Chapter Six: Secrets
AUTHORS NOTE: Hey, everyone! Thanks to the people who have reviewed so far! It's really great to know that my work is good reading! Keep reviewing! Hee hee. The first part of this chapter goes back to Sierra's POV, then it switches to another... unexpected character this time.
I awakened in a darkened room on a hard cot with no pillow. My head is pounding... I'm pretty sure that Protoman knocked it real good and left quite a mark...
As my head clears I suddenly realize where I must be... and that I was not at all around the friendly types of people... or robots, for that matter. The room was extremely small, and when I stood up there was no more than three inches of space until one hit ceiling. It appeared as though they were prepared for me, for the only furniture beside the cot was an even less inviting worktable with tiny lamp.
"Ah... so the brilliant one has come to..." said a voice I knew too well.
"What do you want from me, Wily?" I demanded in the dim lights, turning around and around to find him. "Why am I here?"
A hidden monitor suddenly popped to life in one of the walls of the room, showing Albert Wily's ugly and misshapen face and wild white and grey hair.
"Oh... I'm hurt that you can't figure that little thing out..." he taunted me, gesturing to the worktable. Glaring, I walked over to the table to glance quickly at the blueprints and parts. I recognize the layouts of Zero and Rock's designs, as well as a pair of chips inside glass vials. My eyes widened in recognition of the hardware.
"The brain chips! So you DID steal them, you monster!" I yelled in anger. "And what do you expect me to do about all of this???"
"Quite simple..." the mad scientist drawled. "I want you to create a new robot. One that will destroy the two that tried to fight my creations back at your lab."
"No way!" I shook my head defiantly. "There's no way in hell that you'll get me to do that!"
I could see Wily fuming with rage, but then Protoman came into view. I saw him whisper something into the old man's ear, then the doctor began to grin once more.
"Protoman has just provided me with an excellent proposition..."
I flinched, knowing that this had to be really bad...
Zero... I prayed silently. Please get here soon...
***
A wave of energy came at me from the right, and I barely raised my saber in time to slash it away. I could hardly see through the generated fog of the training room; another little quirk that Sierra had added. As my thoughts briefly turned to her I lost concentration, causing Rock to land a direct hit to my chest and I to tumble to the ground.
"Dammit!" I cursed, rolling away just as a third golden beam raced at my head. I spotted a nearby catwalk a few meters to my left, and I let loose a few shots of my cannon before bolting towards and jumping onto it. From there I was able to discern Rock's form, blue armor glinting in the lights every now and then. He fired blank shots into the fog, but in not receiving return fire he began powering up.
Now his body began glowing yellow, then a sky blue, and finally neon pink. I braced myself on the catwalk as he let loose a series of high-power shots that would fry a bunch of my circuits had the beams hit me.
The last of the shots was fired, and I saw my chance as he let his guard down to power up again. I crouched, then leaped through the thick fog. As I flew silently as a wraith down to my prey I re-activated my saber, the green energy producing a slight hum. Just as I was about to slice his cannon up Rock swiveled his arm at my torso, knocking me out of the air. I spun in a back flip as I hit the metal floor then rolled, only to stop dead in my tracks at the sight of Blue Boy's fully-charged cannon pointing right at my face. I sigh, relaxing my circuits and plopping down into a sitting position.
"You win again, Mega Man," I curse, and to my anger a mask of concern rises to his face.
"You're leaving yourself wide open, man," he said as he attempted to comfort me. Puh... like it helped any...
"Yeah, yeah, I know, Rock. I'm not concentrating, I'm sloppy, and I'm not being serious about it all. Have I left anything out?"
Then to my utmost surprise I got slammed against the training room wall by a backhand slap to the face. "What the hell was that for?" I demanded in fury. I rubbed the sore spot tenderly, but it was more a hollow pain compared to another I was feeling...
"Do you think that this is going to help her, Zero?!" Rock yelled. "Feeling sorry for yourself and moping around won't bring her back! I know exactly how you're feeling right now!"
"How could you?" I screamed back. "You don't know what I feel for her, Rock! You never could!"
I could see he was pretty ticked off, because I had to dodge a punch aimed at my stomach. It glanced off my red armor, but was close to denting it. He turned away from me, but not before I saw a tear sting his eye. I stared at him in shock.
"Don't you EVER say that to me, Zero," he said quietly with an underlying tone of raging fury. "I miss her and care for her just as much as you do. I understand that you love her... who couldn't? But focusing on her and not on getting her back won't help us any. We have to toughen up, or we'll die trying."
His words rang true in my cybernetic heart, and I clenched my fist until I drew mechanical blood from underneath my armored gloves.
"I have a feeling Wily's going to use her to get to us," Rock continued. He took off his blue helmet as he did so, shaking the sweat out of his matted brown hair and rubbing his face. "Dr. Light's already working on some adjustments for us so that we'll be even stronger. We have to train hard and work fast 'cuz the more time we waste, the more time Wily has to pick Sierra's brain for more uses of destruction."
"I know," was all I could muster. "I just... can't stop thinking about it."
He sighed. "I can't either. Just use those thoughts for energy, and fuel your power with them. That's what I do."
I managed a smile. It was good to have a friend like Rock around, who knew exactly what I needed to get going again. I activated my saber, and the games began once more.
***
Three days... I have been here three days... with little food and even less water... That first day was the worst for me, for after my first spat with Wily, I endured an unpleasant struggle with a rebuilt Gutsman before being knocked out again. I didn't think my head could take much more... until I awoke back in my cot the next day. It must have been a day... I couldn't tell. Wily had no windows in this small cell of a room, devoid of color and light. On top of it all there was no mirror, so I therefore couldn't examine and treat the bruises under my now-straggled brown hair. Ick... without a brush, my pride and joy would be a rat's nest in no time... if it wasn't already. I knew I had dark circles under my blue eyes, despite all of the 'sleep' I was getting. It was maddening in this place... nothing to eat, nothing to do (because I refused to work on the robots that Wily had demanded I build) and no way to sleep.
Every now and then I would feel... something... inside my head. I know that the mad doctor had done something to me, but I couldn't remember what. There was a lab table... Protoman grinning in an awful sort of leer...
It occurred to me then, as the thought of Protoman crossed my mind, of something I thought I'd noticed. As if... his every move was forced and unwanted... almost... well, the only good term would be 'mechanical', though it's a bit absurd. I think I was drugged though, for how could an evil creation such as Protoman feel emotions like regret? Could he feel emotions at all? Oh man... I think the drugged theory makes more sense there.
I had to get out of there, and fast. The problem was, where indeed was I? I needed the layout of the fortress, any outward transportation, and a way to defend myself from the evil robots. Rising to my feet I walked (or rather, wobbled from my drugged movements) over to the small worktable to examine my materials. Assorted circuits, power cells of various sizes, the brain chips...
"That's it!" I murmured to no one but myself. Clearing a space with one hand, I sat down on the uncomfortable stool to begin my work.
***
Through an unknown monitor to the human, I watched the girl sit down and begin fiddling with the various parts. What was she up to? I couldn't tell, and frankly did not care. My only concern was making sure she didn't escape.
I know Wily would never admit it to himself, idiot that he is, but this young girl was even more intelligent than he was! Especially in the common sense department. He never would have thought to place a monitoring device on her had I not mentioned it, as well as the other little implant that would make itself known soon enough. I smiled, but it had not emotion behind it. That was how Wily had made me... an unfeeling killing machine. Offhandedly I thought of why I was activated in the first place, save to be the old coot's bodyguard and proof to Light that he could program a decent 'bot too. Well, I'm here now, so what? Was I destined to be watchdog all of the time?
Jeez... I hoped not. There had to be something better to do than that! It was a lot of fun to get out and beat up that red 'bot a few nights ago when we kidnapped the girl. I wanted to do it again, but Wily denied the request. Damn fool. I knew that if we didn't take 'em out soon, they'd come after us! How could he not see it?
Absently I untied the yellow scarf around my neck and tied it again more tightly. It was just a little habit, a human thing that my brain chip enabled me to do. The same brain chip that this girl created, and Wily stole.
Yeah, I was around when that happened. Wily stole me from Dr. Light too, didn't ya know? It was about, hmm... I guess it'd be six years now. I bet the girl had a hand in my design, too, though she'd have been real young... but I'd probably wouldn't find out. I was only half-built when I was taken from my true creator, Light, and Wily just added some parts here and there. I can remember before the brain chip, where I could only follow basic commands like 'walk', 'talk', and 'deactivate yourself'. It was horrendous. Even after I became 'smarter', though I had more of a mind and human quality I was restricted in all that I did.
So why do I act as if I'm evil? One reason: trust. Wily trusts me, so I play dumb. The more I play dumb, the more trusted I am, and the easier it will be for me to escape one day. That's my goal: freedom. To do as I please, however I please, with no old man pressing the buttons.
I'd rebel, if I could... but the damn reprogramming prevents me from doing so. Wily controls my every action, but at least I can think without him downloading my thought patterns and memory circuits. It's my only freedom, and hell, I relish it.
I wonder sometimes. Yeah, eat that up, a robot wondering... but we're not as stupid as humans think. I only play dumb so that I don't get dismantled, or worse. Think I like being ordered around like a dog and not doing what I want? Hell no. Anyway, I wonder if Wily's as smart as he claims he is. I mean, sure, he can think up some pretty monstrous weapons, I'll give him that much credit, but really anybody can come up with a decent weapon if they tinkered around with some parts enough. Even I could. Maybe all of the genius he's got is coming up with destructive toys. I couldn't tell. I didn't care.
I continued to watch the girl work, still unable to discern what it was she was building. A thought came to me then about the two robots back at Light's lab. How different they were from me.
The red one was very powerful, but at the same time he appeared human in the way he acted. He even LOOKED human before he switched on his armor. Save for those huge red boots he could fit in anywhere without suspicion that he was a robot. But one thing puzzled me then... why would he want to be human?
If I were free, I'd go someplace with very few or no humans and live on my own. I hate the creatures, thanks to Wily. They were overemotional and were frail. They created me, programmed me and made me what I am and for that I can never forgive them. Above all, I am not free, and the red and blue robots I saw before were. It just wasn't fair.
My wrist monitor chirped, and I activated it to see Wily's ugly face. Couldn't he use his toys to make himself look halfway decent?
"What?" I asked impatiently.
"Don't take that tone with me, Protoman," he drawled threateningly. "What is the girl's status?"
"She's awake and tinkering away," I answer, unable to restrain the bored tones of voice.
The old coot frowned. "Is it on a new robot?"
"Hell if I know, Doc. It doesn't look like it, but you're a better judge of that than I am."
"Idiot! She may be trying to escape! Activate the device!" he bellowed as he pulled at his hair with both gnarled hands. The tiny screen switched off, leaving me frowning at it.
"One BIG headache, coming up," I said loudly to myself as I pressed a button on the control panel in front of me. A series of lights activated, and I saw the girl suddenly fall to the floor of her cell, screaming.
After a second the noise diminished some, but I saw that she was still struggling against the mind control implant. Fool. That device was just a powerful as the one controlling me, so how could she resist it? It would be over soon for her, and I sighed in resignation as well as boredom.
***
The pain resonated again and again in my mind, and I could hear Wily's voice through it all. I clutched my head, clawing at my scalp as if to try and remove the thing that hurt me so. But in that moment of insanity I still knew I could not remove the device, for it was embedded inside my brain.
'Obey.. obey.. obey...' it repeatedly whispered, and I felt my body attempt to respond to the mental commands. I felt myself stand up, but all the same I fought it with every ounce of will power I had and managed to throw myself to the ground.
"No! NO! NOO!" I screamed into the nothingness of my imprisonment, feeling every muscle straining to betray me. I held on as much as I could, trying to bury the voice in my head away so I couldn't hear it. But it was in vain, for as much as I resisted the device became more and more active...
Soon I realized that I had lost this battle, for I felt my consciousness slipping away into the back of my mind where I could only watch my own movements as they were directed by Wily...
AUTHORS NOTE: Hey, everyone! Thanks to the people who have reviewed so far! It's really great to know that my work is good reading! Keep reviewing! Hee hee. The first part of this chapter goes back to Sierra's POV, then it switches to another... unexpected character this time.
I awakened in a darkened room on a hard cot with no pillow. My head is pounding... I'm pretty sure that Protoman knocked it real good and left quite a mark...
As my head clears I suddenly realize where I must be... and that I was not at all around the friendly types of people... or robots, for that matter. The room was extremely small, and when I stood up there was no more than three inches of space until one hit ceiling. It appeared as though they were prepared for me, for the only furniture beside the cot was an even less inviting worktable with tiny lamp.
"Ah... so the brilliant one has come to..." said a voice I knew too well.
"What do you want from me, Wily?" I demanded in the dim lights, turning around and around to find him. "Why am I here?"
A hidden monitor suddenly popped to life in one of the walls of the room, showing Albert Wily's ugly and misshapen face and wild white and grey hair.
"Oh... I'm hurt that you can't figure that little thing out..." he taunted me, gesturing to the worktable. Glaring, I walked over to the table to glance quickly at the blueprints and parts. I recognize the layouts of Zero and Rock's designs, as well as a pair of chips inside glass vials. My eyes widened in recognition of the hardware.
"The brain chips! So you DID steal them, you monster!" I yelled in anger. "And what do you expect me to do about all of this???"
"Quite simple..." the mad scientist drawled. "I want you to create a new robot. One that will destroy the two that tried to fight my creations back at your lab."
"No way!" I shook my head defiantly. "There's no way in hell that you'll get me to do that!"
I could see Wily fuming with rage, but then Protoman came into view. I saw him whisper something into the old man's ear, then the doctor began to grin once more.
"Protoman has just provided me with an excellent proposition..."
I flinched, knowing that this had to be really bad...
Zero... I prayed silently. Please get here soon...
***
A wave of energy came at me from the right, and I barely raised my saber in time to slash it away. I could hardly see through the generated fog of the training room; another little quirk that Sierra had added. As my thoughts briefly turned to her I lost concentration, causing Rock to land a direct hit to my chest and I to tumble to the ground.
"Dammit!" I cursed, rolling away just as a third golden beam raced at my head. I spotted a nearby catwalk a few meters to my left, and I let loose a few shots of my cannon before bolting towards and jumping onto it. From there I was able to discern Rock's form, blue armor glinting in the lights every now and then. He fired blank shots into the fog, but in not receiving return fire he began powering up.
Now his body began glowing yellow, then a sky blue, and finally neon pink. I braced myself on the catwalk as he let loose a series of high-power shots that would fry a bunch of my circuits had the beams hit me.
The last of the shots was fired, and I saw my chance as he let his guard down to power up again. I crouched, then leaped through the thick fog. As I flew silently as a wraith down to my prey I re-activated my saber, the green energy producing a slight hum. Just as I was about to slice his cannon up Rock swiveled his arm at my torso, knocking me out of the air. I spun in a back flip as I hit the metal floor then rolled, only to stop dead in my tracks at the sight of Blue Boy's fully-charged cannon pointing right at my face. I sigh, relaxing my circuits and plopping down into a sitting position.
"You win again, Mega Man," I curse, and to my anger a mask of concern rises to his face.
"You're leaving yourself wide open, man," he said as he attempted to comfort me. Puh... like it helped any...
"Yeah, yeah, I know, Rock. I'm not concentrating, I'm sloppy, and I'm not being serious about it all. Have I left anything out?"
Then to my utmost surprise I got slammed against the training room wall by a backhand slap to the face. "What the hell was that for?" I demanded in fury. I rubbed the sore spot tenderly, but it was more a hollow pain compared to another I was feeling...
"Do you think that this is going to help her, Zero?!" Rock yelled. "Feeling sorry for yourself and moping around won't bring her back! I know exactly how you're feeling right now!"
"How could you?" I screamed back. "You don't know what I feel for her, Rock! You never could!"
I could see he was pretty ticked off, because I had to dodge a punch aimed at my stomach. It glanced off my red armor, but was close to denting it. He turned away from me, but not before I saw a tear sting his eye. I stared at him in shock.
"Don't you EVER say that to me, Zero," he said quietly with an underlying tone of raging fury. "I miss her and care for her just as much as you do. I understand that you love her... who couldn't? But focusing on her and not on getting her back won't help us any. We have to toughen up, or we'll die trying."
His words rang true in my cybernetic heart, and I clenched my fist until I drew mechanical blood from underneath my armored gloves.
"I have a feeling Wily's going to use her to get to us," Rock continued. He took off his blue helmet as he did so, shaking the sweat out of his matted brown hair and rubbing his face. "Dr. Light's already working on some adjustments for us so that we'll be even stronger. We have to train hard and work fast 'cuz the more time we waste, the more time Wily has to pick Sierra's brain for more uses of destruction."
"I know," was all I could muster. "I just... can't stop thinking about it."
He sighed. "I can't either. Just use those thoughts for energy, and fuel your power with them. That's what I do."
I managed a smile. It was good to have a friend like Rock around, who knew exactly what I needed to get going again. I activated my saber, and the games began once more.
***
Three days... I have been here three days... with little food and even less water... That first day was the worst for me, for after my first spat with Wily, I endured an unpleasant struggle with a rebuilt Gutsman before being knocked out again. I didn't think my head could take much more... until I awoke back in my cot the next day. It must have been a day... I couldn't tell. Wily had no windows in this small cell of a room, devoid of color and light. On top of it all there was no mirror, so I therefore couldn't examine and treat the bruises under my now-straggled brown hair. Ick... without a brush, my pride and joy would be a rat's nest in no time... if it wasn't already. I knew I had dark circles under my blue eyes, despite all of the 'sleep' I was getting. It was maddening in this place... nothing to eat, nothing to do (because I refused to work on the robots that Wily had demanded I build) and no way to sleep.
Every now and then I would feel... something... inside my head. I know that the mad doctor had done something to me, but I couldn't remember what. There was a lab table... Protoman grinning in an awful sort of leer...
It occurred to me then, as the thought of Protoman crossed my mind, of something I thought I'd noticed. As if... his every move was forced and unwanted... almost... well, the only good term would be 'mechanical', though it's a bit absurd. I think I was drugged though, for how could an evil creation such as Protoman feel emotions like regret? Could he feel emotions at all? Oh man... I think the drugged theory makes more sense there.
I had to get out of there, and fast. The problem was, where indeed was I? I needed the layout of the fortress, any outward transportation, and a way to defend myself from the evil robots. Rising to my feet I walked (or rather, wobbled from my drugged movements) over to the small worktable to examine my materials. Assorted circuits, power cells of various sizes, the brain chips...
"That's it!" I murmured to no one but myself. Clearing a space with one hand, I sat down on the uncomfortable stool to begin my work.
***
Through an unknown monitor to the human, I watched the girl sit down and begin fiddling with the various parts. What was she up to? I couldn't tell, and frankly did not care. My only concern was making sure she didn't escape.
I know Wily would never admit it to himself, idiot that he is, but this young girl was even more intelligent than he was! Especially in the common sense department. He never would have thought to place a monitoring device on her had I not mentioned it, as well as the other little implant that would make itself known soon enough. I smiled, but it had not emotion behind it. That was how Wily had made me... an unfeeling killing machine. Offhandedly I thought of why I was activated in the first place, save to be the old coot's bodyguard and proof to Light that he could program a decent 'bot too. Well, I'm here now, so what? Was I destined to be watchdog all of the time?
Jeez... I hoped not. There had to be something better to do than that! It was a lot of fun to get out and beat up that red 'bot a few nights ago when we kidnapped the girl. I wanted to do it again, but Wily denied the request. Damn fool. I knew that if we didn't take 'em out soon, they'd come after us! How could he not see it?
Absently I untied the yellow scarf around my neck and tied it again more tightly. It was just a little habit, a human thing that my brain chip enabled me to do. The same brain chip that this girl created, and Wily stole.
Yeah, I was around when that happened. Wily stole me from Dr. Light too, didn't ya know? It was about, hmm... I guess it'd be six years now. I bet the girl had a hand in my design, too, though she'd have been real young... but I'd probably wouldn't find out. I was only half-built when I was taken from my true creator, Light, and Wily just added some parts here and there. I can remember before the brain chip, where I could only follow basic commands like 'walk', 'talk', and 'deactivate yourself'. It was horrendous. Even after I became 'smarter', though I had more of a mind and human quality I was restricted in all that I did.
So why do I act as if I'm evil? One reason: trust. Wily trusts me, so I play dumb. The more I play dumb, the more trusted I am, and the easier it will be for me to escape one day. That's my goal: freedom. To do as I please, however I please, with no old man pressing the buttons.
I'd rebel, if I could... but the damn reprogramming prevents me from doing so. Wily controls my every action, but at least I can think without him downloading my thought patterns and memory circuits. It's my only freedom, and hell, I relish it.
I wonder sometimes. Yeah, eat that up, a robot wondering... but we're not as stupid as humans think. I only play dumb so that I don't get dismantled, or worse. Think I like being ordered around like a dog and not doing what I want? Hell no. Anyway, I wonder if Wily's as smart as he claims he is. I mean, sure, he can think up some pretty monstrous weapons, I'll give him that much credit, but really anybody can come up with a decent weapon if they tinkered around with some parts enough. Even I could. Maybe all of the genius he's got is coming up with destructive toys. I couldn't tell. I didn't care.
I continued to watch the girl work, still unable to discern what it was she was building. A thought came to me then about the two robots back at Light's lab. How different they were from me.
The red one was very powerful, but at the same time he appeared human in the way he acted. He even LOOKED human before he switched on his armor. Save for those huge red boots he could fit in anywhere without suspicion that he was a robot. But one thing puzzled me then... why would he want to be human?
If I were free, I'd go someplace with very few or no humans and live on my own. I hate the creatures, thanks to Wily. They were overemotional and were frail. They created me, programmed me and made me what I am and for that I can never forgive them. Above all, I am not free, and the red and blue robots I saw before were. It just wasn't fair.
My wrist monitor chirped, and I activated it to see Wily's ugly face. Couldn't he use his toys to make himself look halfway decent?
"What?" I asked impatiently.
"Don't take that tone with me, Protoman," he drawled threateningly. "What is the girl's status?"
"She's awake and tinkering away," I answer, unable to restrain the bored tones of voice.
The old coot frowned. "Is it on a new robot?"
"Hell if I know, Doc. It doesn't look like it, but you're a better judge of that than I am."
"Idiot! She may be trying to escape! Activate the device!" he bellowed as he pulled at his hair with both gnarled hands. The tiny screen switched off, leaving me frowning at it.
"One BIG headache, coming up," I said loudly to myself as I pressed a button on the control panel in front of me. A series of lights activated, and I saw the girl suddenly fall to the floor of her cell, screaming.
After a second the noise diminished some, but I saw that she was still struggling against the mind control implant. Fool. That device was just a powerful as the one controlling me, so how could she resist it? It would be over soon for her, and I sighed in resignation as well as boredom.
***
The pain resonated again and again in my mind, and I could hear Wily's voice through it all. I clutched my head, clawing at my scalp as if to try and remove the thing that hurt me so. But in that moment of insanity I still knew I could not remove the device, for it was embedded inside my brain.
'Obey.. obey.. obey...' it repeatedly whispered, and I felt my body attempt to respond to the mental commands. I felt myself stand up, but all the same I fought it with every ounce of will power I had and managed to throw myself to the ground.
"No! NO! NOO!" I screamed into the nothingness of my imprisonment, feeling every muscle straining to betray me. I held on as much as I could, trying to bury the voice in my head away so I couldn't hear it. But it was in vain, for as much as I resisted the device became more and more active...
Soon I realized that I had lost this battle, for I felt my consciousness slipping away into the back of my mind where I could only watch my own movements as they were directed by Wily...