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Meta Knight walks into Mace Knight’s quarters slowly, his eyes scanning the room for any signs of life. Spotting Mace across the room repairing Javelin, he sighs. They’re fine, he reassures himself. They’re still in one piece. At least Mace is. Javelin is in a bit of disrepair, but still… Mostly in one piece.After a run in with Kirby, most of the Meta-Knights had been left injured and exhausted, though less from Kirby and more from their own panic and lack of proper planning. Javelin had gotten the worst of it, damaged to the point of shut down. Mace grabbed Javelin and ran as fast as he could to get him to the repair dock, leaving Meta Knight worried that he wouldn’t be able to repair their robotic companion.Approaching Mace, Meta exhales deeply, looking the robot over. “How are the repairs coming along?” Mace doesn’t look up, reaching for a soldering iron set on the bench next to him.“Well enough. Javelin will be back on his stabilizers pretty soon. He got banged up pretty badly, but nothing I can’t fix.”“Good, I hate to see him in this state. I was worried he’d be too far gone”“You were… Worried about him?”Meta raises a brow at Mace and tilts his head to the side. “Of course, why wouldn’t I be? He’s one of us and I worry for all of my crew when they’re hurt. Were you not worried about him? You built him, you should be more worried than anyone.”“Not exactly. I don’t worry about him as much as I used to. He’s not exactly alive, so he doesn’t hurt, therefore there’s no need to worry. As long as his harddrive is intact, he’ll be fine after a repair or two. He’s too hard headed to be out of commission long.” Mace laughs and knocks on Javelin’s head, a few loose parts rattling around at the motion. Mace winces and sighs, setting the soldering iron back down. He pops open a panel on the back of Javelin’s head, looking for the source of the rattle.“I suppose that’s true… but I still worry.” Meta shrugs, scratching at the back of his head. “He’s sentient the same as you and I. I’d think he gets scared of whether or not he’s gonna make it himself.”Mace hesitates, mulling over the concept of Javelin being scared. He taps on his helmet for a moment before returning to fixing the inside of Javelin’s head. “He is sentient, yeah. Sapient, no. See, that’s the thing. He’s sentient, just the same as any AI. Even animals are sentient. But he lacks the same…” Mace makes a vague motion as if coaxing the word out. “Sapience as you and I. That’s what makes the difference between us, as living people, and him, as a machine. He gives the illusion of life, but his AI can only go so far.”The purple knight turns to look at his superior before continuing, “Don’t get me wrong, I care about Javelin as much as the rest of the crew does. He’s one of us, just like you said, but I have to remind myself he isn’t actually alive and I don’t need to worry about him feeling pain or dying. At the end of the day, he’s a machine and can be fixed.”The panel on the back of Javelin’s head clicks shut and with a shudder he clicks to life. He lifts his head slowly and the yellow light in his ‘eye’ flashes on like a old timey tv. He gives a few affirmative beeps as he turns towards Mace, examining his creator and his superior. Mace perks up confidently, nodding as he motions towards Javelin. “See? He’s fine! No need to worry about him!”Meta Knight nods slowly, seeming to agree. “I suppose so. I’ll try not to worry so much.” The Halberd shakes as it falls into the grasp of the Access Ark, Haltworkers boarding from all sides. Meta Knight runs across the deck, fighting off the invading soldiers as he makes his way towards the rest of his crew. Seeing his crew being attacked so viciously filled him with a rage he could never describe to another person.Stopping abruptly, Meta takes a swing at a Haltworker approaching him from his side. But as he’s striking down the invader, Meta freezes. He hears a gun click behind him and before he can react he’s pushed out of the way. Javelin stands where he once stood and the pink haired woman holding the gun fires. A portion of Javelin’s front plating is blasted off, parts of his circuitry tearing off along with it. The red robot slumps onto the deck as his power begins to fail him.“Javelin!”Meta Knight leaps to the robotic knight’s side, holding him gently as he watches the yellow light of his eye flicker and fade. Meta’s hands shake slightly as Javelin’s joints lock and he becomes stiff.“My apologies. I didn’t intend to damage your toy, but it did get in my way.” The pink haired woman strides up to Meta Knight, aiming her gun at his temple. “Maybe it should’ve stayed put.”Clenching his fists, Meta turns to look up at the woman who’d put a hole in his friend. “He wasn’t a toy. He’s a member of my crew, my friend, and you’ll pay for what you’ve done to him.” The pink haired woman cackles, pressing the gun against the metal of Meta’s mask.“Your friend? This is just a crudely built plaything for children. He’s hardly a proper machine.” She brings the gun down hard on Meta Knight, knocking him out. “Given enough time, I’ll show you what a proper robot is.”She continues cackling as Haltworkers drag off the blue knight, the remaining members of the Halberd crew falling to the invading soldiers. Meta’s mind replays Mace’s words on loop as he hangs motionlessly in the Haltworks Company’s lab. He’s hooked up to numerous machines, parts of his body replaced with machinery, some of his skin now metal.
“I have to remind myself he isn’t actually alive. At the end of the day, he’s a machine.”
A door opens nearby and the pink haired woman, Susie, enters. She gives him a quick once over and begins writing notes on a clipboard. With what little strength he has, Meta speaks up.“Am I no more than a machine now?”Susie frowns at the question, tapping her pen to her chin as she thinks. “Now that’s a strange question. You’re a cyborg at this point, so I suppose you’re a machine. Of sorts.” She chirps the last bit, not quite clarifying as she moves on, examining other experiments in the lab.
“I have to remind myself he isn’t actually alive. At the end of the day, he’s a machine.”
Meta aches. Not just his body, but his heart. He’d agreed that day that Javelin wasn’t alive, he didn’t fear his own demise, he didn’t feel pain. He’d agreed, but now he didn’t believe it. Meta looks over himself and sees the machinery, the metal, the wires and circuits. He’s a machine now, isn’t he? “So then ,” he thinks.
“What difference is there between him and I?”
Meta rolls his shoulders as he rubs at a sore spot that still stings from where there’d once been a screw. Making rounds checking on his crew after they made their attack on Star Dream, he approaches Mace’s quarters. The knight hesitates, thinking back on his last check in on Mace and Javelin. The memory is distant by now, but it still lingers the same as it did in the laboratory before.Taking a deep breath, Meta continues on, entering the room and approaching Mace. Javelin isn’t anywhere to be seen, but Meta decides to keep on with the check in.“Are you doing alright? That machine was ruthless, I’m surprised we managed to fight as well as we did,” the blue knight prompted.“I’m fine, no serious injuries. Javelin got the worst of it, as usual. His repairs went just fine, though. He’s on the repair dock right now. He’s been quite chatty since I powered him on.”“That’s good. I’m glad you’re both in good health. I was worried for both of you.”Meta takes a few steps past Mace with the intent of checking in on Javelin. Before he can get far, Mace speaks up, “Javelin has been asking about you. He heard about what happened. With the company and… He’s worried. We all are really. That said, how are your… Ailments?” The blue knight hesitates, unsure how to answer. He still aches, still finds returning to his life to be hard. It’s silent for a moment, until Meta, without turning to face the other, speaks up.“I’ve been thinking about what you said.”“What I said?”“About Javelin and the difference between us and him. I’ve been thinking and…”“And?” Mace tilts his head curiously.Meta sighs, continuing on his walk to see Javelin. “Never mind.”Stepping into the next room over, a sort of small lab that Mace had put together himself, Meta sees Javelin on his dock, beeping contently. Meta sighs in relief, a small smile working it’s way across his face under his mask.“Good to see you up and running, Javelin.”“And you as well, sire!” Javelin turns to face Meta, his electronic voice hitching a bit. He must still be a little damaged.“I was worried about you, you know. After that reckless stunt you pulled during the invasion, I thought I’d be sending you to the scrap heap! You…” The blue knight’s voice trails off and he steps closer, putting a hand on the red robot’s head.“You did a lot more than save me that day.”Javelin beeps curiously at the gesture, his yellow light blinking a few times. Meta pats him gently.
“Thank you, my friend.”