Copy, (An Astro Boy Story)

Chapter 21: Only Human

Everything was black, he could remember nothing.

Slowly, light. A man's face, staring down at him. Holding a hammer.

Then pain. Pain unlike anything he'd ever endured before.

And he was screaming.

~O~

Toby was starting to worry he might be on his own.

He tried to tell himself that was okay. It would be okay, wouldn't it? He didn't need Zane. He didn't need anybody, and he especially didn't need the likes of Cora, no matter how much her help might be warranted.

Because she wouldn't help. She was a selfish little Surface junkie who only cared about herself and her own goals. When it was about Astro, all the guns were out. When it was about his father...the well had dried right up.

But that was okay. Totally okay. Toby didn't need help, because he had never needed help before. The fact that he had sort of had friends for a day didn't matter.

Nope. He wasn't even upset.

He shuffled his feet and checked the time on his holo-pad again, ignoring the swirling dial that meant his hacking programs were failing to break into the Ministry of Science. Whatever lockdown had been initiated was not going to be easily brought down, even by him. It figured really. Toby had a bad feeling his father probably designed it.

He taped the screen lightly, zooming in and then back out again for no particular reason, leaning against the large sales bulletin he'd taken refuge by. Its lights flickered and changed colors as it switched between each advertisement. Three minutes. Zane had three minutes.

VURKOOM.

Toby started a bit and looked up just in time to see the butt of a black, skull-and-flame patterned hoverboard slip over his head and get hit with the pungent smell of its organic, blue waste. He puckered his nose distastefully.

Zane.

"Nice ride," Toby complimented him as he blinked rapidly, trying to rid his eyes of the sunspots the board's blue fire had given him. "Love the custom. Thanks for coming on such short notice by the way, it's kinda – "

He cut off rather quickly as the board touched down and clicked off, leaving Zane to turn around and look at him.

Except it wasn't Zane.

He must have sworn because she smirked at him.

Cora.

"What the Hell are you doing here?" he growled, quickly stuffing his holo-pad into the inner pocket of his leather jacket and scowling menacingly at her.

Cora sniffed, looking fairly unfazed. She crossed her arms. "Nice jacket," she said.

Toby had to stop himself before he accidently thanked her. He was pissed. Couldn't forget that. "I asked you a question."

"Yeah, I know, and I ignored it," Cora said, stalking forward uninvited and picking up one side of his jacket curiously. "Seriously, this real leather?"

"Hey, no touching!" Toby exclaimed, yanking himself out of her grip and smoothing his jacket self-consciously. "And yeah, it is, actually."

Cora sniffed again, crossing her arms with a hint of sass and grinning at him. "Rich boy."

Toby felt heat creep into his cheeks. "Why are you here, Cora? I called Zane, not you."

"He left his phone," Cora said easily, slipping the said contraption out of her pocket and waving it at him sarcastically. "So I answered instead. And if you're wondering, this is my board, not Zane's. Skulls are my thing."