Story [RoboCop: The Series] Broken Glass (Drabbles)

Mira_Jade: That was the toss-up, there, with him not just coming out and saying he's still here, but not completely here... and that was the choice he made. "No. They need a husband and a father. I can not do that. But I can protect them." (This fact does not make it easy. Not at all.) Thank you, Mira.

Nyota's Heart: Thank you!!!! (He was accepting of the fact that she was inaccessible... but did that make him any less protective? Nope! This will always be his wife, no matter that she's moved on.)

 

Emotional for him, being outside and knowing that she is remarrying. Loved how his father comforted him

 

@earlybird-obi-wan ...oh yes. Very emotional here. (Apologies for this very late reply.)

Title: Shattered Glass (Mom over-ruled me on Fragmentary. Maybe next time.)
Author: DaenaBenjen42
Fandom: Robocop

A/N: This is one of those times where I was mostly kidding about writing anything... and then the plot bunnies came knocking and made me cry while attempting to file things and copy records to send out. So... more of a certain series with our favorite traumatic amnesiac cybernetic policeman and his world, it is, then. Okay. (I say it a lot here when I write Robocop, but I will repeat the warning... In this fandom, it usually goes without saying, but: ANGST WARNING. I can't not warn people.) (Everybody warned? Good.)

A/N (2): This is admittedly starting somewhere odd, with Robocop 2... but the plot bunnies demanded it.
(Continuity note here: Ellen Murphy was the movie version of Alex Murphy's wife. Nancy belongs to the TV series. Eventually, Ellen Murphy was apparently told about her husband's transformation. Nancy Murphy, on the other hand... was not.)

Shattered Glass - Week I - Prompts Presented by Mira_Jade


1. Adamant


He listened to the idiot in the suit from OCP. Listened, but did not want to abide by what he was being told. Everything and nothing was different... he was still an active member of law enforcement, he still had a family. A family he didn't completely recall in the best of times, that he could still feel deep down inside... something that was more than the job, that made the world mean something.

As the suits of OCP left and he watched her walk in, he stood, full well knowing his helmet was off, and approached her as she started pleading from the other side of a wire fence.

Eventually, he leaned in and looked her right in the eyes. "Touch me."

The expression on her face as she put a single finger to his lips made him want to punch a hole in a wall.


2. Abide


"It's cold."

"They made this... to honor him."

Standing there, eye to eye with the countenance of the man she'd loved staring back at her, Ellen could do nothing but look at him. Could do nothing but see the silent pleading behind the mask of blankness for her to take the next step and let it be. She didn't want to. Didn't want to just leave it be, to leave him here in this moment with the metal wire between them. This was all she had left of him, this... husk. He was in there... she could see him.


3. Afield


"Your husband is dead. I don't know you."

As he pivoted and turned away with metal servos whirring, Ellen wanted to reach through the wire and stop him, to make him take it back. She could feel the tears welling up, even as she heard herself start to protest, to try to yell, do anything but accept the reality of this. He was in there! What had they told him, to get him to lie and be so cruel?

Before she knew it, she was outside, staring up at the sky, unaware of how she'd gotten outside, with a blonde woman in a police uniform handing her a cup of coffee.


4. Aghast


She blinked down at the cup of coffee in her hands, at once wondering why something so familiar felt do foreign. Why did the world feel different, even though nothing had changed? "I..." Or had everything... again?

"Don't," her companion ordered softly, gently. "Don't make a scene. They're watching."

Ellen blinked again and raised her head, to look around. There was indeed a man in a suit staring at her from beside a parked car. "Oh."


5. Aforetime


Slowly, Officer Anne Lewis guided Ellen Murphy to her own vehicle in the parking lot of Metro West, doing her best not to glare at the man watching them and knowing full well that if she hadn't caught Ellen when she had, there would have been a massive PR problem on top of PR problems with the suits. They wanted her to go away, and she wanted her husband. Only, like always, it was more complicated than the relationships between men and women.

Ellen drained the cup of coffee, then handed it to her. "Thank you."

"For what?"

"Being here. Twice."

Anne nodded. It was the least she could have done, for the partner she'd failed that she had had for less than a day.

 

a great set showing the emotions of Ellen and Robocop

 

I'm not familiar with Robocop but the emotions here are powerful anyway.

Really poignant line, and a great first set all around!

 

I only have a passing familiarity with RoboCop, but I really enjoyed these! I love me some angst so that's only a positive for me!

I particularly liked Afield, it's so heartbreaking! She knows he's in there somewhere but he doesn't know it. I can't imagine how hard that is to deal with. You did a great job conveying that feeling in a drabble, not easy to do!

 

@earlybird-obi-wan : Thank you!

@amidalachick : Welcome to the angst train. (I wish that was a joke, here... it's not.) Thank you.

@mavjade : The thing is... he knows it himself, but was forced into lying to her because of Directive Four. (Never oppose an OCP officer.) And he does know, but he also DOESN'T know know, if that makes any sense. His words from Movie One: "I can feel them, but I can't remember them." He has pieces of a whole, but for that shot to the head, in other words... and for what I wanted out of that two minute scene between these two, we would have needed a ten hour movie. Thank you, Mav!

A/N: At these prompts, I was wondering "Okay... the fandom I'm working with... how do I make it PG and what POV do I come from?" (And then I wished for Police Academy very briefly, because I've got Criminals and Corrupt Business Persons and lots of 'em. Sometimes, they even buy nuclear bombs while standing in abandoned churches... wanting to blow up Detroit...) With that said... onward!


Week II - Prompts Provided by Briannakin - Robocop 3


6. Raid (Donuts, everybody! Donuts!)


The cashier could spot an idiot a mile off as he watched the guy enter through the swinging glass door, wearing a heavy jacket and walking with a swagger. It was predictable, then, as he asked politely if he could help the man, that his demeanor suddenly changed and the gun was shoved in his face.

"Nobody move! Everything in the register! Now! Do it!"

Also predictable was the sudden mass clicking off of safeties on multiple weapons of off-duty police officers who very quickly took aim on him. The cashier leaned over as the crook dropped the gun and put his hands up in defeat. "What's it like, being a rocket scientist?"


7. Pirate (Loyal. As. A. Puppy.)


The past twenty hours were a blur for Nikko Halloran as she crouched beneath the ED-209 and quickly accessed the big machine's programming while her older companion's panicked and the machine's voice counted down the time they had to comply. She grinned. "You won't believe this! He'll be loyal as a puppy!"

She inputted the command and then looked upward as the ED-209's posture changed.

"I am now authorized to... be loyal as a puppy."

Nikko smiled again cheekily, as if their lives HADN'T just been in danger, and her older companions stared at her with a mix of joy and stupefaction.


8. Smuggle (Jetpack!)


Dr. Marie Lazarus should have been startled to see the jetpack she designed in the middle of all of this. Should have been, but she wasn't. No, she was downright glad for a distraction and a way to fix it so the power drain situation that had happened to put her cybernetic charge in danger AGAIN when he'd been damaged so badly could be avoided.

It didn't matter how this ragtag bunch of people got their hands on it, and she didn't care.


9. Maraud (Sgt. Reid is the man!)


As he gets out of the squad car and gets his first good look at the ragtag citizens of Cadillac Heights gathered in the street, Sargent Warren Reid of Metro West of the Detroit Police Department feels his resolve hardening. These were the people he had sworn to protect and serve, staring back at them as the officers he had brought with him all got out of their cars and prepared to defend against a siege. He wanted nothing more than to not order them to do what he was about to, to NOT go against orders from higher up and pretend that the situation was normal, that he wasn't about to go against the law to uphold it.

Wanting and needing were two different things, however, as he ordered those unable to fight to shelter in place in a basement.


10. Steal


Down in the darkness of the shutdown, Alex is left to do nothing but watch as he gets occasional jarring glimpses of the repair process going on above and around him. Memories flash unbidden as they always do, half-remembered and jarring as always...

"Murphy. It's you." Anne... whom he failed. Who had told him to get them for her.

"Alex, I thought you'd never get home." Ellen... whom he had been forced to lie to, to tell her he didn't know. To turn his back on her pleas.

As awareness started to return, the prime directives popped up on his OS, hanging there in green like they always did.

1. Serve The Public Trust
2. Protect The Innocent
3. Uphold The Law
4. Never Oppose An OCP Officer

Down here in the darkness, he stared at that last one. It had cost him so much... he was never sure afterward if he'd willed it or not, but when he woke, there was no Directive Four.

 

fun with raid and pirate and intense in steal

 

Another great set, and great uses of the prompts.

This line, and this drabble in particular, really stood out to me. I could feel the tension. And "Steal" was so poignant.

Nice work!

 

@earlybird-obi-wan ...thank you!!!!!

@amidalachick ...it's only right that he should steal himself, right? Right. Thank you!

@Mira_Jade ...it's a reason to visit this fandom at times, you know? Because there is never enough Robocop fanfiction. You'll be happy to know that he did indeedy go get 'em... with a flame thrower. (Was that overkill? No, no it wasn't...)


Week 3 - Prompts Provided By MavJade - Robocop: The Series (AU... very, very AU...)


11. Professor


It is three years before a package arrives with no return address, and the woman hesitates before opening it, at home alone for once because her husband is off at work and the kids are at school. With gloved hands, she opens the package carefully... only to find first a letter from someone named Charles Lippincott, explaining the contents, and a holographic message for her daughter Diana to see on her 18th birthday.

Lois frowns at the letter, wondering who this man was and how and when her deceased sister had gotten married. Had they eloped? Why hadn't Diana told her?


12. School


The man looked ordinary as she watched him from the safety of the hallway of the Henry Ford Center For the Morally Challenged, Lois observed. Locked in his cell on the other side of mirrored glass, he did not strike her as someone who would lead a corporate takeover and kill a dozen people. She wanted to ask him things, ask him why her sister... what had led him down this path to hurt people?

In the end, she simply stood there, watching him in silence with Charlie on one side and a guard on the other. Whatever he would have had to say, it never would have been enough for all the hurt he had caused.


13. Gifted


It looked like any other police precinct, she noticed as she entered the building. Busy, cluttered with people of all sorts, and not nearly enough officers to manage it all. A young girl with brown hair in a pony tail ran past her, and Lois blinked after her for a moment. What was a child doing here?

"That's Gadget," someone spoke up, and Lois turned to see a woman in plain clothes with brown curly hair up in a braid. "She lives here."

Lois nodded, distracted. "Right. I... is there a Charles Lippincott here?"

The woman paused. "You want Charlie? Sure, he's here. Come on."


14. Karma

Lisa motioned the woman to wait a moment before entering the tech room, making sure that propriety was maintained on behalf of Robo... who wasn't even in the building right now. She nodded to herself, then stepped back and motioned the woman in. "Charlie? Someone to see you."

Charlie looked up from the readout on the computer monitor he'd been studying with a slight frown. "What?" Then he blinked, startled at the sight of the woman standing beside Lisa, for she bore a striking resemblance to his translucent wife. "Oh. Hello."


15. Gambit


The story this man told her of meeting and falling for her sister due to a work assignment was endearing and heartwarming all at once. She could see it, the two of them bonding over programming and paperwork, and Lois finally let herself smile for the first time in what felt like ages. They were in this together, this odd man named Charlie and her, for they had lost the same person in the same way, to madness and crime. Slowly, she pulled out a small photo album out of her purse and handed it to him.

Charlie perused the pictures for a minute, then frowned at her. "Who is this?"

Lois smiled. "This is Diana, my daughter. It's only right that you should see these, sir. You're family."

 

a great set exploring the feelings of the characters

 

Very interesting to meet all the people who are or were involved in this strange chain of sci fi events! There's definitely a before and after with far-reaching consequences for everyone. I really felt terrible Ellen and her husband, that's really brutal on both of them. Seems like an "if only" situation on so many levels. And it's very intriguing to get some glimpses of what's going on in this far-futuristic police station that is almost what you'd expect in our times... but a little off.

 

Great set!

I like how this set starts off with a sense of caution and foreboding, and then ends with them starting to build trust:

Again, I'm not familiar with the fandom but these are great character glimpses and the emotions are powerful. Hope to see more soon!

 

@earlybird-obi-wan : Thank you!!!!!

@Kahara : "if only" vibes with this fandom set in Near Future Detroit... oh yes! (Why DOES Sergeant Parks live at Metro South? Still wondering this.) Welcome to this fandom that apparently also includes Icebergs wreaking havoc on shipping in the Panama Canal. (That's NOT a joke, and I want to shake the hand of that script writer...) Thank you!

@amidalachick : In a previous set from UDC 7, Diana was dealing with her sister having named a child in her honor. I figured... we might as well see more fall-out from that... Thank you!!!!!!

@Mira_Jade : Thank you, Mira.


A/N: I hadn't actually watched the Robocop remake movie yet until the week I started on this set... but when I really looked at the plot summary of it, I couldn't not. Continuity, since we now have a THIRD SET of continuity: Alex got a new wife AND a new son, Clara and David Murphy, and he wasn't given amnesia, traumatic or otherwise. Also a new doctor tech guy, played by Gary Oldman, named Dennett Norton, and a male partner named Jack Lewis (I see what they did, there) instead of Anne Lewis. Everybody caught up? Okay. Let's do this.


Week 4 - Prompts Presented By Mira_Jade - Robocop (2014 Movie Reboot)


16. Misty

It is dark when he leaves what had been his home after the visit with his family. He doesn't want to go back to the precinct, back to the lab for the night for maintenance, but has no choice. As he gets into the waiting car, rain begins to fall and he looks blankly upwards for a moment at the dark, clouded sky, relishing the feeling of it.

"Alex?"

The doctor's voice tugs at him, reminding him that nothing is normal, but right here in this moment, he is a man getting wet on a dark and rainy night.


17. Lonely


Leaning against a wall after putting her son to bed, Clara Murphy can finally let herself take a moment to process everything. As different as he was now, she still wanted her husband in her life, in David's life. It had been so lonely since the night of the explosion and the decision to save his life had been laid out before her... had she made the right call? Would he forgive her if it ever came to light that the choice had been hers?

Taking a deep breath, Clara pushes off the wall. Tonight, just like every night since the explosion, she will get ready for bed alone.


18. Fiery


Standing in what had been his driveway, in what had been his last remembered moments as a whole person, the man inside a suit of armor can only watch as the memories merge with the CCTV neighborhood monitoring footage of that night. Can only watch as the car explodes in his face and he is thrown backwards by the force of it. Can only watch as his wife comes tearing out of the front door to first look at him and then run back inside to call 911. Can only watch as his son, woken by the noise of the explosion, stares down out of his upstairs window, terrified and still blinking sleep out of his eyes.

In an instant, purpose becomes clear, and man and programming agree and merge. There is no normal. There is no safety. There is the job, and the job is now to sort this out and bring those responsible to justice.


19. Golden


As Raymond Sellers watches the demonstration field test of their project and listens to the good doctor explain how the now-cybernetically enhanced police officer is acting so fact and efficiently by bypassing the normal decision making processes of a person with programming, he can't help but feel impressed. It's going to work, this project of theirs. It's going to be a success in ways he never dreamed of to get the public to accept militarized drones more readily.

Better still, it would be legal.


20. Undying


A loud noise that shakes the house wakes him, a scream on his young lips. Blinking in the darkness, slowly registering that there is unnatural, flickering light outside, David Murphy scrambles to look out his bedroom window. There, he finds his parent's car in flames, his mother rushing back into the house, and... is that his father down there, on the ground?

The scene makes no sense to his sleep-addled mind, but in an instant, life has turned upside down and will never be the same again.

 

great POV from the people involved.
19 How could they do that grrr