Opening comments:
Thank you kindly for the reviews. :) They make writing this so much fun!

After a long, sleepless night (as things were, she preferred staying up all night over sharing a bed with an enemy, and rightfully so), Roll drowsily followed Bass out to the hallway. When the door clicked open, the hall was, to her surprise, teeming with movement and chatter. All of the Robot Masters were filing out of their rooms in neat, organized lines, reminding Roll of an ant colony. Though tired, she watched through wide, curious eyes as robots continued to flow out of the rooms and down the hall. She strained to pick up on some of the conversations, but in all the activity, she had trouble distinguishing more than a few, short clips.

"—so I tried to convince him that a Maid Man was a good idea, but he just—"

"—right into the spikes! It left a nasty mark for weeks—"

"—bright idea it was to name a robot 'Slash Man', anyway? I mean, really—"

"—with drill hands isn't exactly a walk in the park, though sometimes I wonder if—"

Roll looked up at Bass. His expression was blank and disinterested, so she inferred that this was a regular morning ritual. Making their way down the long, narrow corridor was taking a while with all the crowding and pushing. Roll just kept her arms pressed to her sides and tried to look like she was a part of this organized chaos, but her efforts to go unnoticed failed when she stumbled over her half-asleep feet and fell against the back of the Robot Master in front of her...

"What the...?? Who is that?" Roll suddenly felt very small when the towering, intimidating robot whipped around with a bewildered expression. She recognized him as Metal Man, one of Wily's older creations. His paint had gained quite a few scuffs and dents since their last encounter, and he had lost a lot of his original luster, but he still looked just as imposing as ever. "W-wait just a second... Aren't you Mega Man's sister...?!"

The blonde girl flinched as his voice rose in volume, like he was making an announcement to the whole hall. A large percentage of the crowd froze and looked in Metal's direction, only causing the sinking feeling in Roll's gut to sink faster. She looked up at Bass again, this time more helplessly, and he returned her gaze for a brief moment. His face betrayed a rare display of emotion, slight discomfort tugging the corners of his lips down, but they both stood wordlessly, waiting to see how the scene was going to play out.

"What's going on, Bass? Is she with you...?" Metal asked suspiciously as Roll hid behind Bass, using him like a shield.

Bass quickly wiped emotion off and donned an aloof attitude. "The doctor has me watching her for now. We're waiting for DRN. 001 to come for her."

What little of Metal's face that wasn't obscured by his mask scrunched up in perplexity, softened in consideration, and relaxed in realization. He bent over and came within inches of Roll. She shrank back out of fear, but tried to hold still, also out of fear. Metal's red, narrow eyes stared intensely at her, scrutinizing her, and Roll felt like he was reading her mind. She absently tried to empty herself of any thoughts that could potentially offend the hot-blooded Robot Master. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Bass was watching carefully, and Roll could only hope that he'd mediate if things turned bad.

"Now... what was your name again?" Metal finally spoke, though he didn't move. Roll didn't detect any aggression in his voice, so she felt, if only by a small fraction, less terrified to respond. However, all of the other staring, gaping robots in the hallway made her feel like a criminal under questioning.

"R-Roll... I'm Roll..." she mumbled politely, and added as an afterthought, "S-sir."

Metal stood up straight and roared loudly. The sheer volume of his laughter compelled his comrades to laugh along. Roll kept shooting distressed expressions towards Bass, hoping he'd intervene at some point, but to her frustration, he kept watching mutely.

"Well," Metal declared, his voice still quivering with laughter. "Well, men, it seems we have a first in our lair! A girl robot!"

Someone in the back shouted, "She's just a child, Metal, that's no fun!", and the group boomed again with noise, mostly more laughter. Roll immediately anticipated that she wouldn't like where this was going.

True to his name, Shadow Man seemingly materialized out of the shadows and grabbed Roll's shoulders. She let out a small shriek.

"Hmhmhm." He chuckled in a much more quiet, reserved manner, compared to Metal. But in some ways, his calmness was more frightening to Roll. "Hello, little girl, would you like to go train with us? We like having new playmates..."

Gemini Man stepped forward, carefully keeping his chin parallel to the ground, holding his shoulders back, and puffing his chest out. You could almost see the imaginary books on his head. He radiated a very self-important, self-admiring air that was not reciprocated by his partners, like a queen who was the only one who was aware that she was a queen.

"Now, now, brothers, that's no way to treat a lady..." With a gaudy flourish, he gripped one of Roll's hands between his own. "These ruffians and myself are going to do some exercises to freshen our skills, and I'm sure you'd be more than honored to accompany us and witness my amazing power. What do you say, my dear?"

Roll gazed dumbly at Gemini. "U-um... if it means all the same to you, I'd rather stay with Bass..." It wasn't like she received any kind of comfort from Bass, but so far, he seemed calm enough, and she wasn't sure how safe it was to mingle with robots who probably held long, hardened grudges against her brother. At least Bass was too recent to be old and bitter yet.

"Oho, ssso she wantsss to ssstay with Bassss, huh?" Snake Man hissed teasingly from where ever in the throng he was. "I haven't a clue why, though, he'sss ssso cranky..."

Bass spoke at last. "Wily specifically designated me to keep an on her, and I intend to do just that. Now get out of my way, you idiots." He grabbed Roll's arm and tugged her away from Metal, Shadow, and Gemini. She obediently followed him down the hall.

Any robots who had the misfortune of being in his way either scampered off to the sides or were rudely shoved.

At last, they were safely away from the crowd. Roll let out a breath that she didn't realize she had been holding. "Thank you for getting me out of there... That was scary..."

Bass just huffed and kept walking. Roll had to trot a bit to match his pace. "I wasn't trying to help you. Those idiots were just taking to long to move out of the way, and I was getting annoyed."

"Oh..." A bit taken aback by his ungracious 'you're welcome', Roll fell silent for a moment before making an effort to speak again. She sensed anger, and she wondered why exactly Bass was so worked up over the small delay; but for now, directing his attention away from the mishap seemed the wisest choice. "...So, um, where are we going?"

"Over to the old man's 'office'. He wants you for something, apparently."

Roll paused, processed this sentence, and made a face. Suddenly, being harassed by dozens of Wily robots sounded more fun.