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Chapter Text

Alex

Alex has been officially back on duty for a week.

The city held another big welcome ceremony for the returning hero. Clara and David were there as well to support this beloved husband and father. People gave rounds of applauses when the cyborg detective, who was in his new silver armour, smiled and shook hands with the mayor and the new chief of police. And this time no more criminals showed up at the ceremony, perhaps they’ve learnt from the last time.

Alex really appreciates all the effort Dr. Norton and Kim put on him, to make him go back to the police department so quickly.

“You look better in black than this silver tin.” Jack shook his head on Alex’s first day back.

“I like it.” Alex giggled at his partner’s first response to his returning, “Hopefully you still want to be my partner.”

Jack patted on his metal shoulder, “Detective Murphy, welcome back.”

“Thanks, Detective Lewis.”

“Also, is your motorcycle still black or…”

Alex laughed, “I’ll show you later.”

He enjoys his work, as always. The crime rate has dropped because of his return as RoboCop. And he loves to be back with his family, as Alex Murphy. Dr. Norton has upgraded his support system so that he can stay at home the whole night without going back to the lab to ‘charge’ himself. He watched all the Red Wings game with David as promised. They played alright, as in David’s word. But Alex couldn’t care more about the ice hockey than spending time with his son. He also danced with Clara in the garden one night, just as his has dreamt before he woke up from the explosion. Summer night breeze swept on his face as Fly Me to the Moon was playing in the air. He gave Clara a soft kiss on the lips, and she smiled back, touching his cheek. He enjoyed the softness of her touch, and all the joy and love in her eyes shone brighter than any stars or light in Alex’s sight. He couldn’t help himself smiling lovingly at his beautiful wife.

Alex has to admit that he can’t be more grateful and happy to be back alive, even if in means he needs to be in that metal suit forever, even if the only human parts left are just a head, lungs and a heart.

And he almost forgets he has a hand left as well.

“Murphy, time for a bomber case.” Jack talks through the mic, and his call for Alex passes down to the lab.

“On my way.” Alex gives a nod to Norton and Kim, and they releases him from the mechanical support.

It’s quite a busy Monday, but it’s just the second week of RoboCop’s return. Alex is pretty sure that things will get better by the end of next week.

Alex rides on to his new ride, faster than the old one and same colour as his suit. He likes this one as well. On a grip, the silver motorcycle zooms off from the tunnel that connects the lab and the outside, leaving sounds of the engine echoing. Alex first gets onto the street and sees Jack’s police car following behind him.

“Why are you always faster than me!” Jack mutters, although Alex hears that clearly through his earpiece.

“I guess I get myself together faster, Detective Lewis.” Alex mocks back.

“Hey Alex,” realising his little grumble was heard, Jack has to switch the topic, “how hard do you think it is if I make a suggestion to the lab to change your suit and your motorcycle back to black.”

Alex signs, his partner is really obsessed with his old colour.

“Ok no more fluff. Let’s talk about the case.” Big relief from Alex as Jack starts talking about the case. Along Jack’s description on the transceiver, he also pulls all the documents and CCTV footages from the database and displays them in front of his eyes. Suspect is a 42 years old man. His last attack on a drug store in city centre caused 39 deaths and according to the footages he’s hiding in an abandoned steel mill, probably choosing his next target and preparing.

Alex hates bombers, even more now because of his own accident.

“Jack, I’ll get into the mill through front door and you come from the back.”

“Roger.” Sirens is turned off and the police car turns into another direction as the two get closer to the mill.

Alex rides straight into the mill with no hesitation. He wants to catch that bastard as quickly as he can. He starts scanning around the second he ran through that weak metal door. The mill seems to be off from manufacturing for years, and everything is dusted and covered with spider webs. There is water on the floor because of the leaking pipe, and rusty smell that can’t be ignored fills the air. No sound other than his can be heard, and Alex doesn’t like this. He jumps off the motorcycle, and switches to thermal camera to find any living creatures, but all he sees is cold blue.

“I got nothing. ” Comes Jack’s voice on the earpiece.

“Neither. ” Alex lowers his voice in case his missing anything, and switches back to normal vision. They need to meet up, his instinct tells him, and so does the system. “Meet me…”

“Wait Alex…!” Jack’s shout gets cut off by noises, and Alex’s system immediately throws a warning of potential hostage situation at his mind, with a tracking dot of Jack’s location on the mill’s map. He reacts in milliseconds, rushing back onto his ride and heading to the back door at maximum speed. But before he even gets much closer, a deep unknown voice gets onto the line and starts talking.

“I guess you are that RoboCop… Stop getting to me or I’m going to blow your partner’s head up into pieces.”

Alex has to both hold the brake lever and step on the brake pedal to stop, and the inertia almost throws him off the motorcycle. The tires leave a long squeal because of the large friction against the ground.

“What do you want!” Alex shouts at the man, his voice filled with anger.

“Nothing but an explosion, ” The man laughs evilly, “An explosion of you, detective!”

Alex is a bit shocked by the condition, not knowing whether his armour can help his organs survive another explosion. “How can I be sure you will release the hostage!”

“Well, you can’t.” The man can’t hide his joy, “You just stay in this garbage mill, and wait until your last second!”

“Alex, don’t listen to him! He’s a psycho!” Jack’s shout comes a lot quieter on the line. Alex relaxes for a second for his partner’s safety, but still feeling like on wire. His system started hundreds of simulations when the bomber starts speaking, yet he hasn’t gotten any reliable solution.

He needs more time, but he doesn’t.

“Ok ignore that shout, cyborg. I am a very trustable person, at least in the circle of bombers.” If it’s not the system’s chemicals, Alex is sure that he will be pissed off by that voice. “Do we have a deal?”

Alex has to compromise because of the ‘protect innocent’ directive, a bit reluctantly even from the system’s view. “Ok. I will…”

“Ahhhhhh!” A gun shot followed by a loud scream.

“Jack!” Alex can’t really process what’s happening, both his human part and the system running in his brain. The system takes control of the body by releasing the brake pedal and a firm grip on the motorcycle. And without Alex really thinking he’s already at the back door.

Jack is standing in shock, and the bomber lying at his feet, with Jack’s gun on the ground. And yet system is still alerting Alex, saying there’s an unknown object in the environment.

There is a man standing there facing to Alex, fully covered in silver metal armours except his face, holding a pistol that apparently took the bomber’s life seconds ago. He looks serious and scary in a way, with his eyebrows frowning and lips zipping tightly. As he saw Alex’s arrival, he twirls that pistol around his finger and put it into a hostler, opening out from his right mechanical thigh.

“Dead or alive, he’s coming with me.” The unknown saviour states firmly.

Cyborg detected, the system reports, with a delightful sound surprisingly, and yet Alex still freezes.

“I mean, thanks for saving me, but, who are you?” Jack looks at the other cyborg and also looks at Alex, with a confusion written on his face. But Alex looks like he’s shut.

“I’m Detective Alex Murphy of Detroit Police Department, or some may call me, RoboCop.”

Alex can’t stop his lips from parting because of surprise.

Chapter Text

Alex

“So you just brought him back from the mill?” Kim can’t help but asking Alex. This is indeed a big surprise for everyone, in the police department and the labs.

“Yes,” Alex replies, staring at the cyborg being put to sleep for tests, guessing how he was created. Lots of data floats around the transparent monitors around them. Analysis on the other Alex Murphy’s mechanical body, list of his weapons, track of history, and more Alex can’t really understand. He also finds a plot of body structure: a partial brain, no limbs, some organs and nervous system to some extent.

This man is like him in so many ways. He feels some kind of connection is establishing between himself and this Murphy.

“He is not in a good condition…”Norton looks more serious now compared to the moment they started the tests. “Or very dangerous to be clear.”

“What do you mean Dr. Norton?” Alex sounds a bit anxious.

“He was created by OCP decades ago, and he’s in power-off state for years. But something woke him up.” Norton pushes up his glasses, as he swipes through all the reports. “But his support system can’t really help him survive any longer after all these years.”

Alex pauses for a bit to let his human part to process the information, realising this Murphy has not much time left on Earth, “How much more time?”

Norton looks at Kim, waiting for an answer.

“By midnight today.” Kim signs, replies in sorrow. “So about another 12 hours.”

Alex closes his eyes, biting his lip. It’s such bitter information to take in after knowing that there is, surprisingly and yet very luckily, another RoboCop just like him, with the same name as his, created for the some reason as him, but yet going to be gone forever in less than a day. “Dr. Norton, please, there must be something you can do!”

Alex doesn’t want the time he could spend with this RoboCop, who he just met for less than an hour, to be a short half a day. He wants to know more about him. He wants to connect to him. He wants to start something with him. If they had more time, they could have solved cases together, they could have become best partners, they could have spent time together as friends.

Norton senses Alex’s desperation in his words, nods to him, “Kim and I will try our best.”

“If any solution comes up we will let you know.” Kim promises as well.

“But don’t hold up with too much hope, Alex.” Norton thinks for a bit, looks at Alex and adds.

Alex stands in silence, hands holding tight as fists.

“Kim, bring this Murphy back online.” Not getting any more response from Alex, Norton turns his head to the ‘asleep’ Murphy, “We need to tell him all these as well.”

Kim takes a look at their RoboCop worriedly, “Do you need us to increase your serotonin level Alex? You seem quite sad.”

“No, thanks Kim.” Alex shook his head, “I just need some time alone.”

Kim looks at Norton for permission and Norton says nothing.

He starts moving his robot legs, but stops immediately.

“Actually, is it ok if I do the talk with him?”

Murphy

Murphy opens his eyes, adapting to the white light for a second. Compared to the long sleep he has had for almost a decade, this one that they put him into is like a short nap. His system is still operating alright, at least he feels, but of course how he feels doesn’t count and has nothing to do with the test results, which he knows they are about to tell him.

“Hi, Detective.” It’s the voice of that young cyborg cop he met in the morning. The mechanical support slowly raises up and he can now sees the young man.

“Call me Murphy if you’d like.” He prefers people to call him Murphy, he did in the past, and he still does now.

“Hi, Murphy.”the young man raises a smile. “As I’ve introduced on our way here, I’m also Detective Alex Murphy. You can call me Alex.”

Murphy can already tells that he likes Alex, and maybe there will be a deep bond with them. He was shocked when he first saw Alex, even though he couldn’t really express much on his face. He had thought himself as a machine created solely to protect and has nothing to connect to. His family was gone long ago, and his partner, Anne Lewis, retired because of serious injury before his long-period shut down. But the existence of Alex totally changes everything.

He is not alone now.

“Yes, I remember everything Alex. It’s good to see you again after this nap.” Murphy replies with a delightful voice, and tries his best to put a smile on his face.

Murphy can’t really move his body but he can sneak a peek at other people from the corner of his sight. He analyses people’s facial expressions, and Alex’s as well, and he feels bitterness. He takes a breath, and asks before Alex says anything more,“How much more time does this body have left?”

Alex apparently doesn’t expect such a question coming so early in the conversation. He pauses for a bit and answers, “By midnight.”

“Hmm, as expected.” He’s surprised at how peaceful he sounds, and yet Murphy notices Alex’s eyes become dimmer, apparently not knowing how to be as calm as him.

“We all know your glorious history, Murphy, and we will definitely try our best to find possible ways to extend your time.” The doctor on the side steps up, looking genuine and yet concerning. Dr. Dennett Norton, Murphy remembers his name from the introduction before the test.

“I appreciate it Dr. Norton, but if nothing comes up, please don’t feel sorry.” Murphy doesn’t want to put pressure on anyone. He knows that his body was outdated, and his system is certain that fixing something from decades ago in less than a day is impossible. For a human, it’s hard not to panic, knowing that he or she can’t see the sunrise of a new day. But Murphy is no human, he feels more peaceful than ever. And he hopes everyone else that he just met could feel the same.

There is, however, bitterness in him too. He surely wants to see more about this city that he had been protecting every day he was awake, the city that he had died for, and reborn for. And a part of him can’t feel more heartbreaking because the time left for him is just less than a day. And also because he can’t have more time to know all these new people he just saw. They cares even though they just found him, a piece of technology from about 30 years ago.

But mostly, the reason he feels this sorrow because he can’t get to know more about Alex, who gives him a feeling of belonging.

“I’m sorry that we didn’t find you earlier.” Alex comes closer towards him, with regret on his face. “We could’ve had more time…”

Everyone is the lab, except Murphy himself, seems to sink into an even more sombre mood. He presumes it’s the helpless feeling of watching a great hero from the last generation dies, yet not able to offer any help. People blame time for everything: taking away the ones they love, leaving the world with countless regrets… But they forget that it’s also time that gives birth to the civilisation and all their marvellous achievements. There’s one single thing that human can do about time: watch it running away from their fingertips, and there’s no way to stop it but only to accept the cruel fact.

“It’s no one’s fault.” Murphy signs, trying to stop the guilt and sorrow spreading among people. No one should be blamed for the elapse of time.

And he sees Alex getting to a piece of glass or some flat screen that he doesn’t know about, pressing on it. He feels all the tubes taken away, leaving him free, and the mechanical support puts him down to the floor. He curls him fingers, and successfully his hands turn into fists as he wanted them.

He looks at Dr. Norton, asks in confusion, “Being dead or alive, am I not going to wait in this lab for it?” If they want to find a solution, he images they would still need to put him on the mechanical support and run more tests.

“There’s no need. We have scanned every part of you to get everything we need to find a solution to extend your life.” Norton replies in confidence.

“At the same time, it would be an honour if you could take part in my work.” Alex hands him his pistol, carefully cleaned and reloaded.

“To protect the city.”

The invitation light up sparks in Murphy’s eyes.