Oliver is looking down at his shaking hands, listening to the deafening roar of the crowd hurtling insults his way and praising the man he has to fight, and the blinding bright lights shining brighter than he could've ever imagined. "So, this is what nervousness feels like, huh. I wonder, did it always feel this heavy before a huge tournament? How do people get used to this feeling?"
He closes his eyes and takes 3 deep breaths, but in the middle of the second one he could feel the atmosphere get so much colder and when he tried to open his eyes he was trapped in the same room he was in at the park. He looks at his arms and legs, and notices the chains holding him tightly in place as a figure is walking towards him."No. Not this again. Not now. Shit. Why am I so weak?"
"Go away! Whoever you are, just leave! I…I can't deal with this now I have….I have something important to do." Oliver starts crying as the chains are pulling him further into the clouds surrounding him, but he notices as the figure gets closer it's smaller than how it looked before and the chains are loosening. All around him the clouds grow just a little bit lighter, but his eyes are solely focused on the small figure in front of him. Eventually the figure is staring at him with those cold and distant eyes that he's had since the accident, but these felt darker and more broken.
"You're me, aren't you. You're the me from right after the accident, the one who started all of this. Why are you here? I already gave up 3 years of my life and for what to be a shitty son to my parents who loved me more than anything in the world. Just please go away, I don't need this." The little boy looks at him intently as he glances at the chains wrapped around his arms and legs and brings his hands up to his cheeks and presses his forehead to his. He could feel the warmth trying to escape his former self, but something was containing it.
"Yes, I am. I understand your hatred of me but I'm only here to ask for forgiveness for being such a terrible son to them, and to give you back something you lost all those years ago. Your love, respect, and pride as an inventor, the ones you cultivated with mom and dad. This will be the last you will ever see of me, but just know the path we're about to take isn't going to be easy. Regardless, it will be really fun. I'm so sorry for these past 3 years, but I just loved them so much and without them in my life I couldn't see a path forward. I figured it was easier for everyone to hide away and die alone, but to know they wanted so much for me even if they couldn't see it hurts so much. Actually I think it was just easier for me to hide away rather than to fully accept reality, what a coward I was. So Oliver, how about you do me a favor." The chains around Oliver's arms and legs start to disappear as the clouds start to clear up, and the boy in front of him looks how he did from before the accident.
Oliver pulls himself back from his younger version as he looks around and watches as the sides of the cage fall all around him, and the boy shoots him a smile as Oliver says, "What are you talking about, I still love, respect, and have immense pride in my work. I never lost that."
The little boy clutches his stomach as he laughs loudly at Oliver who just stares at him anger welling up inside. "HAHA, what are you talking about? Did I get dumber the past few years? Even that girl noticed you haven't been giving it your all and she only saw you work for a few minutes. Just come here."
Oliver begrudgingly walks over to the boy as his younger self dashes towards him and jumps inside him, causing Oliver to fall to the ground. "What the hell…."
His body feels weak as he drops to his knees, but soon the awkwardness goes away and his body gets stronger and lighter as a smile creeps on his face. "This feels weird, but interesting. Christ, for the first time in a long time I feel at peace. When I breathe it feels light, when I think everything feels more fluid, and everything feels so much clearer. What is that favor you need, little dude?"
"Just go out there and have so much fun and shine bright enough that mom and dad can't even miss us. Let that be our apology for the past few years." Oliver presses his hand to his chest and opens his eyes, he's back on the stage with seconds before the fight's about to start as a drone hovers in front of him.
Oliver takes 3 deep breaths and starts to flex his hands open and closed a few times as a huge smile appears on his face causing Briick to grimace and force the joystick of his controller forward sending his bot hurtling towards Oliver's before the match has officially started. 'I guess rules really don't apply here. Don't worry, little Ollie. I was planning on doing that from the start, so just watch me along with the rest of the world.'
Oliver notices the bot charging towards Prince as he chuckles to himself before twirling the joystick around causing the bot to sidestep and spin back around before slamming a massive kick to the back of the robot's leg dropping it in place, causing the stands to go silent for a moment. The crowd then erupts into massive cheers for Prince causing Briick to get angrier at the display and forces Behemoth to pop back up and start swinging wild and heavy fists towards Prince. Oliver is able to dodge each and every one before sliding back and charging towards Behemoth, a wild smile across his face. "This is fun! Like really genuinely fun!"
In the camera's you can see Oliver with a genuine smile on his face as the fight turns into a slugfest with each bot sending out massive heavy hits and connecting, but with the obvious advantage for Behemoth parts of Prince start flying off. A gruff and arrogant voice fills the booth Oliver's in, "You really think a fight up close will result in anything but your robot being torn to shreds. You must really be a noob if you think you can win with that gameplan. Wait until my secret weapon appears and this fight will be over before you know it, boy."
Oliver stays quiet as he presses the green and yellow button on the controller and a small blade appears in Prince's hand startling Briick. "You little shit. Now! Rex!"
"Who's Rex?" Oliver asked bewildered.
"Nothing for you to worry about little boy."Oliver has a confused look on his face as he has Prince slice bits and pieces of the plating off the arms and abdomen of Behemoth, and before he was able to get a good chunk off something strange started to happen to his controls and his robot. The light blue of the eyes turns black, and the green of the controls turns a light yellow as he can hear laughing coming from the speakers in the room.
Oliver clicks his teeth and does his best to try and get everything back under control, but everything he's trying just isn't working. His robot is getting punched repeatedly, unable to defend itself as the crowds are booing Oliver for seemingly giving up, but not deterred he pulls his watch to his mouth and calls Elijah and after a ring he answers. "Eli, get down here I need you to do something for me and quickly.
"HAHAHAHA. Did you give up little man, don't be too scared I'm sure you can still pull this out. AHAHAHA!" The voice erupts from the speaker.
"I guess you're using a targeted EMP on my controller, but what I can't figure out is how your little peabrain was able to come up with such a plan." Oliver jokes as he can hear Briick getting angrier and it's shown in the heavy stomps he's giving Prince in response.
The crowd is getting angrier and wilder as Briick is about to have Behemoth land the final ending blow by taking a few steps back to charge for a massive blow as Elijah bursts into the room and rushes over to Oliver. "What the hell happened out there man? What did you need my help with, shouldn't you be focused on the fight."
"Someone in the crowd is working with him to target my controller and make me lose the signal to my bot, so I need you to stand here and pretend to be me as I sync my brain with his circuits and gain control of the robot and fight as myself instead of through the controller." Oliver digs into his coat pocket and pulls out a pair of black thick glasses and puts them on softly before pressing the button on the side causing them to extend.
"Sure, whatever you need. Also are those…" Elijah stops speaking when the glasses start to transform into a matte black mask with white spray painted eyes and mouth that light up against the black, and a silver crown with a chunk broken off down the middle shoots out the top.
Oliver stands in place and closes his hands tightly before saying with conviction, "Silas, Coronation."
The mask lights up a light blue as Oliver grunts underneath it from the initial pain of the sync, but once the robot responds with a shake of the head the rest of the sync is painless. As Behemoth is inches away from landing the massive hit, Oliver drops to his knees and brings both of his hands up and Prince does the exact same thing, blocking most of the attack. "How the hell are you doing that, boy. REX! IS IT ST…"
Oliver struggles to hold his hands up from the pressure being added on, but he brings himself to get one foot planted back on the ground and then the other, but Briick angrily kicks Prince out from underneath his fist causing Oliver to cough wildly from the immense pain. "Sh--it! That hurt more than I thought. I need to end this quickly or else I might actually die."
"OLIVER! Are you…" Elijah is about to rush to his side but Oliver brings up a hand stopping him and shoots him a wild grin. He mouths that he's okay as he struggles to stand up, and as he does he looks straight towards Behemoth and taunts him by telling him to come on.
"HAHAHA. You may have gotten control of your bot, but you're still leagues below me, little man. It seems like you want some more, well don't mind if I do. You have royally pissed me off, I might as well rip his head off." Oliver could hear the spite in his voice which made him smile under the mask as Elijah held the controller and pretended to use the different buttons and joystick. Behemoth charges after Prince, grabbing one of the shards of plating that Prince cut off to use as a weapon winding up a large strike.
When he was steps away from him he swung the makeshift blade towards Prince's abdomen, but Oliver noticed it and ducked underneath it bringing his blade up and drove it into Behemoth's forearm. Briick growled angrily and tried to use Behemoth's other hand to grab Prince, but Oliver was one step ahead of him and twisted the blade causing the circuits to short and the arm drops becoming immobilized. "Oliver, that was awesome! Maybe…"
Elijah turns around when he hears a thud and notices Oliver looking up at him, a pool of blood below where his mouth would be. His eyes widen as the cheers from the crowd grow rowdier, but before he could say anything Oliver slams his hand onto the floor and slides over to the left side on his knees dodging a powerful strike from Behemoth while Briick is cackling. "You may have taken out one of my arms, but that means my other arm can do double the damage. Just give up while you can, little ant or should I say little orphan. I would say go back and cry to mommy and daddy, but since they're dead I guess you can't do that. If you were my son, I would want to be dead, as well."
Elijah could hear Oliver struggling to breathe and as he was about to respond to the man, Oliver screams at the top of his lungs and lunges towards Behemoth, staying low. Elijah decides to keep looking forward, understanding that Oliver would rather have no one looking at him while he deals with whatever is going on. Prince runs up Behemoth's arm blade in tow and drives it deep into the shoulder blade and thrusts forward and up, severing it from the body slightly. Briick is yelling something incoherent but Oliver is too far gone in his own mind to understand what he's saying. Prince is still on Behemoth's shoulder no matter how much he's trying to shake him off as Prince uses all the strength in the gears to keep pushing forward and proceeds to hop off the body and grab the wrist of the immobile arm. Planting his feet and pulling aggressively and wildly until the remaining parts holding it together snap and the entire right arm is pulled off from the body. "This is so damn fun! Imagine the possibilities, I can bring him to his knees begging for me to stop, but I won't. I want him to feel what it's like to have something ripped away from him. I want to rip every last part of that body with my own hands until the only things left are the controller in his hand and my oil stained hands. I can feel the adrenaline rising and I want to ki…"
Elijah walks over to his best friend and slaps him across the face as the mask slides across the room and hits the wall. Oliver looks up at Elijah who has tears in his eyes but is doing his best to be stoic as he grabs him by the collar and lifts him off the ground. "What the hell are you talking about Oliver! This isn't you. You're not some manic who would do something like that or say those kinds of things. Where is all this coming from? If that's who you are now then you're not the person I considered my closest friend and brother and even Elizabeth wouldn't consider you a friend."
On the battlefield Briick has Behemoth slowly circling Prince worried it might be a trap to bring him in as Prince still has the arm in his, but when the arm drops and Prince falls to his knees Briick laughs loudly. "Little boy, you messed up now."
Oliver has a dazed look in his glazed over eyes as the words finally reach his ears and he shakes off whatever was controlling him. He places his hand on Elijah's shoulder, "Shit. You sure can pack a hit, Eli. I-I think I'm fine now, but did you really have to slap me? I mean simply taking off the mask would've been enough, Eli."
Elijah looks at him trying to hide the smirk, but he's still not convinced he's back to normal. He lets Oliver get both feet planted as he can hear the crowd getting livelier, Oliver looks him in the eyes as he says, "I never imagined I would say or feel that way about anyone, but it must be from the sync. My synapses were firing faster than ever before and then he mentioned my parents in such a foul way and the anger I felt was 100x stronger than they have ever been in my life. I promise I'm fine, but did you really have to bring her up man, that was years ago."
Elijah scoffs as he lets go of Oliver and watches him walk over to the mask and take a deep breath before putting it on. He looks over at the crowd and looks at Oliver one more time before picking up the controller and standing back in his spot. He presses mute on the speaker silencing the belligerent words that were flooding the room, and goes back to acting like he is using the controller. Oliver claps his hands together, "One more time. I will end this fight soon before something like that or worse happens again. Come on Silas, let's finish this."
Oliver has Prince dodge a massive left that caused a dent in the arena wall, surprising Briick who nearly ripped his controller in half and those in the stands who were hoping to see the impact of that move would've caused, groaned. Oliver looks up at the sky and takes a deep breath as Prince mimics him, which Briick tried to get the upper hand on, but Oliver was ready for him and drove his blade into the ribcage of Behemoth breaking through the heavy plating. The blade was stuck and Prince was defenseless as Behemoth rushed over and grabbed the broken arm from the floor and charged Prince but the swing was too wide and Prince got on the inside and leaped off the floor and drop kicked directly where the blade was pushing it deeper into the body causing smoke and flames to erupt in the abdomen. Briick can be seen angrily gripping the controller in his hands and finally snapped it in too yelling something incoherent. Prince leaped up on the shoulders of Behemoth and grabbed both sides of the head and pulled with every ounce of strength until the head snapped off and the body dropped with a thud. "O…Ollie, you won. You…"
He watches as Prince drops down to one knee in what looked like a celebration, but when he turns around to congratulate Oliver he sees him hunched over coughing up blood and vomit. He rushed over to his side, yanking the mask off of his face, and seeing his best friend like that made his heart sink. Oliver had blood sliding down his nose and mouth, his eyes were bloodshot red and every time he tried to breath the blood was getting caught in his throat. He was about to say something when Oliver smiled widely, "I won. I…won."
A few minutes passed and the crowd is still reeling and rowdy since the fight had finished as Behemoth is being dragged away from the arena by 3 robots and their mechanics. Elijah is sitting next to Oliver who is propped up against the back wall of the room, asleep. Tyler and Vanessa barged into the room smiling and laughing, but when they saw Oliver asleep against the wall covered in blood and vomit they froze in place. "It's okay, there's nothing to worry about. I think controlling the robot from here through the mask he was wearing overheated his mind and body. He was saying that syncing himself to the robot when the controller stopped working was causing his synapses to fire faster than he thought they would. Regardless, he was really awesome wasn't he?"
Vanessa walks over to Oliver and smiles softly, placing a pin onto his coat, "Yeah that was really awesome. I can't wait to see what he can do with actually planning, more time to work on things, and a better environment to work in. We should really get him out of here before someone sees him and tries to do something funny. Wait, doesn't he have to stay here to accept the title."
Tyler gestures over to the mask in the corner of the room, "What's that thing over there? Is that yours, Eli?"
Elijah looks over and grimaces at the mask, "Oh that's what he used to sync his mind to the robot in order to control and fight the big dude over there."
Tyler looks at Elijah and then at Vanessa who is just staring at him expecting him to know what to do as he grunts annoyingly and walks over to the mask still in the corner of the room. "You owe me big time, hermit."
Vanessa looks at him worriedly and reaches for the mask, "What do you think you're doing that nearly killed him, babe. I won't let you put that on, even if it's just a little bit. We can tell Mr. Wylan and he will come up with something."
Elijah was about to agree with her, but Tyler smiles his flashy smile and kisses Vanessa on the forehead. "All I have to do is put it on to receive a title, the most me and the big lug out there will have to do is stand perfectly still and give the crowd a proper send off. If he was able to deal with it for a full fight I can at least do that much, right?"
He places the mask on while the crowd is still hooting and hollering after that cinematic conclusion to the championship bout, screaming, "PRINCE! PRINCE! PRINCE!"
Elijah and Vanessa carefully take Oliver out of the room and make for the back of the building, but are stopped by Deangelo and Mr. Wylan. Mr. Wylan has a worried and paternal look on his face as he reaches out for Oliver but Vanessa gives him a look that says, don't wake him up. "What happened up there, boy. Why does he look like he just went…."
The horror on his face when he realizes that Oliver was actually the one fighting as the robot the entire time, but before he could react further he calms himself and his face returns to normal as he whispers something into Deangelo's ear. Mr. Wylan places his hand softly on Oliver's shoulder and walks past the kids towards the booth while Deangelo gestures for them to follow him. "Don't worry, he will make sure no one suspects it's not Oliver in the booth. Let's go. We can wait for your friend in the car and let him sleep a little longer before he gets home. You know, underneath all the throw up and blood I don't think he's looked that relaxed in the 3 years I've known him, it's a good look on him."
Vanessa and Elijah look at Oliver and smile softly before following Deangelo down the side with no one around as he calls over a car for them to relax and rest in while waiting for Tyler. They are walking past different black sedans when a large limo is pulling up from behind them. "Oh is that for us?"
Deangelo looks ahead and nods softly before getting a call on his phone and walking away from them. "Uh, yeah it is. Sorry, the bossman needs me. It seems Briick doesn't want to leave his booth, saying something about 2 out of 3 falls."
Deangelo leaves them to go deal with the situation as they lay him down along the left side of the limo seat while Vaness and Elijah are waiting outside the car. With both of them on their phones responding to messages from friends worried about them as Vanessa looks over at Oliver and says, "That fight was so amazing! The fluid movements, clinical precision…Wow, I never knew he was able to sync himself to his machines like that? Why would he ever make something so dangerous?"
Elijah is looking up at the stars as Vanessa is looking over at the building as the cheers are getting louder and she could hear Mr. Wylan handing the championship title over to Tyler. Elijah takes a deep breath and looks in the car at the sleeping Oliver before saying, "He made that device when he was 10 to make sure the robotic body parts he was working on were as smooth and fluid as regular humans. It was never supposed to be used in an actual fight or even for that long, but no matter how much he was hurting I could hear him laughing and having so much fun.
Vanessa smirks as she responds. "Wow, all in an effort for robot fighting, that is some dedication. I've never met anyone like that."
Elijah looks at her confused, "What. No, he did that when he was working on prosthetics for people who lost appendages in an effort to make their lives as normal as it was before. He has always had an inclination to help people, it's what brought me and Elizabeth closer to him growing up. He wanted the prosthetics to feel and look as normal as possible, because he didn't want the people wearing them to feel different than other people. Like I said it wasn't supposed to be used for fighting. It was only meant to make the user feel as if the new arm, leg, fingers, or whatever felt close to their actual appendages, but doing a full sync was more than he could handle along with the excess damage being done."
"You know if you're going to talk about me, at least do it quietly or away from the car. How long have I been out?" Oliver's voice startled the two of them, but Vanessa was the first to speak.
"Oh not long, maybe 15 min? Tyler should be on his way and we will head over to your house to grab our stuff before heading out to New York. You were amazing out there, definitely the best fight I have seen in the past few years." Vanessa gives him a wide smile as Oliver does his best to hide the embarrassment as Elijah opens the door for him to get out. He stands up and stretches before taking a few steps and struggling to stay standing when Tyler comes jogging over to them a streak of blood coming from his nose.
"BABE! Are you okay? You don't feel like you're going to pass out right?" Vanessa rushes over to him and cleans up the blood from his face as she checks his eyes and the rest of him.
"Yeah I'm fine, don't worry, I promise. Babe. Just what is that little hermit made of, I was only in that mask to stand, bow, and grab a belt but I felt like my mind was going to be crushed. I have no idea how he was able to last so long in that thing and move around how he did. You were right in coming here. Please don't tell him that, someone needs to bring him down if he gets too cocky and it seems like you or Eli won't do that." She kisses him softly and laughs, wrapping her arm around his.
"Fine, our little secret. After today, I am so glad he's on my team because I think he alone could take on most of the schools in the state. I would be worried about losing him to some other program." They walk over to the boys who are busy talking to each other. Oliver gives him a knowing look as Tyler tosses over the mask.
"Here you are, hermit. They loved me out there, if you ever need someone to take all the credit for something I will gladly stand in your place. I always knew I was meant for the spotlight." Oliver catches the mask and starts laughing loudly surprising the others before looking over at Elijah.
"Eli, what is it with you basketball players? All of you have this abundance of confidence, how do I always seem to find myself around people with bigger egos than me." Vanessa joins in as Tyler and Elijah look at each other and smirk. Oliver presses the button on the side of the mask transforming it back into the glasses and putting them into his coat pocket.
"Alright guys, we need to rush over to Oliver's before we head out or else we won't be able to make it in time for practice tomorrow, and even if we do it will be close. Ooo, nice limo, is this ours?" Tyler climbs into the back seat and smiles widely as Vanessa and Elijah follow suit, but when Oliver is making his way in he gets a call on his watch.
"Boy Wonder, it seems like our paths are going to diverge from here on out, but just know that whatever happens in life those of us here will be rooting for you. We only expect excellence from you boy, so you better not let us down and lose to any of those New Yorkers." Oliver looks at the people in the car waiting for him and laughs softly, before looking out towards the full moon shining brightly.
"I won't. I told you earlier that I plan to challenge the world. I have no doubts in my mind that I will, because I'm a Watson, what else do I need." Mr. Wylan laughs loudly slamming his hand on the table.
"You and your father are the exact same person. He told me that exact thing when he left to marry your mother and I didn't know it at the time, but to him meeting her was challenging the world and winning. It would be an honor to watch two generations of Watson's win, so go and live the life you want but never forget you have people behind you watching out for you. I have to go now, but call me if you need anything. Goodbye, Oliver." He can hear the emotion in Mr. Wylan's voice as Oliver takes a deep breath as a tear slides down his cheek before wiping it away and smiling widely.
"Yeah he was always lovestruck seeing mom every day, so that doesn't surprise me at all. One day I will come back and show you how much I've grown, Uncle. I won't ever forget everything you or the organization has done for me. Sorry to leave suddenly, but sincerely thank you so much. Goodbye, Uncle Cal." Oliver hangs up the call and gets into the limo as he takes one last long look at the building before the driver drives away.