Chapter Sixteen: I Should Have Been a Con Man
Proto Man's awareness flickers in and out as his system cycles through repairs. He wakes to cables attached to a panel in his arm, slowly giving his system the energy it needs to keep his repair systems running. Somewhere outside the room comes the sound of angry voices. He tries to place them, but their identities slip through the cracks, and he's still too tired to reach for them.
"Are you insane, Alexei?" Loud, brash. Someone he's picked a fight with, or will soon. "We can't keep him here! How long do you think it'll take Wily to catch on?"
"I'm well aware this is a temporary solution." Calm, controlled, but for some reason it sends a prickle of unease through Proto's circuits.
"If you think I'm going to go along with this—"
"You can't pretend you had nothing to do with it when it was your rings that took out Mega Man," the calm voice says. "This is a shared responsibility, no matter how much you object now…"
There's more, but Proto is fading back into soft darkness. When he wakes again, there's something warm and heavy nestled on his chest. He opens his good eye to see a mass of blonde hair spilling over his body, one of his hands firmly wrapped up in Kalinka's tight grip. He lifts his free hand to stroke her head, and drifts off again.
Proto wakes again, alone. It's not dark anymore, light streaming through a plastic covered window. He's lying on a cot in what seems to be an unfinished apartment, the walls and floor bare wood. He's wearing new clothes—a t-shirt and sweatpants—and his scarf is folded up neatly by his head, a new pair of aviators next to it. The cables he was plugging into earlier were gone, but his system still feels off, running on half-power.
He hears voices coming down the hall, and slowly gets up, discovering an energy can waiting for him on the floor. Proto takes the scarf and wraps it securely around his neck, slipping the shades on before picking up the energy can, drifting toward the voices.
"Look, I'm not saying we hand him back over to the authorities." Ring Man, quieter but no less angry. "But what are we going to do now? Did you even have a plan for what happens after you broke an international terrorist out of prison?"
"Vanya, I know you're upset, but do have a plan." Kalinka. Relief rushes through him at the sound of her voice. She's really alive. This isn't a dream.
"Whatever plan it is, it's not good enough," Ring Man snaps.
"Papa will—" Kalinka tries.
"Papa won't," Ring Man interrupts sharply. "What did you expect, to just sneak out Proto Man of the country with father's blessing? What next, we just drop him off somewhere in Europe and hope for the best?"
"Ivan." Skull Man—Alexei?—his voice still calm, but warning. "Do not take this out on your sister. What happens next requires Proto Man's input."
"Oh, good, let's listen to the criminal on what next to do," Ring Man replies. "You may believe that he didn't mean to hurt you, Kashenka, but I don't. I've been his subordinate. There's no good in him, I promise you that."
Proto lingers in the hall, drinking the energy can slow. He tries to summon his armor, and receives a sharp pain for the effort. Still disabled, then. They either don't trust him enough to remove it, or they can't.
"When I was at Skull Fortress…" The new voice is quiet and hesitant, but familiar. It stops, and Proto leans into the shadows at the end of the hall, peering into the room. There was Dust Man, who has no unarmored form, and Kalinka, looking tired. The sight of her cheers him up immediately, even though she's standing next to the tousle-haired man he shoved into the bus. Ring Man. That meant the white-haired man who looks in desperate need of two weeks of sleep must be Skull Man.
"Go on, Dimitri," Skull Man says.
"Wily was not—kind," Dust Man says slowly. "I was not made for combat, no matter how much I tried. I was not considered useful. You were there, Ivan, and Yuri and Stefan, but you were—unreachable. Changed."
"Dima, I'm sorry," Ring Man says, pained.
"Not, it's—I never blamed you," Dust Man replies, staring down at his hands. "We were all changed. Wily put me on cleaning duty of his personal quarters, and whenever he was particularly angry, he would throw things at me. Sharp things, that would damage my vent if I caught them. But it was my job to catch them, so that's what I did."
He paused. "It was not the cruelest thing he has done, I admit. I saw far worse. But there was something… purposeful about it. All I wanted to do was to be useful, so he used that to hurt me."
He falls silent, but no one fills it.
"When Proto Man caught him doing it, he told me to clean the hangers instead," Dust Man continues. "He told me to do it when Wily was asleep, and to stay out of sight otherwise. He made it sound like an order, like he was angry at me. I knew it to be a mercy, even then."
"Okay," Ring Man says slowly. "I get it, but—"
"Two weeks later, I went on my second mission," Dust Man says, interrupting him. "I did not understand why. Wily did not want me there. Toward the end of it, Proto Man sent me to an empty warehouse and told me to wait. I did. When Mega Man and Dr. Light recovered me, I did not fight back. I did not have to. All I had to do was… wait, and be saved."
He looks hard at Ring Man. "Those are not the actions of one without a heart, Vanya," he says. "And you know it."
"Okay," Ring Man says, defeated. "But what do we do?"
Proto slips out of the hall and leans against an unfinished wall, finishing off the can. "You could ask me," he says.
Ring Man scowls at him. Before he can say anything, Kalinka marches forward and wraps Proto up in a tight hug. It surprises him, still, and his returning embrace is soft and hesitant. She feels whole, her grip strong, but he knows she isn't. She's forever damaged, and that will always be his fault.
Proto's grip tightens, carefully. Even though he's the one who did this to her, the cause of all her pain, he doesn't want to let her go. He's not sure how to deal with the pang of regret that follows. His hands linger on her shoulders, but her brothers are watching, and he drops them.
He's never gotten a hug from his siblings, Proto thinks. He never will.
"Your brother's an asshole," he says. "But he's right."
"Okay, seriously?" Ring Man says. Proto ignores him.
"I can't put your dad through any more than I already have," Proto continues. "And my brother isn't… he's not going to help me."
"What other option do we have?" Kalinka asks, dismayed.
Proto doesn't reply, tilting his face away.
"I see," Skull Man says evenly. "You would like for us to look the other way while you return to Wily."
"No!" Kalinka cries, echoed by a furious Ring Man.
"Neither of those plans were going to work, and you knew that," Proto says, glaring at Skull Man. "Don't pretend you didn't."
"I admit to knowing the uncertainty of being able to help you beyond what we've already done," Skull Man replies. His expression is calm, but disconcerting. He doesn't blink nearly as much as he should, and it was probably intentional.
"I told you this would happen," Ring Man said with a scowl. "All we've done is give Wily back one of his greatest weapons."
Months of imprisonment should have taught Proto to keep his mouth shut, but he's no longer at the mercy of those who want him dead. The response rises up and out before he can think better of it. "If you're jealous, Ivan, I'm sure Wily will welcome you back with open arms. Not that you were any use to begin—"
Ring Man's on him before he can finish, summoning his armor and slamming Proto to the ground. Sparks of pain shoot through his body and he can only gasp in pain as the Cossack bot holds a burning ring to his throat. Kalinka cries out, and the sound hurts more than any physical pain could.
"Enough," Skull Man says. He yanks Ring Man off Proto with ease, holding him back as the shorter bot struggled against his grip. Dust Man retreats to the hall, hiding in the safety of its shadows. Kalinka stands still, watching the scene with wide, pain-filled eyes.
"My best case scenario was releasing you to make your own way, Proto Man," Skull Man says, letting go of his brother at last. Ring Man jerks away with a huff, but he doesn't remove his armor, nor does he release his grip on his rings.
"Perhaps," Skull Man continues. "It was foolish of me to hope you were capable of that."
Proto pulls himself into a sitting position with his elbows, but doesn't get up. "Listen," he says. "My armor's disabled, I'm half-blind, and every cop in the country now knows what my face looks like. I don't have the option to walk away from this. What… what choice do I have?"
Ring Man dismisses his armor, snarling something surprisingly vile in Russian. "I'm done with this nonsense, Alexei," he snaps. "I'm leaving."
No one tries to stop him. Proto knows exactly where he'll go—straight to Mega Man to rat Proto out, no doubt. But he doesn't stop him either. He was already living on borrowed time. There's no use clutching to sand as it slips through his fingers.
"If you go back," Kalinka says, her voice wobbly in the following silence. "He'll hurt you again."
Proto stands slowly. He doesn't look at her.
"Shadow Man said he would," she replies, clenching her fists. "Wily will hurt you, because it'll get him the obedience he wants. And you'll let him, because you think that's all you're allowed to have. Won't you?"
He breathes in a long, shaky breath, aware of how closely Skull Man is now looking at him, how concerned Dust Man looks, peering out from the hall.
"What about Pharaoh Man?" he asks quietly.
Kalinka bites her lip. Skull Man moves forward and grasps her shoulder, his eyes burning into Proto.
"What about Ptolemy?" Skull Man asks.
"He wasn't recovered, was he? My interrogators never mentioned him." Proto takes another breath, on stronger footing now. "I can get him back. You did this for him, Kalinka. I can get you your brother back."
"You're not making a convincing case, Proto Man," Skull Man says. The quietness in his voice now has the underlying tone of threat. Kalinka stares at him, her eyes shining with tears, but she doesn't say anything, and that gets to him more than anything her brothers could say.
"I'm—I'm sorry," he says, hating how helpless he sounds. "I just don't know what else I can—"
The sound cuts through him like a knife. He moves on instinct, surging forward as Skull Man's eyes go wide. Kalinka is confused, not yet able to hear that familiar engine shriek. Proto shoves both her and Skull Man toward Dust Man, away from the outer wall.
"Take Kalinka and run," he says. "You have to run—"
The wall explodes. Skull Man may not be as experienced as Proto is, but he catches on fast, already shielding Kalinka with his body as debris flies inward. A chunk of jagged steel slices through the artificial skin of Proto's cheek, but he keeps moving, putting himself in front of the Cossacks as the smoke clears.
Dr. Wily steps off the Skulker and surveys the room with a cold smugness.
"I believe," Dr. Wily says. "You have something of mine."