Chapter Nine: Brothers
Author's Note: Hmph... no one has reviewed... well I'm resolving the cliffhanger, and leading to another! Hee hee...
The blast was charging... time was running out as I battled the demons within myself. What was holding me back? He was just another robot... so what if he was a brother...
I could hear Wily screaming at me of course, but something within the depths of mind kept restraining me, whispering that it wasn't supposed to be like this.
I saw him on the floor where I'd paralyzed him, saw his tear and heard his sigh of defeat. At the same time his innocent words resonated and echoed in haunting chants in my head.
...Wily repressed them... we're not just machines... you have emotion too... to hell with programming...
But... it couldn't be right! I couldn't feel; I could only follow orders! I was an automaton destined to destroy, and yet now I couldn't obliterate this helpless robot I called kin. Maybe... could Rock somehow be right? Was my programming... only an illusion? Had he only blinded me from the beginning, so that I would be and obedient puppet?
The bolt was charged. I prepared to fire. The sound of a blast echoed in the vastness of the hangar... but it was not my own.
I instantly found myself on the floor, my cannon arm a tangle of melting wires next to me. Pain surged through me, nearly overloading my circuitry. I struggled with my one remaining arm to get back to my feet, but a booted foot kicked me back down hard.
"What the..." I gasped aloud in pain. I squinted through my visor, which had become cracked from my fall. A dark shape stood over me, clad in black armor...
"Bass! What the hell is wrong with you?" I demanded. "You're supposed to kill the other two, idiot!"
"You're not my superior, Protoman," he said coldly, glaring with his icy black orbs in disgust at me. "I eliminate all who threaten my creator, Sierra. You have defected to join Mega Man and Zero; therefore you are a threat to her."
"The hell I defected! Wily-- are you just going to stand there and let this bucket of bolts try to beat me up?"
"The way I see it, Protoman," the old man stated as he twirled one side of his scraggly mustache, "is that you are no longer of any use to me."
"WHAT?"
"You see," he continued, seeming to not hear my protest. "Your design has become, shall we say... obsolete, as compared to Bass here. Also, you failed to immediately follow a direct order to destroy Mega Man. This causes me great concern... yes, great concern indeed. I fear I cannot trust you any more."
"After all I've done... all of the dirty work you made me do! Is this the thanks I get?" I demanded, furious beyond everything. I could see Bass leering at me, the girl staring blankly ahead... and Wily looking in no general direction with an insane grin on his ugly face.
"Ah yes, of course. Thank you for your services, Protoman. You may kill him now, Bass."
"Oh no you don't..." said a forgotten voice dangerously. A blue boot kicked wildly at Bass's legs, knocking him over. The black robot instantly began to get up, only slightly fazed... but Rock wasn't finished yet. I watched him morph his armor into a horribly ugly banana-yellow color, then form a bomb in one hand.
"Get it!" he yelled at me, for he was still for the most part unable to move. Bass saw the bomb and tried to swipe it out of Rock's immobile hand, but the second it took him to realize what the round object was gave me an edge. I propelled myself forward painfully with my one remaining arm, hitting Bass full-force in the stomach. My helmet shattered as I made contact against the super-hard armor, sending shards slicing across my exposed face and scalp. I ignored the mechanical pseudo-blood that was beginning to darken my thick brown hair and grabbed the bomb from Rock's hand.
I felt a charged plasma bolt hit me in the side, but I didn't care as I pounced on my opponent, giving him a deadly bear hug with the explosive only seconds away from detonating.
3... 2... 1... 0...
Author's Note: Hmph... no one has reviewed... well I'm resolving the cliffhanger, and leading to another! Hee hee...
The blast was charging... time was running out as I battled the demons within myself. What was holding me back? He was just another robot... so what if he was a brother...
I could hear Wily screaming at me of course, but something within the depths of mind kept restraining me, whispering that it wasn't supposed to be like this.
I saw him on the floor where I'd paralyzed him, saw his tear and heard his sigh of defeat. At the same time his innocent words resonated and echoed in haunting chants in my head.
...Wily repressed them... we're not just machines... you have emotion too... to hell with programming...
But... it couldn't be right! I couldn't feel; I could only follow orders! I was an automaton destined to destroy, and yet now I couldn't obliterate this helpless robot I called kin. Maybe... could Rock somehow be right? Was my programming... only an illusion? Had he only blinded me from the beginning, so that I would be and obedient puppet?
The bolt was charged. I prepared to fire. The sound of a blast echoed in the vastness of the hangar... but it was not my own.
I instantly found myself on the floor, my cannon arm a tangle of melting wires next to me. Pain surged through me, nearly overloading my circuitry. I struggled with my one remaining arm to get back to my feet, but a booted foot kicked me back down hard.
"What the..." I gasped aloud in pain. I squinted through my visor, which had become cracked from my fall. A dark shape stood over me, clad in black armor...
"Bass! What the hell is wrong with you?" I demanded. "You're supposed to kill the other two, idiot!"
"You're not my superior, Protoman," he said coldly, glaring with his icy black orbs in disgust at me. "I eliminate all who threaten my creator, Sierra. You have defected to join Mega Man and Zero; therefore you are a threat to her."
"The hell I defected! Wily-- are you just going to stand there and let this bucket of bolts try to beat me up?"
"The way I see it, Protoman," the old man stated as he twirled one side of his scraggly mustache, "is that you are no longer of any use to me."
"WHAT?"
"You see," he continued, seeming to not hear my protest. "Your design has become, shall we say... obsolete, as compared to Bass here. Also, you failed to immediately follow a direct order to destroy Mega Man. This causes me great concern... yes, great concern indeed. I fear I cannot trust you any more."
"After all I've done... all of the dirty work you made me do! Is this the thanks I get?" I demanded, furious beyond everything. I could see Bass leering at me, the girl staring blankly ahead... and Wily looking in no general direction with an insane grin on his ugly face.
"Ah yes, of course. Thank you for your services, Protoman. You may kill him now, Bass."
"Oh no you don't..." said a forgotten voice dangerously. A blue boot kicked wildly at Bass's legs, knocking him over. The black robot instantly began to get up, only slightly fazed... but Rock wasn't finished yet. I watched him morph his armor into a horribly ugly banana-yellow color, then form a bomb in one hand.
"Get it!" he yelled at me, for he was still for the most part unable to move. Bass saw the bomb and tried to swipe it out of Rock's immobile hand, but the second it took him to realize what the round object was gave me an edge. I propelled myself forward painfully with my one remaining arm, hitting Bass full-force in the stomach. My helmet shattered as I made contact against the super-hard armor, sending shards slicing across my exposed face and scalp. I ignored the mechanical pseudo-blood that was beginning to darken my thick brown hair and grabbed the bomb from Rock's hand.
I felt a charged plasma bolt hit me in the side, but I didn't care as I pounced on my opponent, giving him a deadly bear hug with the explosive only seconds away from detonating.
3... 2... 1... 0...