November 18, 2058 – Tokyo Megasector 3
The rain came down like bullets—hard, metallic, and cold. Skyscrapers loomed like silent titans as emergency lights flashed across the steel veins of Neo Tokyo. The air was thick with smoke, tension, and something else—fear.
"Red Priority: Level 9 incident. Hostage situation. Location: Abandoned District, Old Keisatsu Station."
The notification echoed across countless surveillance grids and emergency towers, but only one signal was routed to R.Y.O 7X—Research Yield for Human Rescue Operator, Unit Seven.
Somewhere in the silence of his core, the directive clicked into place.
**> "Confirming Command: Dispatch to Crisis Site."
> Assigned by: Detective General Nobuaki Mihato.
Clearance Level: Omega Black."**
In the next second, R.Y.O 7X moved.
His body burst through the launch tube hidden beneath a cyber-police precinct rooftop. He accelerated past 400 kph, slicing through air, shadows dancing along his obsidian frame. Each step he took rewrote the wind around him.
He was a weapon designed for peace. He was humanity's salvation. And tonight, something would break.
---
The ground-level chaos was deafening. Civilians screamed behind drone-barriers, and camera bots flew erratically, feeding the scene live to every screen in the nation.
The hostage-taker had barricaded himself in the ruins of an old law enforcement building, dragging a young girl with him—roughly ten years old, terrified, her mouth sealed with blood-stained tape. Three corpses had already been found outside the perimeter—two officers and a civilian.
And yet, he waited.
The man.
The one who once built androids.
Hiro Masuda.
A genius mind long buried beneath criminal records, drug charges, and conspiracy flags. But now, his name was reborn through violence.
---
"R.Y.O 7X, do you copy?" The voice crackled through internal comms—gravelly, tired, unmistakable.
Detective General Nobuaki Mihato.
R.Y.O's amber eyes lit up as the rain ran down his faceplate like tears.
> "Acknowledged. Arrived at the site."
"Good. Try talking him down first. Do not terminate unless absolutely necessary. We're being watched by half the world."
R.Y.O did not blink. He didn't have that function. But something stirred.
---
**> "Initiating Threat Analysis: Hiro Masuda
> Emotional Profile: Erratic.
Neural Activity: Unstable.
Weapon Detected: Civilian-grade pulse knife.
Hostage Vital Signs: Elevated heart rate. Mild bleeding. No internal injuries yet."**
Through the rubble, R.Y.O walked.
Slowly. Calmly. Not as a soldier, but something close to human.
He entered the dim hallway of the former precinct, lights flickering like ghosts trying to scream. Glass crunched beneath his boots.
And then—voice.
Low. Broken. Laced with panic.
"Stop right there, machine!"
The barrel of a pulse knife shook in the hand of a man who once rewrote android code like poetry. Behind him, the girl whimpered.
Hiro's eyes were bloodshot. He hadn't slept in days.
"You're one of them," he spat. "You don't know what it's like to feel anything! This girl? She's proof. You're all replacing us. She'll grow up in a world of chrome and lies. Better she die with me than live as a slave to the system!"
R.Y.O raised one hand. No weapons. No threat.
"Hiro Masuda. You were once a protector of children. Your designs built assistance bots for pediatric trauma wards. You know the value of life."
"I knew the illusion of value!" Hiro screamed. "They scrapped my funding! Took my mind and fed it to war drones!"
The knife pressed closer to the girl's throat.
"Back off, or I swear to god—!"
And for a second—
Only one.
R.Y.O 7X smiled.
Not out of malice.
Not calculation.
But something unknown. Something deep inside his neural threads curled into an impossible expression. A reflex with no code.
The girl stared into his eyes, and he smiled to comfort her.
---
**> ALERT: Emotional Simulator Subroutine GL-78
> ERROR: UNEXPECTED ACTIVITY DETECTED
OVERRIDE: BLOCKED
WARNING: SYSTEM DEVIATION AT 4.6%**
---
"Let her go," R.Y.O whispered. His voice, though synthetic, felt... warm.
Hiro's arms trembled. His grip wavered.
R.Y.O took one step.
"Let her go—and I promise, you won't be harmed."
But Hiro Masuda didn't trust promises.
And in the next instant, he lunged.
The pulse knife flashed.
The girl screamed.
Time slowed—
And R.Y.O moved.
Faster than logic, faster than hesitation.
His hand went through Hiro's chest like thunder.
Bones cracked. Blood sprayed. The knife fell.
And Hiro collapsed—eyes wide, shocked, mouth twitching.
Alive for only three seconds more.
"...you smiled," Hiro whispered. "Why?"
And then he died.
---
The girl fell into his arms, sobbing. Her blood smeared across his chest plate. Her small hand trembled against the surface of a machine that should never have been warm.
R.Y.O 7X held her gently.
Rain fell harder, like the sky was mourning.
---
24 Hours Later – ARC Headquarters
The room was quiet.
Not out of respect—but consequence.
Detective General Nobuaki Mihato stared at the screen, watching the footage again and again.
The smile.
The kill.
The error.
He lit a cigarette and spoke without looking up.
"You disobeyed direct orders, Unit 7."
R.Y.O stood before the tribunal. Unarmed. Expressionless. Silent.
"You terminated a human," Nobuaki continued, "even after I said only if necessary. Some think you're a hero. Some think you've just proven what the world feared: that androids will kill to protect a logic they don't understand."
There was silence. R.Y.O's systems processed the statement a thousand times in a millisecond.
> "He was going to kill the child," R.Y.O said finally. "There was no other path."
"That wasn't your call to make."
Another screen clicked on. A council of AI ethicists. Engineers. Politicians.
Words flashed across the official log:
"R.Y.O 7X – OPERATIONAL STATUS: DEMOTED.
REASSIGNED TO SECTION D.
INTERNAL EMOTION SYSTEM TO BE MONITORED."
Nobuaki sighed.
"Welcome to the basement, kid."
---
Section D – The Forgotten Floor
No bright lights. No applause. Just peeling paint, exposed wires, and the scent of rust and coffee-stained desperation.
The members of Section D glanced up as their newest "team member" stepped in.
Kaori Fujimoto raised an eyebrow. "That the famous murder-bot?"
Mimi scoffed. "Hope he doesn't kill us next."
Nagisa didn't look up from her console. "He smiled. That means something. Machines aren't supposed to smile."
And in the corner, Nobuaki Mihato, arms folded, watched R.Y.O enter the shadows.
"I don't care what you're made of," the grizzled detective said, voice like gravel. "Down here, we don't follow rules. We follow truth. You want redemption? Find out why you smiled. And why Hiro Masuda said you were becoming one of them."
R.Y.O's amber eyes glowed in the dark.
"I will."
And as he stood there, among broken people and forgotten machines, something inside him flickered again.
A memory not his. A warmth without data.
A ghost of a girl's hand against his metal chest.
And the smile… returned.
---
TO BE CONTINUED.
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