Author's Note: Trigger warning for non-graphic torture, implied eye trauma, abuse.
Chapter Eighteen: The Villain I Appear To Be
Earlier
"I believe," Dr. Wily says. "You have something of mine."
Proto places himself in front of the Cossacks, his arms held stiffly at his sides. Wily enters the apartment, flanked by Guts Man and Cut Man.
"Dr. Wily," he says quietly.
It's clear Wily expects something more, blinking owlishly at his Second-in-Command, but he recovers quickly, throwing his arms wide with a gleeful smile.
"Proto, my boy what a surprise! I had grand plans for your rescue, but it seems you freed yourself." Wily puts his hands on Proto's shoulders, and Proto tilts his head to study the old man's expression. Triumphant. Arrogant, even. Like Proto's freedom had anything to do with him.
Months, he was strapped to a chair, left to linger in a half-state in a steel cage. Where was Wily then? How dare he show up now and expect gratitude for it?
He's not... angry, like he expects to be. Instead he can't really identify the emotion he's having, and he doesn't want to. Giving it a name gives it power, and he can't let it overwhelm him, not in front of Wily. Better to keep it a lump in his throat, no matter how much it hurt.
Wily's frowning at him. He's supposed to respond, but he has nothing to say.
"What interesting company you've been keeping," Dr. Wily continues smoothly. "Miss Cossack, your father had the world convinced you were dead. What a… pleasure, to find you alive."
The Cossack bots immediately move to protect her, Alexei summoning his Skull Man armor and throwing up a shield.
"You will not do her any more harm," he warns. "Leave."
Wily's eyes light up with greed in the shield's unearthly glow.
"Dust Man has already proved his uselessness, but you will make an excellent new recruit," Wily says. "Guts Man, Cut Man, please escort our dear Skull Man—"
"No," Proto says. It's not loud, but it's firm.
Dr. Wily stares at him. "No?" he repeats, bemused.
"Leave Kalinka and her brothers alone," Proto continues. "They broke me out, doc. I owe them."
Dr. Wily's eyes narrow, his grip on Proto's shoulders tightening. "I would've expected your imprisonment to teach you a lesson about your defiance, Proto Man. Have you forgotten the Cossack girl is the reason for your capture in the first place?"
There's a game to play here, one he knows well. He placates Wily by flattering him, by dismissing the Cossacks as worthless, by thoroughly crushing Kalinka's heart with a smirk. But he can't play it, not now. He doesn't have the energy to fake it.
He can feel Kalinka's eyes on him, even though he doesn't look back at her.
"She broke me out," Proto repeats. "I owe her, Wily. Her and the Cossack bots. Leave them alone."
Wily releases him, taking a step back. He doesn't look angry. Proto expects him to be angry, and he's not. That's more chilling somehow.
"Why should I?" he says, sounding pensive. "What do I get out of all this, hrm? Six months, my entire operation has been in shambles in order to find you, boy, and this is the thanks I get?"
"Your entitlement is clear," Skull Man says, his hollow voice echoing. "As is your overconfidence in your ability to subdue me. Listen to Proto Man. You cannot win this."
Wily waves a dismissive hand. "As impressive as you sound, you share the same weakness of all of Cossack's creations. You care too much for the safety of the girl to dare put up much of a fight."
His eyes return to Proto and narrow. "A weakness that seems to have infected my own robot."
"Skull Man's right, doc," Proto says, ignoring the comment. "You haven't seen him in action, I have. It's not worth the fight. Let's just go, before my brother shows up."
Wily sneers. "And if I don't?"
This is a test. It's a test he knows how to pass. It's a test he's passed a thousand times before. He just has to pretend he doesn't care, like all the times he pretended he didn't care if his brother died.
Proto takes a step back and fails it. "Then I won't go with you."
Cut Man gasps. He and Guts Man had watched the ongoing events with obviously growing discomfort, exchanging multiple looks.
"But Proto Man," Guts Man rumbles, confused. "Where will you go?"
Proto doesn't answer. Wily's expression is cycling through several levels of rage, and he raises a hand as if to strike Proto instead. He flinches, but instead, Wily takes the sunglasses away from his face, almost gently, and slips them into his labcoat pocket.
"Is that the stance you wish to take, boy?" Wily asks, his voice low and dangerous. "I would think carefully before answering."
Proto sucks in a sharp breath. Without his sunglasses, he's exposed. Vulnerable, and Wily knows it. He's unable to hide his thoughts. He's unable to hide that his left eye is broken.
"I owe Kalinka," he says, but his voice is starting to break, his weakness slipping through. "Wily, don't do this. I promise I'll obey you, I—I just want to go home. Please."
Wily catches his chin and stares hard, fingers digging in every time Proto tries to look away.
"Very well," he says finally, letting Proto go. "Guts Man, Cut Man, get back to the Skulker. We're apparently leaving the Cossacks in peace."
"But Wily, you said—" Cut Man tries.
"I said get in the Skulker!" Wily roars. The two Robot Masters scramble to obey with a fear that makes Proto wince. He can easily picture what Wily's been like with no one to calm him down.
"Proto Man, you don't have to do this," Kalinka says, her voice pleading.
"She's right, Proto," Wily says mockingly. "You can always choose to stay behind and throw yourself at the mercy of Mega Man. I'm sure that will work out so well."
Proto keeps his expression neutral, keeping his eyes on the ground in case they betray him. "Why would I do that?" he asks casually. "This is what I want."
It's the tone he always speaks with. It's the tone he always lies with. It's a tone Kalinka should see right through, though he hopes she doesn't. He follows Wily into the Skulker, and takes his usual seat in the cockpit. If Mega Man is on his way, he's far too late.
Proto is going home.
#
Wily doesn't speak to him until they arrive at Skull Fortress. It's a long trip, and Proto closes his eyes halfway through, bracing himself for the inevitable, but it doesn't come. Wily can be unfailingly patient when he wants to be.
"Where's your armor?" he growls when they land.
"Disabled," Proto replies.
Wily makes a grumbling noise and dismisses Cut Man and Guts Man. He storms his way through the halls, and Proto follows, as expected. He figured there'd be gawkers, but there's no one in sight.
This is going to be bad.
Wily stops in one of the labs and roughly gestures toward a work table as he shifts through a pile of tools next to it. "Sit down. The sooner I get you fully operational, the better."
Hesitantly, Proto obeys. Wily finds the tool he's looking for and grabs Proto by the chin again. Proto flinches—he can't stop himself—but all Wily does is tilt his head to the side and shine something bright into his face.
Flashlight. It's just a flashlight.
"And how long has your eye been like this?" Wily demands.
Proto blinks. "I—I was going to tell you…"
Wily makes a noise of deep disgust. "If you're going to lie to me, at least do it convincingly."
"I—" Proto tries to pull his head away, but Wily's grip is too firm. He can't get free without being deliberately defiant, and the last thing he wants to do is to test the mad scientist even more. "I didn't want you to think I was weak. I thought I could handle it."
"Like you 'handled' the Cossack girl?" Wily asks, but his tone isn't as sharp as it could be.
This is a trap. The voice in his head sounds suspiciously like Shadow Man, but Proto's tired. He's already in too deep to avoid it.
"I messed up," Proto says quietly. "I'm sorry."
Wily stares at him with narrow-eyed suspicion. "Well, that's the first time you've ever apologized for anything."
Proto doesn't answer.
"I thought I built a war machine, not a lovesick teenager," Wily says.
"It wasn't like that—"
"Did you really learn nothing, boy? Are you still clinging to the hopes that she'll continue to care for you as she grows older?" Wily continues. "Please, you were just a way to get back at her father. I could tell you a thing or two about the loyalty of women—"
"It isn't like that," Proto says desperately, twisting away. "I wasn't—"
Wily's grip digs in harder, wrenching Proto's head forward with a strength he could resist, but doesn't. "You will let me finish or I will yank that worthless eye out without shutting off your pain receptors," he says coldly.
Proto falls silent.
"You know, here I thought it would be your brother that got to you," Wily says, after a beat. "You were always begging him to join you, it was pathetic. Yet he didn't stop your execution, did he?"
Wily pauses, expecting an answer.
"No," Proto says, his voice thick. "He didn't."
"Pathetic," Wily repeats, shaking his head. "Lie down, I'll need to shut you off to remove the armor blocker."
The jaws of the trap snap shut, but what else can he do? He knew this was coming. He probably deserves it. Proto obeys, like he promised, and watches his vision fade as Wily shuts him down.
#
Proto wakes up. He half-expected not to, so that in itself is a relief. His left eye is still blind. His armor's back, his helmet resting on the table next to him. There's something heavy in his chest, a pressure that wasn't there before, but when he tries to sit up and investigate, he can't. He's strapped down, unable to move.
Fear trickles down his spine. He twists his head, finding Wily watching him coldly.
"Doc?" Proto's voice has a high, uncertain tone to it that he hates, but can't take back.
"I have tolerated your disobedience for a long time," Wily answers, stepping back into his field of vision. He's still holding the flashlight. "Because for all your faults, they've gotten results. You have always disappointed me, Proto Man. This time, you have failed me."
"I—" Proto pulls on the restraints, but they won't budge. "You don't have to do this, Wily, I promise I'll—"
"Enough!" Wily snaps. His sneer is downright hateful, the one he usually reserves for the Lights. "Do you think your promises mean anything to me? After everything you've done, you should be grateful I'm still tolerating you at all. If I discover you've betrayed me—"
"Never," Proto says. "I'm not a traitor, I swear."
"No?" Wily muses. "Didn't slip any details of our operations to your jailers?"
"Of course not!"
"Gave out any precious secrets to the little Cossack girl?"
"I keep telling you, that wasn't—" Proto lets his head fall back on the table. "I get it, Wily. I made a mistake."
"A mistake?" Wily repeats. "I've wasted more than half my resources and funds trying to track you down. You can forget getting rid of that useless eye of yours anytime soon. I barely have enough money for fuel!"
This he could handle. This is an argument they've had before, one he can talk his way through. But he's still strapped to the table. Something is still wrong.
"I understand," Proto says slowly. "I'll make it up to you, I swear. Will you let me up already?"
The look Wily gives him is icy. "Do you truly believe you can get away without punishment?"
Proto tests the restraints harder, but they won't budge. "What are you going to do, Wily?"
"Oh, I've already done it," Wily says. "The problem with rigging Pharaoh Man's core to explode is that it made his demise unpredictable. And Thomas says I never learn from my mistakes."
"What did you do?" Proto asks, his voice strangled.
"I put an electro-bomb in your chest, Proto Man," Wily replies flatly. "One I control with the press of a button. Disobey me again, and I'll fry every last circuit in your body."
Horror chokes him, and it takes him a moment before he can speak. "Tell me you didn't," he says. "Doc, please—"
"I gave you chances, Proto, and you threw them in my face," Wily snaps. "When I order you to kill Mega Man, you will do it—no more missed shots, no more second chances."
Proto swallows hard. He thought he hid that well. Not well enough, it seems. "You don't have to do this, Wily, I can—"
"I'm done with your begging!" Wily yells. He brings the flashlight down hard on the work table, breaking it. Proto winces as chunks of metal bounce off his face, expecting Wily to hit him next.
But he doesn't. Wily calms, staring down at Proto as he holds his breath, fearing the worst.
"I've always hated your face," Wily says conversationally. "It was Thomas' idea to make you so appealing. He thought it would make humanity more accepting to robots, the fool. Then again, that's what hooked the Cossack girl, isn't it? Your good looks and charm?"
Proto says nothing, his throat aching. He doesn't know how to play this game anymore. He doesn't know what to say to make Wily happy.
"I will make a deal with you, Proto Man," Wily says. He picks through various tools on the table next to Proto's head, studying each one with a frown. "I will unstrap you from this table, I will remove the bomb from your chest. I will even tolerate your open disrespect once again. You just have to do one single thing for me."
He pauses, holding a pair of pliers.
"What?" Proto asks hoarsely.
"Kill Kalinka Cossack," Wily replies. "Kill the girl, and you'll get your life back."
His insides twist, but he already knows the answer. Wily does too, but he wants to draw this out. He wants to hear it. "I can't. I'm sorry."
"No, you're not. Not yet." Wily smiles humorously, studying the pliers. "I've changed my mind. You don't need that useless eye after all."
Proto tries not to scream.
It's a very long time before he stops.