Bloody Rose
Second: Opposition
by Lady Virgo
"As you bloom,
the initial beauty
overwhelms me,
I yearn for more"
///
The boosters worked well, Forte dully noted as he easily paced Gospel around the training grounds. The heat and friction of his movements caused burnt tendrils to snake out behind him. A slight sense of irritation rose up within him as he realized he was once again straying from the test, trying to focus on perfecting his skills for the future. But every time he worked with Wily and the Robot Masters, he couldn't help but wish time would pass over as soon as possible. He had another battle test after this, another teacher to learn from. Blues.
He checked his internal clock.
1823.06
Three seconds since he checked the air waves. Much too long.
With a grim twist of his lips, Forte cycled through the transmission frequencies once again.
Channel 1: white noise
Channel 2: white noise
Channel 3: white- no, wait...
*shrek* -baring 25, coming- *shrek* -round.
So here they come. About time. He thought sourly. The quicker he got this over, the quicker he'd be able to learn something useful.
The quicker he could see Blues.
No time for thought, just action. Forte turned as Pharaoh leapt down at him, blocking the attack with the thick, gleaming ebony of his wrist guard. Snapping his arm around, Forte sent the Robot Master into the ground. Spark came at him from one side, Centaur from another with Cloud above.
"Gospel!"
With a low rumbling battle cry the lupinoid drove forward upon powerful legs, smashing into Spark, keeping an arm in a tight yet gentle grip. Enough to incapacitate but not damage. Eyes flaring bright, he growled at Spark- making sure he knew to stay down -and flashed towards the approaching Crash and Snake, not giving them the time to attack his master.
Forte, meanwhile, was beginning to max out his thrusters as he fought to out-speed Centaur and not to be blown away by Cloud's gale. Centaur, being the half quadruped he was, was able to keep his ground against the wind. A flash of inspiration came across the cobra-crested robot as his positronic mind whirled, trying to come up with a plan.
As Centaur reared back, attempting to kick Forte out of the air with his powerful forelegs, Forte diverted all unneeded power to his rear boosters and shot himself under the raising metal horse. Once on the other side of the Robot Master, Forte jumped onto the other's back, stepped of the top crest of the helmet and lifted himself into the air, flipping himself towards Cloud. At the apex of his jump, he shifted, feet towards the floating bioroid and put his boosters on full throttle, burning through the cloud and anti-grav platform.
Forte landed on the ground in a roll and came up, buster humming, with his arm a mere breathe away from Centaur's nose, aimed and powered up.
"Game. Match."
Behind him he heard Spark sit up.
"Fuu. He got us again." He held his arm, inspecting it for bite marks. "I don't know how he does it, but I've never seen anyone beat him."
"He better be good enough to get that damned pipsqueak. I'm tired of being second best to the bastard." Pharaoh grounded out, arms crossed. He gave a harsh glare at Forte. Though he didn't like the idea of this new bioroid.... so.... /perfect/, being the best, he hated to idea of Rock continuing to put down the Robot Masters uninhibited.
Crash spoke up as he and Centaur struggled to right the fallen Cloud between them. "I'm just curious as to where he learned those moves. If Wily-sama knows them, then why weren't /we/ programmed with them, too?"
"But did he have to ruin my anti-grav platform?" Said the suddenly crippled 'roid. "It took Wily-sama forever to get it working after the first malfunction."
"Be glad your not Bursssst." Snake said. "Wily-sssssama issss still trying to get all the ssssplinterss out from when Forte shoved the log down the busster barrel."
"You two get beat up the most, and you guys haven't even been used against the blueberry yet. That can't be a good sign."
Everyone stopped and looked up when they realized that Forte was no longer listening to them and was, in fact, walking away towards the forest.
"Forte? Where're you going? We have to report back to Wily-sama."
"Yeah, get another lecture on wrecking your fellow Robot Masters."
Slowly, Forte stopped and turned around. His golden eyes narrowed to mere slits, mouth drawn out to show of his fangs. "I am not a Robot Master. I am not one of you." He turned around, whistling for Gospel to join him.
"Geez. What's got his neurons in a bunch?"
///
"You're mighty impressive, Forte-kun."
He only grunted in response.
"Don't be disappointed in your performance. Most people wouldn't have been able to come to such a.... creative solution at all."
Forte looked down, trying to think of something to say in response.
Noticing the black 'bot's inability to converse, Blues glided out of his perch in the tree. Gospel, after realizing his master's intentions, had wandered off to act as a patrol. Blues stepped up to the taller, cocking his head slightly to the side, trying to get Forte to look at him.
"Forte-kun.... do you understand why I'm doing this for you and not the others?"
Weary snake eyes peered up at him below his crest. "No."
"Well then, get comfortable, this will take a while." The two bioroids sat upon separate roots that arched out of the ground from their limitless slumber. "First I suppose I should explain the aim of the two good doctors in a bit more detail. Several years ago there was a large group of scientists that began a rather long, rather profitable career in robotics. They weren't much in the way of intellectual robots such as ourselves, they were simple, pre-automated servant 'bots, no independent thought, no complex matrix make up. Then, as more and more people gained access to the servant robots, the demand for larger, more complex robots became greater. Then other groups began to get mixed up in the entire robotics industry, concerned that it would be used in war, or that it, if given our own consciousness, we would revolt against our makers.
"While a majority of those scientist decided to give up on robotics until the storm calmed on the issue, there was still a handful that went on creating them, two of which were doctors Wily and Light. A few years ago, a servant 'bot was programmed to assassinate the leader of a radicals in Northern Africa. Though the servant robot was stopped, the incident put the entire world aflame with new paranoia of robots. Wily and Light wanted to continue their work, to prove that the robots could actually be more human than most people would think. They attempted to build a robot, dubbed bioriod, that would have independent thought, that would be able to decide between right and wrong; morality, ethics, feelings, even desires and aspirations- the most human non-human.. they were aiming to become Gods in their own right. And after their main benefactor passed away, the support from the company waned with him and the two were left with very little funds. They realized that if they could create this 'most human' creature, they would be able to imprint a person's brainwave into the positron brain and hence gain a sort of immortality.
"They wanted perfection." Blues said with a bitter grin. "What they got was me."
Forte's brows came down to a point beneath his helmet. "You? What do you mean?"
"I'm a prototype. The first in the generation of bioroids. The.... defect, if you would."
"How are you defective? You're clearly smarter and stronger than any of the Robot Masters."
There was a slight smile beneath hidden eyes. "Thank you, Forte-kun. However, because the doctors worked together on me, they gave me the best both could offer. Light preferred perfect bodies and a heavy sense of humanity. Wily preferred a strong sense of duty and aggression. However, ironically enough, they both also wanted total obedience."
"Which you refused because you were also given a yearning for freedom, just like any human would."
"That and I have no liking for authority, yes." Blues said with a grin. "And it's because of them. That's why I have to do this. Because they want to create humans, but they don't want them to be treated like humans. They want us to be their slaves, and I'm trying to make bioroids aware of that fact, one at a time if I must." He turned to look Forte in the face. "Not every bioroid will understand. The last one I had told, he understood the plight, but he can't grasp the situation. He tries to understand but he's still too dependent on his creator, too wrapped up in his morals to do any good."
Something within Forte stirred, driving him to ask, "Can I see your face?" Blues' smile fell. The other winced. "I-I'm-" Stumbling over his words, Forte fell silent, unsure of what to say.
"I'll tell you what, Cobra." The elder said as he stood up from the giant root, in his voice seeped a tone of near contempt. "Let's play a little game, it'll work to help with your speed and reactions. Perhaps even your surveillance." Walking away, Blues stopped a few meters away and picked up something from his small bag of equipment. From it he pulled out ten pieces of paper and to each he stuck an adhesive. "These are the rules. We get five papers each, one stuck to each limb and one on the chest. The goal is to grab all five of the other person's paper while trying to keep from losing any of their own. No fighting allowed, only agility and speed. Should you win, you may see my face. Should I win..." his smile became distinctly predatory, "well, we'll decide what will happen then."
///
"You're later than usual, Forte."
With his head bent forward, Forte moved towards his suspension chamber, recalling his armor, leaving his naked body to finish its trek towards the bed-like cell.
"Forte." Wily said, turning back from his computer to look at his newest creation. "I'm getting tired of this. You've been vandalizing the rest of the Robot Masters and been disappearing after practice every day. I want to know why."
"No reason I feel like saying."
Something came down hard upon the smooth surface of a plywood desktop. "Dammit, Forte! You've been getting more and more dissident every day and I want to know /why/. Where have you been going, why are you so insistent on destroying your teammates. And most of all..." the old man stood from his desk and strode over to the bioroid, forcefully bringing the face into the fluorescent lighting. "...Why are you acting so much like /him/."
With a growl, he pulled back, smacking away the hand. "Him who? I have no reason to tell you anything." Forte rubbed a cheek, hyper aware of the stark contrast between the sudden appearance of the twin streaks of violet upon his pale cheeks were. "I don't owe you an explanation of anything, I do as I please."
Wily cuffed the rebellious 'bot across the face. "You do as /I/ please! I created you! I gave you life, a purpose! And as your creator I deserve you undivided loyalty. Your entire being belongs to me and only me!" He snarled in Forte's face. "I will not allow you to become the same defiant bastard as that damned Blues."
There was no warning, not even in the electrons in Forte's artificial mind. Just that moment of pure movement, the instant of time where Forte's bare hand suddenly wrapped itself around Wily's neck. He was trembling, he didn't know why, but an anger he had never felt before was clouding his mind and only one thing burned in his mind beyond the roiling hate:
/ I don't follow either of them. Wily or Light. But there are two rules that they had instilled in me that I will follow without a question, one I hold in the highest priority: Never hurt a human being. If we start attacking humans for no reason, we'll be no better than what they think. Not only would we deserve the servitude they believe we should do, but we wouldn't even deserve to have our own will or feelings. We should just go back to being mindless servants. /
No, Forte couldn't do that, no matter how much he wanted to. For you.... I won't let your efforts be wasted just because of my stupid impulsiveness. I won't let my emotions hold you back. For you. Only for you. On a great effort of his will, Forte slowly released the scientist and brought his quivering hand to his side, still shaking with rage.
Wily's eyes narrowed. "So I was right. Those were his moves you've been using. That little bastard thought that he could turn my own creations against me." He stepped up to Forte who backed away, only knowing that the only way to keep from dealing serious injury to the little human was to keep his distance. Yet Wily kept advancing until the bioroid had hit the wall.
"I've warned him long ago to stay out of my affairs. I've had enough of him screwing around, helping out that damned Rock.." he ran clawed fingers down Forte's riffed stomach, sending little shivers quaking up the torso. "I won't let him make a fool out of me. I'll destroy him before that can happen. And you.... you were created to destroy Rock, but evidently, you will also be the key to Blues' undoing." That said, the hand snaked around the waist and popped the hidden switch in the small of his back, effectively shutting down the bioroid, causing him to slouch slightly. "If I can't see his entrails strewn across a field, I can at least extract some sort of revenge for all the embarrassment he's caused me." I'll never forgive myself for spending so much needless time, wasted time, on you, Blues..
Second: Opposition
by Lady Virgo
"As you bloom,
the initial beauty
overwhelms me,
I yearn for more"
///
The boosters worked well, Forte dully noted as he easily paced Gospel around the training grounds. The heat and friction of his movements caused burnt tendrils to snake out behind him. A slight sense of irritation rose up within him as he realized he was once again straying from the test, trying to focus on perfecting his skills for the future. But every time he worked with Wily and the Robot Masters, he couldn't help but wish time would pass over as soon as possible. He had another battle test after this, another teacher to learn from. Blues.
He checked his internal clock.
1823.06
Three seconds since he checked the air waves. Much too long.
With a grim twist of his lips, Forte cycled through the transmission frequencies once again.
Channel 1: white noise
Channel 2: white noise
Channel 3: white- no, wait...
*shrek* -baring 25, coming- *shrek* -round.
So here they come. About time. He thought sourly. The quicker he got this over, the quicker he'd be able to learn something useful.
The quicker he could see Blues.
No time for thought, just action. Forte turned as Pharaoh leapt down at him, blocking the attack with the thick, gleaming ebony of his wrist guard. Snapping his arm around, Forte sent the Robot Master into the ground. Spark came at him from one side, Centaur from another with Cloud above.
"Gospel!"
With a low rumbling battle cry the lupinoid drove forward upon powerful legs, smashing into Spark, keeping an arm in a tight yet gentle grip. Enough to incapacitate but not damage. Eyes flaring bright, he growled at Spark- making sure he knew to stay down -and flashed towards the approaching Crash and Snake, not giving them the time to attack his master.
Forte, meanwhile, was beginning to max out his thrusters as he fought to out-speed Centaur and not to be blown away by Cloud's gale. Centaur, being the half quadruped he was, was able to keep his ground against the wind. A flash of inspiration came across the cobra-crested robot as his positronic mind whirled, trying to come up with a plan.
As Centaur reared back, attempting to kick Forte out of the air with his powerful forelegs, Forte diverted all unneeded power to his rear boosters and shot himself under the raising metal horse. Once on the other side of the Robot Master, Forte jumped onto the other's back, stepped of the top crest of the helmet and lifted himself into the air, flipping himself towards Cloud. At the apex of his jump, he shifted, feet towards the floating bioroid and put his boosters on full throttle, burning through the cloud and anti-grav platform.
Forte landed on the ground in a roll and came up, buster humming, with his arm a mere breathe away from Centaur's nose, aimed and powered up.
"Game. Match."
Behind him he heard Spark sit up.
"Fuu. He got us again." He held his arm, inspecting it for bite marks. "I don't know how he does it, but I've never seen anyone beat him."
"He better be good enough to get that damned pipsqueak. I'm tired of being second best to the bastard." Pharaoh grounded out, arms crossed. He gave a harsh glare at Forte. Though he didn't like the idea of this new bioroid.... so.... /perfect/, being the best, he hated to idea of Rock continuing to put down the Robot Masters uninhibited.
Crash spoke up as he and Centaur struggled to right the fallen Cloud between them. "I'm just curious as to where he learned those moves. If Wily-sama knows them, then why weren't /we/ programmed with them, too?"
"But did he have to ruin my anti-grav platform?" Said the suddenly crippled 'roid. "It took Wily-sama forever to get it working after the first malfunction."
"Be glad your not Bursssst." Snake said. "Wily-sssssama issss still trying to get all the ssssplinterss out from when Forte shoved the log down the busster barrel."
"You two get beat up the most, and you guys haven't even been used against the blueberry yet. That can't be a good sign."
Everyone stopped and looked up when they realized that Forte was no longer listening to them and was, in fact, walking away towards the forest.
"Forte? Where're you going? We have to report back to Wily-sama."
"Yeah, get another lecture on wrecking your fellow Robot Masters."
Slowly, Forte stopped and turned around. His golden eyes narrowed to mere slits, mouth drawn out to show of his fangs. "I am not a Robot Master. I am not one of you." He turned around, whistling for Gospel to join him.
"Geez. What's got his neurons in a bunch?"
///
"You're mighty impressive, Forte-kun."
He only grunted in response.
"Don't be disappointed in your performance. Most people wouldn't have been able to come to such a.... creative solution at all."
Forte looked down, trying to think of something to say in response.
Noticing the black 'bot's inability to converse, Blues glided out of his perch in the tree. Gospel, after realizing his master's intentions, had wandered off to act as a patrol. Blues stepped up to the taller, cocking his head slightly to the side, trying to get Forte to look at him.
"Forte-kun.... do you understand why I'm doing this for you and not the others?"
Weary snake eyes peered up at him below his crest. "No."
"Well then, get comfortable, this will take a while." The two bioroids sat upon separate roots that arched out of the ground from their limitless slumber. "First I suppose I should explain the aim of the two good doctors in a bit more detail. Several years ago there was a large group of scientists that began a rather long, rather profitable career in robotics. They weren't much in the way of intellectual robots such as ourselves, they were simple, pre-automated servant 'bots, no independent thought, no complex matrix make up. Then, as more and more people gained access to the servant robots, the demand for larger, more complex robots became greater. Then other groups began to get mixed up in the entire robotics industry, concerned that it would be used in war, or that it, if given our own consciousness, we would revolt against our makers.
"While a majority of those scientist decided to give up on robotics until the storm calmed on the issue, there was still a handful that went on creating them, two of which were doctors Wily and Light. A few years ago, a servant 'bot was programmed to assassinate the leader of a radicals in Northern Africa. Though the servant robot was stopped, the incident put the entire world aflame with new paranoia of robots. Wily and Light wanted to continue their work, to prove that the robots could actually be more human than most people would think. They attempted to build a robot, dubbed bioriod, that would have independent thought, that would be able to decide between right and wrong; morality, ethics, feelings, even desires and aspirations- the most human non-human.. they were aiming to become Gods in their own right. And after their main benefactor passed away, the support from the company waned with him and the two were left with very little funds. They realized that if they could create this 'most human' creature, they would be able to imprint a person's brainwave into the positron brain and hence gain a sort of immortality.
"They wanted perfection." Blues said with a bitter grin. "What they got was me."
Forte's brows came down to a point beneath his helmet. "You? What do you mean?"
"I'm a prototype. The first in the generation of bioroids. The.... defect, if you would."
"How are you defective? You're clearly smarter and stronger than any of the Robot Masters."
There was a slight smile beneath hidden eyes. "Thank you, Forte-kun. However, because the doctors worked together on me, they gave me the best both could offer. Light preferred perfect bodies and a heavy sense of humanity. Wily preferred a strong sense of duty and aggression. However, ironically enough, they both also wanted total obedience."
"Which you refused because you were also given a yearning for freedom, just like any human would."
"That and I have no liking for authority, yes." Blues said with a grin. "And it's because of them. That's why I have to do this. Because they want to create humans, but they don't want them to be treated like humans. They want us to be their slaves, and I'm trying to make bioroids aware of that fact, one at a time if I must." He turned to look Forte in the face. "Not every bioroid will understand. The last one I had told, he understood the plight, but he can't grasp the situation. He tries to understand but he's still too dependent on his creator, too wrapped up in his morals to do any good."
Something within Forte stirred, driving him to ask, "Can I see your face?" Blues' smile fell. The other winced. "I-I'm-" Stumbling over his words, Forte fell silent, unsure of what to say.
"I'll tell you what, Cobra." The elder said as he stood up from the giant root, in his voice seeped a tone of near contempt. "Let's play a little game, it'll work to help with your speed and reactions. Perhaps even your surveillance." Walking away, Blues stopped a few meters away and picked up something from his small bag of equipment. From it he pulled out ten pieces of paper and to each he stuck an adhesive. "These are the rules. We get five papers each, one stuck to each limb and one on the chest. The goal is to grab all five of the other person's paper while trying to keep from losing any of their own. No fighting allowed, only agility and speed. Should you win, you may see my face. Should I win..." his smile became distinctly predatory, "well, we'll decide what will happen then."
///
"You're later than usual, Forte."
With his head bent forward, Forte moved towards his suspension chamber, recalling his armor, leaving his naked body to finish its trek towards the bed-like cell.
"Forte." Wily said, turning back from his computer to look at his newest creation. "I'm getting tired of this. You've been vandalizing the rest of the Robot Masters and been disappearing after practice every day. I want to know why."
"No reason I feel like saying."
Something came down hard upon the smooth surface of a plywood desktop. "Dammit, Forte! You've been getting more and more dissident every day and I want to know /why/. Where have you been going, why are you so insistent on destroying your teammates. And most of all..." the old man stood from his desk and strode over to the bioroid, forcefully bringing the face into the fluorescent lighting. "...Why are you acting so much like /him/."
With a growl, he pulled back, smacking away the hand. "Him who? I have no reason to tell you anything." Forte rubbed a cheek, hyper aware of the stark contrast between the sudden appearance of the twin streaks of violet upon his pale cheeks were. "I don't owe you an explanation of anything, I do as I please."
Wily cuffed the rebellious 'bot across the face. "You do as /I/ please! I created you! I gave you life, a purpose! And as your creator I deserve you undivided loyalty. Your entire being belongs to me and only me!" He snarled in Forte's face. "I will not allow you to become the same defiant bastard as that damned Blues."
There was no warning, not even in the electrons in Forte's artificial mind. Just that moment of pure movement, the instant of time where Forte's bare hand suddenly wrapped itself around Wily's neck. He was trembling, he didn't know why, but an anger he had never felt before was clouding his mind and only one thing burned in his mind beyond the roiling hate:
/ I don't follow either of them. Wily or Light. But there are two rules that they had instilled in me that I will follow without a question, one I hold in the highest priority: Never hurt a human being. If we start attacking humans for no reason, we'll be no better than what they think. Not only would we deserve the servitude they believe we should do, but we wouldn't even deserve to have our own will or feelings. We should just go back to being mindless servants. /
No, Forte couldn't do that, no matter how much he wanted to. For you.... I won't let your efforts be wasted just because of my stupid impulsiveness. I won't let my emotions hold you back. For you. Only for you. On a great effort of his will, Forte slowly released the scientist and brought his quivering hand to his side, still shaking with rage.
Wily's eyes narrowed. "So I was right. Those were his moves you've been using. That little bastard thought that he could turn my own creations against me." He stepped up to Forte who backed away, only knowing that the only way to keep from dealing serious injury to the little human was to keep his distance. Yet Wily kept advancing until the bioroid had hit the wall.
"I've warned him long ago to stay out of my affairs. I've had enough of him screwing around, helping out that damned Rock.." he ran clawed fingers down Forte's riffed stomach, sending little shivers quaking up the torso. "I won't let him make a fool out of me. I'll destroy him before that can happen. And you.... you were created to destroy Rock, but evidently, you will also be the key to Blues' undoing." That said, the hand snaked around the waist and popped the hidden switch in the small of his back, effectively shutting down the bioroid, causing him to slouch slightly. "If I can't see his entrails strewn across a field, I can at least extract some sort of revenge for all the embarrassment he's caused me." I'll never forgive myself for spending so much needless time, wasted time, on you, Blues..
