"Greg, is it alive? What is that thing?" Simon frowned and watched his friend poke at the titanium looking human with a stick.

     "I dunno Simon, but it doesn't move...you think it's dead?"

     Simon shook his head. "Nuh, it ain't dead! Metal men don' die, mama said so!" He opened his mouth to speak again, only to stop when he heard someone coming. "Greg get down, someone's in the junkyard!" Simon dove behind a pile of junk, reaching out and grabbing Greg to tug him behind the pile with him.

     "You sure you heard someone? No one really comes here..."

     Simon shushed him and nodded, pointing to the man with the straw hat who was talking to himself and sifting through the metal.

     "Whatcha think he's here for, Simon?"

     He shrugged and looked past Greg. "I unno, but look at the stuff he's wearin'. It's not a suit but it looks real expensive for adventure stuff."

     Greg gasped. "Ooooh! Maybe he's lookin' for the metal guy!"

     Simon shook his head and shushed his friend again, briefly glancing at the seemingly shut down droid and then back to the man who was searching through the junk. "We don' know that, Greg. Maybe he's jus lookin' for a car part."

     He scoffed at Simon. "In an abandoned junkyard? Yeah, okay." Greg playfully pushed his friend, though not out of their hiding spot.

     Simon was silent as they watched the man sift through all the junk. When he turned around, Simon gasped. "Greg, he's got an eyepatch! You think he's a pirate?"

     Greg shook his head. "Nah, he ain't got a peg leg." He tugged on his friend, frowning when the man passed by them.

     "Hey...you poked that robot. Did you burn your hand?"

     Greg paused, turning around to Simon. "Nuh. He was kinda soft. Well, in spots. Like he had a silver skin, maybe he's metal underneath?"

     Simon shrugged, looking over at the droid-he could just barely see him from their hiding spot. He watched his hand twitch, gasping and tugging harshly on Greg. "His hand moved! The robot's hand moved!"

     Greg shook his head, carefully climbing out of the other end of their hiding place. "No it didn't, that thing don't work. C'mon, the sun is going down and we don't want your mom gettin' worried again."

     Simon watched the droid as Greg began leaving the junkyard, seeing him slowly open his eyes and look around-before closing them again. Simon scrambled out of the junkyard after that, hearing the man with the eyepatch curse and still sift through the junk.

     Ronin sighed as he dug around, stopping and looking over the information Dareth had given him on a scrap of paper. "Droid, old junkyard, left behind. Great, that's very helpful." He flipped it over, hoping something was written on the back. "You kill me sometimes, y'know that Dareth?" He said to no one, merely venting his frustrations.

     To be fair, Dareth had seemed preoccupied with something and in a hurry when he wrote this down.

      "Alright let's see, let's see...droid..." Ronin squinted his eye as he peered out into the vast mountains of junk. "This is gonna take me all night.." He sighed and carefully walked through the junk, shaking his head. "I ain't got nothin' better to do, I guess." Digging through another pile, he heard his phone ring. He tossed a random piece of scrap away as he answered it and sighed. "Yeah, what is it?"

     Dareth chuckled on the other end of the line. "You sound frustrated, have you not found him yet?"

     He shook his head and began walking to the south end of the junkyard, checking the signal on his phone. "I might lose ya in here, I don't have that many bars. I ain't found him yet, no. What does he look like?"

     There was silence on the other end for a moment, then the shuffling of papers. "Says here he's silver but he might be a bit older than in this photo.."

     Ronin rubbed his face in frustration as he walked. "There's a picture? Dareth-"

     He chuckled. "Aww c'mon babe, you know I was in a hurry this evening when I gave you that piece of paper. Can't ya give me a break? Please?"

     Ronin grumbled and headed deeper into the junk, letting out a small chuckle. "You're lucky you're cute, y'know? Send me the picture and I'll try some more to find him before all the daylight is gone."

     Dareth shuffled some more papers and cleared his throat. "Alright, just come home when you're done, okay?"

     The call ended and Ronin stuffed his phone back in his pocket, silently digging through more junk.

     Zane opened his eyes again and scanned his surroundings, slightly confused.

     Where was he?

     What year was it?

     And more importantly, where was his dad?

     He looked around, pausing when he saw a man digging through the junk. Opening his mouth to speak, he frowned when no sound came out. Oh...right. He remembered the people that'd come here a while ago, smashing junk for stress release-or for fun, he hadn't been able to tell. They'd taken a bat to him in several places-including his head and throat. They'd likely broken or damaged his voice chip. Watching the man slowly walk past while staring at his phone, Zane stretched his hand out, grabbing his ankle to get his attention.

     Ronin let out a gasp and fell when Zane tugged on him, grunting when he landed flat on his back.

     Zane frowned and let go of him, slowly standing up with a grating creak that made Ronin cover his ears.

     "Holy hell, what is that?" Moving his hands away from his ears, Ronin grabbed his phone that had fallen a few inches away, looking at the picture of the droid through the cracked screen. "Dammit...I really gotta get a protective case for this thing."

     Zane leaned over Ronin and watched him, tilting his head.

     Lifting his head, Ronin backed away and sat up, leaning against a pile of junk. "Don't come any cl..." Ronin looked back down at his phone, and then at the droid. He squinted and looked over him suspiciously. "Your name Zane?"

     He nodded and seemed to perk up at the fact that someone actually knew who he was, silently sitting in front of Ronin with the same grating noise.

     "Hell, we need to get you some oil before you make my ears bleed." He sighed and looked down at the picture on his phone again. "You're rusted in places and some of your skin is missing...damn that sounds creepy now that I say it out loud."

     Zane frowned and looked over himself, examining the damage that sitting in the junkyard had done.

     "Listen, Dar-..." Ronin paused. He didn't know if this droid was bugged, and it was better to be safe than sorry. "Boss wants me to take you back to headquarters, take you in and give you a home. Is that alright?"

     Zane paused, listening to him talk.

     Home?

     Would his father be there?

     He looked down at the ground for a while, seemingly conflicted.

     Was this man safe to go with?

     Well, it was either go or slowly die in this junkyard.

     Lifting his head and nodding, he watched Ronin examine him while texting.

     "Say cheese. Boss wants proof I found ya."

     Cheese?

     A Picture?

     He smiled and lifted his arms up, expression delighted and happy. Watching Ronin take the picture and then put his phone away, he tried to put his arms down...only to pause and look at Ronin.

     "...Are you stuck?"

     Zane nodded and watched Ronin sigh.

     "Alright, new rule. No more movin' for you until we get back to headquarters and get you some oil. Should be able to carry you back to the car..." He stood up, leaning down and picking up Zane in his arms. Carrying him back to the car, Ronin sat him in the passenger seat and buckled him in. "Ready?"

     He nodded and watched him get in the driver's side. Soon the car was started and they were off, speeding down the road.

     "When we get there, you gotta stay calm, alright? Boss ain't gonna hurt ya. He ain't never hurt no one that's on our side before."

     Zane nodded and stared blankly at the road as they drove, wondering what this place would be like.

     As they pulled into the forest on the outskirts of the city, Ronin turned his headlights on so they could see in the trees. Pulling into a cave, he silently drove further down and pulled into a parking space, turning the car off. "Alright, now when we go inside, Boss is gonna greet you first...he's real friendly that way." Getting out of the car and helping Zane out, Ronin carried him up a hidden set of stairs and opened a door that led to a living room.

     Dareth looked up from the papers he was writing on and burst out laughing. "What...what did you do to him? Why does he look like he's doin' the wave at a ball game?"

     Ronin grumbled and sat Zane down on the couch next to Dareth, who put his arm around Zane, still laughing. "He got stuck when I took the picture...he needs oil real bad and I don't think he can talk."

     Dareth hugged his arm around Zane and sighed, calming down from his laughing fit. "My bad, that's my bad Zane. Your pose there caught me off guard...you alright other than that? I think I can get Jay to fiddle with your voice if you'll let him. He's a real nice guy. Best mechanic and small arms man I got." He cleared his throat and moved his arm away from Zane. "But you, you're real special. I don't think your dad woulda wanted ya rusting to death in a junkyard."

     Zane perked up at the mention of his dad, frantically looking around the room.

     "Now calm down, your head might get stuck. He ain't here, I'm sorry to say. I just read in a file about you that he created and worked on ya."

     Zane looked down, saddened.

     Dareth rubbed his head and chuckled. "Ah it's alright. We'll get you fixed up and let you rest some. Then we'll try findin' him, alright?"

     He silently nodded.

     Dareth smiled, patting his back gently. "My name's Dareth. This is my home, and you're welcome to stay. I ain't never kicked no one out."

     Zane smiled as he watched Ronin heading into the other room.

     "I'll get Jay in here to at least get you some oil so you can walk to the mech bay, alright?" Dareth gestured to the door Ronin had gone through. "Jay will be coming through there in a moment."

     Zane gave him another tiny smile, watching him stand up and head into the other room.

     "Welcome home, Zane. Glad to have ya on the team."