The Greatest Mecha

Professor Alberta looked directly at Alto with such piercing intensity that it caused him to fidget slightly. She gritted her teeth as she spoke. "Do you know what you did, you!" She walked to him and grabbed him by the collar of his uniform, pulling him closer to herself. "I will only ask you this once, why?"

Alto had never seen the professor angry before; he had always expected her to remain carefree as always. Knowing he had no way out of his current situation, he opened his mouth to defend himself. "That man made fun of you. He said you were just a big shot playing it safe, a loser who’s lost her spark. I was trailing behind them on the way here when I overheard it all."

Hearing this, Charles Vans became a bit more calm and understanding. But Professor Alberta did not share in his enthusiasm as she pulled Alto closer to her and said, "Bullshit! Why would you get angry for that dumb reason? People can say whatever they want. Or did you think I would butter up to you because of this?"

Looking into her eyes, she could see he was still pained. She took a few steps back and let go of his uniform. Alto looked up at her face and spoke, his voice slow and strong. "I’m used to people saying trash about me. People see me and use me as a stepping stone. I don’t care, but I can’t stand it when someone talks bad about my friends and pretends they actually care about them." Alto looked away from her as it pained him to speak a little. He leaned on one of the workbenches, which still had some pieces of scrap metal on it. "I’m sorry if I hurt your honour or anything, but I’m sorry I acted out of line."

There was a long, awkward silence in the room as they were all unsure of how to take this piece of information. The first to react was the professor, who laughed heartily as she threw her arms over Alto’s shoulder and pulled him closer to her. "Honour? Who the heck cares about that kind of shit? If you keep this dumb personality of yours, you know you’ll probably end up dead!"

Alto was not amused by her actions, and she could see that. So the professor addressed this in her own way—she shook him roughly as she pulled him even tighter to her and dragged him deeper into the workshop to where she usually sat. Eleven and Charles Vans watched them leave their vicinity.

"Why does she adore him so much? All he does is break things," Charles Vans said with spite in his voice.

Eleven scared him off by saying a few words of his own. "Do you really want me to answer that?"

Alto was struggling against the professor, but her strength far surpassed his. He could feel her bosom suffocating him. "Can you please let me go? This is embarrassing."

Hearing his pleas, the professor did not let him go. She laughed instead and spoke with a light smile on her face, "How is this embarrassing for you? I thought you said we were friends. I thought you were super into me."

Alto’s face reddened as he realized what this was about. "Are you pissed about this friend thing?"