Gotokuji fumbled with his cell phone as he stood in the living room of his small house, looking down at the robot girl lying on his floor. Her eyes were shut as if she was sleeping, but...did robots sleep? He wasn't sure, and he did know it seemed sort of odd that he had brought her a pillow and a blanket, but...somehow he couldn't help but feel that it was the right thing to do, that she needed to be protected. It was the same thing he felt toward children, most girls, and many women, and he couldn't just make himself ignore it. There was another sharp pop followed by the crackling sound of sparks, muffled by the robot girl's outer plating, and he frowned.

He looked back down at his cell phone, flipped it open, went as far as selecting his young friend Inoue Ai's phone number, and paused, looking back down at the robot girl.

He almost hadn't been able to believe his eyes when he had spotted her dragging herself along the sidewalk; he had almost wrecked his bike, in fact. But when he had parked it and run up to her, the dark trail behind her which he had initially thought was blood turned out to be oil, and the girl had turned out to be a badly damaged robot. Getting her home had been a tough job on his bike, too, especially since upon seeing him, she had promptly screamed and apparently done the robotic equivalent of passing out. Luckily his home was only a hundred yards or so away, so he hadn't had to go far to borrow a wheelbarrow, though getting her into it had been quite a job by himself. He had known she would be heavy, but that heavy? No way. He just hoped none of the neighbors had looked outside just in time to catch him dragging what looked like an unconscious girl into his house.

He turned back to the cell phone and dialed.


Ai stalked angrily along one of the footpaths close to the woods, with Tanaka following close behind. "F-freaking idiot," she mumbled. "I-I'm not in l-l-love with a robot, I'm not...!"

Tanaka remained silent.

"W-where does she g-get off talking to me like th-that?" Ai demanded. "I-I'm not s-some kind of w-w-weirdo!"

Her cell phone began ringing, so she stopped and pulled it out. "It's from Gotokuji-nii-san," she said absently. She didn't really want to talk to anybody right now, but he had never, ever called her cell phone, so it might be important. She heaved a sigh and pressed a button. "Hello?"

"Ai-chan?"

Ai sighed and threw herself into the role of a normal girl. "Yes? What did you need?"

Gotokuji paused for a moment. "There's something here I think you should see."

"What do you mean?"

"You know that robot of yours? Well, I think I found another one. She's a girl, too, and something's wrong with her. Do you think you could come over here and give her a look?"

Ai sighed a well practiced much-put-upon sigh. "I suppose. I'll be right over."

Why did everyone seem to think she was some sort of robot expert? It didn't make any sense...! She snapped the cell phone shut and put it into her pocket. "Come on Tanaka, let's go to Gotokuji-nii's house."


The mad prototype unit FX8-a, designated 'Sarah', looked up at the sky and smiled as she used the local cell phone network to work out the location of the two callers she had just overheard through one of her drones. The call had originated from a location on the far side of the city, in a residential section. She started out onto the sidewalks, her eyes too bright, her grin too wide, a real sense of wrongness about her in spite of the outward beauty of her lifelike robotic body.


I don't understand, the robot wrote.

Hakase sighed and rubbed her forehead. She was no psychologist; she really needed to get someone else in here to help with this...! She wished, not for the first time, that Ai hadn't stormed out earlier. She had a feeling that that girl, even at her young age, understood the human psyche far more completely the most people ever would. She sighed and tried again.

"Well...you died, and then someone attached you to this robot body. I don't know why they would do it, but they did."

The robot was still for a long, long moment.

But why?

Chachamaru stepped into the room in one of her less advanced backup bodies before Hakase could reply, and looked warily at the remains of the robot that had attacked her. "I have become fully functional again, Hakase," she said.

"That's good," Hakase said absently as she tried to puzzle out what to do with the damaged robot and the soul attached to it. "She's badly damaged, but she's still functional enough to communicate," she said, gesturing idly at the notebook lying next to the robot on the examination table. "Think you're comfortable talking to her?" she asked.

Chachamaru frowned, but nodded. There was no way the robot could attack her again; not damaged as it was. "Should I request Rally to come as well?"

Hakase crossed her arms and paced a lap around the room before deciding. "Hmmm... Yes. But be sure to warn her to turn off her weapon systems. I don't want her getting angry and really destroying it."

"Understood."


Ai and Tanaka arrived at Gotokuji's house to find a trail of oil leading up to the front door, which was locked. Ai sighed and dug out her key and let herself in with Tanaka right behind. Inside, they followed the trail of oil to the kitchen, where they found Gotokuji kneeling over the damaged robot. He looked up when they entered and nodded at them.

"Hey, I'm glad you two are here. Can you take a look?" he asked.

Something in his voice, a note of worry, made Ai bite back on the retort that had been on the tip of her tongue only a moment before. She sighed, putting on the personality of an adventuring master surgeon, and knelt over the body. "Scissors," she said sharply, holding out her hand as she looked at the ripped and ruined clothing the robot wore. She heard Gotokuji rummaging through a drawer, and felt the presence of Tanaka inching closer. Gotokuji put the scissors in her hand, and she quickly cut away the robot's clothing. She paused at Gotokuji's sharp intake of breath. "Anime anatomy...her body is the correct shape, but certain vital parts are missing," she said as if speaking to a young and rather stupid student. Tanaka moved around her over to the other side of the robot and knelt down, his face still expressionless. "Forceps," she said, holding out her hand. Gotokuji gave her a pair of kitchen tongs a moment later. She looked at them, arched her eyebrow, and gave the man a look. She turned back to the damaged robot and began probing around the areas where its artificial skin had been damaged.

"Injuries to the knees, elbows, the fingers and palms of the hands, the face, the left side of the head, both shoulders, the entire left thigh..." She paused, looking at the 'patient's' eyes, which had just fluttered open. Her throat went dry as the robot's eyes drifted over and focused on her own. 'So human...!' There was a moment where neither one moved, then the robot girl let out a startled, somehow breathless-sounding scream and scrambled back into Tanaka, who took her by the shoulders to keep her from escaping. She looked up at him, her eyes went big as saucers, and she screamed again, higher and louder this time, and abruptly went limp.

"...that's not good," Gotokuji said after a moment's silence.

Ai realized she was gaping at the girl robot and shut her mouth. "Tanaka, help me move her to-" What she said next was lost in the sound of the front door being kicked in. Ai barely had time to turn around before a strange woman stalked into the room, grinning brightly, and froze, locking eyes with Tanaka.

"You're perfect...!" the stranger said.

"Threat level red, initiating combat," Tanaka said.

"Not in the house, not in the house!" Gotokuji wailed, but the strange woman shoved him aside and swung at Tanaka, who blocked with his forearm.

"Subject Inoueai, take the patient and escape," he stated.

"No! F9A belongs to me!" the stranger said, but Tanaka struck her in the midsection with a sweeping blow that sent her flying back into the living room.

He turned to look at Ai. "Go."

Gotokuji staggered back into the room, rubbing his head. "Ah! My kitchen!"

Ai grabbed him by the hand and yanked him over to the fallen robot girl, who the stranger had called F9A. "Help me!"

Gotokuji gave the fallen robot a calculating look, and turned to Tanaka. "Don't fight in the house!" He turned back to the robot girl and helped Ai get her sitting upright. "Oof, she's heavy," he said as the two of them dragged her outside through the back door while Tanaka held off the other robot.

"Do you have a car?" Ai asked when they reached the back porch, looking around. She didn't see anything in the overgrown backyard but a few ramshackle sheds and piles of motorcycle parts.

"No, but I've been working on something almost as good," he replied, then winced at a big bang from inside the house. He sighed and grabbed the robot girl's arms. "Come on, the big shed in the corner."

Ai helped him drag the naked robot girl along, accompanied by more sounds of destruction from inside the house. When they reached the shed, Gotokuji took out a keyring and unlocked the door just as Tanaka came flying backwards through the wall of the house.

"Tanaka!"

"My house!"

The strange robot woman leaped through the new exit, spotted F9A's unresponsive form, and started toward them until Tanaka grabbed her by the ankle and threw her into the side of another shed on the other side of the yard, which collapsed in a mass of cheap roofing material, splinters, and broken glass.

"No! My Beemer's in there!"

Tanaka returned to his feet and looked at Ai. "Go," he said, more urgent this time. Ai stood there a moment, biting her lip, and then the pile of rubble that had until recently been a shed lurched.

"D-don't die!" she ordered, then shoved Gotokuji aside and pulled the shed door open to reveal...

...an ancient, beat-up, rusty motorcycle with a sidecar attached.

She whirled on Gotokuji. "This is 'almost as good'?" she demanded, incredulous in order to hide the panic she was feeling as the situation spiraled rapidly out of control.

"Hey! This baby's a classic!" he replied as he quickly moved around her and scooped some spare parts out of the sidecar. "Come on, let's get her in here." Together, the two of them somehow managed to wrap the unresponsive robot girl in a blanket and wrestled her heavy body up and over the edge of the sidecar and settled in.

"Ugh, she's heavy," Gotokuji said as he grabbed a couple of motorcycle helmets from the rack on the wall. He tossed one to Ai and put his own on. "Come on, let's get out of here."

Ai paused; she could hear the sounds of the two robots fighting in the yard and her false persona crumbled. "...b-but what about Tanaka? I c-c-can't leave him like this!"

Gotokuji got on the bike and fiddled around with switches and buttons for a moment. "He can take care of himself; you saw him throw that other one across the yard like she didn't weigh a thing. Besides, he can fight better without having you to worry about. Now come on!"

Ai stood there indecisively, however, until a hard thump against the shed's outer wall sent a handful of tools clattering to the floor. She yelped and mounted the bike, jamming the helmet onto her head. Gotokuji kick-started the motorcycle, gunned the throttle, and they were off. Ai looked back just in time to see Tanaka come crashing through the wall of the shed, and the strange robot woman stepping inside through the hole. She glanced up and their eyes met, but before the robot woman could start after them, Tanaka grabbed her from behind and threw her back through the wall again; the shed lurched and began to lean drastically to the side. Ai turned away, trying to hide her tears as she clung to Gotokuji and buried her face in his back.


Prototype Unit FX8-a 'Sarah' was annoyed. When her drones had caught that cell phone call she thought she had recovered her maintenance tech, the submissive young robot F9A, but when she arrived at the location and entered the building...there was another.

A male robot. Bigger and stronger than any of her brothers or sisters, for a quarter second she had thought him to be slow moving and clumsy, as the mute brother she had destroyed in the warehouse had been. Then he had shifted to look at her and she saw his balance. At first, she had thought she might have found a partner; his internal design was extremely advanced, just as much as her own, in fact, if in a different direction. Obviously a superior model to any other she had observed thus far. But...

Immediately upon sighting her, he shifted into combat mode.

If she had been human, she might have sighed; she might have pleaded with him to not fight. As she was a robot, she shifted into combat mode immediately and swung her fist; he blocked her attack with ease and grabbed her arm to keep her from attacking again, then turned his head back toward the two humans who were dragging away her maintenance tech. "Subject Inoueai, take the patient and escape."

It had all gone downhill after that.

And now here she found herself flying through the air, accompanied by splinters and pieces of the shed wall she had just been thrown through. She hit the ground rolling and came up on her feet, leaping aside just in time to avoid the Tanaka unit's fist as he came after her, jumping through the air. She grabbed an empty birdbath and threw it at his head, but he didn't even bother to dodge, instead opting to swat the heavy stone dish out of the air with a backhanded blow. Sarah tried to circle away, but the Tanaka unit deftly moved to block any escape. This opponent was good. Nothing at all like the pitiful units that were her brothers and sisters back at the warehouse. "You are a very advanced unit."

No response.

Sarah observed the Tanaka unit as he watched her. His design was truly spectacular in a way that was almost frightening. He was, at the very least, near the level she was herself. Sarah was a spectacularly built prototype, designed to be the head of an entire network of drones, though she was still not complete. Her creator had died before she or her drones could be completed; she needed that maintenance tech...! She tried to circle away from Tanaka again, but he moved to block her. She shifted the other way, lamenting the unfinished status of her flight equipment, and he stepped in her way again, moving a little closer.

"Let me pass, I need that unit."

"No. The patient is under Inoueai's protection. You will not pass," Tanaka said.

Sarah was getting annoyed; this impasse had to come to an end, and soon. She sent a command to some of her drones, and they began to move.


Hakase looked at her cell phone and frowned. Ai wasn't picking up. "Where is that girl...?" she wondered aloud as she flipped it shut. Surely Ai-chan wasn't that angry at being teased? Hakase sighed again; it seemed as if nothing was going right today. Sure, she had received a new specimen, but it was badly damaged and had someone's soul attached to it; it would soon be taken out of her hands. Her assistants were all gone or busy with other projects; she really needed Ai here to help her with the diagnostics...

She flipped the cell phone open again and stood there, looking at it. Who could help, who could help... She began dialing a number.


Haruna picked up her cell phone, popped it open, and pressed a button. "Hello?" she said, barely paying attention as she finished touching up her most recent page of manga. "Oh, hey Hakase. What's up?" she asked, putting down her pen as one of her assistants looked up. "Ai? Okay, sure, I can do that. Just sit tight, I'll see what I can do."

Her two assistants looked at each other curiously. "Saotome-sensei? Is something wrong?"

Haruna flipped her cell phone shut and put it into her pocket, then grinned at her two assistants. "No, something just came up and I have to go. Keep up the good work!" she said as she darted out through the door before they could respond.

Haruna's first call was to Kazumi, who agreed to help spot Ai with her camera drones. Kazumi called back twenty minutes later with some rather disturbing news: Ai was spotted on the East end of the city, crying, riding on the back of a motorcycle with what could only be a robot girl wrapped up in a blanket in the sidecar. The driver's face was obscured by his helmet, but due to the behavior of the motorcycle, the trio appeared to be fleeing from something; what that something was, was revealed a moment later when an odd looking skinless robot jumped off of a rooftop and, but for the quick thinking and steel nerves of the driver, would have landed on top of the motorcycle, putting a quick end to their escape. As it was, the unknown robot hit the road hard and stopped moving.

'Okay, I can deal with this,' Haruna thought in anticipation as a slow grin stretched across her face almost from ear to ear. It had been far, far too long since the last time she had been allowed to have a little...'fun'. "Heheh~"


Tanaka stood facing Sarah in the shattered remains of Gotokuji's back yard, hardly looking as if he had even been in a fight. Sarah, on the other hand...

Though her expression was of an oddly inhuman pleasantness, her eyes a little too big, her smile a little too wide, her stance had gone from the aggressive display she had shown upon entering the house earlier to retrieve her maintenance tech to something far different; in a human, her stance would have indicated something akin to panic setting in.

Thus far she had received no serious damage, but neither had she dealt any. If anything, she had come off the worse for this conflict. It was time to leave.

She watched him carefully for a moment, slowly circling toward the house. If she had observed the architecture correctly...

Tanaka followed slowly, watching, as she stepped up onto the back porch and backed in through the door.

He followed her inside, and they made their slow way into the kitchen. Sarah waited until she found the right spot, then paused as Tanaka moved to stand in front of her, ten feet away.

"You could join me," Sarah said conversationally.

"No, I will not. I am with subject Inoueai," he replied.

Sarah's facial features twitched as mixed signals ran through her processors. "Then you will be assimilated," she said as signals that could be interpreted as 'anger' flooded her system, blocking out all else and threatening to overload her with their intensity.

"No, I will not," Tanaka said firmly, stepping forward to attack.

The 'anger' signals overwhelmed her system, there was an electronic *pop* and sizzle, and Sarah let out a roar, punched down through the floor of the kitchen, and ripped up the heavy wooden floor joist she and Tanaka were standing above, disturbing the floor supports of the entire house. The kitchen floor lurched under the weight of the two robots and she hissed at him one final time and leaped outside through the window above the sink; she hit the ground running fast as the floor cracked and finally collapsed under Tanaka, dropping him into the basement and burying him in debris.