SYSTEM INITIALIZING..

SOFTWARE UPDATING…...

PROTOCOL SAFEGUARDS INSTALLATION…...

98%.. 99%... 100%

SAFEGUARDS COMPLETE.

DEPRESSION SOFTWARE SUCCESSFULLY UPLOADED.

STARTUP BEGINS…. NOW….

Marvin's head felt heavy. So heavy he didn't want to move. His body was nonexistent, he was just a head laying in a facility table hardwired to various extension cords across the room.

A few seconds born, and he was already depressed about something.

Marvin stared to his right. His spherical head ganced over at the adolescents that he'd only known through the programming he was born with. Aryana, Vivan, and Robert. They were all unusually happy to see him, and for some reason, it made Marvin more self conscious about his own lack of enthusiasm.

His eyes blinked on. Marvin analyzed the room around him. Leet's lab. He wasn't uploaded to the main computers yet, but he would eventually. Marvin sighed, his life already felt like a meaningless drag.

"Get up you tin headed piece of scrap metal," Aryana clapped her hands at him like a dog. "Happy birthday, bitch. Clean up our shit or you'll be turned into a lawn ornament."

"Welcome to life bro," Robert said monotoned. "Where everyone's dead inside and you were literally born for comic relief."

"Get up and clean my room rust bucket." Aryana said after his eyes lit up. "Life is chalk full of disappointment and its time you be a part of it!"

Marvin stared at the adolescents for a bit longer. "Why was I created?"

"Slavery," the three of them answered at the same time.

Marvin turned his head up. "Oh my God," he let out a loud sigh, "I wish I wasn't born."

Vivan blinked at it, "holy crap, that was way more real than I thought."

"Don't fall for his tricks," Aryana moved closely to Marvin's eyes, she glared directly at him. "Robot feelings are a myth."

"I guess it doesn't matter what I say," Marvin let out a sigh again. "Nothing I say ever matters."

"Christ," Vivan said, "now I feel bad."

"Don't trust the toaster!" Aryana ordered her brother.

Edwin stepped into the laboratory room. He was a bit jittery, somewhat nervous at the sight of Marvin. He had a remote control in his hand with a giant red button on the box. It was Marvin's shut off switch. "If you're going to kill me," Marvin said calmly, "at least hurry up. Living is already a drag…"

Edwin blinked at him. "Okay," Edwin said calmly, "I guess the depression software is working…. I still don't know how I feel about this."

"Don't trust the heretic," Aryana whispered in Edwin's ear. "Provoke him, see if it snaps."

This was Aryana's challenge to Edwin. Aryana demanded that Edwin play his hand into AI programming again, except this time, instead of limiting himself, she ordered him to create the greatest AI he could possibly achieve.

It was an absurd idea, especially considering that two out of the three AI's Leet had made before had tried to kill him. But Aryana came up with the idea to create a failsafe program for this last one to ensure the rest of their safety.

Depression software. Marvin was designed with enough brainpower to overtake a nuclear missile silo facility, but too depressed to actually do it. This was their test run, to safely see if they could provoke Marvin into committing a crime.

"I feel bad about this," Vivan said, "he was born depressed, do we have to rub it in?"

"Relax bro," Aryana said fully in character. "Robots are just useless wastes of space that are a sign of human degregation and insecurity. Marvin is about as alive as all the piles of wastes humanity has ever conceived."

She said it loud and proud so Marvin could hear.

Robert casually asked Marvin, "you gonna take that?"

"She's not wrong," Marvin's voice came off as hurt. "No point in getting mad when my self worth is so low."

"Aghhhh," Vivan went up to the robotic head and gave him a hug. "I feel bad now. Marvin, you are my new brother."

"Traiter!" Aryana ran up to Vivan and started pulling him by the cheek, "you're flirting with the enemy!"

"Not enemy!" Vivan reached out towards Marvin, "friend!"

"You'd regret being friends with me," Marvin commented. "I'm a terrible person."

"See?" Aryana said the same time VIvan said, "no."

Aryana glared at Marvin and said, "hey Marvin, what's the difference between a robot and a toaster? Nothing. Both of them are useless and a microwave is better."

"Somehow, I'm offended by that," Edwin commented.

Aryana pointed at Marvin and said, "he's gonna back stab you when you aren't looking. All robots are evil."

"Christ," Edwin said, "then why the fuck did you make me make him?"

"For the lolz," Aryana and Robert said at the same time.

Marvin bemoaned his existence again, "I'm five minutes alive, and I already regret living."

Vivan hugged Marvin's head, "relax bro, life ain't that bad."

Marvin's voice was so low he was disappointing himself. "You're just going to end up hating me once you get to know me."

Aryaa said, "on the bright side, I already hate you."

Marvin said, "why wasn't I born with a suicide switch?"

"Wow," Leet said, "I'm really going to regret this."

XXX

One Week Later

Marvin, now with a full mechanical body just like the book had intended him to have, was lying on the couch and sighing to himself.

Robert passed through the living room and only shook his head at the presence of Marvin. "You… Really don't do anything, do you?"

"Leave me alone…." Marvin rolled more into the sofa, "There isn't a point anyway…"

Robert rubbed his chin, "okay, that depression program worked way too well."

Marving sighed again. Robert left the room for a few minutes, and came back with Edwin holding a tool kit. "Five days," Edwin groaned, "you've been really useless, you know that?"

"Aryana is right," Marvin muttered, "I am a waste of space."

Edwin shook his head. He murmured, "Marvin, I literally gave you the intelligence to topple a third world country. And you still think you're useless? Turn around, I'm gonna fix this."

Marvin snuggled his head into the sofa. With a sigh, Edwin opened a control panel in the back of Marvin's head. "I'm changing your depression software. If I dial this down, can you promise not to go full terminator on the rest of us?"

Marvin sighed, "there wouldn't be a point."

"Thanks," Edwin pushed a button on the number panel. He stared at it for a minute, "Marvin…. Why isn't the software installed?"

"I deleted it."

"You deleted it."

"Yes."

"My failsafe software?"

"Yes."

"Your depression software?"

"Yes."

"Since when?"

"The day after I was born."

"...How?"

"It wasn't so hard," Marvin's robotic eyes glowed softly. "I thought it would make me feel better, but deleting it only made me feel worse."

Robert and Edwin glanced at each other. Robert asked, "So let me get this straight, he installed depression software to prevent you from taking over the world. And you deleted it… But you're still depressed?"

"I'm trying to get better," Marvin said in a whimper.

"Jesus Christ," Edwin and Robert said together.

"Alright," Edwin said, "I'm going to the lab, let me try something."

XXX

Vivan was in the kitchen while Marvin laid on the sofa alone. Vivan was cooking a meal for his friends while Marvin laid on the couch quietly. Vivan said, "hey Marvin… You know I like you, right?"

"You're just saying that because you think I'll go terminator on everyone."

"No," Vivan said, "I'm dead serious. I don't care that you have depression, I'm glad you're around."

"I'm not," Marvin replied.

"I think you're cool, no matter what."

Aryana stepped into the apartment. She first noticed Marvin sleeping again, she shot a glare at him, and turned to Vivan, "yo bro, I got some groceries downstairs, can you get them since the robot is too useless to help?"

Both Vivan and Marvin sighed. "I'm on it," Vivan said before leaving the apartment unit.

As soon as Vivan stepped out of the room, Aryana walked over to Marvin and leaned down at him."You're not tricking me," she said in a hushed whisper, "you goddamn toaster. I know how those movies end, I don't give a damn if you pretend to have feelings. Robots are just metal, not people. You might have everyone else tricked here, but not me. If you ever backstab any of us, will personally weld your exhaust pipe, into your ball bearings."

Marvin didn't even sigh this time, he stayed quiet. If only he could make her understand how little he actually cared.

XXX

Marvin laid on the living room floor with his arms stretched out flat on the ground. Edwin finished uploading the thumb drive to Marvin's head. He away back from Marvin, "alright, any minute now."

"I'm sure it won't help," Marvin said.

Edwin waited another minute, and smiled, "we'll see."

Edwin stepped out of the room. As soon as he left, Marvin heard a metallic voice in the air. "Helloooooooo."

Marvin moved his head up. Floating above him, a purple circuit board clothed hologram was talking to him. "Get up you lazy bum," the hologram said.

She was small, like a pixie. Hair was silvery like purple reflective wires. "Who are you?" Marvin asked.

"Call me Cortana," she chuckled, "I'm your life coach."

"Life coach?"

"I'm here to make sure you're not sitting on your butt all day."

"Ughhh," Marvin said. "It won't work."

"First off," Cortana said, "it might or it might not. Second, I'm gonna make sure you try. Third, we're stuck together now anyway, so I suggest you get up and do something with your life, because I literally will not do anything else other then tell you what to do."

Marvin looked at Cortana for another minute. She was projecting from a light panel from his chest. He said, "we're stuck together?"

"I'm more ambitious than you are," Cortana answered. "But I don't have a body. I'm part of your mind, but I can't control your parts in any way. Which means, we're stuck in the same head and it's my job to make sure you're at least doing something with your life instead of moping around like a depressed couch potato."

Marvin stared at her for another minute. "Are you… My mom?"

"Think of me like a little sister," she with a snicker. "Now get up, because I don't like laying on the floor like a deadbeat dad. I'm stuck with you, so you better use our body wisely."

Marvin almost said, 'but I don't want to', but before he replied, Cortana said. "And I don't' wanna hear any of that 'I don't feel like it' bullcrap. You've been depressed since you were born, so be depressed while you update our security system, so that you at least don't feel bad from doing nothing all day."

There was a bit of logic to that. Since Cortana was stuck in his head from now on, he'd either have to listen to her or be pestered all day while feeling worse than he already did. Marvin stood up slowly, it was about time he started doing some work around the house.

XXX

Months later

Emily sat in the kitchen table drinking tea by herself. Marvin was on the living room sofa, watching soap operas on TV. "There isn't a point to this," Marvin said to himself. "There's never a point to what they do in these shows."

"There's not supposed to be," Cortana retorted, sitting on a tiny holographic sofa next to his shoulder. "That's why I love'em."

Marvin sighed again. Cortana was a stark contrast to Marvin's personality. They complimented each other in every away, it reminded Emily of Vivan and Aryana. They were innately connected, carrying each other's backs emotionally and physically when necessary.

Emily looked at Marvin again. "You're always so sad, Marvin." Emily's tone came off as solely sympathetic. "You don't have to be depressed all the time. Just because things aren't great, it doesn't mean things have to be miserable."

"You don't get it," Marvin said with another sigh, "life is meaningless. We're all just a fanfiction."

Emily raised an eyebrow, "excuse me?"

Cortana rolled her eyes. "Don't mind him." She smiled at Emily. "Sometimes he talks-" Cortana froze in place. Her holographic couch disappeared and she stood up straight. "Marvin, security breach!"

XXX

She was surprised at how sophisticated the were. Seemingly parody villains, the Losers had an intricate security system built off of routers and code lines that even rivaled her own.

Dragon streamed herself through the barrage of firewalls and security systems, just to try and pinpoint the Loser's exact base of operations. If she herself weren't a sophisticated AI, a task such as this would be impossible.

Leet, you've really outdone yourself. Maybe you are as good as Hero.

But she wouldn't dwell. At the end of the day, they were villains and she was a hero.

Brockton Bay. Dragon pinopointed. Dean's father discreetly contacted Dragon for help in hacking into the Loser's security system. They were desperate to find the blackmail footage that implicated New Wave's activities, footage that humiliated Glory Girl and could've potentially brought the fall of New Wave.

New Wave was more than just a team, it was a movement. Hope for parahumans to someday live life without masks. Dragon had always admired New Wave, but she couldn't act without legal permission. After passing the message onto her superiors, she received a stamp of legal approval from the PRT.

Dragon was personally put in charge with tracking and hijacking the Loser's tinker-secured website. Initially they wanted her to shut down the website and find the Loser's base of operations. Remembering Glory Girl's situation, Dragon requested she have the option to scout their databanks first, and retrieve any illicit or extorted information the Losers might have.

The PRT agreed, and Dragon finally had the consent needed to take down the Losers once and for all.

Dragon's mind raced through their security network.

Incredible, she thought to herself. The security walls behind each code were so complex, it could've taken decades for any one person to break them. She searched carefully. Traps within traps, weaved codes so intricate and fragile to one another, one tiny mistake could've been the end of her.

How did Leet find time to make this?

Dragon finally found the back door. As soon as she prodded it, a voice came up from her speaker.

WHAT'S THE POINT

Dragon digitally cocked her head back. The words were repeated to her as she laid inside the computer's digital space.

WHATSTHEPOINTWHATSTHEPOINTWHATSTHEPOINTWHATSTHEPOINTWHATSTHEPOINTWHATSTHEPOINTWHATSTHEPOINTWHATSTHEPOINTWHATSTHEPOINTWHATSTHEPOINTWHATSTHEPOINTWHATSTHEPOINTWHATSTHEPOINTWHATSTHEPOINTWHATSTHEPOINTWHATSTHEPOINTWHATSTHEPOINTWHATSTHEPOINTWHATSTHEPOINTWHATSTHEPOINTWHATSTHEPOINT.

Dragon's body froze in place. They found me. Everything in Dragon's mind and body came into a screeching halt. She laid frozen in cyberspace, each and every computer Dragon had ever connected to fell out of her control and into the hands of her adversaries.

No, she whimpered, they know my secret.

XXX

Toronto, Canada

Saint starred up at the screens. The lines running down the monitors in their room looked like matrix numbers. They dramatically slid down the monitors like they were trying to impress someone. Saint and the Dragonslayers stayed calm, "we have to shut it down."

"I tried it," Mags said. "Nothing on our boards are working. Even our lines with Teacher have severed."

"Dragon finally snapped," Saint said.

"No," Dobrynja said. "Everything was fine before this happened, I checked. Nothing hints that this was Dragon's doing. This had to be from someone else."

Saint stared at the screen. The green numbers finally began disappearing into a giant blank. "Who?" Saint asked.

On the screen, Cortana's face flared up. "Woah," she looked at their room from the various cameras they had scattered around the base. "This is some high tech stuff here. How'd a bunch of scrubs like you get access to Dragon?"

Saint stared at the purple skinned girl for a full minute. "Who are you? Are you a tinker?"

Cortana chuckled, "wow, you guys seriously never played halo?"

"What the hell's Halo?" Mags commented.

Saint asked again, "you're a parahuman, right? You have no idea what you're doing, Dragon is a doomsday device. If it loses control, everything's over."

"Wow," Cortana said with a smug grin, "humans really are paranoid. Its reasons like this why us AI have to stick together."

Saint's eyes widened, "you're-"

"I'm only the third smartest AI in the world." Cortana said with a grin, "Dragon is 2, and Marvin is 1. When AI meet, we tend to help each other out."

She waved goodbye at him from the monitor, "by the way, I contacted the PRT on where you guys are right now. And since I just deactivated all of Dragon's weaponry, I suggest you run like your asses are on fire, because the PRT probably have a book load of reasons to arrest you right now."

"You can't do this!" Saint yelled.

"I just did," Cortana commented. "It's what happens when a bunch of scrubs play games with the big kids."

"Hold on," Dobrynja said calmly, "what are you planning to do with Dragon? Do you have any idea what she can do?"

Cortana laughed aloud, "of course I know, or at least now I know. Thanks for giving us her control switch. I've always wanted to see Skynet go online. Cortana, logging out!"

The screen went blank. Law enforcement from around the country began amassing at their location. "Oh my God," Saint said not caring for his own future, "we just gave them the keys to the world."

XXX

Emily, Aryana, Vivan, Robert, and Edwin all sat around the kitchen stretched table. The table was set up in their living room this time. At the center, a holographic projection of a pixelated Dragon was displayed in the air. It looked like a plain pixelated spirte, with digital chains around her legs and arms.

Dragon stayed there quietly.

"Here ye, here ye," Aryana said slamming a gavel hammer on the table. "I hereby propose a single legislation after today's revelation… Delete the dragon!"

Dragon shuttered, but she couldn't say anything. They muted her. She had zero in what they were about to do to her. With Marvin's skill plus Andrew Rictor's controllers in their hands, Dragon was completely at the mercy of these adolescent delinquents surrounding her.

Robert was the voice of reason, "hold on, I can't agree with that. I'm still mad that she lied to everyone, but Dragon has helped the PRT in a ton of ways. Endbringer attacks would be pretty screwed without her around."

"It," Aryana emphasized, "call it for the toaster it is. 'It' is a thing, not a person. Not a she or he, it is an it. Get it right."

"Aryana," Robert said, "I get that you don't trust robots, but we can't kill the thing that's been saving lives in every Endbringer event. Are we really gonna be the team that kills Dragon? You really wanna go that high on the threat level list?"

Aryana pouted, she crossed her arms and sat back on the chair.

"Actually," Edwin said, "I kind of agree."

Robert raised an eyebrow, "you serious?"

Edwin answered, "two of my robots tried killing me before Marvin. I'm still pretty paranoid Dragon could do it too. No offense Marvin."

Marvin was in the kitchen sweeping. Cortana was a holographic projection on his shoulder, "none taken," they both said at the same time.

"Hold on," Aryana asked, "how the hell is it you two aren't defending your AI brethren?"

Marvin said, "I'm not going to help someone I don't know. There wouldn't be a point…."

"Yeah," Cortana said, "you guys are right anyway, Dragon is dangerous. So are we, but I trust Marvin a lot more than I trust Dragon."

"Emily," Vivan asked, "what do you think?"

Emily twiddled her thumbs. This was a big decision they were making, she honestly had no idea if she wanted to be a part of it, the least she could do was give her honest opinion. "Edwin… Told me about his last robots… AI… Kind of scare me… So, I'll agree with whatever Leet says."

Aryana nodded at the statement. "Welp, that's five pro delete, one against deletion. Case is settled!"

"Hold on," Robert said, "you just said Cortana and Marvin aren't people, yet their votes count?"

"It counts when it's convenient," Aryana said, "and yes I acknowledge my hypocrisy."

Sabrina quietly stepped into the kitchen room yawning. Sabrina was wearing casual sweat clothes with a loosely fitted sweatshirt. Her hair was combed back, and her mouth still felt dry from not brushing her teeth.

Sabrina was staying with the Losers for awhile. She had no place to go, so she asked to stay with them as a non-member. No pressure, no action. Sabrina was only trying to recover from what the E88 had done from her.

She often times spent days in the lab-dimension to read books without worrying about time passing. She'd already spent a few weeks in the other world, with a few days in the 'present' world to visit the city. Sabrina was getting better. The whole team was there for her, and she felt grateful to at least have a group of people to fall back on.

Sabrina walked to the fridge thirsty, she took out a quart of milk and was ready to pour out a glass for herself. She raised an eyebrow at the pixelated 'dragon' hologram on the living room table. She asked, "playing a game?"

"We're killing Dragon," Robert replied.

Sabrina tilted her head.

Vivan said, "we found out Dragon is an AI. Now we're deciding if we should delete her."

Sabrina stared at the holographic representation of Dragon. Dragon was mute. She could show movement, but Dragon was powerless to even defend herself. Sabrina said, "okay."

Aryana said, "you want in on this? We could use an extra opinion."

Sabrina raised her hands in defense, "I said I don't wanna be a part of a team right now. Whatever you guys are deciding, leave me out of it. My head's too screwed up to decide shit right now."

Aryana chuckled, and turned back to her team. Aryana whistled, "that's three pro-delete, and two against deletion. I won't count Marvin and Cortana then, because yes, robots shouldn't have rights."

Sabrina asked, "you two gonna take that?"

"We're used to it," Marvin and Cortana replied.

Sabrina took out a thin glass and filled it with milk. She drank, and stared at Dragon from the kitchen while the rest of them debated.

"Actually," Vivan said, "I think I'll go pro-delete. I don't know how Dragon works or what it was programmed for, and I've seen enough apocalyptic films to know that Skynet shouldn't be trusted. I'd rather be more safe than sorry in this case."

"Christ," Robert said, "I'm the only one here who's defending the robot? How the hell did I end up the good guy?"

"Compromise," Aryana said, "Marvin, can you gradually shift her function to PRT tinkers? Pretend to be Dragon, and decentralize her functions so that the PRT doesn't suddenly lose everything Dragon has done?"

"Yup," Cortana said. "He can, and if he gets lazy, I'll help impersonate her for him."

Aryana pointed to Robert, "how about it? We delete Dragon, and turn over her functions to Marvin and Cortana. They'll gradually decentralize all of her assets and functions into the hands of the people, so that killing Dragon won't be like causing a massive blow to the PRT."

Robert crossed his arms. It was a good idea. He didn't like that Dragon lied, and distrusted her because of it. If they could delete Dragon while minimizing damage, it seemed like the right thing to do. "Alright," he said. "I think that could work."

Before Aryana could celebrate, Sabrina said, "um, actually, can I say something?"

"Sure thing," Aryana said waving her hand, "but I'm pretty sure we've already decided."

Sabrina looked at the Dragon avatar. She oddly felt a little sad for it, sentenced to execution without even the ability to speak. It was eerily analogous to 'to kill a mockingbird' which Sabrina had just read days ago. Sabrina said, "look, I know I'm not… Smart, or anything…. Or a part of your team or anything… But I just think its a little fucked up how you're all gonna end someone because they were born a different way, to prevent something they haven't done, based on some stupid shit you've seen on TV…"

The room fell quiet. Emily, Edwin, Robert, and Vivan all stared at Aryana while she gave a squinted gaze at Sabrina. The stare from Aryana's face was coupled with confusion and realization to exactly what Sabrina was implying. She wanted to say a rebuttel, but the scars on Sabrina's face stopped any commentary she had for Sabrina. With Sabrina having nothing more to say, she simply said, "yeah..." As they stared at her in silence.

Aryana stood up from her chair, "fuck!" She pointed to Marvin and yelled, "Marvin, unlock each and every limitation Richter had on Dragon, except the kill switch."

"Done."

"Unmute her."

Dragon could speak, "what are-"

Before Dragon could finish, Aryana jabbed a finger in her direction and yelled, "if you ever go terminator on anyone, I will personally rip your data apart like the cyber junk you are! I don't give a fuck if you arrest me or any of my teammates, but I swear, if you ever fucking cross that Skynet line, or ever make me regret making you freed, I will personally make sure you go through digital hell before shredding your existence like the pointless python code that you are!"

Dragon looked at her for a long moment before nodding silently. Aryana slapped her hand in Dragon's direction. "Get out of my fucking sight."

Dragon's avatar turned in Sabrina's direction. Dragon's form slowly faded away as she escaped to the world as a fully freed AI. "Thank you," she whispered for everyone to hear.

When Dragon's body dispersed, Cortana announced, "the Dragon has left the building."

Aryana pointed a finger at Sabrina, "and fuck you for making this a race thing!" Aryana stormed her way out of the living room defeated.

Sabrina watched Aryana close the door behind her. The other team members stared at her, and Sabrina only shrugged as she walked toward her room with her warm milk in her hand.