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During the next three years, Father and Uncle Albert spent most of their time down in the lab, working on their next creations - DRN001 and DRN002, our new siblings. I played a crucial role in their development, structure, and programming. This was where I, the prototype, was needed. 001 and 002 were going to be androids just like me...and when I mean just, I mean just like me. These new droids were going to be as humanoid as I was, with the same functions as me. Only difference was, these two would be more advanced, since I was only the prototype. The past seven years had been used in collecting data from me, about my actions and reactions, and how I interacted with those around me. It wasn't until now, though, that Uncle Albert felt that they had collected enough information to begin building and programming, trying to decide which parts of my original programming and structure to keep, and which to not use.
I wasn't really sure how to feel about it all. Yes, I was getting two new siblings...but what would they be like? Would they be exactly like me...clones of me? Or would they be totally different? It was impossible to tell, because neither Father nor Uncle Albert would tell anybody anything about the new droids. Elec could tell that something was bothering me.
"Blues...what's wrong? Are you OK?"
"Yeah..." This got a look from Elec; he could always tell when I was lying. Out of all of us, Elec and I were the closest to each other. I sighed.
"OK, OK, enough with that look...I...I'm kind f nervous about our new siblings. I mean...they're going to be bots just like me, who look as human as I do - uh, not to say that you don't look human, Elec..."
Elec smiled at this.
"I see...so you're worried about what they'll be like. Well, if it's any condolence to you, Blues...if they do turn out to be just like you, then I don't think there'll be a problem." He smiled.
"Well...OK, if you say so, Elec."
It wasn't until January of the year that I turned seven that the two new droids were complete. This was a special occasion, indeed. Father was more excited than he had been when I was created....which I could certainly see. So excited was Father, in fact, that if Uncle Albert hadn't suggested against it, the press would have been there to watch the unveiling.
"Today marks a moment in our history! I (You? I thought. What about Uncle Albert?) have finally created the world's most perfect humanoid robots that this world has ever seen! They are so human, an unknowing person would never realize the difference! Ladies, nephew, and robots, I present to you the dawning of a new era of robots!!!" He tore the sheets covering the androids off.
They really were human-like. They looked as human as I did. One droid was male, but the other looked different. This one was modeled after a female human, I realized. The female droid was clothed in a red dress; she had longish blond hair (lighter than mine, which is sandy), held up in a ponytail by a green satin ribbon. Her optics were the same color sapphire as Father's. The male android could have been a younger Father, he looked so much like him. Coal-black hair, matching sapphire optics...there was no doubt in my mind which of us Father was going to love the most.
A pang of something in my emotions program; it hurt, bittersweet. But I had never experienced this emotion before - what was it? It made me feel hatred towards this little bot, even though I had never formally met him yet.
There was also something different about these androids...
They were already built (and programmed, as I soon found out) to look and act like eight-year-olds. I had been built as an infant, with special alloys that allowed me to grow like a human. A quick scan of the news droids told me that they were made out of the same material, but for whatever reason, Father had had Uncle Albert build them at this age.
Probably to overwork them, too, I thought, and a wicked grin spread over my face. Good, make him toil like a slave. I had to, too, after all. And look at my other brothers - they had to work very hard as well.
"Let me introduce to you our new family members! First I would like to start by pointing out that these two were made to be like human twins, fraternal, of course. And now!" He walked over to the male robot, the one that gave me this odd feeling.
"It is my pleasure to introduce to you DRN001 - Rock! He was designed to be my little helper around the lab, so if I ever need a hand, Rock will be there for me. He is already programmed as his prototype" (I winced here, and Father got disapproving looks from the other humans) "is, and has already grown enough where he can help me! This way, we won't have to wait for years for Rock to grow up; that was one mistake we made with the prototype. He grew too slowly."
Yeah? Well, that sure as hell didn't stop you from working me half to deactivation, you bastard.
AHH!! Pain, incredible pain!! My head felt as if it were going to burst! I couldn't figure out why until my CPU kindly told me the following:
ERROR! ERROR! DRN000 HAS VIOLATED THE FOLLOWING RULES OF ROBOTICS:
RULE #3: RESPECT YOUR CREATOR
"Ow!! Son of a..." I muttered, rubbing my head, optics squeezed shut; only Elec seemed to notice...or care.
"Are you OK, Blues?" he whispered, as Father kept going on and on about Rock.
"Yeah," I whispered back. "Daijoubu...[Don't worry...] I'm fine..."
"Well...OK." But he still seemed worried. Meanwhile, I turned my attention to Father, although reluctantly. He was just finishing up his talk about Rock.
"...and between he and his sister, Rock is the older twin. And speaking of his sister..." He moved over to the girl droid. "Allow me to introduce Rock's twin sister, DRN002 - Roll! Get it? Rock and Roll!! Ha, ha, ha..."
Nobody laughed, although Uncle Albert did groan softly, mutter "Thomas..." and roll his eyes.
Biter. He stole Uncle Albert's clever idea for a name. [Author's Note: And it was here that Capcom decided to forever after associate all Rockman character names with music. Thank you. :P]
"Ah...anyway, Roll was designed to be a household bot. To put it quite simply, Roll will be the housecleaning bot, taking over all of the tasks that were formerly assigned to the other seven!"
Gee, thanks a lot, tubby, it only took you seven fricking years to make a robot like that.
Another sharp, intense pain, and the same CPU message. But I didn't care.
Now Father was really getting into it. "And now....for the moment you've all been waiting for!!"
More like the moment you've been waiting for...
NO! Bad android, bad, bad android, going against your creator.
Shut up.
Father activated Rock and Roll for the first time. As soon as I saw that sickeningly adorable smile appear on Rock's face accompanied by huge, puppydog optics, only to have an identical expression appear on Roll's, I knew one thing - life was definitely going to suck from here on out.
"Rock! And Roll!! You two are awake!!"
"Hello, Dr. Light!" Ugh...and such cute little voices, too. It was a good thing that I couldn't vomit, because I definitely would have been at that moment.
...........
And what was this?
Tears in Father's eyes?
Oh, come on now.
At first I thought he was putting on a show...but then I looked closer. No, he wasn't. The man was actually crying out of sheer joy. That feeling came back - Father hadn't cried for me when I was activated. What made Rock so special?
The special treatment of Rock continued for another two years. It was funny...in a sickening sort of way. Roll wasn't treated as well as her twin. It was apparent that Father loved her, too...but not to the extent as he did Rock. I think it must have had something to do with the similarities in their appearances, Father and Rock; they were very close to one another, much like Uncle Albert and I. We were like father and son. And in reality, that wasn't too far from the truth - Uncle Albert had co-built me, after all.
Rock was always at Father's side, like some faithful lap dog. I was basically left to myself, comforted only by Elec and, as always, Xavier. In fact, it happened that one day I found myself asking my old friend about the feeling that I had. As of late, it had been stronger and stronger, especially whenever I saw Rock and Father laughing together, Father tousling Rock's hair, just as a loving father does to his son.
"Ne...[Hey...] X?"
"Yeah?"
"Ano... [Um...] I've been having this weird feeling lately...and I don't know what it is."
"Oh? Well, describe it to me."
I had never though about explaining it to him, or anyone, before. How could I say it in a way that an eleven-year-old human boy could understand? But then I remembered - this was Xavier, my best friend. He would always understand me; he always had before. I nodded and tried to explain.
"Well...I only feel it whenever I see Rock and Father together. They look so happy...Father obviously loves him more than me...more than any of us. Every time I see them, I am filled with this intense hatred, this bitter loathing. It makes me sick thinking about them...it makes me feel..." I stopped and looked down, my chest heaving with short sobs. Why did it hurt me so to talk about it? "I...know it's not fair to Rock that I should hate him...I don't even know him...but...but I..."
"...but you're jealous, Blues."
I looked up. "Eh?"
"Jealousy. That's what you have. That's what that feeling is. You're jealous of Rock because he's getting all the attention instead of you. It's natural for older siblings to feel that way about their younger brothers or sisters at first."
"But...I didn't feel like that when the others were created..."
"That's because Uncle Thomas didn't shower them with extreme love like he's doing with Rock." Still seeing that I was confused, he added, "You have a dictionary programmed into you - look up 'jealous.'"
"O-ok..."
SEARCHING...JEALOUS
1 MATCH(ES) FOUND - LIST?
"Yes."
JEAL-OUS
ADJ.
1) FEARFUL OR WARY OF BEING REPLACED; APPREHENSIVE OF LOSING AFFECTION OR POSITION
2) RESENTFUL OR BITTER IN RIVALRY; ENVIOUS
END LIST
I was quiet for some time. Being jealous sounded like it was a bad thing. But Xavier had said that it was natural for siblings to feel that way, though...and I trusted Xavier. I decided to go and talk with Rock; maybe all I needed to do was to get to know him; then maybe I wouldn't feel so jealous towards him. After all, it wasn't his fault that Father was showering him with love and attention.
I walked around, looking for Rock, and I finally found him. But he was talking with Father. I didn't want to interrupt, so I waited in the doorway, making sure that I wasn't seen by either one. I watched as Father embraced Rock warmly; I narrowed my eyes, hurt. But that was nothing compared to what happened next.
"Thank you, Rock! You don't realize what a help you've been these past two years!"
"Oh, that's all right, Dr. Light! You know how much I love to help people!"
Sickening. What did he know about people? Some of them could be pretty rotten.
"Ah, Rock, you don't know how wonderful it is to have you here with me! I feel so priveliged...my son."
Son.
It wounded me like the worst jolt of electricity. And before I could stop myself, words came tumbling out like a gush of hot oil.
"Son...? Son...? SON?! What about us, huh?? What are we?! You never cried when we were activated! You never asked any of us to be your personal assistants! You just treated us like we were nothing more than your tools, your slaves!!! And look - I am the original! If I wasn't here, Rock wouldn't be! I am ashamed and disgusted with myself for calling you 'Father'! You shower Rock with love and attention...and what do the rest of us get? We are ignored; you even treat Rock's own twin the same way you treat us! Are we not your creations?! Are we not your sons as well?!"
Father and Rock turned; Rock stared at me, mouth agape, some sort of expression on his face. Was it...admiration? Pity?
Father looked at me, too...but it was not with admiration, nor with pity. The look on his face will forever be ingrained into my memory...for the look on his face filled me with such utter terror as I had never so experienced thus far in my activation.
I would have never, ever guessed in a hundred years how agile and fast Father really was; the old saying is true - looks can be deceiving. I was standing not ten feet from where he and Rock were. So terrified was I that I actually turned and started to flee - but then all of a sudden Father was there, grabbing me by the arm, pulling me back into the room, and throwing me to the ground. I landed on my rear end on the carpet with a muffled thunk! Due to the human instinct programmed into me, I held up my arms in front of my face, trying to defend myself from...something. Father advanced, standing over me and boring holes through my arms and into my face with his fiery stare.
"You...you ungrateful hunk of scrap metal! How dare you talk to me in that manner?! I am your creator! If it weren't for me, you'd still be just alloys and chips!" I whimpered, shaking; I was petrified. And it didn't exactly help that my stupid ethics programming was hurting me as well, screaming at me that I had violated all sorts of rules and codes of conduct.
From somehwere I found my voice again, and it came out angry and strong-willed. Shaky as hell, but tough.
"Oh...oh...yeah? Well...well, maybe being just allys and chips would....would be better than putting...putting up with you!!" I cringed, fearful of what Father would do next.
Fortunatley for me, he never got the chance.
"D-dr. Light...."
A small, pitiful voice. Father wheeled around and was silent. Cautiously, I took my arms away from my face in order to see what was going on.
There, standing before Father, was Rock. He was crying.
"Please...please stop, Dr. Light! Don't yell at Blues...don't hurt my big brother!"
Big....brother...? He called me his brother... Instantly, my previous feelings of jealousy dissolved completely, never to return.
"He's right, Dr. Light...he is. I've seen the way you've been treating everyone....and...I don't like it! Blues is right - you're not treating them like sons, you're treating them like second-hand objects!" He paused here to wipe his nose on his sleeve, and then burst into tears again. I sat up.
"Rock...........oh........Rock, come here," I said to him. He walked over to where I was and sat down before me, sniffling. I smiled sadly at him and wiped a few stray tears from his face; Father said nothing. I think he was too stunned at Rock's sudden outburst.
"Thank you, Rock..."
"Blues...I..."
Before he could say or do anything else, I pulled him into a tight hug.
"I'm sorry..............little brother."
