Automan and all character names therein are owned by the American Broadcasting Company and Twentieth Century Fox. All characters are fictional and resemblance to any persons living or dead is coincidental. No copyright infringement is intended.

Automan: High Performance
By Sailor Chronos

Chapter 10

One of the hardest things for Walter to do was tell a colleague bad news. This was much worse. With shaking fingers, he booted up his computer and typed the activation codes for Automan.

After a brief pause the floor trembled, the lights flickered, and the house's external generator revved up in response to the load increase. Cursor emerged from the screen and whizzed to the centre of the room, spiralling downward toward the floor. Automan appeared there in his glowing blue magnificence. "Hello, Walter."

He immediately noticed that Auto was not smiling, nor had he spoken in his usual cordial tone of voice. "I assume you've read the news online?" Walter asked his friend.

"No," Auto replied. Despite his own feelings, curiosity got the better of him when he saw his creator's bleak expression. "What has happened?"

"You first," insisted Walter. "You're not sounding like yourself this morning. Are you all right?"

Auto looked at the floor for a moment. "Lina and I had... a disagreement," he confessed, raising his head only when he heard Walter inhale sharply. "What is it?"

"I... I'm so sorry, Auto." He stepped forward and gripped Auto's arms in a useless gesture of reassurance. "Lina's house was firebombed last night. She's in critical condition in hospital... they couldn't give me a prognosis."

The crushing sensation in his torso felt like he had been hit by an electromagnetic beam. He hadn't needed to read Walter's vital signs to know that he had been telling the truth; his creator never lied to him. Backing up a step, he stared at Walter with an all too human look of intense shock. "Not Lina..." He put a hand on his chest. "Walter, I can't process this."

The pain in his eyes was clear. "We all have to deal with loss at some point, Automan... even you. I won't be around forever, nor will Roxanne." Walter took a deep breath; as upset as he was, he needed to keep control of himself for Auto's sake. Automan's electro-magnetic form might be physically indestructible, but he had relatively little experience as far as strong emotions were concerned. His involvement with Lina was still new to him.

"I hadn't wanted to think about the possibility of losing someone," said Automan slowly. "When you were almost killed in 1984 it forced me to consider what I would do in that eventuality."

"You would continue to carry out your programming," said Walter confidently. "Every human knows that they will most likely outlive their parents and some of their friends. They grieve, they're thankful for the time that they shared, and they move on. That's the way life is." He reached up to hold Auto's shoulder. "Please, try to keep calm. I understand how you feel, really I do... but for Lina's sake we need to focus on finding out who did this."

Auto stood up straight and his eyes blazed. "I already have a theory as to who is responsible." He gestured toward the printer, which began to spit out papers. "One of the men involved with the smuggling operation that Lina and I shut down was a petty thief turned drug dealer named Neil Christensen, with whom Lina had a relationship several years ago."

Walter skimmed the pages before angrily crumpling them in his hand. "Yeah, he took off before the others were arrested. After failing to sabotage your career and losing his associates, he might have decided to escalate his vendetta."

"We must stop him, Walter. Lina's family, or even our family, could be at risk."

Tossing the papers aside, Walter said, "First things first: we should visit the hospital. Will you be able to maintain your presence for a while?"

Setting his lips in a grim line, Auto nodded. "I can draw on the hospital's emergency generators without disrupting any vital equipment. Cursor!" After the glowing polyhedron had rezzed up a dark grey business suit for him, he said, "Let's go."

Walter kept a close eye on his friend as they drove to the hospital in Walter's car. Although Auto had appeared to have recovered from his extreme reaction at the news about Lina, he had a look on his face that Walter knew very well. It was the look of a person who'd had his confidence shattered and was now clawing at the pieces, trying to retain some semblance of normalcy. He wanted so much to give Auto some hope, but at this point it might only be empty words.

They were met outside the ICU by a doctor in his sixties with grey hair and bifocal glasses. A tag on his white coat read Dr. John Tyler: the head of the hospital's team that treated injuries to law enforcement officers. He had overseen Walter's treatment in 1984 when he had been shot, and had also been there for Lina's case of near-electrocution a few months ago. "Lt. Nebicher, Agent Mann," he said, shaking their hands in turn. "I wish we could stop meeting under such circumstances. You're here to see Officer Baines?" When they both nodded he continued, "The good news is that she was extremely lucky, given the circumstances. I was told by the EMTs that brought her in that the structure of the staircase that she had been standing on shielded her from some of the explosion. But the bad news is that she suffered severe burns from the resulting fire, mostly on her legs and back. She also inhaled a lot of smoke, and is currently unconscious and on a ventilator to assist her breathing."

Walter had to clear his throat before asking in a shaky voice, "What chance is there of recovery?"

Dr. Tyler sighed tiredly. "Statistically, a patient with this type of injury has an 80 to 90 percent chance of recovery, and given how much of a fighter she is, there shouldn't be a problem. However, it will take months for the skin to heal and for her to regain full mobility."

"Can we see her?" asked Automan.

"Yes, but keep it to a few minutes only," Dr. Tyler advised. "Her family is here too, so you might have to wait your turn."

Before they were allowed to enter the ICU, they were both given green hospital-issue coats, covers for their shoes, masks, and gloves. They donned the items in silence, knowing that it was necessary in order to avoid spreading infections. As they prepared to enter the ward, they passed a man who was waiting just outside the doors with two young children. They both recognized Auto's tall stature at once.

"Mr. Magic Man!" Shannon ran over to hug him tearfully. "Daddy said that Auntie Lina is really sick. Can you help make her better?"

The child's plea touched him deeply. Laying a gentle hand on her shoulder, he said, "I will do the best I can." It was all he could say. He could not lie to her.

Two women dressed in hospital paraphernalia exited the ward. As they removed their masks, Auto saw that one of them was Allison, and assumed that the older woman was her and Lina's mother. "Mr. and Mrs. Stanley, Mrs. Baines," he addressed them all. "I am Federal Agent Mann. This is my colleague Lt. Nebicher." He indicated Walter. "I want to offer our assurance that we will do everything in our power to bring the person responsible to justice."

"Please do so," Mrs. Baines said with an edge to her voice, although her stance was proud. "We know that police work is dangerous, but one never really expects this sort of thing. When you catch him, I want to look him in the eye and tell him what a disgrace he is." She walked away, followed by Allison and her family. Both the children glanced back briefly as they left.

Wordlessly, Dr. Tyler indicated that they could go in.

Walter knew the inside of an ICU too well after his own brush with death many years ago, and he had privately hoped that he would never have to enter one again. But you didn't always get you wanted. The sterile, off-white walls and fluorescent lighting gave an eerie sheen to what he could see of Lina's body lying on the bed.

Although a hospital gown was draped loosely over her for modesty's sake, her legs were uncovered in order to facilitate access to the many bandages that swathed her burned skin. A flexible plastic tube protruded from her mouth, held in place by white ties around her ears, and extended to a ventilator that hissed rhythmically. An IV line dripped fluid into a vein in her left hand, and an infrared finger cuff was attached to the middle finger of her right hand to monitor her vitals which looked much lower than normal.

Walter knew he should say something, but the sight of his friend lying there in such a vulnerable state made the words stick in his throat. Now he knew what Roxanne must have felt upon seeing him in the hospital after he had been shot.

Automan too was disturbed. Humans were capable of many wondrous things, but their bodies were so very fragile. Being a hologram, he tended to take his own durability for granted, and rarely thought about how he would cope when those around him were no longer there. Now he was forced to contemplate the awful truth that he could have lost the woman that he loved.

Knowing exactly what needed to be said, he quietly nodded to Walter. "Allow me."

Walter nodded, still speechless.

Auto moved to the left side of the bed. "Hello Lina," he began as he held her hand, taking care to not disturb the IV line. "This is Automan. Walter is here too. You are a loyal and courageous friend. We promise that we will find the one responsible for this and make sure that he can never harm you again."

Then he paused; his next words were personal, but he didn't mind if Walter heard. "I am sorry that our last conversation was so unsatisfactory. I cannot quantify what you have done for me. You reactivated me, showed me how to love, and how to live. You called me back from destruction. Anything I do for you would pale in comparison, but I can do this: I shall stay with you for as long as you wish."

He sensed the minute difference before the monitors did: her vital signs were changing, becoming stronger! Carefully, so carefully, he squeezed her hand - in that instant more aware than ever of his great strength that enabled him to rip doors off their hinges, and the control that he had over it. The muscles in her hand twitched slightly.

Hope flared in his circuits. "Walter, I can sense that her condition is beginning to improve."

Walter's eyes widened in surprise, hardly daring to believe it. "Keep talking to her," he said, keeping his voice down despite his excitement. "I'll get Dr. Tyler." He left the alcove.

Taking advantage of the brief moment alone with her, Auto leaned close and paraphrased the words that she had once used to help him. "You are a wise, intelligent, vibrant woman who has people who care about you." As he said it he realized that no matter how long he existed, only she could ever truly complete him. "You are my soul."

Her hand moved again but she didn't wake. For Automan, however, it was enough to know that she was on the mend.

Dr. Tyler arrived promptly. "She has shown a marked improvement in only the last few minutes," he said with some astonishment as he noted the readouts. "It looks like you were what she needed." He indicated that they continue the conversation outside the ward so as to not disturb the other occupants. Reluctantly Auto let go of Lina's hand and followed him out to join Walter, who was waiting outside the doors.

As the two officers divested themselves of the hospital garb, Dr. Tyler cautioned them, "Even though she seems to be stabilizing, there's still a long way to go. And then, recovering from the burns will be difficult and painful. She's going to need a lot of support."

"She has it," averred Walter resolutely. "With her family plus mine and Agent Mann, she won't lack for anything."

"Thank you for allowing us to see her, Dr. Tyler," Auto said. "Now we have a very dangerous man to capture."

The physician nodded to them. "Good luck."