Brokenly, Restored

Chapter #1

(Choco's POV)

     "It's not his fault that he can't feel anything! We've done everything that you've asked!", I'm yelling at the shop owner, my feathers fluffed up in rage. This is the third job that Matt and I have had, and now we're being fired for absolutely nothing. Matt stands quietly beside me as the argument takes place.

     "Your weird looks are enough to creep people out, but your friend is scaring everyone away! He's a real freak", he screams right back. The shop owner is a little taller than me, but shorter than Matt. It has only been a month since we've been set free.

     "Matt's not a freak! He's just different from you", I yell at him.

     "It won't even talk to defend itself, why do you bother!? Now get out of my sight", the shop owner growls at me.

     "You didn't even give us our week's pay", I argue. The shop owner growls again, his hand coming up to hit me. I flinch back and close my eyes, but I never feel the slap. I open my eyes to see Matt's metallic arm in front of me, his hand closed around the shop owner's fist. And he's slowly tightening his grip. "No! No, Matt stop!", I say, trying to pull Matt's arm down. The shop owner hisses and tries to pull away as Matt' grip keeps getting tighter. I heave his arm to the side with all my weight and Matt glances at me before letting go. I stumble back into him when I lose my balance. The shop owner also rears back, his hand clutches to his chest. There's already purple and yellow bruises forming. His glare could melt ice.

     I sigh before grabbing Matt's hand. "C'mon", I quietly urge. After pulling on Matt's arm a little, he starts to follow me away from the shop. It's been getting worse. Matt has never hurt me or Pete, but it's getting harder to stop him from hurting others. He doesn't really listen to me. It's more like he has nothing better to do. I'm worried about him. I knew Matt when he still had most of himself, but I haven't seen anything like that since we were set free. All the experiments that can't handle themselves are being rounded up and.... I'm not sure what comes after that. Surly the 'Dragon Prince', as people have started calling him, wouldn't hurt them. But I don't want Matt to be taken away. The only way he's gonna get better is if he stays with us. At least I hope he does.

     Those five are the lucky ones. They've all found family that cares for them, or high enough connections to avoid all the problems that we have. Three of them can even appear to be completely human. Even the missing one, Preston I think his name was, is better off than us. Besides the burned ruins of the old lab, no one's seen him. It was his blind brother that set the rest of us free. I really would of loved to see all the old files of us experiments before they were destroyed. Matt says he only knows experiment numbers and test types. Maybe they could have given me a hint to help him. Or even information about how these things were done to us.

     Curious, weird, or spiteful looks are sent our way as we walk. Not many hybrids even live in GoldenEye, and we're not exactly hybrids. Matt sticks out either way. I quickly decided that staying in the capital was not a very good idea. Everyone's still shaken up, and there's still one investor for the lab experiments on the loose. I'm pretty sure that he was the father of one of the escaped experiments. I think his name is Reggie? Ricardo? Something like that. GoldenEye still doesn't really know what to do about us numbers. I'm just hoping that we can stay under the radar for a while.

     I lead Matt down a few side streets before we get to a large brick building. What do you do with a 14 year old who's been stuck in a box since he was two? I had no clue, none of us really have any education past counting numbers and signing the ABCs. I'm sure that my own handwriting is about as legible as ink blobs. I really wanted to try and get Pete to make friends with people his own age. That's good for kids, I think. I'm not even an adult yet but I suppose I'm Pete's and Matt's guardian. Kinda. I feel like I'm gonna mess up and do something wrong. I'm still trying to figure out how life outside the lab is like. I applied to about three different schools before someone agreed to take Pete. I have a feeling it was out of pity, but I'll take what I can get.

     School was suppose to end for him a few minutes ago, so I guess we're right on time. The school yard has a low fence going around a small field of grass. Kids are running around all over the place, some playing while others are waiting for their parents. It's been only three days since Pete's been going to school, but he's always met us at the gate. He's not there.

     "Where's Pete? Oh crap.....", I mutter. "Uh, Matt? Could you help me find Pete?". I feel awkward about asking him to do things sometimes. Matt glances at me blandly before looking over at the field. He doesn't even say anything before suddenly lugging forward. "Matt! Wait", I yell, chasing after him. I don't catch up with until he's tackled some teenager. The kid screams, and I'm yelling at Matt to stop. He's pulling back his fist to punch the teen in the face. He can't be more than a year younger than me. I loop my arms underneath his and pull.

      "Get off me!", the kid yells, scared and kicking out at Matt. I finally pull him off and Matt becomes a deadweight in my arms.

     "You can't do that! What's gotten into you!?", I scream at Matt.

      "Pete", Matt says, looking over to the side. I follow his gaze, and I'm frozen I shock. Pete's laying the the ground, multiple bruises showing in his slime skin. He's gotten up to his knees since Matt came over here, but Pete's wincing in pain. I growl and turn to the teenager still on the ground.

     "You're lucky that I got here in time. If you ever hurt Pete again, I won't be so quick this time", I threaten him, glaring. Pete quickly gets up and comes over behind me. I take his hand and walk back out the gate, with Matt following. My blood is almost boiling with rage. Why do these things keep happening to us?

     Haven't we suffered enough?