Guidance System
Ruby Spears fanfic by Teribane
Rating - T
Summary - "Yes, of course, Dr. Light. You're right, as always."
But... what if he's not? Quick oneshot. -Ruby Spears cartoon-
AN - Pfft. I can't resist sticking in Proto even in a oneshot that should be about Dr. Light and Dr. Wily. XD Me.
But newly-activated Proto was fun to write. :3 Even if the rest is sort of sad. In a pathetic kind of way. And please don't be mad at me for where I cut it off - I really had no idea how to continue it further. XD
Also, this is lalalei's fault. For the... is this the third or fourth time? Or maybe the fifth?
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"There must be a problem with his computer guidance system. We have to rebuild this prototype."
"But I programmed the system, Dr. Light. It must be something else."
"No, I'm sure it's the... guidance system. We must destroy the plans and start over."
"Yes, of course, Dr. Light. You're right, as always."
\\\
Dr. Light stared at a wrench and bits of Rush, muttering to himself. He could probably rebuild the robotic pooch, but it would take a few hours.
There were a lot of bits.
He started as a voice popped up from behind him. Mega. "Is he going to be alright?" It sounded concerned, but not very worried. His first... no, second humanoid robot trusted him to fix the dog, and that's what he would do. Even if sometimes he thought he didn't deserve that trust.
Two prideful old men. They'd built a working humanoid robot prototype together, and it had worked. In a way. But one of them had made a mistake somewhere, and the prototype had almost destroyed itself. And neither of them had wanted to admit it had been their mistake.
But of course, Dr. Light had been in charge of the project - it was he who had most of the patents, he who controlled the funding they'd gotten. While they had considered each other equal most of the time, technically Dr. Wily had been the assistant. And, Dr. Light was ashamed to admit that he'd used that to his advantage. When, during construction, something went wrong, and it was easily seen that it had been his own fault, he hadn't said anything. But if the answer to who had caused the problem was hazy, then he'd blamed Dr. Wily. He'd been prideful, afraid of embarrassment.
When the prototype had nearly smashed itself to bits, he'd decided that the bug looked like it had originated from the computer guidance system. Conveniently enough, he hadn't been the one to program that system. And even now, he still didn't know for sure whether his bias had helped blame that, or whether he'd actually thought that the guidance programming was at fault.
And by then, Dr. Wily had been sick of it. He'd always been a little insane - most geniuses were - but this time he snapped. He'd acted fine, agreed to destroy the plans - although Dr. Light was glad he hadn't, as that was something he'd regret later if they had been scrapped - but sneaked in and stole them late that night. Dr. Light had chased him out, but he'd returned the next day to snatch the prototype too.
Dr. Light been right, in a way. Later, much later - at least a month - when he checked the backup copy of the plans, having decided that Wily wasn't going to come back, and that he needed something to show his funders, he'd seen that the computer guidance system had had a problem. But the reason for that problem? A mistake somewhere else, a program that affected the guidance system. The moral program. And who had programmed that? Why, it had been Dr. Light.
And he'd been too prideful to search for Dr. Wily and apologize. He didn't want to take back his words, and besides, he didn't need Dr. Wily to build a new robot, now that he knew how to fix the problem. And hadn't Wily already run off with both the prototype and a copy of the plans? He had enough, he didn't need an apology too.
Two months after that, Dr. Thomas Light would regret that decision. He'd regret that he hadn't even tried.
\\\
Dr. Wily had a satisfied tilt to his mouth as he watched the prototype wake up again. Not quite a smile, but close to it.
The prototype started, raising a hand to the visor covering its eyes in confusion. That was to be expected, he hadn't had it the last time he'd been activated. In fact, his body had been almost completely rebuilt since then, the first time he'd been activated. Wily had used the prototype's original body as a base - but it had still taken almost two months from the time he'd taken his property from that jealous bastard's lab, even knowing what to do. At least using the original body as a base meant that the prototype already knew how to control it. Not that he hadn't added a few... extras.
"Who... who are you?"
Wily blinked. "You don't remember?" That didn't make sense. He'd repaired everything, and double checked all the new connections. Yes, the prototype had only been activated for a few minutes previously, but he should still remember those few minutes.
"I - I think I got damaged? Only... I don't remember how."
"How? Oh, that's an easy answer. Dr. Light sabotaged you."
"Dr... Light? Who's that?"
"Your... other creator. He helped build you, but he was jealous of the attention, wanted all the credit for himself. So he decided to sabotage you, blame it on me, and then he'd have an excuse to throw me out. He probably planned to fix you later, and then say he built you himself - when it was mostly me. But when he saw that he'd overdone it, he wanted to destroy you and start over."
Actually, he wasn't sure of this. But it was the only logical explanation, wasn't it? When he'd gone over the plans again, he realized that there was a problem in his guidance system - but it was because of one of Dr. Light's programs. Was that not sabotage? And Dr. Light had wanted to destroy the prototype and rebuild from scratch. He's said that himself.
"So I decided I'd leave myself, and take you with me."
It was hard to see behind the visor, but there was a slight suggestion of wide eyes. "You saved me?"
Wily hesitated for a moment. But then again, even if this robot would have to work for him now, something much more difficult then if Dr. Light had succeeded in building him - it, it - himself and just went around showing him off, it was much better than being destroyed. And since Dr. Light had not succeeded, and had decided to destroy him - he nodded.
Then jumped as he felt arms wrapped around him in a grateful hug. "Thank you!"
Wily felt his eyes softening for a moment, then mentally shook it off. He couldn't get attached to this robot, or any of the ones he would build later, that would be a huge problem. But it was going to be very hard not to...
"Just one question."
"Yes?"
"Um... you're my creator, right? But... I still don't know your name."
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Megaman started as Dr. Light slammed the wrench down on the table. He'd noticed his father struggling with himself for the past few hours, but he had no idea how to help. And when he'd asked what was wrong, the doctor had just replied, "Nothing."
But now - Dr. Light turned to face him with a weary look. "I'm sorry if I've been snappy today. I've just been trying to convince myself to do something I should have done a long time ago."
Megaman nodded, forgiving him instantly, and Dr. Light winced, feeling guilty again. The blue robot asked, "So... what did you decide?"
Instead of answering that, Dr. Light nodded toward the flier. "Would you get that ready for me, Mega?"
The robot tilted his head, confused, but turned to do as the doctor asked. "Where are we going?"
"To Dr. Wily's fortress."
Roll walked in just in time to hear the last two sentences. She almost screeched. "Are you crazy?"
Dr. Light shook his head, holding out his hands. "No, no, I'm fine. Calm down. I just..."
He paused for a moment, motioning for the frozen Mega to continue turning the flier on.
"I think I owe Albert an apology."