The End of the Affair
---------------------
"Doc, we love each other, so why do you continually *deny* your
feelings?"
"Because it's wrong to act upon them, Platinum." Doc states sadly as a
matter of fact.
Tina knows she is in trouble now, After all Doc rarely if ever calls
her by her full name.
Still she can't help asking the question she has never yet asked
directly. "It's because I'm
a robot, isn't it."
"Yes." Then as Magnus sees Tina's anger he quickly adds, "But *not*
the way you're thinking."
"Explain. What do you mean?"
"If you were a non-sentient robot acting on my feelings would be fine,
but then again I
wouldn't have them if you were non-sentient. But you are sentient
Tina, and that means there
are two moral imperatives against me acting on my feelings."
"Two?"
"I built you Platinum. So doesn't that make me, well, your Dad?"
Tina nods. The incest taboo. Still worked against them even though
their was no way that
they would produce defective children. It seemed a bit stupid to apply
it here though. And
since she hadn't ever truly had the form of a child around Doc, he
wasn't going to be overly
affected by it. She drapes herself over Will Magnus "Still, I bet you
could get past that,
if you really wanted to, Doc. So what's the *real* reason?"
"Tina, you're a robot. Not officially sentient. Yes, I know all the
Metal Men are sentient
and you yourself are my best work. But proving sentience is a hard
thing to do. I should
have told half truths, saying you were my lab assistant, but I told
everyone you were a
robot."
"Hey, not your fault, you didn't realise I was sentient then. And it
took me a lot of effort
to get you to realise I was."
"True, Tina, but now we come to the crux of the matter. Legally - I
*own* you. If your
sentience is proved then I am officially *enslaving* people I
shouldn't. And even if you weren't
to press charges, which I doubt any of you really would, someone else
would do so to
make an example of me. So as much as I'd like to be more to you than I
am, I have to stay
the mildly tyrannical despot that people call Father."
Tina's eyes well. Doc has finally been honest with here and it was not
what she wanted to
hear, though to be honest she had been half-expecting it. If she was
proved sentinent, and
Doc took up her on the offers she made, he would have commited the
legal equivelant of rape.
Until she had legally proven herself sentient Doc would not ever
respond to her feelings
despite them being mutual. It made sense. He would not take advantage
of her like that.
"It's not fair."
"No, it isn't, Tina." And Then Doc does something really unusual, he
hugs her, letting
himself receive one back. "But then life rarely is."
Authour's Note
Despite the silliness of the early Metal Men comics some of the
underlying themes were
timeless
Tina wanted to be treated both as the competent person she was and the
most precious thing
in the world by the man she loved. While exaggerated in her, this is a
common theme.
Doc however while he had mutual feelings for Tina felt they were
wrong, yet his other dates
always detected them, and were understandably jealous of her.
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