All right, here it is - the long-awaited (I think!! ^^;;) Chapter 7!! It came a bit earlier than I had said, eh? ^_^ I really owe it to you guys, though. ^^;; But I remembered how fun it is to write this story - I can't wait to start writing the next chapter! I should be able to write it Monday, but with my job, you never know when they'll call you in. _ But we'll see! In the meantime, you can all finally find out what happened to Blues and his family! I also upgraded the story's rating - it is now rated "R"; Blues says the "f word", and also later on in the story there will certain situations of a rated-R nature. ^^;;;
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Chapter 7 - Maximus Proximitas

Black and empty. Silent and cold. Nothingness...

---SYSTEM STARTUP INITIATING---
READING PWRMNGMNT.PRO
READING STARTUP.PRO
.................
.................
LOADING WILY.EXE
LOADING VIS.EXE
LOADING EMOT.EXE
LOADING HYPER.EXE
LOADING SYSCHK.EXE
LOADING SYSSCN.EXE
LOADING SHUTDOWN.EXE

---SYSTEM STARTUP COMPLETE---


PING!

I opened my eyes. Closed them. Opened them again.

Why the hell is it so dark...?

Put a hand to my face. A shield...tapped it with my fingers. Some sort of visor.

Can I turn it on?

"System scan - .EXE and .PRO."

---SCAN COMMENCING...---
...............
...............
...............
---SCAN COMPLETE. LIST ALL RESULTS?---


"Yes."

---LISTING...---
EXECUTABLES
WILY.EXE
VIS.EXE
EMOT.EXE
HYPER.EXE
PWRMNGMNT.EXE
STARTUP.EXE
SYSCHK.EXE
SYSSCN.EXE
SHUTDOWN.EXE
PROTOCOLS
WILY.PRO
VIS.PRO
EMOT.PRO
HYPER.PRO
PWRMNGMNT.PRO
STARTUP.PRO
SYSCHK.PRO
SYSSCN.PRO
SHUTDOWN.PRO
---END LIST---


VIS...worth a shot. "Run VIS.EXE."

---RUNNING VIS.EXE...---

Suddenly, the visor came alive, numbers and letters flashing across it...the visor itself was like a mini-screen. My optics scanned the data, which showed me everything from the room's schematics to all carbon-based life forms as well as detailed summaries on all findings in the room. It also showed me, to the sides of the screen, what was to my immediate left and right. Not only that, but by telling the program certain commands, I discovered that I could also look around behind, above and below me; the visor also provided me, when I commanded it to, a sort of x-ray vision, so I could see through various solid objects. Using this vision mode, I could see all the circuits and chips of the various machines surrounding the small room.

I focused my vision on a small lab rat in a nearby cage. The visor showed me a heat scan of the rat and identified all its organs and internal systems. I deduced, from looking around the room, that I was in a small examining room of some sort.

But...where exactly was I? And, more importantly...

...who was I?

I accessed my memory banks, for I felt as though they would tell me something. But when I tried to access them, I received a strange message.

---ACCESSED DENIED. PASSWORD NEEDED. INPUT?---

I needed a password to access my own memory banks? Something wasn't right here.

Well, I thought, maybe I can use another of my resources to try and figure out who I am. I already knew I was an android. But who was my creator? What was my purpose, my function? What was my call number?

My call number...

"System scan!! Analysis!!!"

---SCAN COMMENCING...---
.....................
.....................
.....................
---SCAN COMPLETE. LIST ANALYSIS?---


"Yes, yes, for God's sake, YES!!!"

---LISTING RESULTS...---
................
---PROGRAM ERROR. FAULT CAUSED IN WILY.EXE, MODULE 344579. ACCESS DENIED. PASSWORD NEEDED. INPUT NOW?---


"GOD DAMMIT!!" Frustrated, I pounded my fist on the cold steel table, hearing my voice echo and resound off of the white walls surrounding me.

---"GOD DAMMIT" - INCORRECT PASSWORD. RETRY?---

"..............fuck you."

---"FUCK YOU" - INCORRECT PASSWORD. RETRY?---

Oh, for crying out loud. I put my fingertips to forehead...or at least I tried. I felt a helmet surrounding my head like a metallic bubble.

---PASSWORD INPUT - RETRY?---

What the...oh, right. Wearily, I responded with a weak "No." Then, from somewhere to my left, a door slid open. I sat up and turned to see who it was.

It was a human male, old by human standards, probably fifty-four years of age. He was wearing a white lab coat, with a dark, mauve-colored shirt and blue trousers, which were adorned with a black belt that had a skull-shaped belt buckle, and brown loafers. He also had cold black eyes, which seemed...hollow somehow...empty, devoid of all emotion...as well as thinning gray hair that was in an odd hairstyle. It kind of resembled two giant spiky tufts of grass growing on either side of his head; in between the two tufts was no hair at all - the man was as bald as a cueball. If I squinted real hard, I could see the light from the ceiling fixtures glinting off of his baldness; I couldn't help but smirk slightly. At this, the man glared daggers at me, and I shut up quickly.

He approached my table. "Do you find something...humorous...about my appearance...robot???"

His voice was acid, poisoning my ears; I winced. The way he called me "robot"...it made it sound like a horrible term...so derogatory. I hated being called that. The way he talked to me in that vitriolic tone...it hurt me terribly, although I couldn't understand why. I had never met this man before in my life....or had I? I couldn't tell, since I wasn't allowed to access my memory banks. Because this seemed odd, I had a pretty good feeling that I had met this man once before...but I couldn't place where or when.

"Well???" I had forgotten to answer him.

"No, sir," I said crisply.

The man's cold black eyes narrowed. "Good."

"Excuse me, sir?"

"What is it?" he snapped.

"Well, sir...I was just wondering, sir...er...who exactly are you, sir?"

"Me? You idiot, I am your creator - Dr. Wily!!"

Wily...? That name....I had definitely heard it before...a new term surfaced from somewhere in the depths of my hidden memory...somehow this name came to mind...

Uncle...Albert?

Who was "Uncle Albert"? I was going to ask Dr. Wily, but then decided against it. It was just as well, because the minute I remembered that name, I forgot it again. I shook my head slightly as though to clear it. Now I was aware of Dr. Wily's hateful stare.

"What?" he barked.

I cringed. "Oh...n-nothing, sir..." I spluttered quickly. I didn't want him to call me that "r" word again. Then, seeing that Dr. Wily didn't buy my answer of "nothing", I just as quickly replied,

"Well, it's just that...I think I've heard that name before."

Wily's lip curled into a sneer. "Well, you should have," he drawled. "It's etched into your CPU."

"Okay...but....sir, who am I, exactly?"

"As I said before, you are my creation."

"Well...yes, but...but what is my call number? When I tried to access my memory banks and perform a system analysis I--"

Saying this turned out to be a huge mistake, as Wily's eyes flared with rage. He jumped closer to the table I was sitting on, grabbed me by the shoulders, and roughly spun me around; then he proceeded to shake me hard until I thought my head would topple from my shoulders.

"YOU DID WHAT?!" he roared, and I shrank back. "HOW DARE YOU?! YOU ARE NEVER ALLOWED TO DO THESE THINGS!! EVER!! DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME?!"

"Yes!" I whimpered. "Yes, sir!!"

"No!!" thundered Dr. Wily. "Not 'sir' - MASTER!!!"

"Yes..." I whispered. "Yes....master..."

"Master what?" hissed Dr. Wily icily.

I was at a loss. I didn't know what he wanted me to say...

Suddenly, Dr. Wily withdrew a small pocket device from his lab coat. At the end of it were two short prongs.

Hey...that kind of looks like a plug--AAAAAAAAHHH!!!!

It was terrible pain, shooting all throughout my body. I dimly realized that what had just happened was Dr. Wily had just given me a small electric shock. Being an android entirely made out of metal, even the smallest of volts can severely hurt me. I fell back onto the steel table, panting and whimpering. Dr. Wily grabbed me by a bunch of yellow fabric that was draped around my neck, shoulders, and chest and yanked me up, pulling me so close to his face that our noses were touching; I'm sure he probably saw his own reflection staring back at him in my visor.

"Master....WILY!!!" he bellowed, and at "WILY!!!" he threw me back down. He then leaned over me, blocking out the light with his head. "You will call me 'Master Wily'!! Do you understand me, robot?!"

That word again...I winced. This time, Master Wily must have noticed it, because he grinned wickedly.

"Oh....what's the matter? Don't like it when I call you that...robot?" I squeezed my eyes shut and shook my head vigorously back and forth. But Wily pretended he was blind.

"I'm sorry...did you answer me...robot??" This was too much...I didn't know why it hurt me so much to hear this man utter just a simple word such as that, but it did, and I hated it.

"Please..." I whispered. "Please....Master Wily..."

Now the man was deaf, too. "I'm sorry...what was that? I didn't quite catch that...robot..."

"PLEASE, MASTER WILY!!" I said loudly.

Master Wily straightened himself. "Good," he said gruffly. "Now get up and follow me. I'm going to give you instructions for your first assignment."

I wanted more than anything to be able to curl up in a ball, close my eyes, and rest...but I had learned the hard way that when you disobeyed Master Wily, you got hurt. So instead, I summoned all my strength and shakily sat up, then slid from the table and quickly followed Master Wily.

But I still didn't know my own name. I decided to forget about my call number. Obviously it was something that Master Wily didn't want me to know, although I didn't know why. The same thing was with my memory banks; what was locked away inside my mind that was so dangerous to access?

As we walked along and I pondered this, I absent-mindedly began touching the bit of yellow fabric around my neck. I looked down at it.

Oh, it's just my scarf that I received as a gift.

I blinked, startled, but I kept on walking; there was no telling what Master Wily would do to me if I suddenly stopped in the middle of the hall. But I had done it...I had remembered something without inputting a damned password. I tried desperately to recall who gave me the scarf and why...but I could only remember that it was a gift to me. I decided to forget about it for now and to instead concentrate fully on whatever it was that Master Wily was going to have me do.

Along our journey, I noticed that this place, wherever it was, was extremely bleak. There wasn't a lot of color...the walls were mostly all shades of gray, except for the dashes of neon lighting here and there, and the glow of various machinery. After about five more minutes of walking, we finally arrived at another room. Master Wily pressed a keypad and the door slid open, revealing a long wooden table and various chairs. At the head of the table was a larger, more cushy chair, which was black in color and had a large silver "Dr. W" symbol painted on the back cushion.

Seated in the other smaller (and less comfortable-looking) chairs, however, were six figures. When we entered the room, I realized that they were all androids, like me. I was going to run the visor program to find out all about them, but I decided against it, afraid that Master Wily might punish me again. So I merely took up an empty seat and waited for instructions from Master Wily.

The droid sitting next to me was giving me odd glances, so I finally turned my head to look at him. His face was obscured by a yellow mask that had a lightning bolt on its top half. He was staring at me as if he recognized me...and I had to admit, he looked pretty familiar, too. It was as though I was looking into the eyes of an old friend long forgotten. The droid peered at me with blue optics and looked as though he were about to say something, when Master Wily took his place at the head of the table and began to speak.

"Now that all of us are assembled here, I can begin talking over my plans with you. My main goal is, quite simply, world domination. However, I need you seven to help me accomplish this task. You six - Cutman, Gutsman, Iceman, Bombman, Fireman, and Elecman - will be in charge of destroying and occupying various key points in the country. And you -" Master Wily pointed at me. "-will be their commander. You will instruct them on what to do. You are in charge of their every action."

I stiffened. So, Master Wily was putting me in charge of this little group. It sounded okay, but it also gave me a huge responsibility...I wasn't sure I was ready for such a task, but Master Wily had enough faith in me to assign me to the feat, so I accepted it.

I would not let him down, no matter what.

"Yes, Master Wily." I bowed my head.

"Good," said Master Wily. "Now I will debrief you six on where you are to be stationed. You may leave until I call for you again," he said to me. I stood, nodded, and turned to exit. But there was still something on my mind.

"Master Wily...? What...what is my name? You mentioned the names of these others...but what about me?"

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------


I exited the room and stood by the door, awaiting Master Wily's call for me. As I leaned against the monotone wall, I reflected on what Master Wily had just told me.

He had, indeed, told me what my name was, but it looked to me as though he hadn't decided on what it was until I asked him about it that very moment. It seemed to me as if he had just come up with my name spur of the moment. Or maybe I was just being paranoid...

In any case, I now knew what my name was, as well as my first assignment. I was to be the commander for a group of six androids, and under my guidance we would assist Master Wily in taking over the world. I had briefly wondered why anyone would want to take over the world, but immediately stopped; it didn't matter why Master Wily wanted to do it. What mattered were the orders he gave me; I had to obey them - it was a part of my programming. But there was something else, too, that drove me to obey Master Wily...a strong sense of loyalty, I suppose, although I wasn't quite sure why I felt it. This was the man who had hurt me, who treated me like dirt...and yet I still wanted nothing more than to please him. It was odd, but I didn't question it.

Instead I thought about my name and what it could possibly mean. My name suggested that I was a beta for predeceasing androids. If that were true, did that make me the first android ever? If Master Wily did indeed build me and the other six, did that mean we were brothers? It seemed logical, plus it also explained why that droid, who I remembered was named "Elecman", looked so familiar. Perhaps he resembled me a bit...it made sense. So my name meant I was the very first android ever built...

My name, which Master Wily gave to me...

My name, which meant I was the blueprints for many of my kind...

My name...

Protoman....