Introduction

Second Chance Project

The sun may shine bright today and it might be a peaceful day in Mega City, yet Doctor Thomas Light felt sweat beads rolling down his forehead and it wasn't from the summer's heat. Maybe it was the briefcase who was too heavy, although he was sure it was lighter when he exited his house.

''Doctor, are you feeling alright?'' A young and feminine voice called out to him while walking down the street, ''Do you want to sit down before we arrive at the station?''

''No, no, I am fine. Thank you, Roll,'' the man pulled his shirt's collar, weary smile, ''I am only a little nervous, that is all.''

''Doctor,'' a youthful boy called out to him, ''we're talking about Miss Roslyn and Mister Gilbert. You know them, so why are you worried?''

''Well,'' the older man held his word for a couple of seconds, ''let's just say there's an old 'acquaintance' with them at the moment.''

''Oh! Is he a friend of yours,'' the young boy laughed innocently.

The bearded man couldn't help, but gave a smile to the two children around him, ''Something like that,'' he replied while scratching the back of his head, ''I expect both of you to be good when I'll be busy, alright?''

Roll and Rock almost rolled their eyes from annoyance, ''Yes Dr. Light,'' they said that sentence a dozen times by now. They understood they couldn't follow their father to his meeting, but a little trust with the agents wouldn't hurt.

The small family arrived at the police station. The building had this old aesthetic to it, white brick walls, lion statues eternally guarding the wooden entrance. Even in such an advance time, a few things of the past remain alive.

Near the main entrance, a woman waited patiently while typing on a hand-seize tablet. Both children's mouth let out the same name, ''Miss Roslyn!'' The call had the desired effect, as the black woman lifted up her eyes to see two robots joyfully running at her.

''Hey guys, long time no see!'' Roslyn greeted the children, then shake the hand of the elder man, ''Greetings Dr. Light.''

''Good morning, Agent Krantz,'' he answered with confidence, ''How are you doing today?''

She allowed herself to let out a comical sigh, ''I would like to say 'good', but these last days I swear I saw more papers than real people,'' the agent laughed it off, ''but enough about that, Mister Leon is waiting for you inside.''

The doctor felt his shoulder tensed, only to relax shortly after. ''Yes, I don't want to waste anymore time for the director,'' he cleared his throat before he went on one knee in front of his children, ''Rock, Roll,'' he kindly called them, the two robots approached him weary, ''I'll be back in a while,'' he explained to them, ''Listen to Miss Krantz while I'm away and be nice with her.''

The two nodded, but gave the doctor pleading eyes. Roslyn felt bad for them, the recent events had put the two kids on edge and the idea to be separate from their father mustn't help the situation. Unfortunately, it wasn't a conversation for children to listen and the subject matter was delicate for their kin.

The older man got up from the hot pavement. He gave a warm smile to Roslyn, ''Thank you to look out for them, Agent Krantz.''

''No problem Doctor,'' she answered truly, ''I'll keep them safe.''

''I never doubt it,'' Thomas made his way to the police station, ''See you soon, children!''

Rock waved his hand sadly, ''Good bye, Doctor.'' His sister did the same, but couldn't speak up.

Despise their emotional been artificial, the female agent felt bad for the small androids. They were still children and this last week brought discord and fear in their peaceful lives. She hoped the young boy will never wear the helmet again.

''I don't know about you two,'' she used her amusing tone as the two robots looked at her, ''but I heard a carnival arrived in town, wanna go check it out?''

The frowns turned upside down in an instant, ''I never went to one!'' ''I want to go! I want to go!''

The woman only had to lead the way to a better place than here. Before they turned a street corner, she glanced one last time at the police station. Roslyn hoped the doctor will be able to get through the stubborn old man. Until then, she must take care of the doctor's most precious possessions.

Doctor Thomas Light and Gilbert D. Stern slowly made their way to one of the few visitor rooms the station had. The only one who could enter were high rank officers or important clients. Thomas felt the pressure as they got closer to the luxurious room.

''Nervous doc?'' The surprising question came out from Gilbert, the agent didn't look at the older man.

''A little,'' the scientist tried to soften the situation, ''It has been years I talk to an IRLD agent.''

''Don't want to break you into sweat, doc,'' the agent plainly told, ''but that man isn't just an agent.''

''Yes, I... I am well aware,'' his tone kept this friendliness Gilbert didn't like, ''but I am sure we can workout an understanding.''

The grumpy man held himself from rolling his eyes, ''Good luck with that,'' he whispered only a few feet in front of a set of doors, ''there we are doc,'' he grabbed a card in his pocket and approached a electronic lock next to the doors, ''I'll be outside if you need anything.''

The lock lighted up after emitting a high signal. The doors moved to the side, allowing the man in the white coat to proceed. Thomas nodded to the detective and walked inside the room.

The visitor room had a classic decor. The brown brick walls hanged golden portraits of important-looking men and women. The wooden floor was sturdy and didn't even cracked under the scientist's weight. A few plants of variant seize or height brought specks of life in the otherwise monotone room. The only source of light came from the three towering windows in the back.

In the middle, a glass table centre the room with a pair of rotating, leather chairs at each of its edge. A model of the newest holographic display crowned the table, although a few cables travelled to the floor. Behind the device, a portable computer connected itself to the device and a man tipped on the integrated keyboard.

This man showed signs of aging on his dark skin, wrinkles on his forehead and bags under his eyes. His hair were in dreadlocks, despise the natural ebony, patches of silver gave the man an unique look. The clothes he wore weren't from a public clothing shop, the black suit had pale parallel lines on the sleeves and body. A crimson tie popped out over the white shirt under the suit. The dark brown leather shoes were either just bought or someone put a shine on them. Of course, Doctor Light didn't fail to notice the golden pin on the right-side of his chest.

The door behind him closed, but the sitting man didn't lift his head or any other acknowledgement of the doctor's presence. Thomas didn't waited and let out a exaggerated clear of his throat. It did the trick as the black man moved his head. The confusion turned to a polite smile, ''Dr. Light!'' the suited man pulled himself up, a creaking sound came from around the smiling man, ''It has been a while.''

The two men walked closer to one other and firmly shake hands, ''Good to see you too, Nicolas,'' Thomas easily replied, he noticed the man wore thick, dark gloves and the hand he held was oddly shaped, ''I see the operation went well,'' he commented to the younger man.

''Yes, it did,'' they let go, ''how are DL-,'' he stopped himself, ''I mean, how are your children?''

''Fantastic, thank you,'' Dr. Light began to made his way to the chair opposed to where Nicolas sat, ''I am very grateful I could meet you today, Nicolas.''

They separated ways to their chair, Nicolas laughed at Thomas' sentence, ''Oh please Dr. Light,'' the scientist sat down, ''Your aid to the upbringing of IRLD isn't forgotten,'' they both sat down, Dr. Light quietly put down his briefcase on the glass table, ''however, it's unfortunate we can't see always eye-to-eye.''

''We are men of two different worlds, you and I,'' Dr. Light stated sternly, ''It's in our nature to have conflicts of interests.''

''I am glad you understand,'' Nicolas returned to his silver laptop, ''Allow me to show you why I can't allow you to have them.''

The device in the middle spun, the windows darken turning the room black as night, then a series of images flew over them. The pale blue visuals viewed videos focused on different robots. They all showed level of violence rarely seen before. The first Dr. Light could see showed buildings exploding around a laughing android with drills for hands. Another showed oil platform collapsing into the ocean, the water turned black. One more displayed an airplane crashed into a city. A separate video blurred people falling on the ground, their assailant couldn't be seen. The horror in a suited woman's face walking down a dark alley, a pair of red eyes stalks her before she collapsed on the ground, a pool of blood increases below her submerging a golden pin.

Dr. Light returned his attention on Nicolas' serious face, ''May I ask what are these?'' his question was accompanied by a calm anger.

''These,'' Nicolas waved his fingers at them, ''are the script scenarios we have data minded a week ago,'' he looked up with a frown, ''Each of them are programmed and ready to commit these atrocities across the country,'' he looked away when a a crowd ran away from a heavily armoured robot. Bullets ricocheted from its impenetrable hide. ''When we found it, we tried to remove it from their database, but it proves impossible.''

''How come,'' the older man sat deeper in his chair and crossed his arms.

Nicolas took a deep breathe and change the display to many code lines, ''First, the programming language used on these robots is extremely complex,'' the black man calmly described, ''It is insane to think it is done by one single man,'' he sighed and shake his head in dismay, ''Our engineers and programmers tried to crack the codes, but even so they failed,'' A visual demonstration showed a line removed, followed by an alert and the code returned as if never touched, ''Each robots have backup files, which makes any alterations to the robots impossible. They have tried to remove the responsible program, but again it failed times and times again.''

Dr. Light kept his stare to the video on repeat. The older man stood quiet, showing no signs of giving up or acceptance. Nicolas glanced at him, waiting for the expert engineer to say something. He waited a few seconds and moved on.

''Secondly,'' he switched the image to three paragraphs they both know well, ''When we tried to install the Asimov's Laws into them. Their system not only rejected, '' it switched to a video showing one of Wily's creation in a capsule surrounded by men and women in white coats. Their screens suddenly flashed and the robot in the capsule moved on its own, attacking the glass. Panic insured, fleeing from the room.

The robot broke free, revealing an orange and white android with drills for hands. The self-aware machine didn't have enough time to know his surroundings when the door opened up and three black canine bots rushed at the escapee. It only had enough time to turn, when the dark machines attacked. The first went for the legs, the other targeted the chest and the last opened up its jaws to attack the left arm's joint. A short fight broke out, the humanoid's drill struck the fake animal's head on his chest breaking it in half. As if enraged, the two last animals furiously crushed the limbs under their main means to attack. The android retaliated by a shoot at the one at his leg. The drill dug inside the bot before an explosion caused its demise, but also severe damages in the IRLD's pockets by the precious machines destruction. Somehow, the last dog latched on the arm and, miraculously managed to break off the limb. Metallic scraps and oil splattered the dusty floor. Another drill reappeared in the intact arm allowing one last attack on the canine about to go for its head. It flew off the camera's view.

The devastation left by the robots took away the breathe from Thomas, while Nicolas only watched on with a cold demeanour. The damaged, orange android took a moment to examine the carnage he wrought in the room. It stood still, taking in the fires and broke corpses. Then it laughed. Even without audio, the doctor's skin crawled at the green-eyed robot taking pleasure at his accomplishment. However, its victory was short live when its body unceremoniously collapsed on the ground. He didn't have anymore energy to keep itself active, Thomas suspected as much.

Thomas watched silently as he looked at the damaged android lying on the ground and approached by three armed androids and Nicolas behind them. The video ended abruptly and a series of floating files circled in front of them, as both men returned their attention to one another. The black man calmly continued his speech.

''Finally,'' Nicolas changed the disturbing imagery for multiple profiles, ''as you saw, these machines are made for battle and only battle,'' he enlarged one of them seemingly at random, ''DWN. 009 principle function is to attack other robots by throwing saw blades which can cut through most industrial materials,'' he switched for another, ''DWN. 014 can halt time in a undefined zone while it still can stay active,'' another profile took its place, ''DWN. 018's magnetic field can shut down any electronic machines in a maximum of two kilometres radius,'' then another, ''DWN. 015 can release a fire breath . The maximum temperature can reach up to 1 100 degrees Celsius,'' switched again, ''And not to forget DWN. 020 which can withhold all documented military weapons in the country!''

Nicolas just realized he was standing up, his hand on the glass and his body hunched over his computer. He examined the doctor, who hasn't move a muscle and kept his head up, facing the sixteen robots. His face only exhibited thoughtfulness. The man in black wasn't sure if the genius heard him, but he took this moment to go back in his chair and recover from his outburst before he continued his statements.

''With all due respect doctor,'' he began, ''I know you are among the smartest engineer and robotic genius of our time, but I doubted you could reprogrammed these machines. Albert Wily created these things to either fight or die trying. Without the ability to reprogram any of them and the dangers they are to humanity, I can't, as the Director of Confiscation of the International Robotic Laws Department, allow these robots to be switch on in a peaceful society. Plus, if they fall into wrong hands and are mass produce, we will have a third World War on our hand or worst.''

The hologram slowed down, the pale images turned to static and vanished. The windows' cover began to lift up, light slowly claimed back its hold on the private room, ''Those are my arguments,'' he said as the sun revealed the doctor's hands on the glass table, ''I am listening, Dr. Light.''

Nicolas stared at the silent doctor. The old man was smiling. The director frowned at Thomas, then he let out a soft laugh.

''What is so funny, Dr. Light?'' Nicolas questioned, his eyes and words were embedded in venom.

''My apologizes,'' the genius excused himself, but kept the smile, ''I'm only unfazed by how Albert hadn't change,'' he approached to the table, his posture relaxed, ''When we were younger, Albert was always very protective of his projects. Everything he made had more then one safety,'' another laugh, but it was shorter and ended bitterly, ''He was always like this...''

Nicolas stood there, almost in shock at the reminiscences. He heard the joy from nostalgic memories and as well as the sorrow in the end.

''I knew Albert would do something like this,'' the director returned his focus on the doctor, ''but I am still determine to have these robots under my guard.''

The agent shake his head, ''And I told you, you can't have these machines.''

''I know,'' the older man replied, ''but I would like you to listen to me for a while.''

Nicolas stared at Thomas. The man didn't show any signs of stress or second thought. Whatever he had in mind, it looked faulty-proof. The agent nodded silently at the man in white.

''Thank you,'' Dr. Light's hands joined and he leaned on the table, ''When my son, Rock, fought for a second time against Albert, he was infected by a virus which altered his personality by a steady, but effective process,'' Nicolas frowned at this information he never knew, ''I'll spare you the details and go immediately to the information I want to point to. I managed to extract the virus from Rock's system and I studied the program afterwards,'' his hands suddenly lifted up, ''that's when I was, and still am, amazed to find the virus came in multiple segments. If the virus was only a single entity,'' he lifted his hand and drilled into his palm, ''The virus would have a major chance to destroy Rock's I.C chip,'' then he mimed a explosion, ''and render by boy dead.''

''Then, why didn't he do it?'' Asked Nicolas, ''Albert's goal wasn't to destroy him?''

Thomas answered by a shrug, ''Maybe he wanted to keep Rock for himself? I can't say,'' the hint of sorrow quickly changed to joy, ''however, and for a second time, I found another marvel. The virus wasn't complete!''

Nicolas stood back into his chair, clearly confuse, ''Excuse me?'' Despise his limited knowledge on virus, an 'incomplete' virus program shouldn't work.

Thomas chuckled at the reaction, ''Yes, I too was very dumbfounded, but it made sense when I thought about that day. Rock had multiple outside factors which completed the virus,'' he counted them on his fingers, ''Stress, pride, worry, anxiety...'' he turned his attention to Nicolas, ''If my boy didn't felt these emotions, the virus wouldn't have work properly.''

''It's fascinating, Dr. Light,'' Nicolas gave half a nod, ''truly it is, but I can't see how it argues against my statement?''

''A-Ah, yes,'' the bearded man cleared his throat, embarrassed, ''Well, it left me thinking. I knew the IRLD would try to install the Asimov's Laws into Albert's robots and I had a feeling it wouldn't work as planned, plus without the Asimov's Laws any robots are usually instantly shut down and destroyed, yes,'' the director slowly nodded, ''I agree as well. So, I thought of another way to install the Asimov's Laws without any manipulation into their system.''

''And how can you install without installing?'' Nicolas' words were bored, but it wouldn't last for long.

''We allow them to learn it and let them install it by themselves.''

The room turned absolutely silent. Nicolas glared at Thomas.

''Dr. Light.''

''Yes, Mister Leon?''

''Did I heard this right?''

''I believe so.''

Another pause in the room. On the other side, Gilbert was almost tempted to see what was happening and suddenly lost interest when a scream stunned him in place.

''What?!'' It was Nicolas' turn to be leaning, ''Dr. Light! This is madness! We have establish, in black and white, that a robot can't learn the Asimov's Laws without installing the program!''

Dr. Light sat back down, he showed no fear before the yelling director, ''And it still true,'' then there was a content smile, ''for simple robots.''

''Dr. Light,'' Nicolas' frame was shacking, ''can you explain this insanity?''

''I can guarantee you, I'm perfectly sane,'' he commented in a light tone, ''I can understand a Met to not achieve this. A bot can't learn, this is a fundamental reality in robotics,'' he shake his head, ''but as for robots or specifically, in our case, Robot Masters I believe this can be achieve.''

''And how?'' The director's patience was wearing thin, ''send them to school?''

''Life experiences,'' his observation ripped the voice from Nicolas's throat, ''Robot Masters have the most advance of all A.I ever achieved in the world of robotics. They can learn at the same rate as a human and apply that knowledge on everyday actions. Now, it is true they cover a base in their field thanks to information in their system, but they gain an identity and attitude by what they live and feel like you and I.''

The doctor stood up, ''My first objective, when I created the Robot Masters, is to help mankind in fields they can't easily do. However, I also wanted them to live in harmony with mankind. An A.I isn't freewill, but it shapes them like a child learning how to share or how to face their consequence. It creates themselves.''

The director stroke his nose's bridge as he followed the doctor making his way to the window, ''In other words...'' he closed his eyes, ''you theorize the DWN series can learn the Asimov's Laws by themselves from life experiences.''

''Indeed,'' Dr. Light observed through the window and saw a man holding the hand of a young girl, ''No man is born good or evil, they learn how to be kind and try to change their faults for good,'' the young girl points at an ice cream store, but the father shake his head, ''No one is perfect, but we try to be our best,'' the girl cried and stomped her feet down, the father looked around, ''For example, my children are program to be kind and help others,'' the father knelled down and spoke to the crying girl, ''yet two times now, one took arms against his own kind, because,'' the girl nodded to the father and gave him a kiss on his cheek, ''that's what he thought was right,'' the father and daughter continued on their walk, unaware of a smiling man.

''Even if Robot Masters are created with a purpose in mind, they can change like you and I,'' he turned to a scowling Nicolas, ''We can't install the Laws, but they can learn them in an environment which is allowing them to.''

The director looked at Thomas, no anger or impatience from before was showing now, but he was clearly uninterested by this alone.

''A good speech, Dr. Light,'' his response lacked any enthusiasm, ''but these machines are weapons. Their design is made to fight and kill.''

''Did you switch off their weapons?''

The query was met with only silence.

''Plus,'' Thomas continued, ''knowing Albert, these robots must see each other as brothers and Albert, himself, as their father. I doubt they would try to destroy each other,''

''DWN. 014 said otherwise once,'' Nicolas sighed to himself, ''Fine, you caught my curiosity Dr. Light. However, what sort of environment you have in mind? Remember. Even if we turn off their weapons, these robots are still dangerous. Don't forgot also the funds to such a project.''

''To start with the environment,'' Thomas returned to his chair, ''I have thought a building where they can live as normal as they can be. Think of it like a communion residence. For security, I have an idea, but I would like the IRLD approval first. Of course, for money,'' he opened the, until now, untouched briefcase and grabbed a few papers, his arm extended to Nicolas, ''please, read these.''

The black man studied the papers for a moment and hesitantly grabbed them from Thomas' hand. He proceed to read them. After the first paragraph, he quickly moved to the next document and swiftly examined the content. He blinked a few times, not believing his eyes to see such numbers on the paper.

His lack of vocal response allowed a clear answer.

''It seems saving the world does have its quirks,'' Dr. Light laughed whole-heartily, ''and my name does have a certain effect on people.''

''In-Indeed,'' Nicolas' brain remembered he could speak, ''I see fund isn't a problem,'' he placed the papers in front of the doctor, ''however, know that I can't give those machines to you without a few of my demands.''

''I never doubted Nicolas,'' the white man agreed, ''I am all ears.''

''I want to put an end date to this project,'' he started, ''Each of these machines will be officially licensed by the International Robotic Laws Departement. They have a restriction in their movement. Limiters in forms you and my scientist can talk about. An initial interview with each machines for their commitment in the project and finally,'' his eyes hardened, ''an instant-termination device in every, single, one of them should they not respect the principal of the Asimov Laws.''

The older man saw the controlled rage in the director's eyes. The demands were numerous, but he knew they were necessary. Yet, the last request held weight compare to the others. This one wasn't for the bureau's image, but from the uncertainty of a man with a history with unfeeling robots.

Thomas softened his face and nodded, ''I agree with your demands.''

The anger left the black man's brown eyes, ''Thank you, Dr. Light,'' he proceeded to tap on the keyboard and returned to the white man, ''I have sent you an e-mail of agreement, I will expect a return in due time.''

''And I'll send you copies of my documents as well as the details of the project,'' Dr. Light placed the papers inside the briefcase, ''I am very thankful for your open mindfulness, Nicolas.''

''Please doctor,'' the man dismissed the thanks, ''I am willing as long this project brings results.''

''Yes,'' the doctor gave a meek smile, ''of course,'' he was about to say something, but quickly correct himself, ''but since you are here, I must ask you something.''

Nicolas stared at Thomas motionless.

''Did they found Albert?''

The room's air became dense. They both remained silent, until Nicolas scoffed and shake his head.

''The rescuers didn't found his body yet,'' his smirk trembled the doctor's calmness, ''I told you Dr. Light, Albert W. Wily couldn't survive the destruction of his castle. It's impossible.''

''Yet, he created a robot who can stop time,'' Dr. Light replied, he wished his eyes could shoot daggers at the disrespectful man.

''I think we should leave at that, Dr. Light,'' Nicolas called out to the genius, ''I am a busy man and so will you be soon,'' he looked up at the white man, ''I will sent you the address and time for your negotiation in a few hours.''

His body flared up at the director's attitude, but stayed calm. He will vent his anger as focus on the project, ''Good,'' his dry answer didn't bother the director, ''See you soon, Director Nicolas Leon.''

''You too, Dr. Thomas Light,'' and he was left alone in the room. The black man turned to an open writing program with a few lines already tapped down. Along these sentences, he managed to write down the name given to the doctor's project. The papers he received from the genius all had the same title.

''Second Chance,'' Nicolas amused himself at the obvious title, ''You are a genius, but lack imagination at calling your properties,'' he sighed out, his hand pushed down the computer's screen, ''but I wonder where this will lead us.''

His chair turned to the windows, a calm smile lingered on his face, ''Let us see, Dr. Light, let us see.''