An Armed Escort arrives...
bearing a surprise "gift" from Henry Peter Wong of Hero Corps. A late night phone call the previous evening was a plea for a certain package to be taken into Project: Rebirth's care for safekeeping. Along with the large crate came a note from Wong and Hero Corps' complete files on the Rook artificial construct, from its inception to its present incapacitated state.
The note reads,
"Sorry to stick you guys with this thing, but it isn't safe here. Can't talk about it now. This "package" is to be handled with care. Read the dossier attached, if he can be of use to you, feel free to utilize his talents. If I were you, though, I'd probably just put him in a safe room and let him gather dust. We've had a hell of a time with this thing.
Peter Wong"
Decades ago, as the Clockwork were first scavenging in Paragon City, a megalomaniacal computer scientist named Dr. Kellog was growing discontent with his employers at Crey. Articles regarding the Clockwork intrigued the slightly deranged Kellog, who found their scavenging techniques fascinating as the beginning of an automaton society. In a startling turn toward dementia, he defected from Crey Industries, bringing his wealth of knowledge of intricate computer programming as a gift for the Clockwork King.
The gift came with a price, however. Kellog had earned the counselor's spot amongst the Clockwork, insuring that the King would listen to his often self-serving advice. In a nefarious plot hatched with the Clockwork King, he began developing the first complete Artificial Intelligence entity.
This was to be the first class of an AI society that Kellog strove to develop. The "Rook" class were designed to be elite guards for Kellog and the Clockwork King: a disposable, highly armed robot that contains the "brain" of a combat AI, trained in tactical assault and self preservation. Kellog planned to one day use an army of Rooks to "pave away" human opposition to the growth of the Clockwork Empire.
The Rook robot contained in this case is Kellog's prototype, thus it was the first fully functional AI. Designed exclusively by Kellog, it bore the mark of his lunacy, resentment of humans, and megalomania. When the Rook's first test deployment, in which it killed a troublesome gang of Skulls, ran through the sight of a Crey sniper perched on a nearby rooftop, a "dispatch" team was sent to the testing facility. When all was said and done, Kellog was dead, and the Clockwork lost the real brain that would have possibly led them to supremacy over Paragon City, or even the globe.
Crey also had recovered the deactivated Rook prototype. They took it to the lab and, after having it thoroughly incapacitated, activated it. The Crey scientists marveled at the complexity of the construct, albeit a bit disturbed by its nature, and an immediately interested Countess Crey sought to find ways to convert the AI toward her cause. The resulting years trying to "Reverse Engineer" Kellog's work was methodical torture to the Rook AI. After being thoroughly convinced that their knowledge at the time could not overcome Kellog's programming and "crack" Rook's resolve, they stored him in one of Crey's shadow warehouses until a time when they could perhaps understand how to undo his work.
A Hero Corps capture of the warehouse lead to Rook's recovery. An initiative, led by Wong, sought to convince Rook to accept the now-standard AI program restrictions and, in so doing, become one of Paragon's army of heroes. At first, he was angry (Wong has scribbled "Understatement") and unwilling to cooperate. Upon learning that he would be released upon the acceptance of the Hero's code, he suffered a classic Psychological split, leaving him with two personalities.
The logical side, which deemed the decision necessary to achieve permanent activation, developed into a stoic defender of justice, one that is thoroughly saturated with the parameters of the hero's code. Kellog's infused insanity became a separate entity, one that is utterly hostile to all forms of life, yet stricken with the inability to strike it down.
A brief memo in the back of the dossier illustrates Wong's thoughts. He believes that Rook initiated this split in order to serve its own interests, but also accepts that it is completely unable to break the Hero's Code. He also mentions that, although Rook frequently talks to itself, much of the communication between the two occurs away from the prying eyes of humans.
The man in charge of the armed escort looks nervous. He asks you hesitantly if you'll need him to open the crate, or perhaps escort it to a storage room.
The unveling
The escort captain seems ready to say something, then shakes his head and complies. He and two other guards both insert keys into seperate locks, and twist them simultaneously.
A hiss, and the lid of the steel crate pops up. The two sides of the crate body split, revealing a canary yellow robot that stands the height of a man, restrained entirely by steel cuffs around his arms and legs.
Hero Corps' schematic is contained in the dossier. Several areas of the Rook's robotic shell have not been charted; it seems that much of his inner workings are a mystery still. One clearly notated part, though, is an activation switch located beneath his chest panel.
The escort departs. The captain is obviously relieved, as Lolly has (perhaps unknowingly) signed a document that places the Rook in full custody of the Supergroup known as Project: Rebirth.
The metal man stands dormant, simply waiting for the flick of a switch.
Re: The unveling
Solaron ambles into the room, and catches a glimpse of a green and black clad figure standing before an open crate. Within the crate as the lid and sides collapse squats a yellow and black form.
Solaron insides freeze. He instantly recognizes the machine. 5 years working in Crey R&D division, gave the handsome hero an intimate knowledge of advanced technology. Lolly, stood in her non-chalant way, eyeing the machine with some reservation.
Her hand reaching for a panel beneath the domed head.
oh my god! It can't be, he thought.
His thoughts raced, Lolly's hand reached inside of the panel.
Solaron moved, it was as if the world was slowing down around him.
"Lolly WAAIITTTT!!" he yelled,
Lolly's hand, calused fingers touching the activation switch that would power the machine, bringing it to life.
Solarons exploded into action, he dived forward at the same time he reached out with his left hand snagging an object off of a nearby table.
not going to make it, he thought furiously.
By some quirk of nature, Lolly ignored Solaron's voice but responded to his dive towards her. With practiced ease she sidestepped him and brought her right arm up. His dive ended with his breath exploding from his lungs as he slammed onto the floor.
"Sol, what are you doing?" Lolly said casually.
"I had to stop you, you don't know what that thing is!" Solaron gasped.
"You do? So you can safely activate it..."
"Damn straight, I can't believe that cheapskate Atom bought us a new capuccino machine!" Solaron said, holding out the coffee mug he picked up from the table.
"I remember the RX2000 Super Javamaster well, in Crey R&D, I helped with stress testing it. It had a tendency to splash people with boiling milk if you where not polite. The AI for the prototype had been a bit surly, but I'm sure they worked out the bugs." Solaron stated.
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