Twisted Cogs: Creation

Chapter 4: Echo

Judy watched from the corner, she was still soaking wet from her dive. She watched Dr. Julien feed his son oil. When she saw Zanes hand fall to his fathers hand she had to step out into the hallway. She didn't want to disturb them with her tears. She never thought she'd become emotionally compromised by a project. She walked into the company when she first started promising herself that it was just a job...so when did it start to feel like a family? She seen Dr. Julien as not only her boss, but a father figure. So when she saw Zane for the first time she wanted to make him feel at home. His eyes, his heart were so much bigger then her own...and they weren't even real. She peaked back into the room to see Juliens forehead to Zanes his tears free falling now. Zanes fingers were wrapped around his thumb, the mug was pressed between their chests. Completely forgotten.

"Ms. Judy?" Dr. Christopher walked over looking over Judy and the tears that were on her cheeks. Judy pushed the tears aside with her wet sleeve. "Why are you soaked?" He asked looking amazed.

"Oh um...the scaffolding in the pool room fell onto Dr. Julien. I had to jump in and save him with Zanes help."

"Oh was he injured?"

"I don't know. He's in there with Zane." Judy said. Dr. Christopher pushed past Judy and walked into the lab.

"Julien!" He called. Julien sat up and looked at Dr. Christopher with amazement. The worry written on his face was weird.

"I...um..." Julien stood up laying Zane down next to his potential brother. "He's alright, just a bit of a flood to his system. We'll look into it." Julien said

"Your arm." Judy said seeing the nice deep pink and purple color to it. "Doctor why don't you tell people when your hurt. This is like the billionth time you've done this." She said motioning for Julien to walk with her.

"Father?" Zanes soft voice asked. His eyes however weren't on Dr. Julien it was on Dr. Christopher. Zanes arms went up to hug his nonfunctioning brother.

"Its alright Zane...he was just leaving." Yet another emotion he didn't program him with. The desire to protect ones sibling from harm. Julien motioned or Dr. Christopher to leave. The man grumbled as he left the room.

"While I'm gone...why don't you think of a name for him? We were going to try and turn him on after the water experiment."

"Will we still try?" zane asked looking down at the boy with dirty blonde hair, his eyes weren't opened yet, but their was a huge gaping hole in his chest. He assumed thats where his power source was supposed to go.

"Yes, but be patient Zane." Julien said coughing some more. Zane could hear the strain in the cough. He still had water in his lungs. Zane turned to look at his brother and smiled kindly. He wondered just how he was going to be. He put his head back down and put his forehead into his brothers hair letting his chin rest against his shoulder. He couldn't wait to meet him. His mind already wrapped around the fact that he loved him. He wanted to look at him more to see his face, but his eyes grew heavy again. He didn't get much rest the night before. But the thoughts of his brother echoed through his mind over and over again to the point where he dreamed about him. A kind hearted boy, who loved cars, and reading books.

"Zane?" His world rocked back and forth. He jumped out of his rest and looked around rubbing his hands over his optics. He looked up to see his father. His arm in a sling.

"Father?" He whispered and smiled.

"Are you ready?" He asked holding up something that looked like a clock.

"Yes sir." Zane said and looked down at his brother realizing he had laced his fingers into his while sleeping. He didn't bother pulling away.

"Then were we go." He said and placed the power source into the bronze model. Julien walked behind his laptop and smiled at it as he watched the progress show up. It was slow at first, but it began to grow faster.

"Alright Zane you sh..." The boy sat straight up and gasped looking around panicking.

"Its okay...your okay." Zane said putting his hands on either side of his face making him look into his bright blue eyes. Z-02 made a few whimpering noises before looking up at Julien who rushed around to look him in the optics. The golden optics locked back onto Zanes.

"What happened?" Zane asked Julien concerned seeing tears run down his brothers faceplate.

"I don't know..." Julien asked watching as the younger robot put his arms around his brothers middle.

"Was dark...alone." He whispered. His vocabulary was more pronounced then Zanes was at first. Julien had worked with that, and actually had a bit more time to perfect the hard drive then he had the first time.

"Its okay Echo. We won't let anyone harm you. I promise." Zane whispered looking down at his brother who nuzzled up to Zane and smiled.

"Echo?" Julien asked.

"Yes...Echo." Echo reached up and touched Zanes face.

"What is he doing?" Judy asked watching the brothers interact.

"My guess is getting to know one another. He woke up with such a fright, maybe he just wants to be reassured." Julien said and walked over when Echo reached for him. Echo did the same to Julien and then looked at Judy.

Judy just smiled and walked out of the room. No matter how much she loved them she didn't want to be seen as their mother. Echo looked a little questioning, but turned his attention back to Julien.

"This is our father." Zane told Echo.

"Fa..." He thought for a second and smiled. "Dad?"

"Whatever pleases you to say. Now come, lets see if you can walk."

Echo stood up walking out the door and into the lobby. Zane stood on one side watching Julien help his brother walk with his hand in his.

"Oh look...another one. Looks like he's made a replacement." Zane looked up to see Dr. Christopher.

"Stay away from him."

"Oh I have no reason to touch him. But you. Its only a matter of time before Julien throws you away now that he's got a better model. The only reason we create two of something is if something displeases us about the original." He said with a chuckle. "I'll have you to myself...sooner or later." He laughed and walked into the cafeteria. Zane felt his heart begin to hurt, as he watched his new brother and father walking around the lobby. Was that what Echo was...his replacement?