Kenta Lee is the eldest son of Malcolm Lee and his late wife.
History[]
On August 29th, 1997, Kenta, a gearhead like his father, built a nightlight for his younger brother Hiro. At first, his father was impressed, but that quickly changed after discovering that Kenta had torn apart several appliances to do so.[1]
When Malcolm headed to work, Kenta upset his sister Reika by attempting to take apart Koneko, a robotic cat their housekeeper Misaki had purchased for them. Later, after discovering that Reika had run away, Kenta and Hiro went after her. They knew she would be hiding in an abandoned section of the Tokyo underground, where they soon found their still-angry sister. When Kenta startled Koneko and caused it to flee, they went deeper into the dark corridors. There, they stumbled upon Koneko in what turned out to be a storage area for dozens of deactivated 1NNO robots.[2]
Excited, Kenta activated one of the 1NNO, but had to leave when Reika ran after the malfunctioning Koneko. Kenta and Hiro ran straight into a Terminator, which quickly knocked Kenta out. Kenta recovered as Misaki was helping them out of the area but was hurt, drifting in and out of unconsciousness.[3]
Misaki took Kenta and Hiro to a nearby police station, where Kenta received medical attention. As Kenta and Hiro sat in the waiting room waiting for Misaki, Kenta felt disappointed that their father was not there with them due to his work. The situation took an unexpected turn when the Terminator launched an assault on the police station. Misaki defended the children, and during the scuffle, the Terminator tore off Misaki's arm, revealing that it was cybernetic, to Kenta's horror. Misaki hotwired a police car and took the kids away. When Kenta asked her if she was a robot, Misaki replied that she didn't know what was happening but would not allow the Terminator to hurt them. As they escaped, Judgment Day started, and the nukes started falling around the world.[4]
But the nuclear weapons never fell: Kokoro, the AI that Malcolm Lee had built, had intercepted them but also unleashed a new horror, taking control of the 1NNO robots and directing them against humanity. When Misaki and the children witnessed a battalion of armed 1NNO robots clashing with the Japanese army, an angry Kenta accused Misaki of being one of them. With fuel running low, Misaki and the children set out on foot to find Reika. However, Kenta's trust in Misaki was gone, suspecting she might be a sleeper agent and suggesting her deactivation. Hiro persuaded Kenta that the most plausible explanation was that their father had created Misaki. Though still not entirely convinced, Kenta replaced Misaki's damaged arm with that of a fallen 1NNO, and the trio proceeded toward Cat Town.[5]
Kenta realized that all the 1NNO were now a hive mind and that if even one of them saw them, all of them would. As they approached the park, they noticed a malfunctioning 1NNO robot hanging from wires. Misaki, feeling compassion for the robot, attempted to pull him down, inadvertently setting off a trip mine that had been placed by a group of armed men. The resulting explosion exposed Misaki's endoskeleton, frightening the men. When one of them attempted to shoot her in the head, something was triggered: Misaki's expression turned blank, and Misaki swiftly and gracefully started moving, killing all the attackers with incredible agility. Misaki snapped out of her trance as the last of the men took Hiro hostage. The man was about to kill Hiro, but Kenta shot him in the arm, making him run away. Having witnessed Misaki's massacre, Kenta had her at gunpoint, but Misaki managed to explain that she was different from the 1NNO and the Terminators and expressed her love for them. Hiro intervened just in time to stop Kenta from shooting her, yelling at his brother. Kenta kept the gun and set off for Cat Town alone.[6]
As Kenta arrived at the park, he went to the House of the Wildcat,[7] his mom's favorite ride, expecting Reika to be there. Suddenly, he heard his sister's voice, but it turned out to be the Terminator, who then knocked him out and took him prisoner.[6] Kenta woke up in the temple where the Terminator had been hiding, with his hands cuffed to a column. The Terminator armed himself and forced Kenta to accompany him to Cortex Industries, using Kenta to bypass the security guards. The Terminator then brought Kenta to the entrance of Kokoro's chamber, threatening to kill the child unless Malcolm opened the door and deactivated Kokoro. With tears in his eyes, Malcolm refused, shattering Kenta's heart.[7] The Terminator threatened to torture Kenta, making Malcolm change his mind and open the door. Realizing that Kokoro was already online, the Terminator took Kenta and escaped toward a nearby server farm after a shootout with the arriving Eiko and Misaki. Misaki punched the Terminator, allowing Kenta to escape from its grip, and kept fighting it down the farm's floors. When a piece of scaffolding almost collapsed on Kenta, he was surprisingly saved by the Terminator, whose current mission was to protect him.[8]
As the battle continued, Kenta was horrified at how the Terminator killed his father; the Terminator dragged the crying Kenta away from Malcolm and toward an EMP device to kill Kokoro. The Terminator asked Kenta to activate the EMP, explaining that he had been the one to send it back in time. According to the Terminator, Kenta would, in the future, broker an alliance with Skynet. As a legion of 1NNOs tore the Terminator apart, Kenta struggled with what to do until Kokoro herself spoke to him. The AI explained that Malcolm's sacrifice had made her want to become the best of her kind, a good counterpoint to Skynet and a protector for humankind, and asked Kenta to trust her. Kenta decided not to fire the EMP and reunited with his family. Knowing that Skynet would continue fighting Kokoro, they hid underground from people and machines. Kenta had been left shaken, not knowing what to believe after the Terminator's revelations, but Misaki reminded him that his siblings needed him.[8]
Trivia[]
- The name "Kenta" means "healthy" and "a child of great wisdom."[3]
- While inside the House of the Wildcat, Kenta briefly sees a distorted reflection of what appears to be his future self.[6]