The hallways were bustling with humans as they rushed to their stations, fixing any of the damage done to the laboratories. Your head was pressed against Astro's back as you kept your gaze low, avoiding any of the questioning stares that may come your way. Astro glanced back at you from over his shoulder and his lips twisted into a small smile.
"We're almost there, Y/n. So you can relax." You bit down heavily on your lip. Astro's worry grew and he looked back at you in concern. It wasn't long before the two of you had reached the main laboratory where Dr Elephan often spent his time. You clenched your eyes shut as the doors slid open, and you felt Astro get knocked back by a pair of large welcoming arms.
"Astro, you made it back safely!" Elephan cheered as he nuzzled into Astro affectionately. This put a smile on Astro's face and he hugged his mentor back just as enthusiastically. You shied away from the pair as they hugged it out. As you crept towards the doorway, Dr Elephan caught sight of you and his eyes widened.
"Astro, is that...?" He trailed off, unsure whether he was right or not. Astro pulled away from him and he happily nodded his head.
"Mhm! Doctor, this is Y/n. She's the one who..." he went quiet as Dr Elephan approached you quietly. Your body tensed up and you immediately went into a defensive position as you sent a glare his way.
"S-Stay away from me!" You shouted, ready to throw hands. The wound on your shoulder then sparked, sending a jolt of pain down your arm. Your hand flew to the open wound and you grunted in discomfort.
"Y/n, I can help fix you if you'll allow me to." Dr Elephan offered, making you look up at him warily. Your gaze flickered over to Astro momentarily and you saw the encouraging smile he gave you. With baited breath, you stared straight into the old man's eyes, searching for any signs of distrust. All his eyes held was kindness, and this unnerved you.
With a careful nod of your head, you let Dr Elephan guide you to the workbench where he would repair your body. You crawled onto the bench and you laid down on your back. You then shivered against the cool metal.
'She's awfully quiet.' Astro thought to himself as he watched you listen rather obediently to Dr Elephan. Dr Elephan then readied his tools, and the sound of a drill reached your ears. You clenched your eyes shut and you allowed your systems to shut down. With a nod of his head, Dr Elephan was ready.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After the repairs were finished, Dr Elephan let your systems reboot themselves while he walked over to Astro.
"I've fixed the gashes in her body, so there should be nothing more to worry about." He reassured. Astro let out a small sigh of relief.
"That's good. By the way, why did you need my voice confirmation?" He asked. Dr Elephan looked back at you sparingly just as your eyes fluttered open, revealing your E/C orbs. Very much different from your usual red ones.
"She's still too dangerous to be left on her own. So I've inputted new command codes into her brain, giving you full control of her power metre." Astro's eyes widened as well as yours, barely registering his words. You then shot up with a start.
"Hold on just a minute! What do you mean he's got full control? This is MY body you're messing with, old man!" You snapped, fully back to your old self. Astro and Dr Elephan stepped back in shock as you hoisted yourself to your feet and aimed a deadly hand at them. Your eyes flashed a dangerous red before shifting back to their E/C colour.
Silence hung over the three of you as you waited for your power to form in your hand. But nothing happened. You looked down at your hand in shock while the other pair let out long sighs of relief, glad that Dr Elephan's efforts had pulled through.
"I think it might be best to put her in THAT room for now." Dr Elephan quietly whispered to Astro. You threw your hand in all directions, desperately attempting to use your powers. You then threw your arm down in frustration and you smashed the metal bench in half.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
You sat on the ground with your arms trapped in cuffs as you stared at the plain white wall with a heavy frown on your face. 'When I get out of here I'm so going to pummel them BOTH into the ground. I'll show them who's boss.' You thought bitterly to yourself. The only thing inside this god forsaken room was a bed.
You let out a long sigh. It had been three hours since you were locked into this room. You laid down on the bed with your arms resting comfortably on your stomach. As you looked around the room, the silence in here wasn't actually that bad.
The moment the doors slid open, you were under that bed. You glowered at the pair of feet standing by your bedside, ready to pounce. Astro then poked his head in your view and he laughed.
"There you are. I was worried you had esca- er, I mean wandered off, heh heh." You peaked out from under the bed and you eyed the open doors with a narrowed gaze.
"The fat man isn't there, is he?" You questioned, making Astro gasp.
"Y/n! Don't be so rude! And no, he isn't here. It's just you and me." With Astro's help, you dragged yourself out from under the bed and you stood before him with your head held low.
From outside, Dr Elephan clutched his clipboard to his chest as he silently cried to himself. He then turned around and he dejectedly walked down the hallway.
"Y/n, I have such great news!" Astro exclaimed. You stared down at your cuffs before highly doubting his claim.
"What is it?" Astro unclipped the handcuffs from you and he set them to the side. He then held both of your hands together while smiling at you.
"Don't look so down, Y/n. I've decided that I'm going to heal you." You stepped back from him and eyed him warily.
"Heal...me?" Astro excitedly nodded his head.
"Yep! Now as for the surprises, well, you're going to be living here!" Astro exclaimed. You stiffened. "And you'll be helping us repair the city." You then gave Astro a sour look, making him frown. "What? I thought that you'd be happy." You shook your head no.
"I'm not doing that. It's their city, they can fix it." You snapped, refusing to offer your help to a human. This put a major frown on Astro's face, surprising you even.
"Y/n, this is your responsibility. May I remind you who's fault it was in the first place that the city was destroyed?" You visibly flinched. You then looked off to the side and you squirmed in discomfort.
"Just a few hours ago I was trying to kill them. Now you're imprisoning me here and forcing me to help those...things? I thought you were trying to help me."
"I am helping you, Y/n. And they're called people!" Astro retaliated. You turned around and crossed your arms over your chest. Astro breathed in deeply before letting out a heavy sigh. "Can you at least try to get along with humans?" You pressed your lips into a thin line. You then glanced back at him from over your shoulder.
"I don't have a choice, do I?" Astro smiled encouragingly to you.
"It's too late to turn back now!" You continued to mutter incoherent words to yourself, making Astro sigh. "There will be a reward in it for you." Your eyes snapped wide open at the mention of a reward and you jumped excitedly before him.
"I do like rewards. Okay, I'll do it." Astro instantly beamed at you. He then grasped your hands in his and held them tightly. You flinched at his physical touch as he continued to shine his winning smile upon you. Seriously, why was this guy always so happy?
"Good! We can head out now and get started right away-" he was cut short when you yanked him back by the hand, stopping his gusto.
"Hold it bot boy. I'm not going out there in THIS form." Astro frowned at you.
"Why? What's wrong with it?" You sighed.
"Okay, one, this form is too weak so I'm pretty much a sitting duckling out there. Two, I like my other form better." You told. Astro smiled at you.
"I think you'll be fine considering you smashed one of our titanium benches. Also, if you were to change your form now, then you'd get recognised. In case you forgot, you're currently a wanted criminal at the moment." Astro pointed out. You stuck your lower lip into a small pout. Dang it, he made a good point.
"Ok, but I'm not doing ANY of the sweeping." You stated. Astro smiled and nodded. He then dragged you out of the room.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
You stood outside holding a broom. Your eye twitched uncontrollably as the wood cracked underneath your fingers.
"Hold on, why am I doing all the sweeping!?" You screeched as you broke the broom in half. "I should be lifting rocks! Not doing house work!" You cried. Astro frowned at you as he put yet another good chunk of building down.
"Y/n, you really shouldn't be complaining." You rolled your eyes and threw the broken broom parts at Astro. Astro covered himself with his arms and he frowned at you. "Hey!" You turned away from him as you stared vacantly at the ground. This made Astro go quiet and he watched you worriedly.
"Astro, it's going to take time for me to get used to....all of this." You mentioned as you gestured to the group of people clearing away the debris in their machines. Astro stared at them solemnly.
"I know, but...." You were quiet and you kept your gaze focused on the ground. Your clenched hands shook as your body trembled.
"I never asked to be made." You whispered. Astro looked up at you in surprise. He then rubbed his upper arm with a troubled face. You breathed in deeply and you watched the group of people around you.
"I think I'm going to try what you suggested and....get along...with them." You trailed off. This brought up Astro's spirits greatly. You then grimaced. The thought of getting along with them terrified and disgusted you.
"You and I, we're alike." You raised a questioning brow at him.
"How so?" Astro picked up a rock the size of his palm and he turned it over in his hands.
"When I was first created, I was made to look and act like a young human boy. His name was Toby." You tried to imagine what this boy would have looked like, while comparing his looks to Astro's. You then looked forwards. "At first my creator, Dr Tenma, loved me like a son. We hung out together, played together, ate together, it was great!" He exclaimed excitedly. You watched his expression change from a happy one to a sad one, and he let go of the rock.
"But then, things started going downhill. I was clumsy, I never did anything right, I wasn't the son Tenma wanted me to be..." Astro trailed off into a quiet whisper. You gave him a pitiful look and looked down with clenched fists.
"So you were rejected." Astro smiled sadly at this. He then looked at you.
"Yes, but I then met Dr Elephan! He changed my whole world around. You see my boots? I got these from a girl when I joined a circus before meeting Dr Elephan. She was so kind to me." Astro explained. You huffed and kicked a rock.
"Well isn't that nice for you? I was never shown kindness like that." You grumbled. Astro turned towards you just as you looked off into the distance. "I don't have any memories from back then. I only know about the pain and suffering they inflicted on me, well, her." Astro kept quiet and he carefully placed a particularly large piece of debris onto the already growing pile.
A helicopter then flew over to the finished pile, and Astro watched it carry it away using a crane.
"How long were you asleep for?" Astro questioned. You drew a circle in the ground with your foot and shrugged your shoulder.
"Who knows." You mumbled. You then thought back to the abandoned house in the woods. "Although, that house did look like it hadn't been used in a while." Astro hummed thoughtfully.
"We should focus on clearing the debris." You quietly nodded your head as he travelled elsewhere to help another group. You then focused on your surroundings. Everything looked so desolate and sad. There was almost nothing left.
Your face fell slightly. You did this. Who knows how many lives you've destroyed. You then remembered grabbing that man around his neck, and a sick feeling appeared in your gut. 'Why did Astro forgive me so easily?' You wondered to yourself.
"Hey, you! Over there! Can you come help us?" A man called out to you. You turned towards that man and gave him a hostile look.
"What do you want?" A look of surprise appeared on his face as you glared at him. You then remembered Astro's words and you stopped yourself short. 'Can you at least try to get along with humans?' This turned your mood sour, and you honestly didn't want to help them. 'But I'm the one who did this. So I've got to.'
Without even making an attempt to crack a smile, you turned towards the man asking for your help and you cocked a brow at him.
"Alright, what do you want me to do?" A relieved smile appeared on his face and he immediately began guiding you to which rocks he wanted moved out of the way. This was going to be a very long week for you.