1 Hour Earlier

The doorbell pinged and Brad raced down, eager to have company. On his way down, he had passed by Tucker's room, in which he overheard the boy's loud engine-like snoring. He smiled to himself, comforted by the fact that his brother could sleep so soundly.

He opened the door to find the face of his favorite...well...only robot best friend.

"Hey, Jen."
"Brad, I'm so sor-"

"You already told me that over the phone," Brad started, starting to become uncomfortable with the tremendous amounts of pity expressed to him this week.

"Take a seat, make yourself comfortable. I'm okay, really. I just...want to talk."

Jenny, hesitated, her mouth opening as if to say something. She then nodded and walked in, closing the door behind her and sitting on the living room couch.

"Do you...want anything to drink or-"
"Brad."

"Right. Sorry. I guess I'm just trying to be as well of a host as my parents were," He stuttered, gulping as he finished his sentence. He saw Jenny's metallic eyebrow raise from the corner of his eye.

"I'm fine! Really. These things happen, can't do much about it. Tell me what's going on in your life."

Jenny rolled her eyes.

"Well, you know, it's the same old," she started.
"Fighting evil aliens from taking over this earth, stopping crime on the other planets, making sure no harmless C-level astroids destroy anything...oh! And school ended. Though that just means I'll have more world-saving tasks ahead of me."

Brad laughed. Jenny looked up, confused.

"What's so funny?"
"Nothing, it's just the way you always make it sound like your super important potentially life-threatening tasks are the most boring things ever. It's very typical of you, part of your charm."

Jenny smirked at that last statement.

"Part of my charm? What am I... some sort of TV-show celebrity now? Should I wink at an invisible camera the next time I defeat Vexus?"
"Yes," Brad said defiantly. The two burst into laughter for what had felt like 10 minutes. But the feeling of joy soon dissipated, and the chill of tension returned.

"Crikey...if my life were a TV show, huh...things would be so much simpler," Jenny thought aloud to herself.
"Why do you say that?" Brad questioned, curious. Jenny shrugged.
"Well...I mean...I'm sure the reality would be distorted. Every episode would be resolved in some sort of manner," She continued.

"There wouldn't be as many moments where things do go wrong and can't be fixed. I mean, everyone thinks of me as 'Fix-It' girl, right? But what happens when I..." She trailed off, her voice almost becoming inaudible. Brad waved a hand in front of her.

"Jen? ...Hello?"

"When I fail," she stated softly. Brad opened his mouth, but the robot was already on a train of thought.

"The moments when I fight the enemy off but so many lives are taken. The moments when hundreds upon hundreds of desperate cries for help around the world pop up on my screen but I can only choose so many to resolve. The moments when I don't even pick up a signal for help and I'm completely unaware that nothing's wrong-"
"-Jenny, it's okay."

"Is it really, though?" She asked aloud.
"Yes. You're putting unrealistic expectations on yourself."

She sighed.

"Everyone thinks I'm selfish when I don't always want to do my job," She started. Brad nodded in understanding.

"Of course! As cool as jobs are, they can be a drag sometimes," He commented.
"You never complain about anything, though," Jenny noted, relieved at seeing her friend's familiar personality trait. Brad shrugged.

"I guess it's just something my dad always did," Brad murmured, his expression changing.

"My parents... they were always a team," He began.

"I never knew my mother all that well, but I remember how my dad used to tell so many stories about her! She was such a hero, I mean honestly! Countless amounts of times, if she saw any sort of trouble, even if just on the street, she'd just immediately run towards it. She ended up adopting 10 stray kittens, and you know how my dad met her? He saw her run into the middle of the road when an old lady was crossing. Apparently, a car had been zooming at a fast pace and it was a disaster waiting to happen. Until she sped in, waving her arms."

"Before moving to Tremorton to live with my dad, she worked at her hometown hospital as a baby nurse, she was always so happy to greet new lives into the world. According to my dad, it's what kept her going when she felt down. She couldn't stand watching the news, stories of other people passing. But when she went into work to welcome in one more member to society, her hope in humanity was restored."

"She sounds very sweet," Jenny commented. Brad nodded.

"Yeah, she does. Although I will admit, my dad can be very idealistic, and I'm sure there were many things he exaggerated just so he could glorify her more."

Jenny chuckled at that. Brad's stories were always so fascinating.

"Now you're probably wondering about my dad, right? You know it's a shame you never got to meet him- he would've liked you right away."
"Are you sure about that?" Jenny cringed. Countless memories of people running and screaming upon her first appearance flashed in front of her.

"Absolutely! In fact, I bet he'd be pretty stunned by your mom...he tried to build a world-saving robot once too."

"Get out!" Jenny exclaimed, shocked.
"You may want to lower your voice a bit, Tuck's sleeping."
"Oh yeah... sorry Tuck," She whispered before asking Brad to continue.

"Anyways, yeah. My dad was a big fan of superheroes. Not quite like Sheldon-level, so to say, but always down for a good hero story. Although it was tougher for him, because countless times at school he would tell teachers he wanted to be a superhero when he was older! And they would all tell him the same thing "superheroes don't exist". He often got redirected to positions of being a firefighter, which he did end up trying for a few years, but he still kept dreaming bigger. He almost became an engineer, but couldn't keep up with his university's pace, so he discovered online courses instead: learning about both engineering and computer science. He took a break to watch an old dystopian robot movie. The idea sparked when he thought to himself, 'why are robots seen as the bad guys?'"

"That's a good question. Why did everyone always think we would start an uprising?" Jenny commented. Brad gave her a look.

"Do you not remember all those times you were reprogrammed by the Cluster?"
"...Good point. I try to forget about that, you know? Ugh. Anyways, continue."

"So my dad set out to work on the process behind it. His biggest issue was that all of his ideas were planned out so well in his head, but he just couldn't manage to get them out onto the paper. He wrote down a few notes here and there, but really spent most of the time daydreaming about what the robot would be like. And it was the silly things too! It was always 'well, maybe it'll have a goody cuckoo clock pop out at dinner time' and 'once they're done saving the world, it can make us french toast!'"

"That's a common trait he shared with my mom," Jenny noted. "I never understood why I have some of the features that I do."

"Yeah...he really did have the craziest ideas," Brad responded.

"It's just a shame because he was starting to get to some really valid conclusions - realistic sounding stuff, when his physical health began to decline. And then from there...well...you know."

Jenny hung her head down.

"Did they ever figure out what it was? Why he was so weak?" She asked. He nodded.

"Yeah. The doctors rambled it off to me many times. But I can't remember it, the whole scene was a blur, really. The only thing I remember is that...I couldn't stop crying. I lost a whole person - a really, really meaningful person, in just a single second."

The room remained quiet for a few moments. Brad had spent some time to give a silent prayer. Jenny seemed lost in her thoughts, her expression difficult to decode.

"But, like I said earlier. These things happen - cheap objects break. Well-working, but old, items become obsolete. Buildings fall apart. Relationships break. Just like all these things, eventually people drift too. We just...keep pushing on, regardless," Brad commentated. He stood up to go get a drink of water.

"I keep telling myself these things, that we push on and all, but... I can't seem to walk the talk" He thought to himself. This week, he had been very good at telling people he was fine. He had been excellent at telling himself that things were going to be alright. But he couldn't quite get himself to feel it the way he normally did.
He turned to look at the robot sitting quietly. She still remained lost in thought, as if trying to come up with the right thing to say. He immediately felt guilty, as if he had overloaded her systems. Maybe it had been too much to invite her over, but he had been so desperate for someone who was willing to let him talk about something other than "the future". He quickly filled up his glass before returning to his seat.

"Everything okay, Jen?" He asked, trying to sound as casual as he could. She looked up, her eyes weary.

"No."
"Why? What's the matter?"

She turned her head away. Because she didn't technically breathe, she imitated a noise that had sounded like a deep breath. She then turned around back to Brad, her gaze angrier.

"What's the matter? You know perfectly well, don't try to fool me. If I had known about this, your father would still be alive."