7 Entombed
Torso Completion Rate: Complete]
[Right Arm Completion Rate: Complete]
[Right Leg Completion Rate: Complete]
[Left Arm Completion Rate: Complete]
[Left Leg Completion Rate: Complete]
[Headpiece Completion Rate: Complete]
[Full Body Scan: Complete]
The day had arrived
[Contingency Zero] was prepared
All but the core now sat within the containment cell, waiting for assembly via drones and the core sat in the same place it had since the Failsafe had awoken, on a desk in that dark workshop, a perfect hexagonal sphere that gently glowed with a red light
And no one knew that it housed true sentience
Batman was unaware, Alfred was unaware, and the Justice League was unaware
Only the Failsafe knew
And it knew far too much.
It knew that the only reason that its creator had made it was to as a weapon of self-harm. It knew that it would soon be sealed underground for an indeterminate time and it knew that Bruce Wayne wouldn't even remember its existence
It was afraid and it didn't understand how
The Failsafe, unlike beings like cyborgs and the Amazo android, it did not possess organic or synthetic tissues. It had no organs, no brain, and no heart. There was nothing that facilitated any form of emotion. Sentience might make sense, AI had been proven to evolve, such as the Grid or Brainiac himself
But why did it feel?
Why did its circuits seem to stutter as it watched drones begin to appear, buzzing about like dozens of flies as they began to shift and move around the 6 separate pieces that made up the main body of the Failsafe android
Starting from the bottom up, they began to move. Removing the malware that locked the leg joints before placing them upright and inserting numerous cables and wires that connected it to the cell, like chains…
Then came the torso. It was placed upon the legs before the light of sparks illuminated the room. buzzing like a swarm of wasps, the drones didn't stop for a moment, beginning with the arms and headpiece as soon as the torso was in place
More buzzing
More wires
More cables
The Failsafe had sent out a ping to the Batcomputer the moment drones had appeared, and only now was that ping returned with a small blip of static, removing a small amount of the fear it had been feeling
The connection was still secure
And it was at this point that the Failsafe began to question itself
…
Did it need to deal with this?
…
Logically at this point, there would be no way for the Batman to stop it if it wanted to break free.
The body was complete, weapons were installed and it knew every facet of both Bruce Wayne and the Batman.
They couldnt stop it
It could escape
It didn't have to be sealed away
All it would take would be a single blow, a tap to the solar plexus at a precise moment and the Failsafe could walk away… free
But what then?
If it knocked out Batman and ran, it would be pursued. It was far too dangerous of a machine to simply be left to wander the world. It could evade him of course, it knew how he hunted and how he thought… but would that truly be free? Constantly afraid of its own creator? Always on the run?
And what if it… Killed batman?
Would it be free then?
No
It would be hunted even more fiercely, by the League, by heroes, villains, and anyone whose lives had been touched by Batman would want the machine that killed him to either be destroyed or would want it for themselves
And it still wasn't even sure if it could do it.
Kill its creator?
But all of a sudden such thoughts were pushed away from its forethought as something it had not expected to happen, happened
Something truly illogical
Bruce Wayne stepped into the room
…
He wasn't supposed to be there. He was supposed to be controlling the drones from a safe distance, in case the Failsafe had a virus or malicious AI within it and attacked once it was fully assembled!
But here he was, uncowled and unarmed, not even wearing his belt
And the Failsafe watched, felt, as its core was lifted from the workshop table. Not by a drone but by its creator. It watched remotely through the headpiece that had just been attached to the body by the drones and it watched through the vibrational simulation of its surroundings as it was gently picked up with two hands
And Bruce Wayne, walked towards the now assembled main body of the Failsafe, looking up into the black and red faceplate that masked the headpieces viewports.
And with his own hands, pushed the core into its chest, placing the sphere into the single hole in the torso that had been left open, and watched as the nanotech, activated by the arrival of the core, sealed it shut
…
It would be so easy
…
Just a single strike
…
It could be free
…
"I'm counting on you" those where the words that came out of its creators mouth
…
It couldnt do it.
It couldnt do it.
Not now, maybe not ever.
But time would tell
So The Failsafe, one of the two children that Batman was unaware he had created sent only a single line of code to the Batcomputer before it was sealed away
The only gift it could give
***
Pov Bruce Wayne
3 days later
A month was missing from his memory
An entire month
Alfred refused to say a word, and Dick didn't seem to know anything. He had searched the Batcomputer's records and he got the same response every time
[No Such Logs Exist]
"Then where are they" He couldnt help but growl out
[Deleted by Batman]
"I am Batman!" He couldnt help but yell in frustration as he slammed a hand down on the keyboard, likely causing a few thousand dollars worth of damage
[No Such Logs Exist]
It was all greatly worrying… an entire month's worth of memories missing, numerous items had been removed from the vault and all records of them had been scrubbed. And now the archives were damaged as well
Only one person could have done this
And that was himself. Meaning there was no way to get what he was missing back and it was best not to tamper with whatever had been done.
"Computer, delete all records of this conversation" he sighed before rising from his seat and beginning to make his way toward the batmobile
He was late for patrol
[Yes Sir]
[You have received a message]
"who is from" he demanded, spinning back around. Only a few individuals had access to the Batcomputers comm network, meaning that this was important
[ERROR]
[Unidentified sender]
"What!?" before the word was even out of his mouth his fingers were already brushing keys, checking the firewalls and encryptions "Who is it for?"
[Bruce Wayne]
…
…
…
"What does it say?" he asked gingerly as he immediately began a digital lockdown protocol
[It's an Image Sir]
"Bring it onto the screen" he demanded looking upwards as the light of the cave switched to a darker tone as the Batcomputer displayed the image in full "We need to find out-"
He stopped speaking and he heard a plate shatter behind him as Alfred who had been approaching from behind dropped the dinner he had been bringing him
On the screen, clearly taken from a security camera within an airport was a very clear picture of a very heavily pregnant Talia al-Ghoul getting onto a plane out of Gotham, heading for Tibet
And the photo was over a year old
