Temptations of the Dark Side

Chapter 22

BACK IN THE CITY OF VALE, WITH RUBY AND PENNY, RUBY'S POV

"Penny, I-I don't understand" I said as I stood in front of Penny, I was still surprised at what she had told and shown to me, did she lose her arms and get them replaced? Or is there something else?

"Most girls are born, but I was made" Penny said as she looked at her own hands.

"I'm the world's first synthetic person capable of generating an Aura, I'm not real" Penny said sadly, her gaze lingered on the metal beneath the layers of synthetic skin she was covered with, I felt bad about her saying that and wanted to comfort her.

"STATEMENT; I am afraid your statement is incorrect, metal meat person" came a familiar voice from nearby, Penny and I turned to see HK47 walk out of one of the alleyways, his Blaster Rifle placed on his back as he approached and stood with us in the alley.

"STATEMENT; You are as real as any other being alive, the fact you have a physical presence and are recognised as more than machinery or furniture prove that" he said as his glowing eyes focused on Penny, she seemed a little taken aback by what he had said.

"What are you talking about?" I asked curiously.

"EXPLENATION; It is a common conception that Droids such as ourselves are overlooked, or seen as mere property, I should know, it is this very thing that allowed me to kill several of my meat-bag targets, believing that I was merely property up until a blaster bolt burned their brains from their sloshing heads!" HK said, I felt a little nervous about him saying that, it's a good thing I think of him more as a friend than like those other robots, is this what Penny is worried about, that I wouldn't think of her as a friend anymore because she was a robot?

I reached out to her hands and looked at the metal beneath the 'skin' of her hands, after a second I closed Penny's fingers over her hands.

"He's right, you're real" I said as I held onto Penny's hands gently, causing her and HK to focus their attention on me.

"You think just because you've got nuts and bolts instead os squishy guts makes you any less real than me?" I asked her.

"I don't, um..." Penny said, looking very confused.

"CONFUSED STATEMENT; Your taking this extraordinarily well, little red meat-bag, much more than most meat-bag's would have in this situation" HK said as he walked closer to us, until he was standing right next to us and looking at me.

"STATEMENT; However, your obession with being 'real' is rather unhealthy for a Droid such as yourself, why you would want to subject yourself to the constant sloshing of water in your body, as well as... eugh, other meat-bag related functions?" HK asked Penny, she looked a little sad at the question.

"I-It's not that I want to do, those things... it's just that, if I'm not a normal meat person then people will just treat me like those Robots in the square, they won't want to be my friends..." Penny said sadly as she looked down, I put my hand on her shoulder to help her feel better.

"Your not like those things we saw back there, you've got a heart, and a soul, I can feel it" I said as I tapped Penny on the chest with my finger, then I turned my attention to HK.

"I feel the same way about you HK, you've definately got heart and soul, even if it's mostly for killing things..." I said, giving a slightly nervous smile to him.

"PROUD ANSWER; Indeed I am little red meat-bag, I have far more personality than those buckets of bolts, it is appreciated that you noticed" HK said.

"Oh! Oh ruby! You're the best friend anyone could have!" Penny said excitedly as she grabbed me and crushed me in a hug, this was even worse than hugs Yang gives!!