Hidden Enemies | The Prime Archives #2 ✓

twenty-four

The sound of Archie's wheelchair wheels squeaking against the polished floor grated Oscar's ears. He hated the noise. He also hated the sight of the fifteen-year-old's chair. He hated everything about it.

The wheels were too big, and they made too much noise. And it couldn't even move on its own. The least they could have done was give the kid an electric wheelchair.

For the past couple of days, Oscar and Theo had been taking turns wheeling Archie around The Acropolis. It had been Oscar's day to babysit him; the two of them were currently on their way to the boy's lab.

Ever since the doctors let him out of the hospital, after letting him know he may never walk again, he had been spending most of his time cooped up in his lab. He worked on old schematics he hadn't touched in years. He developed dozens of prototypes for devices he had no plans on using.

He did anything to keep his mind from wandering.

Oscar hated what happened to him—and to Holly. They didn't deserve it. They didn't deserve any of it. His fingers tightened around the wheelchair's handles, his knuckles turning white.

"Hey, can you speed it up?" Archie urged from in front of him. "I've got something printing in my 3D printer and I wanna be there before it finishes."

"You're a bossy lil' dude, you know that," Oscar quipped. Shaking his head, he continued pushing down the hall.

The boy pulled his cellphone from his pocket and started tinkering with a line of code meant for his latest invention—a toy for Emily's brother. For the past year, he had been making Emerson Yumiko small battle robots. If Archie kept it up, Emerson could've started plotting to take over the world with his army of violent droids.

As Oscar watched Archie work, he couldn't help but wonder how he hadn't completely lost himself. How was he still functioning? How could he just act like something terrible hadn't happened to him?

He lost his legs. During the explosion, he even suffered a major concussion that nearly dealt permanent damage to his brain.

How had he bounced back so quickly? Had Oscar been in his shoes, he wouldn't have known what to do. But he knew himself well enough that he wouldn't have had the strength to keep carrying on as Archie had done.

While he would never admit it, the kid was stronger than he was—in more ways than one.

With a sigh, he turned the corner into the corridor that led to Archie's workshop.

Memories from that fateful day popped into his head. He faltered, his mouth drying. His tongue felt like a paperweight inside his mouth. The potent scent of sulfur and heated metal returned to his nostrils. He could still feel the electricity creeping up his skin.

He swallowed hard, desperately trying to gather himself before Archie noticed.

But then Holly's still body surfaced in his head. Her green eyes, once full of life and attitude, were dull. Empty. Dead.

He saw Archie run out of the truck again. His throat tightened like someone had tied a tourniquet around it. In the depths of his own head, he watched helplessly as Archie and Holly charged straight into danger. They hadn't even thought twice about it. They just went.

They were the heroes.

Unfortunately, being a hero was costly. Oscar wasn't sure if it was worth the price of admission.

"You alright back there?' Archie twisted in his seat with his nose scrunched and his eyes narrowed. "We can't move if you don't push. That's how this works."