The young boy stood up from his chair suddenly. He looked around the small backstage room for a second. Chairs, some mirrors with makeup and such for all the stars and whatnot. It looked drab. Like it had been made years ago, but never fixed up or changed at all.
He didn't pay much attention. How was any of that important? He was going to be on stage in just a few minutes, under the scrutiny of hundreds of scientists and doctors from around the globe. His father had told him this several months ago, he would be shown to this crowd of brilliant men and women. He was the next step in humanity's future.
He was several steps, really. He knew this all too well. It never felt like an issue to him, he went to school like everyone else, he came home to his father and sister, he was happy. His... condition, of sorts, didn't matter. He was just another kid.
He was a robot, and one built to show emotions on a level that before was only achievable by humans, but he was just a kid all the same.
Tap, tap, tap, tap. He caught himself pacing. He stopped, and sat back down. The cold steel chair groaned a little under his weight. He was anxious. What would they think? What would they... say? What if they called him a freak? What if they thought he was an abomination?
He turned to himself in the mirror. His brown, wavy hair still stuck out to the left as always. He was wearing a plain white t-shirt and red shorts, with no markings other than the L symbol on his right shoulder. He was supposed to "dress plainly" or something of the sort. He couldn't remember. Too much stress.
He looked into his own eyes. Brown, just like always. They gave a strange sparkle, like that of an organic creature. By all accounts, he looked like a regular human kid. The only way to really tell was the joints on his arms, elbows and knees. He was made of steel, but he was covered with an inorganic membrane which gave the appearance of skin.
That was the problem. What if he looked too human? What if that was bad? His father had told him that no such thing would happen but he'd seen it before. People didn't like things that looked human but weren't. Set off a fear reaction. Horror films were made of this idea.
He was the first robot of his kind. The first ever. His father was a famous roboticist, known the world over for constantly creating the greatest robots the world had seen. The NSA, National Science Academy, had talked him into hosting a small show for his newest designs.
Truthfully, the boy wasn't even new. He was almost six years old in hardware, and had spent several more years as a program. He wasn't sure how many he could remember. He'd been trapped in a computer for that entire time, although he'd had a holographic body, he still didn't know how old he really was. Birthdays were hard.
He caught himself rambling in his head and stopped. Looked up at the clock. One minute to go, as long as the schedule was right. Dad should be finishing his opening speech soon.
AH! He'd stopped paying attention. Daydreaming again. He heard something faintly, then more clearly. Like the ghost of a whisper coming into his mind.
"Rock! You awake in there?"
Oh shoot! He must have missed his cue. He ran out of the dressing room and out through the curtains without realizing what he was doing. Rock almost fell as he ran out onto the stage, he quickly turned to his father and stopped. "Sorry! Sorry! I was just a little..." he trailed off as he saw his dad and the crowd looking behind him. He turned around and saw the hole though the curtain he'd torn though without realizing.
"Uh... Whoops. I guess I wasn't really paying... attention... Sorry." He tried to talk clearly, but his voice didn't raise above a whisper. He looked out to the audience, they were all silent. The theater was built for plays, each row of seats ascending above the next. Rock stood on a wooden stage, with small lights on the border. There was a small podium where his father stood, his notes resting on it. Behind him was a projection of the blueprints for Rock's chassis.
There were hushed murmurs in the crowd now. Rock tried to hide his head a little bit. He turned to his dad and gave him a silent plea with his eyes.
His father was a large, bearded man. All his hair seemed to be curly and poofy naturally, and was a radiant white. It gave him the appearance of Santa Claus. His white labcoat was especially clean for the occasion, and it made him almost glow in the spotlight. He gave the appearance of being very smart, and very kind.
However, that was who he was. He was brilliant and warm-hearted beyond any man or machine Rock had ever met, and he loved his father for it. Doctor Light was truly a good man, and a good father.
Right now, however, he looked rather surprised. He gave a small sigh, and turned back to the crowd. "Well, everyone," he said, slightly chuckling, "I was expecting to dispel any rumors about Rock being a human in disguise, but I think he has already done that for us. Rock, drop the curtain." he said, nodding to Rock's hands.
Rock gasped in surprise as he saw the shreds of curtain he was grasping and dropped them quickly. There was some laugher from the crowd. He hid his hands behind his back and looked down.
Light gave a grin and looked back to his audience. "Men and women of the NSA, I give you Rock. Number L01. The first, and most successful, Robot Master." Light waived his hand to Rock, who looked up at the audience. "Rock is built to mimic human appearance," Light said factually, "and he contains processes that allow him to feel and experience emotions on the level of human beings. He is by all purposes a human child, he only lacks flesh and blood."
Rock decided it would be a good idea to grin and give a small wave. There was an intense stare focused in his direction from the mob. He lowered his hand and scratched the back of his head, looking away once again.
One man stood up suddenly, trying to grasp for words, and gesturing wildly in the air for a few seconds. He finally spoke in a tone slightly too excited, "Doctor, if what you're saying is true, you... You have revolutionized the field of robotics! Given us machines that could be classified as living beings!" he was grinning wildly, a few people were trying to nonchalantly back away from him, "You've created a miracle!" he finished, spreading his arms out quickly. He hit the person next to him, and apologized profusely before Light interrupted him.
"Thank you, Dr. Cossack, but that is sadly not what I have accomplished. Rock is still a robot, he won't age like organic beings, and he won't change physically without actual work on his chassis. He, sadly, can't be classified as living. He needs no shelter or even food, as he runs on a nuclear reactor that should last for the next several hundred years." Light said, with a bit of sadness in his voice. "However, he is human in... spirit, I would say. In fact, Rock, why don't you say something to your audience?"
Rock looked up at Dr. Light in shock and fear, and then suddenly he was blinded. All the spotlights had suddenly focused on him. He waited for his eyes to adjust, and tried to calm down. He stood up straight, almost at attention, and closed his eyes. Breathe, Rock, breathe. In, out. In, out. In, ou-"Rock, we're waiting, you know."
Rock's eyes jerked open. He tried to relax a little and failed. He looked at everyone in the crowd, recognizing none of the faces. They were a messy blob of dark faces and white eyes, the stuff of nightmares. He couldn't make anything out clearly, they were a conglomerate of darkness waiting for him to speak. He was scared stiff, why did he have to do this?
He gave a small cough and everyone was quiet.
"Uhm... H-hello." He tried to say it loudly, but he voice continued to fail him. "M-my name is... uh... R-Rock." Slightly louder this time, "I-uh, I help my... My dad!" He yelled suddenly, losing control of his voice. A few people in the front row seemed to be pushed back into their seats. He shrank back a bit also, really wishing he was somewhere else. Anywhere else, really. "I-I... uh... I help with the... other... robots..." Rock was really trying to say anything at all, they were all just LOOKING at him. He didn't like it.
"Rock?"
Rock turned to Dr. Light, who smiled, "Why don't you show them the VTS?" he suggested. Rock's eyes lit up a little, "Oh! Uh... Alright." he said. At least he had a topic now, and one he would really know about.
Rock pointed a finger in the air and blinked. His finger opened up, all the small metal parts extending out and reconfiguring themselves until they formed a screwdriver. "I can, uh, copy tools. The... uh, Variable Tool System." he said with a noticeable increase in courage. The eyes of the crowd lit up a bit, alright, okay that was good. "I can see any sort of like... item... tool... thing... and just, uh, copy it into my memory. Then I can sort of, like, create it whenever I need too." he said, really getting into it.
He raised his hand a little higher, and his whole arm opened up. His hand slipped inside, and after a few seconds of reconfiguration, his arm was a small blowtorch. He fired it off a few times for show, the flames weren't hot enough nor big enough to produce any real weapon, but some people looked a little wary. He put it away.
"Uh, I can do this with... most things. Nothing really... too complex though. Like I couldn't copy a chainsaw or something... Uh, but things like basic tools and such. I can do that."
Oh shoot what now. Rock was completely out of things to say. Nobody was looking at him so intensely any more, but he was still struck with stage fright. Okay, okay Rock. Come on, you can do it! Just... say words. Any words.
Rock tugged on his collar a bit, and looked around. "I can, uh, use this to help my dad. So when he can't, uhm, work on the other robots I can sort of... do... that."
Rock jumped a bit when he felt the hand on his shoulder, looking up to see Dr. Light. Light gave him a small squeeze, and smiled at the crowd. "Rock is quite nervous, if it isn't apparent to everyone already. I think we should let him have a break, today has been very long for him I suspect."
Quiet murmurs of agreement from the crowd. Rock let out a held breath. Dr. Light smiled at him and told him he could go backstage again if he wanted. Rock nodded fiercely, and turned around to leave. He almost jogged through the hole in the curtain he'd torn open. He went back to the dressing room and tried to open the door. It was jammed a little bit. He pulled it off it's hinges.
Oh jeez. That went badly. That went so badly. Oh man. Dad was gonna lose his funding and then they'd lose the house and then he'd have to be sold for scrap metal and then he'd be melted down and and and... Was that clapping? Rock stood up, and poked his head out of the doorway. Clapping. He didn't screw everything up! Woohoo! He jumped a solid two feet into the air and smashed his head into the concrete ceiling, crashing back into the ground on his butt. He left cracks in the celing and floor.
Light shortly entered the room, Rock scrambled to get up. "Dad!" He yelled, "What happened?"
Light sat down in the chair and exhaled, "They were... impressed." He smiled at Rock, "Especially with you. It must have been scary up there, but you showed them exactly what I'd hoped you would."
Rock tilted his head a little. "What?" He asked.
Light smiled. "You showed them that you're just a kid."
"Ahem. I hate to break up this... moment, but I would like to say that you became a bigger success than we could have imagined, Rock."
Light and Rock turned to the doorway. There stood a thin, tall man. His hair was long and slick, and his head was donned with a black trilby. His eyes were dark and shining. His black trenchcoat was pristine and almost made his surroundings darker. He nodded to Rock, "Hello." he said simply.
Rock smiled, "Uncle Wily! I didn't see you in the audience." he said gleefully. If he'd known Wily was there, he'd have been a lot less nervous. Wily shrugged, "I was pretty far in the back, I got here too late to grab a good seat. I must say, a bit of a... gutsy move to show Rock off to the NSA so soon. I didn't think they would have liked him as much as they did, had they not..." He trailed off. Rock knew what would have happened, he shuddered a little at his previous thoughts.
Light stood, and shook Wily's hand heartily. "I'm glad you could make it. If it wasn't for your help, none of this could have been possible." Wily smiled back, "Trust me, my work was minor in comparison. You pulled this project along, much more than I did. Honestly, I'm just glad you took my advice on robotics, NAV technology has plummeted to an all time low. Nobody cares about it. We'd both be out of work had we decided on that."
Light grinned, "As much as I wanted the NAV system to work out, I don't know how life would be without Rock and Roll."
Rock wasn't paying attention at all. He was thinking about what he had to do when he got home. He had to check Guts' hydraulics, Elec had that issue with his visuals cutting out sporadically, and Roll was going to go on and on about how the radio was broken like she had been for the last three days. We get it, you like the radio, we don't have the time to fix it yet!
"We don't have the time to fix it, Light. Much less the ability."
Rock snapped out of his thoughts and turned his attention to his uncle, who was facing Light with his arms crossed. "The simple fact of it is that we couldn't find him if we wanted to. Even if we did, I don't know how we'd fix his power source, or if either of us would have the time. I have my Sniper Joe prototype to finish, and you have your Robot Master program-"
Light grabbed his own head, "I can delay my plans for my son, Wily! I have to make sure he's okay! He's out there alone, and by now his power supply has to be malfunctioning. We have to find him!" He yelled, turning from Wily.
Wily was silent for a moment, then put his arm on Light's shoulder. "Light, it's been three years. We haven't seen him. We both know how long he was supposed to last without upgrades."
Light turned to face Wily, but his eyes caught on Rock.
He was just standing there, listening.
Light stooped down and hugged his son, who hugged him back tightly. Wily put his hands in his pockets and stared at the ground. Rock watched him stand there, unmoving. "He really isn't coming back, is he?"
Wily kicked at the ground beneath him. "I'm sorry, Rock."