Recruitment (2)

Oliver slides down from the chair and falls down to his knees, his forehead pressed into the grass, tears streaming down his face as Elijah is gripping the edge of the closest table to keep himself from falling over. Elijah starts crying heavily along with Oliver as Vanessa and Tyler look at each other coming to the same thought and make their separate ways over to both Oliver and Elijah in an effort to console them. Vanessa crouched next to Oliver and placed her hand on his back unable to say anything, while Tyler is standing next to Elijah and gripping his shoulder softly. The boys were crying for what felt like hours although it was only 15 minutes as Tor was watching from the kitchen window grief written on her face as she whispers to herself. "Ollie. Please stop crying….everything's going to be okay."

Oliver turns his head and looks over at the tables strewn with tools, blueprints, and devices as an angry look appears on his face and he races towards the closest one. In one fell swoop he knocked everything off the tables closest to him as everyone rushed towards him before he could get to the next one. Vanessa gets to him first and wraps her arms around him tightly trying to make sure he doesn't hurt himself as he is fighting with himself, "W-what the hell have I been doing with my life? I have been such a horrible son to the both of you, I-I am so sorry! Mom…Dad…please don't hate me. God, I regret these past few years so damn much it hurts to imagine the looks on your faces watching me wallow in despair. I wanted to live and honor the kind of life you both expected of me, or at least get as close as I can, but things just kept getting harder."

Vanessa looks at him, worry etched on her face as Oliver sinks back to the floor, his knees buckling under the pressure with Vanessa dropping along with him. "Hey, hey don't worry. You're not alone right now, I got you."

He turns his head seeing the sadness on her face as he looks at Elijah crying into Tyler's arms and proceeds to take 3 deep breaths. He opens and closes his hands tightly a few times before looking up at the tables again pulling back his emotions behind the wall, "Those…those won't be enough. Ms. Davis, you can let go now. I don't have time for the frivolities of pain and sadness when things must be done. If you can wait till tonight to finish our conversation that would be ideal because there's something I must do." 

Stunned by the distant and cold sound of his voice her grip loosens allowing him to stand up breaking her hold of him as he starts to pick up the items that fell off the table. She looks at him trying to figure out what's going on, but seeing that he's no longer crying she stands up and continues watching him."If you can't and you all need to leave right away I understand and wish you all the best of luck with your search. If you can wait I promise to take you as far as you're willing to let me Ms. Davis, because I have something I must do and it seems like our goals coincide. You can stay or leave, but I must go."

"Go where? We came all this way for you and you think you can diss us twice and still expect us to stay, you're out of your mind, hermit." Tyler turns around quickly, anger filling his voice.

Elijah and Vanessa look at him quickly as Elijah is wiping the tears from his face but before they could say or do anything Oliver says, "Where I go is my business and only mine. Although I can see where you're coming from, no worries you may all go. I can do what I need on my own and get to where I want. Eli, Ms. Davis, the other, goodbye.

"Oliver, wait." Vanessa's voice cuts through the tension.

"Babe, what are you doing? He said we can go." Tyler exclaims.

"I heard him, but I can't let someone like him go just like that. He's the person we need and the one our club has been searching for, Ty. Oliver, I will wait for you after whatever it is you need to do, even if it's by myself." Vanessa looks him in the eyes so he knows she's serious. He looks at her as he chuckles to himself putting the last of the tools back on the table.

Irritated at Oliver's hold on her Tyler looks at Elijah, "Eli, buddy come on talk some sense into her. We really need to head back soon so we can go to practice tomorrow."

Tyer clenches his fist and turns back to Vanessa, "I don't want you staying here alone, but especially not with him, Babe. Look, I understand how important the club is to you and I love how dedicated you are to it, but we can't wait until later, I'm sorry."

Elijah looks at Tyler softly, understanding his point as he walks over and places his hand on Tyler's shoulder, "Buddy, she won't be alone. I can't leave knowing how close I am to bringing him back from the hole he's been cooped up in for the past few years. I understand the need to go and honestly if it were anyone else I would have helped you drag her out of here, but I can't."

"You both are a handful." He says with a playful smile on his face.

Vanessa walks over to him and cups his hands together looking him in the eyes softly, "Babe, I promise to be okay. Eli will be here with me, and the moment I get back we can go on that date we had planned."

Oliver coughs loud enough to bring all the attention back to him, "I don't care what you do either way, my goals are my own. It was lovely to meet you and a hassle to meet you, but I really must head to the lab. My uncle needed some help with something important, so I need to create a robot from scratch for him in 3 hours."

"What!" Vanessa and Elijah say in unison looking at him with wide eyes.

"You're going to make a robot from scratch in 3 hours? That is insane, can you do it?" Vanessa says bewildered with a tinge of excitement in her voice.

"Ollie, you're going back in there?" Elijah exclaims with a hint of sadness in his voice.

"Hermit, if you are just wasting our time I will make you regret it." Tyler says with confidence leaking into his voice.

Before Vanessa or Elijah could retort, Oliver looked him deep in his eyes, "If you're going to threaten someone make sure you're able to back up what you say. He seemed to be in dire straits to come to me for something like this, so I can help him and prove my worth to her and kill two birds with one stone."

Tyler was about to say something, but Vanessa wrapped her arm around his tightly, resting her head on his shoulder calming him down as Elijah stares at Oliver walking towards the cellar. "Now if you will excuse me I need to make a call."

Lifting his watch to his mouth, "Call, Wylan."

"Hello, Oliver? Is everything okay?" Mr. Wylan's voice echoes from the watch.

"Yes. Due to some unforeseen circumstances I will take you up on your offer, Uncle. I know the past few years have been hard for us, but I think it's finally time for me to step into the spotlight. I do have a favor to ask, could you find a place for 3 guests of mine to come watch the fight tonight?"

The three of them look at him surprised as Oliver walks over to the cellar and pulls out the key from his coat pocket and proceeds to unlock the cellar door for the first time in 3 years."That can be arranged Oliver, and are these people I will know or should be worried about?" Mr. Wylan asks inquisitively.

"No, just my old friend and two people from his school." Oliver says, staring at the unlocked cellar door as hundreds of thoughts flood his mind. He takes a deep breath, and then another before grabbing the handle and opening the door.

"Understood, and do you have a name to use for yourself or the robot? It helps make things feel more lively and the crowd loves a good character." Mr. Wylan asks.

"For my pseudonym I think the name Link works best, and for the robot their name will be Prince. If I am coming back I will make everyone remember me." Oliver says, a wide grin on his face, the first real one in the past 3 years.

"Got it. Are you sure you're okay with doing this, I don't mind having to deal with the top brass if it's for your sake." Mr. Wylan says in a soft paternal voice.

"For the first time in a long time I think I will be fine, I had a pep talk from someone special so don't worry about me. I will see you at the fight. I have a lot of work to do." Oliver says pressing buttons on the keypad. 

"I will see you then Oliver, I also have a lot of work to do to make sure this Championship bout is a massive hit. See you later, boy." Mr. Wylan exclaims before hanging up. 

Oliver takes one look around at the lab, his eyes traveling along every inch with a sadness in his eyes, but a hopeful air about him. "It feels good to be back."

Elijah walks behind Oliver and whispers something to him mischievously, "Ox, huh? That sounds very familiar. Are those a nod to a certain someone?"

Oliver stops for a split second before continuing to walk around the lab which makes Elijah laugh as he quickly tries to compose himself, "No, I just came up with it on the spot. Elijah I could use your help getting things started. It has been a while since I have taken on a job this huge, and you two can either stay and watch or hang out inside, I'm sure Tor could use the company."

"Yeah of course I got you." Elijah says standing next to Oliver.

Vanessa pushes past Elijah and Oliver with Tyler in tow as she excitedly looks around the lab with wonder in her eyes, "Oh we are definitely staying around to watch. Wow! It's like a scientific wonderland here. Everything looks so interesting."

Oliver's eyes start to tear up as he runs his fingers along one of the tables with Elijah behind him picking up small devices. "Yeah, my parents built everything in this place. I appreciate the praise, Ms. Davis."

Elijah dashes for a device sitting in a blue bin with a wide grin on his face. "Woah! It's the voice modulator, I had so many ideas for this when I was younger. Gosh, that feels like so long ago." 

"You can have it. I don't have any use for it, and I'm sure they would want you to keep it." Oliver smiles softly making his way to a black desk at the far end of the room. 

His eyes are darting around with tears in them remembering all the amazing moments he had in there, but he stops abruptly and drops to his knees. Everyone looks at him and starts to make their way over but he stops them. "M-my apologies, I didn't realize seeing this again would have that effect on me. I think I will be okay, Eli, hand me that blanket over there."

Elijah glances to the table and tosses over a blanket which Oliver extends over the scorch marks padding it down softly. "Sorry guys, I couldn't work if I kept seeing this. I hope you can forgive me, Mom and Dad."

He stands up and continues his way over to the desk and takes off the key around his neck. He slides it into the groove and twists it, unlocking the drawer, and pulling out two rolled up blueprints with a small rectangular thing attached to them one says, The Broken Crowned King (The Rogue) and the other says, Paladin (Emerald). "Here you are Silas. I have complete and utter faith you will help me craft something powerful and help me get to where I need to go, but first we need to take care of one small problem."

Oliver walks over to a light table and spreads out the blueprint before turning on the light and illuminating the paper to show the others as Vanessa has a huge smile on her face, Tyler looks at it curiously, and Elijah has a proud look on his face as he places his hand on Oliver's shoulder. "I think the prototype for The Broken Crowned King will be perfect for the fight tonight, because he was the one I spent so much time and effort into perfecting before everything happened. Honestly it feels like an extension of myself more than a mere robot, and that's what I need to challenge the world."

Tyler scoffs as Oliver grabs a remote from the back wall and clicks the top blue button. The back wall rotates and a thin robotic figure is hanging off of it completely gutted of all parts, gears, and wires as Tyler and Vanessa's jaws have dropped which makes Oliver smile softly as Elijah calls out to them, "You better close your mouths it's pretty dust in here, you two. So that's where he got off to. I was wondering where all the things we would scavenge junk yards for had gotten off to."

"Vanessa, I did lie to you when I said from scratch. I had most of this set up 3 years ago and haven't touched it since, but I will be putting him together fully, designing and curating an entire persona, and linking him to my matrix in the next 3 hours which will be time consuming and I hope that in the 3 years I haven't already been surpassed." Oliver is standing in front of the robot with a huge smile on his face as Elijah hands him his tool bag. 

"If I'm being honest I think you being gone for 3 years has allowed people to get closer to your level, but if what I'm seeing is real then you are still a few levels above everyone. Ty, can you believe it? What takes full teams and millions of dollars to create he did alone with scrap at the age of 12." Tyler looks at Oliver and smirks before putting on another angry scowl. 

"Yeah sure, I've seen better." Tyler interlocks his arms as he sits at the table closest to him. Vanessa smiles softly and sits next to him, when Elijah brings over some glasses for the both of them. 

Oliver looks at him with a sly smile as he closes his eyes and takes 3 deep breaths. "Well, then I guess I have my work cut out for me. Everyone put the glasses on, safety is the most important thing in my lab. Tor, bring some food and drinks for my guests and set a timer for 3 hours." 

Oliver grabs a screwdriver from the toolbag and starts getting to work on the joints of the left arm of the robot as Tor walks into the lab trying to stop herself from walking over and hugging Oliver. She places a tray with 4 glasses of lemonade and some sandwiches at the table where everyone else is sitting. "Refreshments have been brought and the timer is set, is there anything else you need me to take care of?"

Tor looks at him with a wide grin on her face as Oliver is arms deep in the robot working on the inner parts of the body, "Yeah, one last thing. Get my suitcase ready, I am heading off to Elextrian Academy with them tonight and I won't be back for some time."

She nearly stumbles back before nodding excitedly and heading back upstairs as Tyler and Vanessa turn their heads quickly to where Oliver is while Elijah has a full bite's worth of a sandwich in his mouth as he tries to smile but nearly chokes on his food as the two look at him and laugh wildly. "Eli, how many times have we been over this. You always forget to chew when you eat, no wonder you're always choking."

"Yeah, remember what happened last week with the donut. It ended up all over Mr. Durkin's shirt when you nearly suffocated yourself trying to finish it before class started." Vanessa looks over at Oliver who has a somber expression on his face while working on the robot, but she pays it no mind when Tyler hands her a sandwich to eat.

Oliver ties his hair back into a pony tail before putting the goggles around his neck up onto his eyes and presses a button on the side causing them to light up and puts on his ear buds to listen to music and drown out the world entirely. His heart and mind are struggling to keep calm, but once he isolates himself and his senses everything starts to clear up. 'Maybe I moved too fast. It hurts so much to be in here, I feel like my heart is being crushed with every second I spend in here. Once I get to New York and everything has settled down I will take some time to myself to fully take in all of it and allow myself to break down and cry until I have nothing left in me in order to move forward. For now, I will ride this wave I'm on and charge towards the future they wanted for me. The Broken Crowned King and Oliver Watson, versus the world.'