Disclaimer Yeah, I so totally own Astro boy! Not.

Before I start I’d like to say that this is set in no particular time or date during the 2003 series, mostly because I did not see all of 2003, because my life was very hectic when it was on TV in Australia. OK? Good.

Oh the pain, the pain it was terrible; it ran through his entire body in great shuddering waves, tearing at his circuits, ripping at his mind as the scientist snipped, prodded and tugged it his chest, snipping away, cutting away, oblivious to the mad screams of pain and fury that escaped his mouth.

“NOOO-“

“Shut ‘im up will ya Mairkus? He’ll bring every cop runnin’ within the next ‘undred miles!” rasped a familiar voice from the shadows, tinged with the slight slur of drink. Skunk leered as he leaned forward into the glow of the small, bare light bulb.

“Hello Astro. Not so strong now are ya? Nooosirrr.” He lit a cigar.

“You-you-c-can’t-d-do-this!” Astro choked through his screams, his eyes roving through the dim, musty room, looking for an escape, a weapon, anything to replace his deactivated powers, anything to get out … to get away …

"Ah but I think you'll find I can.” He said lightly, taking a drag and blowing it arrogantly into casual smoke rings. “How’s the reprogramming coming?” he shot at the scientist, suddenly serious.

“Almost done, just gotta find his memory and his electro brain and I’ll be done.”

“NOOOO! I-W-WON”T LET-YO-U DO THIS!” Astro tried weakly to writhe, his body trembled halfheartedly before he collapsed back into his exhausted pose; his strength was gone, drained, sapped by that darn circuit disrupter they had planted on Zoran! Why oh why did she have to be so naïve, so trusting?

Another jolt of agony, this time it was painfully close to his atomic power core, he felt a cold, new type of fear creep up on him, a feeling of utter terror; for once, he was alone, for once, there didn‘t seem to be a way out, for once, it really seemed he would lose … he screamed and yelled and called for someone, anyone, to help him, to find him. Surely someone had to hear?

“Heheh, Skunk, look, I found his sound generator, time to pipe down Astro.” Mairkus sniggered maliciously and snipped again, and Astro’s desperate yells were abruptly cut off, his mouth still moved, but nothing came out. His soft brown eyes widened in outrage and he began to shriek passionate, but entirely mute, insults to the air.

Skunk chuckled appreciatively and sauntered offhandedly up to the metal slab that served as a table, his shoulders trembling with barely suppressed mirth at some hidden joke of his own. “Ya see Astro, what we’re gonna do is-“He put his face very close to the enraged one of the helpless robot, “we’re gonna revamp your system so you’ll do what we say, and only what we say!” he suddenly threw back his head and roared with laughter, it echoed eerily around the cold, damp room, “Just picture it! You, Astro, on our side! What irony!” He thumped the table beside Astro with a fist, and his mad cackling spread, now they were all laughing, laughing at his pain, his helplessness, his outrage…

Then, almost gracefully, the pain began to fade, he felt, felt like he was floating away, detaching from the pain, it was still there, in all its agonizing fury, but it affected him less now. Far from being reassured, he felt apprehensive, his mind was slowing down, and he felt groggy, shaky.

He was getting weaker, he was getting tired, sleepy too, the scientist called Mairkus had cut something he shouldn’t have, snipped away something important. Astro knew it, this was not … was not right … his mind was spinning … everything seemed … seemed to be fading … fading to grey … he heard, dimly, Skunk shouting at Mairkus, shouting things like “idiot” and “not supposed to destroy him” before there was a flash of brightest white, a whirring sound from his own throat, and everything went black as midnight.