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It was 3 in the morning, and his twentieth birthday had only been a little over a week ago when the call came through.
“Hello?” a groggy Chuck answered his coms. His eyes, squinting, rejecting the piercing green light that cut through the darkness.
He had forgotten to turn down his screen’s brightness, and from the looks of things, his own camera from automatically coming on when he went to bed earlier. The room was dark. Enough to prevent anyone calling from properly make out his features (You know, just in case it happened to be some kids prank calling him or some creep). But still, it wasn’t like he just was conscious enough to care.
What ended up coming through the other line however, changed that immediately.
“Ch-Chucky?”
The blond immediately sat up in his bed and stared at the screen. The camera on other side seemed to still be loading, but… that voice. He recognized that voice. It had been three full years since he had last heard it. That, and that ridiculous nickname, but he would never forget it or who it belonged to. The camera finally loaded. Static gave way to a clear image, and Chuck’s eyes widened.
“Tooley?” he asked in almost-, no, in complete disbelief. How? Why?
His longtime friend, the very same one that he had met as a child. The same one who had lived under the same strict regime he had. The same friend who had suffered many things alongside him, the friend he had confided in about his growing doubts in the corporation. That same friend he thought he had to say goodbye to forever when he was 17, was calling him.
“Wha- when-” Chuck paused for a moment and then cleared his throat.
“Tooley, man… How did you get my number, buddy?” he asked in a gentle way. Now that he had successfully rubbed off most of the sleep off his eyes, he could see that his almost 7-foot-tall comrade looked incredibly distressed and was doing his absolute best to hold his tears back.
“Julie gave it to me… She told me not to tell anyone and for me to use a special co- conf… Con-fi-gu-ra-tion code if I wanted to call you. I’m actually in the bathroom right now…”
The programmer chuckled. He could find a little pleasantry in the setting of their reunion, despite his growing concern. Tooley wasn’t kidding. He could actually make out the shower door his friend was sitting next to on the other side of the screen.
“Yeah, I can see that.” he fumbled around his bedside table and pressed a button that immediately turned all of the lights on. As his face became clearer in the screen, he saw his giant friend strike a gentle smile.
“Hi Chuck, I’m really happy to see you.” the brunet gave a tiny wave and the other man returned it.
“Tooley…” Chuck hesitated. He didn’t really know where to begin. How to say all of the things that were running through his mind at the moment. Why him? Why now? Did he know how dangerous this was? Did he have any idea what Kane Co. could and would do to him, if they found any records on his call history of him calling non-Deluxian registered ID numbers?
Tooley, admittedly, wasn’t the brightest but he was well aware of Kane’s strict rules and its consequences to those that broke them. With his mind going a mile a minute, he settled on asking the first question that came to his mind, while being sure to point that this wasn’t the safest thing to be doing right now… or ever.
“I-I miss you too bro, but why are you calling me? It’s a bit dangerous for you to call when I’m down here in Motorcity. You could get in a lot of trouble.” he hated to sound dismissive, or rude, or to make it seem like he didn’t want to talk to Tooley.
Of course, he wanted to talk to Tooley, he missed him like crazy! But unfortunately, there were several reasons why he could still keep in touch with Julie and Claire while they were still living in Deluxe, and why he couldn’t afford that same luxury with Tooley. But then, just as soon as the words came out of his mouth, the brunet Deluxian started to cry, and in the most broken voice Chuck had ever heard come out of him, he stumbled out a response.
“They’re- they’re so mean to me Chuck, and they make me be mean to other people too!” He slowly lifted his left hand and looked down as he started to sob. “I-I- I don’t wanna do this anymore.”
Chuck brought the screen closer to him in a poor attempt to comfort his long-time friend. He’d always known that Tooley was an incredibly affectionate person and the quickest way to get him to calm down or to cheer up was by hugging him. Talking through com screens however, said gesture wasn’t really possible. Instead, he settled for the next best (and only) thing he could do.
“Whoa there man! It’s ok, it’s ok. Who’s being mean to you? What’s going on up there, bud? Come on talk to me, I’m here.” He swallowed once and swallowed again as he felt a knot begin to form at the back of his throat.
Having the screen closer to him, he could now notice how his friend’s hand looked a bit… off. It seemed to be a tad shinier than the rest of the skin, and the color didn’t seem to match his natural tone. His suspicions arose, as a sinking feeling began to settle in his stomach.
“He- he-” Tooley was still sobbing, so he put a hand over his mouth in attempt to quiet down his cries, making Chuck’s heart ache. “Ever since his favorite cadet quit, Mr. Kane told me that I was his new favorite soldier and that I would have a very important job, but-” tears began to spill as he broke down again, this time using both hands to silence himself.
At this, Chuck gripped his own knees tighter and began to whisper small words of support.
‘Don’t worry, I’m here.’
‘It’s okay buddy.’
‘It’s alright, I’m still listening.’
It took a few minutes but eventually the crying seemed to go down and Tooley continued his story.
“But all Mr. Kane ever does is yell at me, and call me names, and whenever he isn’t being mean to me he tells me to beat people up! At first I did it, because- because I thought I was doing something good and important for Deluxe. He called it a-a necessary evil, but then he would tell me that anybody who disobeyed him had to get beaten up! Including my friends! He wanted me to beat Tessa! And- and- and I’m not allowed to say no because if I disobey him...” Tooley raised his hand again and more tears streamed down his face.
Chuck stared at the screen very sternly and took a deep, shaky breath. Tooley was clearly in a great state of disarray, and it wouldn’t do any of them any good (especially the former mentioned) if he himself started freaking out now. So, he tried to put his sneaking suspicions to rest in the calmest tone possible, even as he hoped that they were wrong. “Tooley… Did Kane order the M.U.R department to replace your hand?”
Tooley began to nod his head ferociously and Chuck shut his eyes. Of course they would do that. Because what else would be a better solution to an act of disobedience for the mad man than to slowly and non-consensually chop off and re-attach new limbs as a form of punishment? It had happened back when he was younger, and it was still happening now.
And he had no doubts it would keep happening in the future.
“He told me that if it happened again, it would be my entire arm and he would keep doing it until I was nothing but a robot. That at least that way he wouldn’t have to deal with my whining.”
As Tooley began to cry again, Chuck could feel his own eyes begin to well up. He had seen this kind of thing happen before, even to fellow friends but... there was something about it being done to Tooley that broke something inside him.
Back when he defected at 17, on the days leading up to it, he had many times thought about what would happen to the friends he had left behind. What would become of them as people?
He knew he would have to stop talking to many of them, being forced to grow apart and eventually, they would become a distant memory. When he left, he had only told a couple of people about his plans. And when it came to telling Tooley… he still remembered the day like it was yesterday.
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“I’m gonna miss you a lot buddy.” Chuck said as he gave his taller friend a hug, holding back tears as he felt the other return it.
“Awww, I’m gonna miss you too Chucky! But don’t worry, we can have dinner together again next week!”
He couldn’t tell him. His sweet, naïve friend would be at too much risk. He could accidentally blurt it out to someone, and then be probed for information he did not have.
Or worse, he could try to convince him to stay, and succeed.
No, the risk was too high. He couldn’t tell Tooley and with the jocks limited understanding of special code and proneness to carelessness, they could not keep in contact.
Still, the blond nodded and gave his friend a small smile as he pulled away, forcing himself not to cry. “Yeah, alright. Next week sounds good bud”.
Tooley returned his smile with a wide, unknowing, grin of his own.
Chuck liked to think that he ended up having dinner with someone else.
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Leaving Deluxe had been the best decision he had ever taken in his life. Once gone, he had never looked back.
In all of his sorrow, excitement, and nervousness, he had never truly pondered what would truly happen to those he left behind. He had of course, at the time, worried about the dangers his friends would face while continuing to live under Kane’s regime. But once the chaos that was his new life started, he hadn’t really had time to think about the various ways that Kane Co. could completely ruin a person. Especially someone in as an isolated position as Tooley.
Despite swearing on his life to never return, Chuck found himself with a sudden urge to break his own promise and make a single exception. He took a deep breath and pulled up a second screen, rapidly pulling up an old line of code he hadn’t used in a long time.
“Tooley? Tooley, I need you to look at me.” said cadet rubbed away a few tears from his eyes and looked at his friend. “I’m going to help you get out of there, ok? But you’re gonna have to listen to me very carefully and do exactly as I say. Alright?”
Tooley stared at Chuck for a moment and then nodded his head. Chuck gave a firm nod back and pulled up a third screen, typing out a few notes and a fresh line of code.
“Alright so first thing’s first, you cannot tell anybody about what you’re gonna do ok? This includes your friends inside the program. The only people who can know about this is me, you and Julie ok? She’s gonna help us out a little bit.”
Tooley nodded.
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“And then, like a thousand Kane bots came after us and they shot us with their laser eyes! But for Chuck it was nothin’! He ninja jumped in between the lasers and kicked major Kane-bot butt! He even broke a hound in half! With his mind!” Tooley excitedly moved his arms around the kitchen, almost knocking a few objects off the table, as he told his story to a very entertained Mike.
“Whoa really? That’s amazing!” he sat back at the pair’s dinner table with his arms crossed and a somewhat astonished look on his face.
A door was heard shutting in the upstairs floor and a groan was heard before said blond appeared coming down the stairs while pulling on a blue shirt. “Tooley, are you over-exaggerating stories again?!”
Mike chuckled and looked at the programmer. “I didn’t know you were such a badass! I mean, I knew you were crazy smart, but you didn’t tell me you knew martial arts.” he gave a quiet laugh, clearly enjoying himself and Chuck groaned again.
The shorter brunet had apparently showed up a tad too early for his date with the blond, arriving when the latter was still taking a shower. Still, he had been let into their apartment by a very excited Tooley who took this as the perfect opportunity to tell the tan male about his longtime friendship with Chuck and the night of his rescue from Deluxe. The tallest in the room taking some creative liberties with his narrative.
“That is not how it happened Tooley, and you know it!” Chuck opened the fridge and poured himself a cup of beet juice in a poor attempt to avoid looking at his date.
Said date only raised an eyebrow, an amused grin plastered on his face. “I don’t know Chuck, it sounded pretty real to me.” Mike chuckled again as Tooley nodded enthusiastically.
“But it totally was!” he then turned to Mike again and in a still joyous, but overall softer voice spoke again “He saved my life.”
Chuck turned, feeling his cheeks heat up at the statement, yet he still managed to look towards the kitchen table where the other two males sat.
Mike simply nodded, most of his amusement gone at the statement, an understanding smile in its place. “I know he did bud.”
A small silence took over the kitchen and Tooley turned to Chuck to give him one of his award-winning grins. Chuck couldn’t help but return it.
Despite the blatant exaggeration of the Tooley-rescue story, he knew that all of that embellishment came from an overwhelming appreciation the bigger guy had for his friend. Tooley would always be grateful for all of the hard work, extensive planning and major risk-taking that the other did in order to help him get out.
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“Thanks Wayne.” Chuck said and the larger teen nodded.
“Take care guys.” Wayne said, giving a short nod to Chuck and shooting Tooley a sympathetic look. “Welcome to Motorcity big guy.”
Wayne drove away in his purple vehicle, leaving the two old time friends in front the small building.
“Come on dude, this way.” the freckled man said, making Tooley look back at him and nod.
The door rattled for a bit while it was being unlocked before it opened. They both entered through the door and Chuck turned to lock the door again.
“Whoa…” Tooley said as he looked around the place. It was the first time he was truly looking at his surroundings since he first entered Motorcity. His time in the car had mostly been spent huddling over his seat or dazing out as he looked at the flashing lights that passed him by at lighting speed.
Everything here was just so… different. Where Deluxe was all monochromatic and pristine, and clean, Chucks apartment had different types of graffiti in the walls, none of the furniture seemed to match and some of the technology seemed to be older or handmade from spare parts.
“Now I know it’s kind of small and I am sorry about the mess. I got this apartment back when I first moved here to Motorcity and I never really felt the need to upgrade, not because I couldn’t afford a bigger place or anything but just because it was always just me. But don’t worry dude, just give me a few weeks and I promise we can move into a two-bedroom place so you can have your own space and-”
Chuck suddenly found himself interrupted as two large arms engulfed him. A sobbing Tooley holding him tightly as his chest heaved.
“Thank you, thank you so much.” the taller man managed to somehow croak out, and for the first time since he had first had to say goodbye to his friend, Chuck finally allowed himself to cry as well. Returning the hug and embracing his friend just as tightly.
“You’re welcome buddy.”