The next evening, wearing his best suit, cleanest lab coat, and favorite skull-shaped cufflinks, Dr. Wily strode out of his factory and was immediately besieged by questions from dozens of reporters and several officials from the world government. He held up his hands, and after a few seconds the noise died away.
"To begin with," he said, microphones picking up his every word, "I wish to thank everyone around the world for the support they've shown me during this recent crisis. It was more than I'd ever expected…"
-W-
Mega Man watched the press conference from the factory's communication center as Wily presented the carefully edited version of the truth they had agreed to earlier, with the occasional heroic platitude thrown in. The crowd seemed spellbound, and he had to admit that both here and in his home timeline, Wily could certainly be charismatic.
Wily. What was he going to do about Wily?
-W-
Wily fielded a few easy questions from the reporters, before finally dismissing them so he could invite the governmental representatives inside. He led them to the factory's small cafeteria, where they all took seats around a table.
They decided to discuss smaller matters first. For his heroic actions, Wily's hometown had chosen to rename itself in his honor. To say he was thrilled was an understatement. Did YOU get to rename a city, Thomas? Ha!
One of the officials had produced some paperwork. "The city council's already voted to go along with whatever name you pick. So, what'll it be? Wily City? Wilyburg? Albertville?"
"Monsteropolis," Wily replied immediately.
They looked at him, perplexed, and he shrugged. "It's a name I've liked the sound of since I was a child. Genius is allowed to be eccentric."
"…All right, Monsteropolis it is," the official replied slowly, filling out the paperwork.
-W-
The next order of business was what to do with Dr. Light.
"I stand by what I said before," Wily said irritably. "Thomas should not be held responsible for his actions. His mind was affected when an experiment went wrong. It was completely unforeseeable and unintended and he—"
"Calm yourself, Doctor," another of the officials said. "We agree with you. We have no intention of tossing him in prison. All we want to do is help him. You said he's been unconscious since you were able to undo the effects?"
"Yes, that's right," Wily replied, relaxing somewhat. "He's being watched over by medibots in my infirmary."
"We'll make arrangements for him to get the best care."
"See that you do."
"What about Mega Man and Mega Woman? Where are they?"
"In my repair bay, offline like the rest of the Robot Masters. Tomorrow I'll undo whatever Thomas did to their programming."
"What about their upgrades?"
"Hm?"
"According to our information, Rock and Roll were originally just meant to help out around Dr. Light's home and lab. The weapons and armor are new, aren't they?"
"Ah, yes. To be honest, I hadn't thought about that." Given the way they'd torn through his factory's defenses, to say nothing of the other Robot Masters, he was sorely tempted to leave them as they were and use them as his loyal enforcers. But the Mega Man from the future almost certainly wouldn't take kindly to that, and Wily didn't want to antagonize him.
-W-
The final governmental representative spoke up. "One last thing, Doctor, but we believe we've saved the best for last. Although this emergency has passed, the Secretary General is concerned about other potential crises involving robots. She's already authorized the creation of a department specifically authorized to handle situations like this, anywhere on the globe. And she'd like you to be in charge of it."
Wily inhaled sharply. "Me?" he whispered.
"That's correct. You are, after all, one of the world's foremost roboticists, and an acknowledged expert in many other scientific fields as well. Your actions over the last few days have shown a knack for strategy, tactics, and improvisation. And to be frank, you've become a hero to the whole world. Law enforcement, scientists, the military…everyone would be jumping at the chance to work for you. What do you say?"
Wily abruptly rose from the table. He suddenly felt lightheaded. "This is….give me a few minutes to think about it, if you will."
-W-
"I'm a little surprised how much you defended my father."
Dr. Wily snapped his head up. He'd exited the cafeteria and had been pacing up and down the hallway, staring at the floor as his brain whirled at speeds even he was unaccustomed to. Now he saw the future Mega Man standing in front of him, and realized he must have been eavesdropping over the security system.
"Why?"
"Well, a few years ago, the version of you I'm familiar with did get him sent to prison briefly by framing him for an attack."
Wily felt his heart plunge into his stomach. I could sink THAT low? "Yes, well, be that as it may, Thomas was my friend and partner. We may have had our…differences, but I wanted to prove who was smarter, not make him suffer just for the sake of it."
Mega Man just stared at him for a second. Then he said, "Take the job. I think it'd be the best thing you could do."
Now it was Wily's turn to stare, and Mega Man kept talking. Babbling, really. "I mean, this is what you've always wanted, right? Recognition of your brilliance. They offered this to you, not Dr. Light. And maybe it's not ruling the world, but you're definitely strongly influencing it, in a good way. And instead of people being terrified of you, they'll be admiring of you. And if you still really want to make someone afraid of you, there'll be criminals you can go after, even in my timeline you aren't the only one using robots to break the law."
When he finally stopped, Wily waited a moment before replying. "How can you, of all people, trust me? After all the times you fought my counterpart?"
"Like I said yesterday, you're already acting like a better person. I think you can keep walking down that path. And besides, in case you're thinking about using your position to try and take over the world after I've left…well, don't forget, I can travel back here again to check on things. I may have my father's optimism, but I don't think I'm quite that trusting."
And he smiled.
-W-
Dr. Wily returned to the cafeteria. "I'll take the job! But I have…conditions."