Chapter 12 Unseen defects
Dr. Light's lab, 12:30 p.m.
Mega Man, Roll, and Bree Ricotta were all sitting at the living room of Dr. Light's lab, waiting for Dr. Light to finish checking up on Proto Man, who fell unconscious after the fight with Uranus.
Roll was watching the footage of Proto's fight with Pluto that recorded on the VR sunglasses; Bree was working on something on her computer pad; while Mega Man was staring at the window, looking at the back yard outside.
"Mega, you gotta see this, this fight is really intense." Roll called. "But uh…why did that panther looking robot called him…Raptor? I thought Dr. Light said Blues is his name?"
"I don't know…some sort of nickname, I suppose. He never tells us what we should address him anyway, but I don't think he will like us calling him neither of those names." Mega replied absentmindedly, his mind was still occupied after witnessing his brother's fight with Uranus, as he recalled the private conversation with King and the General in the United Press building the day before.
24 hours earlier…
United Press Building
"Hello, Mega Man." General Ricotta addressed, spanned his chair to face Mega Man once he stepped into the room.
The first thing Mega could spot in the room was a large national flag of the US hanging on the wall, and the military officer's cap hanging on the clothes rack.
"H-hello, sir...you summon me?" Mega asked, and reluctantly sit down right opposite the general, King just stood at the side watching over them. He was nervous, since it was rare for him to have a meeting with officers like this, usually he is accompanied by either Roll or Dr. Light. This time he was all by himself.
"We don't have much time, so I will make the introduction as brief as possible." The general started, "I am General Ricotta, I and King work for a government agency, a special branch investigates organized crimes that involve robots, and we have been assigned to keep watch on your brother Proto Man."
"Yeah?" The general's statement isn't exactly a surprise for Mega Man.
"Have you ever heard of the 'Exam' system?"
The word 'Exam' reminded Mega of the 'audio file' he discovered from the dream he had a week ago, he was sure he heard an angry male with a heavily accented voice shouted out the term 'Exam' at least once, but he couldn't figure out what it is back then, since there was too little information could be obtained in that sound record.
Although he felt like it sounds stupid, Mega had no intention to hide anything inside his head, "I have heard it once….in a dream while I recharge. For other occasions, no, not even from Dr. Light." He answered honestly.
"You should be, as it is our country's top-secret military project. The Exam system is sort of hardware designed to act as an 'efficiency' enhancer in a robot, purposed to increase the output power of a robot eight to ten times than it normally gives."
"Is that even impossible? Overrated power output would short out the circuit boards of a robot and overload its power core, which might cause an explosion! It's dangerous!" Mega recalled the experience when his power got enhanced by some meteor fragment in Red Gulch but ended up his circuits got overloaded. It was a thousand of pins piercing every inch of his circuit and his artificial muscle, every wire inside him felt like burning, that pain was something that he couldn't even find a word to describe. "Why would anyone create such a thing?"
"You are right about that, that system is designed for military robots only, aiming to use them as 'the last resort' to end a war, you know what I mean." General Ricotta stated.
"Ironically, it was your pacifist creator, Dr. Light who invented it, assisted by his old friend Dr. Wily, when they were working in the Army Robotics Research Laboratory. Dr. Light was the lead designer and programmer of the Exam system." He added.
"What?" Mega listened with his jaw nearly dropped to the floor, he knew that Dr. Light and Dr. Wily were colleagues in the past, but Dr. Light had never mentioned both of them used to work in the army together, let alone to design such a dangerous program for the military.
The general continued, "That system is flawed. It would cause serious problems in a robot's guidance systems and the power unit. There were two hundred experimental robots programmed with the initial version of the 'Exam' system, 90% of them started rampage right after their activation, and most of them were self-destructed due to power core depletion, there were at least twenty personnel were killed by the 'Exam' during the test-runs, the military had to a put a lot of effort to cover it up. Those shortsighted clods inside the pentagon decreed the system as unstable and dangerous, they cut off the funding for further development of the 'Exam'. The courts-martial even did consider charging both Light and Wily as second-degree murder, but finally they decided to just lay them off as dishonorable discharge, this invention almost ruined your creator's lifetime career. "
Mega just stared at King in astonishment, he never know about this part of Dr. Light's dark history, as Dr. Light had never mentioned any of this. "So...why are you telling me this?"
"Your brother, original name Blues, now known as Proto Man, is the only non-official military-grade robot that coexists with the 'Exam' system, and he is the only one that still functional."
Mega was completely shocked to hear that, "Something's not right…I have been through countless fights with Proto Man over the past five years, he is all...cold and reckless, but I have never seen him went rampage nor having enormous strength or something. Perhaps you guys have mistaken him as some other bot?"
"We have already checked his ID chip when we last captured Proto Man, it's confirmed." King stated, "But you are not completely wrong either. In fact, the Exam has never been activated ever since he was wearing that armor."
"Then how do you know that system is in him? I bet you haven't opened him up to see!" Mega controverted stubbornly.
King continued to speak on, "As for the record, he did go rampage, twice. Both incidents took place before he became Proto Man; The first time was on 10th, June 2111, five months after your brother's first activation. There was an explosion in Dr. Light's lab that night, half of the lab building had been destroyed except for a refreshment area and the basement. Your brother was the only registered robot stationed in Dr. Light's lab at that time, and he went missing after the incident. Although Dr. Light claimed that the explosion was only an accident, your brother is still the main suspect; the second time took place two months after the lab explosion, a cargo vessel docked on the east river had an explosion and sunk. A survived human crew witnessed a figure that fit your brother's description took out the entire robot crews on board that freighter and fled the scene on a truck with no license plate waiting nearby." He stated.
Mega wanted to retort but hesitated, he was confused by the facts King just listed out, part of him refused to believe Dr. Light did involve in the development of such a malicious program; while part of his faith had shaken, he remembered the vessel explosion incident that was all over the news, it took place just about a week after his activation, King doesn't seems making all this up just to criticize Dr. Light.
"To be honest, we were as surprised when we found out Dr. Light's missing robot is actually Proto Man too, all of the tracks has been covered up pretty well, someone doesn't want anybody to find out the true identity of him. Too bad there are no paper can wrap up fire, we wouldn't have found this out if Proto Man hadn't show himself outside Skull Fortress without his armor while starting his own business venture three years ago."
"It's all your speculations, right? You can't prove anything! What if it was Wily's work?" He tried to controvert the general's accuses against Dr. Light.
"We are prosecutors, we don't make assumptions, we pin charges on someone base on solid evidence," King stated,
"We have recovered some data from the remains of the lab after that explosion, it indicates that Dr. Light not only developed the debugged 'beta' version of the Exam without the military's authorization; he build your brother and install the Exam in him upon a private-sector's request, that was a business deal with compensation. I have to note that the unapproved construction of 'humanoid robot without significant robotic feature' has already been legislated as illegal by the time Dr. Light creates your brother, he also gave the faulty construction blueprints to the robot licensing office to register 'Blues' as a domestic use robot, that's the crime of deceit. Dr. Light is definitely responsible for that."
"We don't know how that bot ended up running with Wily, but what Dr. Light did is unauthorized and illegal. He broke the confidential agreement with the military, he violated the international law of robotics, and he has been trying to sell the country's top-secret to a private company, the federal government would see that as Espionage Act, perhaps even Treason." The general added.
The general's statement lit Mega Man up like a firecracker, he couldn't stand anyone accuse Dr. Light as if he is the worst criminal on earth.
He instantly stood up from the chair and pounded both his palms heavily on the desk. "Treason…! How could he be? Dr. Light never hurt anyone, let alone the country he lives in! He is doing his utmost to help mankind and make the world a better place his whole life! You are in no place to judge him!" He roared; his voice was so loud that the whole room had shaken.
"If he never hurt anyone, you wouldn't be here!" The general snapped back, "Don't judge before you know what's real, kid!"
King grabbed Mega's shoulder from behind, halted him from making any further movements. "Calm down, Mega Man. We know Dr. Light had done a lot of good deeds for the country, that's the reason why he hasn't been sued for what he has done, yet. We are not arresting Dr. Light nor discussing his past mistakes today, instead, we are trying to find solutions for this 'problem' he created. And I am sure you will be gladly to help him out on this one too, yes?"
Mega grounded his teeth and shot King an angry glare, he felt like being blackmailed, but he knew letting his emotions getting out of hand wouldn't help anything.
He took a deep breath to swallow his anger back to his gut, "I…I am sorry, I apologize." He forced an apology out. "Let's rewind a second, what is the federal government planning to do with Dr. Light and my brother?"
"We don't know yet, I am not in the position to make the decision, and I don't think I am eligible to tell you even if I do. I can assure you, Dr. Light is just fine, for now, he is still under the radar. But for your brother, I am not so sure."
"What do you mean?" Mega asked.
"You know damn well what I mean, your brother's transgressions are piling up, if he causes anymore mass destruction by using the Exam, arousing the awareness of the public, although we have already encrypted most of the data on his identity chip, but it's only the matter of time until someone finds out that Dr. Light is responsible for this, there is nothing we can do by then."
The general's answer gave a chill down Mega's metallic spine. This is a serious matter; it's not about whose fault anymore, he doesn't want to even think about Dr. Light getting arrested or jailed, he wouldn't make it in the prison. He mustn't let this happen to Dr. Light. "What are you guys planning to do with my brother then?"
The general continued, "For now we are trying to make some good uses out of him, giving him some 'Encouragement' to be good, perhaps these works might give him some credit for a plea bargain when it comes to decide his fate. Thankfully he showed no signs of using the Exam ever since Wily gave him a set of armor along with his new identity. Wily might have done something to him, or Proto Man did stifle the Exam himself, we wouldn't know. You should be grateful it's us who get the hooks on him, if this case passed to someone with an aggressive approach, he would have been dismantled a long time ago."
"Alright, I get the point. What do you want me to help you with?"
"We need you to keep watch on Proto Man, stop him if he tries to use the Exam. We have been monitoring him for the past two years, by one of our operative covered as a robot master in Skull Fortress, who has successfully build a friendly relationship with Proto Man, but right now we need someone else to do that job for us in case of things went really wrong."
Mega couldn't help but wonder, there is an undercover in Skull Fortress? Seems like Proto Man and Wily doesn't know about it yet? Who would that be? It will be interesting to find out.
But still, the general's quest is a challenging task even for Mega, "That's difficult; I have been fighting him for five years, perhaps I had some luck to defeat him during the past encounters, but we were just even for most of the times, I think he is better at hand to hand combat. How am I able to stop him? Besides, me and him never get along, I always feel like we are living off...different dimensions of the universe. I don't think he will listen to me if I try to convey."
"We know, I never said it will be easy. You want to know the truth, and keep Dr. Light's reputation clean, aren't you? Here is your chance, the truth only deserves to be revealed by the ones who dare to look for it, even if the path ahead is difficult." The general retorted.
"I…I am not sure," Mega replied in stammers, what the general just said was true, but still he was afraid, fearing if the truth is something he wished not to be, he wasn't sure what he should believe in anymore. "But I don't know what the Exam is like! Is he going to shape-shift into a dinosaur or something?"
"According to the records obtained from other sacrificed dummy bot installed with the Exam, the color of their eyes will turn into ruby when Exam is activating, and then they would begin to attack any moving objects indiscriminately until their bodies malfunctioning due to overheating and self-destructed. We don't know if Dr. Light did make improvements on stability with the Beta version he installed on Blues, that's the only cue we have. Ways to deactivate the Exam after activated is yet to be found." King replied
"Whoa, nobody knows how to stop that evil program, but suppose I am able to stop it? Why don't you guys do it yourselves?" Mega heckled, he doesn't usually talk back to people, but right that moment, he was pissed.
"You are the hero, that title take some toll; I am sure Dr. Light will be very grateful if you can find out the way to shut down the Exam for him." General Ricotta quips.
King added, "I need to remind you something, your brother can be extremely stubborn over his own principles, can't blame him for that because he needs that kind of stubbornness survival. His main problem is, he do things in irrational way when he gets emotional, even suicidal, that would bring everyone in danger, and we need you to stop him when he does. Do it when you feel it is necessary, blast him, knock him out, or any other ways you think is fit, we won't interfere. Just keep him in one piece. Since he carries one of the State's top-secret project in him, he is the State's property, we don't want him get self-destructed as much as you do."
"I will see what I can do," Mega responded in displease, he didn't like this conversation one bit, he felt like both King and the general were just using him, he is pretty much sure they were using the same way to force Proto to work for them too. Only he had to compromise this once, for his whole family's sake.
Mega clenched his fists tight as he remembered King's reminder, he could have stopped Proto from starting the Exam, although that was only the first time he witnesses it. There were still a lot of doubts swirling inside his head, if it really gives out that kind of power, why didn't Proto ever use it while helping Wily out in his world domination scheme? That sure would make things a lot easier for them to achieve their goal; why did Dr. Light create a monstrosity such as that? That's the other myth for him to resolve for the day.
He considered that he would never get the answer if he just standing there. He is determined to seek for the answer himself.
Mega went to the main lab, Dr. Light was tidying up the tools after finishing the check-up on Proto, but Proto wasn't there inside the lab.
"Where did he go?" Mega asked nervously.
"I put him in the side lab with the air conditioning on, lower room temperature would help to cool down his core faster." Dr. Light said, leading Mega to the side lab. "He is alright, he hadn't sustained new physical damage, just overheating; he will be awake in no time. What exactly had happened?"
"I don't know, I wasn't there to see what happened, Bree told me that he was helping her to collect something at her apartment, and then some robots attacked, he was trying to lure them away from Bree…I guess. When I got there I only saw him fought with a bot I have never met, over some sort of personal vendetta." Mega replied. "He's going to be okay, right?" Both Mega Man and Dr. Light went over to the side lab check out Proto.
"He is fine for now, but I really worry about his condition; I can't imagine what kind of life he's been through." Dr. Light said with sadness, removing the completely melted ice packs on the towel that covering Proto's chest and replaced them with the ones he just took out from the fridge. "I have also found something strange inside his body, like there are two kinds of energy flowing in his circuits, I have never seen such a thing before, I think I'd like to perform a more detailed scan if I have more time…"
Proto was still unconscious; his yellow shirt has been removed for the check-up, revealed the scar filled synthetic skin on his torso, several wires were attached on the left side of his chest, connected with the monitors on the side.
Mega gasped as he saw the scars all over Proto's body. He peered close to study them, some of them were strip-shaped, clearly they were made recently; while some of the scars were more like scorch marks, they were deformed like they were done by something with high temperature such as plasma blasts, the discoloration indicates that those marks should have been there for a long time already.
"I have never damaged him this bad, did I?" Mega thought to himself feeling a bit of guilt, recalling the countless times of them firing plasma blasts at each other.
The most significant one was a fourteen inches long scar went across the left side of the abdomen down to the lower back, the stitches were done gruff and ugly, made it looked like a large centipede crawling on Proto's torso.
"I would fix those wounds for him if there is time, but I think you all still got work to do afterward." Dr. Light added, run his finger along the largest scar. "These stitches were done too rough. The one who did the maintenance for him must be sloppy."
Mega also noticed there were a few round shaped small hollows on Proto's body; two on the shoulder, two on the left side of his neck, and one on the chest, they should have been done by a 9mm caliber according to its size and shape. The hollows were located in the lower position of the neck, they weren't easily to be noticed when covered by a shirt's collar, also they will be hidden by Proto's yellow scarf when he is wearing his armor.
These remarkable marks on Proto's skin reminded Mega of those terrifying gunshots he heard during the 'audio dream' he had; it was even more stunning to see the actual wounds. Dr. Light's suspect was right, something bad must have happened to him in the past .
Mega wasn't quite sure it was the best timing to ask about the Exam or not, but his thirst for finding out the truth beat his concerns, he was dying to hear Dr. Light's version of the story.
"Dr. Light, I have got something to ask you."
"Yes?" Dr. Light didn't look up to Mega, he was concentrating on fixing the cables attached on Proto's chest.
Mega hesitated a little bit, finally he boost up the courage and spit it out, "I have been told that you were the one who invented the 'Exam' system, and you installed it in him, is that...true?"
Dr. Light was shocked, the handheld circuit thermometer slides off of his hand.
He slowly turned around and stared straight at Mega with a complicated expression mixed with both fear and sadness. He never thought the word 'Exam' would come out of Mega's mouth, as he had been trying to conceal anything related to that project from Mega and Roll for so long.
Dr. Light's expression then slid into a dark one, he waved his eyesight away from Mega and bent down slowly to pick up the kit he dropped, which Mega quickly picked it up for him before he did.
"I...don't want to lie to you, Mega, that's the most regretful thing I ever did in my life." He finally said. "May I ask who tell you about it?"
"General Ricotta and Mr. King told me," Mega replied honestly, "I don't know what they are trying to do with him. Mr. King asked me to keep an eye on him, stop him from activating the Exam, they said that system is dangerous and would cause serious damage to him. Is it possible to…remove or disable it?"
"No, I can't." Dr. Light's glance stayed on Proto's longest scar, "The Exam isn't just some 'plug-and-play' hardware, it was build-in from the skeletal structure to the processing codes in the microchips, the Exam codes were embedded in every strand of the programming. If I try to remove it, I have to strip him down piece by piece to replace the microchips and then put back together, and format the all the operating systems to reprogram it with the ones without the Exam codes, that would be no different from killing him, I can't bring myself to do that."
The two remained silent for a short while; Mega's eye stayed on the tattoos on Proto's left arm, feeling a bit disappointed for knowing the truth there was no way to get rid of the Exam.
"Forgive me for keeping it from you all this time, I thought the grief should be all over after he died trying to defend me. I thought no one would aware of such a devilish system ever existed anymore. It turns out…he survived, I didn't know he is still around until that night at the charity ball, I never thought I would have saw his face again...otherwise I would have done something, but I didn't…this is my sin, maybe this is what they called…payback."
"Why did you..." The question slipped out of Mega's mouth unconsciously
"Stupidity." Dr. Light confessed with a long, sad sigh, his eyesight stayed on his own feet, "I was corrupted by some foolish thoughts and temptations, I was a failure, I wanted to prove myself competent…I have ruined him, he could have lived a better life, to meet you and Roll properly as siblings, he never told me about it but I knew he was looking forward to. I even used to hear him talking to you two late at night, back when you both were still under construction down in the basement lab."
Dr. Light's reminiscent made Mega thought of one of the audio dream he had, the ones he saw Proto talking to a tube of toothpaste, he used to think that was only fantasy just like Roll described. Now he realized Proto wasn't exactly talking to a tube of toothpaste, he was talking to him and Roll, even when they were just a pile of circuit boards on a titanium skeleton, all of those dreams had actually happened.
"Thank you for telling me this, Dr. Light. This must be hard for you." Mega tried to comfort the old doctor from grief. "Everyone makes mistakes, we can't change what we have done in the past, but we can still make corrections right now, and for the future."
"Your positivity is always a charm, my son." Dr. Light commented with a bitter smile, "I don't know, perhaps it is a little late for remedy, but I will do whatever I can to help him. I have to."
Dr. Light then walked towards the exit, "I need to sit down a little bit, my spinal cord is giving me a hard time again, and it's too chilly for me to sit still in here. Maybe you should stay with him for a little while, see if he wakes up before you have to go back to work, just inform me when he is awake. I will talk to King to abort his mission due to his condition in case he doesn't wake up in time."
Mega watched Dr. Light leave the room in silence, then let out a sigh of frustration after the lab door slide shut. Despite the disappointment for Dr. Light actually took part in the creation of the Exam, Dr. Light still hadn't told him an actual reason why he installs it on Proto, there seems to have some unspeakable difficulties within.
Mega Man had already made up his mind: justice or not, he will stick with Dr. Light whatever happens; He will take Dr. Light to bail out of the lab if he has to, even if that act would end his career as a hero and become a fugitive, he doesn't care. No one is taking Dr. Light away, not on his watch.
Mega sighed as he thought of his previous argument with Proto on the roof, which Proto Man made it clear that he won't leave Wily unless Wily told him to. He thought Proto was just stuck up back then, now he found out if the same situation falls upon him, he'd do the same. No one can stay rational when it comes to defending loved ones, not even robots.
Mega pulled a rolling lab chair over and sat down right next to Proto after Dr. Light was left, out of boredom, he began to study the weird patterns of the tattoo that covering Proto's full left arm, something he'd wish to do ever since he first saw it.
The patterns of the tattoos were something he had never seen before, they are mostly straight lines, with some weird symbols looked like square glyphs, along with circles and a combination of polygons, making it looked like an odd-looking complex electric diagram in multiple layers.
The weird thing is, Mega discovered when he trying to look at the patterns from different angles of vision, the patterns changed itself and appeared differently, they look so stereoscopic making Mega even doubted if there is a three-dimensional space on Proto's skin.
"What kind of supreme tattoo artist did he hire to do this? Is this even the art level on Earth?" Mega mumbled to himself and ran his fingers unconsciously on Proto's arm.
Suddenly the patterns of Proto's tattoos sparkled, and a faint voice rang through Mega's hearing sensors.
"Of course not, it was my work."
The voice startled Mega, it was like a whisper against his ear. He immediately yanked himself backward out of reflex, ended up fell off the chair, and landed heavily on his arse.
He looked around the room in precautions, but no one was there except him and his brother on the lab table.
"Proto, is that you? Stop fooling around!" Mega peered back to Proto's side to see if he was awake, but Proto still appeared to be unconscious, without the possibility of playing pranks at the moment.
"Am I having delusions?" He muttered to himself, but he was sure he saw the tattoos glowed for a half-second, and then he heard something as if a spell has been broken by his touch. "This is getting out of hand, I should have stay on that yacht and recharge instead of getting into this."
Mega was sure something was happening back there, so he sat back down at the same position and repeated his action all over again.
"Whatever you are, show yourself."
He ran his fingers on Proto's tattooed arm lightly, but this time nothing changes.
While Mega was troubled by what exactly had happened earlier, the tattoo on Proto's arm sparkle again.
"What's…happening..?" Mega suddenly felt extremely drowsy, his eyelids became uncontrollably heavy while his surroundings grow dim, he barely pulled up the lab chair and drifted into sleep mode right next to his brother.
Mega Man in wonderland Episode(n)
When Mega Man regains consciousness, the only thing he saw was infernal darkness, he couldn't even see his hands. His body felt funny, it was weightlessness like in the space.
"What's happening? Why is it so dark? Is the electricity out?"
"Hello," There was a voice addressed; Mega could clearly recognize that was the unknown voice that he had heard earlier. "So you are the 'brother' Blues told me about."
"Who is that?" He spun around nervously, there was a ball-shaped light behind him, it was in semi-transparent form, sort of like pale white of light in the shape of a light bulb, but he could almost saw a faint face inside the light. He could even recognize the line patterns on that face, they were exactly the same as the tattoos on Proto's arm.
"I am Ra Thor. You told me to show myself, I can't exactly show up on the outside, so I thought bringing you here inside Blues's internals would be more convenient." Ra Thor replied.
"We are inside my brother's…."Mega could only stare at the light ball floating before him in disbelieve, "What...exactly are you? Virus? Electronic parasite? Or just a fragment of my imagination?"
"I am an artificial life form from another universe; The humans on earth used to refer me as 'God' before I got disabled. Nowadays they call me 'The Brewer'."
"A 'God'? Seriously?" Mega nearly chuckled out loud, as a product of science, he never believes in mythologies, he thought those stories are made up for children's reading materials and producing video games.
"That's just a pronoun. My physical entity has been demolished, without mobility, I can only live by fusing with other energy systems, only I wasn't doing too well when fusing with the organic creatures, caused mass deaths and such, so…I have been left untouched for hundreds of years until your brother picked me up. We have made an agreement to help each other out, that's how I enter here, only I have never expected there is someone else able to fuse with him as well."
"So you are a Robo parasite alright. No, I didn't fuse with him, I don't think he would fuse with me anyway. I guess all I did is fell asleep right next to him, then I am in here…Wait for a second, we are now INSIDE my brother's circuit? How did that happen?" Mega was totally confused about the situation.
Ra Thor swapped itself around Mega, "Oh, I see. Your structure is nearly identical with Blues, you both have the data-stealing device installed on your hands, that's where I came in, and I think that's the way you enter here too."
"That's not a stealing device! It is called 'Data duplicating and Analytical module'! And stop peeking at my internals without my permission!" Mega snapped, he abhors when the mysterious space freak referring one of his proud features as a 'Stealing device'.
"This guy you fused with is my brother, me and him both build from the same plans, of course we share the same feature, except for him having a Robo parasite in his circuits. Anyway, why is this place so dark?"
"This is a damaged sector of your brother's memory core, and currently this is where I reside." Ra Thor replied.
"Damaged sector…?" Mega had a chill down his metallic spine at the instant; he had a bad feeling about this, "Why do you bring me here?"
"I want to show you something, come."
Mega wasn't sure this weird floating light ball that claimed himself as a 'God' should be trusted, but considering there is nothing to lose to take a look at what he is going to show him, so he followed the light ball into the darkness.
Ra Thor's appearance was like a floating lantern, lighting up the small area around him when he passed through. Mega could see the floor was green, embedded with copper-colored lines and dots. There were also some huge crystal oscillators attached to the green floor. In fact, he felt like he was strolling on a huge computer's circuit board.
"So, the tattoos on my brother's arm are actually done by you…or it's actually you?" Mega asked simply out of curiosity, and boredom.
"That's a little complicated to explain, it appeared on every person who fused with me, those are the symbols of god, and it makes your brother a 'demi-god'. Perhaps I can fuse with you too, do you want to fuse with me?"
"No, thank you. I'd rather be a mortal robot." Mega replied firmly, he was getting annoyed by the light ball's gibberish, wondering how Proto could put up with such an annoying parasite living inside his internals.
"You are candid. I was just joking, not that everyone can fuse with me, you have to at least accept me as your brother does, he is the only one in two thousand years who treat me...equal, as a person. For all I can tell, your mind is still defying about my existence, you think I am not real isn't it?"
"How do you…?" Mega blinked, this 'God' seems to have the ability to read other's minds. It was true that he doesn't believe anything Ra Thor says at all, since none of the things he says make any sense. Besides, Mega thought he was just dreaming, why would anyone care about what's inside a dream anyway?
Ra Thor just laughed, "You really are an honest person, your body language reflected your thoughts directly. I don't ever judge a person from their appearances, even though I don't have an appearance myself, but I am good at studying people's 'inside'. I and your brother have a lot of things in common, perhaps that's why we can fuse."
"Such as?" Mega was a little indignant about Ra Thor's word, he thought he was the only one who shared the most similar physical structure with his brother, if anything that would share a common feature with Proto, it should be him, not some weird outer space robot parasite.
"What eyes can't see." Ra Thor replied. "For starters, we both criminals, only I have a much longer history being an outlaw than he does; we both have something that got shattered by brute force, and we are seeking for the thing that we have lost, only mine is external and his is internal."
"As for you, I believe you are seeking for something too, otherwise you wouldn't be here, right?" He added.
Mega fell into total silence, he couldn't answer that question; he is always trying to look for the truth of something he doesn't yet know. But what exactly is he seeking for? An answer? A solution? A secret? He doesn't really know.
The two came to stop in front of a green wall, and very soon Mega realized it wasn't a wall at all, it was another piece of a circuit board, only it was vertical, installed on a white slot of the floor. There were some large black rectangles pieces with white numbers inlaying neatly on it.
"What are you going to show me?" Mega asked, he began to feel uneasy looking at his surroundings, "Proto will sure be really mad if he finds out that I have been roaming around inside his head…"
"He won't mind, I always do that and he never complains." The light stopped at where there was a huge metallic cylinder, projecting out horizontally from the wall. "We are here, look."
Mega peered close to investigate the outstanding object before him; It was bronze in color and there is a deep harrowed gap circled near the end of it.
"What the hell…?"
Mega thought for a moment, the shape object was looked familiar with something to him, only he couldn't relate to what exactly it is at that instant, since the object was too huge for him to identify as anything familiar.
He studied the wall where the cylinder projected out from, he found that there was a large area darkened on the wall surrounding the object, there were also numerous of cracks on it, indicating the cylinder was likely plunged into the wall by brute force, and the cylinder he saw projecting out was only a part of it, the rest of it was stuck on the other side.
"What is this thing?" Mega wondered, trying hard to merge the scene he saw to something.
"I have been in sleep mode for hundreds of years, I am not too familiar with the latest technology on Earth, and perhaps this is a shard of a…flying weapon?"
"Weapon?" Mega mumbled by himself, he had already guessed what actually that cylinder is, still he needs to witness the rest of it to confirm. "Hey, can I go around that wall? I want to see the other half of it."
"You can just go through it! Your entity is still outside, the state you are in now is just a virtual form of your volition."
Mega felt dubious about this weird light ball's explanation. He stretches out his hand trying to reach the wall, and found that his hand could actually get through it like there was nothing. "This is crazy, I am literally out of my mind, er…my body."
"Don't be afraid, that won't hurt." Ra Thor then went into the wall and disappeared.
Mega suddenly felt like something just pushed his shoulders and his legs started to move involuntary, it was like traveling in light speed and dash across the circuit, the process was suffocating but amazing.
The fascinating experience only lasted for less than one second, they came out into an open space on the other side of the wall. They finally get to see the missing piece of the puzzle.
The other half of the bronze cylinder was exposed right before them, unlike the part that he saw on the other side, this part of the cylinder had been completely ruined, the tip of it looked like melted, its metal jacket was peeled off to the side like pedals, making it looked like a metallic flower blossoming in the darkness.
"Oh boy…I know what it is now," Mega mumbled in distraught.
"What is it?" The light asked in curiosity.
"…It's a 9 mm hollow-point caliber bullet."
A few minutes later…
"Jesus…where am I?" Proto moaned as he regained consciousness, he felt sore, his entire body felt burning like surrounded by hot lava, and it's hurt. The long list of overheat warning messages swarm into his system, filling up every free byte of his electronic brain, it's started to give him a serve headache.
He felt extremely tired, he wished he could go back to sleep again. He tried to raise his hand up tried to reach for his head, only discovered that his arms and legs had been restrained onto a lab table by metallic bondage.
"What the hell?" He looked around to verify the situation he was in, only to find out he was lying on a metal slab, in a room with white tiles and a pale white ceiling, it was exactly the same room as the ones he has seen in that 'trapped and blow up by RPG' dream he had.
"Is this a dream? No, this is goddamn reality! What do I do? Shit, I gotta get out, quick." He panics; he could still remember the outcome of what happened next in that dream, fearing the same fate would come to him.
Still, He noticed there were something different, there were a couple of monitor and machines giving out beeping sound constantly, and he realized the yellow shirt he was wearing has been removed and sitting folded on the cabinet nearby, and there were a few red and yellow colored wires attached on his chest-deep into his power core.
Mega's helmeted head was the next thing that appeared right above his face.
"You are awake at last, if you stayed unconscious for another more minute then I am going to leave you here and escort roll and Bree to Mr. Deacon's yacht."
'Just great, first getting jumped by two of Ivan's robots consecutively, now being kidnapped by my damn brother.' Proto thought to himself, ignoring the hot and pain he was suffering, he started to pull against the bonds that held him tight on the lab table.
"A glided cage crafted by the dirty money he made from enslaving labors, you mean." Proto retorted, "What are you bring me here for? Untie me, NOW!"
"Some gratitude you have." Mega frowned, "Calm down, would you? You went coma all out of sudden, I had to get you some help. I am getting Dr. Light back here to check you out." Mega pressed a button on the console nearby, signaling Dr. Light.
"Dr. Light? No! I am fine! I don't need help!" Proto freaked out at once, "And I did not go coma!"
"You did! You were unconscious for twenty-one minutes and forty seconds!"
"I didn't! I just….shut myself down! My core will cool off faster that way!" Proto argued, still struggling helplessly on the lab table.
"So you know this is going to happen! Why did you do that?" Mega heckled,
"What did I do? Defeating someone who was trying to kill me? That bull can hold grudges for something happened five years ago, if I didn't take him out there and then, he will come after me forever! I did what I had to!" Proto snapped back, tried to bend his arm to reach for a tool he hid underneath the belt of his pants but unsuccessful.
"I was there to help, and you didn't even let me!" Mega fired back, losing his temper.
"Uranus has armor five inches thick! Not even an RPG can get through it! He bears the strength to make a head-to-head stop of a moving train! What do you think you can do about it? I'd love to watch him head-butt your ass straight to the other side of the Atlantic Ocean! I was trying to lure the danger away from Bree, while you bought her right into it! That would really help! Thank you! Thanks a branch! Is that better?"
"MUCH!" Mega yelled loudly and clenched his fists tight; he couldn't maintain his patience anymore.
"There, there, knock it off, boys." Dr. Light could hear their arguments in the hallway even before the lab door opened.
The agitated brothers halted their argument at once, Proto's anger instantly shifted into panic as he saw Dr. Light entering the lab.
"Mega, can you leave us for a moment? I need some doctor and patient confidentiality with him. You probably should go tell Bree and Roll and about the news, and be ready to get going." Mega didn't say anything, just huffed and leave the lab obediently.
Proto doesn't feel too comfortable to be this close with Dr. Light. As a robot, he never had a twinge of fear while fighting against strong opponents, but ironically for this particular human, who seemingly kind and harmless, was one of few the person he'd avoid at all costs. He simply couldn't get rid of the impression that Dr. Light is his enemy, as he kept reminding himself that he shouldn't let his guard down around the kind Doctor.
The kind doctor first checked the data shown on the monitors nearby, then turned to Proto, "You feeling alright? Your core temperature is still way higher than the safe level. Mega said that you passed out all out of sudden, what's happening to you? "
"I did not pass out! I shut myself down just to cool off. It just took a little longer than usual, I feel absolutely alright!" Proto argued. 'My entire body is hot like lava flowing inside, but how can I possibly telling you that.'
"Really? But the algesimeter readings tell me different." Dr. Light states as he marked down the numbers from the monitor, clearly wasn't convinced by Proto's claim.
"These side effects will wear off soon enough, appreciate your help but I will be just fine! Just let me go, please. I still have a job to do." Proto demanded as soft as he could.
"I admire your seriousness towards a job, but you need to calm down, you are in no condition to perform your duties right now. I will inform King about your condition and give you sick leave."
"No! I don't need King's permission to do anything! I promised to protect Bree and I ain't quitting. Just let me go, please!"
Dr. Light frowned, "Logically I should keep you here until your internal readings return to normal range, and run some more tests to check if there is anything abnormal after that overload, but I think there is something more important in your mind for you to lay still in here right now."
He typed something on the console and reached for the button to control the bonds that holding Proto but didn't press it, "How about this, let's make a deal. I let you go for now, but you have to promise me that you will come back here for a checkup right after the 'work'. I need to make sure you are alright, that's the least I must do, that's my job, I think you'd understand."
"No! I am NOT coming back to let you strip me down!" Proto yelled.
"What gives you the idea that I am going to dismantle you? What would I possibly gain from doing such thing? I will just perform a couple of full-body scanning to check if there is anything abnormal, I don't have to open any of your compartments, and it won't even take you more than half an hour. You will be fully awake throughout the process. It's completely safe." Dr. Light tried to convince his robot with patience.
Although Proto didn't want to admit, Dr. Light's explanation was pretty persuasive; he simply couldn't get over his own ego and let Dr. Light take care of him. He knew there is no way he could win over the argument with Dr. Light, he conceded instead.
"Heh…alright! I…I will come back for the check-ups, this is what you want to hear, right?"
Proto forced the words out unwillingly, he was edgy, he only wished to be free from these bonds and Dr. Light's supervise. Of course, he wasn't planning on keeping this promise he made, he doesn't like anyone temper with either his internals or externals, not even by Dr. Wily, and particularly not from his sworn enemy.
Dr. Light shook his head a little, as if he already sees through Proto's intention, "You should go easy for the rest of the day, don't push yourself too far." Dr. Light urged, then hit the button and released Proto. "I think I can do something about those scars on your skin when you come back, or your skin will worn far beyond fixing."
"Don't worry about me, I get used to this," Proto replied as he hopped off the lab table once the metallic bonds were unlocked. His every strand of in wires still hot like they are melting inside, the only thing on his mind was getting out of there and continues to carry on his job.
Proto picked up his shirt without putting it back on and hurried to storm off towards the exit, he didn't want to stay around the old doctor any more seconds than he had to.
"Wait." Dr. Light grabbed his arm all out of sudden. "Do you mind telling me what had happened after we separated last time? Those scars…they weren't there when I last saw you in the café." Dr. Light asked in a concerned tone, as he pointed towards the very obvious mark on Proto's chin.
Proto covered that whip scar on his chin instantly by his palm, as if it was an embarrassment. He wasn't too comfortable to even think about that night's painful experience, let alone talk about it with someone he didn't trust.
"Well…that was…just a little scratch, no big deal." He stammered, he was trying his utmost keep himself calm, wishing Dr. Light would just let him go.
Dr. Light didn't seem aware of Proto's unwillingness to talk about it, "No big deal? There are hundreds of these marks on your skin, according to their patterns and the size, I speculate that they are done by an electric whip. Only an electric whip can give out a certain amount of heat to leave these marks on your artificial skin. You have been tortured, wasn't it?"
Proto clenched his fists involuntarily, seems nothing can hide before the wisdom of the old doctor. "Don't over-interpret; it's not like what you think." He waved his eyesight away, trying to avoid eye contact with Dr. Light.
"I appreciate your kindness and your help, doctor, but I'd like to keep my personal matter to myself, and I have no money to pay for some plastic surgery…" He tried to yank his arm lose but Dr. Light squeezed his arm even harder.
"You are still the only one who would address me only with the word 'doctor'...", Dr. Light sighed, "You have mistaken. This is not about the money, I don't need you to pay me anything, and I just want you to be well. I need to know what had happened so I can find ways to help you, okay? You might have suffering internal damage that you don't know."
"Are you listening to a word I am saying?" Proto's patience ran dry, he finally snapped.
"I don't want to talk about it! Can I just keep it to myself? You don't even have to pretend that you care, because you don't! Nobody gives a shit about me! Just do me a favor and let me rot in the garbage pile alone!" He yelled, jerked Dr. Light's arm off him roughly, which startled Dr. Light.
Proto's fists were shaking on the side, he felt even worst after the emotional outburst, the headache was giving him hell as his power core started to heat up again because of the rage. He regretted the rough act towards the kind doctor, since none of this was Dr. Light's fault in the first place, he just couldn't help himself.
"Easy, I didn't mean anything by it, I am sorry if I have offended you. If you don't feel like talking, then don't talk. Just relax, alright? Anger will do you no good." Dr. Light said in a soft tone, trying to calm his agitated robot down.
"I was on the edge. I…I am so sorry, I…" He apologized in distraught, both his fist was clenched tight and his whole self was shaking; Dr. Light attempt to get a little closer but Proto pulled himself back away from him towards the exit in fear, "Doctor, I know you are a good person, unfortunately I am not. I don't want to do any harm to you, and you probably shouldn't waste time on me. That's why we should stay away from each other, it's best for both of us."
"Don't be like that, I…" Dr. Light tried to convey, but before he could even start, Proto already fled out of the lab.
Mega had just arrived the outside of the lab's entrance when Proto headed out, they bumped into each other face to face, but Proto didn't say anything, just shot him an unfriendly glance and snorted.
"Hey…!" Mega called, which Proto kept storming off without stopping or even looked at him. The next thing that came before Mega was Dr. Light, running out of the lab trying to convey with his former robot a little more, only Mega Man was blocking his way out.
"Dr. Light, is everything alright?" Mega asked in concern.
"I am fine, but he isn't!" Dr. Light answered with a frustrated sigh, "He is having an intensive fever, one of the side effects after the activation of the Exam…I shouldn't let him go, but he insisted…He promised me to come back for a check-up after the job, just make sure that happens. I wish I can come along but Deacon didn't even invite me, I'd better not embarrass myself out there…just take care of yourself, I can't give you much aid while you guys are in the middle of the ocean."
"Don't you worry about us. You take care of yourself while we are out, we will come straight back home once the mission is over." Mega gave Dr. Light's shoulder a pat and a reassuring smile, then took off to go after his brother.
Mega gathered Roll and Bree, the trio found Proto outside at the front yard of the lab, inspecting for the damages around his car on the driveway.
"Blues!" Bree called, ran over and gave Proto a hug, "Are you alright? I am sorry for getting you into all those troubles. Thanks for going in there for me. I would have been butchered if weren't for you. Did those robots really come for me?"
"Ugh...I thought I told her not to address me with that name in the public." Proto mumbled, his inner rage amazingly died down immediately once he heard Bree shout out his original name.
"Things get a complicated, that panther said they have been ordered to 'escort' you to a safe house or something, did your uncle tell you he hired someone else to protect you?"
"No...he would have told me if he does." Bree replied
"...Don't worry about it, those two won't be bothering you anytime soon. I had beef with their boss so I am glad to take them out." Proto pulled himself up from the crouching position in slow motion, his internal temperature hadn't yet return to a safe level, every single movement of him was still hurt due to overheating, this is another one of the aftermaths of using the Exam.
"You didn't crash my car. See? You are doing just fine with the stick shift, your driving ain't that bad at all."
A slight blush appeared on Bree's cheek. "That was just…lucky, only if you know the traffic congestion I have caused in central Manhattan…Mega Man did most of the driving anyway, I was just sitting back there."
"Great to you see back on your feet, so let's get going! We are going to be late, and I hate being late!" Roll urged.
"Me too, but that will have to wait for a few more minutes. I have got something to discuss with both you and Mega Man, I have been think about it last night." He said seriously.
Mega and Roll exchanged and glance with each other, they both a little startled by Proto's sudden seriousness. "What is it?"
"Appreciate that you guys come and saved my ass, although that was totally unnecessary. You saw those bots I fought back there, they are just pawns but they are tough, the people who hired them are serious, and probably have connections with Deacon. I can't help but suspect this whole interview thing is a trap." He explained,
"Since we are going to spend at least the next twenty-four hours working as colleagues, I don't want to argue with any of you in the middle of a combat situation, hence we'd better make some arrangement here, as the possibility of me and him able to co-operate without killing each other is ZERO." Proto shot an unfriendly glance at Mega, who instantly made an unpleasant frown at Proto's statement.
"What is the problem between you two? I don't get it! Can't you guys just iron out the issues right here?" Roll snapped.
"No, it's unrealistic to settle the vendetta between us in such a hurry, perhaps in nevuary. You can imagine there is an invisible brick wall standing between me and him, it is something that cannot breakthrough by talking." Proto denied firmly.
"Sad to say, he is right, this once I agree with him." Mega chimes, "So what are you going to do?"
"I want to hire you both, my department is seriously understaffed."
"What?" Mega exclaimed with a blink, this wasn't what he expected.
"You hear what I just said. I am recruiting you two to be my crew, for this mission only. I want to get Bree some extra insurance, you two should fit the requirement. The due is from the moment you accept my offer until my mission of protecting Bree is over, what'd you say?"
"But Mr. King already assigned me to protect Bree with you, Mega will be there protecting Mr. Deacon during the interview, there is no necessary to do that," Roll asked, that's the same question inside Mega's head as well.
"Screw him, I don't care what King does. I will pay you both, handsomely. You guys don't have any contractual obligations with King nor Deacon, right? Think of this gig for sharing information and watching each other's back, it's mutually beneficial; you guys have nothing to lose. I always look out for my employees." Proto persuaded.
"You sound like one of those Ponzi scheme scammer." Mega taunted.
"I just learn that from Dr. Light back there." Proto quips, "Listen, all I want you to do is to protect Bree while I am busy handling some other things. You can still be yourself and do whatever King asks you to do. You can still snap at me all you want; of course I will be on my full power to tease you in return. I will share any eligible information with you guys; you can ask me anything; I will participate in any discussions if my opinion is needed, that's all. No extra conditions."
"Really? That doesn't seem to have any difference from what we are doing right now." Mega questioned, Proto's offer sounds a little too good to be true, he suspected Proto was trying to do something illicit on Deacon's yacht, since Proto expressed his antipathy of Deacon a several times already. "What exactly are you planning to do?"
"I-am-going-to-ROB-that-fool."
Proto pronounced the words one by one deliberately with the evil smirk on his face. Mega frowned at once while Roll was all excited.
Proto just chuckled, "Just kidding, I love robbing fools that rob other people, but not today, King will definitely kill me if I do that. I just want you both to have some compensation for this job, I am pissed that they don't pay you two properly for this risky work; maybe get an excuse to remind myself not to snap at you…Do you believe me?"
"Of course I will. It would be even better if you are actually going to rob him, I don't like Deacon too much either…what about you, Mega?" Roll replied quickly, but Mega remained silent, as he wasn't too sure about his brother's motivation about this job offer, and he couldn't get rid of the feeling that Proto is snatching his sister away.
"I need to think about it." He replied with a hedge, looked away from Proto.
Proto shrugged, he wasn't seem surprised about Mega's rejection, as if he already expected it. "Looks like I am not that good at the salesman approach. Fine, I understand, I never force anyone to do anything. I can even prepaid you if you want me to, just tell me whenever you decided to accept my offer, I can wait."
Mega felt sorry for turn down Proto's offer, despite it's heartbreaking to Proto, he still couldn't trust him, he mentally couldn't let go of the fact that they are still enemy nor truly forgiven him for what he has done over the past five years. He could see Proto was trying to ingratiate them, or at least trying hard to ease the tension between them. Only Mega felt this whole 'job offer' thing was fake, he knew Proto Man was just pretending to be a good guy while Roll accepting the offer when she didn't know who this person truly is, he was sure Roll would decline the offer as well if she knows this guy's true identity. Mega did consider telling Roll about the truth, but that would just make it even harder for them to preform the current job. Mega just felt wrong to slide with either of them, he decided he didn't want to be in any part of this. It seems unfair to judge Proto before he even done anything, but according to his notorious credibility records, he deserved to be doubted.
"Now you are my crew, let me introduce you to my other employees." Proto turned to Roll and whistled, signaling his crews to show themselves. Shadow Man jumped down from the roof at once, which startled Mega and Roll, and Tango in her cat form landed on Proto's shoulder. "This is Tango, my invisible working partner, and this is Shadow Man, I suppose you guys already know."
Tango jumped down from Proto's shoulder to Roll's heel and started to purr like an ordinary cat, Rush came over tried to sniff her, only Tango instantly jumped to Roll's arms, "Hello Tango." Roll said as she scratched Tango's back of her ears.
"Tango is a hacker, she can invade appliances connected with the internet, she's also able to control almost anything with a circuit. She is invisible for most of the time because her main AI is installed on the satellite of hers, floating up in the space, but you can talk to her via our private channel. She is my designated communication operator." Proto said as he handed over a earring like appliance to Roll. "Take this, it's an communication device specially made for the encrypted communication channel for my crews, just clip it on your tragus and it will automatically connect our channel with your earpiece and the communication module on your arm. Just give it a shout for whatever you need, I will be there ASAP, that's employee benefit for you."
"Thanks, but hey, isn't that dude works for Wily?" Roll asked in a whisper, referring to Shadow Man.
"You are mistaken, Shadow Man used to help Wily out, but that's was just for a very short period. Both him and Tango work for me, and for me ONLY. They won't listen to any other people's orders."
Mega Man instantly thought of the spy King mentioned before, he hadn't encountered Shadow Man much. He was quite intimated by Shadow Man when he put a knife against his neck right outside Skull Fortress; he could have decapitated him back then, but strangely Shadow Man spared him. This would make sense if he is actually an undercover.
"Is he coming along with us to the yacht too?" Mega asked.
"No, his work is right here." Proto then ordered, "Shadow Man, you stay here and protect Dr. Light until Mega Man and Roll comes back."
"Roger that, boss." Shadow Man then disappeared again like a wind.
"The house's security system will protect Dr. Light, he doesn't need..." Mega tried to protest but Proto already pushing him to walk towards the car.
"Yeah, yeah. That dude is workaholic, he will follow me to Deacon's yacht if I don't assign him something else to do, and I don't want him anywhere on that yacht!" Proto whispered, "Come on, let's get going. We have wasted too much time. The last thing I ever do, is being late."
To be continued...