Review Replies:

StoriesAreMagic: Haha, sorry. Glad you thought the gore was well-written, I actually enjoy writing stuff like that. Sorry XXD

RebeltionaryWriters: Oh, sorry XXD That probably wasn't a nice thing to come back to.

TheAmberShadow: No, no, no, Carrot does have green streaks. I thought for a moment that I might have forgotten to mention it, but I went back a couple chapters and yes, he does. And... aliens?

Isabella camovic: Uh... no, Echo's definitely not getting a love interest. I don't write romance all that much. As for the puppy thing, I'll consider it. Echo was singing that song to himself, yes. And by 'friendly faces,' no, I did not mean the Ninja. They're captured, remember? And you asked for another tickle scene in Movie Mode, but I'm gonna have to say I can't add another one. Sorry.

Loki God of Evil: Now that I think about it, I should definitely look up what happens when someone's eye is torn out. I didn't actually think of that.

Ebony umbreon: Sorry XXD Oh, god, your yack comment was brilliant XXD

Sorry to those that forgot their review and had to go look up what they said. I hate it when I have to do that ::(

Chapter Twenty-Seven:

Scrapped

Echo didn't raise his head as the aircraft settled on the ground, nor did he move when the engine began to die. He remained still, trapped in the thick ropes of the net, even as the man's footsteps came closer.

He came to a stop in front of the droid. A beat passed, and Echo began to hope that maybe he thought he was broken, and would just toss him out and leave. This hope was extinguished, however, when he received a sharp kick to the side.

Pain flared up his ribs, and Echo gasped, falling over onto his side. He curled into a ball, clutching his side and shaking, mouth open in a silent gasp. He heard the man scoff.

He grabbed the net, dragging Echo out of his safe little corner. His metallic parts scraped against the floor loudly, a painful ring to the ears, and even though he was scared, the ticking of his heart quickened only slightly. As though it were getting tired.

Echo just wanted to go to sleep. Wake up somewhere else. Anywhere else, as long as it was safe. Even if it was the lighthouse.

He was dragged outside the aircraft, into grass and dirt and gravel. Echo winced, but didn't move, didn't struggle. He looked up at the sky, a bright baby blue, hardly a cloud in sight. His clockwork heart clenched. He was starting to miss the lighthouse a little. It may have been lonely, but the view had been spectacular.

The man dragged him under a large, neon sign that flickered occasionally, but Echo wasn't able to get a good enough look at it to read it. He craned his neck, trying to get a better look at his surroundings, which was quite the difficult task.

Piles of scrap, tires and half torn apart cars were littered everywhere. A barbed wire fence vanished behind a particularly large pile, but Echo was able to see no more. Then, finally and yet all too soon, the man came to a stop.

"Ed? Ed, there's a man at the door."

The voice was feminine, and came from somewhere in front of him. Echo tried to twist and see them, but the man delivered a swift kick to his stomach, and he stilled.

"Hm? Oh, so there is, dear. I'll be back in a moment."

There was the sound of creaking steps, then of shoes on gravel. Echo didn't move, heart ticking like a time-bomb. He clenched his eyes shut.

"Well, hello, there!" said the approaching person, "How can I help ya?"

"I've got some spare parts I'd like to sell," answered the man, tugging on the net a little. Echo squinted open his eyes, just in time to see a smiling man in oil stained dungarees with greying hair lean over his captor. Their eyes locked, and the man's smile fell, mouth opening in shock.

"Uh..."

"I know it looks a little beat up," said the man, a tad hurridly, "But it's in working order, and it's got some handy spare parts in it."

"Spare... spare parts?" repeated the oil stained man, as though dazed. Smiling now, his captor nodded.

"Yes! So, you wanna buy 'em? My price isn't all that high, ya know."

"I... uh..." the mechanic seemed at a lost for words. Before his tongue could catch up with his brain, however, there was the thud of heavy footsteps, the whir of mechanical legs. Echo twisted in the net best he could, the two men turned towards the direction of the sudden noise.

"What was that?" asked his captor. He had tensed, legs coiled as though in preparation for a run.

Before the mechanic could even think of an answer, it appeared. Blazing red and metallic grey, hands big enough to pick up a car, a cage around the seat in form of protection. A man sat in the seat, a man Echo recognised, with shoulder length hair and one working eye.

"Hey, Ed," greeted Ronin, "Just came to check up on yo-" He cut himself off, finally taking in the scene before him. His eye darted from Echo, to his captor, to Ed the Mechanic, then back to Echo. Slowly, his gaze trailed back up to the man.

"Seamus?"

Ed blinked, mouth opening, "This- That slave-guy? The one Jay was telling me about?"

The man's eyes darted back and forth in a moment of panic. Then, jaw setting, he turned to glare up at Ronin. The mercenary's one eye widened, then narrowed.

"Wait a minute," he said, "It was you! You're-" his eye darted to his green streaked hair, then back to his face, "You're Carrot."

Behind them, Ed made a funny noise that sounded suspiciously like a stifled laugh, "C-Carrot?"

'Carrot' stood there for a moment. Then, dropping the net trapping Echo, he darted underneath Ronin's mech. The mercenary jumped, having trouble twisting his mech around at the others sudden action.

The man skidded to stop and, placing two fingers to his lips, blew a sharp whistle. Echo winced, the high-pitched noise penetrating his ears and causing them to throb. Then, in the distance, there was the blast of a firing engine, and the helli-ship rose into the sky, zipping towards them like a fighter jet.

It landed swiftly on the ground, and then shifted, morphing, bits of metal sticking out and then back in, getting taller, taller, until it stood three feet higher than Ronin's mech.

Carrot climbed expertly into the new mech, jumping into the seat, a glass dome encasing him in a protective shield. On the ground, Ed let out a long breath, "Oh, dear, here we go again."

"I'm surprised, Ronin," said Carrot, voice amplified through a speaker with a robotic ting, "You were never one to work for the goods guys."

Ronin scowled, "Yeah, well, things have changed. Doesn't look like I can say the same for you, though."

"Change," said Carrot, "Is not always a good thing."

"You're right," Ronin's voice softened, unexpectantly, but only slightly, "But sometimes it's gotta be done."

Carrot snorted, "For what? For the better? I haven't changed, Ronin, and I won't be changing anytime soon. I'm going to kill them," his voice rang true with promise, hardening in only a way someone with a ripped out heart can, "And I'll take down anyone that stands in my way."

He lunged.

Ronin gasped, jerking out of the way in the nick of time. He raised his mech's arm, the gun whizzing to life, and the blast of bullets rang in the air. Carrot ducked behind a pile of scrap.

Hands grabbed the net, and Echo's head snapped to the side to see it was Ed the Mechanic. He tugged with surprising strength, towards a caravan, where a woman had emerged.

"Ed? Ed, dear, what's that noise? Is it Jay again?"

"Uh, yes, dear," Ed the Mechanic grunted, "I do suppose this is Ninja business again."

"Oh, well, who is it-" the woman stopped, eyes widening as they reached the bottom of the stairs, "Is that Zane?"

"No, no," said Ed, shaking his head as he hoisted Echo up the stairs as carefully as possible, the nindroid wincing as he banged his aching parts against it, "It's- Well, Edna, I think it's his little brother."

The woman- Edna- blinked, hands going to her mouth, "Oh, dear, the poor thing."

Behind them, there was a massive CRASH! Echo's head snapped around just in time to see Ronin's mech stumble to his feet, having landing and squashed a partly repaired car. He raised a ginormous hand and blocked one of Carrot's punches, kicking him in the stomach and sending him flying to the ground.

"Let's get him inside, dear," Ed gasped, almost sounding out of breath. He began to tug Echo towards the door. "We need to call Jay."

"But isn't he on that little trip looking for those meanie-enemies of his?" asked Edna, holding the door open so the mechanic could drag Echo inside, "I told Jay to call once he got back."

"Get Sensei Wu on the phone, then, dear," grunted Ed. The caravan was surprisingly spacious, a decent place for two or three people. The dragging came to a stop in the middle of the floor, and Ed ran over to a bench, where he pulled out a red box and began to ruffle through it. Edna already had the phone to her ear.

Outside, there was another CRASH! but while Echo's head snapped towards the door, he couldn't see through it, as it had been closed. He wondered, at the back of his mind, if Zane could see through walls. He was certainly advanced enough.

"Here we are!" a pair of scissors appeared inches from Echo's face, causing him to flinch. Then they bit down on a bit of the net, struggling with it for a moment, twisting, before the rope snapped in two.

Ed did this again, and again, until there was a gap big enough for Echo to crawl through. Hastily, grimacing as his entire body flared with a burning agony that left him groaned and panting, Echo scrambled from the net, kicking his feet when they became tangled. Ed grabbed the rope and tugged him free.

Trembling (he couldn't remember when he'd started; had he been doing it this entier time?), Echo scrambled away from him, his back hitting a cupboard, breaths coming out in short, terrified gasps. Ed approached him hesitantly, hands up in something like surrender, a kind smile on his ageing face.

"Hey, hey, it's alright now," he said, gently, "What's your name again? Echo-Zane, was it?"

Echo swallowed, nodding slowly. The mechanic's smile grew.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Echo-Zane," he said, "My name's Ed. That's Edna," he gestured with his head towards the woman, who smiled and gave a small wave from where she still had the phone to her ear, "My wife. We're Jay's parents."

He blinked, slowly, processing this information. Neither of them looked that much like Jay, but, then again, neither he nor Zane shared much resemblance to their father. Ed the Mechanic inched closer, that kind smile still on his face.

When Echo didn't try to get away, he took this as a good sign and placed a careful hand on his knee, giving it a comforting squeeze. Echo forced himself to relax, but while the trembling lessened, it didn't cease.

"He's not picking up, dear," said Edna. A small explosion went off somewhere outside.

"Keep trying," Ed instructed, before turning back to Echo, concern flashing across his eyes, "Oh, dear, you're in bad shape. Let me get my tools, I'll have you better in a jiffy."

Ed shot to his feet, unknowingly causing Echo to jump, and ran over to the toolbox on the bench. He grabbed it, moving it onto the floor, as Edna began talking to whoever was on the phone. Wiping his hands on his oil stained dungarees, Ed turned to Echo, offering the broken bot a hand.

Echo stared at it for a long moment, sceptical. Then there was another BANG! outside and he jumped, taking the offered hand and allowing himself to be hauled to his feet.

Ed helped him over to the bench (in an achingly similar way to how Kaze had helped him through the corridors), hoisted him onto it with relative ease. Echo blinked, wondering, at the back of his mind, if everyone was really strong or if he was just really, really light.

"There we go," said Ed, guiding him onto his back so that he was lying down. He looked over at Edna, giving her a questioning look. She mouthed 'Misako.' He nodded.

"Okay, buddy," Ed said, reaching down and grabbing something Echo couldn't see, "I need ya to stay still for me, alright?"

Echo swallowed, the trembling starting anew. He stared firmly at the ceiling, pushing away how familiar this position was. He'd been fixed multiple times on a table by someone else, from Zane, Gizmo, Jay and Nya. But he'd also been broken this way, by the scary man with the mutilated hands.

A wrinkled hand was placed on his forehead, a gesture that might have meant to be comforting or was simply to keep him still. Whatever its purpose, Echo took comfort in it never the less. His heart ticked loudly as the mechanic did his work, and he kept his eyes squeezed shut. There would be the occasional crash, the groan of bending metal, an explosion of bullets from outside.

"Misako says she's coming to get him," Edna said, at one point, "And that she'll try to get ahold of Jay and his friends."

"That's good, dear," said Ed, not looking up from Echo's mechanical guts, "Why don't you make the little guy something while we wait? Didn't Zane like that oil soup you made him?" An explosion rocked the caravan, Echo's breath hitching. The Walkers, however, seemed unphased.

"Oh, yes, I'll get right on it," Edna said, quite cheerfully for someone whose house was the current battlefield for two giant robots, "How's he coming along?"

"He's pretty banged up, but I'll have him up and running in no time," the mechanic declared, giving the hand still on Echo's forehead a small pat, "Won't we, Echo?"

Hesitantly, he peeked open an eye, sending him a small smile. He was starting to like this man. He was... nice. Ed smiled back.

Echo lay there for a while longer, Edna humming as she worked on something in the kitchen. Ed would remove his hand from his forehead at times when he needed to use it for something, but whenever he wasn't, it would be on his forehead. Outside, the fighting continued.

Finally, Ed made a victorious noise, quickly followed by a clicking noise as his chest cavity was closed, "There we are! Is that better?"

Blinking, Echo sat up slowly, experimentally moving his arms and legs. They didn't ache, weren't twisted nor dirty. He felt good as new.

A wide grin split his no longer cracked faceplate, and Echo leapt from the table, almost toppling over on his own feet. Ed reached out and put a steadying hand on his shoulder.

"Wow, slow down," he laughed, "Take it easy, buddy. You're still a bit dented up."

"Here we are, dearie," said Edna, setting a bowl of something black and sloppy on the coffee table, "Why don't you come sit over here while we wait for Misako, hm?"

Outside, there was yet another skull rattling crash! Echo was led to the couch by the mechanic, where he sat down and almost immediately found himself wrapped in a blue knitted blanket. The 'oil soup,' as they called it, was the best thing Echo had ever tasted. It was gone within moments.

"Wow, you must've been hungry," Ed said, "Want some more?"

At Echo's nod, he smiled and took the bowl, leaving to refill it. Echo wiped the black stains from his mouth, licking his lips. He felt as though he could keep eating forever. He hadn't been this ecstatic in far too long.

He was going home.

Ed returned with more oil soup, handing the refilled bowl to an eager Echo. He slurped up another spoonful immediately, mumbling a 'thank you' through a full mouth. Ed gave a small, amused laugh.

There was another CRASH! Quickly followed by a BANG! Echo very nearly spilt his soup down his front when the caravan rocked back and forth, Edna almost casually picking up a few ornaments to avoid them shattering on the floor.

"Shouldn't we be helping him?" asked Echo, as, outside the window, Ronin's mech came flying from the other side of the junkyard and crash landed in the dirt, leaving a small crater behind. From the mech's seat came a loud string of words he'd heard Jay use whenever he stubbed his toe or something.

"Don't worry about that, dearie," said Edna, tucking the blanket closer around him, "You just eat your soup."

Echo hummed softly at that, and obediently returned to his warm oil soup. Like before, it was gone within moments.

As Ed left to get him some more soup, Echo wiped his mouth, looking out the window- and froze.

Standing next to a smashed car, head cocked to the side as they watched him from behind a ragged shawl, was a White Rag. The symbol 水 was on their forehead in a dark blue. Water.

Echo's heart ticked louder, Edna frowning and looking around for the source of the noise. He was frozen where he sat, unable to look away. Water's white eyes crinkled in a small smile. They raised their hand and waved.

Then the car exploded.

The blast sent the caravan tumbling onto its side. The windows shattered in sprays of shards. He heard Edna and Ed screaming, the smash of glass and the breaking of furniture, tools scattering every. Then everything was upside down, and he was being tossed like a rag doll, and everything was a churning mess of confusion, round and round and round-

He slammed into the wall, the breath leaving his lungs, and he fell to the floor- well, the ceiling. Echo lay there for a long moment, gasping, trembling, the foreign prick of tears at the back of his eyes.

With a quiet whimper, Echo forced himself upright, hardly registering the tears tricking down his cheeks. He looked around, at the shattered glass and broken furniture. Bringing his hand to his mouth, he let out a small sob, stumbling to his feet.

Spotting Edna lying a few feet away, he tumbled over on numb legs, falling to her side. He tried to feel for a pulse, but he was trembling too much to be certain. Instead, he pressed his ear to her chest. A shaky, relieved sigh. A heartbeat.

Taking deep breaths in an attempt to calm himself down, wiping the liquid pouring from his eyes, Echo pulled himself to his feet- fell- got back up again. Stumbling and tripping as though the floor was moving from side to side, he reached the shattered window and, careful not to cut himself, forced his way through.

He needed to go find Ronin. He needed his help to get them out of there, he- he needed someone. Anyone at this point.

Heart ticking tocking in his ears, he began to run in the direction of the two fighting mech's, which had vanished behind a pile of scrap- when a hand curled around his arm.

He screamed, a loud, blood curling scream. Pale grey hands grabbed him, hoisted him off his feet, only tightened when he thrashed and spat, screaming, screaming even as a cloth was shoved into his mouth.

A pair of hands grabbed at his exposed chest, pulling wires and gears and his screams became impossibly louder and his thrashing strengthened, tears trickling down his face as he screamed and screamed in pure terror-

A switched was toggled.

The screaming stopped.

Hey, guys! So sorry for the long wait. I've been a bit focused on my other story, Movie Mode, 'cause of the new season coming out. But never fear! This story's not abandoned ::D

Anyway, once more, Echo is recaptured. *sighs* Seriously, this kid is gets captured a lot.

Again, sorry for the late update. Hope you enjoyed it, though!

Next time: The Ninja and Echo reunite.