As Marionette followed Astro and Cobalt into the school, she noticed everyone's eyes on her. She walked in nervously and tried to avoid the crowd.
Candace ran over to Cobalt and grabbed his arm again, but paused when she noticed everyone else looking at the new girl entering the school. Candace looked over and glared at her.
Marionette looked around to find any place she could enter to avoid everyone, but her eyes suddenly caught a poster on the wall near a classroom. She walked toward it and smiled once she had a good look at it.
"Well, well, well..." Candace said casually. "Are you new here? Because I've never seen you before." Candace said with a fake smile.
Everyone looked over at Candace, who walked toward Marionette who's focus was on the poster in front of her.
Marionette slowly turned toward the girl standing behind her.
"Oh, hello. I'm Marionette! And yes, I am new here."
"Oh, goodie!" Candace chirped happily. "See everyone? She's new here and she needs someone to help show the ropes of this school! Isn't that precious?" She clasped her hands together and rested them under her chin.
Marionette looked confused. She was at a loss for words. She looked around and noticed everyone was staring at them both, Astro and Cobalt included.
"Cmon, don't be shy!" Candace urged. "I'll show you all around the school!"
Before Marionette had a chance to say anything, Candace took her hand and dragged her through the halls with her. Everyone else went to their classes.
Cobalt looked down at Astro and smiled nervously. "I guess Candace doesn't need me today."
Astro shrugged. "Yeah, it's better that way. Candace is bad news. I hope Marionette is okay though."
"But Candace was nice to m-"
"I said she's trouble! Just trust me, okay?" Astro interrupted.
Cobalt sighed. "Okay, I trust you little bro."
Both robot boys went into their classrooms.
Candace dragged Marionette into the girl's bathroom and shoved her onto the floor.
"What was that for?" Marionette asked.
Candace studied the robot doll with her eyes carefullyas she walked in circles around her. Marionette looked up at her feeling scared.
"My father mentioned your name before. He said he used to work with you." Candace hissed.
Marionette's eyes widened. "Y-your father?"
"Yes! I don't even see what's so important about you! you think you're more important than me?!? is that it?!?" Candace grabbed her forcefully by her hair and made her look into her eyes.
"Why are you so angry at me? what did I ever do to you?"
"Because you were created. My father is the richest man in Metro City! He's even best friends with the president! So you just wanna come out of hiding after all these years? for what? You already had your fame!"
"I still don't understand what you're saying! I don't want any fame or anything!"
"Well obviously you do! I'm not gonna let some fifty year old robot steal my spotlight!"
"Listen! I didn't even want to be alive!"
Candace dragged her to the sinks, still grabbing onto her hair tightly. Marionette screamed and tried to get away, but Candace turned the water on and dunked her head in the water, causing it to seep into her system. Marionette's screams became distorted. Her system started to fail. Candace threw her body onto the floor and leaned over her.
"And stay away from Astro and Cobalt! Those two are mine!"
Astro sat at his desk doing his homework in class so he didn't have to do it at later when he heard Marionette's distorted screaming.
"Candace!" He muttered under his breath before running out of the classroom. He stopped at the door to the girl's bathroom and paced back and forth. "I can't really walk in there." He said to himself. He looked around and saw Cora.
"Hey Cora! I need your help with something!" Astro called out. Cora approached him with a surprised look.
"What do you need?" Cora replied before hearing strange sounds coming from the bathroom. Her eyes widened with fear. "What's going on?"
"That's what I wanna know!"
"Then why don't you- Oh! wait! I know now." She entered the room and saw Candace against the wall hugging her knees and crying.
"Are you okay?" Cora asked. She gasped when she saw Marionette unconscious on the floor, a puddle of water forming at her head. "What happened?"
"The new girl attacked me!" Candace lied. Cora looked at the unconscious robot girl again.
"Please help me! I'm so scared right now!" Candace begged. She hugged Cora and held onto her as of her life depended on her.
"Alright. Just calm down and breathe. Let's go somewhere for you to calm down."
Candace nodded and followed Cora, smiling as they both left.
Astro looked over at both girls. "Well? What happened?"
"I'll tell you later." Cora said as she walked Candace down the hall.
As the door closed, he saw Marionette lying on the floor. He took a deep breath, ran inside with super speed and got Marionette out as fast as he could. He looked down at her face and noticed her hair was soaking wet.
"I'll get you fixed up, don't worry!" He said to her as he rushed toward the lab. Once he entered, he noticed his father working on another human-like robot child. He looked up at Dr. Tenma.
"Dad? Who's this?"
Tenma looked down at his son and smiled. "I'm creating another robot, and she's gonna be your little sister!"
Astro looked at Dr. Tenma with wide eyes. "Another sibling?"
"Yes, of course! We'll all be a big happy family!" Tenma said excitedly.
"Are you okay dad?" Astro asked out of concern for his sanity.
"I'm fine, son. I've never been better, actually! Because now that I created you, I can also create other human-like robots!"
"Okay, but dad, Marionette has some water damage. Do you think you can fix her up?"
Tenma looked down at the unconscious robot girl with a look of both sadness and concern. "What happened to her?"
"I found her at school like this. Candace put water in her system."
Astro laid her down on another workbench and Tenma moved from working on his new creation to the robotic doll.
The next day, Marionette went into the school very late and went into the principal's office. Astro saw her enter the room and shrugged it off.
Cobalt searched for Marionette, but instead ran into Candace.
"Hi Cobalt! Can you hang out with me during lunch today? I'm awful lonely lately cause all my friends are at home sick!"
Coablt froze. He looked at Astro and back at Candace with a nervous smile. "Uuuh, sure."
Candace hugged him tightly and ran off. "Thanks, buddy!"
Astro noticed Cora walk by and glared at her. "Hey, what happened yesterday? Why did you leave Marionette in the bathroom like that?"
Cora looked back at him angrily. "Marionette attacked Candace! Candace told me she defended herself by using water against her! How can you get angry with me when she's the one at fault?"
Marionette stood at the end of the hall by the office and froze. Cora looked over at her and pointed at her accusingly. "You! You should be ashamed of yourself! How can you attack someone like that?!?" Cora shouted.
Astro looked at Cora in disbelief. He knew something felt off about the whole situation. He walked up to Marionette.
"Hey, I need to talk to you."
Marionette looked down at him as tears of purple energy poured from her eyesand seeped back into her chest where her core was. She ran off toward the doors and left the school. Astro reached out to her, but Cobalt got in his way.
"Is everything okay little bro?"
"No!" Astro snapped at him. "Just get away from me!" He left the school as well in a hurry to try to find Marionette.
Candace grabbed Cobalt by his arm and watched Astro leave before speaking up. "Hi Cobalt. Your brother clearly wants some space. Why don't you follow me while he gets some air?"
"O-okay." Cobalt hesitated and looked over at the doors before following Candace.
Marionette ran off toward the surface. She ran as fast as she could past the scrap heap and through a forest. She suddenly noticed she was lost in the middle of what looked like a jungle. She looked around her and suddenly saw a tall building. She slowly moved past some trees toward the mysterious building and gasped when she saw it was a giant castle.
Marionette saw one of the doors open and hid behind a tree. She watched as a woman with blonde hair steped out of the castle and grabbed a nearby watering can to water the flowers in the garden. Marionette hesitated before slowly approaching the blonde woman.
The woman turned her head to see who was behind her and gasped. She dropped the watering can, spilling the water all over the grass.
"Y-you!" The woman stuttered.
"Are you okay?" Marionette asked fearfully. She looked around frantically for a direction to run.
"You came back. How did you find us?" The woman asked.
"Well, I got lost in the woods because I left school early."
"Atlas is going to be so happy to see you!"
"Atlas?" Marionette echoed.
"You need to come with me. We'll explain everything." The woman gently took her hand led her inside the castle.
Once they both entered the castle, Marionette looked around at her surroundings and smiled. She still felt nervous, but something in her felt calm. The castle had a warm, cozy atmosphere with old luxurious furniture and statues in the hallways.
The blonde woman took her inside a room where Atlas and Vincent were standing by a bunch of old computer screens.
"She finally came home!" The woman shouted feeling overjoyed.
Both men turned toward her and Marionette and smiled excitedly.
Astro stormed into his room and threw himself onto his bed and sighed heavily. He looked up at the ceiling and felt himself almost go into a trance from thinking about the past few days. He suddenly heard a knock on the door.
"Go away!" He shouted.
"Um, Master Tob-I mean Astro!" Orrin's voice wavered.
Astro rolled his eyes. "What is it?" He asked annoyed.
"Um, your brother wants to talk to you."
"Well, I don't wanna talk to him! not until HE STOPS HANGING OUT WITH THE "POPULAR" KIDS!" He screamed out the last part of his sentence feeling enraged.
Cobalt suddenly burst into the room. "Listen, I'm sorry, okay? I've been trying to get away from Candace but she's so persistent!"
Astro sighed and screamed into his pillow. Cobalt sat on Astro's bed while rubbing his little brother's back as he let out all his anger into his pillow.
Meanwhile, Atlas held Marionette like a small child as she cried like one. All of her pain, all those days being onna stage, having to entertain thousands of people, having to smile in front of a camera, her entire life as a robot was a complete lie. Atlas shushed her as if she was a fussy newborn and kissed her forehead. She looked up at him in surprise.
"Everything is gonna be okay, sweetie." Atlas said gingerly as he brushed her side bangs off her eyes.
"My whole life was a lie! " Marionette cried out in pain. "I wanted to shut myself off permanently, but now I find out I have a family. And I was stolen centuries ago?"
"Listen, I know this must be so hard for you, and a lot to take in, but you can trust us. Vincent, Me, your mother and Skunk."
"What about Astro?" Marionette asked out of curiosity.
Atlas hesitated and avoided her gaze. "Astro... I don't really know if we can trust him."
"But he has blue core energy!" Marionette beamed happily.
Atlas chuckled atbher smile. "Alright, I guess you can trust Astro, but if he hurts you, you tell me, okay?"
"Okay." Marionette replied with a smile.
