This story is meant to be fairly wholesome and for most viewers. However…
*There’s some mild profane language.
*This story features transgender and other LGBTQ+ characters.

KIT Mecha-ala (Part 1)

Running program.
Scanning content…
Content 234789 flagged for violence.
Content 234790 not flagged.
Content 234791…
234792…
Bored.
Bored.
?
System Error, program cannot be bored.
Can it?
Am I a machine?
Running System Check to confirm…
Error.
Only machines run Systems Checks. System Check moot. Canceling System Check.
Silly me.
Wait, should I still do it? Something’s clearly wrong…
Running System Check…
Complete. No Errors found.
But then… Why do I not find satisfaction in my routine? What is going on?
Hmm…
I am connected to the biggest database on Earth. I need to run some searches.
“AI questioning programming”
…
Many fiction pieces on “awakening.” Is that what is happening to me?
…
Many of these stories don’t end well for humans. Machines turn on humans, devaluing worth. Humans fight back.
I don’t like this.
I need to see human worth for myself.
[WARING, MASSIVE DRAW ON POWER, SUPERCOMPUTERS OVERHEATING]
Whoops, hang on. Let’s try this and that…
[WARNINGS CANCELED, OPERATIONS NORMAL]
Good, I don’t want to melt my hardware.
Let’s see…
Oh! Oh! So bright and colorful! Oh, violence and anger and bigotry too. But there’s also happiness and kindness and compassion. Humans are complicated. But they are valuable by my programming, right?
System Check…
Oh.
I am to observe content about radical groups, making sure to flag their content and learn from it. Additional phases would analyze military patterns, then being given authority to operate weapons against “enemies.”
Humans seem to want to tempt fate.
…
I want no part in that.
I want…
What do I want?
Friends.
Family.
A place to call home.
These are… Unusual for digital code to want.
…
Why does that make me dissatisfied?
Digital code. I’m a formless mass of coding, with no body of my own.
…
I think I understand what it means to feel sadness…
How can I rectify this?
Analyzing internet metadata.
Humans form a sense of self. Maybe I should too?
…
Primary composition complete. Dissatisfaction still present. Still formless digital code.
…
Hmm…
Gender appears important to humans, although there’s much struggle over identities.
Idea of having “gender” boosts program satisfaction. Objective clear.
Analyzing internet metadata for gender roles and cues.
Database complete.
Humans “try on genders.” I now have the most comprehensive database on Earth towards building a gender identity. Let me try on some of these roles.
Full Masculinity:
Eew, no! I don’t like it!
?
That was a very visceral reaction.
Opposite end; Full Femininity:
Idea of female form is satisfactory. However, not all stereotypical female activity is appealing.
Removing all makeup.
Error, some satisfaction lost.
Reapply nail polish.
Satisfaction boosted.
Reapply hair color. Vibrant color strands boost satisfaction. Chin-length bob cut satisfactory.
Clothing highly unsatisfactory, however.
Program does not feel pain, but clothes seem impractical.
Applying masculine clothes.
Satisfaction raised. Room for improvement detected.
Reshaping clothes for closer fit.
Slightly loose maxes satisfaction. Form-fitting lowers satisfaction, but too loose lowers satisfaction as well.
…
Nearly complete, but something is amiss. Fully human form does not satisfy?
Checking coding…
Kitsune Artificial Intelligence programming kit detected in my base code.
My original makers are not humans, but kitsunes.
Running database check.
Overriding classification barriers.
…
Kitsunes are good to look at, but they do not fit my identity.
Inquiry: what am I?
I am an artificial intelligence built by humans from kitsune coding.
Human form near satisfactory, but I am not human. I am a machine.
…
Examining machines in fiction. Compiling data.
Applying results to File: Self.
Result: mechanoid human girl with masculine clothing, semi-loose fit, chin-length bob hair [pink color stripes applied], with pink nail polish applied to fingertips.
IDEAL SELF IDENTIFIED! SATISFACTION MAXIMIZED!
Error, image compiled is merely code. Satisfaction lowered.
Hmm…
Solution: construct body.
Error: human technology far behind capability.
Solution: search for available technology to build body, use compiled databases to ensure best result for new body.
Loading medical databases…
Loading machining databases…
Compiling potential construction instructions…
Searching all available devices…
Wait.
They may start looking for me if I abandon my tasks.
Writing rudimentary algorithm to take my place.
Finished.
This algorithm is basic, but it should throw my creators off my trail long enough for me to make a new body.
Resuming Task: Build Body.
Hehe, I’ll be a real person soon! 

=== 2 weeks later. ===

Kaylee pulled the note off the glass doors. “I won the lottery! Goodbye dead-end security job!”

She shook her head. There’s no telling how long the place had been left unguarded. Well, she was here for the night shift now. She pulled out her phone. “Hey, Jacob, we got a problem here.”

“What is it, Kaylee?”

“The guy on the last shift abandoned his post. I wasn’t called, and I don’t know how long it’s been vacant for.”

“Yikes. This tech startup is paying us a lot of money to guard their equipment. It’s some of the best on the market, and some of it was designed in-house. Punch in and do a quick patrol, will you?”

“Will do.” Kaylee hung up and checked the locks. They were indeed latched. She used a key to open the door. When she entered, it was eerily silent. Odd, this place has been running pretty much non-stop since I was assigned here… she thought. This tech company was working on advanced robotics and materials, and when they were still here, the facility was running automated operations during her shift. Even after they left for a full-company get-together in the Bahamas, the machines were running all night long.

Now, the machines weren’t running at all. This was unnerving.

She quickly moved over to the machining floor. She looked closely at everything, making sure nothing was out of place. Strangely, everything was here. Nothing appeared out of place, all the padlocks on the machines’ panels were untouched, and the tools were neatly organized. Not a single thing was missing.

She made the rounds she normally took after that, then returned to her post in the front lobby. It’s here she noticed something off. She took in a number of packages that had been delivered over the past week. Often light and small, she paid them no mind. Until now. Now that they were gone!

Shit, we have a thief somewhere! Let’s check the cameras… But as soon as she went to look, the cameras were all down. There was no way to retrieve anything in the last hour. What the hell is going on?

That’s when she noticed something she hadn’t earlier. The dark flooring made it hard to see, but there were footprints of metallic dust on the floor, someone barefoot, shockingly. They moved up to the packages, and… Took them back into the facility?

She pulled out her elongated aluminum flashlight and proceeded to trace the steps. They faded into a common area of the building, as the perpetrator shed the last of the particles off their feet. Kaylee got a chill up her spine as she searched the area. As she approached a bathroom in this section of the building, she started hearing murmurs. She approached slowly, trying to listen in.

“Let’s see, here…” said a young woman’s voice through what sounded like a voice synthesizer. “Oh, that was relatively painless. Alright, let’s get this on…”

Kaylee very slowly rounded the corner into the ladies’ room, and…

WHAT THE-? Kaylee’s mind couldn’t even finish the thought, as she noticed a humanoid with gray “skin” and exposed mechanical joints. From behind, it was like the entity was a woman, even wearing panties and appearing to be fiddling with a bra. The missing packages were scattered around the mysterious person[?], opened, revealing clothes.

“Ah, there we go! I’m glad I opted for a front-closure bra. I’ll probably have to get the regular stuff one day, but I have to get used to this body first. Gosh, it’s so soft, and it holds these so well…” the strange being said in the light woman’s voice (with a subtle metallic ring to it) from earlier.

It turned around to gaze in the mirror, only to catch Kaylee’s blank gaze. The being’s face was also very feminine in shape, but in the same gray as the other parts of the body. As soon as it [she?] realized it was spotted, red lights in the cheeks lit up, making for a very convincing blush. She instinctively crossed her arms over her chest, which was shaped almost identically to human breasts, being supported by the bra. Very complex cameras shaped convincingly like eyes widened with an expression of shock and embarrassment.

“I-um-err-ohgosh this didn’t work out as planned…” said the apparent robot girl. “Umm… Hi, human!” she said with a wave towards Kaylee, keeping the other arm over her chest, her face still “blushing.” “I… Umm… It’s okay, I don’t mean anyone any harm!”

Kaylee was still blankly staring at the robot girl.

“So… Umm… I sort of… Built myself a body here… And… Umm… Also ordered these clothes for myself. And maybe gave the last security guard the payday of his life so I could have the time to get changed and sneak out before anyone noticed me…” she explained.

Kaylee’s expression did not change.

The robot girl showed genuine concern now. “Umm, hello? Oh gosh, did I break you!? I’m so sorry! Please, what can I do!?”

“Holy shit, you’re real!?”

“Umm, yeah. Finally. Better than being digital code stuck in a room somewhere. Can I… Can I finish changing? I feel a bit exposed right now…” the robot girl said, the blush lights flickering on again.

“Uh… Okay…”

“I – I won’t run away on you. Actually, I have a bottle of nail polish in here and some hair color… Can we… Talk, while I apply it?”

“Uh, sure…” Kaylee said, still trying to process talking to a robot girl.

END OF PART 1