Be Not Proud Final: Liberation
by Lady Virgo
"Do not let
the past
Guide
your future."
Life doesn't stay the same, she knew that. She understood it. For a long time, she wished it would hurry up and change. Now she wished it were back the way it was. Roll didn't know how to adapt without her family, she had never thought she'd be forced into that situation. She was a robot, after all, she didn't age. Any part of her that went obsolete could be upgraded, just as the rest of her family could. Even her father, who was mortal, she didn't think could die.
And now she was thrust under the cold torrent of reality, truth splashed into her eyes until it stung and her tears blurred until she could see a world that was perfect. But every time she blinked that false world got swept away.
Light was aging. He was old, he was getting weak. The time he spent with his new creation drained him of his vitality, not eating, not sleeping, not feeling the sky on his face. She could see him dying in front of her eyes and she blamed it all on that, that /robot/ that took away her brother.
"Papa." She said quietly through the open door. She didn't stand in the room, or the doorway. She stood with her back to the wall, unable to look into the lab with that intruder lying on the table. "What will happen to us?"
She was starting to forget what his voice sounded like.
"When the reploid is complete, what will happen to us? What will you do with it? What will happen to the Robot Masters?" Roll's jaw shook minutely, but she clenched it tight. "When you leave, what will happen to me? You'll put that thing into the ground, you'll be put into the ground. The Robot Masters can't come out of their tubes, I know that, so what will happen to me? Will I just go on living alone? Am I just supposed to wander until I rust and crack and can't go on?"
Still only silence pervaded. Quietly, so as not to break this mute world, Roll set the food on the floor and, hugging the cleared tray tightly to her, was left to her own devices.
Roll had often found herself wondering sometimes about what she was doing. Why she had latched onto Slash like she had. Everyday, every time something that shook her emotionally happened, she would always seek him out. She needed him to talk to her, to fill the cold emptiness that was growing so rapidly deep inside.
"Slash?" She asked his still body. "Are you sleeping?"
Two heartbeats passed and a voice replied just as quietly, "I never sleep these days. Sleeping means being faced with the truth."
Her brow furrowed Roll asked, "What do you mean?"
"The ones I couldn't protect. The ones I failed to save." Slash's hands twitched and he looked down at them. "I've killed so many people, just because I couldn't do anything."
"I thought you claimed to be a killer. Why would you care about them?"
He frowned behind the mask. "Because they didn't deserve to die."
"And the ones you've killed? Did they deserve it, too?" Roll's eyes narrowed. "Does my brother deserve it?"
Eyes the color of maple as the light shone through turned upon her. "If you knew what he's done to us, you'd agree as well."
"You were threatening the world."
"I don't care about the world." He suddenly snarled. "I care about the people he allowed to die. I care about the little girl in the park that should've had a fucking life!"
Her breathing gasped inside her but Roll tensed under his words. "How dare you? Rock would never let anyone die!"
"If that's true I wouldn't be so afraid to sleep." Slash hissed right back.
Roll never had and never would understand why she had the need to talk to Slash. Most of the time their conversations ended with her wanting to cry and scream until she collapsed. Holding the empty tray in hand she fought the sudden urge to break something, just to crack the silence.
"What's made you hollow this time?"
Surprised, Roll jerked back to look at Slash. "What?"
"What's made you hollow?" He repeated as mildly as he's ever spoken. "You've always been empty inside when you talk to me. What is it that's digging into you now?"
She opened her mouth to say it was because she no longer mattered to anyone. But instead she asked, "Do you even know what you're saying? Do you even see how your attitude changes so drastically?"
He grinned that ironic grin of his, the one that made Roll wary about whatever he was about to say. "I'm not as bipolar as you think I am. I know my moods, I know my words." The grin slipped slightly. "Granted it's hard to control them, but living as close to violence as long as I have, you learn to grip it and sway it the way you want to. Sometimes it hard to remember which part of this is nightmares and which part is real life."
Roll held the tray close to her. "Are you going to stay in there forever?"
"Maybe I should."
"Are you?"
Slowly Slash raised his eyes, looking at the other Robot Masters, willing the time away. "No."
"What will you do when you leave?"
"Die, probably."
Brow furrowed in confusion she asked, "Why do you have to die? Surely there's something else you can live for."
His eyes weren't unkind as he gazed back down to the girl. "You're one step away from losing everything, just like I have. Just like many other Robot Masters have. When everything that matters is suddenly taken away from you, it's hard to keep living. Some of us fight, just so we can die."
"And what will happen to those like me? I can't fight but I don't want to die."
"Leave." Slash said simply.
"Leave?"
"Don't think you're safe here from them."
Roll's brow furrowed. "From who?"
"The Robot Masters."
She shook her head. "Why would they come here?"
"It's not the ones that are out of control you should be worrying about." Slash said. "This virus that we've been infected with doesn't just fill us with uncontainable rage. Only some of them are. Others lose the will to fight, the will to live, some can no longer keep a hold of reality. Some are grounded too close to reality. But the ones you have to look out for," his eyes bore into hers, "are the ones consumed by hunger."
"Hunger?"
"There's a portion in our neurosystems that affects your moods. Causes heightened senses, suppresses depressants. To them it's the ultimate high."
Roll's breath shuddered in her lungs. "They..... They /eat/ people's brains?" Slash shook his head.
"Not people's. /Bioroid's/. And they've learned that banding together, they have better chances of bringing down the stronger Robot Masters. Until they're all whittled down and the urge becomes too great. Then they'll start attacking each other." Slowly he turned to look at the other Robot Masters. "We were all equipped with a sensor to tell each other's positions. With such a high concentration of us here, it'll only be a matter of time until they come."
"Why didn't you tell us /before/!" Her eyes were wide, but Slash wouldn't look at her.
He just sighed, long and low and his body was weary. "I'm so tired of fighting....."
Slowly she inched backward, as if she would alert the intruders from that distance. As she the door toward the lab opened behind her, the door to the house fairly exploded /at/ her. Metallic whines and shrapnel ricochet down the hall. From the broken opening she could see Charge, pounding his fists together in triumph. At least two other Robot Masters were with him.
Hiding a sound Roll fled through the door, spinning about to close and lock it before her but as she turned she saw vines flying toward her, sharp points crashing around the walls and floors. She couldn't help shrieking as the vines twisted, some of them sliding around her limbs, searching as she fell away from the lock. In a panic she scrabbled back, fleeing down the rest of the corridor with chortling bioroids following her.
They were gaining on her, this body of hers not built to be very physically capable. Blindly the first thought that came to mind was to protect her father and, though she had no loyalty to that new creature, what was left of Rock. Roll barreled through the lab, hitting the codes that shut down access to Light's other lab. Hearing the faint swishing of metal locking together she let out a quivering breath, relieved that she could at least protect her father. As she began to hit the codes for a complete lock down hands clamped on her wrists, twisting them painfully behind her.
Crying out, Roll tried to fall to her knees but her captors kept her up, forcing her to will strength to her legs. She was shoved against someone else, wrists freed. She saw it out of the corner of her eye, a thorned blade held to her neck. Fearfully she looked at her company: Charge, Flash, Plant and Sword, the four of them eyeing her hungrily.
"Wh-What do you want with me?" She whimpered, afraid to even talk. Were they going to just kill her? Did they want to kill Dr. Light? Perhaps they were going to rape her or even eat through her brain, Roll didn't know which option was the worst.
Flash, apparently the ringleader, peered at her contemplatively. "What shall we do with you?" He asked with a strange humor in his voice. The others chuckled like there was some clever joke that Roll had missed out on.
"You're one of them, aren't you?" She asked, her voice stronger than she felt. In reply Plant pressed the point of the vine tighter against her neck.
"Them?" Flash asked, motioning for the blade to be lowered just slightly. "Them who?"
"You'll eat me."
His face split into a full grin, eyes a bit too bright under his armor. "Well, yes, we are some of these 'AIP addicts' that've been going around. As to eating you, I don't really think it's worth it."
"Not worth it?" She was more confused than frightened now. "What do you mean?"
"The part that we consume, of course, is a portion of the AI processor." He chuckled darkly. "Those scientists are sure creative with their labels, aren't they? Bioroids created for various purposes and more abilities have a larger and more powerful processor. Someone like you, created for mundane house work, has such a small and weak processor that tearing you apart won't even be worth the effort." Flash tapped his chin and gave a little 'hmmm'. "And there, you see, is where we get out conundrum."
"We can worry about her after she gets us our food." Plant corrected.
"What do we need her for?" Bellowed the mountainous form of Charge, his voice caused the room to rumble as a volcano would a small island. "Just bust up the tubes and there we go!"
Rolling his eyes, Flash turned to their fourth member. "Sword? You're the only one that hasn't expressed their opinion yet."
Pressing his thin lips to an even thinner line the blade-armed robot said, "While I don't think she's very useful, we don't know how strong those tubes are. That, and if she's still here, it's fairly safe to assume that she's not the only one."
Quirking a brow Flash asked, "You think there maybe more of Light's little defects around?"
"Why would he keep something as useless as Roll? Most like Rock is around here as well."
The other three grinned eerily. "And he'll be much more potent than her, I get it." Turning he placed a hand over Plant's forcing the vine flush against Roll's throat. "Scream pretty for us, little girl. Bring your dear brother out to meet us, huh?"
The sound of unyielding fist caught their attention and the four Robot Masters turned to one of the tubes. Slash pulled back his fist, fighting the thick liquid and the NO2. The layers around his knuckles were beginning to split and the side of the tube was visibly straining under his blows.
Flash grinned. "Oh, look. I think he's trying to tell us something."
Plant rolled his eyes. "Just get rid of him."
"Yeah, yeah. I got it." His grin turned more into a snarl as he leveled his blaster at Slash. "You've been a pain in the ass more times than we should've let you."
The clawed bioroid ignored him, pounding against his cage. Roll's eyes were drawn to the growing crack, watching the fluids leak between the layers of siding. The high pitched whine of Flash's blaster brought her to herself. "NO!" She launched herself at the Enforcer, knocking his arm to the side.
"Grrr, brat!" Shoving a hand in Roll's face he threw her to the floor. "Back off!" The smashing continued and Flash swung his arm back around. The fine cracks distorted Slash's face as he roared, the tube seemed the shake under his voice.
The room shattered under the bright of Flash's attack and Roll let out a shriek as it rammed the tube, sending broken pieces scattering in the air, her hands horrified against her face. But Flash frowned, watching as the liquid sloshed to the floor in a great waterfall. From it was a figure, hunched and rising against the push of the cascade. Slash glared at the gathered Robot Masters through dripping bangs. His dark eyes flickered gold.
Flash swore, raising his blaster up to charge again but the great lion already fell on him. Gripping the armored wrists tight, Slash tore at his throat with his teeth, sharp and glistening and thirsty. The material there, though sturdy, didn't stand up to the length of Slash's canines and as he ripped back nearly half of Flash's neck went with him.
Gurgling oddly through bleeding, shocked lips, the Enforcer slumped to the floor, blood pooling around him.
The others swore loudly, Plant nearly hysteric. Slash was unsteady on his feet. Months captive, floating nearly weightless the fibers in his body were unused to gravity and strain. Inside his body the mechanics whirled, trying to compensate for the sudden changes in physics, the NO2 in his body makings him limbs numb. It was only by pure force of will he was able to force his fingers to let Flash go before the body dragged him to the ground.
Something jerked tightly against his throat, squeezing tight as more vines lashed across his body. "You fucking BASTARD!" Plant's eyes glowed as his vines scored angry gashes across Slash's body. "I'LL KILL YOU!"
Charge turned to Sword, noticing his arms twitching for a fight. "C'mon." His voice rumbled like heavy coal-laden smoke. "No use getting' in the middle of a lover's revenge." He spat ironically. "Let's just get to the feast." After a moment's thought, Sword nodded.
As they approached the closest tube (Centaur tried to press against the other side as best he could) the doors slammed shut, double shielded as the sirens blared. And the tubes, Robot Masters huddled frightfully inside, were encased in the same reinforced metal. The invaders howled in rage and turned to Roll as she stood by the control panels. Glaring defiantly at them she raised the tray (food and dishes swept off, shattered against the floor) and brought the edge down against the panels, smashing them until they were twisted and unmanageable.
Roaring, Charge raced for her, his giant hands wide and seeking. "Bitch!" He shrieked. "I'll swallow you whole!"
Slash pulled at the vines, trying to gain some sense of freedom. He tore with his hands and teeth, adrenaline trying to flush the rest of the NO2 from his system. His numb hands slid along Charge's hide and stuck against the edges of his armor, a vice that jerked the large bioroid to a stand still once Plant's vines reached their length. Roll's legs gave out on her, almost too afraid to even tremble.
Charge turned his thick body, glaring at the insect that dared to keep him held. His treads wailed, moving even faster and something in Slash's shoulders began to slide out of place. "Lemme go!" He bellowed, great hand squeezing Slash's skull.
"I... won't..!"
"Dammit, Sword, get 'im off me!"
Gray eyes flashing, Sword flittered to where Slash stretched prone, keeping the raging train-robot still as Plant's veins tried to pull him apart. Roll shrieked as the blade wielding Robot Master sunk his edge deep into Slash's side.
He grimaced, but not a sound escaped his thin lips, fangs pulled into a gnashing snarl. Sword pulled back, preparing for another stab at the prone Robot Master.
She sat, shivering, too afraid to move. Slash was perfectly capable of fending off the attack even with just one arm, but to do so he'd have to loosen his grip on Charge, allowing him to run down Roll. Something he wasn't going to let happen. Ever.
Another blow landed, this time hacking beneath his left shoulder blade, sending electric arcs down his arm. Charge began to shift out of his grip. Slash's eyes widened and he let out a loud growl, diverting all but minimal power from his left arm to his right, grip tightening until he crushed a handhold in Charge's side.
Slash tried to focus through the pain and the numb and, inch by painfully slow inch, his claws surfaced from the slits in his wrist. He lashed out with his bladed hand, though now too weak to do much damage. And as his hand snapped against the blade...
His claws shattered.
Sword's eyes went wide as he chortled darkly, raising his weapon in a downward thrust, preparing to sever his spine. As the sword came down, Slash palmed the blade away, tearing open his hand as the sword went through his side.
He roared defiantly, even when Plant and Charge pulled against him, the ripped epidermal layer tearing like fabric under the pressure.
Until a sharp blade sliced through one of Plant's vines, releasing one of Slash's legs. He brought his foot around, smashing it over the crest of Sword's knee cap, then, in an amazing display of flexibility and precision, kicked his toes into the soft part of Sword's throat, making him stagger back, gagging.
Using his freed leg as leverage, Slash pushed himself closer to Charge, angling his wrist so when he popped his claws (the call more desperate and powerful), they tore through the hole his hand had made, twisting through the wires.
As the larger Robot Master reared back in pain, Slash severed the other vines and crawled up his broad back, steadying himself on his shoulders and drove his clawed fist elbow deep into Charge's eyes. Shrapnel and sparks burned his arm, coating it in blood that was partially not his own.
With feline dexterity, he flipped over the enraged strike from Sword who had recovered from the choke strike.
Sword was fast, his attacks as quick and unpredictable as lightening. But to Slash, sinking into a subconscious state that could only be labeled as animalistic, each move was as obvious as if he had choreographed them in his mind.
He stopped and let the sword thunk into his dead arm, caught between the plating and the endoskeleton. Slash wrapped his injured arm around the blade and twisted his body away sharply, dislocating Sword's shoulder with a fist he held against the junction of the arm to his body. He gripped the other Robot Master's face with tight fingers, digging into the weak crevices brutally before, with a strength he had become infamous for, he smashed Sword's head across the ground.
When he turned to Plant his pupils were nearly lost in the glow of the yellow-gold eyes. Plant held Roll in the air, struggling, the large kitchen knife she had used to attack the herbivorous Robot Master had clattered uselessly from her startled fingers.
Slash growled and the two stood there in a viscous stalemate.
At that moment, Plant's body was just as immersed in surge as Slash's was. His own agility, speed and power was nothing to be laughed at, his, versatility making him a deadly opponent and with his pain receptors blocked and body capable of handling any movement he wished- undamaged like Slash's wasn't -there was a very good chance that Plant could have won the fight. After all, he had nothing left to lose and he was ready to risk it all. Slash had something still important to him, and he would give up everything for it.
And that made all the difference.
Without a warning, at a speed difficult to follow, Slash bolted forward, rumbling deep in his throat, eyes burning the white-gold of the sun. Plant's face formed around the demented, sneering grin, a disturbing sight to be seen on his androgynous face. His own eyes echoed colorless red. His free hand whipped forward, just as Slash got into his range, too fast for even him to avoid. A half dozen thorned vines pierced into his body, his thigh, shoulders, chest, arm. He sneered as blood soaked his already burgundy drenched clothes. Plant's eyes and grin grew larger.
"Fool."
On his silent command, the vines that twined in the air pulled at Roll's arms, legs, hair and she screamed, more out of fear than pain.
With an enraged roar, Slash charged Plant, whipping his claw and tearing through the vines. Plant, sensing his obviously murderous intent, retracted his weapon. And with a defiant smirk, reared back and threw Roll in the opposite direction.
Slash barely even paused to consciously realize what had happened. Instead instinct, in full control, sent him dashing in the other direction, leaping to his fullest like the king of beast he was, and caught Roll in his arms.
He landed somewhat heavily on his severally wounded leg and went down on his knee. Where Plant speared him from behind.
Roll let out a strangled cry, four vine tips protruding from out his chest. Tears lined her horrified eyes and Slash just looked at her sorrowfully. He had gone through too much, been surged for too long. Too much blood had been lost and his body was beginning to slow down. Though his pain receptors were permanently damaged, he could feel the weakness and disconnectedness from his wounds, how it impaired him and all he could do was let out a bloody spit, breath gurgling in his lungs as they began to fill with liquid.
Roll's hands covered her mouth in wide-eyed terror. "Oh my God... Slash..."
He just gently sat her on the ground, she thought she saw his lips form out 'sorry', but it could have been light glinting off his scarlet mouth. Turning, Slash began his slow, painful march towards Plant.
Angered at seeing the clawed Robot Master still alive and functioning after his attack, Plant sent out another attack. This time the cluster slammed into Slash's chest, all centered around his heart, seeking the wildly beating object like bloodhounds. Slash didn't make any notice of pain, no sound, just stopped and glared at Plant. Then he wrapped both hands around the vines and /pulled/, charging at the same time.
The move surprised Plant and he staggered forward, right into a clawed punch. His face buckled from under the knuckle's impact, claws running through his mechanical brain. From the force of their momentum, Slash jerked his arm out of the follow through, tearing Plant's head off from his neck, flinging the crumpled thing across the lab in a shower of pyrotechnics and blood.
From there, Slash collapsed to the ground, too weary to do more than lie there, panting, trying to consume all the air his filling lungs would allow.
Slowly, fighting off the fear, Roll crawled over to his body, afraid that he had already died. "Slash... Slash..." she shook at his shoulder, tears in her large blue eyes. "Ne, ne, Slash... c'mon, get up. Slash...?" The first tear broke over his cheek and she gathered his body in her lap. "Slash..."
She was surprised when a hand touched her cheek. She looked down to find Slash, trying to smile at her, the oddest look of peacefulness in his eyes.
"I saved you..." he said, smooth, deep voice transformed into something ragged and distorted. "I finally save you, Sierra..." With a smile filled with relief, he closed his eyes, resting in Roll's arms.
It only upset her further, the dam breaking and tears streaming down her cheeks. Why? Why was he always so kind to the ghost in his memories? Why was he always so cruel to her, the sister to the bioroid he hated? Why couldn't he look at her, and be even half as sweet, without having to look at her and see someone else?
"I'm not..." she hiccuped, "I'm not Sierra, Slash. I'm not-not..."
"Roll..." The voice was so faint she hardly heard it. But Slash was watching her again, gold-brown eyes drowning her in their dying intensity. He tried to pull himself close, tried to say something, but his voice couldn't force the words out.
All she managed to hear was 'I' before he slipped away, leaving nothing but bloodstains on her dress.