A.S.T.R.O.
4. There you are!
The Bears gathered early Sunday afternoon at the Little League ball diamond in the park. The Rockets hadn't yet arrived so they decided to get in a bit more practice. Mrs. Richardson had carefully sewed some additional padding into Turtle's catchers mitt and the boy crouched nervously behind the plate while Tobio threw a few warm up pitches. His first fastball arrived into Turtle's mitt with a loud SLAP! Using a better radar gun he'd borrowed from a policeman friend, Mr. Richardson measured its speed at 105 MPH. Turtle held on to the ball, and didn't even twitch, the extra padding was doing its job.
"Hey Tobio, try and really smoke the next one!" Turtle yelled.
"OK, you asked for it!" Tobio laughed. As he leaned back to through the next pitch his eyes glowed red for a split second and then returned to their brown color. POW! The ball smacked into Turtle's mitt and he fell over onto his back, still gripping the ball.
"Jesus Christ!" Bob yelled, that one measured 114 MPH!
"Hey Looser!" Clyde Windermere yelled as he shepherded his team onto the field. "Ready to be embarrassed again!"
"Ha!" Bob yelled back. "This time it's your turn! I have a good feeling that Karma is on our side today."
They flipped a coin and the Bears won the toss. Bob decided they'd assume the home team position and bat last. The Bears took the field. As Tobio stepped on the pitching rubber the Rockets started to chuckle.
"So you got yourself a new shrimp for a pitcher," The Rocket lead off batter laughed. "This is going to be good!"
"Bite your tongue asshole!" Turtle yelled back.
He gave Tobio the signal for an inside atomic fastball. Kurt Maxwell, the lead off batter pounded his bat on the plate a few times, swung it up to his shoulder and leaned toward the plate while glaring at the pitcher. "Hey shrimp, bet you can't even reach the plate with your pitch!" He laughed.
Tobio felt a bit of anger rise inside of him and his eyes glowed red again as he wound up. Turtle held his mitt positioned inside the strike zone at eye level. Tobio took careful aim and fired a cannon shot. The ball flew past Maxwell's face, missing his nose by half a millimeter. The obnoxious boy felt the wind kicked up by the super fast ball, and he fell over backwards as he flinched out of the way. Turtle's hand smarted despite the extra padding. Bob stood on the side with the radar gun which measured 117 MPH!
"That ball hit me!" Kurt yelled.
"Did not!" Turtle and Tobio yelled.
The umpire standing behind the plate shook his head no. He indicated the pitch was high however, "BALL ONE!"
Turtle tossed the ball back to the mound and got back in position behind the plate. He signaled for a curve ball. Tobio rolled the ball over in his hands examining the stitching. He carefully placed his fingers on the ball and cocked his hand as he reared back and threw the ball. The pitch flew way outside a straight path towards the plate on a trajectory taking it several feet to the right of the plate. About three quarters of the way in it suddenly switched directions and made a beeline for turtle's mitt passing over the rear right corner of the plate. Kurt ignored it. The radar gun measured 94 mph!
"STRIKE ONE!" the umpire yelled.
"Hey that pitch was outside!" Kurt yelled to the umpire.
"Nope!" the official said, "It caught the corner of the plate."
The next two pitches were atomic fastballs right though the heart of the strike zone. Kurt swung and missed both.
"YERE OUT!" the ump yelled.
Six more pitches latter the Rockets took the field. Bob glanced at Clyde and stuck his tongue out at him. As Tobio walked toward the dugout he passed Mitch Stern who was the Rocket's pitcher who stuck out his foot and tripped Tobio. Tobio picked himself up and sat down on the bench.
"Those bastards are not very sportsman like." Turtle told Tobio. "I hope we cream them today!"
Dick Murphy and Lee Smith were the first two batters for the Bears. Dick struck out after fowling off a dozen pitches, while Lee was thrown out at first base. Turtle now took his first at bat. He was still angry at Mitch's tripping Tobio and wanted revenge. He waited for his pitch and continued to fowl off inside pitches which landed out of reach of any of the Rocket fielders. After a long battle with the pitcher he finally drew a walk and took first base.
Now Tobio took his position at the plate. He batted left handed which raised eyebrows on the Rockets faces. "You've got yourself a midget switch hitter I see!" Clyde yelled at Bob. "Bet he can't hit!"
Mitch sneered at Tobio and threw a fastball way inside that would have beaned the boy had Tobio not leaned back in reflex and fell over. He got back up and dusted himself off. His eyes glowed red, he wanted revenge! The next pitch was also inside but Tobio saw it coming and took a step back. He swung at the ball and connected with the fat end of the bat. The solid line drive flew low along the ground striking Mitch Stern on the side of his leg, knee high. Mitch hit the ground in pain as the ball shot past him heading for the outfield. Like a pinball it bounced off of several of the outfielders who tried to catch it and ended up in the far right field corner. Turtle and Tobio took off like a shot running the bases. Turtle had to pour on the coals to avoid being ran over by Tobio who was clearly faster on his feet than his friend. The Rockets outfield ran after the ball and attempted to relay it back to the plate. Turtle and Tobio crossed over home plate milliseconds apart as the baseball arrived in the catchers mitt.
"SAFE!" The umpire cried.
Clyde Windermere dropped the cigar out of his mouth, and thew his cap to the ground. "Shit!" he yelled, "A god dammed two run, inside the park home run!"
He finally noticed his star pitcher being carried off the mound by two of his team mates.
"I think my leg is broken!" Mitch cried rubbing the spot where the ball had hit him. He dropped his pants to examine the area which was now quite swollen. They opened the water jug and fished out a bucket full of ice to apply to the injury.
"Don't look broken" Clyde said, "But you better sit the rest of the game out."
Bob smirked and giggled. The game now appeared to be within reach.
The Rockets put up Allen Levy, their second string pitcher. Tommy was up next and grounded out to third base. The Bears took the field for the top of the second inning, now leading 2 to nothing.
Dr. O'Shay watched on his computer monitor as the tracking application kept beeping. There had been three more blips as ASTRO's tracking system had responded. The robot had tapped into its military mode briefly several times, the last time for nearly 15 seconds. He now had a good fix on the missing android, and locked it in on his portable tracker. The location was within Central Park, if he hurried he could be there in under an hour and a half. O'Shay ran from the building, being careful not to run into Dr. Pavilion. He grabbed Yuko Kisagar, his assistant, and the two of them sped out of the complex in the doctor's Tesla sedan. They roared north on the NJTP, Yuko kept watch on the screen of the portable tracker.
The score stood at 2-0 as Tobio continued to keep the Rockets from scoring. He let up a bit on his fastball at Turtles instance. "Don't show off too much Tobio," He said, "No one likes anybody that is too perfect. Make a few mistakes now and then and people will like you better." So Tobio let a few of the Rockets reach first base. He walked a few batters, and allowed a few grounders and weak line drives to be hit, which the Bears infield managed to contain.
It was now the top of the ninth inning and the Rockets were facing their last chance at bat. Bob Richardson was feeling great.
Kurt Maxwell drew a walk after a good battle of pitches. Tobio allowed two more hard ground balls to be hit, which resulted in the bases now being loaded with two outs. Turtle walked to the mound to talk with his pitcher. "Make it look good Tobio." he said.
Tobio pitched around Dirk Kussler, the Rockets right fielder. He was their power hitter, Tobio had held him at bay for the entire game, not allowing him to get any wood on the ball. Dirk had a good eye, and he finally figured out Tobio's curve ball. With a count of strike two, he reached out and made contact with an 88 mph breaking ball and smacked it past the Bears shortstop. Tobio ran off the mound and took off into the outfield. Glenn Sherman, the Bears center fielder, managed to grab the ball, but his arm wasn't up to the task of throwing it all the way home. Two runs had already scored when Tobio caught the relay and fired it toward the plate into Turtles waiting mitt at 120 MPH. Turtle stood in front of the plate and managed to hold onto the red hot relay. He rolled over on his back and tagged what would have been the go ahead run out at the plate.
As the Rockets took the field in the bottom of the ninth inning, one of them kicked a bat into Tobio's path back to the dugout. It hit him in the ankle, and he fell over rubbing the injured area. A small rumble erupted on the field over the incident which resulted in Turtle receiving a black eye, and one of the Rocket players being ejected from the game.
After twenty minutes of yelling by the coaches with Clyde and Bob almost meeting with fisticuffs, the game finally restarted. Dick and Lee both struck out for the Bears and it was Tobio's turn at bat.
Edward Sobalow, the Rockets third pitcher of the game, quickly tried to bean Tobio with his first two pitches that nearly knocked him over. Tobio quickly felt his anger rising, his eyes were now glowing a bright red and his auburn hair had turned a dark black. His cap stuck up as his two cowlicks had turned into sharpened points lifting the cap up above his head. In an act of defiance, he used his pinkie finger to pull down his lower right eyelid as he stared at the pitcher. Ed noticed the glare in his opponents face and he suddenly felt scared.
The Tesla automobile entered the park and road towards the parking area reserved for holders of special permits. Dr. O'Shay and Yuko ran towards the ball field as the tracking device locked in on ASTROs signal, now full strength.
"There he is!" Yuko pointed seeing Tobio standing in the batting position at home plate.
The pitch was a fastball just over the outside corner of the plate. With his anger boiling Tobio swung the bat using all of his available strength. There was a loud CRACK! as the tip of the bat broke the sound barrier and the fat part smacked the ball. The leather spheroid blasted away from the plate at Mach 2 and quickly disappeared from sight. (It was later found by maintenance crews buried deep in the side of the spire of the Chrysler building.) Tobio danced around the bases as he enjoyed smirking at the Rockets. His solo home run ended the game with the Bears defeating the Rockets with a final score of 3-2. The Bears picked Tobio up and carried him over their heads parading past the Rockets dugout. "WE WON!" they cried out. "Tobio is our hero!"
Bob Richardson packed up the equipment and stuffed it into the large duffel bag he'd brought with him. After a mutual round of congratulations the team broke up to go home their separate ways. Mr. Richardson, Tommy and Tobio headed for the park exit where an older balding man with a large nose and a young woman were standing.
"Hello," The man said. "I'm Dr. O'Shay and this is my assistant Yuko Kisagar. I'm actually Tobio's Godfather, Dr. Tenma was a very good friend of mine. I've been looking for the boy ever since I heard of his untimely death."
Tobio looked at the old man and stared at his face. The balding head with its two large puffs of white hair over his ears looked familiar to him. "I think I do remember you sir," he said, "You knew my father?"
"Yes, Tobio I did." Dr. O'Shay said. "Your father once asked me if I'd be willing to take care of you in the event anything happened to him. Of course I told him I would. I'm very glad I've found you. I've come to take you home with me."
Dr. O'Shay bent down with outstretched arms and motioned for the boy to come closer. The boy accepted his embrace and returned it. His inner senses told him that this was a good person and he felt safe with him.
"Why don't we drive back to your house in my car," Dr. O'Shay said, "we can discuss Tobio's well being there."
The five of them got into the Tesla and drove the few blocks towards the Richardson's brownstone house. Dr. O'Shay found a parking spot about a half a block away and they walked back to the house and walked in.
Dr. O'Shay showed the Richardson's his identification and produced pictures of himself with Dr. Tenma and Tobio to prove his story. After a lengthy conversation during which he answered quite a few questions posed by Mrs. Richardson, Tobio packed up his things and agreed to go home with his Godfather.
"Why don't you call your friend Turtle and ask him to come over to say goodbye?" Mrs. Richardson said. Tobio picked up the phone to call Turtle and he told him that he was going to live with his Godfather. Turtle wished Tobio good luck and said goodbye on the phone, but he didn't want to come over for some reason.
Reno had been watching from the staircase, and he came down and gave Tobio a hug goodbye. He walked outside as the Tobio got into the car with Yuko and Dr. O'Shay. Mr. and Mrs. Richardson held hands and watched as Tobio drove away with Dr. O'Shay. Ellen Richardson had tears in her eyes as the car drove off heading for the George Washington Bridge.