Maverick (FCRAs Winner)

Birth

Sorry it's been so long! I am back teaching and so it's a little harder to make the time to sit down and write. I do have the next few parts ready to go though, so watch this space! I'd also really appreciate if you would consider voting for me in the FCRAs if you like this story as it would really mean the world to me. There are some great other entries too so check them out! Voting starts October 1st. Thanks for stopping by everyone :)

"Will you stop jumping on that?"

Tokes stopped momentarily bouncing his full weight onto the pile of rusting clockwork in the corner of the room, before giving it one last slam with gusto and waddling over to Hannah, rather pleased with himself.

"You have no idea how complex this is." She glowered at him as he started to kick the foot of the metal man she had been lovingly crafting for six days. 

"Here, make yourself useful." She threw a buffing cloth at him and turned back to her creation. He was beautiful. The cogs and levers melded perfectly into the red elastic that Hannah had used on her wings. The right half of his face, now buffed, was a burnished patchwork of bronze with a chiseled cheek and a large eye socket. The other was open; all the tiny mechanisms clear to see and admire working. She hadn't got any other metal to cover it with, and part of her was glad. It was incredible craftsmanship, even if it did make him look unnerving. Bending some wire around the finishing touches, she found herself getting lost in the wonder of this being she had created. This beautiful creature was the key to her absolution, and more importantly to Lily's freedom and the thousands of other young hopefuls like her. 

Her villain was a hero. And he was hers. She leant forward and gently kissed him on the head. He was a him now.

"HandyHan and Clockman sitting at a bench, kiss kissy-"Tokes' sing song of jest was cut off as Hannah turned and kicked him hard back into the pile of clockwork. Unfazed, he bounced back up, laughing hysterically. 

"Quiet!" Hannah hissed, trying in vain to suppress her frustration at the little dancing creature, but the ridiculous sight in front of her coupled with the elation of crafting something so awe inspiring meant she found herself joining him, laughing until her sides hurt and her knees buckled. 

"So what now, HandyHan?" Tokes jumped up to sit on the clockwork man's lap, causing Hannah to sink back to the floor, eyes streaming as she laughed at the ridiculous sight. Tokes shook his head.

"It's time for important thinkings, HandyHan. No more guffawgiggs." He turned to the clockwork and began tinkering.

"Careful with him, now." Hannah immediately  came to her senses and lifted Tokes off her creation. "I think, first, a name is a good thing."

"Tick tock." shouted Tokes triumphantly, as though it was the most incredible and original thing anyone had said.

"No."

"Brass Man."

"No."

"Scary face."

"What?"

"Pinocchio."

"Definitely not."

"Crazy Person."

"Why on earth would I name him that?" Hannah stared at Tokes incredulously. 

"After you." 

"Hmm." Hannah's brow furrowed. "You know what, that's not so bad. Naming him after me, or what I stand for, rather." She looked at the face of her creation and smiled. "He's Maverick."

Tokes wrinkled his nose. "I prefer Pinocchio."

"Well it's Maverick. He's Maverick. And now he has a name, I think we should fire him up."

She spun Maverick around and opened a small panel in the back of his neck. The mechanisms were simple and solar powered, like the rest of the clockwork creatures in the employ of Amaranthine. The standard green safety wire, attached to an emergency fail safe shut off in case something went wrong was hooked up and in place. The power backup was in place. The remote signals were in place. 

It was time.

Hannah connected up the last two wires and screwed them in. Standing back, she counted to ten.

Nothing happened.

"What on earth...everything is in the right place...what's going on?" Hannah slumped in despair, the enormity of her situation hitting her once again. No family, no home and no future. And no plan. It hit her. All the clockwork creatures had minders, controllers with a role to play. She was building something without a puppet master. She hadn't thought about how that would actually work, but it struck her that actually it may very well be impossible. 

And that was it, just like that. All her plans and visions for the future shattered. It was only at this point Hannah realised how empty she was, how this project was filling the ever growing hole in her heart as each day passed and she heard nothing from Julian, nothing from Lily. Communication stopped weeks ago and at first she thought it had been held up, but there was no mistaking it now. People move on. Hannah gets left behind.

"May I peek, HandyHan?" Jumping on a stool, Tokes squinted into the compartment. His grunts and moans were indiscernible, but it didn't matter to Hannah any more. It was over. There was nothing more she could think of doing.

"You need a special wire, HandyHan. Will make him extra special. Not a Pinocchio." Tokes moved his hands deftly, plaiting together wires in an alien and intricate pattern before placing it carefully in the back panel. Trapped in her despair, Hannah watched with little interest.

Three ticks. Maverick's hand slowly rotated.

"You did it!" The words went from whisper to triumphant roar as Hannah pumped the air with her fist and danced around the room as the other hand also rotated, a faint blue light growing brighter in one of Maverick's eyes. The other, a camera, whirred into life, the lenses moving as they focused. 

"He's alive!" Tokes joined in the manic dance and, as each one of his limbs engaged, Maverick slowly stood up and started to join them, robotically waving and bouncing on his clockwork legs.