This is the most important chapter in this section of five and it's also the shortest so that's fun.
Sirens broke through the afternoon, hurtling towards a superhero and supervillain battle downtown where Boyd was in the middle of his worst nightmare.
For a long moment, he thought it was a nightmare, but that didn't make sense. He had learned to love but androids did not dream of electric sheep. Which meant that this had to be real, which meant Jailbird was suspended in the air before him.
"Louie?" Oh, this didn't make sense for several reasons. One was that Louie wasn't evil. Another was that Louie had therapy right now and as far as Boyd was aware he had only rescheduled therapy a few times and today wasn't one of those times. What's more, the original Jailbird armor hadn't been able to fly and Louie would not have wanted to fly even if he was able to. But this was Jailbird. One of the Jailbirds.
Boyd felt as if he was tripping balls. He knew this wasn't Louie but he still couldn't fight the person masquerading as his partner. He would have to take this villain down as peacefully as he could manage or hope that backup arrived soon.
He flew towards the villain, "Surrender or I'll shoot!"
"I'll never surrender!" The voice taunted. It was disguised, a play from Boyd's own book. Maybe this was another robot. Boyd's hands began charging up a warning shot, nothing more. He shot a beam past the Jailbird's head but the villain reached out and caught the energy, hurling it back at Boyd. Boyd had never been hit by the impact of his own weapon's system and he was nearly thrown out of the air. So, shooting was out. Brute strength it was. Aware that his systems were semi-damaged, Boyd moved to tackle the Jailbird out of the air. Boyd managed to get his hands on the Jailbird, knocking the mask aside in the collision. The last thing he saw was the smirk of someone who was decidedly not Louie, before he felt a surge of electricity go through his body and his damaged systems forced a shutdown.
Louie was in the middle of his therapy session, talking about nightmares and how hard it had been to get sleep lately. It was cathartic, to confess his fears, to hear another rational person say that his dreams were just neurons firing and not prophecies. And then he got a phone call from Huey. Huey, who knew he was in a session right now and who would never interrupt therapy unless it was an emergency.
"I have to take this," Louie said, fear crinkling his face.
"What's wrong?" He asked when he'd stepped out.
"Louie, Boyd's been in an accident."
Louie's stomach dropped, "Where? What happened?"
"I don't know, I don't know, Gosalyn called me to tell you, all I know is that he's being taken to the lab at the Money Bin."
"I'll meet you there," Louie said, feeling nauseous, already running.
"Louie, be safe, don't do anything reckless," Huey said, right before Louie hung up.
He had been in car chases where he'd driven slower than he drove today. Fortunately, it was a relatively short drive from his therapist to the Money Bin and fortunately, the cops were pretty busy with the villain attack downtown. He sped into the Money Bin, barely passing the security check, and hopped in the first elevator that would take him down to the labs.
Louie beat Huey there but there was still a small crowd surrounding Boyd. Fenton, Gosalyn, and Gyro all looked worried.
"What happened?" Louie demanded, panting for breath when he finally made it over.
"Someone in a Jailbird suit short-circuited Boyd," Gyro said, not mincing words, "We're going to have to do a manual reboot."
Louie looked horrified, tears beginning to stream down his face, "How long will that take? Will he be okay?"
"I built him well. He'll be fine in a week. The repairs won't even take that long, his body will just need time to update and come back online."
"My partner is reduced to a system update?" Louie asked, staring down at Boyd. He didn't look like he'd been injured, but he didn't look like himself, either. He was just lying there, still. Dead.
Louie sobbed, turning away, "No, no, no, this is all my fault."
Gosalyn put a hand on his shoulder, "Louie, you weren't behind that mask."
"But I'm behind all of the masks. I'm the reason the Jailbird exists. I did this to him, it's all my fault."
Of all the people in that room who could have comforted Louie, he was not expecting Gyro.
"Boyd wouldn't want you tearing yourself up about this. He's going to be okay. I'm going to make sure of it," Gyro said firmly.
Louie's voice wavered, "He's not going to forget me in the reboot?"
"Oh, gods, no, his memories are automatically backed up. He might lose, say, one week in the reboot. That's it." Louie thought back on the previous week, fairly standard and detailed thoroughly in his therapy-mandated journal and decided that that was an acceptable sacrifice. Now, two weeks, that would be a little worse, that had been their one-year anniversary of the day Louie had asked them if they were dating and Boyd had made sure that the day was special for them.
"Can I touch him?" Louie asked.
"Yes, but don't make it weird."
"I just want to hold his hand," Louie said, trying not to sob.
Gyro softened, "I think he would like that."
Louie held Boyd's cold, lifeless hand and mumbled apologies until Huey got there and was filled in with the details of the attack. Secure in the knowledge that Louie had someone right now, Gosalyn and Fenton went down to go hunt down the criminal responsible for this, and the brothers went to go sit by the windows and watch some fish.
"Hey, Lou, do you want to talk about it?" Huey asked, rubbing Louie's back comfortingly. Louie's fists were balled up in his way too long hoodie sleeves and he was trembling, tears streaming down his face uncontrollably.
Louie shook his head and just buried his face in his arms, pulling his knees to his chest. Huey wrapped his strong big brother arms around Louie and hummed the lullaby Uncle Donald had sung to them as children.
When he was done, the stream of tears had turned to a trickle.
"Louie, it wasn't your fault. Blaming yourself is not going to help anyone."
"But it was my fault," Louie insisted, "I created this monster. I was this monster. Whoever did this clearly knew how to fight Boyd. This was planned, strategic, intentional. And what if, what if Gosalyn or Fenton get hurt trying to track them down? Who's going to be targeted next, Huey? It's all my fault. This is all my fault."
Huey's face darkened with anger and fear for a moment but he shook it off, "No targets, Louie. We're not going to let anyone else get hurt. Hey, why don't you spend the night at my house?" Huey did not want to leave Louie alone in this state.
"No."
"Louie-"
"No! I know what you're trying to do, toss me in a padded room so I don't hurt myself but someone hurt my husband and I will not sit idle and allow it!"
"Louie, you're going to do something you regret," Huey said, getting anxious as Louie sprang to his feet.
"Oh, I sure hope so!" Louie replied, before exiting stage left, pursued by Lil Bulb.
Then, the lab was eerily quiet. Huey walked over to Boyd, trying not to cry as he reviewed his powered-down friend. It really did feel like a funeral in here
"Does the reboot need to happen here?" Huey asked, running his hand over Boyd's outstretched hand. He noticed immediately that Boyd was missing his engagement ring, he knew Louie must have noticed that as well. He couldn't imagine what Louie felt right now but he couldn't help be afraid of what would happen next.
"Not really, why?"
"I think we should take Boyd home. He'd be most comfortable there when he woke up and it would do Louie a world of good to have Boyd close."
"I'd have to stay with them until Boyd made a full recovery," Gyro said, sounding unsure.
"Well, that might be good for Louie too. He knows every trick in the book when it comes to our brand of comfort. He sees right through anything we offer him. But maybe you'd be able to reach him."
Gyro hesitated again, putting his hand on Boyd's arm, "I don't always see what Boyd sees in your brother, no offense, but I do see someone who's trying their damn hardest to get their life together and I think I'd be willing to help."
"That's what Boyd sees in him, Gyro. Someone who is trying to make their life a little less fucked up."