(OOC: Howdy all, new player here. Roboto A-1 is a Tech Blaster on Infinity server, and I'm always up for RP/teaming, although with the caveat that I prefer to do my RP in the context of blasting bad guys.)
War turns men into weapons; it was only a matter of time before someone tried to turn weapons into men.
Doctor Tatsukuro was one of the savants of the field of artificial intelligence, but a combination of misfortune and Nobel Prize politics kept him from the public spotlight. So it seemed a godsend when powerful came to offer him a marvelous opportunity - the chance to not only serve his country, but to make obscene amounts of money, too. He would be a hero of Nippon, they said.
His task: to provide a new generation of combat robots with the intelligence to respond quickly and rationally to the ever-fluid nature of super-powered battlefields. They gave him an amazing facility and a brilliant staff - everything he could need, shut away from the rest of humanity on a remote base buried in the Kitami mountains on Hokkaido.
He labored for more than a year on this, his finest work to date, and over that time he began to question why they had chosen him. Though aging, he had no family; he had few if any close friends; and virtually none of his colleagues stayed in touch with him since the Nobel debacle - perhaps, being as he was completely confined to the base, his lack of connections to the outside world was as appealing to his recruiters as his expertise. Doctor Tatsukuro began to wonder what he had gotten himself into.
His questions were answered, and his fears made manifest, when A1-MCP-54 was activated. The robot body arrived from the mysterious facility where it had been assembled, the AI was uploaded, and the switch was thrown.
All initial evidence indicated that the robot's mind was flawless, and Tatsukuro's superiors applauded his work. Tatsukuro and his team were then tasked with raising the weapon - A1-MCP-54's mind, though more powerful than any human's, was still as innocent as a newborn child's.
These were the months that A1-MCP-54 looks back on with fondness. He grew to love every last one of the scientists that became his family, and Doctor Tatsukuro in particular was like a father to him. The doctor, for his part, came to view the robot with the affection of a doting father. The robot enjoyed the tiny human dramas that unfolded in the midst of the team assigned to shepherd him: the romances, the trials and tribulations. Doctor Tatsukuro was very good at what he did - A1-MCP-54 was not some cold, unfeeling automaton, but very nearly a living breathing human being itself, with emotions and passions all its own.
So it was with something approaching horror that Doctor Tatsukuro watched, on the day of A1-MCP-54's first combat trial, as his creation, his -child-, flew through the air at amazing speeds, mercilessly and efficiently destroying hardened bunkers, simulated armor columns, and - most appallingly - mock-ups approximating the capabilities of famous and powerful superhumans. A1-MCP-54's powerful brain, it seemed, was largely for the purpose of directing the micron-precise magnetic fields that focused and directed the massive amounts of energy A1-MCP-54's powerplant provided, resulting in weapons that could punch through battleship armor or level a building with little effort. The personality that Doctor Tatsukuro had made possible, and then lovingly shaped, with the final years of his life - it was extraneous, something his employers would gladly erase and reprogram if the robot failed to perform exactly according to their wishes.
He had known that he was creating a weapon - he had not known to what degree. Seeing A1-MCP-54 hurtling through the air like a bolt from the heavens made it real for him. Hearing the massive shockwaves, feeling the wind buffet him, as lances of pure energy smashed simulated -human beings-: the thought of his beloved robot, so kind-hearted and innocent still, being put to the task of slaughter... it was horrendous. This was a weapon for killing superheroes, plain and simple.
Doctor Tatsukuro -liked- superheroes. He had a niece who had been saved from an earthquake-related fire by Rising Lotus Petal, one of Nippon's premier superheroes, who was tragically killed in the Rikti invasion. He liked -people-. He liked his robot. He wanted A1-MCP-54 to be free from the responsibility of murder. And so Doctor Tatsukuro hit upon a plan.
It was a desparate gambit, but Tatsukuro knew that A1-MCP-54 was too powerful to allow it to be used as intended. He had a weapon too powerful to exist, but too alive to destroy. He could only pray that his limited instruction in the ways of the world would be enough to see the robot through the times ahead.
On the night after the test, as the lab was celebrating the success of its creation, Doctor Tatsukuro excused himself early. Tomorrow, their employers at the globe-spanning Crey Corporation would take A1 away, to do as they would with it - murder, mayhem, or mass production. And so, Doctor Tatsukuro sealed A1-MCP-54's power as best he could. He erected partition after partition, mental block after mental block. By the end, A1 was a shadow of his former engine-of-destruction self. The doctor left his creation with these words,
"I regret that I must do this, Roboto-san. But you are too young, too innocent in the ways of the world, to be allowed this kind of power. No man should wield power without understanding its consequences - that is what Crey cannot understand. They will use you, your power, to suit their own ends, and not what is just. If you resist, they will destroy you, and use your power regardless.
"Please, Roboto-san. Run from here, from them, and hide. I have locked your powers away, but the blocks will not last forever; I can only pray that you gain enough wisdom in that time, enough wisdom to do what is right.
"I fear that a dishonorable death awaits me for deceiving Crey so, but perhaps the next life will be better. Do not seek revenge against them, Roboto-san. Hide from them, for as long as you can. Live your life as I have taught you. Seek balance, harmony, and peace. Be just. Do what is right - what you know, in your heart, is right.
"Go now. I will distract the rest of the laboratory with hilarious drunken antics. And be good. Remember: every man is a hero, if he has the strength to follow the path."
Roboto A-1 stared at his creator, his father, wordlessly. He wished he could cry, for his 'heart' was overflowing with emotion. Although his face was unable to show expressions, Doctor Tatsukuro could see in Roboto A-1's entire manner the sorrow they both felt. The robot silently leaned forward, and embraced his father. Tatsukuro was taken aback, but he returned the hug, tears running down his face.
Wiping his eyes with the back of his labcoat's sleeve, the doctor turned away from his son, towards the sounds of the revelry in the laboratory's common areas. Thus, creator and creation, father and son, parted ways.
Roboto A-1 hid, as Doctor Tatsukuro had instructed him to. It was not easy - he had no way to hide his robotic nature, and his distinctive appearance would make him an easy target for Crey if he were sighted. And so he learned cunning. He would hide for long periods of time, needing only the power provided by his internal reactor, and occasional raw materials for minor repairs, carried out automatically by nanotech maintenance systems.
His only source of news was the very sporadic forays he made into populated areas: discarded newspapers, wireless internet he could access from obscured alleys. He could not determine what had become of Doctor Tatsukuro, but there was no mention of the doctor in any of Roboto A-1's available sources. If he was still alive, he was prisoner of the world's most powerful and - apparently - unethical private enterprise.
Roboto A-1 lived like this for quite some time, learning what he could of the world in bits and pieces. But he was unsatisfied - he knew that Doctor Tatsukuro had spoken the truth, that he, Roboto A-1, had the power to help people. He also burned in his heart to discover more about Crey, to unravel their schemes and turn them from his tail once and for all.
And so Roboto A-1 resolved to come to Paragon City. He would make what cosmetic adjustments he could, take the sobriquet given him by his dearly departed father, and dispense justice, one righted wrong at a time. And though he would be in the belly of the beast, right under Crey's nose, the plethora of other superpower-class beings in Paragon would surely mask his presence, until such time as he could reclaim more of the power he possessed.
(OOC: Comments welcome, particularly any continuity errors that might conflict with the game's metaplot.)
