Rodney sat on the front steps of Aunt Fan's house, examining his injuries. His eye was still black from when Dwight had punched it during the brawl, and the various bruises on his arm, leg and chest were still feeling somewhat sore. And on top of that, he felt very foolish for having taken part in such a thing - it just wasn't him to get into physical fights with other people, and it was clear right from the start that his more assertive opponent would easily gain the upper hand and win. Out of all the embarrassing things he had done in his life, this was easily the worst, even worse than the time he got fired from Mr. Gunk's restaurant due to Wonderbot malfunctioning and making a mess of the kitchen. At least with that time, it was just one of his inventions going wrong - this time, he, as a person, had participated in a two-man brawl, usually something that only stupid, competitive louts do! And to add to the humiliation factor, he had lost it and now had a black eye, a bleeding arm, a bruised leg and a slightly crooked chest! He was so ashamed of himself that he couldn't think of anything to do or say. He hung his head in his hands and shut his eyes in resignation.
Presently, the door opened and Cappy came over and sat down beside him. "Are you okay, Rodney?" she asked him.
Rodney remained silent and just winced at the fact that someone was now sitting with him. He felt too stupid to even answer a simple question like that.
"Rodney, speak to me," Cappy urged. "Are you okay?"
Rodney gave a sigh and took his head out of his hands. "I'm such an idiot," he said weakly.
"It wasn't your fault," replied Cappy, trying to soothe him. "He just prompted you into doing it."
"Don't you get it?!" shouted the frustrated Rodney. "I should have known right from the start that I didn't have the guts to physically harm another robot! I should have been more proactive when facing Dwight, and not let the fact that he was once my best friend at school get in the way of that! First, I can't seem to come up with this simple invention assignment Bigweld gives me, and then, I get brutally beaten up by someone who turns out to have a serious tie to my past. What next?"
Cappy put her hand on his shoulder. "Stop, calm down," she said gently. "You're being way too hard on yourself. The only reason you fought him was because he threatened me, and you were just jumping in to defend me, which was very selfless, honourable and diligent of you. And the fact that you were once friends is very good reason that you may have lost - dealing with the idea that someone who was very close to you could suddenly turn evil is excruciatingly hard. Life isn't always kind to everyone, and maybe you were just having a series of unfortunate days."
Rodney took a deep breath, thought for a moment and at last said, "You're right ... I didn't really need those bad days, because I've really had too much of them in my life already, but you do have a good point there."
The two sat there in silence for a few minutes. While Rodney had found some level of reassurance in Cappy's words, he still felt the urge to be quiet while his embarrassment and frustration took the time to play itself out. At last, he felt able to speak up again.
He turned to Cappy. "So ..." he began, "... did Dwight have some negative involvement in your past as well?"
Now it was Cappy's turn to feel downhearted. She turned her head and sighed, "I don't really feel like I can talk about this."
"It's okay, there's no pressure," coaxed Rodney.
Cappy took a deep breath. "Here goes nothing," she said fearfully, and she apprehensively began to tell Rodney about her ties to Dwight and the Wrencherhead family.
"You see, Rodney, even though Dwight and I didn't go to the same school, we still visited each other quite often because my parents were great friends with his. Julian and Hortensia Wrencherhead where some of the most warm and sincere robots I knew - they would always greet anyone with an approachable smile and their conversations were always lively and uplifting. And Dwight was such an affectionate and sweet little boy with great imaginings and a bright and cheery attitude. I'm really not surprised that you got along with him so well with him during your childhood years - his temperament back then seems to have a big commonality with your current one."
"Yes, although he was a lot more bouncy and energetic than I was," Rodney put in.
"However," Cappy continued, "their seemingly quiet and peaceful life was constantly being barged into by Julian's cruel and manipulative brother, Silas, who would always try to bully his poor younger sibling into raise little Dwight in a more evil way, sticking to the Wrencherhead tradition of being malevolent to everyone but family members as long as they are evil like themselves. Fortunately, Julian refused to do so every single time - he looked at the Wrencherhead tradition with the utmost disdain and never wanted to associate with them in any way for as long as he lived. Unfortunately, it came to a head some time during Dwight's late high school years - Silas became more and more enraged after every refusal by his younger brother, and pulled him into a brawl. It was a long fight, and it ended in tragedy when just as it looked like things were going to take a turn for the better, Silas caught Julian when he wasn't looking and killed him. Then he demanded his wife to abduct Hortensia to a remote land so that Dwight would supposedly never see her again, and finally he took Dwight to live with him during the latter's years at university."
"Oh my goodness!" gasped Rodney. "How the heck could I have not known about that? That must have been so horrible for him!"
"You think that's bad, then keep listening," went on Cappy. "While Dwight was taking inventing classes at university, Silas would do nothing but abuse him, manipulate him, intimidate him and threaten to kick him out if he had too many failures. What didn't help matters is that while he was a good student, his peers kept mocking him and did all they could to sabotage his successes."
"What kind of university would let its students get away with that?" Rodney exclaimed, becoming increasingly outraged by what he was hearing. "The worst that ever happened to me during my years of study was having my peers think of me as strange for wearing girls' parts."
"Well, you grew up in a different society from him, so values would have been quite different," said Cappy. "It eventually reached a point when Silas got so angry with him that he remorselessly beat the poor guy up and threw him out, leaving him by the edge of a junkyard. That was the pivotal moment in Dwight's life where his emotional and mental health had a HUGE flush down the toilet. He thought that since the world seemed to hate his guts now, he decided to become a part of the Wrencherhead tradition and bully even the most innocent of robots. Now, keep listening, because this is where I come in. I was working at Bigweld Industries to keep my family afloat financially, and it was on a day where things were going as they would normally do despite the fact that Ratchet was becoming more and more powerful at the time. I had been going about my day-to-day routine and was at a lunch break, when he and Ratchet showed up, trying to prompt me into getting a better position at my job by trading in my old parts for upgrades. I refused the first few times, but I eventually gave in and traded my hand-me-down parts for the upgrades I have now."
"So why did you do it in the first place?" asked Rodney. "You were already doing well enough with the position you had."
"I didn't do it willingly," Cappy continued. "After I had turned the offer down enough times, Dwight got aggressive with me, threatening to go after my family and kill them, all while Ratchet was gleefully snickering in the background, thinking of how attractive I would end up looking with upgrades. So, now you have it - that is the reason why I am where I am now."
Rodney lost himself in thought for a few moments, and then said, "It all makes sense. I can't imagine someone like you going against yourself unless you're in a certain extreme circumstance. It's something I greatly admire about you, Cappy - you're assertive, willful, defensive and you stand your ground well."
Cappy smiled modestly. "Thank you," she said, chuckling slightly.
A sad expression appeared on Rodney's face again. "You know," he said, "I fell for you the moment I laid eyes on you, but later on, when I considered that you were on Ratchet's side, I wondered if I would even be good enough for you."
"Why?" asked Cappy, rather bemused at the thought.
Rodney thought for a moment before getting himself to explain. He took a deep breath and said, "Well, it mainly came from the fact that I was a commoner made of hand-me-downs and you had both a high position at Bigweld Industries, probably second only to Ratchet, and those upgrades. I mean, I didn't know you at the time, but one can't deny how clean and handsome-looking Ratchet was, and at times I even wondered if it would be too ridiculous for a plebeian robot to be infatuated with an upper-class one, as society isn't always fair. You saw Ratchet more often during that period, too, so of course there would be a high chance of you liking him better. Yes, you ditched him later on, but, after all, what chance would a scrawny working-class small town robot like myself have against a shiny upper-class hunk like Ratchet?"
"Rodney, stop! Listen to me!" said Cappy firmly. "I don't care if you're poor, of if you're made of hand-me-downs, or whatever. Personality and character is what matters to me more than anything else. I never liked Ratchet because he was arrogant, greedy and bigoted towards anyone who was not him. He went against everything Bigweld was and what he stood for by placing himself and making money over everything else. And what's more, he kept flirting with me continuously throughout his time in power there, which did not do anything to change my opinion of him. When you came into my life, I fell for you instantly because you were the exact opposite of Ratchet and held the same ideals that Bigweld did, and the ones that I once did during my youth. When I was a girl, I felt sad that my parents were so underprivileged and had continous money problems, so, being the huge fan of Bigweld that I was back then, I hoped that one day I could get a job at the company to support them. My dream did come true, as you already know, but a lot of my hopes of making the world a better place were shattered when Ratchet rose to power and changed the policies of the company. But then, you came along and reminded me that my idealism had still been with me the entire time."
Rodney was astonished; he didn't realise that he had done that much for Cappy since he first met her.
Cappy took his hand and gave him a warm, loving and sincere smile. "Rodney, you should be proud of who you are and what you've achieved over time. You're a kind, altruistic, selfless and noble person who always looks out for others and tries your best to help them in any way whatever the circumstance. And although you went through a number of struggles initially, you eventually were able to bring Bigweld back to his former glory, and become not only his right-hand bot but his eventual successor. What is there not to be proud of in that? And no matter how many times your inventions may go wrong, you always persevere and keep trying to improve on your mistakes. You're everything I could ever wish for in a boyfriend, and I really don't understand why you have to be so self-critical all the time."
Rodney felt as though all his embarrassment and shame had been stripped away from him. In spite of all of his recent failures, his friends were all staying by his side no matter what, and Cappy's words made him feel all the more grateful to them for it. She was right, he was someone who always kept trying and looking for ways to learn from his mistakes. The same could also be said for all the trouble he went through during his early days in Robot City - although it was a hard time for him trying to get Bigweld back where he belonged, he still managed to succeed and make things better for the robot world again. He felt able to smile back at Cappy for giving him that pep talk; she really reminded him of his father in that instant. "Thank you, Cappy," he said weakly. "You've really gotten through to me with what you said. You're right, I think I should just forget about this little incident and move on from it."
"That's the spirit," Cappy chuckled. "Words of encouragement are something your dad would always give you when the chips are down, but you can always turn to any of us if he's not there. Robots like Fender, Piper, Aunt Fan and myself will stick by you and be supportive no matter what; you must remember that. Come on, how about a hug?"
They both stood up and held each other in a warm embrace for two whole minutes, and then they re-entered the house for a good night's rest. Although Rodney still felt that something had to be done about Dwight and his actions, he was happy to be reminded about not letting the past define who he was and staying true to himself. Little did he know, however, that Dwight's next action was going to be far more extreme than he ever would have suspected at first ...