Chapter Seven
"Can we leave now?" asked Rock, turning his head to his brother. Proto didn't respond, and Rock sighed.
"I guess not." He grunted and fidgeted with the helmet again, irritated at the fact that it simply would not stay on. Suddenly it fell off his head, and Rock reached out, leaning off the stool to try and catch it.
Unfortunately, he leaned too far and fell. Panicking, he grabbed Proto's scarf, hoping it would catch him in time.
It didn't work. Proto was dragged down as well as Rock, and Rock howled in pain as he landed on his left side. He continued crying and whimpering as Proto scooped him up and carried him offscreen. Rock thought he heard Ring Man say something, but he really didn't care.
"It's all right, Rock, it's all right…" his brother whispered softly, rubbing the 'bot's back, trying to stop Rock's trembling and moans. "It's all right…"
"Cut!" yelled Ring Man's voice as he stormed over and grabbed Rock, nearly tearing Proto's scarf in half in the process since the injured 'bot wouldn't let go. "Whaja do that for, you rotten little brat?!? You ruined the whole scene! I was going for a closeup—"
Protoman cleared his throat, and Ring Man realized who was connected to the yellow cloth still clutched in Rock's hand.
"Let go," said Proto in a soft, deadly voice. Ring Man instantly obeyed, dropping Rock to the floor and backing away quickly. Proto managed to catch Rock in midair, cradling the whimpering 'bot in his arms. Rock clutched Proto's scarf tighter, his face contorted from the pain. He couldn't think about anything else. His world was nothing but pain, pain, pain…
"Why is this hurting you so much?" whispered Proto, staring at his brother. "I repaired you…it shouldn't be this bad…"
Rock only whimpered in reply.
No matter what language it was in, the cry was the same.
"I can't believe it!"
"Mega Man is alive?"
"But how'd he get so damaged?"
"How are we going to beat Wily now?!"
"Let's just bomb that loco to death and be done with it! The Army has enough firepower to do that at least!"
"But we'll kill Mega Man!"
"Better him than us!"
And the most important and unspoken cry:
What do we do now?!
No one knew the answer.
Without their common defender, the people of the world couldn't unite and fight. They'd grown so used to his support that they'd come to depend on it, and now no one could defend themselves.
Roll was going to change that.
Now she would be the defender.
Dr. Light had tried to convince her otherwise. He had said, Roll, you're all I have left! I can't lose you too!
But Roll wasn't going to listen. Not this time. Wily had gone too far.
Seeing Roll couldn't be detained, Dr. Light had helped her create her own armor. Though they didn't have enough time to convert her multipurpose arm into an actual blaster, they did manage to install a nice laser. Roll was also equipped with titanium armor and helmet, all colored red.
The color of anger, the color of passion.
The color of blood.
Roll hoped to see Wily's blood on it. She swore she would.