Lion's Cry
Third: Vengeance
by Lady Virgo
"I had failed
In this life
there is no more
reason to live"
///
It had rounded to a month after Slash's meeting with Sierra. It didn't really take very long for the people in the area to become familiar with him. After he started needing money, he was a regular to the thrift stores and pawnshops. During one of his visits to such a place, he couldn't help but notice an ancient phonograph sitting, dusty in a crevice of a shelf.
The owner noticed him looking at the old device and informed him that it hadn't played in near a century.
"What's wrong with it?" Slash asked, studying the piece carefully.
"No one knows. No one knows how to repair it, either."
He nodded then, still curious about it. His internal clock alerted him to being late for his meeting with Sierra.
Later that night, however, he searched through several computer banks, remembering seeing a file about very old machines. He researched the parts, potential problems, tools… He didn't even know why. Maybe because he didn't like the idea of something being useless? Maybe because antiquities held a certain interest in him? Or maybe just for the fact that it was something he had never worked with before, a challenge of sorts.
The next day, the old man looked up to find Slash in the doorway, a small bag slung over his shoulders.
"Got more today?" He asked, shaking his head. "You keep getting us all that great stuff, you'll put us out of business."
Slash just smiled and shook his head. "Not today. Actually, I wanted to look at the phonograph again."
"Oh? Are you interested in buying it?"
"Not really. Just wanted to try to fix it. Would you mind?"
The man just laughed, waving the thin rag he used to police the fine wood of the countertop. "By all means, go ahead. If you get that old thing to work, well… Good luck."
He smiled and nodded, not really paying much attention as he grabbed the phonograph and placed it on a secluded spot on the floor. It didn't take him too long figure out what the problems were. Just some old cogs- too old to be manufactured in this era –had worn loose and a couple of screws were clogging the system. The parts were easy to replace concerning who ran Skull Fortress. Wily was known to be a packrat of sorts. He had several storerooms filled with old, rather useless junk. But, among the garbage lay the priceless and the rare.
And an old vinyl to fill the small store with its scratchy, slow ballad.
It took the man at the counter a moment to realize what he was listening to. Music. Old, heartfelt music of the finest degree.
Stunned, he looked at Slash, sitting by the machine, polishing the fine bronze horn carefully.
"I-I don't believe it!" He said. "You actually got it to work!"
He couldn't help but grin, pride welling deep inside. "Yeah. It was easier than I thought it would be." Slash stood, holstering the bag and its remaining contents on his back. "Thank you for your time." And he began to walk out.
"Wait, sir!"
He stopped and looked back. "Yes?"
The old man was digging through one of the drawers. "Oh, sir. I must pay you for your help. This is a great wealth of luck to have it playing so well!"
But he was stopped when the Robot Master chuckled, shaking his head. "Don't worry about it. I did it because I wanted to, I don't want any money." He waved and walked out. "I'll see you later."
Though, the next time that he visited that store, it seemed his work was cut out for him.
"Oh, sir! I'm so glad you're back!" The old man said, beaming wonderfully.
Slash blinked in surprise. "Er, yeah?"
"Yes!" He took Slash's hand, shaking it vigorously. "I had the phonograph playing a couple days after you fixed it and someone came in and asked about it. He was a friend of a semi-prolific collector and they came in and bought it! Sir, you don't know how indebted I am to you! If it wasn't for you fixing it…," he shook his head, "I would've missed out on one of the best sales of my /life/! Here, here!" He dove behind the counter and opened one of the drawers. "I know you said you didn't want any money, but I must insist! Because you fixed it, I insist that you take half the sale." With great flourish, the old man slammed a wad of bills down on the counter. "There, all for you."
It was… a surprise to say the least. "How much… is that?" He asked.
"$25,000."
Slash frowned. "Dollars? As in American currency?"
"Yes, yes. She was an American collector. Should you exchange it, of course, it's quite the hefty sum in yen."
Well, yes of course… the yen was, at the moment, much weaker to the dollar. So that would translate… he calculated in his head. "That's over 400,000 yen!" He said, gaping.
"Yes, it is." The old man beamed. "And I have you to thank for that money. Saa, here you are." He pushed the wad over to the shocked robot. "Take it."
Now, Slash was far from the fool and far from being able to connect one event to another.
If someone was willing to pay nearly 900,000 yen for such an antique, he could surely make more money off fixing things than just bringing in other things. And the more money he could make… something inside trilled at the idea, then he could pay for Sierra's constructive surgery for her eyes. She'd be able to see.
Sure, the operation was expensive, costing several million, but…
He clenched his fist with a smile.
"If there's anything you or someone else needs fixed, be sure to let me know." He grinned waving himself out.
Soon afterwards he came to be known around the pawning circuit as 'Fix-it'. The owners asked him every once in a while what his name was, but he smiled, saying, "Whatever you want to call me is fine by me." So he was dubbed 'Fix-it', which suited him fine. After all, 'Slash' wasn't much better a name when it came to social titles.
He was famed for fixing everything. And those he couldn't fix right away, he studied over night and fixed the next morning. He really didn't mind it. It was much different being asked to fix things than being asked to do anything by Wily. In the fortress he was just another mindless drone becoming combat ready. With the others, he had the power, he was in control. They /asked/ him to fix things, they didn't pressure him. They let him take his time, if he said he wouldn't or couldn't fix something, fine, they backed off, they paid him well for his time. He was looked /up/ upon amongst the other humans, he was appreciated and revered for his ability.
He was, in short, happy.
"You seem like it."
"Do I?"
"Yes." She was leaning against his arm, feet propped up on the bench.
"Are you happy?"
"I'm always happy when you're here."
"Oh?" He peered down at her calm face. "And why is that?"
Sierra smiled brightly. "Because you're here and I can talk to you. Because you're niisan and you always take care of me."
He grinned, draping an arm down her shoulder, giving her a hug. "That's because I can talk to you. You make me happy."
She gripped his wrist with tiny fingers, snuggling into the crook of his arm.
"Ne, Slash-niisan?"
"Hm?"
"Do you have a girlfriend?"
He blinked brown eyes as she looked up at him, face innocent.
"No." He said, curiously. "Do I need one?"
"Everyone needs someone that cares about them." Came the response.
"I have you."
"Ah."
They sat quietly for a while, the cool March breeze milling around them.
"Slash-niisan?"
"Yeah?"
"When I grow up, and you have no one else that cares, can I be your girlfriend?"
The request caught him off-guard. Did she really not know his true origins? Did he, as a robot, really need someone to care about him as a lover?
But, turning it over in his head, he smiled and gave her hand a squeeze.
"Of course."
The way her face lit up, so bright and hopeful, it made him feel like there was nothing more precious in the world. And at that moment, he wanted to spend the rest of his existence with her, to make her happy, to make her smile so beautifully.
She turned to stand on her knees, his hand captured in hers, held against her. "I'll grow up beautiful for you."
Slash grinned, ruffling her hair with his free hand. "You're beautiful enough right now."
And adorable pouted painted her lips. "I want to be more so for you." But she leaned against him again, tucked under his arm, smiling, small arms trying to encircle his waist. "But if you like me how I am, I won't chance."
"Good." He said. "I don't ever want you to change."
///
He had been coming back to the fortress progressively later, it was becoming apparent to everyone. He kept leaving earlier and earlier, sometimes even slipping out before training even ended and he wouldn't come back until passed sundown. On occasions he wouldn't even report in for Lights Out, even to fake it as most everyone else did.
Everyone was becoming worried about it. Especially since Wily, whose natural unobservant nature and cluttered mind had taken a turn for the worse recently, had begun to notice. If Slash knew, he didn't care. He had business, he had friends and, most importantly, he had Sierra to think about. What room was there left for Wily and the Robot Masters?
But the doctor wouldn't allow himself to be forgotten, especially by one of his creations.
"Slash." The PA system announced, no room for argument or ignorance being allowed. "Come to the main lab. Immediately!"
The other Robot Masters were hushed quiet, parting silently as Slash passed. His armor clanked around him dimly, the only noise the permeated the halls. Behind him the path refilled with the others, discussing under their breaths the punishment Slash had brought down upon himself.
The door whooshed open with nary a sound and a clawed boot stepped through the threshold. He pulled off his helmet, resting it between his hands.
"You wanted to see me, sir?" He asked, voice a low rumble.
The doctor turned around. Next to him sat a tray filled with sterilized tools that gleamed gunmetal silver.
"Slash," Wily said, slowly approaching the robot. "Where have you been running off to?"
"No where, sir."
"I should think that you are. You've been disappearing quite a bit the passed few days."
He stood at attention, mouth a thin line.
"You're not protecting anyone with your silence, child." A clawed hand traced along the tray as he turned his back to Slash. "Where have you been going."
"No where. Sir."
"Do not /lie/ to me, Slash." He spat, snarling around his words. "I know where you've been. Why must you insist on abandoning your brothers each day?"
"With all due respect, Wily-sama. They are not my brothers." He stood straight-backed. "I will not acknowledge them as such."
"And why do you hate them?"
"They are annoying, useless and stupid. I will not admit allegiance with them."
"But you would rather," Wily said, fingers gripping the handle to a thin blade, "announce allegiance with humans. Disgusting."
Slash's eyes narrowed, flashing slightly. "And what would you know about those who I encounter? /Sir/."
It surprised the robot how fast such an old, fragile human could move. Wily darted across the lab, grabbing one of Slash's forelocks and pulling him painfully down.
"I will not be addressed in such disdain!" He shouted in his ear, the knife held in white knuckles. "I know where you've been and I know what you have been doing, child! I will not tolerate insubordination!"
His mind flashed with warning and conflict, body tensing but the mind that swore allegiance to all humans, namely Wily, refused release.
"Let… go." He gritted out, hands flexing but unmoving.
"I hold power over you, child." He hissed. "It is much /easier/ to take your life than it is to give it. Remember who your God is. And be sure to remember," he stabbed the knife into Slash's throat, "who your devil is."
He gagged, fingers scarping along the thin metal as blood vomited from his lips. His breath rasped painful, pain crackling in his mind.
He couldn't breath. He couldn't think.
He fell to his knees, trying to pull the blood slick blade from his neck.
Wily moved around the gasping robot, keying in the armor recall on the Flash Case. A pair of scissors, those always kept in his lab pocket, snipped mindlessly against his clothing, slicing deep on Slash's epidermal layer. But the pain was lost in his echoing mind.
The world went black. He wasn't even aware when he hit the floor.
Wily just smiled, fingering the auto-shut down trigger against the small of Slash's back.
"I won't let another leave me…" he said quietly. "I've had too many leave me. I won't let you or any of the others go." He smiled in malicious glee as he left the robot master bleeding on the floor. Instead, he stood next to another stasis chamber, a lanky, partially constructed body floating inside.
"You won't leave me, will you? My perfection. My greatest." He cackled under his breath, fingers tracing the plaque by the tube. S… W… N… "None will defy me…"
Third: Vengeance
by Lady Virgo
"I had failed
In this life
there is no more
reason to live"
///
It had rounded to a month after Slash's meeting with Sierra. It didn't really take very long for the people in the area to become familiar with him. After he started needing money, he was a regular to the thrift stores and pawnshops. During one of his visits to such a place, he couldn't help but notice an ancient phonograph sitting, dusty in a crevice of a shelf.
The owner noticed him looking at the old device and informed him that it hadn't played in near a century.
"What's wrong with it?" Slash asked, studying the piece carefully.
"No one knows. No one knows how to repair it, either."
He nodded then, still curious about it. His internal clock alerted him to being late for his meeting with Sierra.
Later that night, however, he searched through several computer banks, remembering seeing a file about very old machines. He researched the parts, potential problems, tools… He didn't even know why. Maybe because he didn't like the idea of something being useless? Maybe because antiquities held a certain interest in him? Or maybe just for the fact that it was something he had never worked with before, a challenge of sorts.
The next day, the old man looked up to find Slash in the doorway, a small bag slung over his shoulders.
"Got more today?" He asked, shaking his head. "You keep getting us all that great stuff, you'll put us out of business."
Slash just smiled and shook his head. "Not today. Actually, I wanted to look at the phonograph again."
"Oh? Are you interested in buying it?"
"Not really. Just wanted to try to fix it. Would you mind?"
The man just laughed, waving the thin rag he used to police the fine wood of the countertop. "By all means, go ahead. If you get that old thing to work, well… Good luck."
He smiled and nodded, not really paying much attention as he grabbed the phonograph and placed it on a secluded spot on the floor. It didn't take him too long figure out what the problems were. Just some old cogs- too old to be manufactured in this era –had worn loose and a couple of screws were clogging the system. The parts were easy to replace concerning who ran Skull Fortress. Wily was known to be a packrat of sorts. He had several storerooms filled with old, rather useless junk. But, among the garbage lay the priceless and the rare.
And an old vinyl to fill the small store with its scratchy, slow ballad.
It took the man at the counter a moment to realize what he was listening to. Music. Old, heartfelt music of the finest degree.
Stunned, he looked at Slash, sitting by the machine, polishing the fine bronze horn carefully.
"I-I don't believe it!" He said. "You actually got it to work!"
He couldn't help but grin, pride welling deep inside. "Yeah. It was easier than I thought it would be." Slash stood, holstering the bag and its remaining contents on his back. "Thank you for your time." And he began to walk out.
"Wait, sir!"
He stopped and looked back. "Yes?"
The old man was digging through one of the drawers. "Oh, sir. I must pay you for your help. This is a great wealth of luck to have it playing so well!"
But he was stopped when the Robot Master chuckled, shaking his head. "Don't worry about it. I did it because I wanted to, I don't want any money." He waved and walked out. "I'll see you later."
Though, the next time that he visited that store, it seemed his work was cut out for him.
"Oh, sir! I'm so glad you're back!" The old man said, beaming wonderfully.
Slash blinked in surprise. "Er, yeah?"
"Yes!" He took Slash's hand, shaking it vigorously. "I had the phonograph playing a couple days after you fixed it and someone came in and asked about it. He was a friend of a semi-prolific collector and they came in and bought it! Sir, you don't know how indebted I am to you! If it wasn't for you fixing it…," he shook his head, "I would've missed out on one of the best sales of my /life/! Here, here!" He dove behind the counter and opened one of the drawers. "I know you said you didn't want any money, but I must insist! Because you fixed it, I insist that you take half the sale." With great flourish, the old man slammed a wad of bills down on the counter. "There, all for you."
It was… a surprise to say the least. "How much… is that?" He asked.
"$25,000."
Slash frowned. "Dollars? As in American currency?"
"Yes, yes. She was an American collector. Should you exchange it, of course, it's quite the hefty sum in yen."
Well, yes of course… the yen was, at the moment, much weaker to the dollar. So that would translate… he calculated in his head. "That's over 400,000 yen!" He said, gaping.
"Yes, it is." The old man beamed. "And I have you to thank for that money. Saa, here you are." He pushed the wad over to the shocked robot. "Take it."
Now, Slash was far from the fool and far from being able to connect one event to another.
If someone was willing to pay nearly 900,000 yen for such an antique, he could surely make more money off fixing things than just bringing in other things. And the more money he could make… something inside trilled at the idea, then he could pay for Sierra's constructive surgery for her eyes. She'd be able to see.
Sure, the operation was expensive, costing several million, but…
He clenched his fist with a smile.
"If there's anything you or someone else needs fixed, be sure to let me know." He grinned waving himself out.
Soon afterwards he came to be known around the pawning circuit as 'Fix-it'. The owners asked him every once in a while what his name was, but he smiled, saying, "Whatever you want to call me is fine by me." So he was dubbed 'Fix-it', which suited him fine. After all, 'Slash' wasn't much better a name when it came to social titles.
He was famed for fixing everything. And those he couldn't fix right away, he studied over night and fixed the next morning. He really didn't mind it. It was much different being asked to fix things than being asked to do anything by Wily. In the fortress he was just another mindless drone becoming combat ready. With the others, he had the power, he was in control. They /asked/ him to fix things, they didn't pressure him. They let him take his time, if he said he wouldn't or couldn't fix something, fine, they backed off, they paid him well for his time. He was looked /up/ upon amongst the other humans, he was appreciated and revered for his ability.
He was, in short, happy.
"You seem like it."
"Do I?"
"Yes." She was leaning against his arm, feet propped up on the bench.
"Are you happy?"
"I'm always happy when you're here."
"Oh?" He peered down at her calm face. "And why is that?"
Sierra smiled brightly. "Because you're here and I can talk to you. Because you're niisan and you always take care of me."
He grinned, draping an arm down her shoulder, giving her a hug. "That's because I can talk to you. You make me happy."
She gripped his wrist with tiny fingers, snuggling into the crook of his arm.
"Ne, Slash-niisan?"
"Hm?"
"Do you have a girlfriend?"
He blinked brown eyes as she looked up at him, face innocent.
"No." He said, curiously. "Do I need one?"
"Everyone needs someone that cares about them." Came the response.
"I have you."
"Ah."
They sat quietly for a while, the cool March breeze milling around them.
"Slash-niisan?"
"Yeah?"
"When I grow up, and you have no one else that cares, can I be your girlfriend?"
The request caught him off-guard. Did she really not know his true origins? Did he, as a robot, really need someone to care about him as a lover?
But, turning it over in his head, he smiled and gave her hand a squeeze.
"Of course."
The way her face lit up, so bright and hopeful, it made him feel like there was nothing more precious in the world. And at that moment, he wanted to spend the rest of his existence with her, to make her happy, to make her smile so beautifully.
She turned to stand on her knees, his hand captured in hers, held against her. "I'll grow up beautiful for you."
Slash grinned, ruffling her hair with his free hand. "You're beautiful enough right now."
And adorable pouted painted her lips. "I want to be more so for you." But she leaned against him again, tucked under his arm, smiling, small arms trying to encircle his waist. "But if you like me how I am, I won't chance."
"Good." He said. "I don't ever want you to change."
///
He had been coming back to the fortress progressively later, it was becoming apparent to everyone. He kept leaving earlier and earlier, sometimes even slipping out before training even ended and he wouldn't come back until passed sundown. On occasions he wouldn't even report in for Lights Out, even to fake it as most everyone else did.
Everyone was becoming worried about it. Especially since Wily, whose natural unobservant nature and cluttered mind had taken a turn for the worse recently, had begun to notice. If Slash knew, he didn't care. He had business, he had friends and, most importantly, he had Sierra to think about. What room was there left for Wily and the Robot Masters?
But the doctor wouldn't allow himself to be forgotten, especially by one of his creations.
"Slash." The PA system announced, no room for argument or ignorance being allowed. "Come to the main lab. Immediately!"
The other Robot Masters were hushed quiet, parting silently as Slash passed. His armor clanked around him dimly, the only noise the permeated the halls. Behind him the path refilled with the others, discussing under their breaths the punishment Slash had brought down upon himself.
The door whooshed open with nary a sound and a clawed boot stepped through the threshold. He pulled off his helmet, resting it between his hands.
"You wanted to see me, sir?" He asked, voice a low rumble.
The doctor turned around. Next to him sat a tray filled with sterilized tools that gleamed gunmetal silver.
"Slash," Wily said, slowly approaching the robot. "Where have you been running off to?"
"No where, sir."
"I should think that you are. You've been disappearing quite a bit the passed few days."
He stood at attention, mouth a thin line.
"You're not protecting anyone with your silence, child." A clawed hand traced along the tray as he turned his back to Slash. "Where have you been going."
"No where. Sir."
"Do not /lie/ to me, Slash." He spat, snarling around his words. "I know where you've been. Why must you insist on abandoning your brothers each day?"
"With all due respect, Wily-sama. They are not my brothers." He stood straight-backed. "I will not acknowledge them as such."
"And why do you hate them?"
"They are annoying, useless and stupid. I will not admit allegiance with them."
"But you would rather," Wily said, fingers gripping the handle to a thin blade, "announce allegiance with humans. Disgusting."
Slash's eyes narrowed, flashing slightly. "And what would you know about those who I encounter? /Sir/."
It surprised the robot how fast such an old, fragile human could move. Wily darted across the lab, grabbing one of Slash's forelocks and pulling him painfully down.
"I will not be addressed in such disdain!" He shouted in his ear, the knife held in white knuckles. "I know where you've been and I know what you have been doing, child! I will not tolerate insubordination!"
His mind flashed with warning and conflict, body tensing but the mind that swore allegiance to all humans, namely Wily, refused release.
"Let… go." He gritted out, hands flexing but unmoving.
"I hold power over you, child." He hissed. "It is much /easier/ to take your life than it is to give it. Remember who your God is. And be sure to remember," he stabbed the knife into Slash's throat, "who your devil is."
He gagged, fingers scarping along the thin metal as blood vomited from his lips. His breath rasped painful, pain crackling in his mind.
He couldn't breath. He couldn't think.
He fell to his knees, trying to pull the blood slick blade from his neck.
Wily moved around the gasping robot, keying in the armor recall on the Flash Case. A pair of scissors, those always kept in his lab pocket, snipped mindlessly against his clothing, slicing deep on Slash's epidermal layer. But the pain was lost in his echoing mind.
The world went black. He wasn't even aware when he hit the floor.
Wily just smiled, fingering the auto-shut down trigger against the small of Slash's back.
"I won't let another leave me…" he said quietly. "I've had too many leave me. I won't let you or any of the others go." He smiled in malicious glee as he left the robot master bleeding on the floor. Instead, he stood next to another stasis chamber, a lanky, partially constructed body floating inside.
"You won't leave me, will you? My perfection. My greatest." He cackled under his breath, fingers tracing the plaque by the tube. S… W… N… "None will defy me…"
