Charlie and Max were stunned to silence, their mouths hanging wide open; they looked at each other then back to the robot. The robot in front of them lifted both its arms up and pointed one at each of them, hands in fists. Slowly the hands peeled back and disappeared inside its arms and where replaced with small laser cannons.

"I'll say it one more time. Who. are. you. and. where. am. I?" It said, with much force behind its voice.

Quickly Charlie replied "Well my name's Charlie and this is my son Max and you're currently in a Tallet's gym. May I ask why you are here, and I don't know, WHY ARE ABLE TO SPEAK?" Charlie yelled the last part, not in anger, but in shock.

The robot's eye's narrowed at him and it spoke "My name is Atomu, but my friends call me Astro. I don't know why I'm here either." It replied, using a voice that said 'ask anymore questions and be fried'.

Charlie opened his was about to say something when Max cut him off.

"Astro. . . if it's okay for me to call you that. . . we didn't force you here and we're not going to damage you. Now please, I think the laser cannons are a little much." He said gently, in hope of not being shot into little pieces. You could almost see the gears in Astro's head turning as his weighed his options, he then straighten up and withdrew his cannons back into his arms and placed his hand back to normal. His eyes darted between them and his glare melted into a face of indifference.

"Uhh. . . can you excuse us for a second?" Max asked him. Astro nodded and Max grabbed Charlie by the arm and dragged him into a room close by. It was a storage room so there were many boxes, packed up against the walls but there was a small space in the middle of the room where 3 boxes where placed, one used as a makeshift table and two used as chairs. A single, bare bulb hung over the box-table granting the room dim light that cast many dark shadows on the walls. Max looked to Charlie and jerked his head toward one of the boxes indicating him to sit while he begins to shut the door, then Max walked over to join him.

"What the hell do we do now?" Max asked his father.

"I don't know" Charlie said, rubbing the back of his head in thought "but we shouldn't piss him off, those laser things looked like they could do some damage."

"Yeah, but what do we do with him; it; whatever it is? He's a ROBOT that looks like he's my age."

"Maybe he's a repair robot? Or a trainer?"

"I don't think so, he is the most advanced thing I've ever-" a sudden sound cut off by a loud crashing sound outside. Max jumped about a foot in the air, and then they raced out of the storage room and glanced around, but found nothing out of place in the gym room, until they saw the broken widow. Quickly they ran outside to see Astro sitting in a crater in the sidewalk clutching at his foot with a pained expression on his face.

"Did you just JUMP OFF A BUILDING?" Charlie yelled at him.

"Yes" he answered matter-of-factly.

"But you- what the- you could have killed yourself!" he replied.

"First off, I AM A ROBOT, I'm fine. And secondly I have rockets in my boots that let me fly, but someone must have deactivated them manually so I wouldn't be able to turn them on myself, and now I am pretty sure I have now damaged this one" he said gesturing to the leg he had been holding.

"Well. . . maybe I could fix it." Max replied

"You?" Astro asked, giving him a skeptical look.

"I am kind of a robot genius/expert." Max responded smiling in self confidence.

"But you said it yourself, I am very advanced."

"Well, yeah but-wait. How could. . ? We were in another room. . . "

"I have very good hearing." He said with a sad smile, still looking at his hut leg.

"Well, I could at least give it a look, right?"

"Sure, but it's not my fault if my rocket starts up while you work on it." He looked up, and genuinely smiled.

Astro lay on one of the many work benches lining the gym's room walls, Max busily working with his hand shoved inside Astro's leg up to his elbow.

"Do you even know what you're doing in there?" Astro said propping himself up on his elbows to see how Max was doing.

"Pretty good idea, I've fixed lots of robots with my Dad." Max replied as he slowly removed his hand from Astro's leg like he was playing Operation or something. He held up a thin metal ring. He gestured to the ring to show a small portion missing from it.

"I think this is your problem, it looks like this spins around inside your rocket chamber allowing the gear to move, you must have chipped off a piece in the fall, but I can't seem to figure out why you couldn't take off. . . " He explained, drifting off.

"I don't know, if was able to see I could tell you, but detaching my leg is so tedious . . . in the mean time can you fix that?" he said gesturing to the metal ring.

"I can try . . . actually, I think I have just the part hold on a sec!" he ran out of the room. Astro looked after him as he left.

"Wait! Don't just leave me here! Ugh!" he called after Max, and then let his head fall back on the table with a loud SMACK. Now he was left alone, so Astro actually tried to recall what had happened to get him deactivated and sent here. For what purpose? This world seems so . . . old, out of date. Or was this just America? With a sigh he let himself sink into his memory. He flicked through images that where memories, like a photo album seeing his friends, Dr. O'shay, and his sister. He got to the most recent one, and let himself fall into the past.

At first there was nothing, blackness that lasted a long time. Someone had tried to erase this memory, but only partially succeeded. Then the memory began.

Tenma stood several feet in front of Astro, calmly holding his hand behind his back. They where standing in a forest clearing, dark with the moonless night. Tenma looked behind himself, looking at something, then nodded his head toward Astro. Several robot dogs emerged from the trees, their eyes glowing red. Their metal bodies black, sleek, nimble and built for speed. Astro stood in a fight stance with his hand slightly raised, ready for anything. He glared at Tenma

"You're an idiot, no one would ever believe you!" he said a low, angry voice, already knowing why Tenma had called him here. Tenma responded with the click of his tongue and the dogs attacked.

"Oh but they will when their savoir is missing." Tenma said with his signature sideways smirk. The first dog bit Astro's arm, he cried out in pain and grabbed at the dogs leg and ripped it off. It landed in the grass with a metallic thud and stayed down. The second and third dog leapt and Astro simply melted them with his arm cannons. Metal gears and various other mechanical parts where strewn across the clearing. Astro allowed himself a small victory smile and Tenma burst into maniacal laughter. As soon as Astro realized what was happening it was too late, a net encased him and a shock rocked through his body, Again and again the agonizing pain hit him until he fell gratefully into unconsciousness.

Authors note

Well. . . it's a little longer. . . kinda. It just didn't feel right to contune after this, didn't fit well.

Just for your information if this chapter confused you, Astro in this fic is heavily based off the 2003 series, i might include some stuff from the movie but I don't know. . .

Anyways, thanks for reading! Hope you enjoyed it!

R&R please :)