Brothers, Chapter 3: The Conversation.


The Next Day. One Day before Election Day.
Central Park, New York City.

ProtoMan is sitting alone on a bench here in Central Park, lightly whistling to himself as he waits for Mega Man to show up. A few passersby have congratulated him or welcomed him to the good side, grateful that he has turned his back on Wily. Proto would reply with that sly grin of his and wave... then he'd call the person a sucker or another degrading name quietly enough so they couldn't hear him.
Of course, these people - just like everybody else - do not know the Red Raider's true intentions.
ProtoMan has heard quite a few of Dr. Wily's oddball plans over the course of this "war", and some of them were the most silly things that the human mind could possibly imagine. From nightmare machines to a virus that makes robots think like neanderthals to shrinking cities to creating a rock band full of Robot Masters to play hypnotic music, Dr. Wily has thought of pretty much every ridiculous plan he could possibly think of. This plan however is unquestionably the best one that the old man has ever divised, even better than hijacking Gamma. And the best part is, all of these suckers are buying into it and so is ProtoMan's family... save for Mega Man. ProtoMan knows his little brother is one tough nut to crack, but he's sure he can dupe that blue wonder.

Personally, Proto can't wait for the next phase of this mission to begin, because he's felt odd about staying at Light's lab ever since the beginning... and that spooky memory he had last night didn't help... in fact, Proto even feels he was a little harsh calling some of these human bad names earlier as they walked past him. They can't all be stupid... If only Mega Man would show up already.

"Where the hell is he?", Proto complains as he anxiously looks around for any trace of his brother.

Through his black visor, ProtoMan can see somebody approaching him. It wasn't Mega Man, but just another human citizen taking a stroll here in the park. He must have just come from the polls to vote on tomorrow's elections, because he was wearing a suit and his black hair looked neatly styled. He looked pretty big too, like he was an athlete, but aside from that ther was nothing special about this ordinary average white guy.
The stranger looks over to ProtoMan and nods.

Proto waves and nods back, but then once he knows the guy is far enough away from him, he mutters under his breath. "Schmuck."

Proto begins to get impatient as he waits for Mega Man to arrive. He wonders if that idiot Light even gave him the message. He wants to get this mission over with now.
But, finally ProtoMan can see his younger brother and Rush approaching. The sound of Rush's jets gave them away.

"I was wonderin' when you'd get here, little brother," he says, hiding the scrambler chip in his right hand, "Have a seat," he offers.

Mega Man and Rush land, but the Blue Bomber is still weary of his brother and doesn't sit down.

"Rock, come on," Proto coorses, "the old days are over."

"What do you want?", Mega Man asks, still looking suspicious of his brother.

ProtoMan shrugs his shoulders, "I just want to have some time with my little brother, that's all. We've got a lot of damage to repair."

Mega Man reluctantly sits down next to his older crooked brother as Rush sits down beside the park bench and sniffs the grass. ProtoMan puts his right arm over his shoulder and a few moments pass as neither robot says anything. For the first time in their lives, both robot brothers can be having a moment of time to themselves and not try and blast eachother into obliteration.

Mega Man muses, "I guess we don't have to fight anymore, do we?"

ProtoMan barely smiles, "No, we don't. Those days are done."

"This all feels like a dream to me," Mega continues, sounding somber, "I keep thinking I'm going to wake up any second and we'll be back on opposite sides again... but, it hasn't happened yet."

"I've gotta admit, it does feel strange not doing battle around you," Proto says, "But, I'm glad too."

After another moment of silence passes, Mega asks, "Why was it so easy for you to fight me? You almost killed me several times."

Proto replies, "You were always in the way... and I always wanted to prove that I was the better fighter, but I never could beat you. You always seemed to have ace in your pocket. As far killing you, I never wanted to kill you, Rock. You have no idea how many times I had to convince Wily to not kill you... say, why was it so easy for you to fight me?"

"It never was easy, Proto," Mega replies, sounding agitated as he looks over to his older brother, "I had a duty to fufill, to protect the human race from Wily, and you've been on the wrong side of this war all the way. Even when Gamma attacked and killed all of those fighter pilots, you didn't do anything about it."

"You're right about what went down during the Gamma operation," Proto confesses, "I don't like the idea of killing, and I should have stopped Wily from doing it... in fact, there's a lot of things I should have stopped him from doing... but, there's no getting through that thick dented head of his when that little voice takes over."

Mega pauses for a moment, feeling uncomfortable asking his next question, "Proto, did you ever... enjoy doing what you did?"

"... there was a time when I did. Back when I believed that we were the good guys," Proto admits, "Being a combat robot was all that I knew... it's still all I know."

Mega asks Proto another question, because he can't get over the convenient timing of Proto's turn, what with the election coming tomorrow night and the recent airing of the interview with him and Roll. "So, you saw the interview?"

"I didn't really see it, but I know about it. You said something about wishing I would turn on the old man. It's the reason why I'm here," Proto admits.

"I had a feeling it was," Mega counters.

Mega listens intently as ProtoMan continues, "Wily must have seen it, because he had devised one of his half-baked plots, and it involved me reuniting with you. He wanted me to come back here to Dr. Light's lab and tell you that the great Dr. Wily was dead and that the Robot Masters were ready to be reprogrammed... then he wanted me to turn on you when you least expected it so he could finish you off himself. Not just you, but Roll, Dr. Light, everybody."

"And what did you say?", Mega asks.

Proto grins, "I told him to kiss my titanium ass, that's what." Proto's grin slowly fades as he continues, "He didn't take too kindly to that. We yelled at eachother, he said I'm the reason he's not the ruler of the world, then he told me to leave... forever. So, I did what he said and left. I can make up my own mind, unlike the Robot Masters, so I didn't need to kiss up to him anymore. Then, when he realized I was already out the door, that's when he realized the error of his ways and tried to send the Robot Masters to get me back. That's when I removed my tracker. In fact, it was this stupid plan that made me realize that night how much I cared about my little brother," Proto says, "That's why I couldn't destroy you like he always wanted."

"When did all of this happen?", Mega Man asks.

"Last Tuesday, middle of the night... well, technically, it was Wednesday, but who's counting?", Proto replies. On the inside, Proto is amazed at how convincing he sounds at lying through his teeth. He almost believes his own story.

"Why did it take you so long to come back home?", Mega asks.

"I didn't want to," Proto says, "I had just walked away from the only family I really had in Wily... and I didn't feel comfortable coming back here, because I didn't trust Dr. Light. Plus, I'm still convinced our sister hates my guts. She hasn't really spoken to me since I came back... the only reason I did come back was to try and make things better between you and me. If it wasn't for you, Rock, I would've done things on my own... maybe I would help you take out Wily, or maybe I'd just stand back and let you deal with him. Without me, he's got nothin'."

Mega Man takes all of this in. He wants to believe what Proto is saying, and he sounds so sincere when he says he wants to make things right... but, he still can't accept it yet, because of how deceitful both his brother and Dr. Wily are.

"I know you've gotta be having a tough time getting used to this, and I am too. I know I'm supposed to feel like a part of the family, but I just don't yet," ProtoMan says.

"You're right, I am having a tough time. I just hope we never have to fight again. I don't know how much more of it I could take," Mega sighs.

ProtoMan jokes, "Well... I'm not too sure about that... Ya' little dope!", he says, playfully shoving his little brother.

During this innocent shove, ProtoMan carefully placed the chip inside the ear sensor on the right side of Mega's helmet and pulls back his arm. Proto place the chip so quickly and discretely, Mega doesn't even notice that it has been placed on him.

"What?" Mega says, almost smileing.

"Come on, you're supposed to be the big bad warrior, Little brother!", ProtoMan says, egging him on like a big brother would.

"I am a warrior... unlike you, you goof!", Mega says, shoving him back with a smile.

"Oh, I'm a goof? At least I don't look like I exploded in a blueberry factory," ProtoMan quips.

"This coming from somebody who always wears a scarf when it's warm and sunglasses at night!", Mega responds.

The two robot brothers begin laughing with eachother. It's the only time in their lives that the two brothers have ever bonded as siblings, the only time that they could be 'normal.' Both of their dreams had come true and they were finally together as a family.

Then, suddenly, Mega Man's smile disappears and he bolts to his feet, steping away from ProtoMan. "What I'm I thinking?", he says to himself.

"What's the matter, Rock?", ProtoMan asks.

Mega turns around, not smileing anymore and says, "For a moment, I forgot that you're more twisted than a car wreck, that's what."

"It's about Wily again, right?"

"It's not just about Wily... I don't trust you very much," Mega Man replies and begins to walk away.

ProtoMan walks after Mega Man, trying to reason with his little brother. "Hey, hold on! I'm doing my best to walk the straight and narrow! I just told you how hard all of this is for me, I even let you in on how I'm feeling and you still mistrust me? Oh, I know what it is... you've let all of this 'Defender of the Human Race' crap get to your head! You think you're too good for your own brother!"

"You've got it all wrong, Proto", Mega Man says with a heavy heart.
He sighs, hanging his head down and then reveals something he's kept bottled up inside of him for years... "I've always wanted to have a real brother relationship with you... I've always cared about you."

Mega Man closes his eyes hard and tries hard to contain his emotions as he says it. Revealing the pain he's kept inside for this long was the toughest thing he's ever had to do in his life.

A stunned ProtoMan replies, "You... you do?"

Desperately trying to contain his emotions, Mega Man replies, "All I've ever wanted was for us to be a complete family... so we don't have to fight eachother anymore... you have no idea how hard it's been on me to have you as my enemy instead of my big brother."

ProtoMan stands there, stunned at this revelation. A long period of silence follows.

Mega Man finally breaks the silence, his voice sounding strained, "I've got to go home. Rush, Jet."

As Rush transforms into jet mode, ProtoMan approaches his brother and tries to plead his case. With a sincerity never heard before in his voice, Proto calls, "Wait. We can be brothers! Just give me a chance. It'll take time, but, everything will be back to normal."

Mega Man looks back to his brother and with sadness in his eyes he's never allowed his older brother to see before. "It will never be normal, Proto," Mega Man says, sounding morose.

Without another word, Mega Man jets off leaving ProtoMan standing alone in Central Park.

ProtoMan stares at Mega Man as he soars into the sky and is especially shocked by his brother's painful revalation. He never knew that his brother cared for him. ProtoMan thinks back to all the times Mega Man tried to convince him to ditch Wily... just like all of the times ProtoMan his tried to turn him. Proto always thought that Mega was just trying to get him out of the way so he could arrest Wily. But, now he knows it was because Mega wanted him to be a part of his life.

ProtoMan slowly walks away with his head down, trying to process all of this. This changes everything.


Later.
Dr. Light's Lab.

"Mega, Rush and ProtoMan have been gone for a long time," Roll says, nervously walking around the lab, "Too long."

"Now, Roll, let's not jump to conclusions," Dr. Light says.

"I've just got a bad feeling about this, Dr. Light," Roll frets, fearing that maybe her brother had good reason to mistrust ProtoMan, which of course, he does. "If Mega's not back in ten minutes, I'm going to look for him."

Seconds later however, Mega Man arrives back home to the lab after taking some time to collect himself after his painful conversation with ProtoMan. He also feels kind of strange physically ever since the talk with his brother in the park. He's sure it's because of the emotional stress from even revealing his pain to Proto in the first place and ignores it.

Dr. Light is the first to see Mega return. "Rock, be sure to leave Rush here with me for the moment," he says, "He's due for a fuel refill."

Mega Man just nods, saying nothing in response.

"... Rock?", Dr. Light asks, looking concerned, "Are you alright."

"Huh?", Mega replies, still mentally stuck in the park, "... oh, yeah, I'm okay. It's just... Proto."

Roll asks, "You guys didn't argue, did you? If you did, I'm on your side."

ProtoMan walks in seconds later and stops as he sees Mega for the first time since earlier this morning.
Mega Man focuses his attention to him and so do Roll and Dr. Light. The room falls into an awkward silence as the two robot brothers just stare at eachother and as Roll and Thomas look back at forth at them.

"I'll, uh... be out for a while," ProtoMan mutters, before turning around and abruptly leaving Dr. Light's lab.

Thomas and Roll look back to Mega Man, who lets out a woeful sigh.

"What happened between you two?", Roll asks.


Later that day.

In the same alleyway where ProtoMan contacted Wily last night, he returns to contact him again. After making sure that nobody - and nothing - is watching him, he presses his communication button on his forearm.

"Are you there?", he asks.

"Did you plant the scrambler chip?", Wily asks.

"It's done. It was, uh... a little bit harder than I thought it would be," Proto replies, sounding dejected as he makes a veiled reference to his conversation with Mega Man.

"Good, my boy! From this point onward, Mega Man will soon be no more of a threat than a gnat! Oh, yes... I've been waiting for this moment. Soon, I will have control over the world and Mega Man will be destroyed!"

"Or turned!", Protoman says, faster than he usually would.

Wily sighs and says, "Of course, you can attempt to turn him before I destroy him. I haven't forgotten the deal."

"Good. Dont," Proto responds, shounding very short with his master.

"You don't sound like yourself, my boy. You're not falling for Thomas' family act, are you?"

ProtoMan remains silent for a short moment... "No!" he says, quick to give Albert the answer he wants to hear, "I can't stand being here, it's driving me crazy. I've just got... something on my mind."

"Now is the time to be thinking with a clear mind, Proto. We only have one chance at this. Don't blow it again."

"Quit worrying. I won't!", Proto snaps.

As Proto cuts off the contact with Dr. Wily, he can't shake this odd feeling he's been having about this whole operation. Mega Man's words have stuck with him ever since the talk in Central Park, because he now knows that his brother felt the same about ProtoMan as Proto has felt about him, but he never knew it until now.

ProtoMan stands alone, thinking back to today's talk with his brother, when he notices that the sun is starting to go down. He quickly leaves the area before it gets dark, but soon he catches himself wandering around aimlessly, lost in his thoughts. He can't shake his brother's words out of his head...

"I've always wanted to have a real brother relationship with you."


Later that evening.
Dr. Light's lab.

ProtoMan returns to the lab complex and looks around for his brother. If this mission is to be a success, he needs to make sure he's got Mega Man strung along. If he doesn't buy this, none of them will... but, Proto also feels the need to assure his brother that he's not one of the bad guys anymore and that they really can be a family now.
ProtoMan looks out to the back yard and while he doesn't see Mega Man back there, he does find Roll, kneeling in front of a tree... a very special tree.
She's not saying anything, but she has her hands clasped together, like she's praying.

ProtoMan steps outside and walks up to his sister. "Hey, sis, have you seen Rock anywhere around here?", he asks.

Roll looks up and replies in a distracted voice, "Um... no, but he's around here somewhere."

Proto looks down and sees a metal plate in the ground right in front of the tree that reads "Doc."
Proto remembers that Doc is the name of the Met robot that Dr. Wily savagely killed last year. He knew that Roll was deeply hurt by what happened to him, but he didn't know that the little robot was buried here.

ProtoMan feels the need to ask Roll more about Doc. "So... he must've meant a lot to you," he surmises, careful to not say anything that would get her upset.

"Doc was my best friend," Roll muses, "And then Wily took him from me."

ProtoMan knows that Roll holds a deep grudge against Wily for destroyed Doc, and judging by how short she's being with him, she probably still blames Proto himself as well. Proto feels that he should just leave her be, but as he walks away, he gets an urge to go back to Roll and let something off of his chest that has bothered him ever since that horrible week. He doesn't know where this feeling is coming from, but he feels that he must do this.

Stepping back to Roll's side and keeling down beside her, Proto speaks with the same sincerity he had in the final moments at the park today. "There's something I've got to tell you... what happened to this little guy... it was wrong. It's been bothering me ever since it happened, and if I could go back and fix things... I'd have made sure Wily wouldn't have killed him."

Roll doesn't take her eyes off of Doc's marker, but she listens intently to ProtoMan venting his feelings.
Proto then the gets the urge to say two words that he has very rarely used, but in this case, he feels that he must. "... I'm sorry, Roll. I wish he was still alive too."

When she hears her brother apologize for Doc's death, Roll's bottom lip begins trembling and eye lubricaton begins to leak out of her eyes and down her cheeks. She never thought she would ever hear ProtoMan of all people say the things he did, and the fact that he did really touched her and she feels that she has some closure. Roll knows that now she has to do something that she thought she would never do. But, despite all of the hard feelings she's had for ProtoMan in the past, she knows that she must.
"I forgive you," Roll weeps.

"... thanks," ProtoMan says with a nod and stands back up. When he turns to go back inside, he finds his brother Mega Man standing nearby. He had to have heard everything that was said.

As Proto walks past Mega Man, he tells him, "I had to get that off my chest... it haunted me. I actually feel a little better now."

As Proto walks back inside the lab complex, Mega's gaze follows him. He hopes the maybe his older brother is telling the truth, that he truly does want to make things right and that he really isn't one of the bad guys anymore. He wouldn't have expressed the guilt he felt about Doc's death and apologize to Roll if he wasn't trying to make good... could he?


In his new bedroom in Dr. Light's house, ProtoMan is lieing on his bed, because he knows that by tomorrow night, he probably won't have it anymore and he will be back in his usual digs at Skull Fortress.
He stares at the ceiling and thinks about everything that's happened today: The conversation in the park, planting the chip on Mega and admitting to Roll that he wished Doc the Met had never been killed and all of these strange sympathetic feelings he's had over the course of the day.
He was expecting this to be an easy operation: trick the Lights into thinking he's not working for Dr. Wily anymore, get Mega Man out of the way without doing any serious harm to him, and then let Wily spring the trap at just the right time.
But, none of it is easy anymore. In fact, the mission is only getting more difficult with every second that ticks by.

"It'll all be over by tomorrow night," Proto says to himself with his hands on his visored helmet, "Just hang in there a little longer, Proto."

Then, there is a knock at the door. "What?", Proto asks.

"It's Rock," Mega Man says on the other side of the door, "I want to talk to you for a minute."

Proto gets up and opens the door to see his brother standing accross from him with his helmet off, letting his full head of scruffy brown hair show. Since he had his helmet off, that meant wasn't being affected by the scrambler chip right now, which is a good thing because Proto wanted this time to speak with him and didn't want that damn chip messing things up.
"Hey, Rock. I wanted to talk you again," Proto begins.

"Yeah, I wanted to say something to you too... and I'm gonna be honest with you right now, I still don't trust you," Mega admits, "And if you want me to trust you, you're going to have to prove you are trustworthy. But, when you talked to Roll earlier, that was very kind... I don't think she hates you anymore. For the first time in my life, I'm proud to call you my brother... and I'm really glad you came home."

ProtoMan stands in the doorframe, keeping himself together, but feeling his little brother's comment hit him like a ton of bricks. Much like the conversation they had earlier today, Proto wasn't expecting his brother to hit him with such deeply personal remarks.
Proto tries to search for the right words to respond with, but can't think of anything. So, instead he replies with the first thing he can think of... "I'm proud to say you're my brother, Rock. I've kinda always been proud."

Mega nods and barely smiles, walking away, still uncomfortable with continueing this conversation they started. ProtoMan also doesn't know what else to say, still taken aback by Mega's comments. But, he feels like he should say something.

"Rock," Proto calls and Mega turns back around in the hallway. "... thanks for giving me the chance to be your big brother."

"After today, I think you've earned it," Mega replies, again barely smileing.

"I'll see you tomorrow," Proto adds before closing the door.

Once Proto closes his door, Mega Man leans himself up agains a wall rests his head on his forearm, letting out a sharp sigh. As difficult as the past few days hav been difficult on ProtoMan, it's been just as difficult - if not even moreso - on Mega. But, the more time that passes, the more Mega's bad feeling about Proto's trustworthiness begins to fade, because it appears that ProtoMan really has changed for the better.

Tragically, it only appears to be that way... or does it?


Author's Notes:

Firstly, and most importantly, it appears the my main computer has a nasty little bug on it that makes the screen fuzzy, making it dfficult for me to read and write. So, the next chapter will take a little longer to post until this situation is resolved.

I knew that this was arguably the most important chapter thusfar, because Mega's and Proto's conversation scene is the scene that almost every fan of this show remembers the most and the favorite of many of them. (With GutsMan's Ass being a close second.)
I wanted to make sure that this chapter was poignant and that every scene matters and each has a lot of emotional weight.

This is basically Proto's chapter, because he's in every single scene. I added the last scenes after the conversation to go deeper inside the inner conflict Proto is feeling right now.
The only question is, when is Proto lying and when is he telling the truth?

Please remember to leave a review or a comment. (and if you see any typos, please let me know, preferably in a PM.)