Copy, (An Astro Boy Story)

Chapter 25: Sticks and Stones May Break My Bones

Cora couldn't quite suppress a smile as her eyes travelled up to finally look at the owner of those glorious boots.

She never thought she'd be so happy to see an activated robot with memories intact. God bless. "Astro," she managed to say, for probably the hundredth time that week. This time, though, she actually got to say it to him.

She saw his eyes flicker down to her worriedly, before snapping back to Heckler with an angry scowl that seemed odd on his careworn face. He was holding the giant, blood speckled hammer in his mighty hand - which was about ready to fall off his body completely. His shoulder was unhinged from his torso by a good sixty degrees, but Astro still managed to heft the hammer up impressively and throw it halfway across the lab. It hit the opposite wall and clattered to the floor with finality.

Astro watched it hit, frowning, before turning back to Heckler with fire blazing in him - literally. Sparks were jumping off of his body like mini firework displays and his eyes skittered from their normal soft brown to an inhuman, glowing blue. It was actually incredibly terrifying.

"I would run if I were you," he rasped.

Heckler stared at Astro in horror for about half a second, a full-grown man with army training cowering before Astro's tiny form, before turning tail and booking it out of there as fast as his stubby legs would take him. His retreat echoed on the tile floor.

Astro smirked, watching him go with a sort of satisfied relief as he cradled his injured arm in his good one, mostly happy about being conscious again. He turned unsteadily to help Cora to her feet, but the girl was already pushing herself up off the ground and throwing her spiky hair back in a ponytail.

"Oh, no, you don't!" she screamed after Heckler, scooping up her fallen, battle-scarred wrench and hefting it over her shoulder with a strength Astro hadn't expected. She wobbled, but planted her feet, eyes blazing. "I get a piece out of you first!"

"Cora, what - " Astro started, but the Surface girl brushed him off. "Shush," she told him, pressing a greased-stained finger to his robot lips and grinning at him. "This'll only take a minute."

And with that, she was sprinting after Heckler with wrench held high over her head, yelling her newfound battle cry.

"Cora! Wait - " Astro tried, but Cora was already out the door and out of sight.

He sighed, chuckling lightly to himself at her impulsiveness. At least she hadn't changed much. That was something. Him on the other hand...

CrrrUNCK. Astro winced as another few parts of him clattered to the ground. He wasn't sure how long he'd been dead - or offline, or whatever. He kept remembering bits and pieces of odd things, flashes of events he didn't exactly think happened, but they were all fuzzy and buzzing, like a damaged video stream. His vision kept going in and out too, tinted blue, and he limped a little bit as he turned around, dreading what was waiting there for him even more than the numbers on the damage analysis he'd probably be getting soon enough.

Toby and his father still lay huddled by the lab table he'd been strapped to, recovering from whatever the heck had happened. Astro didn't really have any idea what, exactly, had happened - both to them and to him - but he didn't really care. He was mostly just thankful he'd been brought back online in time for him to save Cora.

Toby looked tired. Really tired. He held himself in a sort of listless way, with grease all over his hands and hair unwashed and unstyled. He looked older somehow, and much more approachable. He was certainly not the same boy Astro had talked to in his bedroom, that night he'd flown away. That much he could tell.