The pain continued as he was led down a series of alleys and into a subway station, from which they took a train car all to themselves and blocked out all the windows.

“I’m sorry to do this to you, Orion,” one of the leaders said, staring down at him on the ground, “but we’re going to have to set your leg. Looks like some serious damage that will be much worse if we don’t get this taken care of right now. It’s going to hurt significantly.”

“Just do it,” he said through gritted teeth, unsure of how anything could be more painful than what he was feeling at the moment.

Two of the three that had carried him all that way kneeled down next to him and grabbed hold of his leg. Then, he felt an unbelievably sharp pain in his leg, and the world went black.

-◦=[ ]=◦-

When he awoke, they were in a completely unfamiliar area. One that looked more akin to a hospital room, but dimly lit and less sterilized. He wasn’t sure how much time had passed, but he was sure of one thing: the two orange lights next to him in the room were that of the Clockwork’s eyes, staring down at him to make sure he was alright.

He could still feel the pain in his leg, but whatever they had done numbed a good portion of it. From the dim light, he saw a cast and brace had been wrapped around his knee, which also likely meant he didn’t stand a chance of walking normally for a while.

That was going to be a significant hindrance in his plans to defeat Syndra.

He gave the Clockwork a good look. There were some pretty nasty dents from what he could tell, but otherwise, he seemed functional. That was his biggest worry, as they could always fix him up cosmetically when all of this was said and done.

Three or four silent minutes later, a doctor entered the room and flicked on the overhead lights. They dazed his eyes and gave him an immediate headache, but the doctor didn’t seem to pay attention to that, and instead moved for a bucket on the side of the room.

“I’m actually very glad to see you woke up,” the doctor said, going to the foot of his bed excitedly. “Nobody was going to be happy with me if I had managed to overdose the hero of Carmsborough on pain pills.”

“Where are we?”

“This is the rebel hideout in an undisclosed location. Not that we need to keep it undisclosed from you, probably, but there are only two people who know the actual location of this place, and those are the bosses.”

“Rebels? Hideout? Bosses?”

“Yeah, probably lots to catch you up on down here. Let’s take it slow, first. I need to ensure you don’t have a concussion.”

“I don’t. I feel fine. I need to get back out there and get back to the Gearmaster so he can finish the chip.”

“I have no clue what you’re talking about, but I don’t think I can dismiss you just yet. In the meantime, I’ve been told you have a visitor I can let in. Apparently someone you know. Sorry I’m not caught up on your life story.”

The doctor left as quickly as he had come, and in his place came Rami, who rushed in and immediately hugged Orion.

“Rami?” Tears formed in his eyes. “I didn’t think I was going to see you again after…”

“I know. The doctors patched me up pretty well, but I couldn’t stand to wait to see how my parents were going to react to everything that had happened that night. In between doctors doing rounds and my parents showing up at the hospital, I made my escape, until I eventually ran into this group, who gladly took me in.”

“You went on the run to get away from your parents?”

“I guess your words stuck with me. How are you feeling? It looked pretty bad earlier.”

“It’s not my first broken bone. Might be my worst, but not my first.”

“Well, this was certainly my first gunshot,” Rami said, lifting his pants leg to reveal the bullet wound still wrapped in gauze. “I guess we’ve joined Max in the leg injury club for the week.”

“No kidding. Kind of ridiculous, when you think about it.”

The Clockwork shifted slightly, and the two of them focused their eyes on him. He seemed to be in a good mood, despite what had just happened in the sky.

But they had done it. Gotten the shield generator disc and fought off a full-sized airship while protecting as many people as possible on the streets. It wasn’t everyone, but…

Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

It was a start. And it was a lot better than it could have gone, had that missile hit or they hadn’t stopped the guns. Still, he didn’t understand why the ship had just randomly switched to attacking civilians once their hope was lost. It made Orion’s blood boil thinking about it.

Either way, he looked the Clockwork in the eyes. “Thanks, bud, for the help today.”

His eyes turned a softer shade of orange, and his head tilted. How sentient was the machine? Did he truly actually have feelings? And if so, how often had he completely crushed his feelings? How much apologizing to the sentient robot did he have in store for himself?

Rami sat at the end of the bed, careful to avoid causing too much rustling so his leg didn’t get hurt anymore than it already had, and he smiled at Orion. However fleeting their time together was for the moment, they were eager to enjoy it.

“Tell me about your past couple of days,” Rami said. “I know a good portion of it, but only what the radios have said, or through word of mouth.”

“It’s been a little all over the place. It all started once we’d escaped the missiles at the farm…”

-◦=[ ]=◦-

Once his retelling of his adventures leading up to the airship fight had finished, a woman entered the room with a tray of food, and the two men he vaguely remembered seeing on the subway followed behind her.

“Some food,” she said, and he thanked her. He couldn’t tell exactly what it was, but at this point, food was food, and he was unbearably hungry.

“You’ve been out for a good few hours,” one of the men said, looking at a clipboard on a nearby table. “Hopefully that was slightly restful, but I also know how this sort of thing goes.”

“Who are you?”

“My name is Agent Ike, and this is my partner, Agent Mike. We, uh… we aren’t actually from Carmsborough, but we were here on important business when Syndra’s takeover started, and I was darned if I was going to let him have any control over this government.”

“Agents? Agents for who? What country?”

“America, and classified.”

“What were you doing in Carmsborough on official business?”

“Also classified. The important part is that we’re heading up the rebellion to take Syndra out, and you are the last and biggest piece of the resistance puzzle that we needed. It’s a shame we didn’t have a better way of meeting, but at least we got you to our base.”

“I have so many questions.”

“I’m sure you do. Let me start with the obvious few: we’re a rebellion of citizens of Carmsborough who have been trying to undermine Syndra’s rule without getting caught. Unfortunately, until this point, we haven’t had a whole lot of success in that department, but we’re still getting plenty of recruits. You’re a popular guy, Orion.”

“That’s an understatement.”

“Yeah. It also helps your case that your family is here, too.”

“What?”

His dad and Sam appeared in the doorway slowly, smiling at him. His head was spinning at all the new information trying to make it inside.

“We’ll leave you to it, for now,” Agent Ike said, stepping back out of the room with Agent Mike and the woman who brought food. That left him with Rami, the Clockwork, his dad, and Sam, who all stood around the foot of his bed with a sympathetic expression.

“What are the two of you doing here?”

“I told you we had found a safe place. I didn’t want you to worry about the specifics of it.”

“Dad, this is dangerous.”

“So is going toe-to-toe with an airship, I presume. It looks like we’re both a little out of our usual comfort zone with this. Oh, and I have had the privilege to meet Rami already.”

His dad left it at that, which wasn’t completely reassuring, but he took it in stride. “Dad, I have to get back out there and find the Gearmaster again. We finally have a solution for changing the Clockwork from just protecting me to protecting everyone, and he needs this shield generator disc we found.”

The Clockwork whirred and held up the disc. It was split down the center and sparking.

Orion could feel a heaviness wash over him. Not only had he not succeeded at getting the shield generator, he had gotten them both seriously damaged in the process. He wasn’t sure he could handle something like that again so soon, but he needed that chip.

“Slow down, Orion,” his dad said. “For now, you need rest. It’s getting late in the night, and you’ve had a long day. Nothing you need to do is more important than making sure you’re healthy and safe.”

“You don’t understand—”

“I do understand, Orion. And I’m telling you to get some sleep. You need it.” His dad approached and ran his fingers through Orion’s hair. “Please. For me.”

“Alright. But I’m going back tomorrow to talk to the Gearmaster.”

His dad sighed, but kissed his forehead and took Sam out of the room with him. It was just him, Rami, and the Clockwork again.

“You should probably go, too,” Orion said, trying to readjust himself to get comfortable. “It’s going to be a long day tomorrow.”

“Yeah, I probably should,” Rami said, stepping closer, “but I don’t want to sleep alone tonight.” He leaned in and also gave him a kiss, this time on the lips.

“You know, you’re very persuasive.”

-◦=[ ]=◦-

They woke to the doctor entering the room early that morning. He chose not to question why they were laying in bed together and instead pretended to focus on something in the front of the room while Rami sleepily and sheepishly trudged out of bed and over to one of the guest chairs.

“We’re going to check some of your levels, Mr. Muldane, and then you’re free to go.”

“Go where?”

“Well, the leaders want you down in the planning room. Said you’re needed for some sort of mission. That’s the most I have for you information-wise.”

They did a few standard health check-ins, like ears, heart, temperature, and breathing, as well as looked at the severity of the damage and swelling near his knee, but ultimately the doctor didn’t seem to have very many comments about his state of being. He then left quickly, and Rami helped get Orion to his feet before handing him his crutch.

“Have you ever had to use one of these before?” Rami asked.

“Nope.”

“Well then, this is going to be interesting.”

With the Clockwork trying to match their pace behind them, the two slowly hobbled over to the meeting room, with Rami directing them. Agents Mike and Ike were inside, looking over some sort of chalkboard charts, and turned to face them as they entered.

“Glad to see you were discharged without a problem,” Agent Ike said, helping him into a seat. “Brace yourself. We have a two-step plan that’s sure to knock the socks off of you. And it all hinges on any theater skills you have. Well, and the American government, of course.”

“What on earth does that mean?”