"Dios Mio, Rav! Remove that from your head right now!" Camila shrieked.

   I knew I should've come alone.

   The minutes we had been in the junkyard hadn't even summed up to thirty.

   It was already sufficient, however, for Dorian (location currently unknown) to get into a tug of war with a wild bird wearing a weird costume that made its appearance stand between the hawk and cockatoo species hell intent on having and eating the machine part they were fighting over, Camila to get hit on and have her sniffed by one of the perpetual scavengers in the junkyard and Rav to currently have on his head... seriously, what was that?

"Are you sure?" Rav's question came out muffled from the helmet-like metal that swallowed his head whole.

   The strange material had the appearance of a badly-designed robot villain in one of my comic books. It might as well have been a rip off whatever the hell the actual creators were going for.

"Oh, Camila," Rav continued on, shaking his metal-clad head with clanking sounds. "You fail to realise with great power comes great responsibility."

"All I need to realise," Camila mocked as she tapped the machine on his head, "is that it's probably infected and smells in there."

"I'm going to name her Meta." He let out a wistful sigh, his hand reaching for the metal headgear on his head to give it a soft pat.

   I frowned at the fact that I recognised that name. It was one of the villains from my Seekers comics. But how did Rav of all people know that? I had to recheck the stacks I had kept in me and Camila's closet.

"That's right." His giggly tone directed toward me revealed he was more than loving the confusion etched on my face. "This is a preview of your amazing night with me that I know you can't stop thinking about."

   Rav's attempt to break into a predictably terrible seductive dance was short-lived as he tripped over a stray metal part hiding in the sandy ground. The next few seconds constituted him staggering around to regain his footing before eventually falling and landing on his butt for effect.

   I exploded into heaps of laughter.

   But to some extent—some—I had to admit that the thought of Rav being my roommate for tonight crossed my mind a few times. It should have been some consolation that I'd managed to survive last night with Camila, but it didn't change the fact that I was nervous as hell.

   I had never had a guy as a roomie before and I was highly doubtful anything would have prepared me from this moment. There were so many questions entrenched in my mind right now.

   But this was Rav. Sure, he was creepy, but with reasonable limits I knew he would never overstep. At least I could count on him to be respectful in the right areas.

   Unless, of course, you counted the time he molested my cheek while high on God knows what.

"Come on." Dorian, whom I presumed returned from his battle with the bird-ish creature victorious, said as he helped Rav up. "You should seriously consider getting that thing off your head, buddy. It could be radioactive for all we know."

   Camila scoffed when Rav complied with Dorian's request by taking Meta off his head. She was obviously offended that he hadn't listened when she first screeched at him.

   I couldn't say Dorian won though. Rav still cradled the machine in his arms with a defiant look seeming to dare anyone to try and pry it from his hold.

"Has anyone found anything useful yet?" I asked, wiping the beads of sweat that had sprouted from my heated forehead.

"I've got this curved plastic dashboard thingy," Cami replied, lifting the material in her hand higher. "The plastic is very soft and seems like it'll be comfortable for the brace's footing area."

"Okay," I said. "All we need is a little heat to make it well-suited for Tali's foot size. It's very useful. Thank you, Cami."

"And since that crazy bird took most of what I gathered," Dorian grumbled. "I was only able to save these stick thin metal rods."

"Equally useful." I nodded. "Rav?"

"Don't bother." Camila huffed. "Unless you count that thing."

   Rav faked a hurt look, then set down the machine in his hands and tended to the pile of metal junk that stood closest to him.

"If you must know," he grunted from the squatted position he assumed over the pile. "I found what I am about to show you ages ago. I was just keeping it somewhere safe until you guys were ready."

   The subsequent seconds were engulfed with the sound of colliding metals as he dug through in search of his discovery. I held my breath while Camila, Dorian and I stared on, wondering why this was taking him so long. I swear if Rav was lying this whole time...

"There we go!" He exclaimed, raising the object his hand grasped for us to get a full view.

   I couldn't say the same for the others, but my eyes and mouth were far too traumatized by what Rav was holding to react instantly. My brain still needed time to process—

"What the hell is that?" I found myself blurting out.

   Guess that's over.

"It looks like a sorry attempt at recreating an already screwed up sculpture of albino monkeys with a thousand-year old rotten banana stuck across their mouths, coming out of their asses...but with metal."

   All eyes darted to Camila now.

   What?!

"Modern art," She scoffed, not even noticing the disturbed stares thrown her way.

   None of us were really sure how we could top the vivid description Camila had provided of the device Rav showed us. What she'd said suddenly overtook the metal itself in the traumatising department for me.

   Rav's change in expression seemed like he regretted discovering it in the first place. Who could blame him?

   He gulped before eventually speaking, "Underneath the paint, I noticed it was made of copper. I know of metal detectors that indicate the kind of metal detected, so this is good for one of those just in case scenarios. We could use this to serve as the leg brace's outer areas."

   I revealed what I had acquired from my junk pile next. There were several aluminium metal tubes with holes perforated within them.

   The main tube hole, I explained, was sized enough to accommodate the cameras and if we were able to darken the tubes to the same shades of black the cameras had, the holes could be less noticeable.

"I suppose we've gathered most of what we need to make the leg brace," Dorian remarked.

"We have to leave anyway," Camila said, looking up from her phone screen. "Talise texted me less than a minute ago. She's got the tools we need from Beth's house and the friend of the mechanic shop friend and can't bring all over to the motel on her own. We're supposed to meet her at the sidewalk opposite Ridgeton High School."

   The school was not too far from here but we couldn't afford to walk around carrying the materials we'd picked up without attracting unwanted attention. I told Camila to order a Ride car.

"Well, I'm only coming if Robo-Skull is." Rav had the weird headgear thing in his hands again.

   What happened to the name Meta?

   I knew better than to voice my question though.

   As expected, we were dropped off at Ridgeton High in no time. It took less than a minute to find Talise at the sidewalk she'd mentioned. Next to her stood a large camper bag which I presumed carried the tools we needed to make the leg brace. My focus, however, kept drifting to what was on her other side. Or should I say who? Whom?

   Either way, it was Landon Charles. 

A/N: Hmm... Landon again... okay🙃

Oh and I haven't done this in a while, but today's chapter is dedicated to JustAddBookworm !❤️✨✨

The support I have received from her in the past few days is unimaginable! Thank you so much for being a genuine reader✨❤️❤️❤️

If you check my profile, you'll notice I've mentioned that I won't be as active on Wattpad due to law school. But don't worry, updates will still come on time!

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