Chapter 7: Restarting
Elec Man's systems began to reboot with a jolt. He felt…peculiar, completely drained of energy, his head aching slightly. Something was deeply wrong.
Elec Man opened his eyes, becoming aware of his surroundings. It was cold, and the air smelled musty. He was strapped down to a lab bench, a restraint across his chest, wrists, and ankles, a bright light shining directly into his eyes. He had no clue where he was, but it was only the steady drip of water that unnerved him, echoing in the cold stillness as though they were in a long tunnel, amidst the scuffle of hundreds of tiny feet.
"Ah…so you have reactivated," growled a harsh voice to his right.
The question was in English, though the accent sounded German. Elec Man frowned, lifting his head as he squinted away from the glare of the light.
"Who's there? Where am I?"
"I am your new master…Dr. Wily. You are within my secret laboratory."
…Dr. Wily…? Elec Man wrinkled his nose.
Footfalls stepped toward the table. He could see the human's silhouette first—a bare crown with gray hair jutting wildly from either side, then his face—boney features with a bushy white mustache and sharp blue eyes. A long white lab coat hung off his thin frame. From the shadows behind the human, Elec Man could make out the dim 'laboratory', crammed with strange shapes of half-finished inventions of unimaginable purpose. They appeared to be in the underground platform of an abandoned subway route—the steady dripping noise was from water trickling into the flooded tracks in the adjacent tunnel, the scuffling of tiny feet, rats. It was the lair of someone who ran twisted experiments in the realms outside of reputable science, and yet, unquestionably, Elec Man felt obedience toward this human—Wily.
"Though you were an enemy, I have shown you mercy," Wily continued, his face in harsh contrast from the light. "You were once a powerful mobster…now you are reprogrammed to obey me."
Elec Man had to stifle a groan as his head sank back onto the table. So. He had been stolen by a mad scientist. Fantastic. "Why am I restrained?"
"Because I need to ascertain my control over you is absolute," Wily snapped through gnashed teeth. "Now, tell me about who you work for, and your orders from the Syndicate. I demand to know everything."
Elec Man had been scanning the laboratory while Wily spoke. They were alone save for a combat robot in red titanium armor standing not too far away, his face masked by a black visor.
"I can't tell you that," Elec Man responded, his eyes returning to Wily.
Wily straightened up, his eyes flashing warningly. "What is this? You dare show me insolence?"
"No," Elec Man replied placidly. "I can't remember anything."
The light glaring in Elec Man's eyes was turned off as floodlights were clicked on within the laboratory, casting a stark unflattering light on worn-out equipment. Wily unstrapped Elec Man, but ordered him to remain on the lab bench as he placed a headphone-like interfacer over Elec Man's helmet. The interfacer was plugged into Wily's computer, giving him access to Elec Man's electronic brain. Then Wily sat down on a cheap office chair and began pouring over his computer, busy probing Elec Man's mind in an attempt to unscramble the scrambled memories. It felt like a ghostly comb slowly raking through his head.
As Wily worked, he muttered to himself, things like "Maybe if I tried this…" or "I should think it would not be difficult to untangle this mess!" or "What does he think he's hiding?"
Elec Man wasn't completely taking in Wily's ramblings. He kept a silent, outwardly indifferent composure, but internally he was seething. The situation was disgraceful. How could he have let himself be captured? He was surely better than this! Worst of all, he appeared to have been stolen and reprogrammed by a substandard gang whose primary hideout was a derelict platform on the abandoned subway line that once ran to the Underground, how infuriating. His only consolation was that his programmed defaults remained intact. Elec Man knew who he was, his personality programming was in place, and furthermore had a database of criminal knowledge necessary for a Syndicate Robot Master. Yet specifics about the Syndicate or his memories of day-to-day life were completely inaccessible.
Elec Man could tell by the distance Wily kept and the strained bravado in his voice that Wily was deathly afraid of him, despite Elec Man being under his command. The red combat robot (though his eyes were hidden and he leaned casually on a nearby filing cabinet) likewise seemed to be keeping close watch over him. As they should—for if Elec Man had his own way, he'd have attacked first and asked questions later.
It was a tense hour for Elec Man as he watched code scrawl across Wily's screen. Though he was completely helpless at stopping the process, he couldn't help but silently hope it would not work. If Dr. Wily ever gained access to his memories, who knew what Syndicate secrets he could exploit for blackmail alone…
But Elec Man's memory chips remained stubbornly scrambled, Elec Man feeling exactly the same as before. Wily gave a disgusted hiss as he gave up his work.
"Arrogant bastard!" he cursed, still apparently talking to himself—of whom he kept referring to in the third person, Elec Man had no clue. Nevertheless, Wily acted foiled. "No matter. Not really worth my time anyway," he said with unconvincing superiority as he pushed away from his computer. He stood up with a sniff and cast Elec Man a sharp glare from the corner of his eye. "I suppose you may be useful for more than parts."
Elec Man stared blankly back. He felt this statement rich coming from a mad scientist who lived in the first closest thing to a sewer and appeared not to have any robots of his own. Syndicate Robots were better than any robots in existence—
But Elec Man thought this, his gaze traveled back to the combat robot again, his eyes narrowing.
Wily loomed over Elec Man again. Though he was still treating Elec Man like a wasp trapped beneath a glass, he advanced with a rather repulsive toothy grin. "You are lucky. You are now under the best roboticist in the world. My age makes me wise, while the youth of other roboticists make them foolish and brash. You, who have been built for middling, boring mobster work are now called to a higher purpose—to serve in my army."
…'Army'?… thought Elec Man skeptically. He had seen two other Robot Masters in the subway tunnel—one with a spherical body who was skipping rocks in the flood water (who Elec Man suspected was a stolen blast mining Robot Master), the other paced restlessly while occasionally clicking small bursts of flame from his twin cannons, likely once a rogue robot. The hideout couldn't possibly fit anyone else, so Wily's 'army' consisted of three Robot Masters and the combat robot.
Wily gave a loud, ringing laugh, then strode off toward the subway platform stairs. Elec Man took this to mean that he was dismissed for the present, and climbed off the workbench.
The red combat robot stepped forward toward Elec Man, the harsh light sliding across his visor in bands. "Hey, I'm Proto Man, Dr. Wily's second-in-command," he greeted.
What could be seen of Proto Man's face beneath visor looked human, with a bright, dimpled smile. Proto Man also wore an article of human clothing, a yellow scarf, draped loosely around his neck. Perhaps he thought it made him look like a cool 'renegade'…and perhaps this was true, for he seemed more like a rogue robot than Wily's second-in-command.
Proto Man…Elec Man mused to himself…as in, 'prototype'?
"Sorry about all that…" Proto Man continued with an offhand wave at the direction Wily had gone, "—But you're exceptionally dangerous, so, we had to take a few precautions—just in case."
"Oh, I know I'm dangerous," Elec Man responded flatly. "Wily's interrogation was pathetic."
"Yeah, well, I suppose you would know—or used to know."
Elec Man stared coldly at Proto Man, the ramshackle laboratory silent except for the distant echoes of dripping water.
Proto Man gave a small shrug, then added. "Uh, by the way, I didn't know you real well, but we've met."
"…Obviously." Elec Man couldn't believe this robot was speaking to him like they were peers. "I suppose being second-in-command to a mad scientist makes you feel important, but it shouldn't. I'm Syndicate, and I have possibly the most powerful special ability in existence. I don't know how I was captured—" Elec Man began. He imagined it must have taken the combined effort of all three members of Wily's 'army' to take him down—
"I defeated you in battle," spoke up Proto Man.
"Oh." Elec Man was momentarily derailed as he looked Proto Man over, sizing him up. Admittedly, Proto Man's craft was good—like Elec Man, too good to be working for the likes of Wily. Despite himself, Elec Man was impressed, his curiosity in the combat robot increasing. "…Were you stolen too?"
Proto Man shook his head. "Wily built me, right here." He pointed to the workbench that Elec Man had been strapped upon.
"…Really?" Elec Man asked dryly.
"That's what I said."
Elec Man scoffed.
Proto Man gave him a warning frown, then changed the subject. "I…think you may have gotten your brain damage during our fight."
Though Proto Man spoke in tones too flippant to sound apologetic, his voice was nonetheless gentle, as though wanting to acknowledge the elephant in the room.
This annoyed Elec Man. "I don't have brain damage. I'm fully cognizant," he snapped back like a threat.
"No, I mean, you know, your memories—"
Elec Man glared at him. "I wouldn't credit yourself. It's more likely your mad scientist botched the reprogramming process, and now the intel he was hoping for is beyond his reach…though he is best staying away from the Syndicate and he knows it," he added mockingly.
These were perhaps frail taunts, but the one upside to scrambled memories was Elec Man had no idea what he was missing, and as such didn't worry over his own memory loss much at present. Besides, he had too much pride to stand pity from an enemy. What sort of combat robot had ethical programming anyway? Particularly amongst mobsters!
"Oh. Okay. So…we're good?"
"No. If ever given the opportunity, I will someday make sure you and Wily pay for going against the Syndicate."
"Oh. Alright. Thanks for the heads up, pal—but in the meantime, welcome to the team." Proto Man smirked at him and turned to stride off toward the stairs.
"Proto Man! You will regret this," Elec Man called coldly after him.
"Doubt it," Proto Man called back without turning around.
Elec Man felt irritable. Proto Man was an unexpectedly smooth talker for a combat robot. Something was deeply wrong all right. If Proto Man and Elec Man had fought, then it should have been Elec Man who was victorious, not Proto Man. The whole thing was absurd. Scrambled memories or not, reprogrammed or not, Elec Man was still Syndicate. He'd show them.
…Somehow.