The Good Doctor: Origins Ch. 05

"M1mic, shut him up and strap him down." Engineer ordered and without hesitation it obeyed.

In one fluid movement M1mic had seized Morrison's arm and brought it up painfully behind his back. In this position it used its superior strength to force Morrison to walk towards the same chair that Rob had been strapped to only a few weeks prior. He then forced him to sit down and within moments had the man strapped to the chair and immobilized.

"You can't do this!" he shouted and struggled against his bonds.

Engineer had wheeled out the infamous machine that had turned Rob from a normal human into a superior being and grinned as he held up the needle that he would shortly pierce into Sydney's skull.

"Oh really? Because I think we already have!" he laughed, and laughed, and laughed; an insane laughter that reverberated off the walls and caused even the ruthless Trapjaw to shudder.

****************

Rob had been reading in Giovanni's study when a deafening boom nearly startled him out of his chair. Every night Rob would come to the study and read at least twenty books a sitting. His mind allowed for rapid reading and perfect retention. Slowly Rob could feel himself getting smarter and the world he found himself in getting clearer.

Tonight had been interrupted by the sound though, and Rob threw down his book and ran towards the door to investigate only to be thrown backwards in a blaze of fire and splintering wood.

Rob landed on his feet and was alert and ready in milliseconds. The air was heavy with smoke and Rob could not see through it, but he knew that there were at least three moving objects in the haze. He blinked and switched into heat-vision in order to ascertain if there were any warm bodies. The smoke was too hot though, and all he could see was a wall of oranges and reds.

Switching his vision back to normal Rob cautiously walked around Giovanni's desk to put his back towards the window. If he needed to make a quick escape, he could at least try going through that. He crouched down behind the desk and peered over the top to try to get a glimpse at his assailants. After a moment Rob could finally see three shapes arising through the smoke. From what he could see they were human in shape and seemed to be wearing some sort of black clothing.

Suddenly the desk lowered into the ground towards the bunker. Rob did not know anyone was down there and was unhappy to have his hiding place removed. The shapes were nearing him and he knew that soon they would be able to see him through the smoke. He prayed that help was going to come up from the bunker.

After a moment he could hear the desk began to rise upwards and was relieved to see Brick and Wraith arrive on it, ready for action.

Rob stood up to make his presence known to them and hissed, "Get behind here!"

In one swift movement, Brick jumped over the desk to crouch beside Rob while Wraith swiftly glided over to crouch on his other side.

"What are those things?" Brick was asking.

"No clue, but they almost look human." Rob responded as they continued their advance.

"Wraith, get rid of this smoke, we need to take them on." Brick said and gripped his wrench tightly.

Wraith's eyes flashed beneath her hood and the smoke started to rapidly exit the room though the huge hole that the explosion had caused. Suddenly the figures were in full view. Rob and Brick gasped at the site of the Bio-B0ts before them. A purple glow was coming from underneath Wraith's hood as she studied the energies of the beings.

An unfortunate side effect of blowing away the smoke was that the Bio-B0ts seemed to be aware of their presence. The smoke had been throwing off their sensors, but now their faceless heads turned to face the trio.

"Looks like the jig's up." Brick said and rose to his full height.

"Well this should be fun; my first 'field experience'." Rob chided and reached to his belt to unclasp the two blade handles that were attached to his left hip.

The blades came to life and the two men stood ready for a fight as they faced the Bio-B0ts.

"Target's acquired...carry out objective."

"I think they mean us." Brick said and Rob grimly nodded, "Let's take them down. Wraith, you got one covered?"

The glow beneath Wraith's hood had ceased and she stood to stand beside the men, "Of course."

"Eliminate." one of the Bio-B0ts said and all three raised their hands, palms out. Their palms glowed red for a brief second and then, in slow motion, Rob saw a ball of energy separate from them and head towards him and his comrades. The balls continued their slow journey towards them and Rob noticed that neither Brick nor Wrath had responded. Realizing what this meant, Rob shoved first Brick and then Wraith out of the way of the energy that was now picking up speed. He then ducked just in time before he saw the balls hit the window behind him. It exploded in a shower of glass and Rob shielded himself from their sharp points.

"What the hell!" Brick shouted as he recovered from Rob's assault.

"Sorry, Brick. You didn't react fast enough." Rob said, "They can shoot energy, we need to be cautious."

"Got it!" Brick called back as he sprung to his feet, wrench at the ready, "Now, let's take them down."

Wraith's eyes were once again glowing and the two men rushed forward with their weapons at the ready. The Bio-B0ts' palms glowed again, but this time they were ready. Brick lowered his shoulder and sped towards one of the robots and rammed into it just as it was about to fire. The force of the giant man running into it caused the Bio-B0t to misfire and the shot hit the ceiling, leaving a smoking hole in it.

Rob had managed to dodge three shots from the Bio-B0ts before he leapt gracefully in the air and landed a well placed kick smack in the middle of the thing's head. This did not seem to faze him, but it allowed Rob to leap over its head and land behind it. He then swung around and aimed one of his blades at the 'neck' of the creature. The blade sliced through like butter and the head toppled of its shoulders and landed on the ground with a clang. Rob thought that would be the end of the robot, but it turned to face him as if nothing had happened.

"Not good..." Rob said as two red blades materialized from the back of the robot's wrists. They looked identical to Rob's own and he knew at once who had sent these things.

Wraith had studied their energy signatures and was not surprised to find that they were almost identical to Rob's. She had known there was a reason behind Rob's creation, and now she could see its result. It was sentient; Wraith could see the disruptions in the time field it made as it planned for the future. These were highly advanced machines and it would take a little finesse to destroy them.

While she formulated a way to kill the Bio-B0ts, Wraith decided to distract one to keep its focus off Brick and Rob. She floated up to the ceiling and started to hurl energy balls at one about to attack Rob. They did little to no damage, but were enough to get its attention.

Brick had abandoned his wrench and was engaged in hand to hand combat with one of the robots. Rob was fighting a headless one which sported twin blades almost identical to his own. Wraith frowned when she saw the headless creature still able to function. Clearly Engineer had opted out of putting its brain in its head, smart move on his part. The head was easily detached from the body and offered little protection. That excluded any other limb, leaving only the chest and stomach as possible holding places.

Wraith barely dodged a red energy ball that was shot at her. She scolded herself for letting her mind wander and redoubled her efforts at focusing on both tasks at hand. The only way she could determine where its brain was to get closer to it and scan its more subtle energies. This would allow her to pinpoint where signals were being sent to and from the most, thus showing her where the brain was.

"Hold in there, boys. I'm going to figure out how to kill them." Wraith announced as she flew closer to the Bio-B0t, dodging its shots as she descended.

"I'd hurry!" Rob shouted as he narrowly dodged an attack.

Brick didn't say anything. He was straining to keep up with his assailant, sweat poured from every pore and he could feel his strength waning.

Acting as quick as she could, Wraith soared within a few feet of the Bio-B0t and focused on its bio-electrical flow. After a second of searching she found its brain; it was in its chest. Just as she was about to announce this she realized she had neglected to pay attention to the robot and was thrown violently backward by a swift kick to her chest.

Rob shouted as he saw Wraith fly across the room and slam into a bookshelf. Parrying a blow from the Bio-B0t he swiftly moved over the piles of debris to where she had landed.

"Wraith, are you okay!?" He asked, frantically searching for some kind of life, painfully aware that two robots were rapidly closing in on him.

Wraith's eyes fluttered rapidly and she weakly lifted her hand to point at her chest. It wavered there for a minute before falling back to the ground and she lay still. Rob heard a thunk and turned his head to see Brick fall in a massive heap. The three robots were no focused on Rob and they moved swiftly towards him.

"Come on you fuckers, come on...." He coaxed as he crouched a few feet from Wraith, his blades at the ready.

When the Bio-B0ts were with three feet of him, he suddenly leapt from his position headlong into group of robots. Rob's aim was true, and he managed to plunge his blades into the robot that had attacked Brick as well as the headless one. After hitting his mark, Rob pulled hard on his blades, slicing the bodies of the two targets from chest to pelvis. He felt them go limp against his blades and he pulled them out.

Just as the bodies slumped to the floor Rob had to block an attack from the remaining Bio-B0t. It had its own set of red blades, but Rob had a target now. After kicking the robot backwards, Rob rushed forward with the tip of one blade pointed at its chest. The thing easily blocked the attack, but as it occupied Rob swung his other blade around and down, slicing it from shoulder to hip in one move.

The robot stumbled then fell forward, falling into two pieces.

Rob wasted no time rushing towards Brick's side. The man was drenched in sweat and breathing very hard, but seemed fine.

"You okay, big guy?" Rob asked, grimacing.

"Just...need....to...catch my....breath..." he panted, never once opening his eyes.

"Fantastic." Rob said and rushed across the room to Wraith.

He could tell that she was breathing, but it was labored and she needed medical attention.

"I'm going to find Nurse Sweet." He whispered to her, though he doubted she heard him.

Rob stood and ran over the destruction and into the entranceway. What he found was a trail of devastation leading from the front door and up the stairs. Rob's first thought was for Nurse Sweet's safety, he had personally seen her to bed and knew she was up there.

Lightning quick, Rob literally leapt up the stairs and into the hallway, running straight into someone coming from the opposite direction.

Rob sprung into action, ready for anything. What he found was a rather dazed-looking Nurse Sweet lying on the floor.

"Nurse Sweet! You're okay!" Rob said, genuinely relieved.

"Well I was until you ran me over." She chided, and started to stand back up.

"Did anything come up here?" He asked as he helped her get to her feet.

"Well now that you mention it...some strange looking men did come up... and almost fucking killed me! Where the fuck were you!?"

"I was preoccupied with some of my own problems."

"Doesn't matter now; Gio and I got them." Nurse Sweet said leading Rob to the room they had come to share.

On the floor were the remains of two more the things that had attacked Rob. One seemed to have blown up in various places and there were places on its body that looked melted. The other was more intact, but its chest was caved in as if hit by a massive object. Giovanni, who was leaning on his cane looking rather winded, was standing on one side of the bed.

"Good job guys, but Wraith got hurt and needs medical assistance." Rob said with a worried look on his face.

"I'm on it." Nurse Sweet said before briskly exiting the room.

"Giovanni, are you okay?" Rob asked once she had left.

"I'm fine, thank you. I was actually more worried about you." He said, frowning.

"I was trained by the best." Rob said, attempting a smile but managing only a weak grimace, "Looks like you were right about Trapjaw and Engineer."

"I always knew I was right. I just didn't know they would strike so quickly!" Giovanni was shaking his head solemnly as he spoke.

Rob could tell that the attack was troubling Giovanni a great deal and he wished he could help, but despite all his training he was still new at this and did not know what to do or say.

"I'm sorry, Giovanni." Was all he could think of.

Instead of responding, Giovanni swiftly maneuvered around the rubble and past Rob on his way to the door (or, rather, the hole where the door had been) and without stopping yelled to him, "Come on, Robert, we have work to do!"

With one last glance at the fallen robots, Rob followed Giovanni into the hall and down the stairs. When they entered Giovanni's study, Rob noticed that the robots were gone as well as Brick, Wraith, and Nurse Sweet. He assumed they had retreated to the bunker and his suspicions were confirmed when he heard the lift rising and saw Brick's huge mass emerging from the floor.

"How's Wraith?" Rob asked Brick as he came towards them.

"She'll be fine, just needs a bit of rest." Brick answered with a smile that seemed less bright than usual to Rob.

"Good." Rob said.

"I've taken the remains of the assailants to the bunker. I think we should take refuge there and seal ourselves off until we formulate a plan." Brick said to Giovanni.

"My thoughts exactly, Brick. Who knows how many more of those things are coming; let's go Rob."

The three men traversed the debris-littered study and took the lift down into the bunker. Once they arrived in the concrete room directly below the study, Giovanni pressed a button on his desk and a sheet of metal slid across the opening and sealed it with a satisfying clang. The trio then took the second lift down into the bunker and to safety.

"Brick, go see to Wraith; Rob, follow me." Giovanni said as he turned right and walked toward a door on the far wall of the Hanger.

Rob had never been anywhere else in the Bunker but the Training Room and Sick Bay so he did not know where they were headed nor did he know what Giovanni wanted from him. He had been trained to fight and fight he had, what else could he do?

Giovanni pressed a button on the wall once they reached the door and it slid open. The two men passed through and onto a catwalk suspended above an enormous room. Machines and monitors lined the walls and rows of workbenches contained sophisticated equipment, various containers of chemicals, and cages filled with mice, rats, and guinea pigs.

"Welcome to the Lab, Rob." Giovanni explained and started to descend the stairs to the main floor.

Rob followed him down the steps and past the rows of workbenches to the far side of the room and two doors. Giovanni opened the door to the left which lead to a room with two examining tables and even more equipment. Upon one the tables was the headless robot that Rob had defeated. Nurse Sweet was also there along with the strange man Rob had met only once, Hax.

"Nurse Sweet, Hax; have you found anything?" Giovanni asked.

"All we can say for sure is that they are similar in design to Rob which suggests they were made by Engineer." Hax said in his small, boy-like voice.

"Keep at it then. I want to know everything about these things by the morning, Rob can help." Giovanni said as he examined the body himself.

"What do you mean I can help? I don't know anything about this stuff." Rob protested.

"Of course you do. All those books you've read? There must be something you picked up that could be of use." Giovanni said matter-of-factly.

Images of pages full of words flew past Rob's field of vision as he tried to remember what he had read and what use it might be. The images kept coming until he heard his name being called from far away.

"Rob! You still with us?" it was Nurse Sweet.

Rob came back to reality with a start and he shook his head to clear his mind of the images, "Yeh, I'm here...and I think I can help."

"That's the spirit, now get to work, we don't have much time." Giovanni glanced at all three of them one at a time with a stern look and then left them to their work.

**********************

"All of them?" Trapjaw asked Miss. White.

"Yes, Sir." She responded quietly.

"How?" he asked, his voice calm but full of menace.

"I don't know, but Engineer is trying to figure it out."

"Even if Giovanni managed to destroy a few, surely the others wouldn't be able to as well? They were in two groups..."

"Like I said; Engineer is figuring out what went wrong."

"Thank you, Miss. White, please send him up as soon as he knows something."

Rachel White nodded once and left Trapjaw's office.

Trapjaw had just received news that all five of the Bio-B0ts he had sent to destroy the Corps were eliminated. He had ordered them to the residence where they were to split into two groups and kill all members of the Corps and then destroy the building. Satellites had monitored the position of the robots, and one by one the red dots that indentified them went out, signaling an end of transmission and thus defeat.

It was safe to say that Trapjaw was more than a little pissed. He had been assured that the Bio-B0ts were undefeatable. If Engineer did not offer up a suitable explanation, Trapjaw would eliminate him from the plans.

A knock at the door distracted Trapjaw from his fuming, "Come in." he called and Engineer came through.

"Sir, we have a problem." Engineer said after he seated himself in a chair opposite Trapjaw's desk.

"No shit." Trapjaw spat, "Your pieces of scrap are useless!"

"They are everything I promised and more...which is exactly the problem." Engineer countered.

Trapjaw sat at his desk where he leaned towards Engineer and narrowed his eyes angrily; "Explain." He said, his voice dripping with anger.

"It's Rob; he's more powerful than I anticipated...perhaps I made him TOO perfect. I left him without any memory of who he was or what he's capable of, which I assumed would be enough to prevent him from becoming a threat...apparently it wasn't."

"Giovanni..." Trapjaw hissed.

"Exactly, he must have trained him efficiently enough to use him as a weapon against us."

"But how...he had a total of five weeks from the time he escaped to the time of the attack. It takes years to mold a man from nothing into a soldier...trust me."

"Again; he's more powerful than I anticipated. He has the same brain as the Bio-B0ts, which means he learns at a massively accelerated pace. This could be used to our advantage though. If we train the Bio-B0ts for a period of a few weeks, they can be ten times as dangerous."

"They are designed to kill. What more can you teach them?"

"Lots, Sir. They may come with the basic programming of how to kill, but the more experience they have, the more they will learn. That's what I designed them for. They just weren't ready for field use, I know that now."

"We are running out of time! The more we wait the more time the Corps has time to interfere."

"Don't worry, next time I'll be ready."

"If you fail again, there won't BE a next time...do you understand me?"

"Of course, Sir, but there's more."