I.
"What are you doing here?.!"
"What are you doing here?"
Trina was flying inside her dark green saucer of a droid which was one of three surviving droids that still transmuted by human touch. Abba was astride the scooter her cousin had given her but the woman now saw that the droid repair worker had not intended for this.
"I thought you were showing your little friends home."
"Did not say that as if I am still a child, Trina!"
The woman made a disgruntled noise, "You are a child, Abba, now and forever."
She pressed her droid forward towards what Abba at first thought were the buildings of Middle Zephyron hidden under the shadow of cloud. When she saw a mute golden gleam and bright orange eyes in front of a sea of white-eyed ones, Abba knew exactly then what her cousin was doing. Trina met her frightened gaze and a softening to her usual strictness seemed to affect her again as it had back at the gilded palace. The two cousins weaved and bobbed through the main core of the Android Marketer's Project – which consisted of the huge, dark silver poles bunching much closer together – and aligned themselves as Golden reached out her large hand for them. Abba hopped nimbly off of the scooter right into the open cockpit of her cousin's saucer. The cold white object hurtled for her mother's palm.
"ARR-RAGAH!" Gold screeched as her hand flew off.
Her "daughter" gasped and covered her mouth with both hands.
"Never mind that." Trina switched backed and dove for a falling form.
They were in such a rush that they accidentally snatched up the person who had caught what Abba quickly mentioned to her cousin was her brother. Before she could get out a single word as to explaining this she realized Tress was cradled in her arms as he cradled what appeared to be a deformed little boy. Abba was even more terrified than she'd been before. Still clearly upset over the hologram fiasco, Tress fitted himself behind the woman.
Abba relaxed a little when she saw that the strange child was harmless to hold.
"I suppose an apology is an order," she didn't look back.
"I suppose explaining how the hell Hogarth and Taylor's son Ivan is the blueprints for this secret project I have never heard about, how Ivan changed into this mangled thing we now have before us and howIvan's two cousins oh so randomly ended up in our time, will do."
He made no reservations about directing most of his rant to the droid pilot.
"Trina." The younger woman slowly grew suspicious. "Do you know of the project?"
Trina suddenly turned from her controls to speak with them.
"You're letting her drive herself?" Even Tress was surprised by this.
"Arrow knows where to go." She looked them both in the eye. "It is time you two learned what went on after Hogarth and Taylor's departure, even before the Giant and Gold left.."
"Archer… Arrow." Tress mused.
"What does my mother really intend to do with the Android Marketer's Project, Trina?"
Abba planned to no longer be uninvolved as she held her helpless half-brother in her arms.
II.
Hogarth moved his eyes and lips away. The Giant started for a moment, afraid that he had done something wrong. But his line of vision actually led to something nearly as tall as the Giant himself standing a football field away. It was purple-ish in color. Hogarth narrowed his eyes and saw that there appeared to be shades of it like lavender and plum with yellow.
He gasped. There was two separate colors of soft yellow near the top of the creature.
"Pygmy," Hogarth smiled wide. "Pygmy!"
Before he or the Giant could react the robot burst forward in a blaze of orange.
"Hogarth!" She trilled as she shifted in a blue haze to her cat form.
The man hugged her against his chest and swung her back and forth in his arms.
"Oh, Pygmy." He half-cried. "Oh, baby. I thought I'd lost you." She was smiling, sad but happy too, when Hogarth turned to look at her. "I'm so sorry you were lost. I almost left without you, I-," Pygmy placed an iron plum paw on his mouth. Her lower shutters fell as she cocked her head and swiveled her ears. Hogarth's eyes shined with tears as he smiled and hugged her again. There was a sudden tap on the man's shoulder. Hogarth looked up.
The Giant had his mandible raised as he pointed out two smaller figures in the distance.
"Who on earth…?" Hogarth wondered as he squinted beneath the sudden cloud cover.
A storm seemed to be brewing.
"Hogarth?" Pygmy inquired.
He laughed and gave her a third rocking hug, "I swear my eyesight's going... I love you."
"I love you too." She nuzzled her head against his chest.
The robot then changed back into her normal form and gave the Giant a literally big hug.
Hogarth admired the two giants embracing for a moment when an idea hit him.
"Pygmy, is that Jean and Taylor?" He pointed to the figures who were wandering closer.
"I found Ivan," She said softly. Hogarth's eyes widened. "He's not with me, Hogarth."
He looked back at the Giant – who afforded him a calm, knowing look – and nodded.
"One thing at a time." He assured his goddaughter.
…
Jean pulled Taylor along with him towards the towering Iron Giant near the edge of the demolished city. He was bleary-eyed, weak and back in the same mood he had previously been in. The boy was starting to wish that his brother wasn't fighting to keep from falling asleep. SpudNike or whatever it was this wire freak called himself had flown them to the spot where he thought the Giant might be. That was all these giant robots were good for apparently; it wasn't like they had any cool weapons or anything. The 11-year-old sighed.
"I see the Giant Taylor," Somehow he wasn't surprised by robots anymore, this could all be a dream to the boy. "He's lookin' at us from the distance." When he turned around he saw that his Potato robot friend was gone and that his brother was merely dangling now.
"The Giant?" He peered up at Jean.
"It's not like he's any different from Pygmy or wire guy. Now come on!"
Taylor stumbled forward and rubbed at his eyes. "There's someone who looks 2000-iny."
Jean came to stand beside him. "Yeah, it does." he stepped closer. "Who's the fat guy?"
"That's no fat guy that's Uncle Garth!" His brother was beaming.
The older boy was suddenly rendered ambivalent: on the one hand it was someone who was actually from their own time, on the other hand it was Uncle Garth. No sooner had Jean turned to look at his brother again did he see the little boy running happily forward like nothing Abba had said was important. Jean yelled his brother's name but didn't see any effort on the five-year-old's part to stop. Grunting, he chased after his little brother.
…
Hogarth's reaction to seeing his nephews here was surprising for both parties, what was even more surprising was how both of the boys reacted. The Giant and Pygmy watched curiously as the children ran right for their uncle like they had always been close to him.
"Uncle Garth!" Taylor ran into his arms first.
"Uncle." Jean joined him.
"Hey, wait! Take it easy." Hogarth hugged them like he had always known them.
"You found us! You found us!" Taylor cheered as he looked up at him.
"I can't believe you came all this way just for us." Jean was baffled.
Taylor looked at his brother as if he should have known better.
Hogarth was firm but honest. "You're my nephews." he placed his right hand on the boy's messy hair. "You're family. That's never gonna change, little buddy." Taylor moved to try and pull up his uncle's left sleeve. Hogarth smirked and yanked it up to show him the nub.
"Heh," Jean smirked back. "That's our uncle all right."
Taylor turned to him inquiringly.
"Only a real uncle shows his battle scars, Taylor. A dad spanks and a grandpa takes pills."
"Hmm." Hogarth peered up at the Giant, observing his "battle scars". His humor was lost.
The oldest boy swallowed as his brother hid behind him.
"What… what did you say about the Giant again, Jean?" Taylor whispered.
Rockwell's legend was indeed not an average robot.
"W-w-w-what are you talkin' about, Taylor?"
"That his son named Sponge Nick was a huge freaky fruit loop cause all he got is wires."
The Giant's white eyes twinkled when he heard this.
"Uh… hi." Jean stood stock-still. The Giant was old, yes, but he looked upon the two boys who were Hogarth and Julie's descendents with warmth and affection. He slowly lowered two of his fingers out for them, not forcing a reaction. Jean would not move…
He could not move.
His mother's words fell flat as his brother's dreams were realized.
"Are you Superman?" Taylor asked in the quietest of voices.
It occurred to Hogarth then that he had never told them about IG's Superman penchant.
"Did you just make that up Taylor?" He asked.
The boy nodded. Jean wrinkled his forehead. "The Giant thinks he's Superman?"
Taylor was not to be deterred. "You like Superman?" he asked in the same quiet manner.
"Yes," the Giant's rumble of a voice was gentle.
"I like Batman better." He tempted. Once the boy said this he waited.
The Giant blinked a roving shutter blink. "Superman." he said plainly.
"Batman." Taylor grew braver.
"Superman." The Giant stood a little.
He wasn't as agreeable as before, this subject was not up for negotiation.
"Batman." The boy walked up from behind his brother.
"Superman." The Giant straightened to full height.
"Batman!" Taylor argued.
"Super-,"
"Giant."
"Hogarth?"
"Cool it."
The Giant glared at the five-year-old childishly and Taylor glared back. Just when Hogarth was about to step in between them someone with a startling shade of yellowish-white hair approached the group in dark green coveralls. When the two men saw each other it was as if time decided to go on strike and merely stopped. Heads turned to confirm that it hadn't.
"Well… I'll be damned." Hogarth shook his head with an amazed smile. "Tress."
A familiar shy smile appeared on the man's thin oval face, "How are you, Hogarth?"
Again as with Pygmy the fifty-five-year-old fought back tears.
"Well, c'mere and give me a hug!" He swiped his arm up and back. "Everyone else has."
Tress's smile turned polite. "No, thank you," he turned what he held in his arms forward.
Hogarth's good nature was replaced by an astonished gasp as his thirty-five-year-old son was handed to him wrapped in a dark green jumpsuit. It briefly registered in his memory that whatever the material was made out of was completely warm and insolating. A hand found Hogarth's back and he couldn't even bring himself to see which giant robot it was.
All that mattered was that his son was in his arms.
"Oh," he brought Ivan quickly up to his chest, speaking in an emotional hush, "My son."
"Is he gonna be okay?" A distant voice asked, possibly from a little boy. Taylor, was it?
The resting hand on Hogarth's back reached it's fingers around and gently stroked the hair that belonged to Johnston Hughes. He remembered then that his mother had once told him that his hair was tinted red from hers but at the roots was a medium brown from his father.
"Hogarth," The Giant's voice was barely audible as his had been. "He looks just like you."
"Is that a joke?" Jean's sarcasm finally brought him out of his daze.
He looked at his nephews gratefully. "Thank you, boys. I know that you had to play a part in this." Tress finally approached Hogarth and accepted the aforementioned hug. "So…?"
"So what?" the lanky man stepped back.
"38? 39?"
"What?" He flashed a dulled white smile. "With these looks? I could pass for thirty."
Hogarth belted out a laugh and rocked his son back and forth. "I can't thank you enough."
"What about Taylor?" Tress mentioned seriously.
"Oh," Everyone turned to the Giant, "What did you say you're name was again?"
They then turned to the five-year-old boy.
"Uh, Taylor."
"He meant his girlfriend, dumbass."
"Hey." Hogarth was suddenly on his case. "Your tongue, kid."
"What'd you care?" Jean shrugged his arms. "You got a vegetable to take care of. Why do you even care about us anymore? We'll go home to Mom and Dad and they won't either."
An awkward silence followed.
"Taylor," Hogarth indicated the stringed back between the Giant and Pygmy. "There's a soda and a can of chili in the bag, why don't you get something to eat little buddy." The man didn't have to look at the Giant to indicate his need for back-up, he knew he could count on him. Tress seemed to have flinched a little at the "little buddy" part though. "I guess "big buddy" is out of the equation, huh?" he joked feebly. The man smiled a little.
"Let's just reserve that for the Giant, please."
"Jean." He handed his now awakening son to Pygmy. The deformed man looked just as he had to him the day Hogarth had been separated from him; he had always assumed the agency Rob and Dan had been involved with was to blame. Hogarth might never know.
"Leave me alone." He backed away. "Abba told me everything I needed to know."
"Speak of the angel." When Tress said this he was both glad and irritated.
A person wearing an out-of-place, off white tweed suit stood between two piles of rubble. Everyone watched him or her and didn't seem to hear Jean as he let out a scream over his chili can. Taylor screamed as well, pointing at the ground and hopping around with his big brother in an odd sort of dance. They went to stand by Pygmy as the newest arrival came.
The Giant was the one to do the hugging now as Abba walked clear across the grainy earth towards him and then right into his hand. Tress seemed to guess what Hogarth's feelings were as he walked up to stand beside his old friend and touch his shoulder in a way that was meant to convey his understanding. This, however, didn't lessen his worry.
"It took me a long time to really come to terms with your actions, Garth." This nickname made him turn to Tress. "And a little bit longer to accept them. I know you hold prejudice to Kina, you may even very well despise her, but look at Abba," he motioned to Pygmy as she hugged the person to her; Abba's face was still obscured. "Does she truly look harmful to you? It's true she may have some of the blind ambition her mother and, perhaps even to an extent, Archer had but she is beginning to see the price of chasing ambitions to far. You must put Kina in the past," Hogarth looked down at his boots, "And give Abba a chance."
Fear gripped his heart as he finally shook Tress's hand from his shoulder. Hogarth had no desire to see this thing Kina had spawned using his DNA. He had no want in the world to know that Abba or whatever it was called was doing well. But most of all, he knew that if he didn't accept her, he could strain his friendship with the Giant. This wasn't only about them, this was about their children. Whoever this girl was, the Giant had raised her as he had raised Pygmy. Hogarth would have smiled at this thought if he wasn't totally scared.
When the two did finally meet eyes the Giant's told him that he understood but he didn't say anything. The Giant instead lowered the woman down and Hogarth finally got to see the product of his torment after so long, Kina's daughter… and he very nearly collapsed.
This woman wasn't a spawn or a cyborg, she was a beautiful woman with a medium bust and deep curves. Her hips were a little wide but that's not what made Hogarth nearly fall over, it was her face. It was round with gentle jade eyes and auburn hair that lay straight and long around her shoulders. Hogarth knew that there were differences but as he came closer to this woman he could swear that he saw traces of his mother in her face and hair.
The man just couldn't decide if she belonged to Kina or him.
Abba didn't move as he placed his hand on her cheek. There was a flicker of emotion to her otherwise reserved look as she turned the other way to stare at the ground. It was as though she too were afraid of a man she had spoken harshly of but had never met before.
"Abba." Hogarth braved.
When she looked back up there were tears in her eyes and a puffiness to her cheeks.
"It doesn't matter what happened in the past. You didn't do anything to cause it."
There was still some hesitation on their parts to accept one another.
Abba touched his hand and opened her mouth to speak.
"Did I not tell you to make your hellos and goodbyes short?" Gold appeared from out of nowhere, a band of the Giant clones weren't far behind. "Did you really think, Abba, that you could fool me with one of the fake teleportation devices Kina first gave to Hogarth?"
Trina was raised in her hand.
The Giant and Hogarth were beyond shocked, they were dumbstruck.
"I suggest you hand the time teleporter over, Abba."
The woman tilted her chin up, defiant. "Or what?" she challenged.
To be continued…
~ Lavenderpaw ~