"Maddox!"
I frowned, pulling myself out of my daydream. Jala was calling me. What did she want?
Allowing my eyes to adjust to the darkness of the basement we'd spent the last three days in, I turned toward the woman. Ace was seated beside her, his head tipped sideways in sleep and his hand encircling hers.
Jala studied me for a moment, her eyes likely trying to see through my helmet, before she sighed and gestured toward the backpack at her feet. "You can eat now," she told me, knowing I never ate in front of others. "Do it before he wakes up."
I nodded, grabbed the bag, and stalked into the farthest corner where I could be alone. After glancing back at the pair one last time to make sure they weren't watching, which was unlikely since they were now sleeping on each other's shoulders, I hesitantly pulled off my helmet and began tearing into the loafs of bread Jala had provided.
I was nearly finished when I heard a voice coming from within my helmet. Thinking it was malfunctioning, I slipped it back on and started fiddling with the buttons on the outside, unsure what was wrong.
"H...hello?"
I frowned again. A voice? There was a female's voice echoing over the radio on what was supposed to be a secure channel. Unless Jala was messing with me, there was cause for alarm.
Moments before I disabled the connection, the woman spoke again.
"Hello? Maddox? Anyone?"
I shouldn't have answered. I should have disabled my radio until I knew it was secure. I considered doing so but finally decided that there was nothing to lose by answering. After all, what else could this world possibly take from me?
"Yes. Who is this?" I asked.
The voice flooded with relief. "Thank goodness. I thought I'd never find you."
"Who is this?"
Hesitation. "...It's Polly."
Derek and Mary's daughter?
"I've been really lonely lately so Di gave me your number."
This wasn't exactly a number but that didn't matter. How had Di known where to contact me? "What do you want?"
Another long pause filled with shallow breaths. "I was hoping we could be friends."
"I don't have friends."
"That's fine." She countered quickly. "We can become friends."
"How would your friendship benefit me?"
She took a moment to come up with an answer. "I could keep you updated on my father's doings. That way he'd never be able to catch you."
That sounded useful. "And all I need to do is talk to you?"
"Yup."
Her childish voice didn't match the gift she was offering. I hesitated, weighing the pros and cons of forming such a bond, then shrugged. "Very well."
Another sigh of relief. How hard up was she for friends? It's not like she was locked away from the world or anything. "I have one final question."
"Yeah?"
"Why me?"
"...No real reason."
Good enough for me.
◑○★☆●◐
"I've told you a thousand times, Mary." Alphenstine groaned dramatically and went back to fiddling with Joe's circuits. The sweet little robot had been acting up lately and it had all the other bots nervous. "I don't like contacting the outside world. When you're well enough you can walk down to the town and ask them to contact your family but until then you will stay here. I am not escorting you down there."
This was the tenth time we'd had this conversation. I had been trapped on top of this mountain for 35 months now and this hermit's stubbornness had deterred me from contacting Derek. The only other person I'd seen during that time had been a kind lady who stopped by once, three months ago. She'd left before I could ask her for help, though.
"This is ridiculous," I growled, feeling heat rise in my chest. "I never should have stayed here in the first place. If you'd taken me to a real hospital I could have healed in three months instead of three years."
"Be thankful I've taken you in at all!" he answered before handing me a glass of water to calm me down.
I accepted the glass but didn't drink it, frowning at my scarred reflection. My body was almost fully healed, though it was painful to get around and I always needed a crutch to hold me up. My habit of sleeping for days at a time had ended months ago but I was still drowsy all the time. It was starting to seem a bit suspicious.
"Drink your water," Alphenstine told me, shutting Joe's back and letting him scooter off to do his own thing. "You need to stay hydrated."
"I'll go down to the town on my own," I whispered, looking up from the clear liquid.
The man frowned, his googly eyes squinting. "We've been over this. You would collapse half way down and then you'd freeze to death. It's much safer here."
"I can't heal if I stay here," I stated. "Not fully."
"That's because you haven't been resting enough."
"I've been resting for years. I have a family, Al, and they could be in trouble without me!"
He squinted. "So, you would ignore my hospitality and run off?"
I sighed, feeling guilty. "I've taken advantage of your kindness long enough. Now I need to—"
"No."
"...What?"
The small man got up from his seat, picked up one of his sharp metal tools, and pointed it at me. "You're not leaving."
"What are you talking about?" My heart started to pound.
"For three years I've been studying you, dedicating all my time to caring for you, and you will not just walk away before my research is complete."
I rose, using the edge of my chair to support me before slowly edging toward the door. "You knew I was a Valdis?"
"Do I look stupid to you? Of course I knew! Why else would I take care of a whiney child like you? I would have left you in that snow mound to die if I hadn't known."
All these years I hadn't figured it out. I'd been too tired and depressed to realize I was being used. That must have been why he left the bracelet on, too. He had known it was holding me back, keeping me from escaping.
"Now, drink your water and go to sleep." He pressed the tip of the tool against my chest and nodded toward the bed I'd spent so many hours in, wasting away.
Without my powers I was scared. I was afraid of this little man. How pathetic. "Did you intentionally keep my injuries from healing?" I questioned, still unsure of how to escape.
"Stop asking questions! Just drink your water!"
"No, I'm not drinking your drugged water!"
"Do you want me to break your bones all over again?"
I'd had enough. Cringing as the muscles in my arms ached, I lifted the table between us and threw it at the man, knocking him against the wall and making him drop his weapon. I then grabbed the fallen tool and dug it into his shoulder, forcing blood to ooze and dribble down his arm.
"Joe!" I yelled before pulling the tip of the tool he'd used on me so many times out of his flesh and pointing it at his throat. "Open the door for me!"
Joe complied, using all the strength he had in his little body to swing the wooden door open, allowing the cold air to rush into the small cabin. Out of all the robots, he was the only one I had ever known personally. Earlier, the other ones had had their insides ripped out by the scientist and I'd been the one to defend Joe and save him from getting dismembered. Now, he was my only ally.
My ears started to ring as I wondered whether or not I should kill this man. On one hand, he had saved my life. On the other, he had imprisoned me for three years and kept me from my family.
After much deliberation I took the middle ground and tied him up. He'd find a way to get free somehow but this would give me enough time to keep him off my tail. Then, just to ensure my safety, I hit him over the head with a chair to knock him unconscious before rushing out the door with Joe on my heels.
Now, to find that small town he'd mentioned.
[So, did anyone notice the Jala X Ace moment? Because I did (since I wrote it)! And the picture at the top is meant to be them. I thought it perfectly showed how opposite their personalities were.]