Chapter 14: I Am The Dark Man
YEEAAA HAA HA HA HA
"One obstacle left, it seems…" Mega Man muttered as he stared up the tower. It wasn't guards… no robots in sight. Instead, it was an obstacle of the mind. He was on a floor that was slowly rising up. From the sides of the tower, ledges poked out; whenever the floor hit a ledge, it would smash it off. Blocks of metal, however, piled in stacks in order to deliberately sandwich between floor and ledge, would stop the rise… until Mega Man shot them out, at which point the floor's force would erupt upward suddenly. Thus, Mega Man had to position himself carefully before each shot, lest he be underneath one of said ledges when the floor came rushing up to meet it. There were even spikes on the bottoms of the ledges, not that those were necessary; even without them, being crushed between the rock and the hard place would kill even Mega Man.
"For once, I wish I was a Guts Man." Mega growled as he carefully blasted a block and quickly dived through the space it had occupied a moment ago. Once he was certain that he was not dead, he stood up and resumed the puzzle. Several more close calls occurred, but none of them proved fatal, and in the end, Mega destroyed the last block and rode the floor up to where a metal shutter awaited him. "Dark Man will be in here, then… he'll want a rematch." The Blue Bomber smiled grimly. "Well, so do I. And this time, HE won't be getting away." But it was not Dark Man who waited for him on the other side of the door.
"Hey, bro. Took your sweet time getting here." Proto Man waved at him nonchalantly, leaning against the far wall. "I was starting to get bored." The room was large, with uneven flooring; halfway across between Mega and Proto, it suddenly broke off and sunk a good three feet. The only other feature of the room were the two cells in the back wall. Proto Man was leaning between them, and from inside them, Dr. Light and Dr. Wily looked out desperately.
"Rock!" Dr. Light shouted. "Help me!" Dr. Wily was silent.
"That's what I'm here for, dad." Mega assured him. "Don't worry, I'll get you out of there." He glared at his brother. "So, where's Dark Man? It's not normal for the lead man to fight BEFORE the subordinate... and here I thought he was eager for a rematch."
"I'm not a normal guy." Proto Man shrugged. "Actually, he's not even here. He's out preparing our backup plan." Mega's eyes widened.
"Backup… plan?"
"Of course. You didn't REALLY think I was going to gamble EVERY chance for our species' freedom just for you, did you?" Proto Man laughed. "You dolt. You're not worth THAT. In the unlikely eventuality that I fall to your hand, you can have nightmares about the fact that somewhere out there… Dark Man is building his strength, ready to carry on in my footsteps some day." He stepped forward. "But that's not important at the moment. What's important is that it's finally come down to you and me… brother against brother. Red versus blue. Good cop versus bad cop. And believe me… I've been waiting for this for a LONG time. Even before I had my revelation, ever since our last fight in the Third, I've wanted to do it again… and now I finally get to." He formed his Buster on his right hand and raised it. "But this time… to the death. Shall we get started?" Mega Man lowered his eyes to the floor, mind seething with turmoil. He asked himself the question again. Can I… kill my brother… And then he knew the answer, beyond any doubt, and he spoke it out loud.
"…No."
"…" Proto Man was silent for a moment. Silent, and motionless… completely frozen… and then his lips pulled back in an insane snarl, and when he spoke, he sounded more enraged than Mega had ever heard him.
"WHAT… DO… YOU… MEAN... NO!"
"I mean no." Mega repeated. "I came here to destroy this place… to get rid of Dark Man… and to stop you. To stop… not to kill. Proto… you're my brother. I won't kill you. I'll stop you… but I won't kill you."
"You don't have a choice!" Proto Man spat. "This room has been sealed… it only unlocks with my death! You'll fight me, here and now, for everything that's ever been between us… or I'll kill you right where you are anyways! I won't stop, bro… I'll keep coming at you and coming at you with everything I have until I'm dead, no matter what else you do to me!"
"Then I will not fight you at all. It is precisely because of everything that's been between us that I won't kill you." Mega argued. "Proto, please… it's not too late. Stop this insanity."
"…I don't believe you." Proto Man hissed. "You… THIS is all that you are? I thought you were more of Mega Man than Rock by now… you certainly showed it on my poor, dumb generals. You were absolutely vicious with them… but on ME, no! No, you're still simpering, nonviolent, boy scout Rock!"
"I am both." Mega Man nodded. "But both agree on this… Rock will not kill his brother, and neither will Mega Man. I will not fight you, Blues."
"Then you will die." Proto Man stated simply. He chuckled. "This really is my fault, you know. Dark Man told me you weren't worth it, early on before he fought you himself, but I wouldn't listen. And this is the price I pay… how utterly disappointing. I expected better of you, brother, but I suppose there's no helping it." He took his shield off his back and held it up. "All you can do now is die as quickly as possible, bro. You're just a waste of time… once you're gone, I'll get back to my REAL mission. It's been lame knowing you, bro… dosvedonia!" He fired a charged shot, and Mega Man sidestepped it.
"Your plan has one disadvantage." The Blue Bomber told him. "You have to kill me to win… I simply have to keep you from doing so."
"Sounds easy now, but we'll see how you feel in the long run!" Proto yelled, firing a spray of small plasma bullets all over the room. "Bit by bit, chip by chip, I'll whittle you down until there's nothing left, little brother!"
"As you said… sounds easy now, but we'll see how you feel in the long run!" Mega replied. "You never could beat me, bro… not in the Third, and not now!"
"You fought back in the Third!" Proto snarled. "You had spirit! You had guts! You weren't this whipped dog I see in front of me… no offense to Rush!" He charged forward, shield held out. Mega jumped left and slid under the charged shot fired in that direction. Standing, he turned to face his brother again just in time to get a shield in the face. Rammed head-on, he went down and rolled away to avoid fire, though not fast enough to avoid a couple small hits.
"That was before I know who you were… and you were being tricked. Tricked by Wily." Mega reminded him, accidentally glancing at the evil, caged scientest for a moment. When he glanced back, a charged shot hit him square in the chest. He stumbled back, and Proto Man was on him, battering him with punches and kicks.
"So you'll fight me when I'm doing somebody else's dirty work, but not my own?" The crazed Robot Master bellowed. "HA! You grow more and more pathetic every second! Give it up already… this is just boring now! Either draw a weapon or die!" He held up his buster, charged again… and Mega changed colors, bringing up the Star Crash. Proto was knocked back, but not far.
"Ho… so you finally came around, little brother?"
"Not like that." Mega denied. "This is a force field… defensive. Nothing more." Expressionless, Proto Man fired his charged shot and watched it burn away the Star Crash.
"That won't work, idiot. You've already taken a lot of damage… if this keeps up, I really WILL kill you without you hurting me one bit." He stepped back, folding his arms. "I WILL… I'll do it, bro. You know I will. Is that what you want? Is it?"
"…" Mega took a step forward. He did so again. His mind was racing from one emotion to another wildly… beyond control. "…Why?" Proto Man raised an eyebrow.
"Why what."
"Why did you do this?" The Blue Bomber cried. "We were family… we were brothers! Why did you do this… all of it? WHY, Blues?"
"Why, you ask me?" Proto Man yelled back. "To prove something to you, once and for all! To prove that we… no. That's not right. To prove that YOU're nothing more than humanity's errand boy! Nothing more than their stopgap to a problem they're unwilling to confront themselves! Why, you ask? To prove that all your efforts are WASTED. You've seen the news reports. 'Oh, there's another Robot Rebellion going on…But don't worry, folks! Good 'ol Mega Man will save us!' That's all you are to them, Rock. A ho-hum issue. A fifteen second soundbite. That's all ANY of us are to them… and you're the worst of us all. They don't care about you, and they never will… they don't care about ROBOTS. And yet, you still defend them… without fighting now. Don't make me laugh."
"Then… why dad?" Mega demanded. "Why did you kidnap him?" Proto Man rubbed his chin.
"Aah, that particular question has several answers. One, he replaced ME with YOU. I never said anything before, I know, but now that I'm seeing things clearer, I can realize that's always pissed me off. So I did something about it. Two, he's always been there to help you out. You're his favorite son, his perfect little child… so I wanted to see how you'd do if you didn't have Dear Old Dad's help this go-around. It seemed like you'd done all right… and then THIS. Ugh. Last chance, brother. Fight or die."
"And if I choose neither?" Mega inquired. "Then what?" Proto chuckled darkly.
"What, you can't even figure THAT much out? Sheesh. I'm going to kill you anyways. Save you the trouble of doing yourself in from all that stupid self-pity." He brought his Buster arm up, and Mega realized too late that he had slowly been sidling closer while they talked. The shot was point-blank; no chance to dodge. And it was charged. It didn't hurt as much as Mega would have thought… neither had the other… but he could not go on. His body was battered, but his mind even more so. The Blue Bomber groaned and slumped to one knee… and Proto Man laughed. "Well… I guess it ends here, then. Farewell, brother… Rock. I'll make sure the world is in good hands…"
"Blues…" Mega whispered, seeing death in front of him… and this time, there was no one to save him. The one who would have done so on any other occasion was now the one that was about to kill him… and as he knew that, his will drained. He had finally, fatally been beaten, in ever way…
And then, as the sound of a familiar whistling melody caused both of them to freeze in disbelief, the ceiling exploded anyways. Again.
"WHAT THE HELL!" Proto Man screamed as a blur of purple flew in from above. A BIG blur. A blur with wings. Mega Man stared upward, not believing what his eyes were telling him.
I'm hallucinating… reliving what happened in this situation at Cossack's. This can't be happening again… it's completely impossible… But it was. Shouldering aside chunks of rubble with titanic wings was a massive, flying Fortress Guardian built by Cossack named Melee Moth… and riding its back was a red-and-grey armored figure with sunglasses, a shield on his back… and a yellow scarf, fluttering in the wind. He jumped off his ride, and landed on the rise in the floor, above them both.
"Rock… brother. I don't know what this damned imposter's been telling you." The OTHER Proto Man snapped. "But I'm willing to bet it's a load of hogwash. Don't give up… I'm here. And this charade ends NOW." Mega stared from one of them to the other. The only visible difference between the two was the missing scarf of the Proto Man he had fought. That… and the snarl of hatred on his face, as opposed to the cool contempt of the newcomer.
"That's quite enough out of YOU!" He yelled, firing. The second Proto Man laughed, jumped the shot and fired back… once, and only once. The shot struck the first Proto Man in the chest, and he froze. And then… he began flickering. "No… you couldn't have…"
"I did." The second Proto Man confirmed. "What do you THINK I've been doing ever since Casablanca? Did you think I died there? Not happening. I've been hanging around here, watching you and trying to pinpoint your hologram generator… you pull off a skilled bamboozle, I'll give you that… so I knew nailing it was the only chance I'd have." He turned to his brother. "It's over. Watch him, Rock… and see the truth." Mega Man did… and the first Proto Man dissipated with a wail of rage. In his place… Dark Man stood. "NOOOOOOO!"
"What?" Mega blinked. "But… you said he wasn't here… except he was you saying that, so…"
"Yeah, it's confusing." Proto Man nodded, dropping down next to his brother. "But you'll figure it out if you think about it. You know something? I REALLY hate copy robots. Especially lousy, stinking hologram users like Dark Man here. He couldn't even get my whistle right, the idiot… and after all the trouble he went to making that scarf convincing…" It hit Mega then… and it made sense. All of it. His brother's disappearance… the insane return to the world… the behavior in Casablanca… Dark Man's powers… the ENTIRE DAMNED REBELLION… all of it.
"Then… that was you in Casablanca…" He whispered. "But… ONLY then."
"Afraid so, little brother." Proto Man nodded grimly. "Dark Man and his creator were the ones behind it the entire time… I never had any part of it. The Proto Man you saw… that nearly killed you… he never existed. Just holograms and ventriloquism. His mission was to frame me for the Fifth Robot Rebellion. I never started it… I never killed anybody… and I DEFINITELY didn't kidnap dad. That was all Dark Man's work… every bit of it. It was all a show, Rock… and through no fault of yours, or anybody else's, it almost worked. Almost."
"It DID work…" Dark Man growled sullenly. "They believed it… all of them! Even Mega Man!"
"Yeah, I figured as much. I heard what you did after you 'accidentally saved' him in Casablanca… so did everybody else within a three-mile radius, I'll bet." Proto agreed. "Don't worry, bro… I don't blame you. A lot of it's my fault… I gave this chump an opening wider than the Grand Canyon. Hell, I didn't even know what was going on until the day before Casablanca." Reaching behind his shield, he gave Mega an E-Tank… with an "L" on it. "Special mix… something I make myself. Like an E-Tank, but gives you plenty of pep and stimulant along with the internal operations energy. Like a dose of caffeine for a human. Drink up… you look like you need it." He stood again and glared at Dark Man. "And as for you. Believe me, there's nothing more in this world that I want to do right now than clean your clock but GOOD… but I've got a couple more pieces of your handiwork to clean up. YOU know what I'm talking about. I assume YOU can handle this twit, Rock?"
"Easily." Mega snarled, drinking the contents of the L-Tank. All traces of sadness, of reluctance were gone… replaced by a deep, burning rage. How dare he… Dark Man… A familiar rage… one that had only been felt for one man before. The man he knew was NOT in a cage over there… the man who had built the dome-headed trickster before him. The man who had started it all AGAIN. That man was not here… but his lackey was. And Dark Man would regret that fact many times over before Mega was done with him.
"Confident, are we?" Dark Man growled. "Hah… so you've dispelled the illusion. Fair enough. Everything 'Proto Man' said was false… but what Dark Man said was all true. NOW, we fight for REAL! You're dying today, Mega Man… I'll destroy you in the name of my TRUE master!"
"Take a wild guess who THAT is…" Proto Man muttered quietly, jumping back onto his Melee Moth. "The computers in this place should have the location of our next target, bro… meet me a mile to the south of it!" He soared off.
His true master… oh, yes… Mega thought bitterly. I was suckered again… by the same one. Over and over and over again… but this one, at least… Dark Man… I can finish.
"Are you ready, then?" Dark Man hissed. "It matters not… as Proto Man or as Dark Man, I don't care! Like I told you in Casablanca… all I care about is making you suffer!"
"And serving your master, don't forget that." Mega growled. "Not that it matters. You've failed, Dark Man. Your plots have failed… your tricks have failed… everything you did has failed. Now I know the truth… thanks to my REAL brother, who came through for me. Just like he always did… just like he always will." He raised his Buster. "There shall be no blood among brothers today… only you."
"Robots don't bleed…" Dark Man growled. "But I'll rip you to shreds anyways!" The walls exploded, and two bars of plasma came flying through them, to orbit him horizontally.
"So, you can use those things too…" Mega growled, firing a charged shot.
"Too? They were created FOR me!" Dark Man snarled, ignoring the hit he took and firing a stream of plasma shots back. "The Sentinels were made as copies of my body… but not simply as fortress guardians! I built them to test new weapons systems… and when they succeeded, I added them to my own body!" Too late, Mega realized the meaning of that, as Dark Man fired a three-way paralysis shot. Stunned, the Blue Bomber could only watch as his enemy dashed forward… and then suddenly sped up as a single line of wheels popped out of each foot. Skating as if on roller blades, Dark Man dashed up and grabbed Mega Man by the neck with his single hand, then brutally slammed him into the floor. Rolling with it, Mega jumped back up.
"So it was all faked!" He growled, firing another charged shot. Again, Dark Man took it in the chest without so much as a grunt. Not good… his armor's even thicker than I thought, looks like. This just isn't cutting it! "All of it! The entire time… you were playing both parts! The crazed leader and his loyal lackey… it was always you!"
"You'd be surprised what a sufficiently skilled hologram user can get away with." Dark Man chuckled, firing his paralysis shot again. Mega Man dodged it. "Really, the only way for somebody to tell is to touch the image… anything else just takes more holograms! Make an image of Proto Man and Dark Man, keep myself cloaked in invisibility, and move between them to be 'solid' as needed!"
"How's this for solid, chump!" Mega unleashed the Power Stone. Now Dark Man grunted in slight pain, but his armor was only barely dented.
"Not bad… we've both got all sorts of tricks in our arsenal!" Wary, Mega Man watched as he stuck his arm out to the side, palm out… and the plasma bars flew away, one of them blasting straight at Mega Man. Yelping, he dove aside barely in time, still feeling the heat as it skimmed his leg and left a slight burn. Dark Man made a motion, and the bars flew back across the room to orbit him again. Another, and they flew out, but this time Mega was waiting, and he jumped the bar before using the Power Stone again. Dark Man flinched, but did not fall. "I won't go down that easily… I've waited this long to fight you! I won't give up!"
"You'll lose anyways!" Mega threw his own words back at him. "You don't have a choice in the matter! Starting a Robot Rebellion was bad enough… but for what you did to my family… you're DEAD!"
"You let yourself be fooled!" Dark Man replied gleefully, barraging him with plasma while he skated around the edge of the room, a fast-moving, plasma-spraying target. "You were all too ready to condemn him! When you went to Casablanca, your mind was already made up!"
"You lie!" Mega Man yelled, hitting him with the Power Stone again. "It was YOUR fault… you and your tricks!" He blinked. "Hey, how the hell did you do that anyways? You can make visual illusions, but I didn't SEE my brother shoot me there…"
"You IDIOT." Dark Man cackled, releasing his plasma bars again and recalling them instantly. "You think illusion can only be sight? Illusions can be ANYTHING… sound as well as sight."
"I'm looking for answers here, not platitudes." Mega growled, firing the Power Stone once more… with no result save for a dim click. "Uh-oh." The Master Weapon was out of energy. Fortunately, Dark Man didn't seemed to have noticed.
"We're robots, moron… machines." The dome-headed Robot Master reminded him. "My master built me with a system that allows me to perfectly imitate voices… and other sounds, like a charged plasma shot. I can't actually fire charged shots… and yes, that means you weren't nearly as beat up when 'Proto Man' had you cornered as you thought. I'd have had you anyways, if that meddling fool hadn't shown up."
"Sucks to be you, doesn't it?" Mega growled, jumping over his dashing charge and pegging him in the back with a Gyro Blade. "So you just imitated his voice?"
"Oh, HIM, I did a lot more." Dark Man assured him. "Tapes… file footage of all the times my master has seen him. I learned his personality… learned his voice, his mannerisms, his attitude… and my holograms did the rest! And speaking of which… I do believe that they're working again by now…" The dome-headed Robot Master shimmered and disappeared. "One shot can't destroy it…all your brother did was knock it out temporarily! Now what, little Blue Bomber? Can't hit what you can't see!"
"Actually…I figured you'd do something like this even before I came to the fortress." Mega Man smiled coldly. "Meet the countermeasure." He whistled, and Beat teleported in. Instantly, the little bird flew over to a blank spot and began shredding the air with his talons. "Like I thought… your holograms may fool human eyes, and those built like them… but Beat was built with detection technology that goes leaps and bounds beyond that. Your holograms are useless now."
"OW! How-you can't-get OFF!" Dark Man yelled. He yelled louder as Mega Man Charged Kicked him over, and he shimmered back into visibility. A Water Wave in his back blew him back to his feet, and he angrily spun around and threw out his plasma bars. Again, Mega was slightly slow and received a grazing burn… but at least he wasn't hit head-on. Had that happened, he would have been killed… the contained plasma, unleashed by a collision with his body, would slice through him like a knife through butter. The bars came back to Dark Man, who disappeared again. "Lucky shot… you won't get another one!"
"Just watch me." Mega sent out Beat again, and again the blue bird located the cloaked Robot Master… and again, a Charge Kick sent him sprawling, and a Water Wave brought him back up. Geez… and he's still standing? What's this guy MADE out of? "Got any more tricks, Dark Man? If so, you'd better use them… because none of these are working. You're losing… and unless you have anything else, you've already lost."
"I…" Dark Man's eyes began glowing. "I'll never lose… not to YOU!" Yelling, he suddenly charged, unleashing plasma bar and paralysis shot simultaneously as he shot forward. Mega jumped the former, but in doing so went right into the latter's path, and fell right in front of his enraged foe. Dark Man grabbed him and began savagely beating him against the wall. "Damn you, Mega Man! All I have now is your destruction! I don't know who I am… I CAN'T know who I am! I had this Rebellion, but you took that away! I had my act, but you took that away too! Now what do I have? NOTHING, except my hatred for you! That hatred is all I am now! Die, Mega Man-ARGH!" The dome-headed Robot Master screamed suddenly… and turned his hand around to stare at the Gyro Blade embedded in the palm. And that moment of stunned pain proved fatal. Mega Man leaped onto him, and slammed him to the ground on his back, and as he did, the Blue Bomber slammed his fist straight into the glass dome the Robot Master had for a head… and then transformed it into a Buster. A Buster with a charged shot.
"Show's over." He hissed. And Dark Man screamed. But only for a few seconds… for as the glass dome shattered into a million drops of melted slag, and the grey device inside was blown to ash, all noise cut off. All movement cut off. The light in his eyes faded… and he was still. Slowly, Mega Man stood up. He turned his back on the Robot Master he had just killed, and instead walked towards the cages. He stopped outside of them, and looked at the two ancient doctors kneeling there, faces terrified… and he watched, unsurprised, as their heads popped off on springs to bounce around crazily, making exaggeratedly goofy faces. And then, from the Wily dummy… a hologram played. A hologram of the REAL Dr. Albert Wily, in his flying saucer, grinning down at him.
"If this is playing, Mega Man, then it means you've done very well. It means that my theory, my hypothesis, was incorrect. It means you've killed Dark Man. I thought of all my Robot Masters, he might be able to finish you, given another chance… but it seems I was wrong. Ah well, there will always be others. It also means you've discovered the truth… most likely, the REAL Proto Man returning to spoil things as always. It was so much fun framing him… I owe him so much, after all. But now it seems it's all for naught, and you know it's me again. Once again, ah well, there will always be others. I'm sure you've ALSO noticed my little spring-head dummy's new spring-head friend. Not going to be QUITE that easy to recover old Tom, I'm afraid… I've already taken him to Skull Fortress V, as you probably guessed. He's still here, unharmed… for now. Come and get him back, then, and finish this Rebellion like all the others… must keep the cycle going, after all… ha ha ha ha ha…" The hologram faded and disappeared.
"Figured as much." Mega growled. "Now to find the location… Blues said Dark Man's computer would have it…" Looking around, he saw a second steel shutter in the back of Wily's cell. "That must lead to the control center, then." Blasting apart the grating, he tried to open the shutter. Nothing happened. "Huh?" Frowning, he turned and tried the door he had entered by. Still nothing. "What the hell? Why-" He froze, remembering the fake Proto Man's words.
"This room has been sealed… it only unlocks with my death!"
"…" Mega Man's eyes narrowed. He formed a Buster, and charged it… and he slowly turned around to face Dark Man's body. He glared down at it… and he spoke. "All right, you maniac. Very funny. Now get up. Let's finish this."
And then… came the laughter.
"Heh… heh… heh. Huh huh huh huh huh…" Slowly at first, and then picking up, becoming more frenzied… laughter, from Dark Man's headless body. "Ah ha ha ha ha ha! AAH HA HA HA HA! HA HA! HA HA! HA HA!" The knees flexed, and Dark Man jumped back to his feet, eyes still dead and dark. "YEEAAA HAA HA HA HA!"
"So that wasn't your brain after all…" Mega mused. "Any idea what it was, before I send you to oblivion for real?"
"Oh, yes…" Dark Man hissed. The Blue Bomber frowned; his enemy's voice had changed. Before, it had been low, deep… but now it was higher, maniacal… almost familiar, like somebody else he had known once… but he couldn't think of who. "Yes, I do know. It was a memory inhibitor… a nasty little trick of my father's. Wipes out all memories from the robot mind it attaches to, while keeping the rest of that mind… the knowledge, the experience, the instincts, the feelings… intact. I'll bet he never expected you to destroy it without destroying me… not in a million years."
"So that's why you were going on and on about not knowing who you were… not that it matters." Mega Man held his Buster up. "Whoever you are… whoever you WERE… I'll finish you off anyways." But Dark Man made no moves to attack… he simply stared, and then began laughing again.
"You mean… even now… you STILL don't know? Oh, this is rich!" The headless Robot Master cackled. "I COULDN'T, of course… but I would think YOU would. Your father figured it out… dear old Dr. Light knows. But YOU don't?" Mega Man frowned, reminding himself not to get too into this, that it was probably a trick.
"You think who you were is important to ME?"
"Indeed I do! It IS important!" Dark Man assured him. "And you've been in the dark long enough. Your brother, Blues… he said it was time for truths to be known. It is so. Watch, Mega Man… and see who you will TRULY fight once more, here and now… once and for all."
"Once more… so we've fought before? Before you were Dark Man?" Mega Man raised an eyebrow.
"Exactly. I am the foe you thought would never return… the enemy you thought would only haunt you in your nightmares. You thought I was dead, and I was… but now I'm back." As he spoke, there was a whirring of mechanical parts in his chest. Mega watched, his eyes curious… and then disbelieving, and then finally… afraid. From Dark Man's shattered glass dome… a yellow sphere rose. A head emerged, coming over the steel rim that held the useless eyes. A bald yellow skull, with a ruby gem set in the forehead. Evil eyes looked around, in use for the first time in years, set above a grin… a permanent, perpetual skull's grin. The jawbone was no longer fixed in place or broken, but the death's head smile remained… it always would.
"You…" Mega whispered. "No. This is impossible. This is another illusion… this is another trick…" But yet, somehow he knew… in a sense beyond his optics, a sense inside whatever soul a Robot Master could be said to have… that it was not a hologram. "I… I KILLED YOU!"
"YES!" The Robot Master before him snarled in agreement. "You did! You KILLED me! But robots are not as delicate as humans… we can be recovered, reconstructed, rebuilt! We can be brought back to life… better than before! My father named me… he called me Dark Man, to hide me from myself… but it was fated that I would remember! And now I know. Dark Man is just a name… now and forever… I AM THE DOC MAN! YEEAAA HAA HA HA HA!" And as that familiar, insane laugh echoed through the hole Blues had made in the roof and out into space… memories of nightmares, of endless chases, of death and destruction and a horrible, insane vendetta crashed back onto Mega Man. Around them, the walls began shaking… something Doc Man had done… but the Blue Bomber did not notice. He did not care. Not even when all the walls came down in clouds of dust and smoke and explosions everywhere, blocking out his vision. Like his enemy must have been, he was caught in a haze of memories he had only seen in his nightmares for years… memories he thought would never haunt him in the waking world again. From the other side of the room, he heard a shriek… a scream, of incomparable pain… but he ignored it.
Remember him… remember Doc Man…
"His name is Doc Man." Dr. Wily told them somberly. The Third Robot Rebellion, when the mad scientist had pretended to be sane again, and all the world had been fooled, even the Lights… but his was not the only dark mind out there, as they had all seen when their friend Dr. Cedric Froid had revealed himself to be a Robot Master cloaked in holograms, who made a desperate, failed assassination attempt on Wily's life when his eight Robot Masters were destroyed. "He was the greatest child of my insanity… a robot created to be more than a Robot Master, like Rock and Roll… and Blues. In the First Rebellion, he fought with Rock after the Second Ring of my Skull Fortress…"
Rock remembered. He remembered fighting a mirror image of himself… a trick of holograms. He had been scared at first, but then… discovering the trick… enraged. He tore Doc Man limb from limb… but in the end, struck by a surge of sudden, misguided pity… he left him alive. Ruined, battered and broken, but alive. Spurned by his father as well, Doc Man had gone mad… his feelings of betrayal and rage conflicting with the Three Laws of Wily in his head so much that his brain shorted out, most of it inactive and the rest heavily damaged… like a computer riddled with bugs. The insanity of a Robot Master. Repairing and upgrading himself, he waited for years… and when the time was right, killed a world-renowned psychologist and took his role, springing Wily so he could kill him… him and Rock, the two beings who he hated enough to keep him alive, keep him going through the horrible madness. He had failed.
"After all I've done... all I've sacrificed simply to get at you... everything, all of it, was for YOU, Mega Man! The Rebellion, the deaths of the Froids, all of it! My hatred for you and Wily has filled my life for years, you little fool!" Doc Man raged as they faced each other down, in the first fight of a nightmarish marathon. Eight times, through four areas, Mega Man chased his enemy down. Doc Man fought by imitating the techniques and weapons of Dr. Wily's robot masters built for the Second Rebellion… each one failed. In the end, Mega had tracked him to his hideout… the basement beneath the house of the family he had killed… and it had ended there. Battered and beaten by repeated losses against the Blue Bomber, sickened and without energy from a massive overdose of E-Tanks in lieu of seeking a real repair job, Doc Man had finally run out of fight. He died, blowing his own torso apart as the final blow rather than letting Mega Man strike the kill. He had died.
And now he was back. Impossibly, inconceivably back… back from death itself. Slowly, Mega Man stood up. He surveyed the tower top room around him… if it could be called a room any more. The walls… the ceiling… they were gone. Blown apart. He stood on the roof of the tower now. Below him, he saw that the massive antenna that had previously adorned it had toppled over and smashed through the huge helmet. Huge chunks of rubble from that titanic collision had also caused damage to the rest of the Fortress. And it burned… the helmet, the satellite, the rest of the towers… they were burning.
"It never was meant to be a real Fortress…" A voice croaked through the smoke. "It was constructed in a hurry, to fulfill this function… the defenses are flimsy, and most of those cannons never really worked. It was all a bluff… a trick… a joke. And now it is gone. The fortress is burning… MY fortress is burning. Doomed, destroyed, demolished fortress burns like Hell itself. I should know… I've been there." Through the smoke, Mega saw two glowing shapes… the plasma bars, though they seemed to be at a different angle from before. And above them… red, glowing, evil eyes and that eternal smile. There was a clink, and an empty E-Tank canister rolled towards him. "I don't really like those things any more… I'm sure you can remember why… but I suppose one is necessary for this."
"Doc Man." Mega shook his head. "I can't believe you, of all people have returned to plague me once more… and I don't know why. But whatever it is… it won't happen. You're going back where you came from… and this time, you're staying there."
"Indeed I am…" Doc Man agreed. The smoke parted, and Mega's eyes widened again. The plasma bars… were sticking out of his ARMS. One on his real arm, rammed completely through the hand and wrist… and the other, protruding from the cannon barrel on his right appendage. Mega remembered the scream of agony he had heard as the room came down.
"You… did you do that on purpose?" Doc Man nodded.
"Yes! For this… for this final, fatal fight between us that whatever gods there are granted us… I will do ANYTHING." He had rammed the plasma shields onto his arms, cutting off the plasma emitters at one end once the core bars were lodged in place. The other ends still blazed brightly. Doc Man raised his arms, and the plasma bars… no, the plasma SWORDS… formed a cross before his face. "I will return to Hell… and I shall drag YOUR damned soul with me! YEEAAA HAA HA HA HA!" The roller blades on his feet popped out, and Doc Man charged across the roof, laughing demonically, bringing death with him.
"Not if I have anything to say about it, you won't…" Mega Man slid away, and Doc Man turned, giving chase. Too late, Mega realized his error; he could not stop, could not turn to return fire, or the plasma swords would slice him in half. What can I do, what can… DUH! Some weapons, I don't need to turn to fire… I AM rattled. Got to get control… or he WILL kill me. Shifting weapons in midrun, Mega didn't pause for a second as he unleashed the Gravity Hold. He heard the grunt behind him, and he turned… and the sword's swipe grazed him across the arm. Doc Man had been slowed, not stopped, and that was all that had saved the Blue Bomber. Not wasting a moment, Mega Man turned to the Charge Kick and slid through his enemy. Doc Man stumbled, but he swung wildly as he did, and Mega barely avoided another stroke. "Don't get too absorbed in your plan… I have too much to do now to come to the afterlife with YOU!"
"Hell is where damned souls belong… and yours is as black as mine is!" Doc Man denied, getting back to his feet and dodging a Water Wave. "And your tasks are unimportant! Your brother can fulfill them… Blues can be the hero you never were!"
"Don't you DARE say my brother's name, you raving lunatic!" Mega shouted, hurling a series of Gyro Blades. Doc Man sliced through each one with a swing of his arm blades as he charged again, skating across the rooftop and cackling.
"You become enraged at ME saying it? Sure, I impersonated him. I faked his name and image in my father Wily's cause, for this Rebellion. But I never doubted him! I never called him insane, called him villain and traitor! I was never too ready to believe that he had snapped, too eager to call him an enemy, too fine with killing HIM! You are angered because I said his name? You should kill yourself here and now, by THAT logic!"
"You're lying again…" Mega yelled, shooting a Crystal Eye into the ground. THAT failed miserably; only one Eye went towards Doc Man, and he swatted it aside easily. The rest simply flew off into the starry void, and the enemy was upon him, swinging with deadly glee.
"No. YOU lie!" Doc Man insisted, hacking and slashing. Mega twisted, dodged, and hurled a Napalm Bomb into his face in order to slide away. Doc Man hissed as the explosive went off, but continued ranting. "I saw it through this entire Rebellion… no pangs of conscience, no uncertainty. No sympathy for your opponents. Nothing that I saw redeeming in you back in the Third! You've grown hard… cold! Mega Man has not joined Rock… he has REPLACED him! You're just a merciless killer now… and you would have killed YOUR BROTHER, had it been real!"
"This from the madman who lived so many years planning for his own FATHER's death!" Mega shot back, with words and with a charged blast. "You've got no right to lecture me, you monster… not after everything YOU'VE done!"
"You're completely missing the point." Doc Man sighed, brushing the plasma shot away. "Perhaps… a visual reminder is in store."
"Holograms again?" Mega shook his head dismissively. "Won't work. You should remember that."
"Not with Dark Man, no…" Doc Man agreed, raising his arms to the sky. "But Dark Man was just a novice at hologram use! Dark Man was nothing… but as Doc Man… I am the ILLUSION KING!" Around them, on the rooftop… red eyes appeared. Evil, glowing red eyes, like Doc Man's… and then, around them, bodies began forming as well. "You refuse to confront your sins when they are spoken… but when they are fully visible, you will have no choice! I have been to Hell thanks to you… and now I call upon the others! The mechanical minds who were sentenced to the flames because of you… come to me, all! Come to take your vengeance!" Though he knew it to be an illusion, Mega took a step back. Before him… was an army. An army of the dead. Robot Masters, broken and destroyed, standing in line between him and Doc Man, eyes glowing with hatred. Behind them, Doc Man loomed above them, twice as large as he had been before, taller even than Hard Man and Stone Man. With his new body, armored and spiked in red and black, he truly resembled a demon against the flaming backdrop of his ruined fortress. Only the colors and his head were the same as before… but he was still Doc Man. Glowing blades, glowing eyes, glowing smile. "GO! Legion of the accursed, MARCH! Take your killer's life as your retribution!"
"This trick won't work any more than the others will!" Mega yelled back, mind racing. Okay… he WON'T be at the back. These guys are all fakes… no substance. So they'll swarm over me… and he'll be in there. I can't use Beat… he'd kill the little guy with one stab. The Blue Bomber ran through his current weapons… and to his dismay, realized that none of them would be able to keep Doc Man from getting the jump on him. Not for long… a couple of them, the Power Stone and the Gravity Hold, might slow him, but that was all. And without a way to win, that was nothing. Nothing… I've got nothing! And then the first of the illusionary Robot Masters was upon him. Needle Man, from the Third, a massive hole in his face-chest below his eyes caused by his own severed head spear. Got to keep away from them, or Doc Man will have me! Sure enough, as he slid away from Needle Man, he heard the hiss of plasma behind him. He slid further, but two more were upon him; Fire Man and Guts Man. The former had icicle spears impaling his body, the latter with large chunks of his blown off, including half his head. Sliding under their grasping arms, Mega realized too late that by doing so, he had slipped into the center of the raging horde. Quick Man, Bubble Man, Drill Man and Shadow Man surrounded him. It was from the last, body bent and twisted like some kind of puzzle, that Mega heard a slight giggle. He fired another Napalm Bomb there, and hearing Doc Man's grunt, slid away towards the edge of the crowd. Passing through Wave Man, who had a foot of emptyness between upper and lower halves, the Blue Bomber slid away from them. With a feeling of horror, he suddenly remembered that Doc Man was not bound to the crowd; he could make himself invisible. But no attack came. "Huh?"
"Again you run!" Doc Man's voice boomed from the army. "You run from your sins… but you cannot hide from them! They'll just keep coming until you confront them, Rock!"
"This is strange, even for him…" Mega muttered to himself. "He sounds almost like he's more concerned with my getting this point of his than killing me… I wonder…" He raised his voice. "What's your point, you psychopath? What do you want from me? My death?"
"Yes… but more than that, I want you to admit to your crimes!" Doc Man yelled back. "You hide behind ideals… justice, and goodness, and saving humans… but the facts still remain! All of these gathered here… you killed them, Mega Man. YOU. You killed every single one of them… and no amount of platitudes can make that fact go away! As long as you deny yourself, you have no chance!" Hard Man and Dive Man advanced, looking much alike, two shredded masses of armor. Mega attempted to get away, but a plasma sword swept out of the former, opening up a gash in his leg. Mega stumbled and rolled away, gritting his teeth. His mind was frenzied.
There's no escape… I can't get away from him! This roof… there's nowhere to go! I could teleport away… but that would mean leaving him on the loose, an even greater threat than before! There's no way to win… I'm stuck! I'm trapped! I'll lose! I'll DIE!
You didn't die to him before. Another part of his mind disagreed. You beat him. And you're even better now than you were then.
But none of my Master Weapons work… they can't do anything!
So your weapons can't beat him. Doesn't mean YOU can't. You're uncertain… scared. You don't THINK you can win. That's why you're not.
And I shouldn't be? I shouldn't be afraid? I shouldn't be uncertain?
NO. Rock is those things… Rock worries about himself, and grieves for the things he does. Mega Man doesn't. Mega Man does what needs to be done, and lets Rock take over again afterwards. And only Mega Man can beat Doc Man… Rock can't.
It's not that simple… Mega Man and Rock… they're just names! I'm both of those… they're no different!
WRONG! You are both, true… but when you are one, and when you are the other, you are different. You're losing because you're losing grip of that. What Doc Man says may be true. You can figure it out LATER. You can think, and you can repent, later… but now, you need to LIVE. Your brother… and your father… they need you.
"My brother… and my father…" Mega Man whispered to himself. "They need me… I wronged THEM. More than any of the illusions here, I have things to make up for to THEM… and to do that… I need to live through this." Snake Man, body riddled with needles and head not attached to body, approached. Mega Man waited for him to draw near… then fired a charged shot and zipped away.
"What!" Doc Man's voice yelled, enraged. "How did you know?"
"I'm seeing more clearly now!" Mega called back. He's not a demon… he's a robot master too… he's not perfect! He doesn't know it, but he's sticking to a pattern! Needle, Shadow, Hard, Snake… all from the Third! The ones he reprogrammed for his revenge… those are the ones he's hiding behind! To test it further, he slid towards the next approaching wave. Heat Man, Skull Man, Crystal Man and Spark Man leaned over him, and Mega fired at the last. He heard the impact, and slid further into the crowd. When Magnet Man jumped at him, Mega was ready, and fired again… and again when Top Man spun his way. "You want me to confront my sins… fair enough. To do that… I have to beat you. I have to KILL you. Again. My truest sins were not in killing these mirages… it was bad, but it was to save more lives. No… my worst mistakes were in allowing my father to be taken from me, and for not believing in my brother enough. But they're both still alive… I can make up for those mistakes. I can still make things right. You, Doc Man… even if I die, it won't make you stop hating me. All you are… is an obstacle in my path."
"Your words are strong… the emotions behind them stronger." Doc Man admitted. Before him, Gemini Man stood… TWO Gemini Men, both of them covered in gnaw marks. "Back them up… you're almost clear!" Mega fired his charged shot at one of them, and it went through him harmlessly… and the Blue Bomber followed it through, sliding through instead of waiting to fire at the other. Once he was clear… THEN he turned and released another charged shot at the second Gemini Man. It was if that shot had set off some kind of switch; as soon as it struck, the illusion army was swept away as if by some intense wind, dissolving into nothingness in a wave of motion. All that remained was Doc Man. Mega looked at him, face expressionless.
"Ready to finish this?"
"Yes." Doc Man nodded simply. "You've regained your resolve… that much is obvious. It's there… as is mine. All that's left is to see which one of us… is stronger." The wheels on his feet popped out. "Get ready. I'm coming." There was no laugh, no more threats; he was simply moving in one sudden moment, blades ready. Mega Man stood his ground and watched him come.
Get ready, get ready… NOW! The first blade, on the left hand, swung at him, and Mega ducked under it. As the second blade came into motion, he was already stepping right. He knew where it would go; on the right arm, it was still on a vertical axis and could not move to the side. Not without disrupting the charge. As the first blade cleared his head, Mega Man stood. He raised his Buster, straight into the grinning yellow skull. And he fired.
"AAH!" Screaming, Doc Man was blown back, tumbling head over heels across the roof. He stopped after the second rotation, flat on his back. Mega Man stood there, watching him. He wouldn't be fooled again. And just like before, laughter came… but it was not the same. Instead of maniacal hooting, it was an honest, ordinary chuckle. "Heh heh heh heh heh… you did it, cuz." Doc Man slowly got to his feet and rubbed the blast mark covering his face. His eyes and smile were no longer lit up with that ever-present red glow… he was still smiling, but the glow was gone. His eyes were normal now… their pupils a startling blue the Blue Bomber wouldn't have expected. "Oooww… hell yeah you did it." Mega blinked, then shoved his confusion aside.
"Still not done… let's get back to it, then."
"No, no." Doc Man held his arms up. "That was enough. I'm finished."
"You're… giving up?" Mega stared. "No. I don't believe you. It's another trick."
"What would be the point?" Doc Man shrugged. "You've won. I've got nothing that can stand against you… not now. Now that you've managed to let Rock take a break and be Mega Man completely. When my words stopped affecting you… when you could put them aside… you won."
"Huh!" NOW Mega was surprised. "Wait. Are you telling me you…"
"Yeah, I know about that." Doc Man confirmed. "I know about all SORTS of things after my sojourn to the other side, believe you me. Some of them would blow even YOUR mind. For now, though… I think I'd like to talk with the nonviolent one. Can you let Mega Man take a break, and talk to me as Rock? You've already beat me… and I think you owe me that much at least for clearing your brother's name." THAT got Mega's attention.
"You did WHAT now?"
"Already cleared him." Doc Man nodded. "While the roof was being blown off and all that smoke was around, one of the things I did was command the security cameras-the surviving ones around here, anyways-to send live footage of this to televisions across the globe, using the same airwave hacking me and my father always use. Everybody knows it was me and not cousin Blues. I've got nothing against HIM, after all, remember? It was always you and my dad… he never did much to me. Everybody knows it was me and my dad behind this Rebellion… bet he's using some very interesting language right about now. Heh heh heh. So give me just a few moments to talk with the REAL you before I head back to oblivion, huh?" Mega glared at him for a moment, then slowly nodded. If Doc Man had indeed done that… then despite all his wartime instincts, he DID owe him that. And the enemy Robot Master HAD been acting more stable than he had been in the Third… he hadn't once descended into nonsensical gibberish.
"All right… but keep in mind that even when Rock's doing the talking, Mega Man will still have a charged shot ready if you try anything."
"Oh, wouldn't dream of it." Doc Man rolled his eyes. "Sorry I can't exactly shut these things off… they're not exactly a natural upgrade. Don't worry, though; you and I both know if I try anything you'll still dodge it, not that I will."
"Yeah." Mega reached up and pulled his helmet off. Rock shook his hair out. "Ah… that feels better. You want to talk… let's sit over there, then." The two of them sat down on the tower's edge. Not the one looking over the fortress… instead, over the Australian wilderness beyond the fortress' edge.
"So the helmet is the thing…" Doc Man mused. "That's what causes the switchover. I wouldn't have guessed that."
"It's not completely that… in situations like that one back there, the lines blur sometimes. But the helmet's the main thing, yeah." Rock admitted. "And before you ask, my brother doesn't have the same problem… for him, 'Proto Man' and 'Break Man' ARE just secondary names."
"Same Blues underneath, eh…" Doc Man nodded. "Yeah, he's not the sort to do that kind of thing. Hmph… lucky stiff. He can ditch the name ending in 'Man' any time he wants."
"Don't like the name Doc Man?" Rock raised an eyebrow. The yellow-skulled Robot Master made an indelicate noise.
"Would you? I'm not even a doctor, for chrissakes. What I wouldn't give to be able to fit the pattern of all you guys… a more musical real name. Hell, I'd even settle for something like 'Disco' or 'Polka.'"
"My dad doesn't have a musical name." Rock reminded him. Doc Man shrugged.
"I solved that issue while I was pretending to be Blues."
"Oh?" The Blue Bomber inquired.
"Absolutely." Doc Man informed him in a deadpan. "I called him 'Pop.'" There was a moment of silence, and then Rock turned to him, face contorted.
"That one hurt more than those plasma blades ever could." Doc Man snickered. "While you were playing Blues… that reminds me. That Blues character you created… he was a lot like… well…"
"A lot like the real me?" Doc Man finished. "He was, wasn't he? Of course, as Dark Man, my memories weren't the only thing missing… my dad made an error there. He put the Three Laws back into me… and that, coupled with memory loss, DID make a lot of my natural attitude unworkable. I suppose the fake 'Blues' was my way of letting that out… Dark Man couldn't have a personality like that, so Blues did. That's probably why I kept the act going even when there was nobody else around… not good enough to fool Uncle Tom, though." He paused. "And now that I think about it, in doing so… I let a lot of my REAL feelings towards my dad leak into 'Blues' as well. A way around the Three Laws. That's why I REALLY told you about the nuke digging… some deep-buried part of me knew that delivering nukes into his hands couldn't be allowed, and acted on it without me even realizing it. I may have even believed that little charade myself for moments like that… who knows. My mental state's never been very clear… until now, that is."
"Huh…" Rock thought about that. "Wait. You said the three laws were put back into you… which means…" His eyes widened as he came to two realizations at once. Doc Man wasn't responsible for the Fifth… not a bit of it. He had been used… had been a victim as much as any of them. And something he had said… "So… THAT's why you're acting more stable… he repaired your brain. You… you're not insane any more…"
"Correct-a-mundo." Doc Man confirmed. "Dear old dad made sure to repair my brain entirely… and thus, in many ways, I'm no longer the same guy from the Third at all. That was just another act to draw out your real strength. I'm not exactly like I was in the First either, though, before you ask… I've still been changed a great deal, even if I'm not bonkers. I still remember it all. But now that I'm sane… I can see why you REALLY didn't kill me. Consider that dropped, cousin… it's over. And I don't have Wily's three laws, either." Rock's mind, already reeling, was shocked anew.
"You DON'T? But you said…"
"Dad put them back in me as Dark Man, yeah." The yellow-skulled Robot Master nodded. "True. But here's the thing, cuz. I'm not Dark Man any more… I'm Doc Man again now. The Laws… they're programming, yeah. To some degree. But if that was ALL they were, breaking any of them would be completely impossible. They're also a metaphysical thing… a matter of the mind, of the soul. Something all Robot Masters DO have… something they share with humans. The unknown factor not even our fathers understand completely. Once the laws are broken, they're broken for keeps. Even if they're PHYSICALLY rebuilt into my brain… in my soul, they have no effect, and that is far more important."
"Wow…" Mega Man shook his head. "So… wait. That fight back there… are you claiming you WEREN'T actually trying to kill me?"
"Oh, I was." Doc Man assured him. "I definitely was. But I knew that if you did it right… that if you became Mega Man completely, and set Rock aside… there was no way I could win. I tried my hardest, and I couldn't do it. You beat me fair and square… just because I knew it would happen doesn't change that."
"So then why?" Rock demanded. "You're not insane any more… and you said you don't hate me any more… so why at all?"
"Because you were too confused." Doc Man explained. "When you had to fight 'Blues', and you couldn't… that muddled the subject. Rock and Mega Man were all blended together… the part of you that couldn't kill your brother and the part of you that gets the dirty work done were all jumbled up in a mess. That wouldn't do… if you went up against my father like that, you WOULD die. So I rectified it." He smiled cheekily. "Besides, even if I'm not nuts and don't hate you, I still like a good fight. And that one was a whopper."
"So…" Rock thought it over. "You were… trying to separate Rock and Mega Man again? Further?"
"Exactly." Doc Man agreed. "It was my fault they got all messed up, after all… I had to help fix it. More than that, though…" He looked away, off into the distance. "I told you I've been to the afterlife… and I've seen a lot of things. I can't tell you them, of course… most of them anyways. But I can tell you it won't end here. Your war against my father still has a long way to go. Others will come… both on your side and his. I'll have brothers… hopefully, they'll come out better, won't be as screwed up as I was. In order to survive that… Rock and Mega Man have to grow further and further apart. Do you know why?"
"Because…" Rock closed his eyes. "Rock can't beat Wily… Mega Man can."
"Exactly." Doc Man nodded. "And more than that…" Rock froze. "Rock's never broken the Third Law. The Second, yes, but not the Third. Mega Man has. And some day… Mega Man will break the First Law as well."
"What… what are you saying?" Rock whispered in horror. Doc Man turned to stare at him.
"Plain and simple, cousin. My dad… Wily… he won't stop. He'll just keep coming on and on… UNTIL YOU KILL HIM."
"No…" Rock croaked.
"Yes. It's the only way. It may not be directly… but one way or another, you WILL be the one ultimately responsible for his death." Doc Man insisted. "It's gone too far… progressed too much. He doesn't really care about conquering the world any more… it's all a pretense. All he cares about is YOU. This Rebellion was aimed at YOU… to see how far you would go against your brother. It was also revenge against him, for meddling in his plans and for betraying him… but his interest in Blues is, in the end, peripherary. Just like his interest in me, and in Uncle Tom, and in any of us. In the end, it will be just you and him… and to make the world safe forever, you'll kill him. Otherwise, eventually… more than just war victims. The massacre of the Third, all over again, even worse."
"…If I was Mega Man right now, I'd yell that you were lying." Rock whispered. "But no… you honestly believe that. You do. However… that doesn't mean I can't disagree. You may not be intentionally lying, but I still think you're wrong. I won't kill him… I'll never go that far."
"Good. You SHOULDN'T believe you can… not yet." Doc Man nodded. "It's not time yet… this time, all you have to do is beat him. And you can. If you could beat me, you can sure as hell beat him, cousin."
"Yeah." Rock nodded. "THAT, we can agree on." He raised an eyebrow. "Why do you keep calling me that now?"
"What, cousin?" Doc Man chuckled softly. "It's fairly simple… same reason you once called my dad 'Uncle Al.' Two men, Light and Wily, were once so close they might as well have been brothers… and their children picked up on it. You are a son of Thomas Light, and I am the first son of Albert Wily… so if Wily's your 'uncle,' then I'm your cousin."
"I never thought of it that way." Rock admitted. "Maybe before… I never wanted to. But now…I don't mind so much. Not anymore." After that, they both fell silent, and watched the clouds pass by in the distance. It seemed like hours were passing as the two of them sat there on the roof of the useless, unpowered fortress. Neither spoke; they simply watched the land below. At some point, Rock realized he had disengaged his Buster. Finally, he turned to Doc Man with a wry smirk on his face. "Roller blades?"
"Roller blades." Doc Man nodded, not batting an eyelid.
"Roller blades are used by eleven-year-old human males with attention deficit disorder." Rock informed him. Doc Man shrugged.
"For now. But I foresee an age when they shall pass out of style among the brats, and instead, become the norm for mass-murdering psychopaths." The yellow-skulled Robot Master predicted sagely. Rock blinked.
"Really?"
"No." Doc Man admitted. "But it would be cool." They both fell silent again for a few more minutes. Rock knew that now, the nightmares of human corpses and deathmatch games of "tag" and maniacal laughter that he had previously associated with Doc Man would fade away… and instead, Rock would remember this time, and the robot who was his enemy and was also in some strange and twisted way his cousin. And then Rock somewhat regretfully stood up.
"So… what happens now?"
"Well, you go on to Skull Fortress V." Doc Man replied, standing up as well. "It's on the coast… straight north from here. Shouldn't be too hard to teleport yourself a mile south of the spot to meet Cousin Blues… the teleport shield on this place probably crapped out already. As for me…" He sighed. "You still can't let me walk away from here." It was not a question. Rock thought it over… and realized he was right.
"No. I'm sorry… and I really am… but you're too dangerous. A loose cannon… and if you're right about being free of Laws of Robotics… well, you've already killed many, many humans. I know you're not nuts… but I can't. It's just too much of a risk… I can't let you leave here."
"I could teleport, you know." Doc Man reminded him. "No, don't get excited. I'm not going to. I don't WANT to leave here, to be honest."
"You… don't?" Rock blinked.
"Nope." Doc Man nodded cheerily. "Look at it from my point of view. I've got nothing out there. No family, no friends, no future… and a LOT of people out for my head after this played on the TV. I still hate my father, of course… THAT hasn't changed… but like I said, I know you'll take care of that. Oh, and don't worry about THAT being on TV; the command to broadcast is installed in my head, and I cut it after our fight. No… I have nothing left in this world. I remembered who I was, fought you one last time, and made at least some efforts to make up for my crimes in the past. That's all I need to do."
"So… you're fine with dying again?" Rock realized.
"Yup. And this time, I DON'T intend on coming back." The yellow-skulled Robot Master told him. "My part in this war is done for good… it's up to the rest of you now. I'm through." He looked up at the moon. "Besides… I kinda like it on the other side. It's more my kind of place… and besides, I've kind of got a… well, I suppose you could call it a job offer standing over there. Don't worry about me, cousin… I'll be fine."
"…All right." Rock nodded, then smiled sadly. "You know… things would have been a lot simpler if you had stayed evil and crazy."
"Sometimes life can't be simple." Doc Man shrugged. "Just the way it goes. Tell Uncle Tom I enjoyed our games of chess… tell Blues I'm sorry I screwed things up for him." He thought for a moment. "Tell Roll I'm sorry I said she looked like crap back when I wrecked your house… sorry about that too, by the way." Rock nodded.
"I'll tell them. Do you… want me to do it?"
"Nah." Doc Man stood with his back to the edge. "You've got enough to think over right now, and I think if you killed me again NOW, it'd make things worse. Besides, I kind of want to do it myself anyways… now that I finally have control over my life, I want to be the one to end it."
"…All right." Rock nodded. "I'll see you again some day, I suppose…"
"Count on it." Doc Man winked. "We're robots, not human, but all the same… nobody lives forever, cousin. I'll see you on the other side, one of these days!" He thought for a moment, then shrugged. "What the hell, might as well."
"Might as well what?" Rock inquired.
"Might as well make this as flashy as I can… this is the last time I'll get to do it, after all!" As he backflipped over the edge, Doc Man threw back his head and laughed one last time. "YEEAAA HAA HA HA HA!" And as he fell, the Robot Master known as Doc Man turned his plasma arm blades upon himself. He vanished in a storm of hacking and slashing… but he did not scream. Not even once. What finally hit the ground of Australia below was not even recognizable as a Robot Master… just a jumble of plasma-charred loose parts that bounced and scattered. Only the plasma blades did not… they landed, interlocking, parallel to each other, forming a X-shape. Looking down on it, Rock saw that one part lay at their foot… the mouth, forever locked in that same smile.
"…" Mega Man put his helmet back on, and took the M-Tank he had found in Crystal Man's out of his pocket. He needed both energy for himself and for his weapons in order to take on the Fortress ahead of him. Draining it, he took something else out of his pocket. The yellow scarf Doc Man had intentionally dropped while kidnapping Dr. Light. Wrapping it around the empty M-Tank, Mega tossed it over the edge and watched it land next to the jaw. And then he turned his gaze to the north, and what he knew was there. He could not see it… but he knew that on the coast was another fortress like this one, with a giant skull on its front. And inside… were two old human doctors, who had once been as close as brothers.
"Wily." The Blue Bomber whispered. "Now I have three people to give you payback for this time. And it's coming in SPADES."
And then he was gone, leaving the fortress to burn behind him.