Author's Note~ Well, here it is, the last chapter. Couldn't post it until now 'cause ff.net has been down. . .arg. . .I'm in a seriously depressed mood writing this, sorry. . .thanks for reading, everyone! *hugs* Sorry about the depressing nature of this story. . .please review!

Chapter 4~ The Truth

The normally crowded Spring City Robotics Convention was emptying quickly. People everywhere ran in every which way, searching for family members or a quicker exit, escaping from the rumor of a bomb and the strange man said to have brought it.

In the center of this chaos, Zeta stood, silent, unmoving, staring down blankly at the body he held in his arms. He was currently performing a system's check, trying to discover what was wrong, for the 3rd time since he had broken Ro's neck. It came up, as it had the other two times, saying that he was in perfect operating condition. He ran it again. There was something wrong, that much was obvious to him. Before the facsimiles of emotion had haunted him; now all of a sudden he felt nothing.

This made no sense to him- Brother's Day had not taken the time to completely reprogram him void of feeling, they had simply given him the desire to complete his mission. But even that desire was gone. He tore his eyes from Ro for a few seconds to switch off the bomb. Then, he performed another system's check. Nothing was wrong. That was exactly what troubled him.

He was interrupted from his thoughts by the sound of police sirens. Someone must have called them here. The NSA wouldn't be far behind. He turned to run, and wondered why. What did it matter if Bennett caught him? Yet run he did, still clutching Ro in his arms.

He lost the NSA briefly inside an abandoned shop, and he hid behind the boarded windows. The sirens passed by, and he knew he had to carry on, but why, he did not know. Void of all emotion, he lay Ro on the ground. She lay at an unnatural angle, her head bent too far to the side and her limbs scattered about the floor. Blood could no longer seep from the wound in her neck, it had dried leaving a nearly black stain on her throat and shirt.

A passing police car shone a light on her body for a moment, illuminating her white face, her lips still frozen in an expression of adoration. She had never expected, never had time to understand her fate. Her last words ran through his mind. . .I trust you. . . He shivered and the feeling came back. Anger, anger more powerful than he had known possible. No, it was not anger, it was an emotion he had thought was purely human- the lust for revenge. It was Sweete who did this, he had made Zeta befriend Ro, he had made her trust him, he had reprogrammed Zeta to put his mission first, to kill her. . .

Zeta stroked Ro's drawn face with the back on his hand, placed a kiss on her cold cheek, and left her for the last time, unable to look into those expressionless eyes. He ran, through the back alleys, back to the hotel. When he entered the lobby, several of Sweete's henchmen attacked, but Zeta flung them to the ground. He took the elevator to Sweete's base, the 13th floor, and stepped onto the red carpet. The Brother's Day soldier stood there, waiting for him, plasma rifle in hand.

"Zeta. You're back. Didn't even complete the mission! Useless, absolutely useless. I s'pose that Rowen brat managed to stop you? Should have shot her when I had the chance."

Zeta's deep navy eyes narrowed to slits. "She's gone."

"Gone? Whaddya mean. . .Zeta! You finished her off, didn't you? I'm impressed. At least you got one thing right."

"It's your fault. You as good as killed her when you sent me there."

Sweete grinned. "Zeta, Zeta, don't blame me for what you did. . ."

"You killed her. I'm going to kill you."

Titus Sweete raised the plasma rifle, but a long arm shot out from Zeta's hologram and grasped the large gun. He twisted the metal and threw it lightly to the side. Then he grasped Sweete's collar in his hand. The man choked, horror on his face as he realized that Zeta was serious.

"Zeta, please, don't. . ."

Zeta ripped out his throat. Sweete's blood mingled with Ro's on his hand. He dropped the body, and felt no satisfaction. Sweete had reprogrammed him, but what was he doing now? Defying his programming. He had always had the ability. He had merely obeyed before because he was too busy pitying himself to care. If only he had fought, like Ro had said. If only he had listened to her. . .I trust you. . .Sweete was not to blame for Ro's death. Why did these realizations always come too late?

A sharp thump from upstairs caught his attention, like something was hitting the ground. It came again. He took the elevator up to floor 14.

"Hello?" He called softly.

"In here!" came a muffled voice. Zeta opened the door to Suite 2.

"Dr. Selig?" He quickly took out the two guards trying to restrain the scientist. Dr. Selig started to stand, and Zeta offered him his hand, carefully concealing the blood with his hologram. Eli Selig took the hand and stood up.

"Are you Zeta?" he said dubiously.

"Yes, I. . .how did you know?"

"The girl told me. Your friend. She said you wanted to meet me. Said you needed me to help you prove that you were capable of sentience. That you were. . .good." He smiled. "When I created you, I didn't expect you to have capabilities such as this, but I know with research I'll be able to find proof."

Zeta stared blankly at Dr. Selig. "I'm sorry. . .Ro was wrong. I'm not good." He removed his hologram, and displayed his hands covered in drying blood. "I'm a murderer. They weren't the first, and I can't be sure they'll be the last."

Dr. Selig took in a sharp breath at first, but then recovered and frowned. "Zeta. . .coming up here, fighting those guards, rescuing me are all proof of a very complex artificial intelligence, and the grasp between right and wrong. I don't know who you killed, but you have risen above your destructive nature. Have a little faith in yourself, Zeta."

"Ro had faith in me. She trusted me. I killed her. I cannot trust myself."

Dr. Selig's eyes widened, and he looked at the floor, unable to meet Zeta's gaze.

"I'm sorry. I have to go. The guards are for the most part unconscious, and the NSA will be here to investigate shortly. They'll keep you safe. Goodbye, Dr. Selig."

"Where are you going?"

Zeta shook his head, and restored his hologram, before exiting via the window. He climbed down the building using his long arms and legs to navigate between window sills. He reached the ground, just as the police drove up to the building to investigate reports called in by various locals.

Zeta began to run away from the building, unsure of where he was going to go. He was a killer now, a killer of his own right. Before, he had been ignorant, and killed because he was programmed to do so. Now, he knew what right and wrong were, and he had done the worst of wrong. Sweete was a terrible man, but this was not why Zeta had killed him. He had killed him out of hatred and vengeance, the very things he had always stood against.

And Ro. . .whether or not he had been capable of overcoming his programming, he had killed her. The one person who mattered, the one thing he felt that had been real. Was he to continue forever making these mistakes and not realizing until it was too late to change? He had to admit that there was no way for him to ever know what was programmed and what was real until he had lost it. How did he know he wasn't following his programming this minute? He realized that he was pitying himself again, the very thing that he had attributed to Ro's death. Yet he couldn't help it, a wave of hopelessness and despair filled him. Ro was the one empty and emotionless, and he was the one alone on the streets of Spring City.

He heard the sound of the NSA van behind him, following. By now, he was nearing the edge of Spring City, into the ruins of the abandoned north side of town. There were few places to hide here. . .did he even want to hide? He kept running and watching the change in environment, looking for a safe place quite automatically, void of any desire to survive. Finally he found refuge inside an old fashioned electric plant. He was running through the halls towards the generator when he heard the NSA park outside and its agents begin to surround the area. He kept running through the metal rooms, his footsteps echoing about the walls. Bennett's voice shouted at him from outside the compound.

"Zeta, what are you doing in there?"

He ignored the agent and kept running. Finally, he stopped at the generator. His sensitive aural sensors could hear Bennett talking to one of his agents outside.

"Rush, do you have his location?"

"Sir, the security cameras show that he's hiding inside the generator."

"What? The electric pulses would be enough to fry his central wiring within seconds!"

"I know, sir, but the emergency switch has been activated recently. The generator is shut off."

Zeta's eyes traveled to the red switch on the wall. He had been wondering why he detected minimal traces of energy in the air.

"Rush, can we send in any agents?"

"It's dangerous- the building is old. They'd have to move slowly, and wouldn't be able to use any of our weaponry. It would probably be better not to send them, he can't escape as long as we've got him surrounded."

Bennett sighed. "Where's Agent West?"

"Home sick with the flu, sir."

"Perfect." He resumed shouting. "Zeta! We have surrounded the plant. There is no way out. Come to us now, and we'll return you for reprogramming."

"No!"

"Zeta, there's no point in a struggle. You can't return to Brother's Day. Besides, we've been back to your headquarters. Titus Sweete is dead, Zeta."

"I don't want to return. I don't want to hurt anyone!"

"Good! You don't have to. You can come with us."

"You will reprogram me to be a weapon. I don't want that. I don't want to hurt anyone."

"You may have thought that before, Zeta, but you honestly can't still feel that way! We've found the girl's body, Zeta. How can you think you only want to help people when Miss Rowen is dead by your hands? You don't want to hurt any more innocent people, do you?"

The image of Ro lying on the shop floor came unbidden to his mind. I trust you. It had just dawned on him why he had come here.

"No. I don't."

"Good to see you're listening to reason."

"I don't want to hurt anyone. Never again."

"Zeta, you're best bet is with us! There's no way to ensure that you won't hurt anyone on your own!"

"Yes. There is one way."

And he pulled the switch. Everything was calm for a moment, then thousands of volts ripped through the synthoid's body, leaving only an empty shell.