(A/N: Hello again. I hope you guys enjoy this chapter. It was really difficult to write. There were so many things I wanted to get down, but that I ended up having to rearrange or take out in favor of putting it in the next chapter. Anywho, don't forget to review and tell me what you think! You guys really make my day! Thanks!)
Chapter Five: Let That Be Your Cross
"So…you're not joking then?"
Astro glanced over at the object in the display case. He and his father were standing outside of a high-tech music store in the Metro City Mall with heaps and heaps of shopping bags already in the cart behind them.
Dr. Elefun's nose could be seen around the side of cart, quivering in anticipation of what Tenma's answer was going to be. He had been with them almost the entire day watching Tenma swipe his debit card over and over again in several stores. The last store they'd been in, Tenma'd spent almost eight hundred dollars on three pairs of leather dress shoes and two sets of twenty-four karat gold cuff-links, both with his initials inscribed on them. There was just no way possible he hadn't spent over ten thousand dollars already…there was just no way…and if he agreed to buy Astro that four thousand dollar stereo system he was now staring at in the display case…he knew he was going to just pass out right then and there.
"Why would I joke?"
Tenma smiled, patted Astro on the head, and then gave him his Visa.
Astro stared, his mouth hanging open in shock, and holding the card in his hand like he'd never seen anything like it in the world.
"Y-you're gonna let me-?"
"Yes. Now go pay for the thing before I change my mind."
Astro ran off into the store, not having to be told twice.
Tenma turned around to the sound of one of Dr. Elefun's loud sniffs of disapproval. He was standing there with his arms folded up over his large belly, glaring and shaking his head.
"You're spoiling him Umataro…just like before. He doesn't need that stereo system, and you know it! You're just trying to compensate for time you know you're going to lose when we start back at the Ministry!"
"And you Elefun, didn't need to visit the food court eleven times today, either, did you? And I find it odd you're chastising me about overcompensation when you frequently lie to all those 'bottoms' at the 'G-Club' about how-."
Dr. Elefun interrupted Tenma mid-sentence as a woman and a group of young, laughing children walked by, cotton candy and balloons in their hands. Someone had to make sure that the minds of impressionable young children stayed pure and innocent…and that someone wouldn't ever be Tenma, who'd been prepared to go into full detail about what he did or didn't do on the weekend's right in front of them. The beast
"Don't you make this about me! I'm talking about you! You told me you and Astro talked last night!"
"We did."
"Then why are you buying him that stereo? And the dirt bike-and the plasma TV-and the fog machine, and the disco ball?"
Tenma rolled his eyes and turned and walked a ways around the corner of the display case outside of the store, and peeked in at Astro who was bouncing up and down in front of the store manager, pointing outside frantically at the shiny new entertainment system he was about to buy.
"Astro!"
Astro stopped his gleeful bouncing and turned to look at his father.
"Yeah dad?"
"Just meet me at the car. There's one other store I need to go into before we leave."
"Okay!"
Astro went back to bouncing and pointing.
"Astro!"
"Yeah dad?"
Tenma's face melded into a severe, threatening expression Astro had only ever seen a handful of times before during his childhood.
"You buy anything other than what I gave you permission for and I will end you! Do you understand me?"
Bouncing end. Astro gulped, and nodded, and so did the manager and sales associates standing around him. He may have been able to lift hundreds of tons….shoot lasers from his finger's, and everything else under the sun…but Astro was still only a thirteen year old boy. A thirteen year old boy with a father he'd once seen strike fear into a four star military general by threatening him with a paperclip. He watched his father's expression switch instantly back to that of 'proud papa', wave, smile serenely, and then walk leisurely off in the direction of the Smoke Shoppe across the way, with Dr. Elefun lumbering behind him pushing the shopping cart with all their bags in it.
Metro City Mall, oddly enough, had been one of the few places that had suffered only minimal damages in Astro's fight with the Peacekeeper. About seventy-five percent of it was situated underground in between both the business districts and the lower income housing areas, so when the power source keeping the city up in the air had been knocked out, and Astro had flown under to slow it's fall, it lessened the impact enough so that only the two entrances to it had really needed much repairing, and teams were able to move on quickly to other areas. Dr. Elefun looked around tentively at the worker-bee robots finishing up painting and drywall work on a few old stores that had yet to open up. They were all that was left of the construction team that had begun work here seven months ago. He remembered watching the news for a long time about how much people were looking forward to having something to look at that wasn't all busted up and broken before Tenma and Astro had shown up on his doorstep, both of them dirty and miserable looking and spitting fire at one another….their relationship just as busted up and broken as the smoking ruins they'd festered in together for two solid weeks.
Elefun looked Tenma up and down, and then looked away again quickly. He was talking to another man at the register about some undoubtedly incredibly expensive brand of tobacco for his pipe. Elefun looked back across the way over at Astro, who was making goo-goo eyes at the six-foot, hi-definition hologram projector that went with his brand new stereo system as it was all being carefully boxed and put on a dolly. They'd come a long way from how they'd started out months ago. A long way…but you could tell they still had some issues to work out. Especially after what happened this morning.
-Flashback-
(That Morning)
"GAHHH! MEK ET SHTOOOPPPP!"
"I'M TRYING-! HOLD STILL DAMMIT!"
"GRET IT ROFF MEEE!"
"IF YOU'LL STOP KICKING-I WILL!"
Tenma was leaning over Astro with his knee planted in the middle of his chest trying to pull the fifty, burned, short circuited, electrodes from off of his sons tongue…and not having any success whatsoever, even with Dr. Elefun trying to both soothe the pain, and get the electrodes to slide off by rubbing an ice cube and a little bit of butter over them.
"HWELLLLPPP!"
"STOP KICKING!"
He gave another sharp yank, and the electrodes came off, leaving tiny little burn marks and indentations on Astro's tongue.
Astro clamped his hands over his sore mouth, and groaned loudly, tears slipping out from underneath his tightly shut eyelids.
Tenma threw the ruined wiring over his shoulder, and then, rather than try to console his son, shoved his hands out from over his mouth, and dropped a green apple jolly rancher he'd had in his pocket into it. Astro spluttered and spit it out with so much force it shattered on the cabinet door directly behind Dr. Elefun, who sat looking shocked at Tenma's lack of sensitivity.
"Tenma he's hurt-! And because of something you did wrong! How can you be so cruel?"
Astro crawled out from between the two of them with his hands back over his mouth rubbing back and forth across his singed lips; his eyes still shut tight and leaking tears.
"I hate green apple!"
"Finally!"
"And I hate you dad!"
Tenma folded his arms and smirked. "You hate me now…but you won't hate me when you find out what flavor lip balm that girl you like so much wears will you?"
"God—shut up! I should've never told you anything!"
"Her name is Cora right? The skinny aggressive looking one on the picture you showed me? Bet she wears coconut. Most punk girls do."
"Shut up Dad! And she's not punk! You don't even know what punk is!"
"Perhaps one day you could invite her over for dinner after I've finished fixing Nora and-."
"I would never bring my friends around you! Especially not her!"
Dr. Elefun looked nervously back and forth between the two…almost, but not quite understanding Astro's sudden burst of anger at his father who, by all accounts this time, was really truly trying to make an attempt to be friendly. When Astro had been younger…and human, he had never before been allowed to have any company over his own age because Tenma was so frequently working on paperwork, or blueprints for new projects, and didn't like the noise. On several occasions, he himself had been pleaded with to keep the little boy busy on days when he was out of school so his father wouldn't be disturbed by his caterwauling when he refused to play with him, or have to put up with him grabbing onto his leg in the mornings and begging and pleading for him to not go to work and leave him alone at home for so many hours.
Tenma's triumphant, cheerful expression changed to a confused and slightly hurt one. He stood up, his head tilted slightly; looking over at his son who was looking back at him still rubbing his mouth and glaring with teary brown eyes. He looked behind his shoulder at the ruined wiring and over at his glossy, cherry wood, kitchen table with the machine he'd been using moments ago to activate the artificial taste buds on Astro's tongue.
"I'll….let you tell me when you're ready next time. Agreed?"
Sniff.
"Yeah. I'd appreciate that."
-Flashback End-
"Elefun… which do you like? Turkish? Burley? Virginian..?"
"Neither, Tenma. I'm good in the tobacco department, thank you anyway."
"Are you sure? I know smoking those pasty, lifeless Virginia Slims has been getting old for you. At least let me get you a box of Partagas!"
"I'm fine, you don't have to."
Tenma nodded, and paid the cashier for his various selections of pipe tobaccos, and imported cigars. He looked around at all the boxes upon boxes of lung-cancer inducing finery, and then down at his black, leather gloved hands, new Italian leather shoes, crisp, clean, lavender dress shirt, and black dress slacks to match the long, wool trench coat with the silver buttons on it he'd gotten from the Burberry Propos men's department. Part of him wanted to pack all of it away until he could rub it in the faces of those at the Ministry who'd always been annoyed at his pension for throwing his big, well deserved paychecks in their faces, but it just felt far too good to not have his big toe sticking out of the front of his right shoe…and even better to not have to watch his son try to patch up his tennis shoes with duct tape and card board to go play out in the yard.
Elefun was digging around through one of the bags in the front of the shopping cart. He pulled out a DVD case with a rather questionable title on it and glared at Tenma giving him another one of his sniffs of disapproval.
"Really Tenma?"
"Oh hush fat man! You have your interests—let me have mine!"
The DVD dropped back into the bag, and Elefun turned the buggy back around towards the entrance to the store, ready to exit.
"So what all went on last night…after I left?"
Tenma skirted around the edge of the buggy, and past a couple of people entering the store and walked out, Elefun close behind.
"You heard most of it. You stuffed yourself in through the basement window and laid in wait on the steps remember?"
"Yes! And if I'd known the—the horrors you keep down there I'd have just waited until that woman's car pulled off!"
"I don't know why you felt you had to sneak in anyway Elefun. I'm pretty sure she knew we were staying with you. If not at your home, then somewhere. They'd been trying to call you too, after all. That, and you pretty much gave yourself away when you gasped out loud at Astro's insistence you be made Vice Minister of Science."
"I was trying to make sure nothing out of the way happened! For all I know the whole thing could've been a set up and she could've brought fifty policemen with her to arrest you—or worse! They might've tried to get at Astro! You remember how many crazy people out there kept trying to steal his blue prints after you finished him! Drake-Dr. Mini-Mini—and god knows who all else we had to beat off last year! Metro City's government has never been anything short of shady, and corrupt! How do you trust someone with a history like that?"
Tenma snorted. "You were trying to make sure nothing out of the way happened to us? You're in your late fifties Elefun!"
"In my fifties or not-Metro City has a shady past! Remember that whole thing about Stone-?"
"I know Elefun. But-and this going to sound completely cliché, and hypocritical coming from me- but Metro City isn't under the same management it was before. I read up on Emily Niele, and President Logan."
"And you found out?"
"Apparently they really are the total and complete Party opposite's-and I don't just mean that whole dried up 'Democrats against Republicans' thing either."
"You mean they don't take sides? They're independent's?"
"Mhm. Unusual isn't it?"
"Well…people had to get tired of the 'George Bush' and 'Sarah Palin' jokes eventually—but on a serious note Tenma… what all did you and Astro talk about last night? Is everything alright? It was tense this morning.."
Dr. Elefun pushed the floating shopping cart forward as his feet came to the bottom of the escalator, and hurried to catch up with his fast walking colleague, his chest heaving with the effort.
Tenma stopped abruptly in front of the advertisement stands by the doors he'd soon be exiting from, and looked up, his dark, navy blue eyes reflecting the large puffy clouds that could be seen floating by through the clear glass ceiling of Metro City Mall. If it wasn't for what he was thinking of at that moment, he'd have smiled and said having a big, open, glass ceiling made for a much more pleasant, and open environment. Lord knows it had helped brighten up Elefun's drearily decorated apartment.
"We're..managing. We talked for a long while after you left."
Tenma continued walking, and exited through the sliding doors, Dr. Elefun puffing along behind him.
"What all did he tell you?"
Curiosity, mixed with friendly concern shown on J. Elefun's pale, slightly wrinkled face. He had called Ramsey early that morning to tell him that Astro and Tenma would not be having a session that day, due to want, and need of new clothing on both their parts, but the scene in Tenma's kitchen this morning had worried him, making him think perhaps it might be a good idea to call and have the grizzled old psychologist over for a night visit. He looked around once they got outside. The parking lot was full of people, and not just the average shopper either. Tons of Outland refugee's had set up shop here almost as soon repairs were finished, as it was made clear that no vacant home's, or apartment's would be sold to them. It was reminiscent of what you saw in the old days in Romani-Gypsy camps, except with outdated old zip cars in the places of covered wagons. People with their laundry hung willy-nilly, white tent tops sprouting up every now and again, and children and adult's alike running around in strange, brightly colored clothing and speaking a form of English that was littered with profanity and slang words.
"I'll explain later tonight, if you decide to stay for dinner."
"You haven't fixed Nora yet..who's cooking?"
"Astro is."
"He can cook?"
"Yes….it was a surprise to me too. After you left last night, I tried cooking myself something…and well..you know what I'm like in the kitchen."
"Where would he have picked it up from?"
"He told me he picked it up while we were living in that tent in the Outlands before we came to stay with you. I don't believe him though."
"Why not? Toby's always been a smart boy.."
"He chews his lip when he lies, plus he never stayed gone long enough when we were out there to learn to cook from anyone."
Astro was sitting on top of his father's car with is knees hugged to him, looking out over the massive expanse of tents and people. Everything had happened really fast over the past couple of days. Not only did he and his father get to move back into their house in a single swoop, but within hours of having talked to that blonde lady, a tow trucker had come knocking on their front door with his dad's sleek, black, Rolls Royce Ghost hanging behind him. On top of all that, Metro City Federal Credit Union called early that morning and given his father a statement of his bank account, prompting the afternoon shopping excursion, and the throwing away of all their old, worn out clothing. Astro's frayed, dirty t-shirts, busted tennis shoes, and ratty jeans had all been traded in for much nicer, and more durable clothing. He glanced down at his new boots, and smiled. They were black with blue flames on the toe, and when he'd picked them out he'd immediately felt rather conceited and embarrassed when asked by his father why he'd picked them.
"Because the flames are blue like my…core."
"And your favorite color is blue because your core is blue?...Almost all of the shirts you've picked out are blue son.."
"No…it's dumb. Forget it. I just like blue."
"Why do you like blue?"
"Just because!"
"Because why?"
"Because Dr. Elefun told me you put the core in me because it would make me perfect..like…you thought I was."
"….."
"What?"
"Put the shoes on the counter son."
"What? I hate it when you don't say anything! You promised you'd stop being a stingy dick with all the emotional stuff! Say something!"
"There's nothing to say! And don't swear at me!"
"What dad?"
"You are perfect! That's what! Now put the damn boots on the counter!"
Astro laughed. He didn't know anyone that had a bigger problem with expressing their emotions than his father. He knew about all the stereotypes out there that said a man had to be 'hard' and 'unyielding' and brave and everything….but after giving it a lot of thought after their first couple of sessions with Dr. Ramsey, Astro had decided, that after putting up with abuse from a robot slave-driver, the president, and in some less determined instances, his own father, he was more than deserving of a few free 'Express How You Feel Without Being Called Gay' cards.
Astro turned around to the sound of Dr. Elefun, and his father arguing bitterly about something as they approached the car.
"He'll be fourteen soon, Elefun! And then fifteen after that! I want him to get as close to the human experience as possible!"
"But Tenma think about the publicity and scrutiny he'll be under in a few weeks!—You can't do something like that while-!"
"I'm not stupid Elefun! I'd wait until after…and only if he felt he was ready and agreed to it!"
"What the hell even made you think of something like that in the first place? He's too young to even be thinking about that sort of thing!"
"He's thinking about girls Elefun! That's what made me think of it!"
They were stopped behind the car now, and Tenma's hand was hovering over the latch to the trunk of the car. Astro slid off the top, not wanting to hear another word of what they were discussing, and got in the backseat of the car. He laid down and turned his face toward the backstay. If they were seriously talking about what he thought they were talking about, he was going to have to avoid his father at all costs when it came time for him to appear at President Logan's speech in a couple of weeks. Nope. No way was he going to talk about that with his dad. No. Way.
Astro put his hands over his face in embarrassment.
'Why..why did I have to tell him about Cora? God I'm stupid!'
Astro, Tenma, Elefun (Sunset)
Astro opened the door to their large, walk-in freezer, and peered inside. Steak, Chicken, a few packs of frozen shrimp…and some ground beef. He reached up and grabbed a pack of boneless chicken and tossed it back on the counter next to the little can of Campbell's Cream of Chicken he'd already taken out. He could hear his father and Dr. Elefun in the living room whispering in order to keep him from hearing what they were talking about. Unfortunately though, not matter how low they tried to keep their voices, and no matter how low he turned down his sensitive hearing to try and be polite, he could almost always hear them, deadened and faraway though their voices sounded.
"So…you were going to tell me what you and he talked about?"
Astro heard the scrape of a match, and caught a whiff of something fragrant being lit up.
"Yes."
"And..?"
A quick, shaky, intake of breath from his father, and then a much calmer, slower, exhale. He'd just taken a draw from his pipe.
"He told me…he told me what it is goes on when he has the lock-ups."
Astro tore the plastic wrapping off the package and dumped the frozen hunks of boneless chicken into the cold water in the kitchen sink. He could the dull, far away sound of the springs in the couch groaning under Dr. Elefun as he shifted his weight on the couch. He really wished his hearing wasn't so sensitive. There was a cat prowling around in the bushes outside the kitchen window…he had already heard it crunch up several insects and a squeaking mouse.
"What goes on?.."
"He says whenever he gets worried or stressed, something that happened to him from before…like a flashback happens…and he experiences it again…emotionally..I guess. And he just…freezes."
Astro could hear the frown in Dr. Elefun's voice.
"Stress from what? What does he see?"
"Stress from…me…everything that's happened…and worry about what all's going to happen in the future. It's a lot on him right now..and.."
Another shaky intake of breath. Dr. Elefun pressed him further.
"What is it Tenma?"
"—And I feel like I should have waited and talked to him first…before now. Before I agreed to negotiate anything with Emily."
"And what does he see?"
"He told me the last time he was remembering the day Stone brought him back to the Ministry to be deactivated. And the very first one he had…he was remembering the day that-that slave peddler shocked him into unconsciousness after forcing him to battle all those robots and then threw him into an electric cage to spend the night in the rain."
"That—that's horrible!"
Astro squinted and then unsquinted his eyes, trying to keep tears from coming, the particular memory his father just mentioned being a particularly painful one for him. He felt like he'd shed way to many tears lately. He was entitled to a good cry, he knew, but still, his face had started to itch lately from all of it, and he felt like a giant, robot, baby. He pinched his cheeks hard, took a deep breath, and then turned up the stove to get the oil in the frying pan going faster.
"Yes. It is. And I fully intend to buy a box of paperclips and tend to this…Hamegg… as soon as I get the opportunity..but..then..."
"Then what? I say we get in the car right now and go and find that bastard!"
Astro jumped as he heard Dr. Elefun's fat fist's collide with the coffee table in anger. It was surprising. He was normally so mild mannered and kindly.
"I'm not totally innocent of anything either..maybe I should stick a couple of paperclips in my own jugular."
Dr. Elefun spluttered nervously, then spoke.
"You only hit him with your hands though Tenma. You didn't torture him and stick him in a cage!"
"No…I didn't do that..but I did shun him. I threw him out of our home..his home. No, maybe I didn't torture him and put him in a cage, but I did hurt him severely emotionally. That lasts longer than anything physical anyone could do..I should know."
"What else did the two of you talk about?"
Astro heard the clink of a bottle on glass, and knew Dr. Elefun was likely taking a calming swig of Brandy…or Gin…though he didn't see how calming alcohol could possibly be when it made you act like his dad did after three or four shots of it. Astro could vividly remember his father coming home from the Ministry Christmas Ball, drunk, when he seven years old, with a woman on each arm. The next morning he'd violently booted the women out of the house and then cried bitterly in the shower. Dr. Elefun had had to come over to make sure he got to school, and make sure his dad didn't miss any of his meetings and appointments. It seemed that had always been Dr. Elefun's lot in life. Being Astro's substitute dad when his own was too busy, taking care of his dad when he had a hang-over, and also being his father's source of entertainment in the absence of any of the other less fortunate at the Ministry.
"He told me about some of his other experiences in the Outland's…and that even though he find's my fascination with tinkering with him irritating..he…he likes the changes I've made. And he understands why it is I'm poking at him all the time. This morning…was a product of me jumping the gun, and getting too..well…excited I suppose."
Astro put the first cut of boneless chicken into the sizzling oil in the frying pan, and thought back to what his father'd told him when he'd asked him why it was he felt like he needed to be 'fixed' all the time. Up until that last night, he'd thought the reason was because his father was generally not pleased with him the way he was, and wanted to make changes accordingly.
-Flashback-
"Do you—do you do it because you're just not satisfied with the job you did?"
Silence. The only response he got was his father looking away from him toward the bedroom door, slumping his shoulders.
"Am I still just—just a copy? A copy you feel like you have to get perfectly right?"
Still no response. He didn't turn around, and at the word 'copy' he visibly stiffened.
"Who am I supposed to be? SAY SOMETHING!"
He saw his father's shoulder's lower further, and then smelled the faint, salty scent of tears on the air. Astro plowed on.
"And did you have to give me an ultra-sensitive nose too? Do you have any idea what it's like to be able to smell it when someone uses the bathroom from all the way down the hall with the door closed?- Are you gonna say anything?"
Astro waited, his fists clenched, eyes narrowed in indignation, and then finally, after a moment got a response.
"I do it…to try to make you happy. And no. You're not just a copy I feel I've got to get right. You may not know me well enough as your father…which I'll admit is mostly my fault, but you should know me well enough as a scientist to know that I don't make anything I really care about shoddily."
Tenma turned back around and faced Astro, trying to squint away anymore tears working their way up. He continued.
"As for who you are…you're whoever you want to be. You can be Tobio. You can be Astro. You can be both. If you want, you can even be Robot Jesus for all I give a damn!—Originally, I made you to be Toby, my son, and no matter what ,to me, you'll always be my son whether you choose to go by 'Bob' or 'Billy' or 'Joey-Bob' or whatever, and the sole reason I put so much into upgrading you is because I want you to have the option of being whatever, and whoever you choose to be. Am I making any sense to you?"
Astro nodded.
"And now I have a question."
"Yeah?.."
"Who do you want to be? Right at this moment?"
Astro looked around his semi-messy room, and at the dusty Egyptian cotton sheets on his bed. Then he looked out the two large windows, whose panes took up nearly all of the wall on the far side of his room. The trees outside were full of dry, brightly colored fall leaves scratching against his windows with each breeze. He looked back at his dad.
"If I say I wanna be Toby, and apologize for making you show your feminine side, can I have a hug?"
Tenma smirked and bumped Astro with his elbow.
"You tell Elefun I cried, and you're grounded indefinitely boy, and I mean it. Now come get your hug."
-Flashback End-
Astro pulled the first piece of chicken out, placed it on a waiting plate and napkin, and then added the second piece to the hot frying pan. He looked over at the mixture of green beans and carrots he had boiling away in the pot on the other side of the stove. Just a few more minutes and they'd be done. He looked down at his stomach…or where it would be if he actually had one, and sighed. It felt weird smelling food, and not being able to do much more than suck the flavor off of it…not that he really felt hunger anyway, but still. Hopefully, sometime in the future, rather than do what he had been talking to Dr. Elefun about doing at the mall, his dad would make him some kind of wacky, super-powered stomach instead, so he could devour all the mounds and mounds of goodness he longed to devour without ever having to worry about stomach aches. Astro laughed at the thought of himself gorging on tub after tub of Pumpkin Spice ice cream, and package after package of Oreo cookies.
"Hush fat man! Don't make me whip my paperclips out and use them on you!"
Astro laughed again, this time at the thought that had just crossed his mind about his dad. He'd put machine guns in his butt…given him arm cannons…lasers in his fingers..and rockets for legs. Not to mention X-Ray vision, and a host of other things. He threatened people with paperclips…wore mostly black clothes…and cursed and mumbled under his breath a lot. And he smoked a pipe, and played the piano and the pipe organ. His father was a mad scientist that had a pention for always overdoing things, and Astro….both loved…and feared him. 'Feared', as is in he was afraid he'd invent something really crazy one day and kill himself in the process…and maybe even Dr. Elefun too..seeing as how he always seemed to get drug along for the ride.
He took the last piece of chicken out of the frying pan, and went to the cabinet to get out plates, and a couple of glasses for drinks, grinning at his revelation.
"Dad! Dr. Elefun! It's ready!"
They both shuffled in a moment later, and Astro, still grinning, handed them both their plates and drinks, set up on trays.
Tenma raised one, black eyebrow in question at his son's curious expression.
Astro looked back at him, still grinning and said, "You should seriously consider changing your name to Boris Karlov. It so fits!"
Astro ran, laughing, out of the kitchen, leaving his father behind him looking confused. Dr. Elefun, who'd picked up the joke right away, chuckled and went back into the living room with his tray of food. He and Astro had watched their fair share of movie's together too, and Boris Karlov…was a perfect movie adaptation of Tenma. Black clothes, paperclips, and all.
Cora
-Dream-
Cora covered Widget's ears. The little girl was looking up at her, her eyes as big as saucers, afraid of the noises she was hearing coming from outside behind the garage. Zane was sitting across from her, with Sludge sitting on his lap and Grace huddled up on the other side of him with his arm around her. All of them, Cora included, were mortified at the sounds they were hearing. Earlier that day, after having made the argument, that as a robot, Astro could not feel pain, Hamegg had entered him in the games….giving him a shock each time he'd refused to fight. Cora…hadn't said anything.
"YA HUNGRY YA HUNK O' JUNK? YA WANT SOME OIILLL?"
There was splash, and Cora bit her trembling lip and hugged the now crying Widget closer to her. She could hear Astro giving a gargled response, and then Hamegg chiming in again with more insults…more profanity…and more electric shocks. More…very strong electric shocks.
When she'd found out Astro had been keeping it a secret from her and everyone else that he was a robot, she'd been angry at herself..angry at him for pretending to be her friend…angry because she'd started to like him. She'd watched the crowds jeer and throw trash at him after the games, and watched fat old repairmen like Hamegg sidle up to him and whisper in his ear that they'd made a bundle betting on him, and that if Hamegg ever got stingy with the oil, or cheap with the repairs, he could come their way and they'd take care of him. She also saw when Astro had broken the chains placed on him by Hamegg, and pushed the gentle Zog off of Hamegg's truck to free him. Hamegg had been furious, and promised Astro a world of hurt when he got him back to the garage..and that's when he'd turned up the electrical power on his whip to max and knocked Astro out with one hit. Cora…still hadn't said anything.
Widget buried her face into Cora's shirt, already wet with her tears.
"Why doesn't he stop Cora? Why doesn't he leave Astro alone?"
Cora shut her eyes tightly as another one of Astro's screams rang out.
Zane echoed her sentiments, and pushed Sludge off of him. He looked at Cora, his muddy brown eyes filled with both anger, and consternation.
"We gotta make him stop Cora!"
Cora opened her eyes and looked back, confused. She didn't want to hear Astro screaming anymore. She didn't want to hear Hamegg cursing at him and abusing him anymore. But how was she supposed to make it end? She who hadn't said not a single word since it started. How could she? Astro probably thought of her and the rest of them the same way he was thinking about Hamegg right now. Even if she were to run out there in the rain and clock Hamegg over the head with a tire iron like he deserved…how could she be sure he wouldn't stand up in righteous anger and blast her..or knock her head off or burn her to death with his rocket legs? Then..a thought came to her of something he'd said a long time ago.
'I wouldn't tell anyone..you can trust me, Cora.'
Cora pushed Widget off her lap jumped off the bed, with Zane following behind her. She walked to the back garage door, and kicked it open with all the force she had, making it slam loudly on the metal siding. She stood on the little concrete stoop, Zane next to her and called out Hamegg's name.
The fat, greasy, vulture turned around. His clothes were sticking to his rotund, sloppy body, from having been out in the rain so long. His beedy, black eyes met her large blue ones with a look of irritation in them.
"WHAT?"
Cora looked down and saw Astro looking at her from on the floor of the cage he'd been forced into. His face was covered with thick, low grade oil, and there was steam rising off him from the number of times he'd been shocked. She took her eyes off him for a moment and looked back at Hamegg.
"Um..aren't you gonna come eat?"
She felt Zane bristle with disappointment next to her. He had no doubt been expecting her to try and beat up Hamegg like she often threatened to do to a lot of the other kids their age living at the garage, but she didn't think charging at him would make him any less angry than he was, and anger, was the reason he was out in the rain relishing in the torture of a robot he said couldn't feel pain in the first place.
Hamegg looked back down at Astro, scratching his belly, and then back at Cora. He began walking toward the garage, and Cora whispered to Zane to go get the food in her knapsack that she'd gotten from her mom's a couple of days ago. He ran back in, and once Hamegg sidled back in past her, Cora ran up to the cage, reached a hand in grabbed Astro's own, still steaming one.
"I'm sorry Astro! I didn't know he would go this far—are you—are you okay?"
Astro blinked…his eyes flashing blue for a moment, then going back to chocolate brown. Cora could see herself and Zane, who was hovering behind her, reflected in them.
"Would you believe me if I said no? Or do you think what Hamegg thinks?"
-Dream End-
Cora sat up abruptly in bed and looked around her small room. She hugged her knees to her chest and laid her head down on the top of them. Where had that dream come from? Could you even really call it a dream seeing as how it had actually happened? Her clock read ten past ten in the morning. She waited a minute for her heart beat to slow down and then hopped out of bed, raking her fingers through her hair to make it lie down. She could hear the sound of food cooking in the kitchen, so she knew her mom was up already.
Cora walked over to her closet, opened the door, and dug around for her purple hoodie and the least holey, snuggest fitting pair of jeans she could find. Today was going to be her first day going out to look for Astro and creepy looking father. She looked out the window. It was drizzling slightly, and there was a bit of a haze over all the shabby and tarp covered sky scrapers being worked on in the distance. Hopefully it wouldn't be too chilly out. Cora pulled on a pair of socks, and then slipped on her jeans. She gave herself a once over in the mirror and decided the shirt she'd worn to bed would have to do, and then pulled her hoodie on over it.
'Would you believe me if I said no? Or do you think what Hamegg thinks?'
Cora shook her head vigorously. That whole night had been something she had been hoping she wouldn't ever have to witness again..and yet, here she had only a few minutes ago woken up from a dream heralding the entire horrible event all over again. Ever since she had been little and had confided in her mother about dreams, and nightmares she had especially, Demimia had always made her feel a little better about the monster's and eerie dark mist's in her dreams by telling her that a person seldom had dreams for no reason at all and that there was almost always something behind them. Cora frowned as she looked at herself in the mirror again, and scaled back over all the dreams she'd had about Astro these last months. The kissing. The heroic, and chivalrous gestures…the flowers and candy. The horseback riding, and the French lovey-dovey 'Lady and the Tramp Dinners'. She squinted, feeling her cheeks getting hot, and a blush creeping across her nose. It was all she could do to keep her lips from creeping up into a smile when she thought about all those cooking lessons she'd given him back at Hameggs. She'd had dreams about all those too. Those dreams she already knew were because of how she felt about him. She had finally admitted it to herself last night, that ever since they'd had that talk out on the car she'd liked him as a little more than just another one of the kids she looked after…and the fact that he was always catching her when she fell off of Zog, or slipping down piles of robot parts solidified in her mind that he wasn't anything like Zane. He was always watching. Alert, and dependable. Widget, Sludge and Grace liked playing with him, and he always bathed when Hamegg remembered to pay the water bill..though knowing now that he's a robot…Cora couldn't see why he'd felt the need. Yup. All of those first few dreams signified her..'romantic feelings'. But what about this one? Why dream about the most sleepless, guilt filled night of her life? Astro had forgiven her for everything that happened that night…or at least he said he had. He wouldn't lie right? You can't fake a hug, and a 'I hope we can hang out again some day.' Can you?
Cora shook her head again, and turned and walked out of her tiny room. Astro wouldn't lie. He's too nice. Too forgiving. That dream didn't mean crap…and hopefully when she found him, she could take him to see all the other kids and then these weird dreams and awkward feelings would go away and they could just be friends and hang out like normal.
When she got into the kitchen, her mother was sliding a couple of sunny side up eggs onto a separate plate next to hers on the table, where sat another woman. A thin, pale, blonde woman with sharp blue eyes wearing a green jogging suit and tennis shoes. Her and her mother both looked over when Cora came in, and the blonde woman raised a hand, and thin, yellow eyebrows in greeting.
Cora tilted her head with a confused and surprised look on her face. "Uh..hi?"
Demimia walked back over to the stove and grabbed the still sizzling pan of bacon and then put a few pieces on the woman's plate.
"Thank you Ms. Robert's. I appreciate your hospitality."
Cora walked over to the table after being motioned over by her mother, and sat down. She had heard her mom open the door an hour or two before she woke up, but she'd thought it was just her going out to check the mail. She looked the woman over again. She had dark circles under her eyes which made them look much sharper than they had from farther away, and her blonde hair was swept up into a French-bun in the back.
"It's no trouble…this is my daughter Cora."
"I see…and she hasn't been in school since she was….?"
"She hasn't been since she was seven..but I've been home schooling her since then."
"Hm."
The woman smiled, and inadvertently, Cora smiled back. She looked at her mother for an answer as to why they were having such obviously unexpected company for breakfast, but Demimia frowned a little, and looked back over at the blonde woman, who had introduced herself to her a couple of hours ago as Emily Niele, Secretary of State to the President of Metro City.
Emily ate a few of pieces of the egg, and then stuck a couple of pieces of crunchy bacon in her mouth, savoring the flavor. She hadn't had much time for a real breakfast since she'd become temporary President in Rob's stead, and even now that he was beginning to be well again she still didn't even have enough time in the morning to slip on her professional clothes. Hence, the green jogging suit she was currently wearing with none too much pride or finesse. It was the only thing in her closet she could put on in under five minutes. Any longer than that and every one of Rob's appointed office assistants would bust down her door whether she was in the nude or not, and bombard her with questions about what to do about this, and what to do about that.
Emily put her fork down and looked back at Cora.
"You know Astro don't you?"
Cora looked at her mother again, and rather than being cool and aloof as she always was, or pointing her back in the direction of the woman that had asked her the question, Demimia was giving her a sharp look. A look a cat gives a cornered mouse. Cora chewed her bottom lip for a moment and then looked back at the blonde woman.
"Yes ma' am...?"
"He wants to see you. And the other children."
Cora's eye's grew wide and she snapped her head back in the direction of her mother, but Demimia still didn't say anything, or give her any clues as to what she was feeling either…other than the sharp, piercing stare she was giving her. The blonde lady kept on going.
"My name is Emily by the way. Excuse me for not introducing myself to you, but it's been a bit since I've had time for a home cooked meal."
Emily turned all the way around in her chair, facing Cora, and extended her hand for a hand shake, which Cora returned awkwardly, with a half happy half confused look on her face.
"A couple of days ago, I met Astro and his father and negotiated with the two of them for Astro's appearance at the President's next political speech. In exchange for that, he asked to see you, and the other children one day this week or the next at his house."
Cora nodded. "I was gonna—I was gonna go try to look for his house today! Or go to the Ministry and see if-!"
Emily waved her hand and shook her head. "Well, now you don't have to do any of that."
"How did you know how-?"
"To get to your house? Astro gave me all your names early this morning, and being a high powered government employee gives you access to things like that."
Emily stuck her hand in her jogging suit pocket and pulled out a piece of paper, and sat it on the kitchen table in front of Cora. She couldn't help but smile at the memory of the little robot teenager running around his untidy room trying to find pen and paper to write a note to this girl on. His father was a rude, preening, thirty-seven year old man who looked like he still shopped at Hottopic, but he was a brilliant engineer and scientist. Astro, being a robot..and being able to actually have 'crushes', couldn't have been anywhere near as simple as Tenma had said that it was. There was just no way. Her curiosity was aroused and she would definitely have to needle into him about it when he started back at the Ministry next week.
Cora took the paper and stuck it in her jacket pocket, hardly believing the curly handwriting on the top of it that said, 'From Astro'.
"If I'm not mistaken, I think he wrote his phone number on it so you can let him know when it is you want to come."
Cora heard her mother mumble a curse word under her breath, as she rattled her fork around on her empty plate, pushing around food that was no longer there. Cora looked back at her, but Demimia kept her eyes down on her plate, and didn't look up again. Cora turned back to Emily, fighting the urge to gulp at the fearsome look on her mother's face. She had a feeling she knew exactly what it was she was angry about.
"Thank you for bringing me this…"
"It's not a problem. I have to keep up my end of the bargain, and…he's a nice kid. So I'm just going on ahead and giving him his just desserts while I've still got one or two hours of spare time in the day."
Cora nodded, and then watched her stuff the rest of the eggs and bacon into her mouth. She grimaced. Only a couple of hours of spare time a day? Being a 'high powered government employee' must suck. Suck hard.
Demimia said nothing until Emily finished, and Cora ran off to her room to read Astro's note after having thanked her for the second time, and saying goodbye. Her large, alert blue eyes followed Emily as she made her way out into the hall that led to the elevators and stairs with her brown, leather, fringe purse tucked under her arm.
"Ms. Neile?"
Emily turned around, her corn colored eyebrows raised.
"Yes, Ms. Roberts?"
"You're an independent right?"
"Yes..?"
"Do independents always see both sides of an issue?"
Emily blinked, and then smiled.
"We try to. Why?"
"No reason. Thank you for stopping by. I was worried about letting her go today..out to look I mean."
"No problem at all Ms. Roberts."
Demimia closed the door and closed her eyes and waited for Emily's footsteps to die away, and the ding signaling the elevator opening up. When she heard it, she opened her eye's again, and turned toward the direction of Cora's room, and walked toward it, her nostrils aflare. She was going to try her best to see both sides of this 'robot crush' issue…but it was going to be difficult. Very difficult.
Astro and Dr. Tenma
"Herbert West, Dad? From 'The Re-Animator?"
"Yes…fitting..don't you think? In a way at least?"
"Yeah…but hearing you say it…it makes you sound like you have a really inflated opinion of yourself."
"I do."
Astro rolled his eyes, and glanced back down at the piece of paper in front of him. He and his father were playing what Dr. Ramsey called, 'Me In A Movie' after hearing about their movie night at Dr. Elefun's. You wrote down the names of movie character's you most identified with, and then switched lists with the other person, letting them say what they thought about the choices you made. Astro frowned at his dad, after reading the next one on his list.
"The Joker? You can NOT be serious!"
Tenma looked down at Astro's list with a slightly offended, but amused look on his face and picked it up.
"Are you serious about Edward Scissorhands?"
"Yes!"
"Then I'm serious about the Joker!"
"But you're nothing like him! Herbert is at least a scientist- but the Joker 's a lunatic! A crazy lunatic who wears make-up and stays perpetually drunk all the time!"
Tenma smiled and picked up the glass of amber colored liquid next to him, and took a sip. There was an open bottle of Jack Daniels in between them, and when Astro looked at it, his face fell, logic having been shattered.
"Okay-so you drink! But you've never done anything really cra-!"
Astro's face fell again. His father was pointing behind him at what he knew was a lumpy spot in the kitchen wall paper due to the shoddy plastering done by poor old Nora from four years ago. He'd come home from a meeting and for some odd reason had decided that it would be a good idea to mix up odd chemicals on the kitchen counter. They had of course exploded, blown out half the kitchen, and burned off his dad's eyebrows as well.
Astro sighed. "Okay…maybe there are some similarities."
Tenma nodded and looked back at Astro's list, his black brows furrowing.
"Melanie Wilkes..Gone With The Wind?"
"Yeah?.."
"Hm. I can see that."
"You agree with me on that one?"
"Somewhat."
"Explain…?"
Tenma stared over the rim of his whiskey glass at his son, trying to keep his expression from looking too guilty.
"Do you remember…when you were five..and I read the book to you?"
Astro smiled. He definetly remembered that. They had stayed up for hours every night his father came home from work back then, when he wasn't too tired. Seeing him do Mammy's and Prissy's voices and the facial expressions that went along with them had frequently made him laugh until he'd nearly pee'd himself.
"I remember."
"The night of Ashley's birthday celebration when scandal broke out about him and Scarlett...do you remember what Rhett told Scarlett when he threw that low cut dress at her before dragging her into the party…and what Melanie did?"
"Yeah..he said something like, "She loves you…let that be your cross." Then when she went to the party Melanie asked her to come in and help her receive the guests because she didn't believe what Ashley's sister and that Archie guy had said."
"You do it all the time."
"Do what?"
"What Melanie does. You're kind to people who don't deserve your kindness."
Astro attempted to pull his face into an expression that looked tough to try and rebuff his father's statement, but he waved his hand and took another sip of his drink.
"Don't try and argue. You know it's true."
"No it's not! I—"
"Hush boy! You're as sweet as sugar! Accept it, and look back at my list!"
Astro poked his bottom lip out in a comical, childish frown, huffed, and looked back down at his father's list.
"Sweeney Todd…I agree with that."
"Do you? Your turn to explain."
"I asked Dr. Elefun once…"
"Asked him what?"
"I asked him why you drink so much. He said it's because you're angry. And angry people drink because they're really hurt..or upset about something. Sweeney Todd was angry…and well…you know."
Tenma sat his drink down, and leaned forward on his elbows, smiling slightly, navy blue eyes flashing.
"You think I keep bodies in my bedroom closet?"
"No! I don't mean it like that! And besides…you showed me what was in there already. Sweeney Todd murdered out of anger and revenge…but you…you..well.."
"What?"
"You handle your..anger..differently. You don't run around killing people…but you do really piss them off and hurt their feelings with the stuff you say and do..especially when you drink. And then when you don't drink..you try to…force your will on everyone…whether it's good for them or not. Like when you made Dr. Elefun go to tell Glaylock he was taking over for him when the Ministry opened back up. You know Dr. Elefun's shy about stuff like that, and he doesn't like hurting people's feelings!"
"Would you rather I'd have gone myself and upbraided him in front of his wife and told him what an incompetent, pompous ass I think he is?"
"No! But Dr. Elefun's like—like a Grandpa to me! You could be a little less of a douche to him sometimes if you tried."
"I'll consider it. Moving on."
"You're such a douche!"
"I love you too, Son. Moving on."
Tenma looked down at Astro's list again, for the last time, and then frowned. The last name on the list was one he hadn't been expecting at all. He looked back up at his son, smugness giving way to fatherly concern in his eyes.
"Gregor Samsa? From 'The Metamorphosis'?"
Astro stared down at his fingertips. "Yeah…you don't agree?"
"No…not at all."
"Why not?"
"Because you're not a bug ! You're a person!"
"No one in Metro City's gonna treat me like a person when they see me!"
"You don't know that. You haven't spoken to anyone other than me and Dr. Elefun for seven months, son."
"Yeah-but I know what their all gonna say! Their gonna say what everyone always says! Like all those people in the Outlands who recognized me after the battle! 'What a good robot!' or 'Gee wiz! You're smart for a machine!' or 'Dang! You sure did whup the hell outta Stone and that big ol' robot! What's it like not being able to feel it when ya get punched?' People don't see a person when they look at me dad! They see a—a-!"
"Walking, talking, computer?"
Astro pulled his knees up to his chest, and then wrapping his arms around them to keep his balance in the dining chair, put his face into the top of them and squeezed his eyes shut.
"YOU'RE NOT HELPING!"
Tenma sighed, and scooted his chair next to Astro's and put his arm around him. He sucked ass at having man-to-man talks…he always had, and after having explained the birds and the bees to Toby three years ago, he'd vowed he'd never attempt it again. Seeing as how he was upset though, he'd just have to suck it up and prepare to get 'sappy' to make him feel better. He didn't need to walk around feeling like he had the whole world was against him before he even went out into it. Being a smoker and a drinker…and certifiably insane according to Dr. Ramsey…he probably wasn't the best someone to try to curb his sons fears about the next following weeks…but he was at least going to make the attempt. Can't waste six months of therapy can you?
"I take it…you're worried you won't be received in a positive manner-or rather—the manner in which you want to be received?"
"Yeah…and..and there's other stuff too and-!"
"Like what?"
"What's gonna happen after I do this? Will they expect me to start fighting crime and stuff? Going up against gangster's and crazy rogue robots?"
"Perhaps…but you know you don't have to do any of that, son. You didn't have to fight Stone, and you didn't have to fight the Peacekeeper. You chose to do those things."
"I know I did-but sometimes I wish…"
"Wish what?"
"Sometimes I wish I hadn't."
"Son?"
Astro sighed and looked up.
"Yeah?"
"I'm glad you did it. All of it. I was finally able to really get the meaning out of what it was Rhett Butler told Scarlett when you flew into the Peacekeeper that day."
"What was it you got out of it?"
"I got out of it how much you really are a lot like Melanie Wilkes. Minus all the brave things she did in that book, she was an uncommonly kind and loving person..even to people around her she didn't have to be kind to. You saved an entire city full of people who until very recently, saw robots as nothing more than faceless, metal slaves to do their bidding. You kept a man who brutalized you from being crushed to death, and you even forgave me for all the wrong I did to you…though god knows why. When you left me for that brief moment for the second time…I remembered that saying, 'She loves you. Let that be your cross.' All the things that happened between you and I from the time you were young came back, and you, forgiving me for all my shortcomings, and never being able to redeem myself of any of them was my cross. And boy was it a heavy one."
Astro blinked, laid his head on his dad's shoulder and looked out the kitchen window at a little brown bird pecking at some leaves on the bushes outside. This was definitely a change from the 'birds and the bee's' fiasco of three years ago…or worse yet…the explanation he'd given him for why his dog, Jump, had had to be put in a pillowcase and buried in a hole in the back yard. He actually felt relieved, and a bit more optimistic. Those were two emotions he'd only ever experienced when talking to Dr. Elefun about these kinds of things. Dad had made progress, and who knows? He might be right! Maybe people would be able to see him as more than just a robot after all. Maybe they all already felt that way. He knew Cora and all the rest of his friends did. And if some of them people he was bound to be introduced to the day of the speech didn't, he was perfectly capable of showing them differently…right?
Tenma let out a breath he was holding in, and after a few more minutes, removed his arm from around Astro's shoulders.
"You have no idea how much effort that took! Coming up with all that kind of stuff is hard!"
Astro took his eyes back away from the kitchen widow, and laughed, hopping up off his chair.
"You think anything emotional is hard dad! Now whaddya wanna eat?"