((A/N: Hey guys. Sorry for not updating in forever. I know how much it's overdue…and again I sincerely apologize for having taken so long. But a lot of personal stuff things came up. Plus, I've recently gotten pretty heavy into the Sonic Fandom. So I don't think after this I'll be writing anymore Astro Boy stuff for a while. And it sucks! Cuz I had SO many ideas for a sequel for this possibly. But alas…man is fickle. Gonna split this up into two parts. Hence the title. Anyway, enjoy the last and final chapter of "Lifted", and be sure to check out some of my other stuff coming soon to AFF and MediaMiner!—

BerryCoffeeCake))

Chapter Ten: "Rise and Climax"

Nora and Astro

Snow? In October? That had to be a bad sign.

Astro stood nervously on the porch, leaning over the wooden railing, chin rested on folded arms, watching the tiny little flakes of snow flutter down to meet the still mostly green bushes in his front yard. It was around six thirty in the morning, and the patch of sky he was so avidly peering into was a deep crimson, dotted with heavy purplish-gray clouds. His dad would be up soon. Walking down the steps in those sweaty, expensive, silk pajamas Astro'd always hated as a kid and fussing at Nora to brew him a pot of coffee. All while staring down into the screen of his cell phone, and dialing poor old Dr. Elefun's number so he could badger him as well.

He turned up the sensitivity on his hearing, and sure enough, picked up the sound of his father shuffling around his bedroom upstairs. He WOULD wake up thirty minutes early on a day like today. On a day when so many things could go wrong—a day when so many things had the potential to go wrong. Today was the day he was going to be introduced to both the President and the entire populace of Metro-City….and he wasn't the least bit excited about it. Anything could happen. He knew that now. Especially after having been through everything he'd been through at Hamegg's. There were people in the world who really, honest and truly, did not see robots as intellectual emotional equals. In any capacity. What if they threw tomato's at him?! What if they threw…spare change or something?! Or his dad mistakenly made some rude comment about how shabby everyone else's clothes were over the microphone? Why…why couldn't he just have been let to rest in peace when he died?

Forehead collided with porch banister just as the screen door creaked open and Nora stuck her large, shiny pink head out.

"Dr. Tenma wishes for you to come in and get ready.", she said, engine's puffing and whirring away in an attempt to try to analyze his emotional pulses. To no avail however….and when he turned around walked listlessly into the house, smiling apologetically at her, the pink house bot felt an odd sensation ripple through her circuit boards. She'd been built to be useful to her masters. Clean things they didn't want to clean or couldn't clean….cook when they didn't know how have the inclinations to….and even console them when they were upset with all manner of compliments as to the affect their 'dazzling' smile had on those around them. Or in Little Master Tenma's case…how much his father..and many other's really did love and appreciate him. Now though…it was virtually impossible for her to really say or do anything for him….because technically…he was no longer her master. He no longer had a heart-beat. Brainwaves…nothing. Hardly even any electrical pulses save for when he was using his new abilities to do things….which as a robot herself, Nora found very impressive. Never in her entire life upon leaving the box she'd been packaged in had she known of a robot able to withstand the amount of abuse he had and not fall to pieces. She didn't know of any other robot..save for robot's like the flight attendants and other famous robot's from around the world that looked as human as he did either. Which was the current source of conflict between the two of them.

Sometimes…Nora really couldn't tell the difference between the young boy she once took care of…and the super-powered robot built to replace him, and since Tenma and Astro had come home..had tried on several occasions to get him to eat and drink things. Often threatening to tell a bewildered and irritable Umataro that he was refusing meals. That, or trying to run baths for him at night.

Astro stopped for a moment and attempted a stretch. More out of habit than necessity, and continued his way on into the living room. Then up the glossy, dark wood stairs, Nora following all the way, using her wireless systems to turn on all the lights in the house they'd likely need to get ready. Bathroom lights, dress closet lights..of which his father was the only owner, and then the kitchen lights for breakfast. She also went on ahead with turning on his bedroom light. Even though just before turning the door knob he'd said not to…and it was at that point…for the second time in his life…Astro hit a wall emotionally and quickly stepped in and slammed the door in the pink house-bot's face, feeling bad almost immediately after. Nora…just didn't understand and couldn't tell the difference. It wasn't her fault. Not entirely anyway. She was old.. and a lot less advanced than him too, but still. It was annoying! "Master Tenma you MUST bathe! Right this instant or I'll get the Dr.!" "Toby do this!" "Toby you'd better be sure to eat this or I'll report it to your father!"—Enough was enough already. He was a robot. His old body was long gone…buried in a cemetery somewhere. He'd come to terms with it. And to a certain extent…though it didn't really seem like it sometimes…his dad had come to terms with it too. Why couldn't Nora?!

Having already laid out what it was he planned to wear that day…black jeans, sneakers, white t-shirt, and a baseball cap, he set about putting it all on as quickly as possible. Still not quite at ease with some of the other issues being a robot afforded him. Such as not having…er…body hair. Anywhere. Not even on the arm pits or legs. That…and having what looked like a..a..deflated balloon hooked onto a twist cap apparatus for genetalia. The pants were always the first thing to go on. Save for underwear. And part of him didn't really even want to put those on. He'd been wanting to upgrade to boxers since he'd been eight years old but had always been told no on account of them somehow lowering…sperm count. Astro grimaced at the thought and looked embarrassedly at him-self in the mirror. Wearing tighty-whities.

"He just does this to me to be cruel. I know that's what it is. I don't think he even wears these!"

His hearing picked up a muffled grumble from downstairs, and then the whizzy noises of Nora going back forth over the living room carpet. Likely serving coffee to Dr. Elefun who sniffed loudly upon walking in and seeing how heavily decked out in cream and silks his colleague was.

There was a long pause, and then after a couple of heady sips of warm, caffeinated beverage, another sniff.

"You look like an Atlantic City pimp."

"And you look like an overweight, elderly man with a large nose and scuffed up church shoes."

Sniff.

A dark chuckle.

"Good morning Elefun."

"Good morning Tenma."

Astro tuned out and stripped off the underwear…thinking how horrible it would be should anyone he knew see him wearing them. Thinking how utterly humiliating it was going to be standing next to someone in front of millions of people with more buttons on their suit than Steve Harvey. Why oh why had god decided to curse him with the world's flashiest dresser for a father? Whatever happened to just plain old loafers, dress pants and a friggin' shirt?!

He smoothed out his t-shirt in the mirror, and then after bending down to tie up his shoes…..took a minute to look at himself and around his room, which was still mostly pretty messy from the past couple of days events. That, and not letting Nora in to clean due to his irritation with her. Which, now he thought about it…he kind of felt bad for. Nora..wasn't like him. And he wasn't anything at all like her. They were built for different purposes and in very different ways. She wasn't capable of understanding…at least from what his dad had told him the many time's he'd complained about it….the level of technology that went into making him look and act as human as he did. She could read him over of course and discern he had no heart beat or brain waves…but like a child that looks at a puppy in a shop window and reminisces about the one that ran away…or in Nora's case…..reminiscing about the little boy who went away…leaving her alone for almost two years…she couldn't help but be drawn to trying to mother and fuss him to death. Astro sighed, adjusted his baseball cap, and went back over to his bedroom door and opened it, where a fidgety Nora was still hovering just outside, a light steam shooting out of the sides of her large pink head. Who was it that said robots didn't have emotions again?

He smiled apologetically at her and stepped over to the side, opening the door wider so she could get in. She brushed past, giving him a good ten minute lecture on why it was impolite to slam doors, then proceeded to clean the perfect sty that was him room. Hoses and extended hands going a mile a minute wiping the windows and cleaning the food stains out of his carpet with her built in floor steamer.

A thought struck him as he walked down into the foyer where Dr. Elfin, and a very impatient Dr. Tenma were both standing waiting for him…dressed in what they considered to be their Sunday best.

Living with Nora, and having her follow him around as she'd always done, doting on him and scolding him…taking care of him when he was sick…and cleaning up after him…was probably a lot like what it would've been like to have his mother around. Had she lived? And when you looked at it that way…there was no way he could ever say he wasn't grateful for her having been built for him. Especially now he was a robot himself. What was more fitting than a robot mom?

Cora

Bacon and eggs for breakfast? Or Coffee and toast? Black t-shirt? Or purple t-shirt? Jeans…or a skirt? Demimia…being the more practical….and much less frazzled of the two…stepped forward and made all of these decisions for her. And Cora waited at the kitchen bar in her underwear patiently watching nervously as the wrinkles were slowly ironed out of her clothes, which consisted of a pale green t-shirt and a pair of black capris.

She'd already eaten breakfast…toast, coffee, and, to balance things out and give some color to her face her mother said, some bacon. All of which had been exceedingly tasty…but slowly consumed due to poor nerves until finally, Demimia had been forced to actually eat some of it herself.

The T.V was on in the background, and the news anchors were only just beginning to discuss this morning's upcoming speech from the President and the subsequent introduction of the little robot boy who held both her daughter's, and most likely unbeknownst to him, the affections of a good majority of the people of Metro City. Before then it had all been about Emily Neile's sudden rise to the seat of power...and Robert Logan's sudden choice to be tossed out of it. That was something else that worried Cora, who was now looking over her shoulder back at the television in earnest.

Now there was someone else in charge, what would that mean for Astro? Up until now, she'd never really cared to watch the news. It was always the same old stuff. Someone got shot. Someone was at war. Somebody got robbed..etc..etc. Same old same old. But this was different. That Emily woman could very well be another Stone. Another power hungry, ego-maniacal maniac looking to keep herself in power for as long as possible. Granted…you never heard anything on the news about her trying to do anything that wasn't positive unless it was from a competitor or someone who just critical anyway(*cough* Nancy Grace *cough*), but still. You could never be too sure. Astro's dad had looked pretty prim and proper she'd thought upon first meeting him too. But then later on…after the series of weird comments he'd made…the horror. In the box.

She put her face in her hands and shivered. "Ugh."

Demimia made a noise of recognition, and Cora glanced back up at her, looking through her fingers, an uncomfortable look on her face.

"Yeah?"

"What're you over there being fussy about now? Still wondering whether your first kiss'll be with a robot or not?"

"Aw gahd! I wasn't—not at first-but now you've actually mentioned it-!"

Demimia finished ironing Cora's clothes, and sat them neatly down on the bar table in front of her, grinning and shaking her head. Watching with interest and hilarity as her fidgety fourteen year old bemoaned the pangs of youth. There was a lot, that as mother, she wanted to sit down and explain to her…a lot of advice she wanted to give…but in this situation…she just wasn't sure exactly where all of it applied. The only forseeable danger was that she could be hurt emotionally…and even that wasn't really particularly a big deal. He was…a robot. At least he couldn't just love her and leave her as a normal man would be wont to do. Or knock her up and disappear without ever being heard from again. Either of those would be significantly worse than just having hurt feelings for a couple weeks. That, she was more than confident Cora could bounce back from.

"Calm down Cora and put your clothes on!", she laughed. "I doubt he'll be thinking about kissing you or doing anything else what with all he's got going on."

Cora hopped down off the stool she was sitting on and grabbed at the t-shirt, sliding it on over her head, not seeing the joke, watching as her mother rounded the corner and headed to her bedroom. Her baggy, cotton night clothes which were bunched awkwardly around her rear area, un-crinkled and elongated the rest of the way in the back. A clear indication of an individual who kept their butt clenched too tightly.

After she was gone, and Cora was fully dressed, she went into her room to assemble a small pack of stuff she figured she'd need for the day, and then went and looked at herself in the mirror. Still mulling over the comment her mother'd made about Astro having too much going on in his life to have time to think about kissing her. She looked nice. As nice as you could get on a budget anyway. And she couldn't remember the last time she'd ever worn her hair in a ponytail. Probably like…thousands of years ago.

If it were her..despite having to stand on a platform before thousands of people….and possibly millions of others at home watching on T.V…she'd think about it.

"…."

Nah. That was just vanity talking. Cora slipped her shoes on. A pair rather ratty looking red tennis shoes, and headed out the door. Hopefully she would be able to get to the square before it got too crowded.