Chapter 22: Epilogue: Acceptance
Back home, Tyler ripped off his tie and tossed it. He then removed his clothing and changed into his green coveralls. The whole time, he was furious about what happened, not really at Chelsea's father however, but the fact that he didn't gather any information so he could have avoided any confrontation all together. Tyler was also frustrated that he didn't do what he had intended–tell Chelsea his secret. All in all, there were too many snags and snags were things Tyler didn't want.
"So where'd you run off too all jazzed up?" Eva asked, walking down the steps into Tyler's room.
"Chelsea wanted me to meet her parents," Tyler responded, zipping up his coveralls.
Eva could obviously tell that he was irritated, but she decided to press forward. "So? How'd it go?"
Tyler sighed. "It could've went better. Her dad hates me and the food was vegetarian."
"Oh, sweetie." Eva chuckled. "All dad's hate the guys that date their daughters. It's natural. Hell, you should have heard some of the things my dad said to the boys I brought home."
Tyler thought aloud. "And Grandpa's a retired Marine. I'm sure he would have followed through with his threats."
"Exactly," Eva said. "And don't forget, you're not like most teenage boys, Tyler."
A small grin appeared on Tyler's face. "Thanks, Mom."
Chelsea lay on her bed in her room, just staring out her window. She didn't want to be anywhere her father after ruining what could have been a perfect evening. Knowing that Tyler was probably not in the mood to talk, she grabbed her phone and called up Raven.
"Girl, I'm glad you called. Guess what? I saw Magna Man up close!" Raven blurted into the phone.
"That's great, Rae," Chelsea said in a lack-luster tone.
"Oh my gosh, Chelse, he was all tall and cute. Well, I only saw part of his face. But he had great hair. And also, he was fighting some flying people, one of which could shoot fire and the other could shoot air and... Chelse, it was a trip!"
"Yeah, that's nice," Chelsea sighed.
"Something wrong, Chelse?" Raven asked, picking up on the fact that her friend wasn't her normal enthusiastic self.
"Well... me and Tyler–"
"You two broke up? Wha–"
"Oh no! The dinner with my parents. It went horrible all thanks to my dad."
Chelsea began to explain what happened while Raven listened. As she recounted the events, tears began to well up in her eyes.
"Oh man, Chelse. I'm sorry. Are you gonna be okay?"
"Yeah. I mean, Rae, I just don't get it. Tyler was being a perfect gentleman and mom even liked him. He even called dad 'sir.'"
"I know, Chelse. Listen, how about I call up Eddie, then you and him can come by and we can have our classic Friday movie night."
"That sounds good, but I really think I should go over to Tyler's and apologize." Chelsea said.
"Well, I've never been to his place. I'll call Eddie then we'll meet at your place in ten. Then we can all go to Tee's place."
Before Chelsea could say anything, Raven hung up her phone. She was grateful that Raven felt she needed her best friends to be with her, but she felt she needed some alone time with Tyler. At that moment, something then crossed her mind: sex. She and Tyler had come close to moving on past the next level, but it didn't happen. Chelsea also noticed that Tyler never tried to "get in her pants" like a normal teenage boy would do. It was always her choice. Sure, she appreciated it, but this was like uncharted territory.
Instead of toiling in his room alone, Tyler sat on the upstairs couch with Kia and watched the show "Mail Call" on the History Channel. The host, R. Lee Ermey, a retired Marine like his grandpa, always made Tyler laugh. Periodically, however, his thoughts went elsewhere, particularly to the events at Chelsea's house as well as his fight with the Element Benders and the fact that Raven was right there. She already knew about his true past, so the fact of her finding about his alter ego wouldn't be a shock at all.
"Mom? I've gotta tell her." Tyler said out of the blue.
Eva, who was sitting in the dining room, looked up from her project. "Gotta tell what to who?"
"I have to tell Chelsea about who I am. The true me."
"Wow. You must really care about this girl, huh?" Eva said.
Tyler remained silent.
Eva continued. "Well, kid, if I can offer you any advice, just be careful."
Tyler peered over his shoulder in her direction. Noticing the confused look on his face, Eva began to explain herself.
"Teenage girls are very fragile emotionally. It could all be too much for her to handle."
"I will, Mom. Thanks."
Just then, there was a knock at the front door. Tyler hopped up from the couch, went to the front door, and opened it–only to find Chelsea. But she wasn't alone as Raven and Eddie were standing beside her.
"Uh... hi?" Tyler said to his unexpected guests.
"Yeah, hey what's up," Raven and Eddie said, pushing Tyler out of the way and entering the house.
"Yes... I please do come in," Tyler said sarcastically.
"I'm sorry, Tyler. They wanted to hang out and I wanted to come here and–" Chelsea tried to explain as she stood in the doorway.
"Don't sweat it," Tyler interrupted with a smile. "So are you doing okay?"
Chelsea managed a weak smile and nodded.
"Well... I guess it's time for you to meet my mom, then."
Tyler introduced everyone to Eva. Once they formally met, Tyler led them to the backyard, knowing what he had to do. The four settled down on the lawn chairs on the deck.
"Nothin' like a warm Friday night in the city," Chelsea mused.
"Nothin' like being at the mall on a warm Friday night," Raven noted.
Tyler stayed quiet as he stared up into the night sky, just thinking as Eddie, Raven, and Chelsea conversed with each other and munched on some snacks that Eddie brought. Tyler was positive that once he told his secret, his whole world would come crashing down. Well, maybe not, he thought. Rae took it pretty good and Jennifer took it okay.
Finally, it was time.
"You guys? There's... uh... something I need to tell you." Tyler started.
"What's up, Tee?" Eddie asked.
Tyler stood up and leaned against the wooden railing that surrounded the deck. As he did so, he kept his eyes plastered to the sky above and took a deep breath.
"It's pretty obvious that me and my mom are... way different," he began.
"Well duh. You were adopted." Eddie noted.
Tyler turned his gaze to the floor boards of the deck. "Well that's not entirely true."
Raven, Eddie, and Chelsea focused their eyes on him, while Tyler continued to down stare at the wooden boards. It finally hit Raven as to what Tyler was doing.
"What 'chu talkin' 'bout, Tyler?" Eddie asked.
"Well... I'm a runaway."
"A 'runaway' from what?" Chelsea inquired. "Your real parents or something?"
"No. Fact is, I've got no parents, no family. I was–" he paused to search for the right words– "constructed in a place where I was... trained. And when I turned seven, I ran away."
For a moment, there was a long silence, until Chelsea and Eddie burst out laughing hysterically.
"Oh man, Tee. That is classic," Eddie exclaimed, wiping some tears from his face due to laughing so hard.
Chelsea hunched over trying to catch her breath. "Rae? Wasn't that funny? I mean, how he was able to keep a straight face and spew all that?"
From Raven's lack of a response, the two looked over at her. Raven's face was solemn, a dead seriousness within her eyes. "You guys? He ain't joking."
Eddie began to laugh even harder. "So you're in on it too?"
Tyler thought for a moment, then was hit with an idea. "Maybe if I show you, then you'll believe me. All three of you, sit on Chelsea's chair and stay perfectly still."
Reluctantly, Eddie and Raven took a seat on the lawn chair that Chelsea was sitting on. Once they were settled, Tyler came up in front of the trio. With puzzled looks on their faces, they nervously exchanged glances with each other, not sure of what was about to happen.
"Don't freak out, now. Just sit still," Tyler warned, then, with one hand, grabbed the lawn chair by its railing and lifted it up as if it was nothing.
Chelsea, Eddie, and Raven yelped at first, shutting their eyes tightly as Tyler effortlessly held them suspended over his head.
"Okay! Put us down!" Raven demanded.
"Alright, alright. Chill. I wasn't gonna drop you." Tyler groaned.
Slowly, Tyler set the lawn chair, loaded down with his three friends, back onto the deck. Eddie, nearly on the verge of hyperventilating, clutched his chest, acting as if he nearly had a heart attack. Raven sat, wide eyed and perfectly still. She already knew what he was capable of, but never actually experienced it. Chelsea's reaction, however, mattered most to Tyler. She stared at him, her mouth slightly ajar from the shock.
"W-what else can you do?" Eddie stammered.
"Well..." Tyler thought for a moment. "I can sort of feel things before they happen. My nerves are highly sensitive. Almost three times that of a normal person.
"Also, my brain is half mechanical, allowing me to think and react like"–Tyler snapped his fingers–"that."
"So you're partially made of metal?" Eddie asked, now leaning forward with piqued interest.
Tyler chuckled. "No. But I do have a lot of bio-mechanics within me. There is some metal, though. Mainly at my joints so I don't dislocate anything. There's also a little bit in my brain that in the event I was... terminated... my... creators... could extract some of my mental cortex and see what happened and what I was thinking."
"So are your thoughts like digitalized or something?" Eddie wondered.
"In a way. Think of it as a small internal computer that's programmed, but can still learn." Tyler explained.
Chelsea's gazed turned to one that had anger within it. "So are you saying that everything about you is... not real? It was just like... a computer game? Programmed? Why didn't you tell me? You said you loved me, but obviously not enough to tell me this sooner."
Tyler couldn't say anything. He badly wanted to tell her sooner, but how she would have reacted was what barred him from doing so. Even with all his brain cyberization, he couldn't find the words.
"Chelse? He wanted to. Badly," Raven spoke.
"How would you know Rae?" Chelsea asked, trying to hold her own emotions in check.
"Because... I read his mind. I found out about him without him telling me until he finally did. The day Ben shot him."
Chelsea looked at Raven, then back at Tyler, who was looking down at the wooden deck. "So... on that day when Ben–"
"That was my human side. Even if I didn't have the ceramic-polymer coated bones and bio-mech stuff in me, I'd have done it anyway." Tyler noted.
"And you would have died," Eddie implied.
"Probably," Tyler said. "And also, Chelse, when I said... you know... that was the part of my brain that they couldn't turn into a computer. That came from the heart.
"And there is also another reason why I wanted to keep this from you all. My creators are still out there, probably looking for me. And if they found out about you guys, they'd..." Tyler stopped himself not wanting to fathom what could happen to them.
Chelsea stood up, walked over to Tyler, then took his hands and stared him dead in his eyes. "So please tell me... when you hold me, kiss me, say you love me, who was doing that?"
Tyler took a deep breath as Eddie and Raven watched on, awaiting his answer. As he looked into her eyes, he could see his reflection as well as moisture beginning to well.
"Chelsea? That was me. And only me."
A large smile curled her lips hearing those words. Tightly, she wrapped her arms around Tyler, embracing him. Even though he was augmented, she didn't care as he still had the same warmth and comforting feeling that he always had whenever she was near him.
"Aww man... I-I think I feel a group hug coming!" Raven and Eddie both announced.
"Hold up, this isn't a community hug!" Tyler exclaimed, but to no avail as he and Chelsea were sandwiched in tightly between Raven and Eddie.
As Raven and Eddie went off on their own respective ways, Tyler walked Chelsea back to her house, only to find her father standing on the stoop of their home.
"Oh damn," Chelsea muttered under her breath.
Now that Tyler had told her about his true self and she accepted it, dealing with Chelsea's dad would be a cake walk.
"Don't worry, Chelse. This'll be nothing." Tyler consoled.
"So? Where have you two been?" Keith's voice boomed.
"I was at Tyler's house," Chelsea responded, her voice laced with defiance.
"As were Raven and Eddie, Sir." Tyler added in.
Keith huffed. ""Go inside, Chelsea. I need to have another talk with Tyler."
Great. Round two: ding! Tyler thought. Chelsea was about to say something, but Tyler motioned for her to do as he said. However, in an act of rebellion, Tyler grabbed Tyler by his face then planted a long, forceful kiss on his lips. When she retracted, she glared at her father, then marched into the house.
"Sir... I-I–"
"Listen, Tyler. I can see my little girl see's something in you that she really likes... and I have to accept that." Keith stated. "Earlier, during dinner, I didn't mean those harsh words I said. I was only testing you; seeing how you would react, and you did better than I hoped.
"Fact of the matter is, I know you care for my daughter a lot and I am glad that you're with her."
Tyler beamed proudly. "I thank you, Sir."
"No need to thank me, Tyler. After you left earlier, Chelsea and Karen gave me a hell of an ear full and you do deserve an apology."
"There's no need to, Sir. If I was in you're position I would have done the same thing." Tyler implied.
"No. I do need to apologize. And thank you as well," Keith said. "I've never seen my girl this happy in a long time."
"Just being with your daughter is more thanks than I could ever need, Sir." Tyler said.
The two shook hands. Things were starting to look up now that he was on Chelsea's father's good side.
"By the way, son. I saw you had a pretty nice motorcycle." Keith smugly noted.
"Yeah. An 1150 are-tee-pee; police model."
"Hmm. I've got a 2004 Harley Electra and a '96 Road King." Keith boasted. "Wanna take a look?"
Keith lead Tyler to the garage where he found two of the most beautiful motorcycles he ever saw. Both were painted in a customized manner with blue flames on the fuel tanks of the bikes. The wheel spokes had a chrome luster that sparkled from the lighting above in the garage.
"Maybe one day we can go for a cruise around town," Keith offered.
"That would be awesome, Sir," Tyler beamed.
Ben sat on the metal chair in the interrogation room of the detention center he was thrown into. His whole life was now destroyed as he would forever have the label of felon and attempted murderer attached to his name. He tried to point to the blame to anyone else–namely Tyler–but ultimately, the roads of guilt led back to himself.
"I'm psychic. So how could I have not seen this coming?" he asked himself, resting his elbows on the cold metal table.
All he wanted to do was die and start things all over again. He now had nobody. His parents, though they loved him, rarely visited. And if he had any friends left back at Bayside, they were apparently non-existent. Ben, however, did receive a piece of mail from the last person he would have expected: a letter from Tyler with only three briefcases–I Forgive You.
The door leading into the interrogation room suddenly opened, jarring Ben from thought. A tall man adorned in a slate gray trench coat strode in, in his hand was a medium sized brown briefcase. The figure took a seat across from Ben, set his briefcase on the table, and opened it.
"Ben, I know you are sorry for what you did," then man spoke, his tone thick with a Welsh accent. "But you were in the right. I have known this... Tyler... for a long time. The fact is, he would be better off dead."
Ben cocked his eyebrow, not believing what he was hearing. "W-what are you talking about?"
"Listen, I know you are psychic, Ben. But you have a much greater power within you." the man continued.
He then pulled out a small pouch from his briefcase and handed it to Ben.
"What's this?" Ben inquired.
"Something that will help you right the wrongs in your life. It is your ticket out of this nightmare and back into society where you belong. You are no delinquent, just a misguided soul who sought to take justice into his own hands. With the contents in that pouch, you will become judge, jury... and executioner."
Ben pulled out the contents of the pouch: a simple leather necklace with two stones–one smooth, translucent and green and the other an marbleized violet and silver–attached to it.
"Who are you?" Ben finally asked.
"My name, you wonder? I am simply known as DuPont."
That's Right... First Go-Around Is Done. But Fear Not, My Duckies... Senior Year's Coming Soon... Really Soon...
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