Poison directed our group into a huddle, with Sabotage too, and then whispered to us there: "Half of us will go get Destroya to the area, half of us stay here to fight the battle."
         "You still didn't answer my question," I said to them. "It's a good plan, but what is Destroya?"
         "Legend says there's a robot lost in the desert that, if we find it and power it up, will free us all. And something's telling me it may be true," explained Poison.
         I quietly gasped at how cool it sounded. "I wanna see it!"
         "Me too!" Kid joined in.
         "Count me out, I don't believe this Destroya bullshit," said Ghoul with a sigh.
         "Me neither, Ghoul. This is too weird for me," Jet agreed with him.
         "You'll believe it when you go outside later and see it," Poison argued.
         "Okay, Kid, Fireball, Kobra, and I will go out to get Destroya, the rest of you stay here and lead the army," Poison proposed.
         We all nodded in agreement. "Should we see what's happening with Fireball's mom first though? I feel like she needs to know why all of a sudden her mom's on our side," Kobes suggested, rubbing my back.
         "Alright, we'll get Destroya later," I agreed.

The hall was clear except for us, my mom, and a sad Korse. My father had left the room to maybe defend the already-defective drug lab... I guess? I don't know. "What's going on, mom? What had you been keeping from me?" I asked her.
         "I'd been trying for years to take you and escape from your father," she declared.
         "Really?"
         "Yes, but I've just been too scared of what he would do to me if I left him."
         I gave her a confused look, not believing what I was hearing. "So... you were just doing all those things to me that had hurt me all these years just to please him?"
         Mom sadly nodded. "Yeah, and I regret it. You don't have to forgive me, Fireball. But I figured now would be a good time for me to tell the truth now that you're doing something I had wanted to do for a while but was too scared to. And that is leading this revolution."
         "I don't forgive you yet, Mom." I was almost in tears. "You'll have to prove to me that you've changed. And that might take a while. Nothing changes the fact that you've still done significant damage." Kobes held my hand, and I placed my head on his shoulder.
         "What could I have become if he took almost everything I believed in away from me!?" Mom got defensive. "He was simply too dangerous. I want to believe what I once believed in again."
         I took a moment to think about all of it to try to make sense of all of it. There were all those times before the Fires when he made my mother cry after he had left the room from yelling at her to submit to him. All those times when she couldn't keep her promise to "have that talk with me" after she tried to and my father invaded the room to berate her again before she could do it. All those times when my mom looked visibly uncomfortable while saying such terrible things to me while my father was around and saying the same. I didn't think much of it then, but noticed how she only was terrible to me when he was around and never when she and I were alone.
How could I have been so stupid to overlook this?

Everything I once knew about my mom changed that moment. While she still needs to show me that she has changed and improved rather than just saying it, I understand why she was that way because of my father. I walked up to her and gave her a smile, shaking her hand. "You can do this," I told her. "There is never a need to be someone you're not. We'll do something about my father."
         My mother started crying and gave me a hug. I could only stand there awkwardly while she had her arms around me, but I eventually came around and hugged her back after a few seconds.
         "Aww's" filled the room. I looked over after Mom and I let go to see Korse doing it too. He was the loudest of them all.
         Then we all turned to Korse, who was ready to tell his story. It turns out he had a lover this whole time. Well, had. My father killed Korse's lover, apparently, and Korse had kept it a secret the whole time before he died. The death of the drug lab was what made him remember it all of a sudden because he used to also take the pill at night before going to sleep to numb the pain. "We're all going through something behind our robot eyes at this workplace prison. Some of us don't live long enough to see what it is or to see what a free life is like," Korse ended his story with. "Yes, please go get Destroya! No time to waste now."

Kobes, Poison, Kid, and I all said quick "goodbyes" to the rest as they started leading the fight over there. Then we headed off to awaken Destroya. It was dark outside already, as the long battle had gone on into the night. For the ride to be done faster, we had Poison drive. After much time in the desert of searching in places of it we've never been yet, we came across what looked like a head of a robot with a huge window light for the one eye that peeked out of the droughted sand.
         "This might take a while," said Poison. "Destroya's been in long hibernation. But it's not dead, I know that."
         "How?" asked Kobes.
         "I just do," sassed Poison.
         Kobes playfully sighed and rolled his eyes. "Whatever, let's just awaken it... and lift it up from the ground."
         Poison stopped him right there, holding their hand out to him. "Hold on!" Then we gathered around the eye. "Let's see if we can do anything without lifting it."
         A curious Kid repeatedly tapped on Destroya's eye, Poison played around with the half of a "mouth," and Kobes and I tried to kick some of the droughted sand out of the way to try to reveal more of the fascinating creature.
         Suddenly, a few sparks ignited from its eye and from a leg that Kobes managed to lift from under the ground. "I saw something!" exclaimed Kid. "I saw a spark after I smacked it harder!"
         "Ooh do it again!" I suggested. So, she did, which made us have to back away from the huge robot that had just awaken in front of our eyes. But, there was only a back door on it to get inside and no way to walk up there except climbing up its legs.

Kobes and I climbed up there first, exploring all the buttons, switches, and controls that would make it move. "This is so impressive!" exclaimed Kid when she got inside. Then, Poison took the wheel and used the controls in the middle of the board to make it walk forward.
         "Whoaaa," we let out when Destroya took its first few steps in years. "Who's taking the car?" asked Kobes.
         "Kid and I got Destroya," declared Poison. "That means one of you has to drive."
         "The last time I drove that car, I ran into multiple buildings," Kobes argued. "Can you try driving, Fire?"
         I smirked and nodded at him. "I can. And I think I can go fast."
So, I drove Kobes in the Trans Am while Poison took Kid in Destroya next to us back to BLI HQ. To my surprise, I drove the Trans Am really well and fast enough. Then the four of us met again to get the army's attention and lead them all outside to the parking lot and main entrance. When Ghoul, Jet, Rainbow, and Sabotage all saw us inside Destroya through the window eyes, their jaws dropped. After parking Destroya, we led them inside the robot too.
         "Everybody!" Poison got everyone's attention, who were still fighting but the attention was still on Destroya. They are loud enough to not need a megaphone. "We have Destroya here! We will be free! But first, we will figure out which button is the key!"
         Mom and Korse, who were fighting with the army, both jumped for joy through their tears. More of the army had ways of restraining the remaining Dracs and Scarecrows without killing them. One button especially caught my eye, right in the middle of the board between the drive controls. It was red and shaped like a heart.
         "That one must be it," said Jet. "Because it's unique."
         "It must be it. The only way to know is to hit it," said Ghoul.
         "But what risk would come with it?" asked Rainbow.
         "Who knows? It's for the good of all of us," said Kobes, gently placing his hand on the button. He then directed me to put my hand on top of his so us two could push it together.

The bright blue light coming out of the eyes that illuminated the site was mesmerizing. It was blinding, but in a good way. BLI may have taken almost everything from us, but they could never take away the lights behind all our eyes. And we were about to take back everything they stole.