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Everything felt hot, really hot…
He could feel deeper in his chest, his hands, his body… All he felt was the heat coming from deep inside him. His ears ringing and clicking loud, balance completely off, he couldn't even tell where he was. He was fighting with Tony the Tiger? He can't even seem to remember, his head hurt, and it kept hurting as he fell to the side.
" TROY!"
Someone calling his name; it felt familiar, it felt good. All his fans, all steam-sled watchers, shouting his name in one voice, TROY! TROY! TROY!
Pure pride filled him; chest puffed, arms higher, everyone chanting him louder. All he heard was his name, all he saw was the light shining bright blinding him, all he smelt was the dust and ash he left at the race track, all he tasted was the weird taste of oil on his tongue, all he felt was… nothing. He wasn't feeling his tracksuit sticking to him, he wasn't feeling the trophy he was holding, he wasn't feeling his sled at this back, he wasn't feeling the wind that was waving his hair, he wasn't feeling anything.
" WHAT THE FUCK?!"
Like he was underwater everything started to sound, far. The visions of his fans blurred into two figures. A giant brown blob with a tiny purple blob. He could see the brown figure reaching him but was it touching him?
" I don't know dude! Can i heal him? He's all cogs and ticking! You understand all that stuff, WD and you understand this stuff! Are all humans like this?!"
" How the fuck am i suppose to know cheese-sticks! He's bleeding or i don't know spilling oil! Stop it!"
Blink staring at the never ending spill of oil from the side of Troy's stomach, his skin copper colored and it was stained with black with oil actively coming out of him. He grabbed whatever he could from his bag, deep inside pulled out a random cloth and wrapped it tightly around Troy's stomach.
"Wait, push him to the other side, maybe he wont spill anymore. I can't tell anything! TROY, WAKE UP!"
Blink immediately does as he is told and turns Troy to his other side, it immediately seemed to work as the cloth he wrapped gets soaked slower.
Did Troy even have veins? Was it just cogs? He never really saw his body this close, of course there was a few times where Troy was naked but why the hell would he pay attention at those times. Especially while he was holding onto Troy's body on the ground it felt cold, not dead cold but cold. He brought his talon to his beak, it smelled metallic too. He decides to just try his luck and heal him.
WD looked at Ripley, she knew damn well humans aren't suppose to… spill oil? And seeing Ripley's absolutely terrified face only made her tremble. She has never seen Ripley this confused and they were just in a fight of life and death. Ripley looked back at WD. Her eyes asking so many questions at once.
" Is Troy also from Reclaim? That… that's not…"
WD's head just snaps back to Blink, holding onto Troy, healing him. Ripley walked closer to them, looking at every brown colored metal on Troy's body where his bodysuit was burned off of him. Some parts still seemed to be hot, looking closer to red around his hands. And a really obvious scorching dark red around his chest. She tried to connect any dots because this is wrong, so many things are off. She looked up at everyone's faces. Blink's attention fully on Troy and the magic, his eyes having back and forth between his talons and Troy's eyes. Runt looks terrified, she can see her trembling as she is holding onto WD's overalls, probably not even noticing shes holding on, her tail wrapped around her own leg. WD looking at Ripley and Troy, her eyes darting so quickly. Ripley looks back at Troy. His breathing seems to get better slowly, oil no more coming out and the cogs that are visible turning faster than she first noticed them.
He takes a deep breath. He could still feel the heat in his entire body, he felt it working overtime almost. He felt the clicking and the ringing getting quieter. He started to hear more clearly, a soft cry, rustling of feathers… As his eyes adapted to the light he saw the brown figure getting clearer, and he saw two big eyes.
" Troy! Oh my cogs, he's awake."
" Hnghgnhgnhhhhhhhhhh…"
" TROY!"
The purple figure, Runt, immediately jumps to him hugging tightly, being mindful of the cloth Blink wrapped around him. Then as soon as her body touches she immediately jumps away with the immense heat she feels.
" OW! WHAT THE FUCK!"
" Oh shit! Are you good?"
Runt looks down at her shirt, despite all the dust and ash and dirt that was on her shirt from the fight, now there is an obvious soot around her chest, some parts of the cloth almost fully black. Troy stares, at first really confused. Then that confusion turns fully into fear.
He looks down.
His body, at least side of him, completely bare… completely, no skin, no nothing.
Looking down at his chest he can see the heat he was feeling wasn't just in his head and his chest was completely red, shining bright under whats left of his nonflammable suit and now the metallic skin.
" Shit."
He can only mutter out. This was the only thing his dad told him to keep it a secret. He could tell whatever he wanted to the whole world. But he was supposed to keep this one a secret yet he was unable to, he was unable to do a one single thing right. And now he's in the arms of Blink, spilling to death.
" Is Tony the Tiger dead?"
" Yes, you fucking psychopath."
Runt replies. It's something she says usually, insulting Troy, calling him a terrorist, calling him a psychopath, maniac, violent. Troy would just not pay any attention but right now he's thinking too much. He's looking at his body, he doesn't know what he's supposed to do.
His dad never told him why he was like this. Why he was not human. Why he didn't bleed when he fell at the races, why he didn't felt the touch of things, touch of people; why was his taste mostly bland. He never questioned it, just figuring that's how the world turned. Not until walked in on his brother while he was changing. Despite immediately turning away, and getting out, he didn't saw any cogs. He didn't look like him, why didn't he look like that, why was he different from his brother. And even then when he asked his dad, he just kept rambling about his big inventions and how he'll forever protect Troy and his brother. He would mutter under his breath thinking Troy would not hear him. How he would not let it happen again. Troy never understood what wasn't suppose to happen but always pushed it to his dad's ramblings and got out of the room, rolling his eyes. Extraordinary never gave him a direct answer, he always just changed the topic. Now would've been a good time to learn why he was like this. Then he felt himself getting lifted.
" Okay, ,you're at least somewhat stable. Ripley do you think you can help him?"
" I-I'm not sure! His functions do seem familiar to what i have worked on but it's a really a weird spot to put someone under."
"Dude, they just need some oil to turn, I'm fine."
"Troy, you were just spilling all your fucking oil, you don't get to talk."
That did made him pout and look away, but he was still in the arms of Blink, and his joints hurt, probably all the oil he spilled.
"TRAMILTON! MY BOY!"
A voice cut through the conversation; Troy rolled his eyes, groaning. Even rolling his eyes felt like a heavy job. He could see a blurry figure slowly dropping from the sky, wasn't he under this place? It has been an hour and he was falling above them still? Extraordinary was truly extraordinary.
He finally dropped to the ground and ran to the group. Blink, didn't exactly trust Extraordinary especially after all the conversations about leaving everyone behind, being selfish, and even someone as arrogant as Troy not being fond of him was enough for him to be leery. But he was well aware, Extraordinary was the only person who knew whatever Troy was, Ripley and Runt could easily figure it out too of course but one wrong move could end with losing Troy and they were racing with time, not a lot of space to figure out what Troy is when they can get help from Extraordinary and just skip to the part of helping him
Extraordinary reached out to Troy, which was immediately responded by him trying to pull his head back away from his father but his joints just made creaking sound and it hurt.
"It's okay, it's okay Tramilton. You'll be okay, you'll be fine."
He felt his ears getting almost clogged again. Everything sounded far, vision blurry, his joints aching more than he first fell, they moved slower too. He felt himself getting carried to some place. He could barely hear voices, just white noise filling his ear. It felt like he was dying again.
Again? Why was he dying again? He knew this feeling, the death of someone, the death of him. It felt strangely and far too uncomfortably familiar. He could see his mother in front of him, touch her and, feel her cold hands, her green eyes looking at him with a gentle smile that wouldn't come back again. He remembers her soft hands, the last thing he actually touched, the last thing he actually felt was the kiss his mother left on his forehead. Then nothing. He never felt anything again. He touched his sled, he touched the trophies he won, he held Blink's talon, he touched a boulder that almost fell on Runt. It has been years, a decade almost since his mother died but why did he felt like the last thing he felt was his mother's kiss. He remembers
Cold.
A cold that enveloped him. Not the coolness his body was usually in, not the metallic cold but the chilly feeling of something leaving him. In front of him, his mothers body; looking up, her face gently smiling. She was tightly hugging him. Looking around hurt, why did it hurt so much? They were clearly on the ground, maybe he fell out of his soft bed and the hard floor was so strange to him, it hurt. He looked down, crimson red. It just kept spilling. It kept spreading wider, it kept growing. He looked up again, his mom's eyes, her beautiful green eyes looked glazed. He couldn't move anymore. While he couldn't move he heard the door being opened. Some footsteps. His father's voice calling out to his mother and him. It sounded so far away. He was screaming to clockwork soldiers. He loved to play with them with his brother. They would keep messing with them until they were tired, or mother would call them to dinner. This wasn't one of those days though. His mom was in his room today and they were talking, talking about his dreams. He was going to be an engineer, his mother would be so proud and she was going to be the first one to see his invention. She was going to name it too because cogs know his father named "Extraordinary" and the same person who named his sons "Tramilton" and "Randallion" would not be his first choice. His mother giggled at that. She always called him "Troy" when he wasn't in trouble. He loved the name so much he made everyone call him that. Short and effective. The room they were in was slightly above the ground floor, not exactly would call it a first floor because his mom was never fond of heights, but Troy lived at the top, loved seeing everyone so little, so they compromised on which height they would be at.
Who would've guessed that day would be the last of doing something together. A thief would be in the Lougferd estate and climb up walls, a clockwork soldier would attack the thief when they were up on the ceiling. Clockwork soldiers were able to look up of course. But the soldier's attack would miss terribly. Breaking through the low ceiling. Too many coincidences matching up at the worst time. The attack landing directly on Troy and his mom hugging when they were talking about the future.
Nobody could've expected that.
And he was lying there. With his mom. Still hugging him tight. Kissing his forehead telling everything was gonna be alright. He was crying in pain at first but that kiss made him feel safe. He was with his mom, she would protect him, he was safe.
Then white noise filled his ears.
Next thing he saw was a bright light. It was blinding, his body ached. He was in a soft bed, with a light creaking of his neck he looked around. The room was dark but he could make out Runt on a bed close by, Blink sitting on the floor between the two. Looking at his other side, WD and Ripley sitting on a bed together chatting quietly. Neither his dad or brother was anywhere to be seen. As he expected. The grinding of his neck clearly noticed by WD, her ear flicked and she turned to Troy.
"Troy!" she beams
The shout also alerts the others as well, Blink immediately turning around, Runt basically jumping out of the bed it makes her head spin, they come around Troy's bed.
"Where the fuck am i, dude?"
"We're at your place, your dad basically brought us here to you know…um"
Blink stopped on his words for a second. How was he even supposed to bring up Troy not being a human, was he supposed to wait? Let him heal before questioning him? Runt was definitely faster than him to do so.
"WHAT THE FUCK CHEESE-STICK? YOU SCARED THE FUCK OUT OF ALL OF US!"
She basically jumped on Troy, hugging him tight, Troy could see few tears prickling at the corners of her eyes, he brought his hand to her back, patting cautiously. Only then he noticed his hand, it was robotic, the synthetic skin was gone. He looked down as much as he could and see as much as he could with Runt on top of him. Half of his body was missing that skin, he was just wearing his pajama bottoms. He brought his other hand to his face. His sense of touch has always been weak, now he obviously knew why, but he could still differentiate between synthetic skin and the feel of copper. His face still felt somewhat soft, his hair was still there too surprisingly.
"When were you planning to tell us you were a robot? We helped you through the entire Reclaim and you completely hide this from us? Lying to our faces, calling us freaks when we met when you're not human yourself?"
Troy couldn't even mutter out a single word to Runt. She was looking at his eyes directly.
"That was too far, we're already past that point I'm sorry. It was a heat of the moment. But why the fuck would you hide that you were a walking source of energy!"
She directly pointed at his chest. Troy could see a purplish glow coming from his chest between the metallic bits and pieces. He never really knew what it was but it was something that was just there for him. It generated warmth which was always appreciated by him, he never liked the cold. He didn't even know it was there. You'd guess living for 25 years would teach you about your own body but that's a topic his father really failed him at. Extraordinary never talked about why Troy was so warm, why his hands or knees would rip, why he barely felt stuff, barely tasted stuff and now he wasn't even here to see his son waking up, father of the year for sure.
"Troy?"
"I don't know dude, you're shouting at my face, i don't know any of this shit, I just fucking woke up! Geez."
Runt slowly backed away from him. He knew that magic coal was really important, he wasn't that stupid. He was just… not aware it was there at all. He knew his warmth came from there but why would he think about looking under his skin when he didn't even know if skin was supposed to be able to just come out like that.
"Sorry Runt, shit. I don't know what's happening, dad would know it but he's not here obviously."
"He did mention a few things, he spoke under his breath I could barely hear it."
WD spoke up. She looked confused, his eyebrows frown.
"He kept muttering how he wasn't gonna lose again. Just kept saying the same stuff over and over again. Then he mentioned a" she"? I couldn't make that out though."
"We did help him, he looked almost manic, which… I guess expected if your son almost dies."
Blink added.
Troy was completely quiet. He just looked straight forward, clearly not all there.
His shoulder stiffened, shook his head a little.
"He was talking about my mom." his voice completely stripped from any emotion. "I did told you, she was gone. He was talking about her."
The entire air of the room was dark. Nobody knew what to say.
"I guess he didn't want to lose me again neither."
"What, what do you mean again?" Runt looked at him. "Stop being all mysterious motherfucker. Just ell us straight up, I've met God and she teleported me and I made myself lungs, if you think anything is going to be surprising to me you're wrong!"
"I don't remember exactly what happened. But I do remember seeing her face. I do re-"
"TRAMILTON!" the door swing open. "Oh my cogs Tramilton, you're awake again." he almost runs to the bed to hug Troy but stopping by the bedside.
"Tell us right now, tell us what's happening right now you cat or I swear to God, which she is beautiful, I'll make your life a hell." Runt stood up on the bed grabbing Extraordinary's collar.
WD slightly pulled back Runt. Not enough to completely make her drop her grip but enough for her to not attack him like dog with rabies.
" Tramilton?" he looked tired,exhausted despite the the giant colorful glasses. His posture so lightly slouched forward, his head moving frantically.
"What, what am i dad. You're going to tell me. I'm not leaving without an answer this time."
"Tramilton, maybe when we're alon-"
"What the fuck am I?"
Extraordinary took a step back. He looked around nervously, all eyes on him. Runt was ready to jump at his throat.
"Do you remember how your mother died? She…" he took a deep breath, "She wasn't the only one Tramilton."
Troy looked down. That thing he saw with… And the clockwork soldiers not looking up anymore.
"Everything went wrong that day, everything! How did that criminal got in in the first place, how the clockwork soldiers did not detect you and your mom, and how it missed in the first place everything went so wrong." He was grabbing at his hair looking frantic.
"And I've fixed everything, I've made sure they couldn't look up anymore; the floors, the walls are hard and solid nothing can penetrate them. I couldn't love you again, Tramilton."
"How the fuck am i here then?"
"I've seen some inventions, now I know that were made by your friend Ripley, and the energy some of those gave out gave me inspiration, gave me the power. I've made something I have never done before it was truly…extraordinary for me! I've made you again Tramilton. I've powered you, I gave you life but I fear that could never be done again as I have no idea what I did."
"So, Troy's actually dead?" Ripley's voice cut through Extraordinary's rambling. "And what do you mean yo uhave no idea what you did, you didn't write it down?"
"You have to know i was…it was urgent, I didn't know if it would work at all, I didn't know if I had time, I had to be quick! And it worked, my boy came back!" he cheerfully lookedback at Troy.
Troy has been silent. How would you even react to information like that. Knowing you entire life was a lie, you haven't been alive, your mother could've been alive if your dad actually figured it out but never did in all these years, one of the "flaws" they were using against the soldiers was not a flaw at all.
You weren't a human.
"Whatever."
"What do you mean, whatever? Tramilton I-"
"I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO TELL YOU DAD, WHAT AM I SUPPOSE TO SAY TO THIS?! STOP CALLING ME TRAMILTON OH MY COGS!"
"I'll… I understand, this is too much, too much for anyone to handle. I'll be at my office if you need me Tram- Troy."
And with that, Extraordinary left the room. Troy looked down at his body. The cogs and the copper and the purple glow of the wondrous coal… His entire life has been a lie, everything was a lie.
"Troy, hey look at me." He looks at Runt. "You're Troy Lougferd, you win trophies at steam sleddin and the beat the shit out of people with that sled."
"Also we touched tips that has to mean something for you man."
"You did what." Ripley looking extremely confused.
"Whatever you did," Runt cuts them off, "Your dad might've rebuild/created/made Tramilton, whatever the fuck he did, but you have made your own decisions, you created Troy. Nothing, no one can take that away from you."
"We made buch of memorise, you made me stand up for myself, you screamed at my face about foot fetishes?? You saved Runt, you beat up Aldrick, pretty severly actually. You have always been Troy to us, you have been a good leader."
Troy was just looking around at everyone, he did do all of that. He was a steamsledder. He was Troy Laugferd. The leader of Smokestacks.
"Yeah, yeah dude. I'm fucking Troy Lougferd. It just makes me cooler now that I know I'm a robot. Fuck yeah, dude!"