Title: James Elison: Robocop

Author: vashsunglasses

Rating: M

Fandom: The Sentinel/Robocop

Disclaimer: Neither "The Sentinel" or "Robocop" belong to me and I make no money off of this homage to two very amazing works of fiction.

Summary: AU. Before Blair could meet Jim, Jim was brutally murdered in the line of duty and reborn as Robocop. Will finding his Guide help Jim reclaim his humanity?

Blair woke up in his hospital bed. For a moment he had a sense of being in two places at once. Of running through the jungle and resting in a bed. But then the feeling faded, and with it the dream faded as well. He looked at the clock on the wall and realized he had been asleep for several hours. He pushed the button to bring the bed up to a sitting position and used the remote to turn on the television attached to the opposite wall. He hoped that Robocop would return soon, they had so much to discuss.
Early morning television was complete crap, and Blair didn't know how much more he could take. Infomercials, soap operas, talk shows, and reruns of that stupid sitcom that everyone but him seemed to love. 'I'd buy that for a dollar,' had to be the most ridiculous punch line ever invented. Sometimes he daydreamed about the things he would do to the guy who invented that line if he ever got 5 minutes alone with him. Oh! Or better yet, maybe he could sic Robocop on him! Yeah… He smiled wickedly for a moment, drinking in all the delicious possible tortures that Robocop could inflict on that clown.

At that moment the nurse came in and saw Blair smiling at the sitcom rerun and said, "Oh, I love that show too! It's just so funny."

Blair's face fell. Damn, why did everyone always assume that he was like them in eating up that ridiculous shit! "Damn, crappy, shitty…" he muttered to himself, "fu-"

"Mr. Sandburg," the nurse interrupted, "are you alright?"

He pasted a sarcastic smile on his face and nodded, "Oh yeah, everything's fine. It's just that all of a sudden, just after you came into the room, I got a huge headache and felt really sick to my stomach."

The nurse didn't pick up on the sarcasm, "I'll tell the doctor how you're feeling," she said, finishing her check of his vitals and trotting perkily out of the room. "I'd buy that for a dollar!" she exclaimed to herself as she passed into the hallway.

Blair could hear her idiotic laughter trailing away and gritted his teeth. Normally he would have been all over her with the flirty talk, but after that display of pure idiocy she was nothing to him… Less than nothing. Still, she did have nice legs…

As the hours passed Blair could feel his IQ dropping into the abyss. Flushing right down a huge toilet. If there was a Hell, he'd have to say that it involved an eternal hospital stay. He'd only been there less than a full 24 hours, yet he was already considering asking the staff to have him humanely euthanized, "Like a dog," he thought, "Please just kill me and put me out of my misery…"
It was a few hours later and Blair growled with frustration at the utter boredom he was feeling, "Where the heck is that big metal jerk anyway?" he hissed bitterly. He was filled with the urge to run far, far away, to leave the hospital in the dust and move somewhere where the word 'hospital' wasn't even invented yet. But he couldn't do that, not if he wanted the chance to write the first ever dissertation on a cybernetic/human hybred.

He listened as hard as he could for the distinct metallic footsteps that would signify, Robocop's return. Surely he'd be along any minute…

The sun was going down and so far Robocop was a no show. Blair was in the bathroom for what felt like the thousandth time that day due to all the fluids they kept pumping into him with the IV. It felt like gallons of the stuff was pumped into him and he wondered momentarily if he had more IV fluid than blood flowing through his veins. As he was pondering how much IV fluid the human body could take at one time, he heard faint metallic footsteps approaching his room. "I knew it!" he said sardonically, pulling up his disposable hospital underwear and then pulling up his hospital pants and tying the drawstring, "I knew he'd come while I was going to the bathroom! It's like karma or something, it never fails…"

He grabbed his electronic IV stand and wheeled it through the bathroom door and back into his room. He bent over to plug his IV back into the wall socket so that it wouldn't continue to run on battery power, and when he looked up, Robocop was again standing in his doorway. "Um… Hey man," Blair said as he climbed back into his bed, "Long time no see." He waved his arm vaguely at Robocop as he used his remote to turn off the TV, and Robocop responded by coming into the room, shutting the door behind him, and standing right next to Blair's bed as he had done before. "So how did your investigation in the archives go?" Blair said, turning his full attention on the cyborg, "Did you find out your real name?

Without shifting at all, Robocop seemed to slump slightly, "Negative. All files pertaining to "Robocop" are classified."

"Damn!" Blair cursed. "I'm so sorry man, I'd really hoped you would be able to find out who you were before all this…" he waved his arm at Robocop's body to emphasize his point. Blair pondered everything he knew about Robocop, (which was very little, admittedly) then began to speak his thoughts aloud, "Maybe we're going at this from the wrong angle. Maybe instead of researching Robocop, we should be researching who you were before. Like, I mean, treat your old self as a John Doe that needs to be identified… What do you think?"

"I think you may be correct, Citizen Sandburg," Robocop replied.

"Call me Blair," Blair returned sternly.

"Blair," the cyborg parroted.

"Remember that from now on!" Blair said, folding his arms across his chest, "We're friends now, and friends use first names to address each other.

Robocop's head tilted inquisitively, "Friends?"

"Of course we're friends," Blair said a little frantically, though he was trying to hide it, "Why else would you visit me in the hospital?" he swallowed, a little obfuscation never hurt anybody, "And we have such nice conversations and stuff, right?"

"Friends," Robocop said slowly, "We are friends…"

Blair nodded, his hair flying around in a halo of curls. "And since we're friends now," he continued, "I'm going to help you figure out your identity."

Robocop's head snapped back upright, "Negative," he said firmly.

Blair shook his head sadly, "I hope you change your mind on that, big guy. You see, since we're friends and all, I have an obligation to help you. And that means that as your friend, as soon as I get out of this hellhole, I'm going to go out there into this dangerous city and research your identity… With or without you." He bowed his head and hid his growing smirk behind his hair, while continuing to speak wistfully, "I'd really hate to get maimed or killed while out there researching your identity all alone, but as your friend-"

"You will accompany me on this investigation, Blair," Robocop said firmly and with a touch of uncharacteristic heat.

Blair slapped his hand over his mouth as his smirk grew into a wicked grin. Everything was going according to plan. But what Robocop said next took the grin right off his face.

"I know that you are smiling, Blair."