I Come Alive

"Who is it?"

"It's me, darling." Beau said with an sarcastic laugh after he pushed the button at the door of Rowan's laboratory. Rowan peeked through a window on the door, his eyes barely peering over the tall glass. Beau smiled with his hand intertwined with Joshua's, silently apologizing for his earlier behavior. He rubbed his thumb against Joshua's palm, keeping the words hidden while Rowan unlocked the door with a welcoming grin upon his face.

"Beau, your sense of humor keeps me sane." Rowan said with a gracious smile, stepping aside so they could walk into his cluttered laboratory. Joshua tip-toed his way into the laboratory filled with stacks of papers and piles of hard drives and memory. Rowan had small flashes where he would be clean, prim and proper, and then the next moment the lab would be a disaster; unrecognizable. Joshua stared at the boxes of paperwork Rowan had to fill out, and immediately sympathy for his situation struck.

"Rowan, do you need help?"

"No, no, no, Joshua. I know this place seems like a catastrophe, but I swear it wasn't only my fault this time." Rowan said. "I've had detectives running in and out of this place for days. I haven't slept in... almost two and a half days because they just won't get out of my hair long enough for me to breathe!" Rowan said partially to himself.

"Detectives for what?" Beau asked cautiously.

"There's bots missing." Ethylon's deep voice called from down the hall, frightening both Beau and Joshua. Joshua's heart began to race, as he had never felt it do before.

"They aren't missing entirely, let's not jump to conclusions." Rowan sat down on his desk, chewing on his thumb nail. Ethylon meandered down the halls, not bothering to rush back to the conversation.

"There's bots missing?" Beau asked quickly. Joshua's hold on his mate's hand tightened, his knuckles turning to a ghost white color. "Don't avoid my questions. Joshua.... I don't know if you should be here for this."

"He has to stay." Rowan retorted before Joshua could make any movements to leave Beau's side. "Joshua can't leave, Beau. He has a right to know."

"I have a right to know too, but you two are playing a game of keep-away and I don't get to know anything."

"You want to rush into everything all at once, Beau?"

"No, but—"

"Then shut up and sit down." Ethylon said.

Beau glared at Ethylon, even after he sat down on one of the packed boxes that Rowan hadn't bothered to open yet. Joshua began to sit down on the hard metal floor until Beau grabbed him by his hips and sat him down on his lap. He smiled, though the topic mentioned kept picking at his brain. Why were missing bots such a big deal?

"As you know I've been working on transferring memories of the previous series bots to their human bodies again, as I did to Joshua, per the Capital's orders. They have been working extraordinarily hard to find all the bots by using their serial numbers to locate them. We've found them from raising families to working in taverns to even assisting the Capital." Rowan pushed a button on his computer that sat upon his desk. He flicked his fingers across the keyboard before a projection came out of the screen and unto the wall. There were pictures of 80 female bots and 20 male bots.

"What's this?" Beau motioned to the screen.

"Missing bots." Ethylon said.

"I thought they were just going to be late to the party, right? I simply figured they would come later to have their memories transferred and such." Rowan furrowed his brows. "And yet, we can't locate these robots. And it's not like they've been deactivated. Deactivation doesn't turn off their circuitry or lose their serial numbers. They're just... poof," Rowan mumbled, "off the grid."

"You can't find any of them?"

"No, we can't even find the trace of them. They were there one second, gone the next. I don't understand how they can just be missing from the grid." Rowan murmured partially to himself. "What's also confusing is that they were all coming to the Capital just as their serial numbers disappeared. I know it doesn't sound like much, but look at these robots, Beau! There are at least 100, and this is only the first slide. There's another one and a half slides. Explain to me how they can all simply disappear."

"Rowan, you're the genius in this room.... The only way a robot can be missing from the grid is if their circuitry and serial numbers are immobilized by a hacker." Beau said.

"That's what the detectives think this is. A hacking."

"But Rowan, this is some heavy business. Only a grade-A hacker could manage to do this without the Capital being notified." Beau shook his head, wondering why Rowan ever thought he could know someone who did something this serious.

"We have plenty of grade-A hackers in Abionmaton, Beau. You were one of them not too long ago. The only difference now is that you are our ally." Rowan replied. "Beau.... The point of me calling you is that we need your help."

Beau raised his eyebrows, crossing his arms over his chest. Joshua instinctively pushed himself off of Beau, as the gesture meant he was angry, though Joshua didn't know at who or what. All he knew was that he didn't want to be there when Beau's rage got the best of him.

"The Capital needs my help?" Beau laughed weakly.

"Beau, don't act that way." Ethylon said.

"Funny how the Capital calls to me when they're lost, but in any other situation, I'm the rebel, I'm the bad one, I'm the one who should be punished."

"The recognition you've been getting from each of the districts isn't enough?" Ethylon snapped.

"I don't want recognition. I want them to admit they were wrong." Beau yelled, his voice catching at the end of his sentence. "I want one Capital official to really look Joshua and I in the eyes and say, 'I'm sorry.' Actually I don't care if anyone else feels bad for me." Beau motioned to Joshua. "Look at what they did to Joshua. He had a family, Ethylon! A family with brothers, sisters, and a mother and father, and what did the Capital do for him? They took it away from him for a chance at making some money!"

"We had a family too, Beau! But you can't play the pity card all the time." Ethylon exclaimed.

"Oh, I'm playing the pity card too? I'm sorry, I wasn't raised in criminal Bion for half of my life. I guess I don't know what true hardship is." Beau snarled sarcastically. "I grew up in the perfect community right, Ethylon?" Everything that ever bothered or angered Beau came flooding out in a quick rush of emotions that overwhelmed every sense in his body, and he couldn't stop yelling at

"Enough." Rowan stepped in between the two of them before the fight could progress anymore. He knew Ethylon and Beau could be the best of friends and then at each others throats in a matter of minutes. Joshua cowered behind Beau, keeping his distance away from the fight. If it turned physical, Joshua wouldn't have a fighting chance against two people like Beau and Ethylon.

"Beau, I don't want you to do help because the Capital is asking." Rowan said, keeping his desperate and tired eyes locked on Beau's. "I want your help because I'm asking. I know you and Ethylon are a great team together, and Joshua could help if he wanted to." Rowan sighed softly, shaking his head. "You two are my first choices. I'd really like it if you would help."

Beau glared at Ethylon, pursing his lips over and over again until finally he clicked his tongue impatiently and nodded. He unclenched his fist at his side, thrusting his hand into his pocket without another word said to Ethylon.

"What do you need from me, Rowan?"

"So you'll do it?" Rowan said with a grin.

"Obviously." Beau snapped. He was already exasperated, and they had only been talking for a half an hour, perhaps less. Ethylon knew how much talking about Beau's 'perfect life' really irked him. Ethylon had a habit of comparing everything from Beau's life to his own, and it only made Beau seem like a snobby rich kid with far too much time on his hands, when that wasn't his life story in the slightest.

"And you, Ethylon?"

"I said yes from the start."

Rowan clapped his hands together with a grin upon his face. He threw his arms around his brother with a great laugh, and then crushed Beau in a warm hug as well. His arms were trembling, probably from delirium.

Just as Beau and Rowan pulled apart, there came a great pounding from behind the laboratory door. Joshua squeaked, hiding behind Beau's broad figure with a pant of heavy breath. He kept himself hidden from the visitors behind the door.

"Rowan, it's only us." A deep voice rang out through the laboratory. "We told you we would be back."

"Give me a moment." Rowan called to the door. Beau, obviously confused, looked at Rowan with a crook of his neck and the raising of his eyebrow.

"The detectives." Rowan explained quietly. "Don't worry, they won't do anything to you. Perhaps we should discuss this further tomorrow, Ethylon. Beau." He nodded at each of them. Ethylon nodded, obviously not worried much about the task at hand, though Beau could only think of what he had agreed to, and how it would affect Joshua and their life. He could have very well just put Joshua's life in danger from accepting this challenge Rowan gave him. "Would you like to meet the detectives?"

"We're leaving." Beau grabbed Joshua's arm, pulling him away from Ethylon with obvious distaste in his eyes. Joshua whimpered quietly, though he made no protests even as Beau neared the laboratory door. He opened the door as though it were nothing, meeting the detectives face-to-face.

As soon as they caught sight of both Beau and Joshua, they fell onto their knees. Beau rolled his eyes and pushed his way past the crowd. Joshua followed suit, keeping himself especially close to Beau when they exited the Capital building and met the gazes of almost every citizen in the Capital. It was almost like they had just found out what Beau had done, yet both of them knew that there was no possible way they could know about what had just happened. Joshua wasn't even sure he completely knew what had happened.



Beau didn't speak the entire train ride back to District 3. His silence scared Joshua since it meant he was either angry or depressed, or in pain even. Joshua wished he could help Beau in some way, but he knew there would be nothing he could do than attempt to make him feel secure. Joshua would rub his thumb against Beau's hand every now and then, offering a silent comfort, though Beau made no obvious attempts at conversation. At least, not until they arrived at home and Beau punched the wall as hard as he possibly could.

At first Beau kept his hand against the wall through layers of hard plaster, his fist in the middle of the gaping crater. An aching pain spread through his fingers now that the short adrenaline rush had worn out. His head pounded from the migraine he had developed on the train ride home, making every movement seem drawn out and painful.

"Beau....." Joshua mumbled, pressing his hands against Beau's wrist.

"I should have asked you first." Beau muttered, keeping his gaze hidden from Joshua's forgiving expression. "I-I should have asked you if you were all right with me helping Rowan. But instead I just— I just—" Beau grumbled in frustration, slamming his fist in another layer of hard plaster. Joshua reached forward, gently grazing his finger's over Beau's arm. When Beau lifted his arm to punch the wall again, Joshua grabbed him by his shoulders and stood in front of the wall.

"Beau, please stop!" Joshua said. "You're going to hurt your hand more than you already have. Please." Joshua begged, pressing his lips to Beau's hand. "Stop."

Beau kept his eyes closed, not bothering to even glance at Joshua. Instead he scolded himself mentally in disgust and anger. How could he have been so foolish as to accept something like trying to find missing bots without even asking Joshua first? His haste got the best of him, and he wasn't proud of that either.

"If you're worried about me, you shouldn't be." Joshua said, shuffling his feet awkwardly. Beau finally worked up the courage to look at his mate, though tears pooled in the corners of his eyes. He tried fighting them back as hard as he possibly could, but there was only so much he could do. "Beau, you know I support you through anything. The fact that you accepted this case proves once again how amazing you really are, supporting all those missing bots." Joshua pushed himself up on the tips of his toes and smiled, keeping his gaze locked on Beau's deep eyes.

Beau wiped his eyes, nodding quietly. That was all the response he gave to Joshua, but Joshua didn't believe it. He had to know that Beau was absolutely all right, and a nod didn't say that in the slightest.

"I don't understand why you're nervous, Beau. I think you're just working yourself up for nothing." Joshua shrugged, taking Beau's arm in his own and leading him away from the broken wall. Beau reluctantly followed, keeping the tears hidden from Joshua's gaze. "Why are you so worried?" Beau shook his head. "Huh?" Joshua sat Beau down on the couch, then he took a seat right next to him with a quiet huff of breath. "Please talk to me, Beau."

"I don't want you to get hurt again." Beau replied quietly. "I don't want you to be hurt because of me and my stupid choices."

"But Rowan didn't explain the case much either. Maybe it's just a little thing he wants you to do."

"Joshua, if the detectives can't manage to find these robots by trying to track their numbers, then Rowan probably wants me to do so much more."

Joshua shrugged, taking Beau's hand in his own. He rubbed the palm, and slowly massaged each finger that Beau had injured from punching the wall. Beau's fingers tensed and relaxed as Joshua worked his hand along the pained flesh. Finally Beau heaved a sigh of relief that meant the pain had gone away just a bit.

"Does your leg hurt?"

"A little." Beau said.

"Do you want some medicine?"

"No. It's too early for the medicine." Beau shook his head. "And I don't know if it would work anyways."

"Why not?" Joshua kept his fingers working against Beau's hand.

"Sometimes it will numb my leg completely; other times it only takes the pain away for an hour or two. There are some nights where it won't even soothe the pain a little. So what's the point?" Beau said. "Why should I take it if it only works every now and then?"

"Because it could help your leg!" Joshua said. Beau laughed.

"C'mon Joshua." Beau said helplessly. "You know this is as good as my leg is ever gonna get. There isn't any drug in the Capital that can make my limp go away." He leaned forward, pressing a warm kiss to Joshua's cheek. "The limp won't go away just like my scar on my cheek and chest won't go away either. It's permanent damage."

"But the pain should go away. I know you're going to have a limp, and your scars change nothing for me, but pain doesn't just affect you. It hurts me too."

"I know." Beau whispered, pressing his forehead against Joshua's. "I know my pain affects you too, and that's why I regret accepting the case. Because whatever hurts me in that case is gonna hurt you too. And I don't know how much I can see you get hurt."

After Beau finished, for once, Joshua understood what he meant when he was worried about the case. Beau was afraid of being hurt, and that hurt would affect Joshua more than he would ever know. Still, Joshua wanted Beau to work this case to help the missing robots.

"Whatever happens, happens." Joshua murmured.

"I can't afford to think like that, Joshua."

"I know, but you can try."

They both glanced at the bedroom door which was wide open. The bed was calling for them to fall into a deep and euphoric slumber, but Beau was far too tired to move, and Joshua was fairly comfortable as he nuzzled his face into Beau's warm side. So they settled for the couch, stretching their legs out on the soft cushions with tired smiles tugging at the corners of their lips. Sleep took over their senses and they gave into the numbness, leaving only the ghosts of tired smiles on their faces.