1 Oliver Watson

~~~ 3 Years Later.

A black sedan pulls up to a light gray house and Mr. Wylan steps out of the car and stares at the house his eyes are looking around at the disheveled lawn with knee-length grass and weeds, trash and old newspapers sprinkled all across the lawn, the gray paint of the house is chipped in places and all along the deck are dead plants and empty pots. "Geez, how did things get this bad? Ian, I thought we had hired someone to take care of the horse for him since he only ever leaves the house to work for me at the events. I didn't think things would get this bad, what will I do with you Oliver." 

A younger man in a sharp black suit rolls the window of the passenger side door and looks out towards the house with a somber expression spread across his normally stoic face, "Mr. Wylan it's my fault. No matter how many people we send over to clean up or bring him groceries he scares them off before they can get started. Most of the time he waits at the driveway and turns them away before they can get anything off their vans. With everything going on with the tourney I haven't had time to come myself to check up on him. I'm sorry, sir. I never imagined it would get this bad, do you really think you should ask him for help with your problem?"

Mr. Wylan takes a deep breath and pats the cars hood softly speaking in a soft and paternal voice, "Don't punish yourself Ian, no one can help this kid unless he feels like he deserves the help, and in regards to my problem he's the only one that can help no matter how long it's been. It's just will my pleas reach his ears or has his pain totally muted him from the world."

"I understand, it must be hard on him to cope with everything." The man wanted to say something more but felt like anything he said wouldn't be of much help and proceeded to roll the window up.

'Well, I guess the only way to know is to try.' Mr. Wylan thinks to himself as he makes his way over to the front door. 

He runs his hands along the banister as dust and grime collects itself along his fingertip and when he reaches the door a soft monotone voice cracks through. "Uncle, is it already time for the event? Let me grab my things." 

The suddenness and the lack of emotion of the voice causes him to jump back a step as he collects himself and says, "No not yet, kid. I have something I need to speak with you about, so I was wondering if you would let me in. If you are okay with it, that is."

A few moments pass by and as Mr. Wylan was about to say something, the door slowly opened up and Oliver Watson looked up at him causing guilt and sadness to fill his heart. The boy looked sickly, his eyes have dark circles underneath, his once brown hair is now medium length white and ragged covering his eyes, the clothes he has on are full of oil stains and tears, and the sad broken look in his once bright blue eyes would fill anyone with dread. "Oliver, what happened to you in the past few months. You look…" 

Oliver ignores his comment and interrupts him, "Are you going to come in or not because I have other matters to focus on."

Mr. Wylan usually doesn't enjoy being looked down upon or talked to with such an attitude but the look of the boy and the understanding of the trauma he faced allows him to suck it up and not yell at the boy. "Yes, my apologies Oliver. It will only take a minute I swear."

Mr. Wylan looks around the house and notices the inside seems so much more different than the outside, the windows are clean, there's no trash on the floor, no dishes cluttered in the sink, and the walls, pictures, stairs all seem to have been dusted recently. He pushes all the thoughts from his mind as he walks over to the kitchen table and sits down as Oliver follows suit and sits on the one directly in front of him. "Uncle, to what do I owe the pleasure? I know you would only come over if it was important."

Mr. Wylans eyes are still scanning the room and the adjacent living room as he focuses his attention back on Oliver. He rubs his hands together trying to collect his thoughts as his eyes drift down to the black gloves covering Oliver's hands. He takes a deep breath and composes himself, "Oliver, I know life hasn't been fair to you and everything you used to love only brings you pain and torment, but I need you for one night only and I promise you won't ever have to work for me again. I would like you to take the place of Alvin in the championship final tonight. I know since the incident you have had trouble touching your tools or doing anything in that lab of yours but if you don't fight I will have a riot on my hands and the head of the promotion will be gunning for me. I heard from a good source that you recently started working on small projects again in your room and I know it's a longshot and what I'm asking you is huge but please, help me." 

Oliver looks at the clock behind him, to the passing of cars out the window, and finally back into Mr. Waylans eyes. "Uncle, I understand your trouble but I can't. I…I haven't done anything in regards to advanced robotics in about 3 years. I doubt I even remember anything about robotics, coding or anything like that, but above all else the idea of stepping back into that lab scares me more than death itself. What you're asking of me is bigger than I feel comfortable doing at the moment. It makes the scars on my hands ache and the ones on my heart ache even worse. I wish I could help you, but I don't think I'm the right person for this job."

 A somber expression crosses his face as the guilt of asking him to do something like this makes him feel horrible, but it only lasts for a second as he composes himself. "I understand, kid. I guess it was a crazy idea anyways, but if at some point you change your mind give me a call before 8pm tonight. I expect to see you at work at 11pm to clean up, boy. H-hey, have you been eating and sleeping lately because you don't look too well." 

Oliver looks him deep in his eyes and an icy look flashes across them sending shivers down Mr. Wylans spine, "Uncle don't forget you're not my father, so I will take your favor into consideration but I think it's time for you to leave. I have a meeting with an old friend later today so I need to get ready for that.

Mr. Wylan looks at him softly and takes a deep breath before responding, "I would never try to take his place, no one could be like old Jack he was one of a kind. I just worry about you, and you're right I really should be going, big night tonight and all that."

"Yeah well just don't forget it's my life and I will do with it what I want and if that leads me down a certain path, I chose it." Oliver responds without missing a beat looking past Mr. Wylan back to the clock above his head.

"I understand. You know sometimes when I look at you I can't help seeing Old Jackie boy, and the way you think is so much like your mother. Well I hope to see you tonight my boy, it will be loads of fun and quite a mess for you and the crew to deal with." Mr. Wylan says as he gets up from the table and smiles his fox-like smile before walking past Oliver and out the front door without waiting for a goodbye.

He stands outside the door not moving an inch as he hears Oliver fall to his knees crying as he tries to keep a stern look on his face before walking to the car and sliding into the backseat. He gives the house one last look, a feeling of guilt and dread flashes across his face before he tells the driver, "Let's go, I did all I could. I will give Oniix a call once we get to the office, but idk I have a good feeling about tonight. Oliver, I'm sorry but I just needed you to know they are still with you, my boy."

The windows all go up as the car takes off, while Oliver is still on the floor trying to compose himself but the tears are streaming down his face and his eyes are a deep red. "mom…dad…why did you have to go…WHY. I should be over there with you instead of sitting here in this huge house all alone. Every single day I wait around hoping that you both walk through that front door and everything goes back to normal, but it doesn't. Shit. Shit. I thought I was passed all this, dammit! I just…I just miss you both so much, so damn much…

His words just like his emotions start to mesh together and become chaotic from everything spilling out at once. He cries for what feels like hours as the massive lonely home starts to feel his pain until he tires himself out. He falls asleep right there in front of the door as a metallic figure walks over and places a blanket over him and returns to the back of the house. "Master Ollie, I'm sorry."

~~ 4 hours later

The sun is at the highest point of the day shining brightly and full of life as the stormy emotions flooding the house are being drowned away by the light peering through the window and hitting him directly. He slowly starts to stir and try to open his eyes while around them they are slightly red from rubbing them on and off through the morning as he flips onto his back and stares at the ceiling and starts to laugh to himself. "I guess I had another one."

He sighs softly, taking the blanket off, and sits up leaning against the door to fully compose himself. "Thank you so much Tor, for the blanket. I can't keep doing this when the pain gets too strong. I know, I know I had nothing to do with the accident, but why can't I feel any better. I really need to stop, but it's so hard."

Oliver tries to get up, but his body is too weak and as he is about to fall a metallic humanoid hand reaches out and holds him steady. Oliver looks up and realizes it's Tor-1, his mother's humanoid android who has been his guardian since the incident. She has black hair tied into a ponytail, blue eyes, blue jeans that are rolled up at the ankles, and a yellow long sleeve shirt. "Woah there sir, I got you. Let's head over to the table and sit you down. I will get you something to drink, so you can get your strength back up."

He nods softly using her leverage to get himself up as they walk over to the dining room table and grabs an apple from the basket taking a massive bite out of it before pulling out his phone, checking it. She had barely made it over to the counter and grabbed a cup when he noticed the time on his phone and shoved it back into his pocket. "Crap, Tor I need to head out for a bit. If you need me for any reason don't be afraid to call me on the watch, and for now you can relax and enjoy yourself until I get back. I won't be long I promise."

Tor looks at him with as close to an empathetic look the android is capable of as he takes one last bite out of the crisp red apple and tosses it into the trash as he rushes over to the sink splashing water onto his face to wake up. He heads over to the front door and reaches for a stained white lab coat that is a few sizes too big covered in oil, paint, burn marks, shredded sleeves, and tosses it on but before he leaves, fixing the gloves on his hands which he never takes off and proceeds out the door. "I wonder how it's going to all go."

With the sun beaming in the brisk Chicago sky his pale skin, the dark circles under his eyes, the sunkenness of his cheeks, the light scars above his forearms down to where the gloves are, and the white of his hair are more visible, which makes people stray away from him on the off chance he ever made it outside. Although he doesn't usually mind being left alone, the days leading up to the date of his parents' incident usually hurts the most.

He glances around at the different groups of people hanging out and having a good time together as he does his best to blend in and mesh into the background in hopes no one tries to engage with him. After walking a few blocks he makes it over to a park and looks up at the sign above his head and sighs heavily. His watch starts ringing and he answers it, "Mr. Watson, I wanted to apologize for not being there for you when you had your episode, but seeing you like that hurts me too much. I was only able to bring myself to get you a blanket before I had to shut myself down. I just need to ask, are you feeling better today compared to the past or does it feel the same? I'm just so worried about you."

Oliver has a soft smile on his face, "I understand you worry Tor, and if I didn't have you I don't want to imagine where I would be now. Everything still feels the same, but a small part of me is hoping for a change. I don't know when or if it will ever happen, but where I am right now is way better than when it first happened. Just hearing those things he told me about seeing my parents in me just broke me, and I just felt so alone but with you by my side I guess I will never really be alone. It's been a while since I've seen Eli, and I know he doesn't like doing the gift thing anymore so the least I can do is meet him here. I will talk with you when I get home, alright?"

The voice vanishes for a second before saying, "You're very welcome, sir. It's been an honor being there for you these past few years and yeah have a good time."

Tor sighs softly and decides not to add more to it as Oliver closes the call and takes a deep breath before making his way through the entrance. He looks around scanning the park searching for his friend in the busy place, and eventually finds him over by the benches feeding some bird. Oliver walks over to him trying to put on a genuine smile, but finding it hard after feeling like he abandoned his friend years ago. The boy is tall, tan, wearing a short sleeve black shirt, blue jeans, some high top white shoes, and a blue and orange backpack. He looks up and sees Oliver as he jogs over to him and grabs his shoulders, "Dude, when was the last time you slept or ate? You look like hell. Are you okay? Is there anything I can do to help? Oh yeah, I know how you usually forget to eat enough so I got you a chocolate croissant, but maybe I should've bought you a full course meal."

Oliver looks at it with his eyes wide open and grabs the snack as he takes a massive bite into it while glaring at Elijah. "You come back after 3 years, insult me and then feed me a snack. That's cold. I'm perfectly fine, and got maybe about 2-3 hours of sleep last night. No need to worry."

Elijah looks at Oliver sincerely as he says, "Ollie, please don't lie to me, we're brothers right? Look, I know that I left three years ago to go to school across the country, but what have you been doing to yourself since then? You look so different So…tired. 

Oliver looks at him taking the snack out of his mouth and holding it at his side, "Eli, I promise I'm okay. Things have just gotten really bad the past few months but I swear I am fine. So, please don't worry about me, okay."

Elijah nods softly and starts walking ahead of him as he gestures for Oliver to follow him. He looks at his back as the images of the accident creep into his head, but does everything to keep them from coming out as he follows him. They are slowly making their way through the park as the sound of laughter and playful screaming is bringing a slight smile to Oliver's face but also tugging at the edges of his heart. They eventually reach a massive fountain in the middle of the park as Elijah sits on the ledge and Oliver leans against the railing. "We made it, just in time"

"In time for what?" Oliver looks at him curiously.

"Nothing, just thought it was a cool thing to say." Elijah looks at him laughing.

Oliver ignores him and looks around the park and sees a couple laughing with their kid which makes him smile softly, but feels a dagger in his heart as images of the scorch mark and the destroyed lab appear in his head. His hands start shaking and as he is about to start hyperventilating he says, "Eli, I don't mean to sound rude or anything, but what is it you wanted to talk to me about? I have…urgent business that needs my attention back home."

Oliver looks down at his hands and back at Elijah who turns his head and looks at him with a smile. "I know, I know you are a busy guy. Look, this is the only day I have here in Chicago before I have to be back in New York, and I missed my best-friend. I couldn't help worrying about you being all alone out here, so for me can you try and stick it out for a little longer."

The tone in Elijah's voice is making Oliver feel guilty about wanting to run away from his best-friend, but the thoughts flooding his mind are a little stronger. He takes a deep breath to calm the emotions building up in him as he looks at Elijah who is still looking at him and says, "Okay, okay I will stay for a little, but I only have an hour or two before I really need to go. This project I'm working on is pretty important to me, and I need to finish it quickly. H-how have they been treating you out there man, you seem to be doing fine. I can only hope you haven't destroyed the school yet."

Elijah smirks and looks at him angrily in a joking way, "Hey, you're the one that destroyed the restroom, remember I took the blame because it was before the science fair. Anyways, I love it there man; the people, the environment, the facilities, and the city are all amazing Ollie. You would love it if you were there. I have made some really amazing friends and played with and against some really incredible people from all over the country, and ohh yeah before I forget I picked something up for you."

He takes off his backpack and digs around until he pulls out a white packet with the Elextrian Academy crest on the front of it. Oliver looks at it as Elijah hands it over and grabs the packet from him. His breathing becomes shallow and his hands are starting to shake. "What the hell, is that what I think it is? Is this why you dragged me out here?" 

Oliver feels his body tighten up and the longer he looks at the packet the shakier his hand becomes, but before he could fall further into himself a sudden cry for help brings him back to reality. Quickly he looks around trying to pinpoint where the cry is coming from as he notices the couple who was playing with their child kneeling in front of the crying boy. His eyes drift to the cherry red toy plane in the boy's hand as he's waving it around asking for his parents to help fix the toy for him. "Mommy! Daddy! P-please…help. M-my t-toy is broke…can you fix it daddy..? I don't…I don't know what happened. Please…"

Oliver, almost out of instinct more than anything else, immediately crawls into his mind and does a mental investigation of the cherry red plane from where he's standing. He notices the propellor is damaged from all the times the boy tried to fly it and it would nose dive into the dirt, and from the angle of the damage it seemed like the propellor never moved and it would just drop. He takes a deep breath but his mind is already racing and in an effort to control himself he closes his eyes to limit the amount of distractions that could occur. The toy appears in his head on a black table as a ghostly figure dismantles it piece by piece until the only thing left is a blue mental blueprint and the individual parts. 'One step at a time. The answer will always show itself, so take it slow.'

One at a time the figure starts picking up the pieces and putting them back into place at different levels of tightness and positions as he does his best to figure out what went wrong with the plane and caused the sudden nosedive. Moments pass in an instant as eventually all the parts stop moving around and come together one final time as Oliver opens his eyes slowly and notices his right hand is fidgeting with the key around his neck. He feels Elijah's eyes looking at him as he turns his head slightly and notices him smiling, "Seems like you need me to go over there and help out that little kid? You still fidget around with that key when you solve a problem, I guess you really haven't changed that much."

Elijah reaches out his hand waiting to be handed something as Oliver looks at his hand, to the little boy, and back at him with doubt starting to creep in. He lets out a soft sigh as he reaches into his coat pocket and pulls out a cobalt blue toolbag, along with a tiny device and hands them over. "Ha! You still carry that around? What was it, 6 years ago when we got you that for your birthday? You know, speaking of 6 years ago…"

Oliver looks at the bag as memories of his 10th birthday appear in his head causing him to smile lightly, but the sudden doubts and fear are starting to build up forcing that smile off of his face, "Huh, ohh yeah it's the same one. Uhh, sorry I think I know what's wrong with the toy. The propeller might be loose, and there might be an issue with the battery component. First, you will need to unscrew the propeller. I have an extra in the bag from a different plane, but it will work just the same.Then open up the battery back on the underside of the toy and place that little device on them, and in seconds it will fully charge."

Elijah smiles to himself, because for the first time in a long time his best and closest friend is acting like he used to as he nods softly and jogs over to the family and gestures to the plane. The parents look at each other and have smiles on their faces as the boy slowly begins to calm down as Elijah talks to him. Oliver notices he's following the instructions down to a T as he is sitting on the ledge looking at the packet in his hands. He looks up at Elijah talking and laughing with the family as he turns around and watches the water ripple from the fish swimming around with a somber expression on his face. 'Damn, what if I'm wrong? What if I mess this up? I don't want to ruin that kid's toy. Who do I think I am? I'm just some helpless kid who watched as the two most important people were taken from him. Trying to be anything else is a massive waste of time. Shit, I hate this feeling. I want to get back to how I used to be but the more I try the further away it all seems. I just recently started to get back into this, what if I'm wrong. Agh!!'

His heart and mind are preoccupied with negative thoughts, stress and anxiety of all the possible outcomes of his involvement causing his hands to loosen as the packet falls to the ground. He stares at it for a moment before picking it up slowly, his mind still wandering, but running his fingertips over the crest he decides to open it and see what's inside. 'As I guessed it's another enrollment form, but this one is halfway filled out. That explains why he wanted to meet so suddenly after not seeing each other for nearly 3 years, but why now? If this was the only reason he wanted to meet me why even come back to Chicago at all a simple text would've been enough. If things were different maybe, but who I am now there is no chance for a person like me to go. Why do I feel a tinge of happiness? Can I? Could I see myself actually doing this…no."

Oliver takes a deep breath, closing his eyes as he tries to get lost in the voices of the people, the park and the wind blowing. The idea of going back to school fills him with hope of a future, but the neverending feelings of anxiety, doubt, guilt, and frustrations are weighing him down. His vision starts to get blurry, his breathing is getting shaky, as his body goes limp and he slumps against the water fountain. His mind goes blank as the packet falls to the floor right in front of him. "N-not aga…"

Oliver looks around and notices he's standing in the middle of a pitch black room with his mind closed to everything on the outside. His eyes shoot open as he gasps for air and realizes that the closer he looks into the darkness the faint lines of a cage are visible. His arms are stretched out and his legs are frozen in place as his body starts to sink into the floor. Oliver's eyes are filled with panic as he looks at his arms and legs and sees the chains holding him still. Unable to think he starts screaming for someone, anyone to get him out of this place. A soft distorted voice slightly breaks through the deafening silence seeping into his prison. "H...Hi...y..ou...ok"

His body is being dragged deeper into the mud as a fifth chain shoots out and wraps around his neck pulling him down. He is screaming louder, kicking and fighting with all his might to stand up straight, but he keeps sliding further down. Struggling with all his might to keep himself intact as the distorted voice starts to get stronger and clearer; it's a female voice. "Are...you...o..okay?"

For a moment Oliver stops as the urge to give up calls to him and he closes his eyes as he listens closely, the voice speaks again. "H-Hey!"

The voice snaps the chain around his neck as his eyes burst open, and he is finally able to stand up straight. The other 4 chains around his arms and legs have stopped moving as Oliver looks out into the darkness he sees a small child. "Who are you?"

The boy is about 12 years old,wearing a solid blue shirt, black striped pajama bottoms and light brown hair. He walks over to Oliver and they look into each other's eyes for a moment which brings him to tears. "I know you. You're me before the accident."

The boy puts his cold hand on Oliver's cheek which makes him close his eyes as he takes a deep breath. He starts to feel a warmth on his cheek causing him to shoot his eyes open, and a wave or relief takes over his body. He sees a girl with long wavy brunette hair and honey colored eyes who looks to be about the same age as him. She is wearing the bottom half of a dark blue jumpsuit and a white shirt. He nods softly in response to her question as he feels the anxiety and fear start to slowly drain. He looks past her and sees Elijah running towards them as he asks, "Ollie, are you okay man?

Elijah looks at the girl kneeling in front of him and says, "Oh, hey Vanessa. I didn't realize that was you. Ollie, talk to me."

She looks up at him from her crouched position and smiles softly as she looks back at Oliver and starts helping him up. He slowly looks at both of them and the people who have gathered around causing him to sigh softly as he looks up at the sky. He starts fidgeting with the key around his neck before dusting himself off and gestures to everyone that he's okay. Some linger around for a bit but most of the crowd is starting to make their way back to whatever they were doing before gathering around. He looks at the girl again and she smiles softly as he looks at Elijah and starts walking towards the exit. "Ollie, where are you going man? I don't know what happened but it's your birthday, come on at least let me walk you home?"

He stops and looks at his hands still shaking and clenches his right fist tightly and slowly releases it looking at them devoid of emotion, "My birthday? Oh yeah, I guess today is my birthday, Mr. Andrews. Don't worry about me, I can make it to my house. From what I can tell you must be a member of the Elextrian Robotics Club. The chances that two separate Elextrian students would be in this park is minimal at best, and the fact that you know each other is further proof of my conclusion. You brought her here or she brought you here to force me into going to school again. Let me save you both the trouble and give you the same answer I gave years ago. I decline. Let me just say I'm glad you are doing well, but as I said earlier I have an urgent matter that needs my attention. I hope you find the help you're in need of, ma'am. Also, thank you. Good luck with the search and have a nice life."

Oliver turns back around and continues his way to the exit before giving them a chance to say anything else. Elijah has a somber look on his face as he watches him leave, but Vanessa has a smile plastered across hers as she says, "Eli, that was him right? That's the friend we came here looking for, he basically admitted it himself. He looks so much more different than how you described him I almost couldn't even tell. With only a small amount of interaction from us he was able to discern all that, wow that guy must really be a genius."

A smile starts to creep up on Elijah's face as he listens to her words and looks back at the exit, "He's always so much more confident and happy when he's around machines then he is around people, but idk what happened to him the past few years I was gone. I wish I could help him, but yeah that's him, my childhood friend the genius, Oliver Watson."