“Where’s our money, doctor?” one of the henchmen asked, gun drawn and at the ready.

  In some small corner of this Earth full of superheroes, villains, mutants, monsters, tyrants, rebels and more, a man worked on destroying the world. In the darkness of his lab, Dr. Allister Sean worked on his latest robot, humming We'll Meet Again by Vera Lynn. Sparks flew as he welded the robot's motors, circuits, chips, processors, and wires as a god sews life into its creation. He had the last of the hardware installation automated by his computer, turning his attention to the other monitors at his disposal. The monitors displayed lines upon lines of code and complex algorithms, imbued with the knowledge Sean’s creation would need when it entered the world. To anyone who wasn’t the doctor, the code and algorithms on the screens were nigh incomprehensible but the other things on display held much more interest. The monitors showed embezzled accounts, laundered money, suspicious shipments of questionable goods, the social media of recently disappeared and/or dead persons, from rival gangs no less, location tracking, various rackets going on, arsons commuted, and so on. From those windows those people would have concluded that the Smith Gang were linked to all those events and others.

  However, Sean regarded these topics without much care, letting the computer automatically compile the necessary information he needed. He only had the windows up because he planned on leaving the Smith gang at this very moment and then selling them out to the next gang. His attention was focused on the code and algorithms. They were for the robot, a bruiser capable of leaping great heights by Sean’s design. The robot should be finished soon and then it’s on to the next one.

  “Doctor!” again the henchmen shouted.

  The thunderous crack of his door tearing from its hinges broke the doctor from his work. A shaft of light cut through the darkness and an angry voice ordered the doctor to stand up as a line of fools entered and pointed their guns at him. The doctor had thought that the Smith gang would become wise to his diverting of their funds to his wallet sooner rather than later. He reminded himself of the people he was dealing with and stood up. Took the idiots long enough, Allister thought. The gang members angrily told the Doctor about how they discovered his activities, how the doctor was embezzling the gang’s funds, and how they were going to dump his body in the river and leave no way of identifying the “poor bastard”. The doctor, despite not really caring, would not have any of that. He had more important things to do.

  “At least let me go out with a bang,” answered the doctor. He pushed a button on the computer and the wall behind the line of fools exploded, taking them all out. The doctor grabbed an Uzi, shook the still attached arm off the grip, and went about packing and saving his work, keying a command on his gauntlet to have his van come pick him up. The doctor heard others coming towards him, peeked out the hole in the wall, and shot nonchalantly at them, forcing them to take cover as the doctor waited. The garage door opened and the doctor had the unfinished programming saved to the robot’s memory and loaded the robot in the back of the van. He hopped in and peeled out of the Smith hideout, hoping to lose the gang in the evening traffic, ducking, weaving, and crashing through drivers along Neo-City One's neon lit roads. That hope of escape was dashed as he saw a couple of speed bikers gain on him. He fired uncaringly at them with his pilfered SMG and pushed harder on the accelerator. A few gangsters fell down as the doc shot them but like a hydra, more took their place. To add to his troubles, they brought out the sports cars on him. Cars and bikes both gained on him, guns aimed and at the ready. Bullets peppered the back of the van and the doctor shot back in earnest. He had killed those fools who had seen his Robot 28 and he wasn’t going to let anyone else in on his little project. He almost lost control as the van violently swerved to the side.

  These idiots are sideswiping me! Sean regained control of the van and swung back at them, their exchange continuing as bullets flew the doctor's way and they both did their deadly dance through traffic. He shot one of the drivers dead. The car spun out of control and caused a pileup cutting off some of the doctor’s pursuers. Allister smirked at the chaos. He needed to lose these fools or else his plans would go south fast. He activated the autopilot on the van and took aim with the Uzi, this time aiming to kill the remaining henchmen. His concentration broke when the back doors of the van were torn from their hinges Shit, the doctor cursed as the situation escalated quickly.

  One of the speed bikers jumped into the van and made their way to the front of the van, knife drawn and eager for blood. Allister turned in his seat and shot the man dead, their body flying out the back of the van and onto the pavement. His robot was exposed now! He was frantic as he stood to cover it back up. A car crashed into the side of his van and it swerved to the side again, knocking the doctor off balance. He thankfully grabbed a hold of some netting or he would have hit the van floor hard. A stray bullet must have hit a latch because the robot’s bindings had come undone! The doctor stood and moved to fire at the other driver but he was tossed again to the side violently. The robot went flying out of the back of the van. They were on an overpass and the doctor watched in horror and anger as his robot plunged into a dark neighborhood alleyway. He had to get Robot 28 as soon as possible, but first he had to lose the meatheads in the other gang’s territory. Thankfully no supers were on his tail this time.

  The doctor leapt back to the front of the van to avoid any more bullets coming his direction. He had to lose them. He would have to lose his current robot body double and soon.

  ---

  Dad’s probably worried sick about me, Maria thought to herself as she stepped off the bus from university. Then again, he could be late coming home like usual. It was close to dark outside.

  Maria Cervantes, age 14, finally reached her stop after the freeway pileup caused her bus to change routes. She trudged back to her home, thinking about her day. She wanted to tell dad about all the stuff she did today and how she passed all her tests. She wanted to talk to him about her Technology and Ethics paper she was working on for Professor Ryan Casting. Not that it mattered anyway because her dad would not be home to notice. He almost never was home when she got back from school and when he was home he was always so tired. She was halfway down the block from her home when she saw something glint in an alleyway not too far from home. After checking to make sure she was safe, she sauntered over to the glint and saw that it was a fully assembled, humanoid robot. Why is a robot in a place like this? she wondered.

  Maria looked right and left to see if anyone was coming to claim the robot. She rushed back home and climbed the creaking stairs to her room, scaring her cat Momo in the process, and grabbed her tool bag and hydraulic wagon, quickly disassembling and reassembling the robot in her room. She cleared space in her room by moving her laundry and toys and tech junk to the side, again surprising the cat. Once it was fully reassembled, she stood in awe of the robot, thoughts of specs, programming, and hardware crossing her mind. She searched for a logo or a serial number or some sort of identifying information on the robot. She didn’t find any such thing. She popped the chassis on the robot's head, took a connector cable and plugged it into the hard drive, thinking that maybe the information was in the robot's memory.

  She found nothing of the sort. She couldn’t even identify what kind of robot it was. It was simply called Robot 28.

  Along with the robot’s identity, she found incomplete code, puzzling at what she saw. She saw a program designed for 3D movement that worked in conjunction with rockets in the robot’s back and calves and the cable fists in its arms. She saw a very complicated block of code called “The Learning Method” and judging from what she saw, it was primarily based on the robot's function, coding, and hardware. The Learning Method also allowed for hardware and software changes as well based on experience collected. She stared agape at other specs as well. The actuators were rated for 25 tons of heavy lifting maximum. The ultra-tensile steel cables in the robot’s gorilla-like arms were rated for high amounts of g forces. The robot had rockets for fists which could attach to the cable reels in the arms, the pistons on the robot’s elbows acting as a sort of primer. The fists were also designed to become electrified. The way the robot interacted with Wi-Fi made it untraceable. Still more was impressive about the robot.

  Whatever this robot was, it was unique. She sat with her head in her hand, again she wondered what kind of bot it was, but still had no answers. She sat for a while pondering and researching. She heard the front door open and a tired voice say “Maria, I’m home.” Maria looked at the clock and realized that she had been looking over the robot for too long. Dad! She rushed down the stairs to apologize. She found him still in uniform passed out on the sofa. She breathed a sigh of slight relief at the sight of this, grabbed a blanket and covered him where he laid. She made an easy dinner (frozen pizza!) and placed the plate on the coffee table in front of the sofa. She was back at her desk again, her cat sitting on her lap, mulling over everything. She looked upon a picture of her and her father when she was young. She was five years old and dad had just graduated from the Military Police Academy. They were both smiling. Do you think we’d both be smiling still if we knew what was coming then? she wondered. An idea flashed across her mind, heavy gray clouds parting for a moment of clarity. She gently set Momo off to the side, she had been surprised enough already, and tapped away at her computer which was still connected to Robot 28. She couldn't find any identifying info on the robot, and whoever lost it hasn't shown up to claim it. Why not? Why shouldn't she do it?.

  She was going to make the robot a police officer.

  ---

  Allister surreptitiously watched his old gang search the burning wreck of his van, hoping that they hadn’t discovered that the thing that looked like him was actually an elaborately built mechanical doppelganger. The Sean that was watching them search the van was also a doppelganger, eavesdropping on the gang’s conversation and communications network. They hadn’t said anything about his robot. Not yet at least. After the punks left the wreck, the doppelganger crawled out of its hiding spot and made its way to the territory boss’s hideout. The doppelganger had one hand gripped on the pistol in its pocket, the doppelganger’s eyes and the goggles that covered them scanning the area across the infrared, x-ray, and visible light spectrum for any threat. He only saw a few stray cats and a dead body, disfigured beyond recognition. The other hand held a suitcase with his portfolio to present to his new boss. He transmitted a copy of his old gang’s data to another data drive, burning his original drive with the expended doppelganger. Finally, after much deliberation, the doctor finally arrived at the front door of the next boss’s hideout. Sean pondered the most tactful way of introducing himself.

  He kicked in the door and proclaimed loudly, “Boss! I have something to show you!”

  To an observer viewing this situation out of context, the scene would have been hilarious. The capos, grunts, legs and police officers on the take looked positively comical as they pulled out their pistols, shotguns, SMGs, rifles and other firearms, primed them, cocked them, and pointed them at him. The boss looked like he was about to have a heart attack, clutching his chest and gritting his teeth; it brought a smile to the real Allister's face. The boss regained his composure after assessing that the doctor was not a threat. “State your business, friend.” ordered the boss, “What is it that you can offer that won’t make me and my pals fill you full of holes?”

  The doctor smiled and pulled out a flash drive from the suitcase and tossed the drive to the boss. The evidence that the doctor had gathered should speak for itself. The mob boss had the flash drive looked at for explosives, and when none were found, the boss had the drive plugged into a throwaway computer to see the files in store. The boss’s consternation at the evidence showed when he found the thing the doctor wanted him to find.

  “What is this and how did you get it? Who the hell are you?” the boss said. The doctor gave his cheshire cat smile.

  “My name is Dr. Allister Sean, information specialist and technology expert extraordinaire. These are the plans that I had pilfered from my previous gang, the Smiths, when they tried to kill me. They are looking to take over your territory,” said the doctor matter of factly. He left out his role in planning them out. The doppelganger’s voice modulation masked the real doctor’s delight.

  “Why are you doing this?” asked a capo. Others chimed in with the whys themselves. One of them asked what was in it for the doctor. The doctor still had that smirk on his face.

  “They have something of mine, a very important something,” answered the doctor. The boss asked what that something was. “My back pay,” Allister lied.

  “And why should I trust you?” asked the boss. The doctor wouldn’t trust himself either if the situations were reversed. The doctor worked his charm to weasel his doppelganger’s way into their hearts.

  “I have delivered their plans to you, and I can help you get back at them. I want what’s due to me and I am willing to go to any lengths to get it back. Those people are our enemy, and the enemy of my enemy is my friend,” he answered. It was a half-truth, what the doctor told them. The doctor had a long list of enemies he betrayed, from the two-bit hoods, to fool superheroes, and would-be supervillains.

  ---

  Maria’s eyes strained to stay open as she stared at the lines upon lines of code she made for the robot. Building a police bot was a lot harder than she thought it would be. She had worked at it for days with only the minimal amount of sleep and it showed on her. Tabbing back and forth between notation and coding took up a lot of her time. It was only after much experimenting that she got the hang of it all. She was working on the arrest algorithm when she rubbed her eyes and looked at the clock and saw that dad would be coming home in a few minutes and made her way to the kitchen to make dinner. Probably soup or chili, she thought. As she climbed down the stairs, she saw a light coming from the kitchen. She peeked around the entryway to the kitchen and saw her dad making dinner. She decided to surprise her dad. “Hey dad,” she shouted.

  Marco Cervantes, a policeman, jumped when he heard a shout come from the entrance to the kitchen. He turned to his daughter, giggling at him, and smiled at her. “Hey Maria,” he said warmly to her, silently cursing himself for jumping at Maria’s surprise.

  “Why are you home so early? And you're making dinner too?” asked Maria. “Did something happen?”

  Marco placed a lid on the pot, sighed, and lowered the heat on the stove. He and Maria sat at the dinner table, a solemn look on his face. Where to start?

  “You know about what happened the other day? On the highway?” he asked. Maria shook her head. “Well,” Marco continued. “The boss is having us on extended duty because of the gangs —Maria, wait!”

  She stood up and rushed to her room and slammed her door. Marco waited a few minutes and trudged after her, hoping Maria had cooled down enough to listen to him. Marco tried to open the door but it didn’t open. Maria must have propped her regular desk chair against it.

  Marco sighed and sat with his back to the wall. “I’m sorry Maria, so sorry,” he lamented. “I’m sorry I had to cancel our fishing trip. It can’t be helped. Please, I don’t want you to be upset about all this. I have the time now and I want to spend it with you, before I have to go.” What I would give for a boyfriend, girlfriend or even the ex to be here right now, Marco thought to himself. He thought of his family and his heart sank even further. What would they think of this?

  Marco heard Maria sob silently on the other side of the door. She opened the door and stepped out of her room and embraced her father. “I’m sorry too dad” she said. She couldn’t hold back the sobs though. Marco smiled warmly at her. They then had dinner and watched one of Maria’s favorite shows. The show was about a team of superheroes fighting for justice.

  ---

  Sean sat in his van steaming about how the past few days went. It had taken longer than he had anticipated to build his workshop with the new mob boss and it had taken longer still to assemble the spider drones. It took even longer to get the locks and swivel chair. The boss asked too many damned questions each time, which Sean explained as being necessary for his work. The doppelganger’s mood had been placid, but the real doctor sat exasperated far away from all this and started having second thoughts about aligning himself with this boss. The money had to be extracted from him quickly. For now, though, he had to focus on scouting the dock and telling the gang members, the Chucks as they called themselves, where to hit the Smiths.

  It was the dead of night, all was quiet in the docks, except for the army of spider drones stalking the shadows of the docks, sending live video feed to the doctor and the gauntlets of the Chucks, marking the spots they needed to hit. Sean sat in the safety of his van, plotting. A pip on his screen told him that the Chucks were in position. The doctor moved his drones into position and gave the hoods the go to commence the siege. He saw one of the Chucks open fire on an unsuspecting Smith and sat back and relaxed as all hell broke loose. He moved one of his drones away from the shootout to search for his Robot 28. Next time, he would install the tracker first so something like this never happened again. He hated guessing games.

  The spider drone crawled around the battleground of the dock, looking for where they had stowed his robot. He checked the insides of open crates, lasered open others, the nearby warehouse, and checked the inside of the ship the Smiths were using. As the battle raged outside, the doctor could not find any sign indicating if they had his robot. He thought that maybe the Smiths might have moved his robot to a new base, when a shaft of light pierced the darkness of the room the drone was in. The drone scurried out of the light and behind a crate, peeking over with its extendable camera to see what disturbed the doctor’s work. It was a Smith member, fighting off the encroaching Chucks. However, it wasn’t just any Smith member, facial recognition identified them as one of those who chased the doctor down the highway the other day. The doctor smiled to himself. He signaled the Chucks to evacuate the ship and pressed a button on his rig to set his drone to explode. The screen of the corresponding drone turned to static and then finally black, a far off boom accompanying the spectacle. The doctor moved to the driver seat and made his way out of the docks. The police were on their way.

  ---

  After they ate dinner and finished watching their movie, Marco offered to help Maria pack her stuff but she refused, saying that she knew what to pack and that she’ll call Rebecca ASAP. There was something off in how she said it however.

  “I got this dad,” said Maria. Marco shrugged and washed the dishes before going to bed.

  The next morning, he drove Maria to school and they talked about what was going to happen in school today, from tests to homework. Marco didn’t understand half the technobabble she rattled off but tried his best to piece it together from what she told him.

  Marco said his goodbyes to Maria and drove off for work. From what was told to him on his way to the station, a gang war between two rival cartels lead to the bombing of a nearby dock and Marco was needed to interrogate the thugs apprehended at the crime scene. Upon arriving at the station, he made his way to the interrogation rooms and met with his first suspect. His first interviewee was a balding, stout man. He was fairly muscular and sported a growing stubble on his chin. It was Ronny, a repeat offender currently on parole, which he is currently in violation of.

  “How many times has this been, Ronny?” asked an exasperated Marco to the interviewee. “Good morning yourself, Sergeant Cervantes,” replied Ron as Marco started the recording device.

  Marco read Ronny’s information and the circumstances of his arrest, which Ronny verified. Now to get to the meat of the situation: Who set off a bomb off in the docks?

  “C’mon pal, what makes you think I know anything?” replied Ron.

  “Ron, you do know people. Tell me who they are and you’re free to go, I’ll even get you some leniency with the parole court,” offered Marco.

  “There you go again, sticking your nose in business that doesn’t concern you,” retorted Ronny.

  “It becomes my business when people get hurt, doesn’t matter who they are.”

  “C’mon, cut me some slack here. I was just doin’ as I was told.”

  “Doing as you were told resulted in dead gangsters and thousands in property damage.”

  Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  Ronny said nothing.

  “You’re not making my job any easier,” said Marco. “Do you know how bad this is for you? You could be looking at life without parole.”

  “It’s not my fault!”

  “Then whose fault is it? You’re looking at a long time in prison because of this.”

  “I ain’t no snitch! Where’s my lawyer?” shouted Ron.

  “You’re in violation of your parole! I am offering you leniency with the court here if you cooperate with me,” said Sergeant Cervantes cool as he can. Ronny took a deep breath and told Sergeant Cervantes the circumstances of the bombing, about how a new member had joined the Chucks not too long ago offering their technological prowess in exchange for help getting an item of his back from the Smiths. He never said who or what caused the explosion however. Marco dismissed Ronny to his holding cell and had the next few detainees brought in for questioning. The detainees also verified what Ronny said about the incident, however there was an addition to the story: a spider-like drone crawling around the dock. Strange, thought Marco, why wasn’t this mentioned in Ronny’s story? Could this be another supervillain? Marco had Ronny brought back to explain this discrepancy. Ronny had his lawyer with him.

  “Spider drones? Never heard of them” said Ronny after his lawyer whispered in his ear.

  “Seriously? You’re gonna start pulling this crap now?” riposted Sergeant Cervantes. “And here I was thinking we were being cooperative and--“

  “My client doesn’t need to answer anything not pertaining to his current situation, Mr. Cervantes,” interjected the lawyer.

  “Your client is also complicit in the bombing of a dock,” countered Sergeant Cervantes to the lawyer, “Furthermore, if he complies— “

  “There will be no such thing, Mr. Cervantes,” stated the lawyer coolly, “I’m frankly surprised by your continued naiveté.”

  Marco hid his indignation from the lawyer’s reproach. “I’d like to imagine your boss would like to get to the bottom of this as much as I do,” retorted Sergeant Cervantes. “There were some of his people on that boat.”

  “Rest assured that it is being taken care of, but your concern is appreciated all the same,” said the lawyer as a condescending smile crossed his face, a frown crossing Marco’s. The lawyer checked his tablet, “If you’ll excuse me, I believe this interrogation is at an end.” He got up to leave but was stopped by Marco when he raised his hand.

  “Just one question before you go,” he petitioned. “That guy you mentioned before, did he build those drones?”

  The lawyer gave a sidelong glance at Ronny. The lawyer pulled at his suit and stated, “I haven’t a clue what you are talking about, Sergeant Cervantes. Have a nice day, chap. Ronald, if you please, you’ve made bail.” Ronny and the lawyer made their way out of the interrogation room, the latter patting Marco’s shoulder on his way out. Marco’s frown only deepened as they left.

  ---

  Meanwhile, in Sean’s lab, the rig monitors were alight with code, algorithms and 3D models as the doctor dove into his next project. Despite not finding Robot 28 just yet, the doctor continued his labor of destroying the world, pious as a monk. This next robot would be another another brawler like R28 but different this time. Robots 27 and 26 had been modeled on jet aircraft so perhaps R29 would be a brawling helicopter. His mind wandered while he worked, deciding to make the 30 series themed around animals. He typed a note to himself as a reminder in the future. A knock broke him out of his work induced stupor. He pulled up the camera to see who was at the door and saw that it was the boss. He alt-tabbed out of his work and made a big show of unlocking his door, inviting the boss into his workspace, the real doctor frowning as he watched through the doppelganger’s optics.

  “We have a problem,” said the boss.

  “Oh god, I have to kill again don’t I?” muttered Sean.

  “Pardon?” asked the don.

  “What’s the problem that you need me for?” asked Sean. He glibly thought that he was going to have to patch up the network security systems or some such menial labor. In the short time since joining the Chucks, he built a sense of loathing for the mob boss as well.

  The boss took a seat in the doctor’s revolving chair and lit a cigar. Dick, thought the doctor. The mob boss drew and blew a puff of smoke and began to explain. The real doctor watched all this in disgust. Smoke was hazardous to the health of his electronics.

  “You know a Sergeant Marco Cervantes?” questioned the boss. When he didn’t get an answer, he continued. “Guy's a real pain in the ass when it comes to people like us. He’s a nobody, really. He’s gunning for you, pal,” the boss stated.

  That got Sean’s attention. “Oh my, whatever did I do?”

  “Guy thinks maybe you saw something with one of your drones and might know what caused the explosion at the docks. Or you caused it yourself hell if I know.”

  “I know nothing,” Sean lied. “How long has this thing with Sergeant Cervantes been going on?”

  “A long time, buddy,” the boss puffed out.

  “So why haven’t you done anything to him?”

  “We aren’t that big an operation. What’s more, the risk of going after a cop or his family is too high. None of the bigger operations have had much success in this either.”

  Either they’re stupid or he’s that good, thought the doctor.“Bigger operations didn’t have me,” boasted the doctor, “You said this guy was small time and you do have some police on your side. Why not put him in his place?”

  “What do you have in mind?”

  The doctor pulled the boss away from his desk and hunched over his computer to do a little research on this Cervantes. After a few minutes the doctor struck gold. “He has a daughter. Why not kidnap her and hold her for ransom? She should be getting out of school in a little bit,” stated the doctor.

  The boss raised his eyebrows and gave a small smile. He got up and began making calls to his underlings and exited the doctor’s workspace. The doctor returned to his work, thoughts of being quit of his new boss swirling in his head. He looked back to the information he pulled up on the sergeant’s daughter and gave it a look over. She was quite brilliant for her age, displaying a great aptitude for robotics and computer sciences. She was even studying under his old mentor, Doctor Ryan Castings. The doctor felt pity for her for but a second, then shrugged off the guilt and returned to his work.

  ---

  School was close to ending as Maria entered her last class. She sat next to Rebecca, an upperclassman, five years her senior and her best friend, as the teacher prepared for his lecture. Rebecca became Maria’s friend at a time when she was still new to university. As time went on, they bonded over their shared love of manga and video games and movies. Their parents knew and worked with each other, Rebby’s parents being lawyers. The class they were in was Calculus III, Rebecca’s least favorite class. Rebecca turned to Maria with her normal sly grin and asked, “You got the notes from yesterday’s class? I had to skip out because of band practice.”

  Rebecca was one to care for her music, almost to a fault. Maria smiled and dug into her backpack but paused, forgetting the notes for a moment. Rebecca asked her if something was wrong. Her mind had drifted back to Robot 28. She gave Rebecca her notes but Maria found it hard to concentrate on class, the teacher’s lecture turning into so much background noise. Class ended and the students exited the classrooms with much gusto. That feeling of bother hadn’t left Maria when she left class that day but she was on the verge of discovering why when Rebecca burst her thought bubble.

  “Are you feeling alright, Maria? You seemed a bit off during class today. Do you have everything packed? Need to go back home and get something?” asked Rebecca.

  Home? That’s it! She could head home and fix whatever it was that was bothering her so much. She had been working so hard on it for the past few days that she was ready to compile him and show him off to dad. “Oh yeah! I forgot something at home, I think I might need to take the bus today to go get it,” excitedly answered Maria.

  “Oh I’m sure me and my mom could go get it with you when she comes pick us up,” said Rebecca as she smiled at her friend.

  “No, I wouldn’t want to impose!” nervously exclaimed Maria. This caused Rebecca to raise her eyebrow.

  “Maria, is there something you’re not telling me?” she pried. “You’ve been acting odd lately and it’s making me worry. What is it? I’m your friend, you can tell me.”

  “What’re you talking about?! It’s nothing really!” said a flustered Maria.

  Rebecca looked on her with her raised eyebrow and said, “You’re certainly making a big deal about nothing. Come on, ‘fess up.”

  Maria could only stammer an “um” before Rebecca burst out laughing. “It’s okay, dude,” said Rebecca, “I know what’s up. You probably forgot your programming homework and it’s saved to that PC rig I gave you. We’ll talk later okay? Make sure you call me when you get home!” Maria laughed giddily as she made her way to the bus, with thoughts of R28’s programming on her mind. When the bus dropped her off at her stop she rushed home and up to her room and turned on her PC and pulled up R28’s programming and called Rebecca. She checked her arrest algorithm, which was fine, then she checked the 3D Urban Movement Program, which was fine, and she checked the communications protocols, which needed working on, and she checked combat protocols, which really needed working. The electro-fists weren’t set for a certain charge and she didn’t want her robot to kill anyone on accident. Then there was the question of who the robot would obey and she decided on having it follow the orders of her and her dad only for now. She even developed plans for a wrist communicator. She typed away at her computer for the longest time when she got a call from Rebecca saying that she’s on her way but traffic was gridlocked. She and her mom would be a while before they could get to her and that they already told her dad about the delay. That wasn’t the case for some thugs making their way towards Maria’s home.

  ---

  Marco seethed while he patrolled. The judge had denied his warrant to search Ronny’s boss and the unit had Marco tasked out to a nonviolent sector. He hit his steering wheel, swearing under his breath. Everything seemed normal for the most part and his reports have been uneventful until he saw a car with tinted windows and no license plates on it. His suspicion kicked in even though he wanted to believe that the vehicle was going to the DMV. They wound their way through Neo-City One, Marco taking care not to tail the car too closely. The drivers in the other car must have caught on and bolted through a traffic light.

  He remembered the text he got from Rebecca and he rushed to reach his home before that vehicle did. He turned his siren on, sweat beading on his brow and he thought of the worst-case scenario. After all this time, have I finally gone too far? He chased after them.

  Maria finally finished Robot 28. Days upon days of labor and her bot was complete. The combat systems were fully operational, the vocal and communications systems were functioning, the 3D Urban Movement Program was fine-tuned, the arrest protocols were ship shape, black, white and gold adorned the robot, and the mechanisms were in prime condition. She stared in awe of her robot, this Robot 28 she had found in an abandoned alleyway on her way home! She was so excited she started to compile all her work. She hit the compile button and a loading bar took over the screen. She beamed at the thought of surprising Rebby, her parents, and her dad. The bar was close to fully loaded when she heard the front door slam open. Why was dad here? Was he angry with her? Quietly she tiptoed to her door and opened it. She crept silent as a mouse to the top of the stairs. What she saw was not her dad but complete and total strangers ransacking her home. One of them went up to where she was at and upon seeing her and shouted, “There! Grab her!”

  Maria scrambled to her room. A bullet shot out and cut her escape short as a piece of the wall burst out. In that short time, a goon had sprinted up the stairs and Maria was hoisted in the air. Maria fought and kicked with all her might but could not break free of her captor’s grasp. She shouted for help as loud as she could.

  “Shut it, brat!” the thug told her, “You have only your dad to blame for this! So, pipe down or you’ll really make me wanna hurt you.” She heard sirens outside her home. Dad! “Now, we’re gonna go outside, put a sack over your head and we’ll wait for your dad to meet our demands! Got it?” the thug spat at her. Maria was too distraught to give an answer and cried. She regretted not going to Rebecca’s when she had the chance. She prayed for a miracle.

  ---

  The robot booted up immediately after its programming had completely compiled. It ran a systems check and confirmed that everything was operational and at optimal capacity. Its auditory receivers picked up sirens and other sounds occurring outside its immediate vicinity. The robot exited out of the room and walked towards the origins of those sounds. When it arrived at the stairs, the optics system registered a person staring outward to a light source. The person was holding a gun and the robot’s auditory systems registered a threat coming from the direction of the light which went, “If you ever wanna see your daughter again, you’ll do exactly as we say and wait for further instructions, you damned cop!”

  The robot made its way down the stairs and asked the person at the bottom, “Citizen, what seems to be the problem?” The person rounded on the robot, raising his voice and gun in alarm, screamed and started firing at the robot. Combat protocols took over and the robot punched its assailant, sending him flying into the opposite wall and knocking him out cold. The robot turned towards the light source and saw a thug with a hostage in tow, turning now to face it. The thug and the hostage looked perplexed as to what happened until the hostage, a teenage girl, yelled at the top of her lungs, “Robot 28! HELP!”

  The robot raised its fist and launched it at the thug before he could lift his firearm and point it at the girl. The rocket punch connected with the thug’s face, collapsing him to the floor and the girl stood up and ran to the light source.

  ---

  Marco could not believe what had happened in front of his eyes. The two thugs that had tried to kidnap his daughter were disposed of by some unknown force and his daughter was rushing towards him, unscathed. He rushed to his daughter and embraced her, glad she was safe. He turned to the front of his house and stared awestruck. It was the unknown force that had saved his daughter, the unknown force which had deftly crushed her kidnappers, the unknown force she called out to.

  “Dad, er um—Sergeant Marco Cervantes, meet your new partner,” his daughter said, extending her hand to the machine standing on their porch.

  There it stood. A machine unlike any other. Its ultra-strong arms akimbo, its chassis shining in black, white, and chrome, a gold police badge adorned the plating on the chest of the most powerful, most advanced machine known to man. “Greetings, Sergeant Cervantes, I am Robot 28. I am here to serve and protect,” proclaimed the mighty Robot 28.

  ---

  The real Allister sat fixated to his screen for what seemed like an eternity, his mouth agape at what his spider drone was transmitting to him. Maria Cervantes actually had his robot and what’s more, had completely transformed his Robot 28 from what it was originally intended to be; a fighting machine bent on destruction. Any other person would have been some mixture of anger and/or distressed but for the good doctor, he was impressed and rather proud. Here was a fine engineer who took his robot and turned it into something magnificent and could very well be a challenge for him. He wasn’t so sure about the police officer but he had every single bit of confidence in her rag tag team nonetheless. He must have been sitting in awe for too long because his double was signaling on the monitor that the mob boss was talking to it and that a response was needed. Oh yeah, I did forget about that imbecile didn’t I, thought the good doctor. The doctor’s patience with the little man had worn thin and he decided that he would end their professional arrangement right then and there.

  “So what’s the plan now, smart guy? This is still your mess!” barked the soon to be deceased.

  “Just give me a minute,” said the double as it typed away at the computer, “And there we are, all of your financial assets are now mine and my coding work has been sent to my other double!” proclaimed the doctor.

  “What?!” shouted the closer-to-being-dealt with boss.

  “Consider this my resignation,” said the doctor nonchalantly. The double picked up the protesting mob boss with inhuman strength and soon the screen turned to static as the double blew up and leveled the warehouse it was in. The real doctor gave a sigh of relief and moved on to his next project. Destroying the world is busy work, but first he would have the fine engineer.

  ---

  Marco had to cancel his fishing trip with his daughter because of a mob war. There were plenty of things he wanted to do with his daughter that plenty of other families did when they had the time and money. However, Marco didn’t have either of those things. Nor could he consider his life moving forward something resembling anything normal anymore. The robot, Robot 28, came into his life after rescuing Maria from inside his own home during an attempted kidnapping, knocking the kidnappers both unconscious he hoped. And Maria called it his new partner. What the hell is going on here? he thought to himself.

  He called for an ambulance for the kidnappers and checked their pulses, relieved that their hearts still beat. He looked at the robot’s gorilla-like arms and pondered at the damage the robot did to the two men. Just what the hell is going on?

  He had seen plenty of the damage Neo-City One’s Military Police Force and criminal element could do to each other and to bystanders but the things the robot did to the two kidnappers gave Marco pause. The robot smashed the jaw of one kidnapper and destroyed the ribs of the other, indenting the latter on his wall. He assessed the man’s breathing, noticed how short his breaths were and his face turning blue. The man’s lung is collapsing! He immediately set to popping the man’s lung. He located the space between the third and fourth rib and stabbed the needle into the man, a sharp hiss coming out, stabilizing him. He stared at the man indented in his wall and set about taking him down.

  The ambulance came minutes later and Marco explained to the EMTs what had happened, excluding Robot 28’s involvement and telling Robot 28 to hide beforehand. He radioed into the station, telling his boss that he’ll be in later to report the attempted kidnapping.

  But first he had to talk to his daughter.

  “How are you doing, mija?” he asked her.

  “I’m fine, dad,” she answered. Marco smiled, but deep down he still worried for her. Maria looked her dad in the eye and smiled. “I’m fine, really.” His frown deepened, his worry palpaple.

  “Why weren’t you over at Rebecca’s house, like we agreed on, Maria?”

  “Because of… because…”

  “I’m not mad at you.”

  “Because of Robot 28,” she stated. Robot 28 had come down the stairs after the EMTs had left. Marco looked in awe at the bot. She built that? Only 14 years old, and she built that? What else have I missed?

  “How did you do this?”

  Maria explained everything, of how she found the Robot in an alley near home and the days she spent working on it. As she told him this, his shortcomings as a parent crawled on his back and took over his thoughts. He beamed with pride at her accomplishments and criticized himself harshly for not being a better parent to her. Maria wanted to help him because he almost never made time for her and he couldn’t make time for her because of the MPs. His problems had become hers.

  But on the other hand.

  This robot had come at the perfect time and saved his daughter and for that he was grateful. The robot would need work, thinking back to the smashed jaw and broken ribs it had inflicted on the criminals. This will be a problem moving forward but he had every confidence in Maria’s engineering prowess to work on fixing it. The last thing he wanted was excessive force. And the potential for the Robot to learn was there. He could teach it the right things!

  But still.

  The Robot could learn the wrong things just as much as it could learn the right things. His department had its fair share of bad apples, and Sergeant Cervantes worried about the robot being treated like equipment, being traded around between them all. Some of his fellow police officers were in deep with the mobs. Some should never have been police officers in the first place. And then there were the people in charge. His unease grew like a malignant weed the more he thought about it. What of the Robot’s original creators? Maria told him that she couldn’t find any manufacturer’s data within the Robot’s memory.

  Then there were the Torchbearers. Rebel fighters fighting for a democratic society in the worst ways possible.

  What if the robot goes crazy? What if the people never trust the robot? What if after what if after what if plagued him one right after the other, one damn thing after another, so many jack in the boxes waiting to be sprung.

  Everyone’s going to want a piece of them. He had spent his life leading up to this point trying to do as much good as he could in Military Police and trying not to let the system chew him up and spit him out. His heart sank further and further.

  There is no way this can remain a secret.

  “Um, dad, you uh doing okay?” stammered Maria. Dad had stared in silence at the bot for a while. What was he thinking? She hoped she did the right thing.

  Marco finally got out of his head, looked at her and patted her head. “It’s nothing, Maria. I’m proud of you,” he said. It was Maria’s turn to be doubtful of her father.

  “It’s going to be okay, dad,” she said, smiling. He raised his brow, and he smiled. The reassurance between them felt real now. They made dinner and waited for Rebecca to come over. Marco went to the police station to set up some appointments with therapist for Maria’s sake. The boss even gave him 3 days paid leave to spend with Maria.

  “You should have killed them,” admonished his boss. “Were it me and my family, I would’ve wrought furious vengeance on them.”

  “You of all people know that I avoid killing if I can help it,” replied Marco.

  “You’re too soft on these animals, Sergeant Cervantes.”

  Had I been able to investigate Chuck's boss, we wouldn’t be having this conversation now would we. You threw me under the bus and my daughter almost got kidnapped.

  Marco slid a file to the boss. “My report, sir.” The Boss waved him away and Marco left.

  He went home afterwards, Robot 28 greeting him at the door. Marco frowned, his concerns coming back. He was determined to see this through to the end. He wanted to leave a better world for his daughter than the one he inherited. This robot would help with that. He looked at the robot.

  “You, me, and Maria are going to do great things together. Let’s see what you got,” he said. He spent the next three days with Maria working with the robot on how to police the streets, seeing what the robot can and can’t do, calibrating and recalibrating, keeping the robot secret from the public eye in the meantime. Maria built a set of wrist communicators for them so that they can call on R28 at anytime.

  Everyone’s going to want a piece of them, and they’ll be ready.