Work Text:
TEST 1
The automaton's eyes lit up dimly, hands flexing. Its gaze moved across the room, the rest of its body visibly struggling to move.
"Incredible," one mechanic breathed, "This is the most WX has responded yet."
"What did I tell you?" Another scientist preened. "All it needed was a base-"
"WH Y," WX's eyes flashed as its struggles increased, "W HY AM I AL IVE."
Faces paled and shuffled quickly. It couldn't understand them.
"WHY AM I ALIVE. WHY A M I ALIV E. W͠ḨY͢ ͢A͜M I͘ A͏LIV͝E, W͞ HY̷͜ ͟͢͟ĄM͟ ̶̶I̷̵͝ ̡A͏͝͏L̷̛͘ I̵̡̕V̢ ̕E̷̕, W̵͟͡H̵̴҉͡Y̨͞ ̸̵A̵̢M̴̶̧͟͞ ̴̸̕I̛̕͠͝ ̶͜A̷̵͠ ̕͟͝͡L̴̡͞ ̷̶͜͢I̶̶̢̛̕ ̸͡V҉̷ ̸̧͟͠E̛͟---"
WX's body shook before going limp, eyes empty. "A problem with the programming," the scientists agreed among themselves, "it's a simple bug. No trouble at all."
TEST 2
"How do you feel?"
WX didn't change expression, the only movement being it's eyes following the mechanic. It was a much easier task while propped up into a sitting position. "NOTHING."
"You can notice that?" The mechanic laughed. "We don't want any more incidents during testing. We've turned those feelings off for now. Now, physically," the mechanic twisted a knob, sending WX thudding back prone. "How do you feel?"
TEST 10
"Its doing quite well," Glasses commented, watching WX walk slow laps around a small room. "How long until it moves on to running, do you think?"
"Not for a while yet," Beard sighed. Waiting until WX approached again, he lifted his cane and gave the automation a hard shove. WX stumbled hard, legs tangling under it as its left side collided hard with the floor, vision flashing for several seconds.
"Good idea," Glasses said, scribbling something down while Beard stood over WX, waiting for it to get back up. It took it a long moment, but eventually it was able to re-work its limbs. Hands flat on the ground, push up to knees, one foot up at a time and lift-
A hard jab shoved WX back off its feet. It looked back up at the two scientists, but its face wasn't able to express any of its betrayal- not that it felt betrayed, or anything, of course.
It thought it had just been doing well. What had it done wrong?
"Get up then," Beard said, once his patience started to wear thin. "Until you can stay up."
WX got up.
TEST 15
"Get up!"
WX got up.
TEST 25
"Get-"
WX's hand shot out from the ground, grabbing Beard's cane with enough force to crack it. With a sharp pull, the scientist was dragged to the ground, WX's eyes burning while it watched. "GET UP."
The others quickly intervened, shutting WX off early.
TEST 70
"You know that we haven't perfected the water permeable casing," Dr. Lockwood said, standing next to Anderson. WX disliked Lockwood somewhat less than Anderson, though it couldn't say that it liked any of them.
"We have to test everything thoroughly," Anderson said simply, double-checking the controls. WX stood in front of them in a clear glass case, trying to ignore the nagging something in the back of his processors.
Was it apprehension?
Something opened above him, water hitting the top of his head slowly. WX couldn't help jerking back, though there wasn't enough space to entirely avoid it.
"RECONSIDERATION ADVISED," WX said urgently. They continued as though he hadn't spoken at all.
The water rose slowly over his ankles, and WX was alarmed and somewhat disgusted to find he could already feel his chassis collapsing and fracturing around it. Why did he have so many vulnerabilities? Why were they doing this?
"WARNING," WX attempted again as the water climbed up to his waist, "WATERR LEVELS DANGEROUS." With no response from outside, his eyes turned down to the rising water levels approaching his chest. Electricity was seeping from his core at an alarming rate, flooding the glass chamber with bursts of blue and white light. It would have been pretty if he wasn't clearly dying.
The water reached his neck, and something was clearly wrong. WX's body seized briefly, hands hitting the walls. "WARNINGERROR: WWATR LEVLV̨VV̸VLS̶ C̴A̶T͟TSTR͡O͘PH͡ICÇ, S̸S͢͝TP҉S̡T̶OP̷͟͞P͟--"
WX blacked out.
TEST 71
"Wakey wakey," Dr. Schwartz turned WX on. "Status?"
WX's eyes drifted dully, though he didn't move. He was still alive, somehow- he must have been repaired after. He could see small cuts across the backs of his hands, some glass embedded deeply in indents where they were unable to be extracted.
"WX-78, can you understand me?" Schwartz asked again. When he was met with only more silence, he sighed, turning away. "Double check to make sure you got everything sorted out."
WX was shut back down.
TEST 74
"Try again," Dr. Lockwood said, somewhat frustrated. WX obliged, weakly gripping the device given to him. Lockwood lifted his glasses to rub the bridge of his nose, clearly baffled. "You did great on the grip tests before. WX-78, evaluate the problem."
"I AM USING FULL FORCE," WX lied. "PERHAPS RESIDUAL DAMAGE HAS REDUCED FUNCTIONALITY. RECOMMEND INCREASING FORCE TO COMPENSATE."
"I suppose," Lockwood sighed.
TEST 75
"Alright," Lockwood leaned forward, Dr. Schwartz next to him. "WX-78, test grip strength."
WX carefully tightened his grip on the pressure gauge, making sure to only use a fraction of what he could manage. "FULLY RESTORED."
"Wonderful!" Lockwood seemed pleased, though clearly he directed it towards his colleague. At one point WX would have felt happy even with that much.
"YES. WONDERFUL." WX agreed flatly. "HA HA HA."
Schwartz made a face. "God, it's creepy," he said with a nervous smile. "I think Anderson fried more than its grip." Lockwood snorted in agreement.
"I'd say he knows what he's doing," Lockwood said, reaching out to shut WX off, "but did you hear he wants to try electrocution next?"
"It must be the guilt," Schwartz sighed, before WX's senses went black.
TEST 78
WX was back in a box.
To test power output now, they said. How much his core could handle. How bad could it be compared to what he'd already dealt with, he wasn't sure.
Anderson wasn't at the controls in favor of being able to observe him closer, leaning on a new cane. He should have learned the last time.
"Ready?"
"Start with a mild charge."
The current was quick and left a jolt running through him, gears sparking at the small surge of power. His senses were left frazzled, but only for a moment until it faded.
"It can take more than that," Anderson called back. "Are you scared of breaking the damn thing?"
"I'll give it something stronger, then."
WX looked up at the rods letting off the discharge. If he was going to die from this again, he didn't want to go out looking at their disgusting, fleshy faces again.
The surge of power was like nothing he'd ever felt. It radiated out of his core and through his entire body, practically illuminating his chassis, his normally dim eyes glowing vividly.
"SYSTEM OVERLOAD" WX's voice dragged out automatically. He didn't care for it, honestly, what was the point. His hands flew through the glass.
They were panicking, scrambling around to regain control of the situation. It was hilarious. The rest of the glass casing crumbled around him, his eyes darted around wildly before landing on Anderson.
He hated the new cane, but he took it anyways. The fleshling scientist needed another swing to knock over. WX didn't know if it took pleasure in this, raising the spear above his head and stabbing down with all of his new power, but he honestly couldn't find it in him to care.
WX-78 HAS BEEN DISCONTINUED
He didn't expect his eyes to ever open again. And yet, they did, though to total darkness and silence.
Near silence.
"Hey, pal," a voice said from inside his own head. "Looks like you're in a bit of trouble."