The Week, Chapter 4: Tuesday.
Tuesday, June 7th, 20X1
Dr. Light's Lab Complex.
In the laundry room of Dr. Light's house, Roll mopes as she pulls the clean laundry out of the dryer with Doc the Met helping her. She had planned on going out to the mall today because she wanted to buy the CD from this new all-robot rock group called Cold Steel that she heard about. But, she can't do that, as she is still grounded.
Instead, she is stuck here doing the housework... again.
"It's not fair, Doc," Roll muses, "All I want to do help Mega take Wily down... and I get punished for it."
Doc watches as Roll folds the laundry as she sulks. He doesn't like seeing her so depressed, he always likes to see her be happy, like she was yesterday when Mega Man told her how great she did. So, he decides to try and make a tedious chore such as this somewhat entertaining.
Once Roll is done folding a blanket and setting it aside, she turns to look for a bedsheet she had just pulled out of the dryer, but she can't find it. "It was just here a minute ago," Roll frets, "Doc, have you seen a blue bedsheet around here?"
Doc beeps and Roll looks over to see that Doc has wrapped himself in the blue sheet like it was a cloak and is sticking his extension arm out of a makeshift 'sleeve' and is waving at her.
Roll cackles when she sees her little Met goofing around. "Okay, wise guy," she says, "Anything else you've got on?"
Doc sticks his feet out, revealing he is wearing a pair of socks which are clearly too small for his feet. The socks flop around as Doc wiggles his yellow feet in circles.
Roll laughs, "You're funny, Doc!"
Sometime later.
Now that all of the laundry is done, Roll and Doc are in the kitchen and Roll is teaching Doc how to make Gingerbread Men.
Doc stood on the kitchen counter in front of a mound of pre-made gingerbread dough as Roll produced a rolling pin from her utility arm.
"Okay, now grab onto the handle, Doc," Roll instructs.
With the hand connected to the end of his extension arm, Doc grabs onto the one handle the rolling pin has, as the other half is connected to Roll's arm. Together, they begin to flatten the dough with the rolling pin.
"You're doing great, Doc!" Roll says, "Now, take this and press it into the dough."
Roll hands Doc a plastic cookie cutter in the shape of a generic figure with a round head, two arms, two legs with feet and a torso. Doc uses the cutter several times to make the shapes into the flattened dough.
"Congrats, Doc! You just made your first Gingerbread Men!", Roll says, offering him a high five, which Doc reciprocates.
Roll approaches the sink and begins washing the utility arm's rolling pin. "I don't know who makes the better team, Doc," she says, "Mega and Rush, or you and me!"
Doc beeps and bloops exitedly, wanting Roll to look at something. Roll turns around to see that Doc has made a different shape on the dough slab: just a round head with two feet... like him!
"Hey, you made a Gingerbread Met!", Roll giggles.
Doc beeps and smiles.
While the cookies are baking, Roll goes back to her room with Doc and turns the radio on, listening to her favorite hard rock station. Once the current song is over, the station begins playing the new hit single from the all robot rock group Cold Steel.
"Aw, right!" Roll cheers, turning up the volume, dancing along to the rock music.
"These guys kick butt, Doc!", she cheerfully says, "They might be even better than Captain Fallout and Atom-Smashers!"
Doc is so happy to see Roll smile again that he starts dancing too... about as well as a Met can dance, anyway.
At one point, Doc flips his harthat open and flips upside-down, landing on his extension arm and spinning around on his fingers.
Suddenly, Roll's utility arm opens on it's own. Her hand retracts and a wand with flashing red lights appears in it's place. This was Roll's automatic baking sensor. Whenever something in the over was done baking, this sensor would go off to alert her.
"Oh, man," Roll groans, "The song's not even over yet."
Doc stands back on his feet and beeps up to Roll. He says he wants her to stay here and have fun, he will take care of the cookies, and he runs off back to the kitchen.
"Don't forget the oven mitt, Doc!" Roll calls. She decides to follow him down anyway to make sure he doesn't hurt himself.
When Roll arrives to the kitchen, she finds Doc holding the tray full of Gingerbread Men high above his head with his extension arm - with the oven mitt on - and placing it on the counter.
"I would have done that, Doc," Roll says, kneeling down besides her Met.
Doc retracts his extension arm and looks up at her, beeping. He says he wanted her to have fun because he doesn't want to see her doing all of the housework and he wants to see her happy again.
"Aww, that's so sweet of you, Doc!", Roll says, "Thank you!"
Roll picks her Met up and gives him a kiss on his dark grey rubber-skinned cheek. Doc's little lips begin smiling and he jumps high in the air after the kiss.
Roll is so happy she has Doc with her. He's like the best pet in the world and a best friend all rolled-up (no pun intended) into one. They both couldn't be happier to have eachother.
WoodStarr Rehabilitation Clinic.
New York City.
Officer Lynn Wersching arrives to the new rehab clinic just outside of town in her police cruiser, but she is off-duty right now. She is allowed to use her Police car for personal use until the piece of garbage car she owns now can be fixed.
She is here to visit her brother, who checked into this facility late last month. She had the chance to talk to him on the phone the day after he arrived here and she promised him she would come to see him when she got enough time.
Lynn gets out, wearing sunglasses, black jeans, a white tank top and a loose black button-up shirt. Her dark red hair is hanging to her shoulders.
Once she enters the facility, she removes her sunglasses and approaches the female Robo-Receptionist at the front desk, who greets, "Welcome to the WoodStarr Rehabilitation Clinic. Are you checking in or visiting?"
"Visiting," Lynn replies, with a slight smile.
"What is the name of the patient you are visiting?" asks the Robo-Receptionist.
"Wersching," Lynn answers, "First name: Lancaster."
"Searching... " replies the receptionist, searching the files just by running a check in her data banks inside of her head, "... I'm sorry ma'am, but there is nobody checked in to this facility under the name Lancaster Wersching."
Lynn looks puzzled for a moment, then remembers that her brother hates being called Lancaster, and always has. He prefers to use the name "Castor", dropping the Lan and replacing the E with an O.
Although, those around him in recent months had begun calling him Casper, because they rarely saw him and whenever they did, he looked as pale as a ghost.
"Last name: Wersching. First name: Castor," Lynn says.
"Searching... " says the robo-receptionist, "I'm sorry ma'am, but Mr. Wersching checked out of this facility before finishing his recommended treatment on June 2nd, 20X1."
Lynn's green eyes grow wide with shock. Not only was her brother not here anyomore, but he wasn't even here for a quarter of his treatment!
"What?", Lynn exclaims.
"Repeating. Mr. Wersching checked out of this-"
"No, I heard you!" Lynn interrupts, sounding freaked, "He said he would be here... is that the only Castor Wersching in your system? There has to be a mistake!"
But, Lynn knows deep down inside that this isn't an error. How many Castor Werschings can there be?
"There is no error, ma'am. I am sorry," replies the robo-receptionist.
"Is there a way you can find out if he checked-into another clinic?" Lynn asks.
"We would have been notifed if Mr. Wersching had entered another facility, ma'am. He has not," calmly replies the receptionist.
Lynn runs back outside and grabs her phone, dialing her brother's appartment number, but, he doesn't answer. Lynn remembers that her brother doesn't have a mobile phone anymore (he says he didn't want to pay the bills anymore) nor does he have any social networking connections, so the only way to get in touch wih him is dailing his appartment.
Lynn tries again, and her brother still doesn't answer. Right now, she's mad as hell at her brother. Not only did he not finish his stay in rehab, but he never ever told her he was leaving, or that he had already left.
"Dammit!" she yells.
Elsewhere in New York.
Mega Man is making a special public appearance, and a large crowd has gathered, including lots of children who are excited to meet their first real life superhero.
Mega is enjoying being around all of the grateful citizens, who are getting their picture taken with him, getting autographs or simply thanking him for being here to protect them.
Despite the cheerful mood here, Mega's guard is up right now, because he never knows when and where Dr. Wily and his bots will strike. They might even pay him a visit here for all he knows, and Mega doesn't want that, because all of these innocent humans would be in harm's way.
But, unfortunately for Mega Man, there is going to be a confrontation today... but not with Dr. Wily or his robots, or even ProtoMan.
"I heard there was a famous robot here," says a familiar voice booming on a bullhorn, "I thought I would come by and pay a visit."
Mega Man recognizes that voice and looks ahead, barely spotting William Cochran standing there holding the bullhorn in his hands and wearing black slacks and a white dress shirt with a black tie, and small black sunglasses covering his eyes.
A hush falls over the crowd as all of the people here look over at the son of the Governor standing there with a smirk on his face. They recognize William from the news and know that things are about to get a little more heated than they thought out here on the warm summer day.
William steps forward towards Mega Man and all of the people between them begin to step aside, parting like the red sea.
Both Mega Man and William stare accross from eachother as the racist human steps closer and more people get out of the way.
Finally, William stops just two feet from Mega Man, standing directly in front of the robot hero. They are nearly eye-to-eye with eachother, with William being the taller of the two by only a half an inch.
"I just wanted to tell you something," William says without use of the bullhorn, and with a slight smugness to his voice, "Despite the fact that you are the Hero of the Day, the 'Defender' of the Human Race... I don't like you very much."
"I've noticed," Mega replies, flatly, "Do you know how much heartache you're causing for your father?"
William chortles, "I think a machine like you has no business telling a human anything about heartache!"
William's tone now becomes a little more venomous as he continues, pointing his finger at Mega Man, "You are still nothing more than an unfeeling, abominable robot, just like all of the others. You're just a machine who's looking to take over the world."
Mega scoffs. "I think you have me mistaken for Dr. Wily, sir."
"You're fighting for control just as much as Wily is, you're just not honest about it... and Dr. Thomas Light is no better than he is either, he just hasn't killed anybody yet," William jabs.
Mega Man can feel the anger building inside of him at the notion that Dr. Light was anything like that psychopath Wily.
"Right now, all of the sycophants all over the world, including the ones here, love you right now," William continues, "And they will honor you and give you whatever you want for saving them... but one day, they will all learn to hate your kind... even you. And I'll be right there to clean-up the mess that Dr. Wily and your 'father' made," William says, making the finger quotes with with his hands when he refers to Dr. Light as Mega's father.
"I'll see you soon... abomination!", William says with a smirk, getting one more shot before turning his back and walking away.
The citizens around the scene begin loudly booing and hissing William as he walks away, still holding the bullhorn.
Mega Man stares ahead at the hateful human as he leaves. Deep down inside, William's hateful remarks about him and all robots being abominations and the comment about Dr. Light hurt Mega. But, Mega was able to quell his anger and be the better man...
something that the younger Cochran is honestly not good at being.
Skull Fortress.
Dr. Wily is still in his workshop deep within the large fortress, busy constructing the newest additions to his robot army. Cut Man and GutsMan (whose special powers have now been restored) are with him to help the mad scientist construct the new Robot Master.
Albert is currently working on the newest addition to his collection of Robot Masters: Bright Man. Bright Man's currently unfinished chassis is primarily orange and he will be equipped with solar panels on his chest that will help replenish his power and amplify his fortitude. His face is rather goofy looking. The only area of his face that resembles a human's is his mouth/nose/chin area, which is very prominent and pudgy, and the synthetic skin has a yellowish tinge to it. Clearly, Bright Man will not be the most intimidating Robot Master, but his weapon will be deadly. He will be equipped with the Bright Flash, which is similar to the fallen Flash Man's flash weapon, but Bright Man's version has been modified. Instead of one bright flash, Bright Man will be able to use his blinding flash power for a prolonged period of time.
"Give me his weapon," Wily orders, then he growls, "And don't drop it!"
Cut Man reaches to a nearby shelf and grabs a large custom-made light bulb ornamint which contantains the bright flash module inside of it, and hands it to Wily. Albert takes the bulb and places it atop of Bright Man's head, slowly rotating the bulb into place until it is fit tightly.
"Now, give me the solar battery," Wily orders, holding his hand out.
GutsMan and Cut Man look around for Bright Man's battery, but they can't find any trace of it in the workshop.
"The battery, you idiots!", Albert barks, "Give it to me now!"
"We can't find it, Dr. Wily!" Cut Man panics.
"Yeah! Wherever it is, it ain't in this room," GutsMan says.
Albert turns around and looks for it himself. "It's right here, you morons!", he snaps, searching the table for Bright Man's solar battery. But, it appears his robots were right, he can't find the battery either.
Albert lets out a ragged sigh. He must have fotgotten the battery when he was last in the storage room. He doesn't trust these two to go find the battery without breaking it, along with everything else, so he has to go get it himself.
"I'll get it. Do not touch anything!", Wily orders as he leaves the workshop. He hesitates once he stands alone in the corridor outisde, because he knows this thing that is haunting him - whatever it is - will follow him again.
Albert takes in a deep breath, clinching his fists, and presses onward down the corridor.
All the way to the storage room, Dr. Wily listens for anything out of the ordinary, but he doesn't hear anything this time. Albert looks over his shoulder twice on the way, but once again, he doesn't see anything or anybody following him.
Dr. Wily reaches the storage room and turns the lights on by flicking the poorly installed switch on the wall. The room's two dim lights turn on, just barely luminating enough of the dark room to make things visible to the human eye. Wily enters and begins searching for the solar battery he needs for Bright Man.
"Where the hell is it?", he mutters to himself.
In the middle of the search, he hears that noise again. Albert freezes as he listens to the noise... it doesn't sound the same as it had before, but it sounds like footsteps. A few seconds later, it sounds like the footsteps are now here in the storage room with him... and they are getting closer and closer.
Albert slowly picks up a large piece of shiny silver titanium and can see the reflection of something in the metal... and it's getting closer.
Wily tightens his grip on the metal piece and quickly turns to face whoever this is, ready to strike this culprit with it.
Much to Wily's shock and surprise, it was ProtoMan who was in the room with him. ProtoMan caught Albert's arm in his left hand, preventing himself from getting hit with the hunk of titanium.
"Jeez! I come to check on you and you want to hit me?", ProtoMan complains.
"You really need to learn how to knock when entering a room," Wily groans as Proto lets him go.
As Wily turns to continue searching for the solar battery, ProtoMan - who is still without his scarf - stands behind his co-creator with his arms folded. "You're not gonna convince me you're not spooked by somethin'," Proto says.
"I am fine," Dr. Wily lies.
"Yeah, and my armor is blue too," ProtoMan retorts.
Once Albert finally finds the solar battery he came here for, he grabs it and begins to leave, without saying another word about this haunting feeling he's been having.
"So, are you gonna tell me what it is that's bothering you so much or not?" Proto asks.
"I'm too busy for questions, Proto," Albert replies as he walks away, "I have an army to build."
"Fine. Suit yourself," Proto says with a chortle.
Author's Notes:
To any fans who feel that Roll is still being too "domestic" for your tastes, as I said before, it will be dealt with very, very soon. Trust me.
Speaking of Roll, she did say in the episode "Cold Steel" that Cold Steel (the band) was her favorite rock band... at least until the episode was over. Captain Fallout and The Atom-Smashers must have become her favorite band once again afterwards. Despite having the silliest name in the history of rock music, at least they're not working for Wily.
And for those of you whose minds are in the gutter, no, Roll and Doc are NOT a romantic item.
I really do hate William. I hope you do too.
Please remember to leave a review or comment... in the meantime, I think I'll go bake some Gingerbread Mets!