Copy, (An Astro Boy Story)

Chapter 26: Okay? Okay.

There were tears rolling down Cora's cheeks again, but she was so used to them by now, she was mostly surprised she was still capable of pain.

Astro's body lay on the cold Ministry ground, limbs still glitching and hand stretched out to the side palm up, like he was Snow White and he'd just bitten from the poison apple, relapsing into his cursed sleep.

Guess that made her Prince Charming. With renewed anger bubbling in the pit of her stomach, Cora struggled against Stone's grip, but the psychopath was reveling in his victory. He simply clenched her tighter in his hold, and he laughed cruelly for probably not the last time.

"Well, that was easier than I expected," he declared, and the cheerfulness in his voice made Cora's skin crawl.

"Monster!" she growled, trying to kick him in the shin, but Stone evaded the jab easily. Friggin' tall people.

"True," Stone agreed, and Cora could tell just by his tone he was smiling. "Very true, little girl. I am. And you know what? I think I like that."

He chuckled, and the barrel of the blaster pressed harder against Cora's temple as Stone addressed Heckler. He motioned to Astro's shell with a short jab of his chin. "Pick the little excuse for a 'bot up and bring it back to the lab," he ordered. "Give him another round, too, while you're at it, and put the Blue Core back where it belongs. We will dispose of the both of them later. Right now - "

He turned to shoot Tenma a rather sly smile, and Cora shrieked as she was yanked around with the movement. "I have a robot of my own to finish up, and a mini-Tenma to attend t - "

He cut off suddenly, but not without a tiny, unmanly squeak of surprise. Cora couldn't see his face, but she imagined his eyes widened, because her did.

Toby was no longer standing next to Dr. Tenma as he had been.

"Where in the blazes - " Stone began, but that was all he got out before he swiveled around to see Heckler's stocky form sprawled eagled on the floor, most definitely unconscious.

Hovering above him was a smirking Toby Tenma, who was wielding a giant, blood-speckled wrench.

The younger, human Tenma's brown eyes sparkled as he held the oversized wrench out in front of him like a sword.

"You wanna touch my robot," he announced. "You're going to have to go through me."

Cora had never felt so proud.

"Foolish boy!" Stone snarled, and Cora winced as his hold on her increased to crushing force. "You can't touch me! Take one more step, and I'll blow the girl's head off. You wouldn't want that, now, would you?"

Definitely not. But Toby simply grinned. "Who said I need to take a step?" he challenged, jabbing the wrench up in the direction of Stone's ugly, angular face, and that was all the cue that was needed.

In fact, there hadn't really been any need for a cue at all.

"What - " Stone tried, but his sentence ended in a grunt of pain as he received a sharp and - this time - successful blow to the knee.

A triumphant Cora wiggled out of the sorry excuse for a former President's grasp happily, and proceeded to give the twig-like jerk a deserved kick in the balls with all the fury she could muster - which was a fair amount. Stone cried out in agony, falling over pitifully before moaning, doubling over in pain as his blaster slipped from his fingers. Cora gave the stupid gun another solid kick, and it went skittering away