Cora didn't register the caller's voice immediately, but when she did, she couldn't believe it. The smile in his voice was unforgettable.

"A….A-Atom?" She asked, her voice quiet and strained. He cringed when he heard her tone of voice, but responded sincerely.

"Yeah, It's me."

She didn't respond for a long while, thinking to herself about the situation. Her emotions fluctuated fast, and She finally responded in her default emotion. Anger.

"Aren't you... Weren't you dead? How is this even possib- I...Is this some kind of cruel joke!?" She snapped, accusingly.

"Zane, I swear if this is you I'll rip you limb from limb." Atom sighed at this, and spoke softly and slowly into the other end hoping for the best.

"Look, Cora. It is me, Atom, and I'm running out of time on this phone. Meet me at the coffee shop on Chestnut and Third in an hour. We need to talk. Please?" He said calmly, his smile like honey dripping in his voice all too familiar to the girl on the other end.

"...Atom I-" The phone inconveniently cut off, and the automated voice on the other end was the only response.

"If you'd like to continue or make a call, please insert more coins…...If you'd like to-"

Atom hung up before it could repeat, and headed towards the the shop on the corner. He'd be early, but he didn't mind. He didn't have anywhere else to be anyways. He walked the back way, trying to avoid as many looks as possible. He walked into the coffee shop, the bell on the door announcing his entrance. Stares once again, and whispers.

"Atom? Didn't he die?"

"Is that the robot that destroyed the peacekeeper?"

"That's the robot that saved the city!" The boy cringed at the attention and was tempted to leave, but he toughed it out and sat down in the far right corner of the shop anyways. He looked up at the barista approaching his table at a steady pace. She grabbed her Holo-pad and brought up the order screen. "Hello sir may I take yo-"

Her green eyes met his brown ones and she gasped.

"You… you're!!" She gasped in surprise and he felt like shrinking into his seat.

"Yes, I am." He forced a smile, and looked back at the menu on his table.

"And since I'm a robot I probably won't be needing this….sorry." He handed her the menu politely. She took it, still holding a shocked expression on her face, and left. He held back a smile, everyone had thought he'd died, so it would be pretty shocking to see him here instead of fighting some monster. His mood lightened as he realised he would be seeing Cora, today, within the hour. He smiled, his cheeks growing warm at the thought of her, She was, is his best friend. His only friend, beside the other orphans, the rest only knew him from Toby. As did his father, and O'Shay, and Stone. Atom began to think too much again. He's heard people describe him as perfect, but in his mind, he's far from it. Sure, He's selfless and kind, but that doesn't mean all of his thoughts were. He was massively self-critical and was nearly always questioning his existence. His appearance is fake, and this people assume his emotions are too, coded and mapped into his systems. He has real emotions, though, and can get hurt as easily as a young child, he was just good at hiding it. He shook himself out of his daze, reminding himself that Cora hated self pity, and if she saw him moping around as he had been, a slap to the face is in his near future.

Atom continued to wait, it having been around a half an hour since he made the call. The customers whom stayed, had gotten used to his presence. The occasional new arrival usually gasped, awkwardly stared, or didn't care at all which didn't bother the boy in the slightest. He'd just given up, and played with a bent napkin on his table. He was clearly bored. He'd almost wished he had told her to meet him sooner, but if she was busy and couldn't make it, there wouldn't be a reason for him to be here anyways. He paused and decided to listen in to others conversations, preferably not about him. He searched for a long while, zeroing in on someone's conversation about the potential of a robot revolution. He chuckled, and noted under his breath,

"That's closer to reality than you think." The door on the bell rang, announcing another's arrival, and Atom looked up, and his soft chocolate eyes met a pair of tired icy blue ones.

His hypothetical heart stopped, not moving eyes from hers, his smile deepening by the second. She started towards him, her face unreadable. He didn't know what to think, as she approached except for one thing. What will she say? He still wasn't sure whether she'd be mad, or otherwise, but that question would be answered within a matter of minutes. The dark haired girl weaved between the tables, looking down occasionally as not to trip. Eventually, She sat down across from him and not a word was said. Cora was still unreadable, and Atom was fidgeting uncomfortably. She looked up at him, smiled, then slapped him directly across the cheek. I deserve that one, He was nearly unphased, it still stung, but being a robot had it's perks."I thought you were dead!" She started, frowning.

I thought I was too.

"Do you know how worried I- everyone was when your body disappeared we'd thought you'd been dismantled, or worse!" She said, angrily, keeping her tone quiet, not wanting the attention.

"We...we all…" Her face suddenly changed from one of rage, to one of sadness.

"I'm sorry Cora I-" He stopped himself, rephrasing what he was previously going to say.

"I… I thought I was dead too. It was wrong, I should've let you know you immediately after I was turned back on…" He shook his head, looking at her, pity shining miserably in his eyes.

"I'm sorry." She didn't respond immediately, but her demeanor changed from mad, to concerned.

"No, no. The real question is how did you get turned back on?" She asked, raising an eyebrow. "I saw you dead. Actually dead."

Atom nodded slowly.

"Hammeg, actually. He found ZOG, who used some of the energy of given him, to help revive the core."

"Hammeg!? Why would Hammeg help you? He tried to kill you!" Cora spluttered, completely confused at this point. Then there was a long, awkward silence between the two. Cora held a perplexed look on her face. She shook her head after another long while, her expression softening. "No, No….Nevermind, I guess it doesn't matter You being alive is better than nothing." she closed her eyes and sighed, realising that she was more relieved than mad that he was alive.

"I'm glad you're back, non-kid." A ghost of a smile danced across her face, as she played on an old memory.

"But I'm still mad at you for not telling me sooner, seeing as it's been…. " she stopped to count on her fingers, a habit he'd seen her pick up from Hammeg himself. "Two weeks and a couple days? And I'm assuming Hammeg revived you, what, the day after you 'died'... Correct?" Her eyebrow raised, accusingly.

"You're pretty close, actually." He chuckled, and looked at her once again.

"Off by…. 10.460 hours and 3." He paused, thinking back over the data. "3.46791 minutes, and 50.465 seconds on the last part, though." His eyes gleamed mischievously and he smirked.

"Show-off." She gave him a playful shove on the shoulder, signaling that they were back on good terms.

"So how's it been? W-uh, where are you living now?" Atom was stumbling through his words a bit, but genuinely curious, remembering that the girl had told him just weeks ago that she still had parents on the surface after getting a phone call from them.

"Yeah, the people at the Orphanage and stuff found my parents and I'm living back with them now. Turns out they were looking for me." Cora motioned with her hands and continued her tale.

"Anyway, they've set up my room and bought me a whole bunch of stuff. I missed 'em and all but it's still going to take a lot of getting used to, I was living parent-free for almost four years!" Cora put her hands back on the table, looking back at the robot boy.

"Anyways, you're welcome to stop by anytime." He suddenly became very awkward, and his reply came out more of a nervous jumble than an actual sentence.

"You, or uh, I mean, Your parents won't mind that I'm…. that I'm a….I'm a…. A ro-uh." He looked at his boots under the table, his face flushing, if it could even do that.

"A robot?" Cora said, nonchalantly. "Well, My mom's not the biggest fan of robots, but my Dad'll probably like you."

"That's comforting." He rolled his eyes, recomposing himself. Cora shot him a glare for his remark, but looked at him questioningly.

"Oh, yeah, how's it going with your parents?" She inquired.

"Parent, Just my Dad, and…. He's missing?" Astro tried to say this as relaxed as he could, and failed miserably.

"Missing? Like he wasn't home?" She asked innocently, and the boy shook his head. Instead of explaining, he simply handed her the he had note that was stuffed in his pocket. Cora took it gingerly and unwrinkled the paper, glancing over the words. She folded the note in half, and passed it back to Atom.

"Oh."

"Heh, yeah. Turns out I'm probably going to have to find O'Shay and stay with him." He shrugged, roughly stuffing the note back into his hoodie pocket.

"Is that the man who was there when you, uh, fought the peacekeeper?" She avoided saying 'died' for obvious reasons still worrying about her friend.

"Yeah he was, you told him you were from the surface, and you were a friend of mine, correct?" he asked, playing with the set of silverware on the small oak-wood table.

"Yeah, is that who that was?…. Wait, how do you know that? You were dead?" The boy looked at her sheepishly.

"I could hear everything."