"ProtoMan! ProtoMan, slow down!"
He will not. His operators - Chaud, Mimic - they are in danger, he needs to hurry, he needs to get back as soon as he can, so he will not slow down.
Navis cry out as he shoves between them, not even slowing down to apologise. He jumps over heads when he cannot push, bounces off street lights that are only there as decorations because night will never fall in Internet City, and sails through the air and uses larger Navis as springboards if he lands on them.
ProtoMan causes a lot of panic as he goes, and MegaMan can barely keep up with him.
"ProtoMan, stop!"
A hand grabs his hair and yanks.
ProtoMan stumbles backwards, collapsing and skidding across the ground, startling a few more Navis who jump aside and are too stunned at his sudden fall to help him up. He does not need help anyway, as he pushes himself back up before he even stops, and makes to continue running.
MegaMan's hand closes around his arm, this time, and forces him to stop.
"What are you doing?" ProtoMan demands, nearly activating his Sword.
"Slow down," MegaMan tells him firmly.
"I can't!" ProtoMan snaps, wrenching his arm out of MegaMan's grasp. But MegaMan plants himself in front of him, preventing him from dashing off again. "My operator could be dying while we stand here!"
"You don't know that," MegaMan says, holding out his hands placatingly.
"Yes I do!" Nervous energy makes him restless, so he paces for several moments. "Before- before the connection was cut, the house programs were able to send me an image. Chaud- he's- there is gas! He is suffocating! He'll die if we don't move!"
He tries to shove past, but MegaMan stops him again.
"Panicking won't help him," MegaMan tells him sharply.
"What would you do if it were your operator?" ProtoMan hisses. It is a cruel thing to say, given what happened less than three weeks ago, but ProtoMan is afraid and angry and he needs to save his operators.
"I'd probably be the same as you," MegaMan admits, and ProtoMan almost spits out another response, but MegaMan continues before he can. "But I'd be able to help Lan a lot faster if someone was with me, forcing me to stay calm. You can't save anyone if you're too busy having a breakdown."
"I'm not having a breakdown!" ProtoMan nearly screams. "I just need to-"
"You need to calm down," MegaMan says, not budging. "Last time you saw him, Chaud was still alive. It hasn't been that long since then, right? So, he's still alive, and freaking out is only going to make you slower, which'll make it harder for you to help him."
The problem is, ProtoMan does not know how potent the gas is. It could be the type of gas that simply puts humans to sleep, or it could be poison gas that kills the instant it fills the lungs. Depending on the amount used, even sleeping gas could be fatal to a child, and though Mimic has told him she is an adult, she is in the body of a child right now, and Chaud is still in there with her, they are both in danger of dying-
"ProtoMan!" MegaMan's sharp voice cuts through his thoughts.
"I-" ProtoMan chokes. "I think . . . maybe I am panicking."
"Okay." MegaMan's voice softens. "Okay, alright. Don't worry - we will save your operator, I promise."
"You can't . . . know that . . ."
"Maybe not, but I need to help you so you can help Chaud. How close are we to your access point?"
"Up there," ProtoMan tells him, pointing. "The- the walkway. Above us."
"There's a teleport point over there, it'll take us up, and when we get there, don't run off," MegaMan orders. "Okay?"
"Okay," ProtoMan replies. Hearing someone give him orders - even if it is another Navi, not a human or even his own operator - helps to calm the raging storm inside him. Not entirely, but enough.
He allows MegaMan to take the lead this time, and almost runs ahead as soon as the teleport point takes them up to the walkway. MegaMan stops him and, with a hand on his arm to keep him from panicking again, leads him to the access point he and Arcadia had used to log in to Internet City.
He remembers feeling awed at the sight of the city, excited to explore. How different he feels now, with his operators in danger.
MegaMan has to let ProtoMan take the lead when they get to the Blaze mansion's network. He doesn't know the way through it, but ProtoMan does, though he keeps his hand closed around ProtoMan's arm in an effort to ground him as they run.
He's not sure if it works. ProtoMan still looks moments from screaming, his entire body is trembling so much that MegaMan wonders if he's not about to fall over again (he feels a twinge of guilt, at that - he'd forced ProtoMan to collapse because it had been the only thing he could think of, short of actually attacking him, to make him stop).
To put it bluntly, this is the worst that he's ever seen ProtoMan. The closest he can think of in his recent memory is when Chaud had that weird episode with the hysterical laughter, and both ProtoMan and Arcadia had freaked out about it.
It seems that hurting his operator is the best way to make ProtoMan lose his head, make him panic so much he can't even think straight. MegaMan worries that Arcadia is the same, but he'd gone off with Roll to give Lan and Maylu directions to the Blaze mansion, because none of them know where Chaud lives and it's not like the odd trio ever volunteered that information. Hopefully Roll can keep him calm, at least long enough to get their operators where they need to go.
ProtoMan leads him to a smaller part of the mansion's network. The access point looks like it's been broken apart, like something too big has forced its way through. He feels ProtoMan's trembling get worse, but he says nothing - talking him down from a panic attack earlier was the only way he could get ProtoMan to think, but trying to talk to him now will only make things worse. They're too close to whatever's hurting Chaud.
If ProtoMan freaks out again, there's no way MegaMan will be able to calm him down this time.
This smaller part of the network is connected to a bathroom, MegaMan realises as they go through it. He recognises it from the few times Lan has jacked him into his own house's network to check whether there's enough hot water for a shower or something, but it's bigger and a lot more, well, rich than he's used to. It makes sense, given that Chaud probably has more money than even Yai, which is frankly impressive.
They finally find the culprit of the gas ProtoMan told him about, a large blue NetNavi throwing whirlwinds and razor-sharp blasts of air at the systems, forcing them to go haywire and sending some sort of poisonous program through the pipes - the gas, MegaMan realises. This is what's causing it. This is who is causing it.
"That's it, weak little human child," the large blue Navi says sweetly, which sounds odd coming from such a deep voice. "Keep breathing it all in, you'll die soon enough . . ."
It takes those few words to erase whatever control ProtoMan has over himself.
He activates his small shield before MegaMan can stop him, and hurls it at the blue Navi's head. The shield bounces off, but it's done some damage at least, if the pained yelp the blue Navi lets out is any indication.
The blue Navi whirls around, and spots them. His eyes widen when he catches sight of ProtoMan.
"You weren't supposed to be here," the blue Navi says.
"Who are you?" MegaMan demands, quickly grabbing ProtoMan before he can launch himslef at the blue Navi. "Why are you attacking Chaud?"
"AirMan," the blue Navi says, "and because my operator told me to, that's why. What, have you come to stop me? Sorry, but I'm afraid you'll have to wait. I have a child to kill."
"NO!" ProtoMan roars, and he rips himself out of MegaMan's grasp.
He's fast, MegaMan knows that. He's fought beside ProtoMan and against him - it's his speed that makes him such a powerful ally and opponent, because he can hit you before you can even blink and then run off and hide before you can retaliate. The only way Megaman was ever able to keep up with him was by slowing him down or throwing a Beta Sword in his face.
But now, he thinks, he's not sure he'll ever be able to keep up with this kind of speed.
One second ProtoMan's right next to him, and the next he's on top of AirMan, ramming a Sword into the larger Navi's shoulder. AirMan shrieks, and ProtoMan matches it in tone, like a beast screeching a challenge to something that threatens its territory - or its children.
MegaMan's seen this before, but only briefly. When he'd come back from deletion, moments later PharaohMan had shown up, and ProtoMan hadn't even hesitated - he'd just thrown his shield at the image, never mind the fact that it didn't do any damage and had only served to anger PharaohMan.
ProtoMan's usually more reserved, maybe a little bit snappy, but there's anger so deep and hateful inside him that it makes him lose all reason when it comes out.
MegaMan just hopes he never has to be on the receiving end of that.
Lan's not here yet, so all he can do is activate his Mega Buster and shoot. He tries to aim carefully, but ProtoMan's anger makes him wild and he lashes out in every direction, for all that he actually does hit AirMan with every strike. It's hard to aim when ProtoMan can't control himself, and he might hit his friend if he tries.
It seems AirMan is regretting following his operator's orders, now. He's not nearly fast enough to start throwing out those whirlwinds he'd used to break the system - he couldn't keep up with normal ProtoMan, and he certainly can't keep up with this enraged one, either. He tries defending, but he uses his arms, and ProtoMan hacks them to pieces and then rips them off altogether, apparently deciding that the arms are just in the way.
MegaMan's not entirely sure if he's even needed for this fight.
He does get at least one shot in, though - AirMan panics when his arms are torn off, and he blasts ProtoMan away with a strong gust of wind. ProtoMan skids on the floor but gets up quickly, and MegaMan uses the brief lull in the fight to shoot AirMan in the face, stunning him.
ProtoMan is back on top of him before MegaMan can blink. He doesn't even bother with a Sword this time, he just rips apart AirMan with his bare hands.
It's brutal, and MegaMan closes his eyes and wishes he could mute his hearing, because AirMan's screams are horrifying. Eventually, he hears the sickeningly-familiar sound of a Navi being deleted, and opens his eyes to see a swirl of pixels disintegrating and ProtoMan standing in the middle of them, shaking and gasping for breath.
"ProtoMan," MegaMan says carefully.
ProtoMan jerks. He lets out a ragged sound.
"We need to fix the network," MegaMan reminds him.
It seems ProtoMan understands him - but he takes one step forward and collapses. He's shaking too much to move, for all that he tries. But that's all he can do.
MegaMan thinks it's safe enough to go over to him, so he does, banishing his Mega Buster before he gets there. It's better if he tries to look as non-threatening as possible, just in case he accidentally sets ProtoMan off again.
"I'll do it," MegaMan offers gently. "Okay? Focus on calming down. I can get rid of the gas."
Connection made.
"MegaMan!" Lan's voice echoes through the network, and MegaMan has never been more relieved to hear it. "We're here! Are you guys okay?"
"I'm just about to fix the network," MegaMan calls back, keeping his eyes on ProtoMan. "Have you found Chaud?"
"Yeah, we got him out of his bathroom. He's okay, he's just unconscious, Roll says he should wake up soon, and we got his PET as well. Do you need help, or can you and ProtoMan fix the network on your own?"
ProtoMan can't do anything right now, so MegaMan has to do this on his own.
But he's starting to look more lucid, after hearing that Chaud is okay. He's still in no state to move, and MegaMan doesn't want to move him just yet anyway.
"We'll be fine," MegaMan tells his own operator. "If Arcadia's still there, tell him to stay with you - I think it might help ProtoMan if Arcadia's there with Chaud."
ProtoMan raises his head to look at MegaMan. He can't see his eyes through his visor, but he can definitely see the silent gratitude in his expression. MegaMan nods to him.
You can't always be the rock, he'd told him, just before all this madness had started.
MegaMan's far from arrogant, but he knows he was right when he'd said that. He'll give ProtoMan the time he needs to calm down, before they go back to their PETs.
Fixing the network is easy. It's not so different from the one in the Hikari household, just bigger and more expensive. Getting rid of the gas in an easy task (though some of it has leaked out of the bathroom), and putting everything back to how it should be takes only a few minutes, during which ProtoMan manages to get himself back together and help out with the last few bits that need fixing.
He's still quiet, still shaking a little, but he's not angry anymore. He just looks completely drained.
Mimic wakes up with a sore throat and gas in her lungs.
She starts hacking, trying to get rid of it, and someone slaps her back in an attempt to help. There's a cup being pushed into her hands but she's too busy coughing to drink it, and she almost gags when she coughs too hard.
When the coughing finally subsides, she wearily opens her eyes and raises her head to see whoever has been trying to help her.
Lan and Maylu look back at her, worried but relieved.
"Oh thank god," Lan says in a rush. "You're okay! I was starting to get scared I'd lied to MegaMan . . ."
"What . . ." Mimic rasps.
"Water," Maylu tells her, gesturing to the cup in her hands. "Drink, c'mon, you just inhaled an entire thing of gas. Roll says you're gonna feel bad for a while, so just take it easy, okay?"
Mimic drinks, and while her throat feels better from the cold water, she's still groggy and hurts. Gas? When did that-
Oh, wait a minute. She remembers this. It had been . . . that AirMan guy, right? She remembers from the anime. He'd attacked Yai, filling up her bathroom with gas and had nearly killed her, before Lan and Maylu had shown up to drag her out and MegaMan had gotten rid of AirMan.
But it's not Yai who was attacked this time. It was her.
Why?
What changed? Why did AirMan's operator go after her, and not Yai, as he had done in the anime? Was it something she'd done, something that had changed this reality enough that she's the one who got attacked instead of Yai?
"ProtoMan deleted the Navi who was breaking the network and sending in all that gas," Lan tells her, when she's finished drinking all the cold water in the cup. "MegaMan went with him, and I would've helped them fight, but we needed to help you more."
"You're lucky you didn't see the fight," MegaMan's voice says, quietly. It's coming from Lan's PET, which sits on the ground next to Maylu's and Mimic's PETs. "It was . . . brutal."
That's not the kind of tone someone has when they've just helped saved a person. Mimic glances at her own PET, looking at ProtoMan and Arcadia for an explanation.
ProtoMan is silent, trembling slightly. Arcadia stands next to him as always, but he switches his worried look from Mimic to ProtoMan constantly, like something bad happened to both of them.
She gets why he's worried about her, but why is he worried about ProtoMan, too? What the hell happened?
Mimic has a lot of questions, but absolutely no answers. Fucking typical.
She shakes her head, trying to clear it, and takes stock of her surroundings for the first time.
She's outside. Not in her room, or her bathroom. On the driveway of the mansion, where she can see members of the mansion's staff scattered around, some of them shooting the group of kids and Navis the occasional glance she can't read because they're too far away for her to see their expressions.
"Ins-side," she croaks, eyes widening. She tries to get up, but she's weak, and Lan makes her sit back down anyway. "Ha-have to- can't b-be-"
"You can't go back in right now," Lan tells her. "Some of the gas leaked out, it got into the rest of the mansion. You gotta wait until it's clear."
"Can't be out-outside," Mimic says, her voice like sandpaper. "Not- allowed-" Her voice cracks painfully.
"I know you're still grounded, but your dad can't get mad at you for this," Lan says, shaking his head and stopping her from getting up again. "It's not your fault. You didn't ask to be attacked."
He'll still get angry, Mimic thinks, though she goes limp and stops struggling. He won't care about why I'm out, only that I am out.
It's not just the lingering gas in her lungs that's making it hard to breathe, now.
"I thought you only had one eye," Maylu comments, looking at her face curiously. No, she's looking at Mimic's eyes, isn't she?
"Huh?" Lan looks at her eyes too, and his expression brightens. "Wow, you've got two eyes again! Though . . . they're different colours. Oh - is the black one cybernetic? That's so cool, you've got a cybernetic eye!"
Mimic stares at them blankly, trying to comprehend their words. It's hard, when all she can think about is how pissed off Shuseki is going to be when he comes back and finds out she was out of her room when she wasn't supposed to be.
"I'm glad you've got two eyes again," Lan tells her eagerly. "I mean, no offence, but that patch and the stitches looked really bad."
"The scar looks kinda cool," Maylu says.
She's lying. She has to be. Mimic has seen the scar in her reflection, when she talks to Chaud - it's a long, ugly line that cuts straight through her black eye, even more noticeable against pale skin. It's not cool at all, it makes her sick whenever she looks at it, but it's hard to ignore something that's so obvious on her and Chaud's face.
And she doesn't really know how Shuseki feels about such an obvious scar, but he seems like the kind of person who cares more for appearances than anything else. An ugly, obvious scar on his only son's face is definitely not good for appearances.
Speaking of Shuseki, it's right then that a long car pulls up in the driveway, and who else should step out of it with an expression of pure stone but none other than Shuseki Blaze himself?
Mimic can't feel her heart beating anymore. It's more like it's just vibrating in her chest.
This is probably the worst thing she could imagine, right now. She never wanted her friends to meet Shuseki, because she's afraid of what he'll do - or what they'll do - if they ever met. Lan, she knows, is annoyed with the man and wants to give him a piece of his mind for doubling her confinement after helping rescue MegaMan. No one's mentioned it since ProtoMan sent that email, almost begging them not to say anything, but Mimic can't be sure of how Lan will react when the man himself is right fucking there.
Maylu she's not entirely sure about. Lan tells his friends almost everything, so she might know, and if she does know, she'll join Lan if he gets angry at Shuseki.
Shuseki ignores Lan and Maylu as he stalks up. He only has eyes for Mimic.
Lan probably feels her trembling. She wonders what he's thinking, because there's an odd look on his face as glances between Mimic and Shuseki.
"You're supposed to be in your room." Shuseki's voice is cold, and flat. Probably because there are people he doesn't know sitting on either side of her, otherwise he'd be yelling.
His tone still scares her. It takes everything she has not to flinch and burst into tears.
"There was gas," Lan says, jumping in like the hero he is. "Someone was trying to hurt him - we had to get him out, or he could've been . . ."
"He's confined to his room," Shuseki says, barely even looking at Lan even though he's replying to him. "He is not allowed to leave for any reason."
"He had to!" Maylu protests, gaping at Shuseki. "Weren't you listening? He could've gotten seriously hurt!"
Shuseki stares at Mimic, directly into her eyes until she can't hold his gaze anymore and she drops her eyes to the ground. She sees his feet walking away, but there's no relief, because Lan stands up at that exact moment and she can see it coming a mile off.
"What is wrong with you?" Lan demands. "We just saved your son! You shouldn't care that he's out of his room, you should care that he's alive! And while we're on the subject-"
Mimic grabs his sleeve, and he stops talking.
Shuseki has stopped walking, he's turned around, and he's staring at Lan with a look of cold fury that promises pain to whoever's stupid enough to speak next. A wave of pure malice flows out of him, so tangible that Mimic swears she can feel it pushing her down like it has control over gravity, and she's pretty sure Lan and Maylu can feel it too, because they've both gone so still it's like they're statues.
The moment only lasts a short while, but it's terrifying all the same.
It's a relief when Shuseki, apparently deciding that they've had enough, turns around and continues walking. None of them dare to move until he's well out of sight, vanished into the mansion.
Lan blinks, and looks down at Mimic, who's still clutching his sleeve.
"I thought your dad was just a piece of work," he says, and the look of dawning horror in his eyes is what makes Mimic let go of more than his quivering voice. "But . . . that was . . ."
"Don't," Mimic rasps. Her hands are shaking too much for signs and she doesn't think ProtoMan can translate right now, and she doesn't want to make Arcadia do it because he looks too scared to speak, after seeing that. "Please. Do-don't."
"I know I promised," Lan says softly. "But . . ."
Even though he kneels down and his hands are on her shoulders and the look in his eyes is so worried and so scared for her, she doesn't want to hear what he says next. But he doesn't give her any choice.
"What was that?" Lan asks, and she hates every word coming out of his mouth. "What- why did . . . Chaud, what's going on? Why are you so scared? What is your dad doing to you?"
Beside her, Maylu makes a choked noise. She doesn't want to see her expression, because that'll just mean both of them will be giving her those scared, worried looks, and Mimic doesn't think she can take seeing both of them like that.
Instead, she grips her hair with both hands, curls up, and doesn't make a sound.