Disclaimer: I don't own RWBY. All characters and concepts that aren't my own belong to their respective owners.
"Chrome come over here!"
The silver-haired android took his sister unit's statement as an order and complied, walking over at an unnaturally steady pace. Penny had taken him out to go sightseeing for a while, a privilege granted to her as long as she didn't stray a set distance from the base.
"Come on, Mr. Ironwood will only let us out for a few hours a day! We've got to make the best of it!"
She began dragging him through town, visiting each and every shop to pique her interests, which given her hyperactive personality meant every single one of them.
Atlas is Remnant's leader in technological advancement which showed in its stores. Each had the very latest in daily appliances, household gadgets, and other outlets which would amaze virtually anyone who gazed upon them for the first time.
Chrome is not one of those people.
The splendor of all of these things simply flew over his head as his sister tried to explain each and every one to him in an attempt to start a conversation. Here are a few examples.
First, at the appliance store:
"Wow that television is so big, Chrome! Do you think Father would let us have one some day?"
"A screen of that size would not be cost efficient unless you were displaying that image to a group of ten or more people. Thus the probability of the professor purchasing one is unlikely." he stated as robotically as ever.
Then at the gadget store:
"Don't you think it'd be nice if we could own one of these new Scrolls?
"They're issued to Hunters-in-training who attend any of the major academies such as Beacon. We are not to enroll in one of those institutions and thus it isn't likely that we'll ever receive one. In addition, I am equipped with a telecommunications device, rendering the ownership of one superfluous."
"Still they sound so neat! They're like a phone, a computer, and a key all rolled into one. At least, that's what I've heard."
"The laboratory has access to a number of such appliances."
Finally while passing by a number of restaurants,
"I wonder what it's like to eat food like a human? Do you think they get pleasure out of it?"
"Humans consume food to sustain themselves. As artificial beings the process of consuming other organisms is unnecessary for us."
As accepting as she was of her new brother, his overly logical statements eventually grated on her thought circuits.
"Stop being so logical about everything! How are you supposed to have fun if you do that!" she complained while motioning frantically.
His recent patch led him to cock his head to the side and use his new capacity to ask questions, "What is fun?"
It dawned upon Penny that Chrome, having been taught nothing but how to fight up to that point, had no concept of the idea of having fun.
She put her finger to her chin as she saw many humans do several times, "Oh... um... It's when you feel happy after doing something... I think... Maybe Father should explain this to you."
"Understood. I will request an explanation from the professor as soon as possible."
She was happy enough with that response, "Okay then! Let's go to the clothing store next!"
The majority of clothing in Atlas was hardly flashy or striking to the eye. It mostly consisted of practical clothing such as windbreakers, dress shirts, and denim jeans rather than dresses or tank tops. Still, there were sets of luxury clothing available,
Still, Penny was determined to make use of her remaining forty-five minutes, thirty-two seconds and fifteen milliseconds worth of time outside. Taking Chrome inside the small outlet she began looking through clothes for him.
He merely watched as she sifted through rack after rack of clothing before finally coming upon something she liked.
She held out a black zipper fleece with a hood decorated with neon patterns not dissimilar to those on the coat he already wore, "Try this on, Chrome!"
Taking the statement as an order from a direct superior, he complied as he usually would. Thankfully, he had enough sense to remove his coat before putting on the fleece, much to his sister's relief.
"It looks good on you!"
Chrome cocked his head slightly, "Is it not similar in function to what I am currently wearing?"
"I read in a magazine that you're supposed to have different outfits. They say you look weird if you only wear one outfit every single day."
"Is that not the norm? The professor's records state that you wear the same blouse and set of overalls during 95% of your operational time."
"Um..." Penny's thought processes momentarily froze at her brother's completely on target observation, "Let's just get this for you!" She began reaching into her pockets before realizing that she had used up her weekly allowance on an earlier trip.
"I can't believe I used up all of my Lien! I really wanted to get you something too..." as she frowned and slumped over from disappointment.
Chrome's systems began immediately analyzing her for the cause of her distress but found no malfunctioning parts in her system, confusing the robot as nothing seemed out of the ordinary but his sister's behavior proved otherwise.
Remembering that Penny had reached into her pockets earlier Chrome decided to do the same, discovering a set of Lien cards along with a note.
Chrome,
Your sister, like many other girls her mental age, loves to shop and will probably want to buy you something. So I decided to give you a few dozen Lien just in case she ran out earlier this week. Hand this to her and she should revert to her usual personality.
As his programming would dictate, he took the professor's statement as an order, calmly handing the set of Lien cards to Penny. As the Professor had expected, she perked up almost immediately and immediately ran to buy the hoodie for her brother.
She quickly returned holding a paper bag while looking ready to dance with glee.
"Oh, this is the best day ever! Thank you for coming with me, Chrome!" She embraced him happily in celebration, a gesture that continued to baffle the younger android to no end.
Chrome's expression reflected this, remaining utterly perplexed in the face of his sister's antics, but at the very least he no longer had no a reason to report about Penny's functionality. As she began dragging him out the door to the next store someone in a black suit and fedora bumped into the both of them, the latter collapsing to the ground after colliding with the synthetic girl.
"Mister, are you alright?" asked Penny as she tried to help the man off the floor.
"Get off me!" the man growled as he took off again, holding what appeared to be a brown duffel bag in his hands.
The robot girl frowned slightly, "What was bothering him?"
"Stop, my Dust!" cried the voice of an old man, leading the two artificial beings to turn at the sound of distress.
"What is wrong?"
"That man, he stole all of the Dust crystals from my shop!"
At the mention of theft Chrome's processor immediately entered a frenzy of activity, cross-referencing the thief's features and clothing to known records he stored in his database. It took seconds for him to get a hit. The man wasn't anyone high ranking, just a thug under the employ of a criminal informant named Hei Xiong, who was based in Vale.
"Violation of Atlesian law recognized, invoking Directive One, engaging combat mode." his eyes flashed red as he prepared to run after the thief, "Objective: Subdue target and secure stolen goods.
He deferred to his closest direct superior, Penny, "Requesting permission to begin the mission."
Penny thought pensively for a moment, "I don't know if this is a good idea, Chrome. Mr. Ironwood told us not to get into any trouble."
"Requesting permission to begin the mission."
"I know it's a directive of yours but still..."
"Requesting permission to begin the mission."
She waved her hand in front of his face in an attempt to incite a reaction, "Are you listening to me?"
"Requesting permission to begin the mission."
Finally, she relented as she realized how stubborn her brother was, "Permission granted, but I'm coming with you. A big sister has to take care of her little brother, right?"
"A big sister has to take care of her little brother, right?" The image of a smiling girl in her late teens with long pink hair flashed in his mind without warning at the phrase, causing Chrome's eyes to widen. The image vanished as quickly as it appeared, leaving Chrome clueless as to what had just transpired.
"Chrome, what's wrong?" Penny was looking straight into his eyes, full of concern at her brother's strange behavior.
"The mission is my highest priority." he thought as he shook it off, "A minor malfunction." he stated as he dismissed the effect as a glitch introduced with his new programming. Then once again without warning, he felt a strange sensation he never experienced before.
It was an uncomfortable tingling that was centered in his nose, eventually forcing him to recoil before letting out a sound that he never heard before. The sound that exited his voice box almost sounded like a recording. It was neither deafeningly loud nor unnoticeably quiet. It was neither high nor low in pitch. It was distinctive, yet oddly enough no one really noticed. Yet, it was noticeable to the android, and the experience made Chrome freeze and momentarily forget about the mission.
"What... was... that?" he asked as remained incredulous of all of the alien behaviors he had been performing this utterly baffling (to him) day.
"Uh... I think it's called a sneeze." replied Penny, "That's really weird. I don't think we can get sick or have allergies... We'll have to talk to Father about this later. Come on, I already gave you permission, let's catch that criminal!" she declared while gesturing like a hero out of a comic book.
Chrome was once again forced to leave his innumerable questions about his new behaviors in the back of his mind, "Understood. Mission start!"
The two of them ran up the street after the thief, leaving the poor shop owner in the dark as to what just happened.
The time Chrome spent shocked by the strange things happening to him gave the criminal a sizable head start.
In fact, the Dust thief didn't even know he was being followed when he entered the rather empty bar that acted as his group's makeshift hideout. Most of his comrades (all identically dressed and styled down to their facial hair) were basically lazing around as they had finished their own assignments and awaiting further orders.
"I'm back."
"That was fast. There weren't any guards?"
"They're all too busy investigating what happened last night."
"I wouldn't blame them. They said Ironwood's got a new weapon."
"What is it? Some kind of cannon or android?"
"I dunno, but it wiped out an army of several thousand Grimm last night."
"You're not serious."
"Hell if I know. The military here ain't Vale. Everything here is under wraps, and I don't wanna be the poor sucker dumb enough to try and unwrap em'"
"Can't blame ya there. Pass me a drink. After all that noise last night, I need one."
The fellow grunt complied as they began chatting away, completely unaware of the danger that was swiftly approaching them.
Given the massive lead the thief had, it wasn't long until Penny and Chrome lost sight of him.
"Where did he go?" Penny scanned her surroundings with little to no sign of the thug anywhere, "Let's see... maybe we should look over here... No, that's a residential area. Maybe over there..."
With Penny trying to decide which direction to go in Chrome began analyzing all of the data he had on Hei Xiong. There wasn't much, but the fact that struck Chrome most was the fact that the information broker ran a nightclub with his henchman as employees.
"Penny, where is the closest bar or nightclub?"
"Oh! I think I remember seeing one over here!" The pair dashed over to a nearby bar appropriately labeled, "The Hideout".
"Engaging optical scanners." An innumerable number of binary digits could be seen over the surface of his eyes as he quickly analyzed the building's interior, "Energy signature recognized. Large quantities of Dust detected in the back room."
"Alright then! Let's go those bad guys!" the robot girl declared, preparing to activate the remote blades in her backpack before stopped by her brother.
"I have been ordered by the Professor to prevent any harm from coming to you. As a result, I cannot let you enter combat unless I am given an order that states otherwise."
Her face fell at the thought of not only leaving her new brother to fight alone, "But I was designed for this..."
"Affirmative, but it was a direct order from the Professor."
Penny knew she didn't outrank her father in the eyes of her brother, so she begrudgingly took a step back, "Fine... I'll contact Mr. Ironwood to see if we can get some backup. You better not be hurt when I get back, you hear me?!"
Chrome's eyes flashed once more, "Understood. Orders received... Interpreting... Additional precautionary measures will be taken to avoid damage."
"As long as you get it... I'll be back soon, okay?" She turned and ran back to find the nearest communications center, leaving Chrome by himself once more.
The Atlesian military was not known for its subtlety, and the combat android was no exception.
Chrome drew the massive sword from his back, slicing the door to pieces before stepping inside and calmly announcing:
"You are under arrest for burglary and assault. Return the stolen Dust and surrender immediately."
The occupants of the bar responded in standard gangster fashion by pulling out every firearm they had and aiming it at the intruder.
"Surrender immediately and no harm will come to you." he repeated even in the face of dozens of submachine guns, pistols, and semi-automatic rifles.
In the face of this statement, Hei Xiong's men did what any low-level criminals against a reckless youth who barged into their hideout without a plan or a strategy.
They opened fire.
Chrome merely held Durandal in front of him, the massive sword deflecting every round without a scratch on its exterior. The same efforts that went into designing a blade that would cleave through the toughest armor also made it a nigh-impenetrable shield against conventional weaponry.
"Analyzing targets..." the silver-haired android muttered as his ocular receptors darted around the room to determine the best course of action, "Average Aura level of the targets below the standard required to authorize the use of lethal weaponry. Orders to eliminate targets not supplied... resorting to alternative measures."
As soon as the group's magazines were exhausted, Chrome split Durandal into its double longsword configuration, rushing at the startled mobsters at high speed.
"Limiting output to avoid unnecessary injuries and possible death." He swung the flat of a single blade against the chest of one, the force of the blow knocking the poor sap off his feet and into his cohorts, bowling them over much like the pins at an alley.
After briefly pausing to confirm the now unconscious group's life signs the artificial being turned to the rest of the group, now quaking in their boots at the impressive display of force.
"H-He's just like that blond girl the Boss mentioned in Vale!" one stuttered at his tried to reload his weapon before the strange boy in front of him could make another move.
Chrome blitzed the remaining men with unrelenting accuracy and precision, ensuring that not a single one would be left conscious by the time he was finished.
However, the stuttering man from earlier did manage to reload in time, drawing a bead on the storm of steel before squeezing the trigger once again, hoping that he would be able to down the boy for good.
To the last standing mobster's horror, the bullets merely bounced off the back of the boy's head. Worse still, the common crook saw that the head of each and every bullet had been flattened against the boy's skin.
The prickling feeling of the metal projectile's against the back of his head caused Chrome to turn around in response, his glowing red eyes staring directly at the terrified criminal.
"W-What are you?" the hat wearing hoodlum stammered as the android approached wearing the same, unflinchingly stoic expression as he did the entire fight.
Chrome did not respond, seeing no reason to state his name and origin to the criminal before striking the human with a single blow to the side of the head. The man's body went limp, his eye rolled backward, his expression of fear frozen on his visage even when knocked unconscious.
"Effectiveness of maneuver confirmed, recording for later use. Remaining targets... one."
The next thing to catch the robot's attention was the sound of footsteps coming from the back room.
"I was wondering what was causing all the commotion... to think that it'd be a kid." muttered a low, raspy voice.
Turning to face the source of the voice, Chrome found a tall man of exactly six foot four. His brown hair was dyed with streaks of red that was slicked backward in a windswept way. He wore a black, long sleeved trench coat with abstract, intertwining designs of red and white on the left shoulder and flame patterns at the edges along with a red shirt underneath.
The mysterious man also wore matching black pants and shoes, the latter made with soles a dull burgundy in color. The former was accented with yet another article of black clothing, a belt with white domino marks visible near the buckle. His hands were also covered by similarly black gloves with a stylized version of the letter "Omega" on the back. In his left hand he held a custom made short ranged rifle with no particular distinguishing features other than the fact that it also served as a sheath for a straight edged longsword.
Perhaps most striking of all was the man's mask. It was a whitish-tan ornament that covered the upper half of his face, with two slits on each side and decorated with oriental flame patterns. It's overall design however, matched those worn by members of the White Fang, a militant terrorist group led by a group of Faunus unhappy with their treatment in society.
These did not matter to Chrome, whose current objective was to discern the identity of this newcomer before taking appropriate action, "Facial recognition program initiated..."
It took seconds to get a match with 99.9% accuracy.
It took only one more for his sensors to start flaring, "The target's name is Adam Taurus, high-ranking member of the White Fang. Caution! An extremely dangerous combatant with a high level Aura on par with veteran Hunters. Threat Level: Alpha: Do not engage unless no other option is available."
Chrome stood his ground despite the danger before him, having promised to Penny that he would be there when she got back.
"He's not even Blake's age..." he muttered to himself before continuing, "You must be awfully confident to try and take me on alone... Are you a Hunter in training?"
The silver-haired android did not respond as his fifth protocol prevented him from revealing his origins to anyone outside of the Atlesian military.
"A quiet one, huh? Okay then... You've made a mess of this place alright..."
The White Fang member placed his right hand on the hilt of his weapon, "Let's see what you've got."
Adam Taurus closed the distance instantly, his crimson blade drawn and already moving towards Chrome's neck.
Q & A With Chrome
Hello.
My current designation is Chrome.
I have been ordered to answer any questions pertaining to this story to the best of my ability. As such, submit any questions, thoughts, or ideas to the author through the private messaging system or in a review box below. I will be authorized to respond to them here. In addition, I have received directives to explain a single part of the author's narrative that had not been fully explored so that it may be comprehended properly in each installment.
The author would like to refer to himself as a "nice guy", so he requests that you do so to improve the quality of this work for your own enjoyment. In addition, he states that he will always take your advice to heart without exception.
In this chapter I have been ordered to address the topic of my power source being limited to roughly 5% of its maximum capacity by the Professor.
I may have been repaired to near full capacity but my power source is currently unstable after the massive strain put on it by the decision to use the Galatine on the oncoming horde of Grimm.
As a precaution it has been limited to its minimum output for normal function to prevent a potential meltdown and thus cease my function until a new Core can be acquired. Doing so would be incredibly expensive and time consuming as it involves experimentation on large clusters of Dust and condensing its power into a smaller and more concentrated form through a method I am not allowed to disclose.
The result is a highly productive but potentially self-destructive power source, providing the energy required for all of my functions. As a result, I would likely be at the risk of being rendered non-functional for several months should I be allowed to run on higher levels of power, a situation counterproductive to my directives and current orders.
While my basic functions and actions are not impacted by this the amount of power available for my Semblance is limited and thus my capability to utilize it is limited as well, reducing my fighting capacity against large numbers of targets. Thus it is a question of limited functionality vs non-functionality. My creator decided to choose the latter of the two options, resulting in the current situation.
That is all.
Hello, everyone! I'm sorry about the fact that it takes so long for me to update. Writing other stories (along with dealing with life in general) takes time, so I hope it turned out okay.
There is one particular review that struck me as particularly helpful was the somewhat caustic but extensive block of text that "ThatInternetGuy" posted. It made me think about this quite a bit, and I admit, my approach is quite flawed in hindsight. For that, I thank you a thousand times and the majority of the following is pretty much dedicated to you.
However, the reason why I implemented it in this way was for two reasons. First, I don't believe in the idea that an AI can suddenly learn emotions and act on them from brief contact with humans. I have little programming experience, but I do know that AIs that are not specifically programmed to emulate human responses do not and will not until they're programmed to do so. Even though this is a fictional story I'm doing this from a logical viewpoint.
Chrome has a soul, but is not exactly keen on using that for anything but combat and following orders. Thus he's unlikely to become that character that I want him to be if he is left to his own devices, meaning a character that is not a mindless drone to follow its directives alone without thinking at all for himself as his emotions have been suppressed in favor of combat efficiency, or in other words nothing more than what he was built to be. I guess the patch sort of nudged him in the direction of individual thought, but not quite all the way there yet.
As for your concerns, no he won't be meeting RWBY any time soon (this takes place before the incident at the docks) and will remain the way he is for the time being. Still, it's within my master plan to put him on a team at some point... A chess motif perhaps?
Though, I would like to clarify some things about Chrome's personality. He certainly won't be becoming emotional or hyperactive like Penny any time soon. Even though his emotions have been awakened, he still chooses to remain stoic and quiet as that is what he was originally programmed to be and he thus chooses to abide by it as that behavior is what he's most comfortable with. Thus he will still be the "silent robot assassin badass" type that you guys have requested. In fact, I designed him to be a foil to pretty much everything about Penny (close range versus long range, stoic versus emotional, analytical versus idealistic, e.t.c.).
That isn't to say that he won't be experiencing character development. He can now experience amusement, love, anger, compassion, and almost every other sort of expression that humans can. It's just that he has absolutely no idea what each form of expression means or how to express them in the first place. As a result, he will barely show what he's feeling at the moment, but he's not completely apathetic (he does know how to express confusion and shock, since I think they're two of the most primal and ingrained emotions a human has).
If I were to pick an anime character with the most similar personality to Chrome it would be Ikaros from Heaven's Lost Property, who was part of the basis for my outlook on his character. They are both classified as having extremely high combat and analytical potential, but fall short in the emotional category. Regardless, they aren't unfeeling, just unsure of how to express their ideas.
The biggest part of Chrome's development will be learning to act more human-like as per request of Penny and the good Professor, which I'd imagine several moments of hilarity along the way as he struggles to understand human customs, thought patterns, and lifestyles from a completely logical viewpoint because unlike Penny, fighting is really all he's ever known. Regardless, this process will be very (notice the emphasis on very) slow.
Naturally, this would lead to flaws in his behavior. Like you mentioned, robot assassins are terrifying because they tear through everything without a care for what gets in between them. As a result however, they have trouble thinking outside of their directives and thus may charge into into damn near suicidal odds to take out their target, only to fail as a result. As seen in the prologue chapter, Chrome gives little conscious thought to his own well-being if it means following orders, something that nearly got him killed.
They also have problems working in teams as they are all going after the same target, and thus an entirely directive driven robot will not care if one of their allies is incapacitated or if the resulting losses from their actions which can result in a Pyrrhic (not Pyrrha, Pyrrhic) victory. They also will not question whether or not their talents could have been used elsewhere or more efficiently, further limiting their combat effectiveness. These are all traits that would impair someone in the teamwork-driven world of RWBY.
While Chrome is not designed to be an assassin (his first and primary directive is to defend all law-abiding citizens of the Kingdoms from criminals and Grimm, lending priority to VIPs of course), many of these behavioral aspects would apply to him. If given orders to do something by an officer of sufficient rank he will do so unless it explicitly violates one of his major protocols.
Thus I provided some degree of free will at the moment so that he is not a total (though he still is to a large degree) doormat. It's not as if he's going to suddenly develop his own personality and throw everything he's known up to this point out the window. It's just enough so that he can think for himself (so his overly logical mind can question the not so logical world and mindset of much of RWBY's cast as well as his own changing behavior).
I understand if you don't like this concept (I admit, my execution probably stinks) but I kind of implied it from the start with the blurb, so I'm really sorry if I displeased you anyway because that wasn't my intent at all.
As for the second reason... that I will not discuss right now.
As for the request for Chrome to fight Pyrrha that would probably be one-sided in Pyrrha's favor, considering the latter's Semblance and the former being made of metal... Though I wouldn't mind having Chrome put CRDL in their place again (come on, who didn't enjoy watching Pyrrha kick the crap out of them).
Phew... How's that for an author's response?
Sorry for making you read all that (this response is half the freaking chapter), but I hope I answered a few questions and concerns. As always, please tell me what you think in a review. Try to make it more than one sentence please and keep it constructive! Any sort of input you can give me will probably help me in my writing process, meaning a more interesting story and a shorter waiting period for you readers. So please, put some thought into it!
Thanks for reading and see you next time!
P.S. Monty Oum passed away on February 1st as a result of complications involving a medical procedure he underwent. Please pray for him and hope he rests in peace.