Maverick

Hikari's Last Fight

Reploid (noun)

1. A robotic creation that mimics the appearance and brain function of an average human.

2. A robotic creation that has the ability to think, feel, reason, and make decisions in the same manner as humans. In certain cases, there may not be a clear, definitive difference between the two.

. . .

Thomas Hikari sealed the capsule with a smile. His new creation was a marvel, his magnum opus that many would gather to see one day. But the old robotist was dying- after suffering a heart attack five years ago, Hikari was now going through a rather vicious case of congestive heart failure. The old man patted the capsule with sorrow. He would not get to live to see his creation walk the earth, with a losing war raging above him, Hikari was sure that the capsule would make it for another thirty years no matter what happened out there.

"What is that Thomas?" a voice said from behind him. Hikari turned around in surprise, under the impression that he had been alone.

"Roll." the old man said bitterly before giving a rather nasty cough. "What do you want?"

The woman in her late thirties casually walked over to the capsule. Her brilliant blue eyes stared at Hikari every step of the way.

"Get away from him." Hikari hissed to the woman. "You can't do anything with him now!"

This did not stop the woman from looking down on the capsule. She wiped her hand over a small window and nearly jumped back in shock.

"What the hell is that thing?!" she shouted at Hikari, advancing toward him like an angry mother bear.

"An innovation!" Hikari declared. "X is the first of a new generation of robots that have the ability to think, feel, and make decisions for themselves- just like us!"

"Like you." the woman corrected, lifting her left arm to show the old robotist an intricate set of circuits and wires that were coming out of her skin like an open fracture. "Remember our history together dear doctor? Or did you happen to forget after Mega and Proto died at the hands of a monster?"

"Why do you think I built X?" Hikari told her, coughing violently into his sleeve. "If only he wasn't as powerful..."

"What do you mean?" the woman asked, her eyes started to grow wide. Hikari snickered at what he took as ignorance.

"If X breaks the First Law, nothing on earth will stop him." Hikari told the woman in a low tone. "I know what you are thinking, but this is why I have sealed him away, my love. Thirty years, darling, is all he needs to safely confirm his reliability to protect humans. By then however...."

"Do you honestly think you know that you'll die within thirty years? You barely know what year it is."

Hikari did not directly answer her, instead he coughed in a way the demonstrated how poor his health was. The woman did nothing but stare at him, completely unfazed by his potential to simply pass out in front of her without the intention of ever waking up again.

"What are you still doing here?" Hikari then asked, finding her blue eyes too fascinating to look away from. Something in those eyes suggested something much deeper- wounds that would never heal, perhaps, or the idea that she may never see any of her friends again in her own passing due to their true natures...

"I can not let you unleash a creation that powerful into the world." the woman said.

"It's too late." Hikari told her with a crooked smile.

"Everyone underestimates my understanding of robotics." the woman told him, looking a little surprised and equally amused. "Why does everyone doubt it?"

Hikari opened his mouth to say something, but he collapsed to the ground instead. In a reaction she could not control, the woman rushed to his side.

"You can do nothing Roll." Hikari whispered as his breathing started to slow.

"My name is not Roll, Dr Hikari." the woman told him bending closer to him so she was the only thing he could see- and the last thing. "It is, was, and always will be Nico Vega Roru; and I always find a way to break your programming. Always."

Hikari's eyes were linked to the woman's until his life force completely left his body. The woman sat there a bit longer, making sure that he was dead- then she went to do as she had promised.