Chapter 10
"Shadow Man!"
The voice on the comm is frantic, driven to desperation. I don't want to open my eyes. I don't want to face the disaster I should have prevented.
"Shadow Man, you have to stop this," Elec Man says again. "They took the Skulker to New York without Wily's permission!"
My eyes snap open to a pristine forest. Somewhere well hidden, away from Wily plots and heartless humans. I stand quickly, seeing none of it. "They?"
Guts Man, Cut Man, Crash Man, and Bomb Man. Not the group I expected to make this move, I think as the shadows slip around me. But when have my expectations lined up with reality?
"Has Wily given the order to return?" I ask, emerging atop a skyscraper. It's day, the light irritating, but I ignore the shadows trying to pull me back.
"He hasn't," Elec Man says, hesitant.
"He wants to see this play out," I reply grimly. I don't need an answer to know I'm right.
"You have to find them," Elec Man says. "This won't end well."
"I will." I promise. And I do.
But Mega Man has found them first.
"Fight me, you twerp!" Guts Man roars, hurling a car at Mega Man and his dog. Cut Man fired wildly, his blades slicing into buildings all around. I slip in and out of dark corners, yanking and shoving fleeing people to further safety. Bomb Man's weapon explodes above, raining down glass.
"Enough!" Mega Man snaps, shooting Crash Man's bombs out of the air. "What does Wily want?"
No one answers him. Mega Man is thrown off, on the defensive. This isn't how these fights go. This isn't what's supposed to happen.
I slip behind Bomb Man and grab his arm. "Stop!" I hiss. "Wily has not ordered this!"
Bomb Man shakes me off with a glare. "Hang Wily," he snarls. "He killed Proto Man!"
I step back, and in that shaky moment my eyes meet Mega Man's, his own wide.
Guts Man punches him through the nearest building.
I can't stop them, but I try anyway, shifting to Cut Man. "You can't do this."
Cut Man gives me a dark look. "Why not?"
Because Blues is alive , I cannot say. Because Wily can't hurt him anymore, but you can by harming the only one innocent in all of this .
Cut Man takes my silence for cowardice and rejoins the battle. He's right. The longer I linger, the more I let those around me down. But I cannot tell the truth, and I cannot aid Mega Man directly. If word of such betrayal got back to Wily, he would find a way to twist the truth from my circuits, alien they may be.
But I cannot let Mega Man die.
To pull anyone else into my shadows with me could gravely damage them. I can think of nothing else. Before I can gather my darkness, Mega Man re-emerges, meeting my eyes again.
"Okay," Mega Man says, putting his hands up. "I won't fight anymore. I'm sorry."
Shockingly, this works. The Robot Masters stop. Guts Man lowers the car he was about to throw.
"What?" Cut Man asks slowly.
Mega Man keeps his hands in the air, his voice quiet. "I didn't want to hurt Proto Man. I should have known he'd never hurt Kalinka on purpose, but I… got angry. I just wanted him to stop, and I…"
Mega Man's voice dropped to a whisper. "All I wanted was my brother to be safe. I should have helped him, and I hurt him instead. I'm… I'm sorry."
I move quickly, in and out of my shadows to emerge in front of Mega Man, shielding him. " Wily put a bomb in Proto Man's chest," I say harshly. "Wily deliberately left him imprisoned for months because he wanted to teach Proto Man a lesson about caring for people. When that didn't work, Wily took his eye ."
I drop my hands, surprised at how ragged my breath was. "Mega Man didn't do this. Wily did."
Nobody says anything. Guts Man puts the car down with a heavy thud.
"Oh," he says, surprisingly quiet. "I didn't realize Mega Man missed him too."
The Robot Masters shift as they stand, unsure.
"Let's go home," Bomb Man says finally, turning away.
"What?" Crash Man looks between us wildly. "But Mega Man is right there!"
"We're going ," Guts Man rumbles, stepping toward him threateningly. Crash Man throws up his hands and walks back to the Skulker, shaking his head.
Cut Man hooks his elbow around Guts Man's arm. "Sorry, Mega Man," he says. "We shouldn't have done this."
I remain until the Skulker leaves, despite the burn of the sun. I can hear Mega Man breathing behind me, as raw and choked as my own, but I don't turn to face him.
"You did not do this," I repeat. Before he can answer, I sink into my shadows, welcoming the silence they bring.