Prodigal Son

Chapter 21

(Quick author's note: sorry about any upload confusion! Again! Uploaded too soon and had to pull it.)

"So, how's he looking?"
Doctor McSwain looked over his notes, Charlie growing nervous as she looked visibly tensed.
".... Physically, I'm optimistic. His legs are weaker, but with patience and the right physical therapy, he should be alright. I'll need to take some scans, however, to see the extent of his nerve damage. No telling if the pain receptors are dead, or just need time to recover."
"And... Mentally?"
She paused, then went quiet.
"... Mental health isn't my expertise. But... I will say, he needs help. It's not hard to see how this.... Experience.... Damaged him."
Charlie sighed, thinking of the previous conversation.
The bitterness of his tone, the pain in his eyes.
"... Any recommendations?"
"I'll take a look at local resources, give you anything helpful I find."
"Thank you, so, so much."
The doctor looked over her notes again, and sighed.
"... Keep an eye on him, Charlie. All you Burns are fighters, but..."
She trailed off. Charlie only nodded, looking down.
"... I know.... All my kids are some of the strongest people that'll ever grace this earth. And... Truth be told... I think Cody's the strongest of us all. Just making it this far... God... No parent worthy of the title could ever possibly dare to wish this... Agony upon their children."
Doctor McSwain sighed, then started down the hall.
"This world is a cruel, cruel place, Charlie. Madmen like Morocco... He made it certain we'll never forget him. The man was a monster... But I think he wins, because he gets a legacy. Because we'll remember that we hated him, that we curse his name as a bastard with a god complex. We'll never forget what he did... And that's why he wins."
The doctor continued down the hall, her words bitter.
"The good always go first... It's the pure that bear the sins of the rotten."
-
Heatwave took some cautious steps, not relying on Optimus for a support.
"How's the pain?"
Blades watched him carefully, and Heatwave tried to look nonchalant, but couldn't help a wince.
"Bearable. I really don't feel it, but every once in a while, it stings."
Ratchet nodded, saying sternly,
"I'm recommending light duty, if any at all, for the next couple weeks. No transformations."
Heatwave nodded, if a bit reluctantly.
"Not ideal, but I can live with that."
Ratchet only eyed him sternly.
"You're lucky to be living at all."
Chase snapped to attention, pointing at Heatwave.
"As the saying goes, Doctor's orders. I will personally enforce this mandated rest if required!"
"Okay, okay, no need to write me a ticket."
Chase went a bit quiet, sighing.
"... We were... Very worried about you, Heatwave. The Moor-Bot has obviously committed extreme atrocities, but... The thought of a murder charge for the death of my team leader.... And dear friend... I do not know how I would have carried on."
That made Heatwave pause.
Chase often had trouble expressing himself. His habit of being very literal, having trouble with sarcasm and figures of speech, it made emotions a little challenging.
But this... This was raw.
Heatwave's spark panged at the clear depression in Chase's tone, realizing how badly he'd been worrying over his condition.
"... Chase... I.. I'm sorry."
He sighed, then motioned Chase, Boulder, and Blades closer.
"Look... How many close calls have we had, in the field? Our work is dangerous, always has been, always will be. And we went in knowing that this would be one of the worst missions we've ever had. I don't regret doing what I did. But... I am sorry, that I scared you like that."
Boulder tapped his shoulder, smiling sadly.
"We understand. It's all in our line of duty. We were scared, we thought we'd loose you. We don't blame you what for what you did, and all of us were wholly committed to doing the same as needed. But the thought of loosing you... It was a scary one."
Heatwave smiled, and the four pulled in close.
"I know, I know... But... Thank you. Thank your for finishing the fight, and... Thank you, for being the best rescue team and closest friends I could ever ask for."
Quietly, the four pulled into a hug.
Optimus watched from afar, then quietly made his way out of the room.
He had a favor to ask of Agent Fowler.
-
Cody was curled up in the bed, his knees to his chest.
He felt numb.
He tried not to think about the broken mirror.
Doctor McSwain totally noticed...
He played with his hands, absently tracing the toy model of Heatwave.
He just couldn't stop thinking about it.
He hadn't actually seen the hit, his head was facing the other way because of how Dani had been holding him.
But the sound...
The sound...
He closed his eyes, a hand tracing the toy's chest.
The shriek of torn metal.
The scream that ripped out of the depths of Kade's soul.
It seemed to ring sharply in his ears, forever echoing around.
His hand shook, the toy trembling in his grasp.
It hurt.
It hadn't slipped his mind that the Moor-Bot had kept him away from Heatwave.
The Moor-Bot had never talked about him in his presence, had never said anything in front of him.
He'd seen it glaring at old files of Heatwave, but had never said anything.
And that scared him. 
He'd been convinced to kill Kade himself, but the Moor-Bot had tried to keep him away from Heatwave.
It wasn't the pleas of his family that'd gotten him to fight back, it had been Heatwave's near death.
He lowered his hand, pulling the toy to his chest.
..... Would Kade have had the same effect?
If it had been anybody else, would he have been able to fight it off?
.... Could he have gone through with killing somebody?
Suddenly, the found of footsteps caught his ears, along with the swish of plastic, and a light knock on the doorframe.
"Hey."
Frankie lingered in the doorway, holding a plastic bag.
Cody looked up, still holding the toy.
"... Hey..."
"Can I come in?"
He shrugged, and she walked over, taking a seat in a chair next to the bed.
"Everything okay?"
He sighed, looking away.
"No."
She raised up the bag, smiling slightly.
"I brought ice cream."
He slowly looked back over.
"... What flavor?"
"Mint chocolate chip."
She dropped the bag in her lap, pulling out two pint containers and two plastic spoons.
Cody's eyes widened, clearly interested, but he looked at her suspiciously.
"What's the catch?"
She raised her hands, smiling.
"Hey, can't I just bring my best friend a pick me up?"
He didn't look convinced, but the sugary temptation was too strong for him to resist, and he sighed.
"... Hand it over."
She handed him one of the containers, and he set the Heatwave replica on the nightstand, working the lid off the ice cream.
"Doctor McSwain said I shouldn't have too much sugar. They want me to have a "healthful" diet, they said I was showing signs of malnutrition, and had only had empty carbs under the Bot's "care"."
Even so, he dug his spoon in, wolfing down large spoonfuls.
Frankie pried open her own, taking a smaller bite, before asking,
"So, what did you eat? Did the Moor-Bot choose, or did you?"
Cody swallowed another bite, and flushed slightly.
"... Well... It's... I mean... The Moor-Bot was trying to be a real Bot, right? Just like the Cybertronians? Unfortunately... It didn't really know much about how to care for a human. So... I basically just raided the junk food sections of a few gas stations."
Frankie snorted a bit, and Cody flushed.
"It was the sour gummy worms, wasn't it?"
"... Yeah it was a lot of sour gummy worms..."
Both of them laughed a bit.
His smile, slightly embarrassed, was genuine.
It was the first time in a long time she'd seen him smile like that.
"Only you, C.B. only you...."
He sighed, lowering the pint.
"Yeah... Only me..."
The smile faded, and he glanced back at the nightstand, his eyes latching onto the toy.
His hands started shaking again.
"... Frankie. You... You saw the full medical reports, didn't you?"
Frankie froze, setting down her own ice cream.
"... I... Not completely. They... They didn't want me to see. But... I spied on them, and overheard a few things."
He went quiet, his hands trembling as slowly looked up, meeting Frankie's eyes.
"... Can you tell me what happened to my brain?"
"What do you mean?"
He sighed, a hand absently grabbing for the toy.
"... I know the Moor-Bot rewrote my brain. I want to know how bad, and if it's permanent."
Frankie tried to carefully think about her answer.
"... It's.. complicated. But..."
He suddenly reached out, grabbing her hand.
He almost pleaded with her,
"Please. Please... Nobody's telling me anything. I just... I just want to know what's wrong with me."
Frankie was stunned by his pleading.
Ever since waking up, he'd just been so... Angry.
He'd just had this bitterness towards everyone around him, this bitterness towards the situation, towards life.
But as he stared into her eyes, she could just feel that rage melting away.
It just seemed to drain right out of him, replaced with broken, honest fear.
She thought about how he'd ranted, unloading to everybody.
They'd all known, it had to be years worth of built up anger. Years worth of pain, all bottled up, all shoved deep inside beneath that happy exterior.
She understood.
Once it started, he just couldn't plug the leak. Not until it had all spilled out.
He looked so tired.
Tired from holding it in, tired from letting it out.
She took a deep breath.
"... The implant was designed to completely rewrite your neural pathways. It was supposed to completely change your morals, the way you thought about everybody in your life. It was making you the exact opposite of who you are... Were... I don't know. And.... It was almost done. The corruption process was nearly completed. But... It got interrupted, at the last possible second. If it hadn't been... you'd be... That version of you permanently."
"How was it interrupted?"
She gripped his hand.
"... You. From what we understand, the implant was damaged when the hoverboard exploded. It didn't stop the corruption, but it did allow you to fight. It's... The leading theory that Heatwave's sacrifice caused a huge emotional blowback, which overloaded the implant. From there, you took back control."
Cody absently rubbed his neck, suddenly flinching at phantom pain.
It didn't hurt- not that he could feel- but he was hit with the memory of the pain.
".... But did I?"
He looked away, Frankie following his gaze to the wall just above the dresser.
Suddenly, she frowned.
"Wait ... Wasn't there a mirror there?"
His sharp flinch told her everything.
"... Cody... What's going on?"
He looked at the toy Heatwave, then felt his eyes grow wet as he met Frankie's eyes again.
"... I don't think the corruption's gone. I think it's still inside me. I can't make that anger go away. I think thinking about what I tried to do... I keep wondering if I could've gone through with it. I don't think I could live with myself if I did... I don't think I can live with myself now."
Frankie pulled him close, and the toy slipped from his hand, clattering on the ground.
"... I hate myself... I just feel so angry at everyone and I can't make that anger go away. I just... I feel like there's poison in me. Like I'm poisoning everyone."
She pulled him close, her huge tight.
"Hey... I promise, I'm going to help you through this, okay? It's okay for you to hurt. This is... Bad. This is a traumatic experience, and your brain is injured. It's okay to be having a hard time dealing with how you feel about people. It's okay to be questioning how you feel about yourself."
"Not if I hurt somebody!!! Not... Not if..."
His hands started shaking more violently than ever, spreading to his body. Frankie held him tight, as his breath choked up.
"... Not if I'm just like him. Not if I'm just like Morocco..."
She pulled away, tightly grabbing his shoulders, staring right into his eyes.
"Cody. You... Are NOTHING like Morocco. NOTHING. You're hurting. Yes, you did bad things. But you could never be like him."
"But... But I was..."
And then the floodgates broke.
Tears started streaming down his face, his voice cracking.
He shook violently, the ice cream getting knocked to the floor, splatting over the toy.
He surged forward, wrapping his arms tight around Frankie.
He only held him, rubbing his back.
His head buried in her neck, a low wail escaping him.
"... Let it out... let it all out..."
-
Charlie yawned, earning a stern look from Doc as they continued down the hall.
"I thought I told you to sleep."
"I did!  Honest!"
Doc sighed.
"Clearly not enough."
"Oh, cut me some slack, will you? You can't tell me you'd be sleeping, if it was Frankie."
Doc literally halted in his tracks.
"... Low blow, my friend."
Charlie cringed, turning softly.
"... Ezra... I'm sorry. Yeah... That was... That playing dirty."
Doc took a deep breath, them looked at him pointedly.
"Old friend... I'm worried about you. Yes, we're all worried sick about Cody. And I'm worried you're destroying yourself from guilt. Woodrow and I gave you that intervention because quite obviously, you need one. And if you do not listen to us... Then I fear we shall be forced to take drastic measures."
Charlie listened, then sighed, and started down the hall again.
"I'm not the one in the hospital with brain damage, Ezra."
"Charlie-"
"I need to see my son."
Doc's hand went to the syringe in his pocket, frowning as he followed Charlie down the hall.
-
Cody gasped, before leaning down into the toilet bowl, retching.
Frankie awkwardly patted his back, cringing.
"... Okay... Maybe you let out too much..."
"What on earth?!??"
Frankie leaned out from the room's bathroom, her face going pale.
".... Uh oh..."
Charlie's eyes darted around the room, latching onto the melted ice cream.
"Oh, what did you do?!"
"I-"
Doc shoved past, trying to assess the situation.
"Okay, let's all calm down here. Frankie, what happened?"
"I... I just wanted him to feel better..."
More heaving sounds from the bathroom, and Charlie stormed in.
"My god... You know he's very... Restricted right now!!! Frankie, you can't just-"
"I'm sorry!!! I just... Wanted to help him!"
Charlie's face soured, his eyes drifting to Cody purging himself of the remaining ice cream.
"... I think you've helped enough..."
He dropped to his knees, rubbing Cody's back.
"Doc, get doctor McSwain in here!"
Doc frowned, but nodded, taking off down the hall.
Frankie took a few steps back, her heart racing.
Her eyes latched onto the spilled ice cream, the gluey residue creating a sticky, suction sound, as her foot stepped on it.
"... I'm sorry..."
Everything was falling apart.
And she didn't know what to do.