Chapter 21, Broken Memories, Part II.

Chapter 21: Broken memories Part II.

“What are you waiting for, dork? Broadcast the newsflash radio of today it’s ten past eight!” Wilcox zaps Cecil as he walks past the files’ rooms. Cecil rapidly closes the lid of his personal laptop avoiding Wilcox to see that the awesome photo his soon-to-be girlfriend had sent him on his TSAP account is his desktop wallpaper now.

Cecil stands up, walks towards the recording room and presses enter. The newsflash radio of that day starts with new instructions from Reed on how to fill reports properly. It follows with some gags played by a couple of officers, police jokes for everyone to laugh at, and it ends with the recorded voice of Lewis letting everyone know she is proud to have had sex with RoboCop and how OCP can kiss her ass now.

Riggs and Adams were still at the parking lot of the station, in their cruiser, when they got to hear the recordings. Adams bursts into laughs spitting out his coffee by saying:

“Well, I gotta hand it to her, the girl is brilliant, she got the information alright!!”

Almost immediately Riggs gets a message from Patel asking to meet him at the hallway of the station. Riggs walks enraged towards the hallway just to see his ex-lover had organized a mini committee with some of her friends to give him a hard time.

Patel slides the mini disc in one of Riggs’ chest pockets whilst kissing him on the cheek:

“You’re welcome, honey” almost immediately, the friends that surround Vanessa start with the racy jokes and Riggs is furious looking at the hole that is still on the wall and reminds him of the deep hatred he feels for RoboCop. Riggs walks away in between the laughter of Patel and her pals and energetically orders Adams to step out of the vehicle once he gets back to the parking lot.

“You, get out of the car, now!!!” Riggs acknowledges by now that every time he listens to Adams’ advice he ends up humiliated. “What am I supposed to do, man? You can’t leave me here without a unit, we are partners?” Adams replies surprised. “Find another car to sleep in, isn’t that what you do most of the time anyway?” Riggs finally responds in an upset voice.

It’s 8:45 am and Riggs has turned on the sirens of his cruiser and is driving at high speeds to get to the OCP building in no time. His heart is beating fast as he reaches the main office of the director of operations; Johnson’s secretary tries to stop Riggs although he is persuasive enough to let her know there is an urgent police investigation, Mr. Johnson should know about. Johnson is displeased as he sees Riggs coming into his office without calling in advance.

Johnson: Officer Riggs…I don’t usually see anyone without an appointment and I thought we had agreed, you were never going to contact me again on the Omninet let alone coming to my office…

Riggs: Oh Mr. Johnson…just shut up! Do you want real reasons to disconnect that malfunctioning mechanical beast of yours? Well there you go! I hope you throw him into the junkyard after this!!

Riggs rudely throws the mini disc at Johnson’s desk and walks away in vexation. Johnson is still confused at what has just happened. He almost immediately cancels a meeting and gets to listen to the material Riggs just gave him.

Around 10:00 am Highland, Schysler and Johnson have a private meeting trying to decide what the fate of RoboCop will be now. A misconduct hearing is not enough anymore. They all agree a second memory wipe for him should be scheduled.

“And we will fire the police officer that has been messing around with our product, disrespecting our company by corrupting him enough to make him believe he is other thing than just a programmed officer…” Johnson finally adds, although the old man has other plans.

“No. This is strike two for Officer Lewis. We will just fine her and assign her with someone else. If she gets close to RoboCop again, strike three, she’ll be fired and blacklisted on the Metropolitan Police Department”

Johnson is displeased to see Lewis is not getting fired, although he thinks that perhaps rewarding Riggs for being a snitch would be a low punch for the woman that keeps screwing with OCP’s most valuable product.

Johnson has started to take things personal, against Lewis. “I respect your decisions, sir. However I think we should reward Mr. Riggs for his service to the corporation…” The old man thinks about it for a minute and finally replies: “Suit yourself Johnson. Give him anything you like. In fact you can give him the money from Officer Lewis’ fine. You can make a cop happy with just a couple of bucks…”

“Not likely” Schysler thinks to himself. He is reminded of the great sum of money he recently had to pay his own snitch for certain valuable information he cannot disclose yet. Oscar has his own hidden agenda, and the video he owns of enraged RoboCop having a fight against Riggs should remain private, at least for now.

Things escalate fast and around 11:00 am Reed comes back to his office from the city’s court of law and has to ask his officers what the fuzz is about. He barely has time to react when Highland himself calls him on his personal communicator. The same nightmare all over again, Reed thinks. Although this time, things are far worse. He walks annoyed towards RoboCop’s laboratory demanding to see Murphy, although Tyler who has been there for the entire morning and is unaware of things would not let Reed get close to him.

Tyler: You made him work last night, the whole overnight shift and you want me to wake him up now? Do you have any consideration for your officer, Sergeant Reed? He started his sleep cycle at 5:40 am. I cannot wake him up now…

Reed: I honestly don’t give a fuck if his sleep whatever cycle is complete or not. We are in deep trouble now, you, me, your assistant and Murphy have to be at OCP’s research laboratory around 4:00 o’clock. They will send an OCP van to pick us up. They will erase his memory, again…

Tyler feels no strength in her legs as she listens to the whole story of RoboCop’s personal life being ruthlessly broadcasted by the police officers of the station. Perhaps they thought it would be funny, although no one thought about the consequences of such a cruel prank.

Tyler: And where is she?? The one that is causing all this mess, all over again?? Have you spoken to her? How did those recordings even get on your newsflash radio?

Reed: I’ve tried to contact Lewis with no luck. I know she didn’t record anything last night, she was working overnight too…and I barely have had time to think about this situation!!

…I have…bigger problems at the court of law and the people that don’t want to testify against the rehab team. Believe me, doctor, the responsible ones of this ridiculous problem will be punished, once I find out who they are…

Reed walks away and Tyler drops her body weight on her chair deflated. RoboCop’s personality, memories and personal evolution will be wiped away very soon. Akita sits next to her and asks what they should do now. “Shall we wake him up? Do we tell him…?”

Tyler comes up with an idea, out of despair. She thinks there might be a slight chance to make a partial recovery disc that might store some of the information RoboCop keeps in his memory, in the mechanical part. Recordings, fragmented memories, police files, could be put in a virtual disc that could be hidden in the main CPU of the laboratory. They would not be able to save everything but perhaps not everything would be lost after the memory erase.

“That means you and me, monitoring dreams and recorded memories of him again…we don’t even have the monitors to do so anymore, remember? You decided we should stop doing that a while ago…plus we don’t have much time?”

Akita replies in a low voice, preventing Robo from waking up and listening to their conversation.

“We will have to improvise, Nick. Anything would be better than nothing. And if we dig into his mind again, it would be for a good cause…”

Reed is at the files rooms now, confronting Cecil in an upset voice, although he gets nothing but evasive replies from him. Reed pushes Cecil to his breaking point forcing him to lie and make up a story that would save himself from being suspended.

Cecil informs Reed that some officers saw Lewis heavily drunk coming into the recording room the night before “And that would explain why she played with the radio, by recording all those nonsense” Reed knows Cecil is blatantly lying as he knows Lewis and Robo were in Clover Hills the night before.

However, Reed is compassionate and guesses Cecil was probably a victim of someone else’s manipulation; furthermore, he needs him as no one else wants to do the work Cecil does at the files rooms. He will think later of ways to get the real story from Cecil, although he is concerned now to contact Lewis and inform her of the huge problem she is involved in.

After weeks of working overtime hours, Lewis has finally collapsed and she passed out of exhaustion at her apartment and hasn’t woken up ever since. Around 1:00 pm Lewis barely hears her mobile phone buzzing; however, she is too weak to respond. An hour later she receives a message on her TSAP account and makes an effort to read it is Reed asking her to report immediately to the station.

“Oh God, he is too obsessed with the rehabs and shit” Lewis says out loud wondering why hasn’t Robo done his part of the work and delivered the information to Reed yet. She thinks to sleep a bit more, and then report back to the station.

At the laboratory, Tyler and Akita have been trying to create the virtual disc with RoboCop’s recordings, although, after an hour and a half of intensive work, their results are still very poor. Akita had improvised equipment by connecting some monitors to RoboCop’s neural circuits aiming to have access to the mechanical part of his brain where he stores information. However, everything both technicians can see now, are blurred or pixelated still images, a few short sequences that make no sense and time keeps ticking.

Akita: This is it, Rose, we cannot force him for more. He is resisting. Denying the access, it’s like he has closed doors now, and he is not allowing anyone in…if you hadn’t gotten rid of the original equipment we had to monitor his dreams and recordings we could have gotten more than just still images…

Tyler: Who would have imagined something like this was ever going to happen?? If you had seen, what I saw, you’d understand why I decided he should have privacy and live as a man…and not just as an experiment…

Defeated Tyler sadly observes the few results they got on the screens. The screens divide into pixelated images of Alex Murphy’s family, a few images of police cruisers and crime scenes, some cropped parts of police reports and there is a still image that covers up an entire screen and calls Tyler’s attention.

It is a recorded photo of Lewis, sitting on the passenger seat of a patrol car; she is wearing a red dress and has a green purse on her lap. Lewis is visibly annoyed whilst looking through the passenger’s window. Tyler wonders what the story behind that still image is. She’d probably never know and that story among many others will be lost soon.

Dr. Moore has had a heated up argument with Highland at the OCP research laboratory as he just found out RoboCop has been scheduled for reprogramming and he won’t have granted access to perform the operation yet. Moore is slowly losing his patience and wishes the plans to murder the OCP CEO would speed up so he can finalize his business deal with Mecca Bionics.

Old man: For the last time Walter, respect my decisions. Murphy has to consciously agree with the operation and we are very close to accomplish that. A partial memory erase will be performed, he will be reprogrammed and once I come back from my last trip to Germany and I have become a diplomat for the UCW you will have access to open his head, whether he wants it or not.

Moore: Why do you want his fucking consent?? He is a thing you guys built!! If we keep wasting time, you will never get your android built…I am close to resign to this phantom project that doesn’t seem to move forward anymore…

Old man: My reputation is at stake. The OCP corporation has been under the critical eye of the UCW organization for years because we dared to merge machines with human beings without their consent, RoboCop and all the failed units…apparently, using the deceased body of a cop that signed the organ donation form before joining the force, to create an enhanced police officer to protect my city, is a violation of human rights…and shall I remind you, your friend Faxx used the brain of a convicted criminal for my RoboCop 2 project…

Moore: I…was unaware of Juliette’s plans. I just worked with the material that was given to me…besides; this new robot will be 100% synthetic…

Old man: I don’t know what to believe anymore or who to trust. I know that all of you have backstabbed me at some point. It would be a great shame to see you resigning again, although I am lucky enough to have new young talented people working for me. The CPD project could be assigned to Dr. Lazarus instead. My niece will be in charge of supervising everything when I am outside the U.S. as Johnson’s days as a director of operations are coming to an end. Many changes will be done, once I come back…

Moore: I…was not serious about resigning, you know I am backing you up on this Daniel…bring the damn thing into the laboratory and let Tyler do the work for now.

After a failed attempt to make a recovery virtual disc for his memories, RoboCop slowly awakes at the laboratory, he is confused as he notices there are monitors and cables surrounding him and all the lights that are turned on hurt his eyes.

Robo has no clue on what time it is or what is happening, he hears Akita’s voice and although he is right in front of him his voice seems to be heard from a distance, Robo feels lightheaded, everything seems to move in slow motion, sounds have an echo and there is tingling inside his ears.

“We have to go, Murphy, put on your protective helmet, something happened and the CEO will see you now at the OCP building, he wants to speak to you privately there is a van for us waiting outside…”

Robo looks to one side looking for Tyler and he observes she is tossing things in a metallic briefcase in angry mode. He slowly starts coming back to the reality and thinks that the undercover mission that Reed assigned him and Lewis on the night before has been exposed and that is why the CEO wants to speak to him.

The moment when RoboCop walks outside the laboratory alongside his two technicians, the male cops that are around start clapping and cheering for him and Robo is more confused than ever. Reed starts shutting them up and it seems he is coming along too?

Something bad, really bad has happened and he has no clue now on what it was. Robo feels lost and starts looking for Lewis among the cops that keep laughing and making whistling sounds as if they were high school students.

Estevez looks at the commotion and looks for Cecil that is standing still in silence witnessing everything. “Where are they taking him, where??” Cecil usually stutters when he is nervous and dares to reply:

“The.. they a.. are taking him to.. to OCP…they… they will …erase his… his me…memory the there…” Estevez holds Cecil by the collar of his uniform whilst yelling at him:

“You are some stupid piece of shit aren’t you!!!”

Once in the OCP van, Reed, Tyler, Akita go through the embarrassing moment of letting RoboCop know that whatever private life he has with Lewis was ruthlessly broadcasted and the CEO wants to see him at the research laboratory as a result. Robo knows now why Lewis’ device was not functional anymore. The cops at the station ganged against them to obtain a personal revenge.

This will be by far the most humiliating hearing they will put him through. Tyler promises Robo she’d find a way for him to not get the memory erase done. Robo is fearful and hopes he is just living a nightmare. It feels like he is slowly being taken to his execution. After the memory erase, he will be dead inside again.

It is 4:00 o’clock and Lewis is already awake at her apartment, she had tried to contact Reed on the Metro Network and on his personal communicator with no luck as the sergeant seems to be offline. Lewis had been ready for more than an hour for her partner to come pick her up to start the midday shift together.

She nervously walks towards her window and looks outside. “Murphy is never late” Lewis thinks now to find her partner on his TSAP account too. If he is next to a cruiser, he’d be able to reply. However, Robo is offline as well and that only happens when he is taken away for repair.

Lewis fears Robo has been damaged in the line of duty and video calls the laboratory of the station, all phone extensions, however no one responds.

Lewis had noticed incoming voice messages from Estevez, although she had decided to ignore those. She is focused on finding out what has happened to her partner and can’t be bothered to listen to Barbara’s stories. Suddenly Lewis comes up with an idea. She knows Alana is partially dead now, but remembers Robo was scanned as the second user of the device and perhaps her operating system can still engage with Robo’s if he is still in a radio of 35 kilometers.

Lewis starts going through the settings of her phone and finds the option to locate the second user. Alana is still quiet but starts a slow loading process to connect to any available satellites to find the location of RoboCop.

“Come on, Alana, please, locate my significant other…please wake up and tell me where he is…”

After some eternal minutes, the familiar voice of a friend comforts Lewis:

Alana32: The second user of this device, Officer Murphy, RoboCop series number 001 is currently located at the main headquarters of the OCP Corporation. Is the user endangered?

Lewis: Alana! You are alive! I have missed you!! Perhaps, perhaps he is endangered…can you, is there a way you can contact him…?

Alana32: I can search for networks around him. Hold on. There is an available network I can connect to. The researchcrew.net that is part of the Omninet network. What message should we send to Officer Murphy?

RoboCop is sitting on a mechanical chair that can be reclined enough to become an operation table. His gun has been removed as he is considered mentally unstable now. He is at the OCP research lab and the CEO is having a private talk with him. Only Tyler and Reed were allowed in the room with them.

Old man: Murphy, we are…I am interested to know where you were last night?

RoboCop: I was working for the complete overnight shift.

Old man: Very well. Any case in particular…? Or were you just doing night surveillance?

RoboCop: That is classified information.

Old man: Right. Can you please tell me, if you worked alone all those hours? Was anyone with you?

RoboCop: My partner Officer Lewis was with me for the complete shift.

Old man: And you can’t tell me what you guys were doing together, because, that is classified information?

RoboCop: That is correct.

Reed remains in difficult silence, he knows Robo is saying the truth, however his officer is not betraying his trust by disclosing the investigation he has silently been developing where the high commands of OCP are implicated.

Old man: Alright. You see Murphy, when we…built you, we didn’t design you, for this degree of…how can we call it? Personal intimacy with a human being?

RoboCop: Because I am not human…

Tyler is staring at RoboCop in disapproval, she wants him to stop his rebellious attitude towards the CEO “Doesn’t he see the more he upsets them the more they will harm him?” However the old man is digging Robo’s new defying attitude, he is not remaining silent like in the other hearings he had endured in the past.

Old man: Let’s not get technical here and define how ‘human’ you are. That is Dr. Tyler’s job, not mine. You see, the problem lies on the fact that whatever personal choices you are making lately…are affecting OCP’s public image…your partner, has disrespected our company and I have Johnson and Schysler on my back asking me to perform a memory cleanse on you…

Robo feels the chills. A familiar feeling of fear he hadn’t felt since he was broken into pieces. Although this time the pain doesn’t seem to be physical as the subconscious death wish that has been a silent shadow that has followed him for years, seems to have abandoned him, as all he can think about is

“I don’t want to die”

Suddenly, a bit of hope happens. Robo receives a request to join the researchcrew network as there is an incoming message from a known operating system that is trying to contact him. Robo looks to his surroundings as he is unable to respond if there isn’t an interphone communicator or a police radio nearby.

Giselle Highland interrupts the meeting and informs the CEO he has an incoming call from Europe.

“I am sorry I have to attend…these guys are eight hours ahead of us”

Robo seizes a chance to stand up and walk away from the room. He can hear Tyler and Reed trying to stop him, however, he doesn’t even listen to what they are saying. Robo doesn’t walk very far when he finds an interphone communicator on the hallway he can connect to.

He uses his interface needle to connect to the network and be able to reply to the message.

“Are you ok? What do you want me to do?” Is the message Lewis sent through Alana. RoboCop has been equipped with an internal application that was originally developed for quadriplegic people and has been adapted to his OCS, the application allows him to choose letters and words just by using his eyes, there is no other way for Robo to respond without voice command as touch screens don’t work with him, he has no human fingerprints anymore.

“He will be back…there is no way out, and he would not be suicidal enough to face the droids that are guarding the building without his weapon…or any backup”

Those are the words Tyler says to Reed trying to comfort him, when they both grasp Robo is back, he silently sits on the mechanical chair and waits. The old man is back shortly after and is unaware Robo left the room for some minutes.

Old man: So, where were..son?

RoboCop: You were… questioning my personal choices.

Reed: Sir, with all due respect I believe that a memory cleanse on Murphy is not the solution. You see, my officer here has been storing important information regarding police cases for more than three years and the police department cannot afford to lose the amount of recollected data.

Tyler: I believe Sergeant Reed is right. Murphy’s memory has been storing important information for years, plus he is more aware of his duties as a police officer now without having to reinstall any new directives or commands on him…if we wipe out his memory, I will have to reinstall all his primary commands again…and that takes time and money…lots of money

Old man: Oh no. I agree with you both. Murphy here caused me more problems when he was unaware of who he was than now that he has an identity of his own. He is a police officer that uses his judgement now.

…However, my executives are vexed at the interpersonal conflicts Robo seems to be involved in lately and unlike them, I believe that a memory erase is not the solution but to give Murphy a different environment to develop in.

Tyler: So…you won’t erase his memory?

Old man: We will pretend Dr. Tyler. In a few weeks I will be off my duties as a CEO as I will get surgery done and Johnson will be in charge of everything. He will keep an eye close to Murphy and his performance. Due to recent events, I will ask Sergeant Reed to not assign him any partners anymore.

Reed: What will happen to Officer Lewis?

Old man: Officer Lewis will have to be reassigned to someone else, sergeant. And I want your full cooperation on this. She can’t be seen anywhere near Murphy, it would be a shame to see the promising career of that young woman destroyed don’t you think? She will also be fined…as a warning, for…disrespecting our company and for…for

RoboCop: Having a …relationship with an OCP product?

Old man: When you say it like that, it sounds bad…but Murphy listen, I have great plans for you. In a couple of months after I return from my last trip, things will change around here…I plan to get you a new partner, and you will be a team leader of your own droid army, it will be a way to promote you…although I will need a bit of help from you to bring this new guy to life…and who knows, perhaps when the two of you are friends, you might look for new girlfriends together, eh?

“They are planning to make another one” Tyler remembers Lazarus’ words and the CEO seems serious about it, she gets the game the old man is playing and she’s aware his apparent support is tainted with his personal interests. Nevertheless what matters is to keep Robo’s memories intact.

Old man: Just one last favor, Murphy. Dr. Akita is outside, talking about technical jargon with Schysler and Johnson and they will come into the room very soon. They will be as stupid as always you just have to endure their talk. However, Dr. Moore has sent a new version of Directive 4 to be installed in your systems here. Can you live with that?

RoboCop is disheartened looking at the metallic briefcase that is on the floor and Tyler had been carrying. He knows now what the equipment was for. The old man although is offering to save his memories, he wants Robo to pretend his memory was partially erased and he will have to fake he is a mechanical zombie at the police station.

Schysler and Johnson are in the room now and the hurtful talk has started. “Then we have this woman, this cop playing with your head, pretending, making you believe you are something else, than just a programmed officer for her own personal fun” although Johnson doesn’t stop there and makes a surprising request to Dr. Tyler

“Can you…Dr. Tyler, erase, completely extract this policewoman out of his head?”

RoboCop thinks to himself “This policewoman has a name” He is concerned trying to reconnect to the researchcrew network to see if he has any reply yet from his partner. If he wished to, he would break Johnson’s neck with minimal effort; punch Schysler in the face to erase the sarcastic smile on his face.

Tyler is having fun now, making elaborated technical lies to let Johnson know, she can do a partial memory erase on RoboCop and that yes, Lewis will be complete erased from it.

For Tyler, OCP executives are apes with a suit. The only smart one is long gone. Bob Morton had had technical training at college, before studying economy and becoming an OCP executive. Only he could come up with such a brilliant project like RoboCop.

“What did he reply?” Lewis asks Alana in despair as her phone seems to have gone silent again.

“Come on. I know he replied, Alana, where are you…? What is wrong?”

Alana32: I am…unable to decipher…message, second user. No. Not access.

Lewis: No, no no, do not fail me now…what did he say? Come on…

Alana32: I am sorry Anne, my systems have been corrupted. My systems have been corrupted.

Lewis witnesses how the operating systems’ screen becomes full of nonsense numbers and corrupted codes as Alana’s voice starts to distort.

Lewis opens her phone to realize in horror one of the microchips is missing. Her phone has been hijacked and she knows now it’s personal. “They’ve come too far this time” Lewis turns on the phone and sees the red light flashing again.

She is reminded of the voice messages Barbara had sent her and she has a bad feeling about them now. Listening to Estevez’s audios make Lewis remember the unpleasant moment Robo and her went through the night at Wildcard Edge when her friend informed her of Riggs’ plans to contact OCP.

Without hesitation, Lewis leaves her building and starts driving towards the OCP building at high speeds aiming to get Robo on time. However she seems to forget that although she is dressed as a police officer, her Lexus car is not an official vehicle and it doesn’t take long for a traffic officer’s cruiser to start chasing her.

“Is this for real?? Am I gonna get a traffic ticket now??” Lewis doesn’t seem to care for the police officers chasing her and she speeds up even more. Lewis turns on a main avenue, Sunset Broadway where an important TV event is being recorded, some new products of Mecca Bionics and Sextronica are being showcased to the public and as usual, there are fans and protesters outside the theater blocking the traffic.

Lewis is enraged and reverses the car furiously to get away from the avenue, her car makes a violent spin just to face the cruiser that has been chasing her and is in front of her car now. Lewis turns off the engine, in frustration. A young police woman approaches her car, in the meantime her partner, a big older grumpy male officer leans on the car, almost as if he was monitoring the situation.

“Lady, do you know how fast you were going?”

Lewis: I’m a police officer like you, don’t you see?? I have to go! I need to do something really important!

The traffic officer is young inexperienced and confused to see a fellow officer breaking the law in an unofficial vehicle, she hesitates and turns back to see her partner that just shakes his head in disapproval at her. Lewis thinks valuable time is being wasted and just wants to get rid of both cops.

“Where, I mean, what precinct are you from, officer? I’m afraid you…will have to come with me”

Lewis reads the tag name on the officer’s shirt. A young inexperienced traffic officer wearing an impeccable uniform, wanting to be taken seriously and she is reminded of her first years as a police officer.

Lewis: Look, look, officer…Edwards I’m officer Lewis from Metro West and I’m currently in an undercover mission, you see, my partner, needs immediate backup…you have to let me go…

Edwards: If that is so, Officer Lewis, we will request for backup and an official vehicle with sirens for you…you cannot violate the speed limits in your personal vehicle…

Lewis: No!! There is no time!! Hey…big guy over there, isn’t very pleased with you eh, what is his problem?

Edwards: He is…my partner, Officer Miner and well, he thinks I am a bit …slow eh.

Lewis sees her reflected in that young policewoman that is helplessly trying to impress or gain her older more experienced partner’s approval and she comes up with an idea.

Lewis: Well, how about you go and tell Officer Miner, that, you removed my badge and you gave me a traffic ticket, that will surely impress him, don’t you think? Then you let me go…contact sergeant Reed and send the fine there, but please, please let me go…

Officer Edwards looks at Lewis’ shiny badge, it is bigger and prettier than her traffic officer’s one. She hopes she can get one of those soon. The young cop hesitates for a bit and looks back where her partner is, still, monitoring the situation. Finally Lewis idea works well, and Edwards lets her go

“Just…take it easy, please”

Lewis does not even care about the fine or giving away her badge to a traffic officer. She manages to get to the OCP building in no time and asks the guards about RoboCop:

“They took him away in a van, 30, 40 minutes ago”

Lewis is frustrated and drives back to Metro West, hoping it is not too late and Robo is doing well. The moment she comes inside the station, she has to endure the mockery and whistling of the officers. Estevez had warned her, “Everyone knows now”

However someone drags her arm into his office closing the door afterwards.

Reed: The question I have for you is, why? Why do you put us through these kind of problems? I have just received a call from Metro South…did you really give away your badge to a traffic officer…??

Lewis: Sergeant it was them! They hijacked my phone…they want to destroy him…to humiliate us…Those recordings were private!! They somehow opened my locker, and took my phone as revenge…

Reed: If that is true, I will suspend the ones that did this to you. Hand me your communicator.

Lewis hands Reed her intelligent device and sees he takes out some fine screwdrivers from his drawers and starts opening the device. Lewis is suddenly afraid Reed might kill Alana, then thinks to herself:

“Great, I am developing feelings for an operating system now”

Reed: Where did you get this? This device, Lewis, is illegal…it has military GPS components, that are not allowed in commercial smartphones…

Lewis: Crazy Al…

Reed: Fucks sake! You make my work even more difficult now! I know your dad was in the military and you are fond of military devices, but Lewis I cannot use this in a court of law!! I won’t be able to defend you now!

Lewis: Are you serious? Are you going to let them get away with it?? It was Riggs…and Adams and all those fuckers that love to gang against Murphy and me…where is him? Please let me see him…is he alright?

Reed: There isn’t much I can do, your phone is completely useless as evidence, I will yes, start an investigation about this, but are you aware that if I find out who the guilty ones are and you decide to face them in court, you will probably be suspended as well?

Lewis: You know…I am sick and tired of this shit, all of them…I will take Murphy away now. From Metro west, from Detroit…I will ask Lee Jenkins to give us a job in Prisma city…where is him?

Reed: Lewis…it’s too late. Murphy has been, he has had a partial memory erase, from now on, you won’t be able to work with him again…or be seen anywhere near him, I’m doing what I can, to protect him and preserve your job…OCP…Johnson, they don’t like you kid, do you realize in the deep shit you are now?

All Lewis can hear now is “They partially erased his memory”

“He won’t know who I am now…or everything we’ve lived together” Lewis runs away from Reed’s office towards the laboratory, her steps feel hollow and she still hopes she can wake up from the nightmare. Reed feels powerless and frustrated for lying to Lewis. But if he wants to protect his officers and his own job, he has to follow the game, at least for now.

“You are not allowed here! Not anymore! Haven’t you done enough harm to him??” Infuriated Tyler is finally confronting Lewis through the steel mesh door she forcefully closed avoiding Lewis to come inside the laboratory and see RoboCop.

Lewis begs Tyler to let her see Murphy. Tyler keeps up with the lie as well and tells her Robo has had a partial memory erase and she is not allowed to be around him anymore. Lewis pleads Tyler to let her at least say goodbye to RoboCop. One last time.

As much as Tyler is infuriated with Lewis she sees how troubled she looks and finally her heart is moved and allows her in. “No more than five minutes, okay?” That is what Tyler tells Lewis. She doesn’t listen, she just wants to talk to her partner that now seems to be in sleeping mode.

He is unmasked, his eyes are closed. Lewis wonders if there is a God and if he exists, why does he allow these things to happen. This will probably be the new first memory he will have of her, his subconscious mind will listen to her words, Lewis knows she cannot cry or be too emotional.

This is her chance to leave him a message that would probably trigger more memories of her later on. She sits in front of him, and with a shattered heart and holds both his hands.

Tyler doesn’t want to see or hear what Lewis will tell him now, too hurtful to watch, she walks away trying to stop tears rolling down her eyes.

Lewis: Hi, Murphy. That is your name, but that part you will remember, right? My name is Anne Lewis…and I am, was…your partner for quite some time, and very lately, we were more than that…

…I can’t but think that if I hadn’t pushed things, they wouldn’t have done this to you. I’m sorry. I really am. I failed you. I wish I could have gotten you in time.

RoboCop seems impassive, but peaceful at the same time. She dares to touch his face and wishes he overpasses this and remembers her again one day.

Anne observes him closely. She tries to record as much as she can in her human memory, as she won’t be allowed to be close to him again after he wakes up. Anne wonders how much he will remember now, after the partial memory erase. His human face never bothered her, although it was shocking for her to see him unmasked the first time.

His armor, means so much to her now, Anne has learned all the details of it, she is fond of his elegant mechanical hands, the hard chest she has leaned on, so many times, she saw her life with him flashing before her eyes, as if it was a movie, inside her head. She takes a deep breath and continues talking, making a mental effort to not break down and start crying.

Lewis: I want to say, that I know, you will eventually remember who I am, and that I will be waiting for you until that happens, and when you are ready to come to me, I won’t fail you the next time. I will take you away, with me, away from all those that have hurt you, so many times, this is my promise to you…and if there are memories of us that have been lost forever, I will help you build new, better ones…

Lewis slowly lets Robo’s hands go, stands up and walks away from the laboratory. She lost everything in less than one day. Her world has suddenly turned grey.

RoboCop opens his eyes. He was aware of his surroundings the whole time; he wants to at least see Lewis walking away from behind. The anxiety and emotional pain he feels now can only be compared to the time he removed his helmet in front of her and was told, his family had moved away.

However, he realizes that in his deepest moments of pain, Lewis has always been there. He partially remembers in between faulty blurry memories tainted with excruciating pain, being hanging down in the laboratory, cables connected to his torso, broken arms and missing legs.

He can’t exactly remember what Lewis told him when she approached him that day, but she was there in front of him. He had visions, nightmares and flashbacks during the process of being rebuilt. But Lewis’ images where always there.

Robo moves from his chair attempting to see more of Lewis before she fades in the hallway. He feels lost now, and wonders how sincere Lewis’ words were.

“Alex it doesn’t matter what they have done to you”

Did Ellen really mean those words? Would she have adapted to him, the way Lewis did?

“I will be waiting for you” He wants to believe Lewis’ promise now.