John fiddled with the strings of his Maverick hoodie incessantly as he stood frozen in front of the lab doors. The poor heather grey strings had been twisted, rolled, and stretched repeatedly and still he was no closer to moving forward than when he first arrived.
These past several days had been some of the lowest of his young life. John just could not bring himself to go back down to those labs and see his father like that again. The teen had been wracked with guilt but try as he might he never could get far enough into the labs to see him. There had been no one to talk to about his troubles either. His regular company of Kevin and Courtney had been absent these past few days. The reason he had been told was that there was a mission that required the teams utmost focus. Alone and disturbed, the nightmares had began to set in.
John worried for his mother. Who knew where she was and what was happening to her right now. His dreams provided many possibilities, none of which he cared to dwell upon. John was heartbroken for his father. What had these people done to reduce his unstoppable Dad to this? His subconscious haunted him with the potential torments that could have occurred. John was frightened for himself. The people here at Maverick were nice and all, but really what could they do that Dad couldn't? The people responsible for all of this was still out there and they wanted him too. He frequently dreamt that he was back home alone, only this time it was not the ponytail guy that was coming for him but unseen entities cloaked in the shadows.
John was beginning to understand why Dad preferred to sleep with a light on. It helped remind him where he was whenever he would wake in a cold sweat. At the memories of those nightmares the pull strings suffered additional abuse from his fretful fingers. In addition to his guilt, poor sleep, and loneliness, the boy had been ate up with regret that made him both want to run to the labs and stay away from them. It was a hellish limbo that he could not seem to shake himself free from.
He should not have said what he had that night. John shouldn't have spoken of all the pain and hurt that had building up inside of him for years. Why the hell had John told his father that he had wanted to hate him? It might have been true, he might not have known the full situation when those feelings had formed, but it had also been wrong and selfish of him. He should had said helpful things. Hopeful things. And after all of that, John couldn't even go back down there and fix it. Instead he had spent the past few days depressed, sleepless, and listless in bed.
It was amusing, in a distant way. Sometimes whenever Dad fell into a funk he would take to his room and stay in bed for several days. And now what had John been doing? Like father like son after all. The teenager was ashamed to admit it, but he might not have even be down here today standing uncomfortably in front of the lab doors if it were not for a forceful knock on his door some thirty minuets ago.
John had been pulled from a fitful sleep by the firm knocking at the front door to his rooms. The teenager had rose from his bed halfway, still dazed from sleep and unsettled from the lingering impressions of dark dreams. He looked around in confusion for a few moments before the knocks sounded again, reminding him of why he had surfaced in the first place.
The clock beside his bed had only read 9:13 am. The teen had only gotten to sleep a few hours ago. Moaning, John had slowly sank back down into his nest of blankets and pillows before rolling out of bed with a thud. Blearily he had made his way to the front door of his temporary rooms. It was not Kevin's usual pattern of a knock nor Courtney's gentle tap tap tap.
Opening the door had revealed Boris, as imposing and unreadable as ever.
"Uhh...hello?" John had been too sleep groggy to be more articulate than that. "Is...everything alright? Sir?"
"I do not know if you are aware of this," The man had begun, looking at the boy as if he could look right though him to his soul. John had tried not to squirm under the scrutiny. "But your father's surgery is today. Now in fact. You have only been down into the labs once, so it was safe to assume you did not know. I thought a son should want to be informed on how his father is doing."
That simple statement hit like a punch to the gut. The Russian did not say anything else, or let a frown show through on his face, but his eyes did not lie. The man was deeply disappointed in him for hiding away but did not feel it was his place to say anything. John would rather have had Boris yell at him. It would have hurt a hell of a lot less than that silent disappointment.
"Thank you...for telling me, sir." John could no longer look him in the eye. Boris had nothing further to say to the teenager and had left with a curt nod. John had stood there in the doorway, hair mussed from his fitful sleep, trying his damnedest not to cry. It had struck him then that he had been a coward. And a horrible son. He had been so wrapped up in his own emotions that he had failed to be there for what very well could be the only family he had left.
Instead of fighting against the tears, John had let them do as they had wished as he ran for his shoes and his key card. The surge of determination that had drove John down here had seemed to have left him at the finish line as he had yet to cross the threshold of the labs to whatever may be waiting inside.
Before John could find the will to force his feet forward, the doors to the labs opened from the other side.
On the other side of the doorway stood Sunny. She looked far more rested than the last time John had seen her. Gone were the pajamas and in their place was a sleeveless black tank top and loose khakis. Her hair was was also pulled back in a proper ponytail. It was a drastic contrast to John in his oversized sweats with his still chaotic hair. While he was not entirely surprised to see her in the labs, she seemed shocked to see him.
"John." She quickly looked him over, taking in his rumpled clothes and reddened eyes. "I didn't expect to see you down here. When Bladewolf said there was someone standing out here I never thought..."
"Yeah...I didn't expect myself to be down here" In his shame John found that he could not quite meet her eyes. He fought hard to keep from tugging at the hoodie's pull strings again.
"We've been wondering where you've been. I know that your dad has been wondering even though hes kept quiet about it." Sunny looked down with a small frown, her focus turned inward to memories. It hurt to hear but honestly John felt he deserved it.
"I've been busy having my head up my ass and feeling sorry for myself. I had a reminder earlier that it wasn't about me."
"Oh John, don't talk like that." Sunny clasped his hand between her unusually calloused ones. "You're far too hard on yourself. You've had it tough with your life being turned upside down. It's only natural that you're devastated by all of this. I know what that's like, believe me. It's only human to shy away from things that hurt us."
"It may only human, but it makes me a shit son." John said with zero mercy upon himself despite her kind pleas to the contrary. The fact that Dad had been wondering about him made John stand firm by his statement.
"Well, what matters is that you're here now." Sunny urged John to follow her on inside. Instead of going directly into the main rooms as expected she took them down a few halls littered with stray carts that John was not familiar with. Here the walls were lined with windows allowing passersby to view the work going on within. He followed Sunny as she led him to the correct window, the swish of her blond ponytail somewhat mesmerizing.
They stopped by of one of the large windows where John could see a body laying on the center table but he had no time to look more closely at it. Instead his attention was dominated by a mass of metal in the halls that he had initially ignored in favor of looking at Sunny's hair. The mass of metal that had suddenly began to move. What appeared to be a giant robot dog with glowing red eyes and more sharp edges then he could count turned and watched the approaching the two teenagers.
"What the..." John recoiled ready to bolt. If it were not for the fact that Sunny had quickly snagged his sleeve to keep him from running he would have already been halfway down the hall by now. Without fear Sunny turned her back to the robot dog to face John.
"John, I would like to introduce you to Bladewolf. He's one of my best friends and he's a friend of your father too."
The robot was sat back on his haunches, its features apparent now that John was paying attention. The way its long cord-like tail was wrapped around its wicked looking paws made of knives reminded John more of a cat than a wolf. The way the machine cocked his head at John as Sunny tugged him forward was all canine though.
"Numerous physiological similarities. Skin tone. Eye color. Hair color. You are indeed Raiden's offspring. Greetings John, son of Raiden. I am Bladewolf, an autonomous AI." The robotic voice echoed loudly off the sterile bland walls. As best as John could tell from the largely monotone voice, it was making an effort to sound friendly.
"Uhhh...hi. So...you're a friend of Dad's. How did you get to know him?" His voice awkwardly pitched upward with the question. Trying to make small talk with strangers normally sucked as John had no idea what to say. Trying to make small talk with a robot was so much worse.
"Raiden saved me. I would have been offline permanently or still enslaved if it were not for him. I owe him everything." Bladewolf stated rather bluntly for such a strong statement.
"Don't forget about me!" A slightly muffled voice called out excitedly. "He saved me too!"
John looked over to the other side of the glass in the labs where a tall brown skinned teenager in scrubs was waving enthusiastically at him. John waved hesitantly back at him, eyeing the other boys metal hand. Sunny laughed at the exchange.
"That's George. Hes helping Doktor Voigt with your father's surgeries."
"Hiya there! So you're Raiden's kid John. I was wondering when I could finally get to meet ya." George tugged his mask off to let it dangle from one ear. The older boy was all smiles.
First Sunny had said that his Dad saved her. Then this Bladewolf had a similar story And now this other kid was saying the same thing too? His father really was a hero.
"Just how many people has Dad saved?" John asked mostly to himself, looking at the two teenagers and robot down in the labs with him.
"Probably far more than he will ever tell us. He not the type to brag about such things." Sunny said with a fond smile. George chuckled at the statement and even Bladewolf nodded in agreement.
John didn't know what to feel about all of this. These people (and robot) seemed to know his father so much better than he did. It was oddly...hurtful. It was almost as if he were the stranger here. To distract himself from the uncomfortable thoughts, John glanced through the large window into the room beyond.
A body minus the head was laying on a table in the center of the room hooked up to various equipment. There was a noticeable lack of his father in there. Other than George, the only other person in the room was some lab worker who entered, grabbed something off of a shelf, and left as quickly as they came.
"So...umm…Where's Dad?" John asked, sweeping his gaze over the room more closely just in case he had overlooked his father in his reduced size. On the other side of the glass George jerked a metal thumb towards a set of double doors on the other side of the room.
"He still in with the Dok for the brain surgery. They should be done soon, ya."
"I thought you said you were helping." John stepped a little closer to better hear the other boy through the glass, and to also get a better look at the body on the table. If he overlooked the disturbing mess of wires and tubes where the head was supposed to be, John could almost believe that it was his father was laying in there.
"I'm just helping with the attachment. I'm no neurosurgeon." The tall boy laughed. "They is over in the theater and no one else is allowed in. Its very tricky work and Dok doesn't need distraction. It's not something that we need to be watching anyway. Give the man privacy an all that."
"That's not something that I'd like to watch anyway. All of this has hard enough to process as it is, I really really don't want to see the inside of my Dad's head." John fought a shudder at the thought. He had come across videos of brain surgeries while messing around on the internet. They had made him feel oddly lightheaded in a way that regular gore never managed.
"Process?" George cocked his head in confusion as he leaned against his side of the glass. "You is saying that you didn't know he was a cyborg?"
"Oh I knew." John crossed his arms defensively. "I suppose what all that means is just now sinking in. When you're a kid you don't think about those kind of things. I knew he was different, but I guess I've never thought about the reality of it all until lately. It didn't matter what he was made of. To me Dad was just Dad, you know?"
"I cant say that I do." George gave the younger teenager a sad smile. "I've not had much luck in the parent department."
"It took me a while to get used to as well." Sunny added, steering the conversation back to less bitter waters."I first met your dad before he had cybernetics. It was hard to see him so changed afterwards. I guess it never hit home for me too how different he was until I had to take care of him for a few days when he was hurt." Sunny idly petted Bladewolf while she reminisced. The robot wagged its tail lazily seemingly enjoying the attention.
"Take care of him? When was this?" John could count on one hand how many times Dad had come home injured. Or damaged rather. Even then it was mild and only a short wait until he could be fixed up again. He couldn't think of an occasion where Sunny could have helped out.
"It was some years ago, back when my uncle was still alive. I was in charge of your dad's dialysis while everyone else was away or busy on missions."
"Ah, autotoxemia." George nodded in understanding. "The old white blood?"
"You both have lost me. Autotoxemia? White blood?" John wasn't sure that he wanted to know. That sounded kinda...gnarly.
"Autotoxemia." Bladewolf announced unexpectedly, causing John to flinch slightly. "A disorder where the body improperly absorbs waste products from their metabolism. Poisoning from within."
"Before the tech improved, cyborgs useta use what was called white blood. Give ya three guesses why." George gave him a look that told John what he thought of the creativity of the name. "It worked hella good for what it was worth but it was prone to going bad and making ya sick without constant filtration. Cyborgs back then woulda have to go to dialysis weekly. Glad that was before my time. Gots the new red stuff boi." George proudly rapped his knuckles on his chest, the metal clank audible even through the glass.
"So that's why there were always those hospital trips!" John exclaimed as a childhood mystery was unexpectedly unraveled.
"Yup. New stuff so much more stable. Now its every three months. And waaay more effective."
"As a kid I always just thought Dad was sick." John trailed off, looking back through his memories with this newfound perspective.
In those early days of their small family being reunited there had been constant visits to medical centers. 'It's just checkups.' they had always told him when curiosity had him questioning things. When the mother of one of John's classmates had been diagnosed with cancer the student had talked ceaselessly about all the hospital visits.
Once John had learned that cancer kills people he had been inconsolable, having drawn the erroneous conclusion that the same illness was the reason for the hospital visits. It had taken his parents forever to convince him otherwise. It wasn't long after that event that his Dad had taken on his new job and then the hospital visits were not an issue any longer. John realized now that his father just had his medical work done here. Probably in these very same labs.
John wondered what else he had misunderstood from that time. He had a lot of studying to do if he really wanted to understand what his Dad's life was like.
"He was sick sorta. Still is really. All us cyborgs needs constant medical attention and always will." George gave his audience on the other side of the glass a half-shrug.
"I'm glad the tech was able to upgrade." Sunny approached the glass to better look at the motionless body within. "Hopefully it will improve to be even better in the future."
"Oh the tech is improving all the time. You wanna hear something neat? Now the new blood is safe enough to mix with normal people blood no matter blood type. Hella scandals in the sports world lemme tell you." George laughed mischievously. "People supplementing their own blood with the artificial stuff to enhance performance because of the increased ability to hold O2. During the last held Olympics, one of the..."
The double doors opening cut off George's excited chatter.
John pressed himself up against the glass to watch as a lab worker with a rolling cart full of equipment and the German doctor entered the room. John didn't care about the two men, he only had eyes for the cart. Propped up between the strange electronics and amidst the wires and tubes, sat the diminutive form of his father.
The sight was so much worse than before. The most striking difference for John was the lack of hair. At first the teenager thought they had simply shaved his fathers head. He had a brief notion to shave his own hair in a show of solidarity. As the medical men moved his father further in the room John could see that the blond hair hadn't been sheared away, it had been removed entirely leaving only a dull metal in its place. As they approached the body in the middle of the room John got a glimpse of what the bandage had previously hidden.
John quickly averted his gaze down to the tiled floor instead. Sunny gently took his hand in hers and squeezed reassuringly. The robot Bladewolf came around his other side and briefly leaned into him like an oversized pet. It nearly knocked him off balance but John could appreciate the gesture for what it was. He tentatively gave a pat on the AI's head in thanks and was rewarded with a hard cold muzzle nuzzling his palm.
There was a gentle tap on the glass. John looked up to see the taller teenager giving him a reassuring smile.
"Don't worry. We get him fixed up good as new." George gave him a thumbs up before fixing his mask and going to join the other two men.
The older man, Doktor if John recalled correctly, looked exhausted but pleased. The teen couldn't hear what was being said between the three but the assistant received a nod from the Doktor, gave George an 'all yours' gesture and then left by the door at the end of the room. John watched in troubled fascination as the connection process began.
The two teenagers and lupine AI silently observed as the two slowly put the broken man back together. George held his father's head while the Doktor painstakingly switched over every tube, every wire, before carefully slotting him into place on the body. John tried, and failed, not to find it creepy how loose Dad's head fit onto his neck. It almost put him in mind of a broken test dummy. He was guiltily relieved when George and the Doktor had securely fastened him into place.
John could not quite see what was going on with the next stage of the process too to his immense frustration. The Doktor was leaning in close with some small hand held instrument and George was also blocking the view with his hands. A few minutes later the duo moved around to work on the other side of his fathers face revealing what they had been doing. The synthetic skin that had been rolled loosely about the neck was now fixed properly, leaving only the slightest seam where real met fake.
John stared at that small little line running from the corner of his fathers slack mouth to over his ear. When they had first met it had been a source of endless fascination to younger John. This stranger that he was told was actually his Dad was absolutely covered in those little seams. From his head even down to his toes they were there.
Many a time Little John had been caught staring and had shied away. He recalled his mother telling him it was rude to stare and that it hurts people feelings. Well, he didn't want to run his new father away after having just got him, so in his youthful logic the solution had been to not look at the man at all. It wasn't until he had overheard his parents talking in Uncle Roy's kitchen when he was supposed to be sleeping that John had learned his brilliant solution had caused the opposite effect.
"I don't know what I'm doing wrong Rose. The kid won't even look at me."
"It's only been a few weeks. It's a big change for him. Sometimes these things take time."
"Those first few days I couldn't keep the little guy off of me. I musta done something to scare him."
"Jack..."
"I want to make this work Rose. I really do. But I also don't want to make him uncomfortable. What if I move out and just visit until he warms up to me? That way if I am disturbing him he wont be stuck..."
John had never figured out the rest of what his father had in mind. As soon as the boy had understood that the man was talking about leaving he had bolted out from where he had been hiding and latched onto the older man and would not be pried free.
It took his parents a good while to calm him down and even longer to pry the root of the issue out of him. At the time John would have been offended that his parents found his super smart logic so amusing if he hadn't been so relived that Dad wouldn't be leaving. The man had then sat the both of them down and had told John to look to his hearts content. And John had.
He spent ages looking the man over. Looking at his hands and feet with all their little seams and oddly hard nails. Looking at the bar-codes on his arms and the ports on his head and neck, largely hidden by his hair. His face and the large seam that stretched from ear to ear. After that John never had an issue worrying about staring again. He quickly grew used to the oddities of his father and soon paid them little mind having nearly forgotten about them.
John paid them mind now.
He was doing a lot of thinking now about the things he had so often overlooked about his Dad. He was going to do his best from now on not to overlook or run away from the truth anymore. John was fourteen now, not a little kid. They had been given a second chance at being a family, it was time that John made the most of it and learned who his father was really.
The teen was abruptly pulled from his thoughts as the next step progressed in the other room. Both he and Sunny immediately whirled away from the viewing window as the Doktor picked up an odd looking instrument, something round out of a nearby tray and unflinchingly inserted them both into an empty eye socket that George was holding open.
Sunny ground the heels of her palms into her eyes and shuddered. John agreed wholeheartedly with the sentiment. With the strange metallic clicking noises in the room over he began to feel positively nauseous. Bladewolf looked at the two of them curiously.
"You both are experiencing strong aversion." The metal head cocked to one side. "Why?"
"People get kinda squicked out about eye stuff." John did his best to ignore the twisting of his stomach at the thought of what was going on.
"Yeah." Sunny added with another shudder. "Could you please let us know when its over?"
"I shall." Bladewolf declared and stared into the room intently, on a mission.
"I remember when Dad came back from work a few years ago missing an eye." John said to Sunny, trying for small talk to distract the both of them. Probably not the best topic at the moment, he reflected as soon as the words were out of his mouth. "An arm too."
"I remember that. Him missing an eye I mean. He never told me how it happened. But then again we didn't exactly have the time to chat back then." She gratefully engaged in the conversation.
"He never told me either. But he never acted bothered by it so I didn't pry. I think Mom was the most upset about it out of the three of us. It didn't help that Dad kept making jokes about it."
"Jokes?
"Yeah. Stuff like asking me to give him a hand with opening a jar, or to keep an eye out and tell him when the commercials were over with and the movie came back on." John chuckled at the memories. "Now that I think about it, I think he turned the whole deal into a joke so I wouldn't be too bothered by it. He would always do that kind of thing whenever he came home from work messed up."
"From my experience with the internet, I believe the term for such humor is 'Dad Jokes'." Bladewolf chipped in, still observing the progress in the next room. John tried really hard not to laugh at the idea of the dangerous looking robot going online to look at memes. "A fitting brand of humor to share with you as he is your father. The eye portion of the procedure has been completed." Bladewolf announced to the two teenagers. John turned around and let out a soft sigh of relief. Not because the whole eye thing was done and over with...well, just a little bit yeah, but because Dad looked like Dad again.
He had his hair mostly back once more. George was gently maneuvering the man's head this way and that, checking for any stray strands that may have become caught in the seam before securing the scalp in place. His fathers eyes were closed, looking like he was simply sleeping rather than that unsettling hollowed out look.
It looked like Dad was just laying peacefully on the table. The teenager began to get a little choked up looking at him. He just wanted to rush into the room and run to his father. He was back. After all these years, he was finally back.
The heart clinching joy that John felt was quickly swept aside by confusion as nothing happened. Everything was done and attached properly, but his father still lay there unmoving.
"Well..? Why isn't he getting up? Is everything alright?" The boy questioned quietly. Sunny was quick to calm the disquiet that was churning in him at the sight of his father still so motionless.
"It's ok. Its all part of the standard procedure for the attachment process." Sunny scooted closer to him and pointed towards the terminal that the Doktor and his assistant were observing. "They have him fully attached to his new body but they haven't activated those attachments yet. Think about it, turning on all those nerves at once is a bit of a shock to the brain. I've heard that even activating a single limb is really intense."
"Intense? It wont hurt him, right?" John shifted back and forth, trying to see into the other room better. He looked over his fathers face for any hint of distress or tension. It still remained slack, almost disturbingly lifeless.
"No. See the brainwave display on the computer over there?" John nodded in affirmation even though he had no idea what Sunny was pointing at. "He's pretty deeply sedated and wont feel a thing. It will be ok."
Before the subject could be discussed further between the two of them Doktor motioned for George to go stand by their patient and turned towards the computers himself. A few keystrokes from the older man and the formerly still figure on the table went rigid.
John leaned forward with a look of dismay, hands splayed out on the glass. Before he could get too worked up over the distressing sight the moment passed and his father went limp once more. John exhaled heavily and relaxed himself. Sunny patted his shoulder reassuringly.
"See? It was over before we knew it and it didn't disturb him in the slightest."
"Disturbed me plenty though." John quipped which earned him a giggle that made him feel all fluttery. Or was that just relief he felt?
"Hey!" George called out to the three observers, waving from across the room. "It went off without a hitch pretty as can be! We is gonna be waking him up now."
Sunny let out a little cheer, clapping. John gave the other boy a grateful smile who returned it with a bright smile of his own and turned his attention back over. John whirled around in alarm as he felt something smack the back of his leg. It was Bladewolf's tail which was wagging enthusiastically as he raptly watched the proceedings in the room over. The two teenagers mirrored the intent focus of the AI and pressed up against the glass as the sleeping man began to stir.
John immediately wished that he were in that room instead of being stuck behind this hateful glass as he saw his fathers eyes open. From Sunny's little hitch of breath, she felt the same as he did at the sight. They watched as the blue eyed man squinted at the bright lights shining down on him from above. He turned his head away from the glare and his arm twitched as if he had tried to drape it over his face to shield his eyes from the light.
John watched as his father tried to move again, but with only marginally more success. The teen didn't know if it was the environment, the shock of having a body once again, or the sluggishness of the responding cybernetics but as his father became more aware the more distressed he seemed.
The Doktor approached his patient's side and began speaking soothingly. Despite the presence of the Doktor his Dad didn't look any calmer. John turned an ear to the glass but he still could not make out anything from the German man's soothing words. Doktor motioned for George to help the man sit up.
As soon as the teenager had helped him sit up his father immediately tried to get up off the table only to have his legs give out and to collapse in the floor. John watched in distress as his father tried to rise from the floor but was not able to get his uncooperative limbs to work with him.
Gone was the man that moved as smoothly and gracefully as a feline. Instead in his place was someone who could not get their tremoring arms and legs to coordinate with one another to do more than leverage up to a sitting position, and that was only with the help of George propping him up on one side.
The Doktor knelt down beside him to talk. John was beginning to get frustrated that he could not hear anything that was being said. He couldn't even attempt to lip read as the Doktor had his back to the viewing window and his father was saying nothing, eyes squeezed shut tightly. John fought the urge to run from the viewing room and find his way into there. The impulse only grew stronger as John watched as Dad gave up trying to stand and curled in on himself. It was the concerned look on George's face that broke John's resolve to stay put.
"John!" Sunny called out to him as he pushed away from the glass and ran out of the hall with the windows, looking for which door would lead him to where he needed to go. The teen halted in his tracks only a few paces down the hallway, uncertain of where to head next.
Sunny was hot on his heels and was soon by his side. John expected her to try and talk him into coming back, to calm down but he was going to have none of it. He was going to be with Dad for this struggle and no one was going to be able to convince him otherwise. Despite his expectations Sunny did not try to dissuade him.
In the hall she silently beckoned for him to follow her. Through the worried look on her face, she held some of that same determination to be there that John did. The teen did not know the depth of history that she and his father shared but he was too grateful for the guidance to let jealousy get in the way. A quick walk down the hall and around the corner and the automated doors to the room slid open obediently.
And then there he was.
John was caught between being frozen to the spot and running forward. After being gone for so long Dad was finally right there in front of him. George was helping him remain seated against the shaking. Upon seeing the two teenagers barge into the room the Doktor fell silent mid sentence. At the abrupt quiet his Dad opened his eyes in confusion, still squinting from the light. He looked over and made eye contact with John.
He reached out a trembling arm for the boy. John all but lunged into his arms.
He paid no attention to the sharp pain in his knees at the hard contact with the cold tile floor. He paid no attention to anyone else in the room. He didn't even care to be embarrassed about the sharp sobs that burst free from him unhindered. All he cared about was the solid trembling arms wrapped around him. John hugged his father as tightly as he could and cried.
"Glad to finally have you back." Sunny whispered tearfully somewhere to John's right. John felt his father nod but the man did not reply. Unburying his face from his shoulder, John glanced up to see that Dad had tightly closed his eyes once again. John glanced over at George who was still helping the shaking man sit upright. The taller boy shot another concerned look over towards the Doktor.
"Stubborn man." The German man muttered without heat as he stiffly got to his feet. "I said you were not ready yet, but do you listen? No. What do I know about these things." The Doktor went to the computer to observe the data presented. John quickly turned his attention back to his father.
The boy wanted to talk to him, to apologize, say anything, but he was so choked up that breathing was difficult, much less speaking. Instead of struggling with words that would not come, John tucked his face back down and felt the arms around him tighten in response. A shrill beeping broke the moment.
A few paces away, the Doktor took one look at the computer display and made an exasperated sigh. He immediately returned to the man sitting in the floor haloed by concerned teenagers.
"Raiden. You are remembering to breathe, ja?"
With growing alarm John watched his father manage a small useless gasp at first then a larger shuddering breath. Immediately the tremors seemed to worsen. The other boy silently motioned for John to move back. He didn't want to. After so many years, letting go of his father was the last thing he wanted to do. At Sunny's gentle tugging at his hoodie, John reluctantly relented and let go.
Dad released him without resistance. The man opened his icy blue eyes but the bright light once again forced them tightly closed. The boy's heart skipped in anticipation as father opened his mouth to speak. Only no words came out. Taking a small breath the man tried again but once more said nothing, seemingly unable to get the words out.
"Whats wrong with him?" John's voice was a much higher pitch in his anxiety. He looked back and forth between an equally concerned looking George and a frowning Doktor rubbing at his eyes.
"Aye Dok," George nervously shot towards the man in question. He continued to support Dad who had immediately curled back up once John had moved away from his embrace. "He isn't rejecting, is he?"
"No." Doktor said, sounding more annoyed than worried.
"Whats that?" He asked, not liking the way that term sounded. A click-click-click of metal tapping against the floor announced the arrival of Bladewolf to the room. The AI went to the other side of his father to assist George in supporting him.
"There is a reason that cybernetics are done on fresh injures. Long term amputations or birth defects are often nonviable for partials. Nerves that are damaged or not properly developed cause the Brain-Machine-Interface to malfunction and fail, known as 'rejecting.'" The Doktor explained turning away from the group on the floor and began typing in something onto a small handheld. "That is not at all what is happening here. Raiden has been without cybernetics for so long it is something like that his brain has somewhat forgotten how to process all of this excess input. Simply put his system is too overwhelmed right now."
"So is he going to be ok?" John didn't know what to do with this information. The stress of this whole event was making it hard to sort things out.
"Indeed, indeed. This would not be a problem if the neural recovery had been allowed to proceed for at least a week longer before connection. Like I had told him. But there is no rejection or long term issues at play here. The brain will remember soon. Just like riding the bike, ja? Raiden, breathe. A little bit of supportive care for a while longer and he will be back to his old self in no time." The Doktor once again knelt down beside his father.
Dad managed to open his eyes against the bright lights of the lab and look over towards John once more. Before anything could be attempted to be said or exchanged between the two of them, his head was abruptly tipped down by the Doktor. John wanted to protest the seeming rough treatment but held his tongue.
The older man connected a cord into a port at the base of his patient's skull then soothed the blond hair back down. A few deftly entered commands in the handheld and his Dad immediately went limp, tremors ceasing. It was only due to Bladewolf and George that he didn't completely sag to the floor.
John was hurt that once again his father was unconscious after so short of a reunion. He understood that it was for his own good at the moment but the boy still wished that he had been held just a little longer in those familiar arms. John remained kneeling in the floor as the AI and other cyborg lifted his father back to the table. He only rose to his feet at Sunny's silent urging upwards. The shrill beeping sounded throughout the room once again.
John didn't know any German but he knew swearing when he heard it. After several choice words the older man tiredly rounded on the children and began shooing them out.
"Go. Go. I must get this situation managed. George, you out too. Bladewolf, stay please if you will."
The three teenagers were unceremoniously ousted from the room, the shrill sounds from the computer accompanying them the entire way. John wanted to resist the ejection and stay by his fathers side, but the tone and expression on the medical man's face left no room for dispute. Hoping for the next best thing, John backtracked through the hall to the viewing window. He was dismayed to find that the previously clear glass had turned a milky opaque.
Pulling off his mask and gloves, George lay his good hand on the distraught boys shoulder.
"It will all be alright, ya? The Dok gets cranky sometimes after tricky surgeries. Trust me." The taller teen tapped the glass gently with a flesh finger. "He switched off the view cause he doesn't like people to see him flustered. Wanted some peace to work and all that. Your dad gonna be just fine. Swear on my life."
John nodded in acknowledgment but did not reply. He didn't know what to say to the other two teenagers who stood by his side in support of him. Perhaps they themselves needed support. They may not have been related, but it made no difference. Dad apparently meant a lot to everyone here in his own way.
The three of them stood for the longest time in that brightly lit hall. Each one of them were silent, but there truly was no need for words between them. There was nothing left for the three of them to do other than wait.
.
Authors notes: Finally back in a body but not out of the woods yet. Once again I'm sorry for the slow updates. I may not be very fast but I'm still trucking. Thank you for reading and all of the kind reviews.
Additional note from my Beta: "I fricken love Boris. Everyone needs a Boris."