered what Larry said. Bringing someone from the past was strictly forbidden. It could get them punished. What was it about? Did Ernest kidnap him because he wanted to get back at Tuddrussel and Larry?

This time, he didn't try to hide his fear anymore. He tried to speak up again.

"The boy would like to know what you will do with him."

Otto nodded. Ernest shrugged. "I'm going to keep you for a while. Your fate remains unsealed. Nevertheless, let's just say: it is the end for Tuddrussel and Larry's unit."

What?

"The boy would like to know what you will do up to Tuddrussel and Larry."

"Tuddrussel will be fired, that's for sure. I will do anything to put him in jail too. As for Larry, he will be deactivated. After all, these two knew rules. They went against them so…they chose their destiny."

No! Otto wanted to say. No! He wished to scream, to call someone for help! To do anything…

"The boy would like to know why."

"Will you stop, Phil?" Ernest scolded him. "It becomes annoying."

He turned back at Otto. "Time Squad needs strong teams. The fact they relied on a boy…Not even another man but a boy…" He paused. "It is disgusting. It shows how incompetent they are. Furthermore, they put you into danger as well while you shouldn't be."

Otto shook his head.

That's not true! I'm the one who wanted to be with them…Why can't you leave us alone? Please. I want to see them again.

"We are coming, Sir." Phil 450 said.

Otto followed his gaze. That was a teleporter.

No! Otto tried to struggle. However, Phil's grip was strong. Ernest gave him a devious smirk before they went in the teleporter, Phil tapping his wrist.

Tuddrussel, Larry…Otto thought, trying not to cry.

Then, they vanished.

Tuddrussel and Larry searched for Otto during two hours, calling and screaming his name through the entire town. They asked to people if they ever saw a boy looking like Otto but they never replied "yes". They even went into the most ominous areas such like horrible bars, little streets where nobody went. Tuddrussel even punched some guys who looked suspicious but they never found Otto.

After two hours, Larry broke down. "Where is he? My gosh, where is he?"

"I don't know!" Tuddrussel punched the wall, in rage. "He must be here! Someone, something must have seen him in that damned town!"

Larry wished that wasn't true…He wished that was only a nightmare. He just grieved Fiskmeyer and now, someone took Otto away from them! That must be a bad joke.

"No matter who took him, I'm going to tear his eyes out for this!" Tuddrussel kept on.

"…Maybe shall we call the police" Larry offered, trembling.

"Oh yeah, great idea, you rust butt!" Tuddrussel cried out, sarcastic. "Let's call the police! There is just a problem: we ARE the police! Unless we call our clones, I can't believe we-"

He stopped. Larry's tears were running on his cheeks again. Larry couldn't help it. He couldn't imagine Otto being kidnapped…Furthermore he knew what would be the issue: either they found Otto…either they never found him again.

I'm very happy for you, Larry.

That's what families are meant to do.

He couldn't help but recalling their last exchange. What families were meant to do was protecting each other.

They had to protect Otto.

"We have to call help" Larry said, a sad tone in his voice.

"Really?" Tuddrussel raised one eyebrow. "Who?"

"Guess."

At what he was implying, Tuddrussel clenched his teeth in anger and disgust. He knew he really wanted to avoid them. Larry wanted too. But they had no choice, if they wanted to find Otto again…

"We have to!" Larry insisted, preparing to tap his wrist for backup. "You know it too"

Tuddrussel growled on annoyance though he let Larry doing it.

On the satellite, Sheila was taking dinner while XJ5 was writing last pieces of report. The moment he finished, the alarm went off.

"Another mission?" Sheila asked, standing up, ready.

XJ5 shook his head, recognizing this kind of alarm. "No, officer Sternwell. It is the call for backup."

"I bet five dollars it is Tuddrussel and Larry." Sheila chuckled, dryly.

"Hehe. I don't bet. You always win" XJ5 followed her to the computer room. Indeed, she was right : that's them again. Sheila couldn't help but sighing.

"Sometimes, I pity Larry for taking care of two children" She said, joining the teleporter.

"I prefer pitying the little boy for taking care of these two" XJ5 replied.

"Hm. You have a point. Let's go"

As soon as Sheila and XJ5 appeared, Larry immediately rushed at them to explain the situation. Worry began to take over him, and he couldn't help stammering and choking.

"Calm down, Larry" Sheila said, a bit sarcastic. "I don't understand. Take a breath and tell us everything."

"It should be obvious" Tuddrussel rolled his eyes.

"Otto had been kidnapped!" Larry cried out.

This time, Sheila froze. She definitely didn't expect that. A frown came on her face. "What do you mean?"

"For the God's sake, Sheila" Tuddrussel answered. "We will not repeat everything! You know what it means!"

Larry explained everything: Fiskmeyer's death, their last moment of fun together, Otto going to toilet and never coming back. As soon as he finished, he couldn't do anything but sitting down on a chair, trying to suppress a sob.

What was it how a parent felt when they lose their children? Larry shook his head. He tried to keep hope. Otto wasn't gone…he was smart.

He was smart and terribly naïve sometimes, Larry thought.

The duet was shocked as well. Sheila glared back at Tuddrussel, a scolding tone in her voice. "Couldn't you be more careful?"

"What do you mean?" Tuddrussel spat.

"You know it. You never leave a child alone, Tuddrussel." She shook her head. "Never! Anything can happen."

"Haha! Do you think it is my fault?" Tuddrussel laughed, though anger was still obvious in his tone. "And how can you know anything about children? You have no children!"

"Enough!" XJ5's voice raised up. Sheila already clenched her fists, ready for a fight.

She seemingly calmed down, though she maintained a cold face at Tuddrussel. "We should go to check the café where you three were at first."

"But we already checked it up" Larry protested. "What more can we do?"

"Did you check up cameras?" She asked.

Tuddrussel and Larry exchanged a look. "Camera?"

"Indeed. Cameras probably filmed the entire scene" XJ5 approved.

"Well we didn't think about it" Tuddrussel shrugged.

"For some reason, it doesn't surprise me" Sheila commented, following Larry who showed them the way. "Maybe in this way, we will see who kidnapped Otto. Afterward, we will bring him back."

"I see" Tuddrussel nodded. "That sounds to be a great plan."

"Thanks, Sheila" Larry gave her a smile, feeling hope again. "And XJ5 too" They were right to contact them. They always found a solution for everything.

"No problem" Sheila simply said. "…I want to find Otto too. I grew up quite attached to the boy as well."

When they came back to the café, Sheila only had to show her badge to the owner to have full access to the cameras. Larry gave them an approximate hour to allow XJ5 to rewind recordings until they could see the trio appear on the screen. At this time, Otto was still with them. Larry just came in the café.

"Otto" Larry sighed, closing his eyes. He didn't wish the pain and anguish taking over him again.

Suddenly, he felt a hand on his shoulder. He nearly jumped, turning around. He expected XJ5 to be the one comforting him but actually…Tuddrussel was the one who gave him a sad smile.

"That would be alright, Lar. We will find him again."

It surprised Larry a bit, but now he didn't care much. Under normal circumstances, he would have been a bit awkward. Maybe he would have lashed out at Tuddrussel for this.

Here…he found it nice.

"Yes" Larry nodded, putting his hand on Tuddrussel's. "We will find him."

Suddenly, XJ5 suddenly cried out. "Here he is!" Immediately, Tuddrussel and Larry focused back on the screen, expecting the worst.

Indeed, that was close. On the screen, they could watch Otto leaving the toilets. As he was about to join them back, a tall man headed in his direction. Larry saw Tuddrussel clenching his fists, rage obvious in his eyes. Despite they didn't hear anything, they could watch the man taking with Otto before taking something out of his pocket. They recognized it as a tear gas that the man immediately used against the boy.

"I'm going to kill him" Tuddrussel snarled out when Otto was attacked, crying out of pain.

While Otto was blinded, they noticed the arrival of another person. Or rather, a robot who grabbed Otto, carrying him over under his arm. As soon as the camera focused on the robot's face, Larry couldn't help but screaming out of surprise: "That's impossible!"

"What?"

"This robot…I know him" He took a breath. "It is Phil 450!"

Indeed, that's him: a pink and gold robot. There were no so many of them. That could only be Phil 450, his previous teacher.

"Haha, sorry for you guy" Tuddrussel laughed hard. "…Now we know who you are and where you do live!"

"Wait" Sheila stopped him.

The man followed them, looking all around like to check if nobody saw them. Phil 450 covered Otto's mouth, glaring at him. Sheila let out a yelp of surprise. "Impossible! That's Ernest!"

"Ernest?" Larry asked.

"Yes. He is one of Time Squad's leaders" Sheila gave a scared look at Tuddrussel.

Ernest, Larry thought. He was sure of knowing him…But whe-?

Suddenly, he remembered.

"Ernest Canoon!"

The man that XJ5 advised him to talk with. The supposedly psychiatrist…was actually one of Time Squad leaders!

And he kidnapped Otto. Why?

"How could he know about Otto?" Tuddrussel nearly punched Ernest through the screen. "For crying out loud, how can he know anything?"

Larry closed his eyes. Unfortunately, he knew. "That's my fault"

"What?"

Everyone watched him. Larry committed a mistake. He knew he was the responsible. If Ernest learned Otto's existence, that's because of him. "I let it slip…when I contacted him"

"How could you?" Tuddrussel glared at him, coming close. Unlike his previous attitude toward him, he was ready to attack him.

This time, Larry wouldn't prevent him to harm him. He deserved it, after all.

"I wanted to talk to someone!" Larry tried to justify himself. "I just learned about Fiskmeyer's death and…I didn't know he would guess!"

"You stupid rust-butt!" Tuddrussel raised his punch at him. Larry closed his eyes, ready for the collision.

Nevertheless, it never came. Ultimately, Tuddrussel decided not to. Maybe Sheila's warning stare stopped him to.

"At least, we know who is behind this" Sheila sighed. "We know where Otto is."

"SO what are we waiting for?" Tuddrussel cried out. "Otto must be scared as Hell!"

"Indeed, Buck but…" Sheila paused. "If Ernest knows about Otto, you can expect the consequences of this."

Sheila was right: they committed a grave mistake by bringing Otto here.

"What would he do to him?" Larry asked him. Sheila avoided his look.

"Time Squad leaders are ruthless when it comes to protect history. They wouldn't hesitate to get rid of any problem to protect humanity."

"What do you mean?" Tuddrussel's voice went suddenly calm. "…You do mean that Ernest thingy could harm Otto?"

Sheila didn't any word to reply.

"A child isn't worth humanity for them, Tuddrussel." XJ5 spoke for her.

Larry remembered the rules.

Tuddrussel risked jail. And Larry risked deactivation.

"Lawrence, are you alright?" He heard XJ5 telling him.

How could he be alright? If they rescued Otto, they would face any punishment from Time Squad leaders.

If they didn't rescue Otto, who knew what Ernest could do to him.

Larry was scared of deactivation. Actually, he had been a coward who ran away for his life whenever there was any danger.

However, he was also scared for Otto…A lot more scared for Otto.

"Bah!" Tuddrussel said. "As if I was afraid of prison. Otto's life is threatened"

Tuddrussel was right.

How could he leave Otto here? Larry was disgusted of himself for hesitating between his own life and Otto's.

How could he leave Otto after everything he did for him? For them?

Because their Time Squad unit became alive the moment Otto appeared.

How could he leave Otto? Even if they committed the horrible mistake of bringing him in, Larry didn't believe once that Otto's life wasn't worth humanity.

To Larry, Otto's life was worth everything.

"We go" Larry approved, determined. "We go to rescue Otto."

I'm going to rescue Otto…and then I'm going to rescue my family.

I'm going to save this new life.

Fiskmeyer, Larry thought, wait for me.