Possibly the last thing before I start updating Springtrapped and starting another crack story
3 weeks before Atlas fell
"Aha! You are on!" Pietro Polendina said into the camera. The Camera moved around, seemingly 'looking' around the room "I recently finished you so everything might feel weird for you"
"What do you mean, Operator Polendina?" The voice seemingly came from the camera, shocking itself with the revelation. It brought up it's hands but that surprised it even more. It's hands we're pretty big. Like twice the size of a regular human hand. What was even more surprising was the big half orb that was attached to outer side of it's hands and their fingers were large claws seemingly made of gold
"Ah yes. Operator. The title they made me code into you" Pietro sighed for a moment before looking back at the camera with a smile "Well I should introduce myself and well introduce yourself to you!"
"I am Pietro Polendina but you can call me Pietro or Operator Polendina. It's nice to meet you. Your name is Helio or as your project is called. Project Sunburst" Pietro moved his chair closer to the camera, fully putting in perspective how big the camera was
"Helio. Should I change my designation in my directory from Project Sunburst to Helio?" The camera now named Helio raised it's hands to look at them. Both were exactly identical. It felt a strange feeling inside "What does my existence entail? I can't seem to be able to find any information on Project Sunburst"
"Ah well I can't really talk about that yet. Another person will inform you about it on a later date. I….. I have some things to do. I'll put you in standby now. It'll be like sleeping!" Pietro said with a slight chuckle but he kept staring. Helio didn't like the way it was being looked at
"Sleeping is a thing only biological creatures do but I get the point. Goodbye Operator Polendina" Helio's kept staring at Pietro till his camera began to slowly turn to look at the ground and he was shut off
Pietro's smile faltered as he looked at the slack body of Project Sunburst. He didn't want to lie to Helios even if his newest creation couldn't fully comprehend emotions. It felt like when he lied to Penny all over again
Lied that he'd make sure that his daughter could live in peace
1 week before Atlas fell
"Sa-lu-tions Helios" Helios was awoken by a feminine voice. Far from the voice of Operator Polendina and as far as Helios knew none of his Operators were female and from the looks of it. A teenage female
"Who are you? You aren't one of my operators and you shouldn't be able to start me up" Helio's voice was devoid of emotions, still, his surprise was apparent of the appearance of this person
"Ah I forgot to introduce myself! I am Penny Polendina! Daughter of who you know to be Pietro Polendina!" The girl now named Penny said, the same amount of cheer still in her voice
"Operator Polendina has offspring? How interesting" Helio's leaned a bit forward but quickly realised that he was restrained in a way. The cables leading out of his body constricting his movement to the point he could hardly move
Penny's face fell just a little bit at that. She honestly expected a different reply from him and she expected something very different in the matter of not seeing Pietro as his father "Do you not see father as… well your father?"
"No, I do not. Maybe if I spent more time with him and my sentience drive is finished I would. Now tell me a bit about yourself daughter of Polendina" Helio responded. His tone sounding distant. What he said only brought up more questions in Penny
"Sentience….. drive? Aren't you a automaton with a soul like me?" Penny was slight afraid of the answer. Since she was rebuild she had seen the good of Atlas but also the infinite evils that the kingdom hides to be prosperous. She hoped Helio wasn't one of them
"So you are a machine? Interesting but no. I am coded to have sentience unlike apparently you. Now I ask of you to put me back in standby mode till an operator turns me on" Helio said and turned his camera to the ceiling. He was done with the conversations
"B-But why? I thought you would have more questions"
"I do but I don't expect you to know the answers and I wouldn't ask questions I think only the operators know"
"I guess that is valid. I will now put you in standby now… I hope to see you soon….. brother" Before Helio could correct her she already initiated his standby mode and watched him go to 'sleep'
"Hopefully I'll meet you again Helio"
The day Atlas fell
To say Helio's startup was rushed was a understatement. Even if he couldn't just sense emotions the rushed breathing and the numerous times that he noticed the startup sequence was done incorrectly made his guess easier
"Project Sunburst, are you awake?" The person asked. As Helio moved his camera to look at the person he honestly didn't expect to see General James Ironwood in front of him
"Salutions General, I would move but I'm stuck in these wires" Helio made a honest attempt at moving and getting up but all hat happened was the wires getting slightly tighter around his body
"You still recognize me as- no matter. I'm sorry but I need to know all of your combat functions" The picture of James Ironwood Helio had in his database was different than the person he saw but everything was perfect to the machine
"Very well. I have what is called synthetic aura. A hard-light shield I can deploy that can act as aura. After significant damage it needs to be recharged. I have 3 thrusters in each leg allowing for flight. My third function is my namesake, sunburst. In my hand, knees, elbows and head are big glass orbs filled with a combination of fire, gravity and hard-light dust. It acts as a combination of a grenade launcher and laser, being able to pinpoint a location and causing a explosion. Due to my processor each orb can target a different target"
"Okay so the notes were correct. I need your help. Everyone has gone and betrayed me. My most loyal soldier has betrayed me and I don't know what to do. What do you propose I should do" James asked Helio. The man was truly desperate after breaking out of his cell he honestly had no real plan anymore
"To preface my answer do note that my sentience drive hasn't been finished and that during my creation I was given knowledge of the relics and the maidens" James honestly froze for a moment before going back to listening to Helio "I would try to get the Relic of Creation. Due to its powers you could either make something that can replicate me or create other projects. It would circumvent the Staffs rules. After that rebuild Atlas with something else the Staff creates. It would get back faith in Atlas if it truly falls"
"So even you picked up on the state of the nation. Well this could be my final question. What do you propose we do?" James staved of his paranoid thoughts. He hoped Helio had at least a temporary solution. If he died here Atlas would die with him
"Free me"
"What?" That was a strangely direct answer
"I am bound in this wires. As long as they are stuck around my wrists and neck I can't move a lot but if I am free I can help you in your endeavours general" Helio's responded and showed when he tried to reach out to Ironwood with his hand but was quickly stopped as the wires got pretty tight around his wrist
". . . . . Very well then" James reached for his cannon and disconnected the guns from it before starting to shoot all the wires. Helio gave him a out to save the hell that was the destruction of Atlas
"I won't let this war go on any longer. I'm sorry Ozpin"
I actually revised parts of Helio after a discussion I had with RocknRoll7575 in their discord (PM me for invite link) and it just kept ringing in my mind that it is strange that Penny is the only Atlas automata with sentience