This was an incredibly weird dream I had and turned it into a fanfic. So enjoy.
My name is Roger Smith. In this city known as Paradigm, I perform two very important jobs. One is the job I prefer, negotiator. Unfortunately, I work as one for the police.
My other job is a detective, in that same police force. It's not a job I enjoy. In fact, I'd love nothing more than to leave the police and not worry about having to solve cases, or being yelled at by my superiors, but unfortunately I have a unique skill and abilities that make that impossible.
That unique skill isn't my way with words, or my ability to quickly solve smaller cases. No, my ability is something else entirely.
I pilot a machine known as a KiloDeus. Around 40 years ago, five strange artifacts were found at various points in the world. Those artifacts were the ruins of some advanced civilization. The finding of these ruins rocked the scientific world, not that I was around for it. I was born into a world where the technology we gained from these artifacts was part of everyday life.
The ruins are in every high schoolers history and science textbooks these days. The first set of ruins was found by accident, during a dig to look for precious resources that were running out, like oil. We rarely use it these days, so the old refineries from the past are just barely kept running. But more to the point, the first ruins were found in the desert, under some old archeological human ruins that had long been left to rot. The theory was there might be some minerals or something left underneath, so they worked on preserving and moving important artifacts for later study. Some poor researcher fell down a hole and found newer looking ruins beneath. Which didn't seem to make sense at the time, but as the researchers and archeologists went through the ruins, they discovered something that terrified them, and changed society.
After about 10 years of research, it was determined these, and a few other ruins dug up in those 10 years, had not been made by humans. This rocked humanity to its core, because we learned we were not alone in the universe. Or at least we hadn't been some twenty thousand years ago, if the dating methods used to identify the ruins age is anything to go by. Who knows if the aliens that made those ruins still existed out there?
Instead of setting out to explore space post haste, scientists and governments all over the world studied the technology, with the intent to enhance our understanding of other extraterrestrials, as well as boost our own tech to reach their levels. In doing so, human lives have vastly improved compared to before the ruins were discovered. We found more advanced ways to communicate, harness powers, and even make better armor. We can grow more food, with better nutrition, with less space or time. We can easily diagnose illnesses, cure diseases once thought a death sentence, and even heal broken bones in days instead of months. All to eventually go to space. If we ever get past the speed of light travel issues we currently have that is.
The machine I pilot, known as a KiloDeus, was one of those technologies left by the aliens. But how did we know it was alien? Because of some non-human corpses left behind. Huge bones, and even some sinew and marrow, had been left behind, that utterly dwarfed humans. Pictures in those textbooks we read show a ribcage larger than most large houses, with pinkish material stuck to those bones. It was from those bones and sinew that the KiloDeus was carved.
The story goes that when some terrified researchers got close to it, some strange purple tendrils reached out from the walls, and from the bones carved the first KiloDeus. Black in body, with white bone like rib structure around where the guts would be for a person, instead of in the rib cage. The head was human faced but the mouth had two fangs jutting up from the lower jaw, with an orange crystalline crown that was shaped like a ridge, and two horns that jutted slightly back from the forehead. The arms had shields as black as the rest of the body, and at the elbows, white and silver bone like pistons grew out. The hands were covered in what looked like medieval plated armor. The hips were black and skirt like, the legs large and bulky, with block-like feet. Inside that ribs too low for a human body lies the cockpit, and a spherical area with two joysticks along circular arcs are on either side of the chair, the pedals below move it forward, and a weird helmet goes over my head, allowing me to see and feel what it does. The inside is completely dark once I enter, but it doesn't feel that way.
The scientists and researchers weren't very creative name wise. As it was more than 30 ft tall, and human-like, and the first one ever, they simply called it "The Big One". Over time, the name was shortened to what I call him today. The Big O.
That day the police intended to raid a drug den and arrest the makers of some new concoction that was making people lose their minds. Roger was in his uniform, sitting in the Kilodeus Big O's cockpit, waiting for the signal from his superiors. It was pitch black inside when he didn't wear his helmet, like right now. He was trying to rest before having to go against whatever weaponry these drug makers would possess.
Roger was a man of twenty five, with black hair he slicked back to keep out of his eyes. At six feet tall he was considered a handsome man by many, but he didn't boast, he let his talking skills get him points with the ladies. Typically he wore black bomber jacket, white t-shirt, and black slacks with nice black leather shoes. But in the cockpit he wore a dark military green jumpsuit with padding, with tan boots and plain clothing underneath.
His radio crackled, telling him it was time to wake up. "Smith, be ready, we'll breach in 5."
The superior who called him over the radio was Major Dan Dastun. He was probably the only cop Roger liked. He could maybe even call him a friend. But that didn't make taking orders any more palatable.
"Understood." Roger shot that message back before pulling the helmet down and securing it. Once he did, he was seeing through the Bigs eyes as if they were his own. Part of whatever alien tech it was made of allowed them to connect mentally, at least to some degree. It wasn't 1:1, but Roger could see enough through the Big's eyes to know what was around him, and feel some of what it did.
Within minutes, the call came for the unit to infiltrate the premises. As Roger pressed the leg pedals to move forward, a small mech burst from the front garage door, blowing past him.
"Well that figures." He sighed and followed in pursuit. The Kilodeus gained on the small wheeled mech, a popular style on mini construction units these days. About the same size as the Kilodeus, the construction mech was yellow, had a single red eye that swiveled around the oval-shaped head, a large barrel chested body with five arms that each held a different construction implement, and four legs. But two legs each went into a single threaded foot. Easy to use, and easy to run with. That's why it had gained so much popularity that even the drug dealers would want one. It was ideal because there were so many it was inconspicuous.
As quick as the threaded construction bot was, Big O was faster. The Kilodeus was upon the bot in mere moments, and using the joysticks that operated the hands, Big O's right arm thrust forward, the silvery piston at the elbow elongated, before bursting forth and releasing a pent up energy attack. Steam rose from under the shield was, some vent holes for cooling. The construction robot had a huge dent in what was the cockpit, and it fell over, unable to run further.
Behind and to the sides of the Kilodeus cops in thick armor surrounded the machine holding up laser rifles at it, telling the pilot to surrender. The armor was something that humans from before the discoveries called "sci-fi", but to modern humans it was reality.
The armor was colored based upon the unit, and it added about 6" of height to the wearer. The underplating in all the armor was black, but based on rank and placement, the metal outer plating could be white, yellow, red, blue, purple or green. For this unit Roger was in, the Major wore yellow to signify his rank, and the rest wore green.
Roger didn't really care. While the major and the lieutenants cleaned up the mess with the construction bot, he went back and supervised the other drug makers being arrested and carted off. He was going to get an ear full later about going off on his own and attacking the construction robot. But why wait for orders? The lieutenants weren't going to get it done any faster.
His bet was correct, as about 10 minutes later he was told to get out of the Kilodeus. Roger took off the helmet and hit the hatch's opening latch. Even in the dark he knew exactly where it was. The rib like metal structure that protected the cockpit opened, and the black metal plating behind slid inwards. Roger grabbed a handle that appeared from a piece of metal that extended out when the cockpit was open and rode down the lift cable. Once he landed he adjusted his black pilot suit, the only full black suit in any unit, and waited to get chewed out.
"Lieutenant Smith. That was reckless of you." The fully armored Major Dan Dastun spoke down to him, but soon pulled off his helmet. Underneath was a man of 41, born just before the relics had been found and life had changed. He was bald, but had thick black mutton chops, and a latticework on scars on his head from previous bouts with who knows what. His eyes were a deep brown that were almost black. "You should've waited for orders. What do you have to say for yourself?"
"I knew I would get the job done faster if The Big O and I went after the construction unit immediately instead of waiting." Roger stated in an offhand manner. "Since I got to it quickly enough the perps didn't escape and it prevented civilian casualties."
Dastun looked as if he might explode before calming down and sighing. "You're a piece of work Smith." Dastun laughed and just shrugged. "Honestly, some day that attitude is going to get you into trouble, but for now, the Big guys ride is here."
Sure enough, the transport truck for the Kilodeus had arrived. It got onto the truck with no urging more than Roger looking at it. Somehow, The Big O could read the occasional idea Roger had. Or it just ignored most of them, he didn't know. Roger went to the truck and climbed into the passenger seat.
Thankfully the ride back to precinct was short, and when he got there Roger only had to file a little paperwork with the scientists that looked after his big friend between bouts. They made him tell them exactly what he had done, so Roger told them exactly that. That he had run after a construction robot and used a Sudden Impact to take it out. Yeah, that's right. The only reason I can't leave this job is because I can't take him with me.
Big O was considered Paradigm City government property. Mainly because of some bureaucracy and paper trails, Roger couldn't leave the police and take the Big guy with him. Well, even if he could, he couldn't afford too because of the cost. Roger would've had to rent him from the government, and the cost was astronomical.
Soon his shift ended and Roger went to wait for his ride back to his bachelor pad. The black sedan pulled up, and out from the drivers side his manservant came. Norman Burg, the epitome of a proper English butler, clad in a semi vale uniform, opened the back passenger door for Roger, who more or less threw himself into the plush seating of the car.
"Where to sir?"
"Home. Today was boring and I need to rest."
"Very good sir." And with that, the black sedan whisked him home through the city streets.
Roger's bachelor pad was a 2 floor penthouse in a nice skyscraper in a quieter, but not swanky, part of Paradigm. It was far from the old business quarter, but not out in the suburbs. The first floor had a kitchen, dining area extension, living room, a small bathroom, and some gym equipment pointed at the TV. The 2nd floor had three bedrooms, two full bathrooms, and an office he used. Normally, a place with nice and large wouldn't even be available on a cops salary, but the Rosewater corporation had written into his contract that he would receive a large stipend for living expenses.
That's right, the Rosewater corporation. I dislike them immensely, but sadly they pay my rent in more ways than one. They're the biggest company in town, and they own just about everything in this city. It wasn't that way once, but because of them we even have most of our modern conveniences.
It's also because of them we have the Kilodeuses. They had backed the funding of that expedition that found the alien ruins 40 years ago, and as a result had first rights to make technology with it. The Kilodeus was part of the ruins, and also the technological gains, so they had rights to use it as they saw fit. When the head of the family started getting into politics he used owning the world's only alien weapon humans could pilot as an excuse to run for government. Since they owned and operated at least 50% of industry in the city, why not let them run for office and just run the whole thing? The citizens even reasoned having criminals out in the open would be better for life over all. Well, at least white collar criminals. It worked well enough, and the company "leased" out the machine for use. There was one issue though.
While the Kilodeus was a machine made by the aliens, and more than likely a weapon, it wouldn't let anyone pilot it for long. It kicked out most pilots after a few missions together, if it didn't just outright reject them. Which is why I am so unique. I'm the first partner it's had and not tossed out within a few days. When I was 20 and fresh out of military school, I signed up for the police robot piloting program. Each recruit has to try a day in the Kilodeus to see what he thinks about them. Everyone but me in that fresh set of recruits got punted out quick enough… Somehow it took an immediate liking to me, and for the last five years I've been its pilot. Longer than anyone else, and far longer than expected.
Roger sighed while taking a swig of beer. The news was about the successful raid on that drug den he'd help take out. Really he should be happy, as it meant less danger on the streets as the news put it, but he knew better. More would crop up before long. Of course the Rosewater Corporation was using it as a chance to praise the tech known as the Kilodeus, while conspicuously leaving Roger's name out of it. He was glad enough for that. He didn't need the praise or to be recognized as the pilot. It could make his life hectic.
Still, he felt unfulfilled by everything recently. He just wanted to take a day off, but as a detective and pilot, he was almost always on call. Today had been a scheduled day off and he got pulled in. He felt it would be best to turn his cell phone off and tell Norman to refuse all calls, but likely they would send someone to fetch him if he did that.
"Is something the matter sir?" Norman asked him. The butler was his one confidant in this mess of a world. Roger had been told once he became the Kilodeus pilot to hire someone he could trust, and have around to keep his pad clean too. Norman had been a maintenance worker on the mech units the police used that weren't the Kilodeus, and Roger had met him and worked under him for a short time at the police academy. Since he was due to retire from that, or rather was forced out for being over 50, Roger offered him a job.
He had been glad in the five years since that he had. It was rough for him to have so little down time, so knowing that he had someone at home to help Roger out put his mind at ease. Plus having someone Roger could vent to helped as well.
"Nah… Nothing more than the usual." Roger finished his beer and got up. "I'm going to take a walk. Field all calls until I come back. Or just don't answer them."
Roger left his phone on the table, but took his gun and keys. It's not like they couldn't track him another way. Pilots for Kilodeus units had to have a tracker on them for emergencies. But what trouble was Roger possibly going to get into on a walk.
"Be back in half an hour or so." Roger waved as he shut the door behind him.
The walk for the most part was uneventful. Roger set a brisk pace for the first half, enjoying the cool spring breeze. It was around ten o'clock at night, so not very many other people walked about that late. Maybe some people with dogs, or college students getting back late from classes and studying with friends. He knew he wouldn't be bothered.
He was a few blocks from home when an unusual sight caught his attention. A child, maybe only five or six in appearance, was walking alone. He didn't recognize the child, and his instincts kicked in. He followed the child for a few blocks before she slipped into an alley. Following her into the alley, he felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. Roger realized he wasn't the only one following the girl.
The alleyway ended in a concrete square. It was an old abandoned construction site the locals had cleaned up for kids to use. And the local children did play here, as it had space for a basketball hoop, or the kids could play soccer. It was ringed off with concrete blockades. Most of the apartments had a back door that opened into this area.
The young girl was nearing one back door not far from Roger, when out of the side of his right eye he caught a glimpse of something shiny.
"Look out!" He yelled and drew his gun. Whoever had been aiming at the girl turned their attention to him instead. The girl ducked down as bullets began to fly, covering her head in fear. Roger took cover behind a block, sneaking around towards the girl. He took the occasional shot over the block to throw off the attackers, and soon had made his way over to her.
"You're going to be ok." He tried to reassure the girl, who peeked up at him. "I'll get you out of this."
But as he tried to calm the girl, another two attackers joined the fray, all taking shots at Roger. Crap. I need to get this kid out of here.
Even as he was thinking that, his watch beeped. The watch was both a communication device in the event he didn't have his phone, and also his tracker. "Smith. What's your exact location? We've got gun shots not far from where you're pinging from."
Dastuns voice was clear. Holding the watch to his mouth Roger called back. "I'm being shot at, and there's a kid here."
"Stay where you are, we'll be there soon!" Dastun commanded him, but the attackers were edging closer.
"No chance at that." Roger backed up and grabbed the kid, "Hold on kid, I'll get you out of here."
Taking a chance when the gunmen reloaded, he took a few shots to make the attackers back up, grabbed the kid and ran for a side alley. The alley was short as it ended in a staircase. Roger jumped down with the kid under one arm, gun in the other hand.
"Daddy!" The little girl cried. "No, I need to go to daddy!"
"It's ok, I'll get you back to your dad, but we have to get rid of these creeps first." Roger said in a bit more of a panicked voice than he meant too. "You'll be ok too, but we need to get away from them first before we can go back."
"But dad's in trouble." The little girl cried.
Roger tried to reassure her again, he could hear the sirens this time. "We'll get you to safety, then go back and find your dad. Promise."
He gave the girl a charming smile and winked, trying to be friendly, but her face didn't brighten up. Actually, she wasn't shedding a tear, which was unusual for a child her age given the situation. Roger didn't dwell on that musing long, as soon as he emerged from the next alleyway the military police were there.
He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw Dastun's patrol vehicle was there. Roger ran straight to it as more gunfire erupted behind him. Somehow, he'd been extremely lucky in that he and the young girl hadn't been hit.
Roger ran behind the cruiser and ducked down, holding the girl tightly as she tried to squirm away. "Just wait a little longer and we'll get you back home."
"Daddy could be dead by then!" She cried as she pried herself free, but Roger grabbed her again.
"Getting hurt won't help your dad." Roger said as he tugged her back into a hold, and the girl calmed down. "Look, you want to help your dad? You need to stay safe in order to do that, so wait for a bit."
Even as Roger was trying to encourage the girl, bullets bounced off the cruiser, which made her yelp in fear. When the shooters realized the cops had arrived they took off, somehow all avoided being captured, likely because they used cloaking devices to make themselves harder to see. It was the police's luck that it started raining as the shooters ran off, making thermal imaging act up.
Finally, the scene was declared all clear, but the cops said the kid couldn't leave yet.
"What's up Dastun? The child is scared, so we should probably take her back." Roger was more than willing to let the child go, she'd been a hassle.
"Roger, that isn't a child. It's an unregistered android." As Dastun said those words, Roger turned around and noticed the child had a skin rip on her leg, likely from a bullet flying by. The wound would have caused any normal child to wail in pain, but this one was calm, and not bleeding. A little fragment of metal stuck out.
"What the…" As Roger was about to gently question the child, she took off towards the alleyway towards the apartment. However, as her leg was damaged Roger easily caught up to her. "Now now, if you run it will be more trouble for your family."
The girl quit struggling. She whined instead, "I just want to go home."
"Well, I would very much like to take you home. Which apartment do you and your dad live in."
"I can't take you back there, he'll get hurt."
"I don't want to hurt your dad. I just want to talk."
"Like I could believe that." The girl pouted. "Last time someone found my dad was keeping me, they tried to hurt him, we had to run here." The girl pointed to the building. "Why should we have to run? Daddy's not doing anything wrong, he just wants to protect me."
Roger sighed inwardly, knowing arguing with a child would get him nowhere. "Ok, let's just start this over. My name is Roger Smith, and I work for the police. Would you tell me your name?"
"Dorothy." That was all the little girl said. Actually, now that Roger had a good look at her, she was kind of cute, in the way a definitely crafty child might be. Her auburn hair was in a short pageboy haircut, pale skin and wearing a no frills purple dress, her violet eyes shown with some determination as well. It was little wonder he couldn't tell she was an android at first glance. She also barely weighed much.
"Ok Dorothy, well, those bad guys I was running from weren't aiming for me, they were aiming at you. And if they were aiming at you, there is a very good chance they know where you and your father live, since they were waiting in the park for you."
Dorothy's eyes went wide at his explanation. "Oh no!" She turned to run again but Roger stopped her.
"It would be better if someone went with you, as your father is most likely still in danger. And those people could come back to try and hurt him. You understand, right?" Dorothy nodded. "Ok, then I'll come with you. I don't have any interest in the fact you aren't registered, that is an easy fix, but your lives being in danger isn't."
Roger told Dastun his plan and got quick approval. The best bet to find what was happening was to track down the robotic girl's father and get answers.
Roger let the girl lead him to the apartment where she and her father resided. When they got to the apartment's door, it was slightly ajar, and Roger signaled for Dorothy to wait outside. Roger pulled out his sidearm, even though he detested the use of weapons, and nudged the door open.
Inside was a grizzly scene. There was blood all over the flood, different sets of footprints, and a body laying in the middle of the apartment's small living room.
"Daddy!" Dorothy had followed Roger in and saw the same scene. She ran up to the body, but instantly backed off. "That's not my father."
"It's not?" Roger looked around the apartment, but no one else was there. "Do you know who it is?"
"I don't. Maybe he was trying to hurt dad and dad fought back?" Dorothy turned and tried to book it, but Roger picked her up and called in the fact a dead body had been found.
Many hours later Roger was back at home, finally able to rest. He felt exhausted and just absolutely worn out. For once, he did tell Norman to field all calls and not bother him until he'd had at least 10 hours of rest. When he finally woke up, showered and dressed, he'd been relieved to find the worst waiting for him was that he was supposed to report to the station at the earliest convenience and fill out some paperwork and check on the kid.
When Roger got to the station Dastun gave him the rundown. "The kid just clammed up after coming here. Won't say a thing."
"Can androids experience shock?" Roger asked over a lukewarm cup of coffee.
"That's the thing… She might not be just an android. We found another unregistered unit in that apartment, being worked on. It looked like the kid, but older. She said it was her body, but why would an android need two bodies?"
"Unless it's not just an android… You don't think she's really…" Roger let the question hang. An unregistered android was an issue that could easily be solved. Just file the right paperwork and pay taxes on them, easy to fix, if not expensive. Most androids were not based on people's memories, but could look like them. Androids weren't really considered people. But for an android to have two bodies meant it wasn't an android, but likely a replicant. And an unregistered replicant was a whole other issue.
Replicants… Roger didn't much like the idea of them. Used as a way to skirt death, a human mind could be placed into a mechanical body if the flesh one was too badly damaged. It was usually only temporary, and the replicant would be recycled after the flesh body was healed, usually after a month or so. But if this kid he'd found had another body… it meant that the flesh one was likely dead.
If that was the case, it made quite a bit of sense why the child had clammed up, and why her father was on the run. Keeping someone alive in a replicant body past physical death was considered a crime, and one the police dealt with a lot. Roger especially hated those cases. Not because he had to track someone down, but usually because it meant someone was going to die.
And now this kid was going to die, after who knows how long she had spent in replicant bodies. Roger felt his stomach drop. "How long do we have?"
"The Home Office is planning to send someone soon." Dastun pointed in the direction of the room the kid was in. "Go talk to her, see what you can get."
Roger nodded and went into the interrogation room. He knew Dastun would be on the other side, watching and deciding how to proceed. This is where Roger's negotiation skills came in handy.
He sat down across from her. "Hey, Dorothy." He began gently, so as not to scare her. She looked up at him and seemed crestfallen. "Have you been treated well so far?"
She nodded, but didn't talk. "Well, that's good. Look, I have to ask you some questions, and they might be hard to answer, but if we don't know the truth we can't help you."
"You probably already figured it out though." Dorothy sounded really sad. Pouting, she looked like she was going to cry. "I just want to see my dad before it's over."
"Well, just to confirm, you are a replicant?"
"Yes." She looked down at her small hands in her lap. "My older body was being repaired, so my dad put my mind in a body I used when I was younger. I went out to explore a bit, but I saw someone following me and tried to get home and warn dad." She raised her hands from her lap and held them palm up and clenched her small hands into fists. "If you hadn't showed up, they probably would've shot me and my dad. But… Now I don't know where he is. Curse this tiny body."
"Hm…" Roger considered what the young woman in a girl's body told him. Quite frankly, he didn't feel right consigning this girl to her fate. Not like this anyways. He had to find the girl's father at least. "Well, let me see what I can do."
Roger left and went to talk with Dastun, who gave him the scare of his life. "You're not thinking of leaving here with her are you?"
Dastun jabbed a finger into Roger's chest, who put his hands up, "What do you want me to do?" Roger sighed, "I can't just let them decommission her, not without letting her have a chance to say goodbye."
"Then you better hurry."
"Huh?"
"The Home Office is sending someone to take her, and soon. So get the kid out of here." Dastun left the room, leaving a confused and determined Roger behind. "And I know nothing of what you did, got it?"
When Roger went back into the interrogation room the girl was looking like she was about to run for it. She was seen climbing on a chair in the room, reaching for the air vent. Of course she was too small.
"That won't be necessary."
"Huh?" Dorothy turned around with a shocked face and fell from the chair. The chair tipped over and she fell on her butt. "Ouch!"
"Pft." Roger tried not to laugh, now wasn't the time. He went over and picked her up. "You need to come with me now, we're going to go look for your father ok."
"Huh, you'll help me?" Dorothy looked surprised then suspicious.
"Of course." Roger gave her a charming smile. "Now come on."
Roger led her out of the interrogation room, "You need to stick close to me ok."
"Ok, where are we going?" Dorothy followed right behind Roger as he took her to a back room full of boxes.
Behind them a ruckus could be heard. "Where is the girl, we've come for her."
That was earlier than expected. Roger grimaced. "Don't worry. I'm going to get you out of here."
He went to a corner in the room and he pointed to some girding above the ceiling. Roger lifted Dorothy up to the rafters and climbed up himself. "Now be very quiet, we are going to use these to get out of here."
Roger led the way on the metal rafter pieces, and moved to a small vent. "This leads outside. You go first, and there should be a black sedan waiting there. A man by the name of Norman Burg is driving it. Tell him to hide you inside until I get there, and don't worry. He's my friend."
"Alright." Dorothy crawled into the vent and slid down the shaft to the outside.
"Now all I have to do is make a distraction." Roger moved along the rafters into the room he'd come from. The walls didn't go all the way to the ceiling, maybe to save money or whatever, Roger didn't know. For now, these drop walls were to his advantage and he could get away quickly. Carefully, and as silently as he could, Roger made it over to the other side of the station, away from where he'd had Dorothy leave the station. He dropped down inside the breakroom, grabbed some coffee, and made his way out.
And walked into a group from the Home Office. The man wore a white uniform, compared to the gray or green uniforms of the police. He spoke in a haughty tone. "Well well, if it isn't the police negotiator. Mind if we ask you some questions."
"I don't suppose I can say no can I?" Roger took a sip of his coffee and tried to act like they were being less of a nuisance than they were.
"Unfortunately not." A woman with a prim voice spoke. "You were the last person seen with the replicant. Where is she?"
"Hm? She's not in the interrogation room?"
"No."
"Well I left after asking if she wanted some snacks. She should still be in there."
"The recording stopped after you left the first time. And we know you helped her escape. Where is she?" The haughty man asked.
"I have no idea what you're talking about. I went to get coffee and a snack for the girl." Replicant bodies were fairly close to bioroids in function, in that they needed to eat and sleep a little. But bioroids had been outlawed as it was seen as unethical to force someone to completely leave their physical body and be entirely mechanical for the rest of their days.
Roger felt it odd that such options had been outlawed, but replicants weren't. Be that as it may, he didn't write the laws, only kept them in place. Not that he liked that job either. "If you can't find her, did you check the bathroom?"
"Don't be coy, Mr. Smith. If you don't know then fine, but once she is found you are to report to us, understood?" The prim woman told him off before leaving.
They dropped that far too easily. Roger thought to himself as he finished off his coffee and went to leave. The station was now on high alert, as a suspect and replicant had escaped. Everyone was being searched, and that included Roger. Though the searches weren't invasive, little more than walking through a scanner.
Roger went to Dastun after they'd both been searched. "This is going far too calmly."
"Yeah, like they aren't expecting to find her here anyways, but want to put on a show." Dastun muttered under his breath. "Something isn't right."
"Well, since I did my part, I'd like to leave now." Roger made everything seem casual. "I need to go check in with the scientists for some new check up or other."
"Yeah sure." Dastun waved him off and Roger left the station quickly. Once outside he saw the black sedan parked in the employee lot and made his way over, signaling Norman not to exit the vehicle. He got in the back seat and told Norman to head to the hangar.
"Right away sir." The stately butler said and pulled out of the lot. After they were a few blocks from the station Norman ventured to ask, "And what are we going to do with this young miss, Master Roger?"
Roger groaned before giving a distressing answer. "Well, technically, this is a kidnapping."
"You don't seem all that upset." Dorothy pulled a blanket off her head, and got into the seat from the spot she had been hiding in on the floor.
"They know I'm helping you escape. The question is why they want me to." Roger thought about it as the vehicle raced towards the hangar.
Once the black sedan pulled into the hangars parking lot, Roger went to the Kilodeus known as Big O, and had the girl follow him. Nobody questioned the girl with him. Either told to expect it from Dastun or The Home Office. It was fortunate Roger got there when he did however.
"Pilot Smith, suit up immediately!" A scientist came up to him and told him that something had come up.
"What's happened?"
"Robot attack!" The scientist relayed the order as Roger got ready, and told Dorothy to go back to the car.
"Stay with Norman, he'll keep you safe." Roger then ran to get suited up and decided not to hop in the Kilodeus.
He ran back to the car and had Norman floor it to the scene. There was a chance it had been blown out of proportion, so he would rather ride in the car than in total darkness. Roger gave Norman the address, a section of the uptown apartments and part of the banking district lay there.
When Norman pulled up to the scene, there was a robot in pink, roughly the size of the Kilodeus, and it was pounding the shuttered metal doors of a bank. "Well, I suppose it wasn't an exaggeration sir."
Roger felt peeved, "I suppose not."
He tightened the belts and such on his suit until The Big O arrived, and then gave direction to Dorothy. "Stay in the car. Norman, keep an eye on her."
Once that order was given, Roger rushed to the Kilodeus and used the zip pull to get himself into the cockpit. The metal and bone ribs folded back over the opening that had disappeared as soon as Roger was seated and belted in. He pulled the helmet over his eyes, and saw what The Big O did.
"Ok Big O, showtime." Roger pushed on the pedals, moving the Kilodeus forward.
The pink robot had broken into the doors of the bank, and the police's bullets bounced right off of it. From the two claw-like forearms burst forth iron tentacles, and they zipped towards the vault and the funds within. The face was feminine, and it had two pink and black iron horns sticking up directly from the top of its head. The body was made to be comically female in appearance, as the chest had two round lumps where a woman's breasts would be, and the top was pink, the bottom was black on each. The abdomen and the skirt looked a lot like Big O's, but in pink again. The legs were cylindrical, and the feet looked like high heels, rather impractical considering.
"I don't think its operator has noticed us." He mumbled. He maneuvered behind the machine and yanked the machine back, throwing it into the street. Roger pulled the joystick back for the right arm, and swung forward. But the pink robot used those heels to propel itself upwards and backwards.
"Ok, maybe not as impractical as all that." Roger chased after the robot, before it came right back at him. The pink robot shot out the iron tentacles at him and managed to seize hold of BIg O, flipping him over and using the tentacle from the other hand to form a sharp drill. "Yikes. That isn't going to be fun."
"Dad has to make this stop." Dorothy trembled in the back seat, before getting out of the car and running towards the battle.
Rogers fellow officers in his battalion were trying to evacuate citizens and Dastun in his power armor noticed the kid running towards the fight. "Hey, get back here!"
She stopped long enough to yell back "I can stop this!" And then kept going.
"Damn kid, she's going to get herself killed one way or another!" Dastun ran after her.
Not far from the battle Dorothy stopped and tried to use some abilities that had been added into her replicant form. "Hacking start."
The world around her disappeared, and instead everything was a gird. She changed from a small child of about five or six, to a woman of eighteen, and her clothing changed to match an older body. Between her and the Kilodeus sized robot was a plane of white and black. She moved a digital form, given to her in the realm of hacking, through the defenses the robot threw at her. But this robot was her fathers design, she knew it well. Dorothy had helped him work out some flaws it had that prevented it from working underwater for salvage. Once she had dodged those defenses, far too easy for her to avoid, Dorothy went right for the machine's cockpit, a weakness in this realm and the real world. Once there, it opened for her effortlessly, telescoping outwards. Inside, a small doll-like structure sat in the pilot's seat.
"Sorry about this! I know this isn't your fault!" She held out her left hand and gripped her forearm with her right. A glow appeared from the palm of her left hand. "Now, begone!" Light shot out of her hand and hit the construct. The construct disappeared, and in the real world Dorothy returned to her small child body.
The grip the robot had on Big O loosened, and he was lowered to the ground. "Well thanks for that." With all the strength Roger had he pulled both joysticks back, making Big O break the iron tentacles, and using the button on the top of the joysticks, the metal and bone pistons pushed back, and when Roger swung both arms forward and the fists made contact, a double Sudden Impact took the robot out. "Bye Bye pinkie!"
"Ah!" The mental feedback from the hacking hadn't completely been cut off yet, and Dorothy passed out.
"Oh no, Dorothy's right where it's about to fall!" Roger had started to move Big O forward, but he couldn't make it in time.
"Crap!" Dastun caught up in time to grab the child body of Dorothy, and using the boosters in the jack boots of his power suit, jumped meters away from where the pink robot fell to the ground.
"Phew!" Roger breathed a sigh of relief as he saw Dastun turn back and give him a thumbs up that everything was ok.
And that ends part one. This is a two parter. For those worried about my other story, fear not, it is being continued. I'm about halfway done translating the novel and will upload the first chapter with edits for the fanfic soonish. And most of s2 is planned out and getting typed up too. So I will update that before long.