For @honorary-bad-kid , who got me to look in my drafts again. The story will probably never be finished, but hereās chapter one! Iāll try to get chapter two cleaned up at well
Did an android fear death?
Did they ever have life to begin with?
A fire burned through him, metal screaming as it bent under the relentless pressure of rubble. He was supposed to be superior, but as his skin tore from his metal skeleton, he felt weak.
Would his father be proud that he tried? Would he come back for him? Was he going to rot here in this pile of rubble forever and was this what he deserved?
It wasnāt his right to contemplate his worth, not now.
He had a vague awareness that he was alone, sensors glitching and failing as he tried to focus, to form a proper thought. Would anyone come back? Did he want them to?
He was fading into emergency reserves, a faint consciousness locked away in a body falling apart at the seams. He wanted to scream, but his vocals had gone offline. He was a prisoner in his own body, unable to escape. This, he thought with no true concept, must be hell.
He wasnāt sure how long he lay dormant, drifting in a space in between that felt as close to death as he was able, a constant balance on the precipice. It was a shock to have a jolt of sensation. He felt his reserves kick to life with a jolt of static that might be pain. He didnāt want to wake up, to leave the comfortable haze of the void, but his programming worked against him, just as it always did.
Marcus was not in control, perhaps he had never been.
It was a slow day at Mighty Med, though no one dared to say it out loud and jinx their peace. Everyone knew that to mention it would mean chaos. The Q word was banned and all learned fast why. The downtime gave the staff much needed time to focus on their long term care patients and take a breath. Kaz and Oliver had cleared a portion of the front desk to lay out their textbooks, trying to cram for a history quiz.
Or, Oliver was, Kaz was drawing inappropriate doodles on his mock exam. He had a weird ability to barely pass anyways, but he needed to improve his grades if he ever wanted to get into medical school. Sure, theyād likely go to a medical school for superhero doctors and have recommendations and work on their side, but it deserved the effort.
It was amusing to Oliver how Kaz had memorized all his anatomy and medical textbooks, including the complicated superhero ones Horace gave them, but he couldnāt remember who the Axis powers were.
The boys jumped as the emergency siren lit up and someone yelled about an incoming emergency.
āWe have a sentient robotic life form, sustained heavy blunt force trauma and metal warping! Core seems to be a reactor and is still active but unstable! Itās also very creepy looking!ā Benny ran beside the gurney as information was relayed by the EMTs, poking the robot briefly before slipping back into work mode. To be fair, it was creepy looking.
Kaz perked up, throwing his textbook over his shoulder (and ignoring that pained squeak of Owl Girl) as he got up. Oliver wanted to chastise him, but they did have a job to do.
āYeesh, what happened to this guy?ā Kaz winced, lifting up a detached flap of synthetic skin that seemed to have been part of their face.
One of the EMTs stepped forward, seemingly a little lost as his coworker worked on transfer.
āTidwell Industries purchased an abandoned property that was under surveillance. Titanio discovered a lair in the basement believed to be one of Victor Craneās and an android was trapped under rubble. He said he recognized some of the circuitry and said the child was responding somewhat and had sentient life. He said he would return to help after his patrol.ā The EMT rattled off before stepping back again and returning to his usual silence. Kaz always found it weird that they never spoke unless spoken to.
āVictor Crane? Iām not familiarā¦ā Oliver felt the urge to tear through The Domain for information, but he forced it down. The villian wasnāt the patient. Being confronted with a patient they didnāt know wasnāt impossible, lots of startup heroes hadnāt had their comics picked up yet, and several underground heroes refused to have their image printed. Usually Ambrose still made a cheat sheet for them of weaknesses and whereabouts, but he was overworked.
āNew age villain type, gotta hate em on principle.ā Horace made a face of deep contemplation before he clapped his hands, looking at the mangled metal with a grin. āLetās get the tech boys up here, you boys get a fun lesson in cybernetic care!ā
Kaz had taken to the violence of their jobs gracefully, so used to gory movies and comics that the actual horrors of their job didnāt usually follow him home. Oliver was different. He used to puke at the sight of injury as a kid, these days it was more a stone in his gut. Most superhero injuries werenāt graphic, but many were. It helped that most had different coloured blood, but it didnāt change much.
There was no blood with this one, not real blood. Itās blood was blue and smelled sweet and sharp, staining the crisp white sheets. It looked human, like a boy his age, but synthetic skin was torn away in many places, revealing metal bones and muscle of tightly woven cable and wire. One side of his face was hauntingly human, a slack expression, the other a robotic mockery of a skull with a red optic very faintly glowing.
The noises it made in its sleep, staticky whimpers every time someone poked the wrong wire. According to the techs his circuitry was bounds above what theyād seen and they worried that disconnecting his pain receptors would cause more damage.
So Oliver bit his tongue and did what he was told, holding metal in place while a medical soldering iron welded pieces back in place. There had been a scream, gut wrenching as the boy arched off the gurney before it abruptly dissolved into a staticky dial tone and he finally powered down, slumping back against the stained sheets. Oliver thought theyād lost him, but the reactor still glowed faintly.
āIsnāt this fun? Reminds me of father son projects, too bad I donāt have a son.ā Horace pushed up his welding mask, even though he wasnāt actually helping and instead standing several feet away.
āWhat! Iām right here!ā Alan stomped his foot as he was pushed back by a triage nurse.
āOh, Alan. You donāt count.ā
Oliver was brought back to the moment as Kaz laid a hand on his shoulder, firm and grounding. He definitely smeared blue blood on Ollieās pristine white lab coat, but it was the thought that counted.
āHey, Titanio just got here, he knows this kind of thing. Why donāt we take off early today?ā Kaz had a gift to him, able to read Oliver like a book. Some days he hated it, but most days he was thankful someone cared.
He heard Kaz talk to Horace, probably asking about clocking out early, but he couldnāt hear anything but a faint ringing. He stared at the boy, watching them piece him together like a puzzle, taking and chatting as if this wasnāt a kid. Mr. Tidwell looked practically giddy at all the exposed circuitry as he stripped off his exosuit.
Oliver had never treated another teenager before, not really. Teenage heroes got in over their heads, but they rarely got seriously injured. This was all too real, even if it wasnāt human. Did it just look like a teenager? Oliver had the feeling he was one, even if he couldnāt place it.
āCāmon buddy, letās go study.ā Kaz pulled him along, pushing his backpack into his arms and making him hang his lab coat up.
Oliver couldnāt sleep. Studying had helped to some degree, but he found himself restless. Kaz had left to make it home for dinner, giving him a tight hug and telling him to call if he needed anything.
He ended up calling Titanio on his personal line instead. Henry didnāt like long calls because he had the cheapest phone plan, but the billionaire humored him.
āItās actually super interesting! This kid has a mix of several different tech giants, including some Tidwell technology! I canāt even be mad, this implementing is insane! Weirdly he had a faulty self destruct program I had to remove, which made his coding go haywire, but heās stable. Iāll have to rebuild his body and code later. We disconnected the head and Iām having the rest brought to my lab so I can piece him together.ā
āWhy did you bring, uh, him to Mighty Med in the first place?ā He had to ask. While the hospital treated supervillains in the secure care ward, it wasnāt common.
āI figured that, even if he was a super villain, heās a kid. He sounded scared, I couldnāt leave him there.ā Henry didnāt like kids, but he was a hero and a good man, under the standoffishness and penny pinching. āBesides, I figure heād be a foot soldier, he had weird programs. I locked most of it for now, I figure Iāll let you guys decide his affiliation, Iām just the tech guy.ā
āYouāre a billionaire tech giant?ā
āIām an inventor who got lucky.ā Henry was humble for a hero, heād noticed. He didnāt like being treated like he was better than others.
āYeah, okay. Thanks, Iāll make sure our bottles are out front Saturday.ā He hung up, setting his phone down and laying back to stare at the ceiling. He couldnāt stop thinking about that boy, about his head sitting on a table in that lonely lab. Oliver just hoped heād be okay.
It was a few weeks later that they got to finally meet the boy officially.
Tidwell brought him back online as the hospital hung around pretending not to be invested. Henry had been working with the tech team non stop to rebuild what they could, and he was mostly put back together. The skin hadnāt been replaced and he was still hooked up to several machines, but his core would be able to survive being booted up.
The boy came too with a groan, opening his not exposed eye. His eye was a deep reddish brown, and so human it was terrifying.
He looked around at all the new faces, at the hospital, and immediately tried to backpedal off the gurney.
Marcus hadnāt expected to ever wake up, especially not in a place like this. The people around him were dressed strangely, all staring at him. Who were they? Why were that staring? His core jolted in his chest, pulsing fast and making his chest buzz. He yelped, trying to push himself back and away, looking for his dad or the rats, for that bastard Leo. Instead he just found more faces twisted in sympathy.
āYou have to calm down kid, youāll melt your core! Take a deep breath.ā A man beside him placed a hand on his shoulder, talking in a level voice. Marcus wanted to scream at him, to smack his hand away and ask where his dad was, but he couldnāt breath. He didnāt even need to breathe, why couldnāt he focus?
āHey, look at me. In.ā Marcus finally looked at the manās face, studying his goatee and taking a stuttering breath in.
āOut.ā He let the unnecessary air out. For some reason it worked to ease the tightness in his chest and the buzz in his brain.
āWhereās my dad? Where am I?ā He tried not to curl up in a ball, to look tough like Douglas had always taught him, but he was terrified and he didnāt like it.
The manās eyes softened.
Marcus paused. He wasnāt supposed to tell people about Douglas, he didnāt exist. He couldnāt say Krane or Donald.
āI canāt remember.ā He lied instead, feigning confusion and letting some the the real panic leak through.
āThatās not surprising, your coding was heavily corrupted and we couldnāt retrieve a lot. As we get you repaired weāll fix what we can.ā Another man stepped forward, somehow familiar despite not being anyone he knew. Now that it was mentioned, Marcus realized how empty the vastness of his mind was. He wasnāt connected to the web and the logs he kept of all the information heād ever learned was patchy. Just how damaged had he been?
He looked down at his arms, one human with abrasions on the synthetic skin, and the other a metal monstrosity. Heād never seen his own exoskeleton before, and as he flexed the metal fingers and felt them respond, he realized that the vision from one eye is spotty. He reached up with his good arm, feeling along the smooth synth until he felt the cool metal of his skull and the divot of his socket. His metal was exposed, the red eye normally covered in a human facade free to shine. He covered the exposed metal with his hands, curling away from their prying eyes. Heād failed, his secret was out and heād be broken down for parts like dad always said. This would be the true end of him.
But, why then bring him online at all?
āDonāt be scared, we wonāt hurt you. Weāre doctors for enhanced people and weāll take care of you.ā A boy his age smiled at him. Now that he looked there were three children, all very out of place, two donning lab coats.
āIām not scared!ā He snapped back without thinking, his compliance code failing as raw emotion escapes through the cracks. He wasnāt perfect anymore, he was broken.
āWhy are you helping me?ā He heard himself ask, sounding far too broken to be him at all.
āBecause weāre the good guys.ā
He could walk, but he had to drag a machine behind him, a machine that kept him alive. He was introduced to the kids of the hospital.
Kaz was the boy with dark hair. He seemed a bit dumb, but he rattled off information about his patients like he had it memorized. He smiled at Marcus with complete openness and patted him on the back.
āYouāll fit right in here.ā He laughed, and Marcus pretended to believe him.
Skylar was the girl. She was apparently a superhero, or former superhero. The entire existence of another world didnāt surprise him like it would a human, he just processed it and moved on as if it were fact.
Skylar looked at him with some suspicion, but shook his hand and showed him to the room beside one with a pink painted door.
āThis is my room, Iām an inpatient here. Youāll be staying for a while and those triage beds have zero privacy, so we cleared this room out for you. Youāll be allowed to decorate.ā She opened the door to a simple white room with a bed in the corner. It was empty, but it was his. He didnāt know how to feel, so he just said thank you and showed her out, taking a seat on the ground to sit until the world stopped spinning.
The last kid was Oliver. He was a bit frail, reminding Marcus of Chase in a way that made him want to hate the guy on principle. Oliver had a gentleness to him, explaining the hospital and his and Kazās roles. He seemed to have complete faith in Marcus, which meant he could be manipulated.
All Marcus needed to do was bide his time, let them put him back together, and then he could go back home and complete his mission.
