Project Atlas

Chapter 1

Tenma paces back and forth. "This is bad, this is really bad. Hamegg was nuts. He wanted to build fighting robots for entertainment. The idea of building a robot for the sole purpose of destroying a robot for entertainment grated my soul. And if he has the schematics for the most powerful robots in Metro City."
Astro nods, understanding how dire the situation is. "Don't worry. I'll find him. I already have an idea on where to look."

Meanwhile, Astro's lookalike was wandering through the streets of Metro City, using his various visions (x-ray, heat etc) to look for Astro. 'Examining environment for primary target.' After not catching a glimpse of him, he moves on. 'Primary target not found. Continuing investigation.' His blue boots make an almost inaudible "thunk" with each step, weighed down by his upgrades.

Many hours later, with still no sign of Astro, the copy robot was forced to reconsider his option. 'Realigning search parameters.' His HUD showed him various ways he could narrow down his search, when a particular one tickles his processor just right. He pulls up an image of Dr Tenma. 'New objective. Capture targets primary user.'

Astro lands near the body shop where Hamegg did his repairs. He knocks on the door. "Hey, Hamegg." No answer. He knocks again. "Get out here Hamegg." Still no answer. He starts banging the door, but in his frustration, the metal warps and Astro cringes. He looks around to see if anyone saw and just kicks the door down. Walking in reveals that no one is home. Everything is coated in a thick layer of dust and grime. His x-ray vision reveals nothing new. "Must have skipped town after Zog spooked him." Astro activates his rockets to fly and find his dad to tell him the bad news.

Landing through the window reveals something really bad. Astro's home was completely trashed. "Dad!" Astro calls out for his father. "Dad!" Running around the house, Astro finds Orrin looking a little worse for wear, with a handful of dents and scrapes. Putting him back on his wheel, Astro shakes the butler bot awake. "Orrin, what happened here? Where's dad?"
Orrin blinks himself awake and starts relaying what happened. "Oh Astro, it was horrible. It was a robot, and he destroyed the house and took Bill. I am so freaked right now!"
Astro slaps Orrin. "Calm down. What did it look like?"
Orrin scratches the back of his dome in thought. "It could be a malfunction in my memory circuit after getting backhanded across the house, but other than the color, he looked almost exactly like you."

The copy robot is hovering over a random street. It was a large street, popular due to a low percentage of traffic jams between locations. The copycat deduced that this would give him a visual advantage and abundant maneuverability. While these same advantages would be applied to his original counterpart, his formulae and prior knowledge of the inferior model concluded that he would make better use of it. And the popularity of the street resulted in civilians which would force the target to split his attention.
"Who are you? What do you want? Did that nut job Hamegg make you?" The captive Tenma throws questions at his captor.
The robot deduces that it is ill advised to provide such information to an ally of his primary target. "Access denied."

"Hey!" Astro arrives on the scene, hovering in front of his copy.
'Primary target detected. Engage.' Astro hears his opposites voice for the first time, and it's too similar to his own. "Relinquish the blue core or your primary user will be terminated."
Astro tried making a quip to defuse the situation. "But the blue core is my battery, so how can I give it to you if I need it?"
The copy is unfazed. "The request was to relinquish the core, not give it manually. I shall retrieve the code from your chassis."
Astro shakes his head. "I can't do that."
The copy activates his hand cannon, much bulkier than Astro's, and a darker shade of gray, and points it at Tenma. "You have T minus five seconds to agree to my terms and conditions or your primary user shall be terminated. Five. Four. Three. Two." The barrel of his cannon glows red with energy. "On-"
"Alright! You can have it!" Astro raises his hands in surrender."
"Optimal decision." The cannon is retracted back into the bots hand, the two landing in the street, bystanders watching. "We shall exchange custody simultaneously."

They walk towards one another in sync until they are only a foot from one another. "Beginning exchange." The copy slowly extends his captive. Astro activates his own cannon behind his back and his copy's eyes blink red as his HUD activates. 'Threat detected.' He readies his own cannon and the two robots fire at one another simultaneously, the feedback of the opposing energies knocking back all present and the civilians start running away. Tenma watches his son get up and gives him a thumbs up before running. The copy sees Tenma running and readies his rockets to pursue him but is hit by Astro's blast.

The two robots take off into the sky to engage in aerial combat. The copy rockets himself towards Astro, dodging his blast and fires his own cannon at point blank range, causing some of Astro's systems to stall, and the copy backhands him, throwing him into a building.
He pins Astro to the wall of the building and scans him. 'Blue core obtained. Raw materials available. Sub objective. Assimilate.'

The copy's hands meld into Astro's body as he tries to mesh their systems. Astro gets flashes of the new model's brief life.

"Awaiting input."
Hamegg laughs and ribs Stone. "What did I tell you? He's perfect."
Stone rubs his chin with a nod. "Yes, we don't want this one going rogue. Nice work. And with the blue core we can mass produce these things."

The copy also sees Astro's memories. Flashes of a long life that wasn't his, and newer memories of the surface and his adventures, and his relationship with Tenma. Soon, the core energies meet, and start fighting one another, until Astro and his copy are flung away from one another, landing in the street and sparking.

Both robots are heavily damaged from the feedback, their respective Nanites getting to work and fixing them. The copy, seeing that he's near a street lamp, absorbs the extra metal in order to speed up his repairs. He stands and walks over to Astro and arms his cannon and points it at Astro's face as it glows. But then he hesitates. 'Employing new tactic. Psychological warfare.' He disarms his cannon and prepares to take off, but is stopped by his heroic opposite. "Wait. Why don't you finish me?"
The copy blinks. "We all need to have fun." And he flies away at Mach speed.