A/N: ...

"Whoa." was all Max said. Jade stared at him. Her face hardened and she walked slowly towards Max. Max's eyes widened in fear and he slowly backed up.

"Don't." Both people whipped their heads towards the now standing robot. Atom's fists were clenched, and he was nearing Jade. "Don't. Touch. Max." The two people looked at each other, then back at Atom.

"Did I do that to you?" Jade asked. Atom tilted his head then looked to Max.

"Can you understand me?" he asked. Max nodded his head, still in shock.

"One sec, this may feel weird." Jade reached up to Atom's neck and fiddled with a few wires. What she saw surprised her. A vocal processor that was never there before was glowing slightly. She let the wires fall back into place and backed up. "I did do that to you. Nice acting Max." Jade held a hand up and Max high-fived her.

"You were, faking?" Atom said. Jade nodded.

"Same thing happened to another robot shell I electrocuted. A vocal processor appeared out of nowhere. Since it was only a shell, I didn't know you would also become a lot more human like." Jade looked Atom up and down.

"We have to figure out how to make you like a robot again for fights. Either that or you learn how to act." Max said.

"I have an idea." Jade muttered. She walked behind Atom and switched his shadow mode off. Nothing happened.

"Can you still talk Atom?" she asked.

"I think. Yep." he replied. Jade grabbed the headset and told Atom to back up a bit before she turned it on.

"Right uppercut." she said calmly. Atom did his powerful uppercut then stood back to normal. "At least you still listen to commands. Thanks for that." The door opened and Atom choose that moment to reply.

"You're welcome." His tenor voice caused Charlie to jump and Bailey to almost throw the leftover's.

"Who said that?" Charlie asked. Max and Jade glanced quickly at Atom then back at Charlie. "I can't believe I'm about to do this." he said quietly. Then, louder, he asked, "Atom, did you talk?" Atom looked at Jade who nodded slightly, then back at Charlie.

"Yes." Bailey's eyes widened and Charlie blinked a little more rapid than usual.

"Okay then." he said.

"And he's gonna be more human-like than usual. That part I didn't know about." Jade told him.

"Wait. You knew he had a vocal processor?" Bailey asked.

"No. He never had one. But he got one when I shocked him. By the way, if that hurt, sorry."

"It didn't." Atom said.

"You shocked him? How?" Jade held out her hand, palm up.

"Like this." Small sparks flew from her fingertips. She moved her fingertips closer together. The sparks connected and created a continuous stream of electricity. Neither Charlie nor Bailey could stop staring. Jade laughed and stopped the sparks.

"Strange." Charlie said. Jade looked like she was about to say something when she ran forward. Atom ran towards Max and covered him with his body. Jade ripped Charlie and Bailey out of the way just as the doors flew from their hinges. In walked Tak Mashido and Farra Lemkova, followed by Zeus and a good amount of goons. I shoved Charlie and Bailey towards Atom who put them in the hall and blocked the way in.

"We want the fight now." Farra said. She stepped towards the wall with four goons guarding her. Tak made eye contact with Jade. Both of them adopted stone cold, hatred filled expressions.

"Zeus, fight the junk heap. The rest of you, help me with my spirited niece." Zeus looked towards Tak then walked towards Atom. Their fight started right away. Tak and the goons circled Jade. Tak walked forward, right in front of Jade. They stared at each other, then Tak threw the first one. Jade ducked and swiveled, then threw her own counter-right. It connected with his face.

Jade smirked then spun around, dealing a major knock out blow to one of the goons. She dodged a second shot and dealt another knock out punch. Atom and Zeus were evenly matched with Atom's upgrades. Both fights carried out for ten minutes. Farra had sent her goons towards Jade and they were laying on the floor, snoring. Tak and Jade were circling each other, breathing heavy. Zeus and Atom were doing the same.

Zeus and Atom each threw their own punch. Each metal fist hit an exposed wire. Each bot fell to the ground, paralyzed.

"No! How dare your bot hurt my nephew!" Tak ran forward and started dealing punches. One of every ten hit Jade.

"Mota isn't in Zeus. He's in Atom!" Jade yelled back, connecting with her uncle's stomach. He reeled back, clutching his mid-section.

"I mean your cousin." he laughed. I froze. My cousin isn't dead. He can't be dead. He's the only person who didn't treat me different when he found out about my power. He was like a big brother to me, ever since Mota died. We had grown closer than Mota and I were. Tak took advantage of this pause and ran forward. Jade's head hit the floor with a huge an easily hearable thud.

Before she blacked out, she was determined to let her cousin's personality come out from behind Zeus's killer attitude. She sent out a powerful shock that hit Zeus, then let go.

Charlie couldn't wait any longer. He didn't care if he had to wait for a signal from Atom or Jade. He was going.

"Dad, we can't. We need to wait for Atom or Jade!" his son, Max, tried desperately. His words were in vain. Right now, nothing was going to stop Charlie.

"Get out of my way Max." Charlie pushed back his son and opened the door. He turned down the hall and froze. Atom and Zeus lay on the floor along with a ring of Lemkova goons. Zeus was sparking slightly, probably from the electricity they heard before the silence, and Atom was unmoving. Charlie walked forward the rest of the way, but couldn't find Jade anywhere. The man then walked over to Atom. He tried everything but couldn't get him to move.

"Max." he called out. Max slowly emerged from the door then ran when he saw his unmoving friend.

"Atom? Atom? Atom get up. Get up Atom. Get up!" the boy started slowly crying. Charlie squeezed his son's shoulder then got up and walked over to Bailey who had walked from the room. Max started sobbing now. Something must've snapped in the poor boy and he couldn't stop the flow. When he calmed down, Charlie and Bailey had started moving the goons to the side of the room.

"Try Mota." said a voice. Max bolted up right.

"Did you guys say something?" Max asked the adults. They both shook their heads without diverting attention from their job.

"Try Mota." the voice said again. Max looked down at Atom.

"Mota?" he whispered. The eyes started up within a second and Atom sat up. He looked around the room, then at Max.

"Why were you crying, Max?" Atom whispered. Another stream was coming and Max couldn't stop it. The boy crawled into the bots arms and cried. The bot stared at him, then wrapped his arms around the sad boys body. He rocked back and forth slowly, making parts of himself whir a lullaby. By the time Charlie and Bailey were done Max was asleep in Atoms arms.

"I think that's a new record." Charlie said when he walked over. Atom made a laughing motion with his chest and carefully set the sleeping boy in his father's arms. Atom got up and started to walk towards his table when he heard a moan. He spun around and saw Zeus sitting up, rubbing his head. He looked straight into Atom's eyes who stared right back.

"Chase?" Atom asked.

"Mota?" said Zeus in a baritone voice.