The familiar visage of Gamma had taken on a terrifying air, permeating the massive stone chamber as he loomed in the center of it. Wily stood at its feet, with Blues holding Rock nearby; Roll and Rush walked as close as they dared, their glares being met with Wily's hideous grin.

"So nice to see you again!" the scientist greeted. "I trust you've brought the Energy Elements?"

"Don't give them to him, Roll!" Rock said.

"Silence! You will hand them over, and quickly, before I change my mind and scrap your brother here and now!"

Roll held out the two Elements. Wily jogged over and snatched them, snickering as he retreated.

"At last! Now Gamma can operate at full power! The world will be mine!"

"I did what you asked," Roll said. "Now let Rock go."

Wily turned to Break Man. "Hmm...something just occurred to me. Why should I worry about upholding my word when dealing with a lowly housekeeper-bot?"

What appeared to be a massive, yellow-plated helmet descended from the ceiling, emitting a shaft of light that pulled Wily up through the air towards it. Roll started forward, stopping short when Break Man pointed his weapon at Rock. A window opened at the helmet's front, and once he was inside, Wily sat down at the controls and steered it upward, latching the craft onto Gamma's head.

"Nehehehehe! The strongest power source known to man...a machine built from my brilliance, supplemented by Light's tech...and, adding one last personal touch of my own...there is nothing in this world that can stop me now!"

Gamma raised its arms, energy coursing through its frame. A punch was aimed at Roll-she leapt backward, watching as the floor she had just been standing on was pulverized into a large crater.

"Ah...but, I do need to run a field test. Break Man! Give me some room. Let Roll fight me, and see just how outmatched she is!"

Nodding, Break Man dragged Rock off to the side of the chamber, Roll watching carefully. Once they were clear, she turned back to Wily. "I'm not really surprised...but how could you do this after we all trusted you? We each gave you the benefit of the doubt, gave you a chance to prove yourself! And you're really throwing it all away, just like that?"

"Bah! What sort of question is that: the trust of a few against everything I've ever wanted? I have nothing to regret!"

Blasts began to shoot from Gamma's mouth. Boarding Rush, Roll circled the robot to evade its fire, watching its movements very closely. "You really are the worst…"

Gamma swiped high, its massive arm easy to dodge. Roll threw several Metal Blades, doing little more than scuffing its armor; she then detonated a Crash Bomb at the scuff, followed by a Hard Knuckle, but even the combined effect of all three weapons wasn't enough to break through the giant robot's shell.

"Nehahaha! You're nothing but an annoying gnat before the might of Gamma!"

Roll deployed a Leaf Shield as he again opened fire. "Even if it takes a while, I can still wear you down!"

"Oh, is that right?"

For just a second, Roll thought she could see Gamma flash blue. As its arm moved, she prepared to dodge, but the giant attacked at a blistering speed that caught her completely off-guard. Roll was smacked straight into the wall, left dazed as Gamma pelted her with his blasts.

What was that sudden burst of speed? Dr. Light didn't mention anything like that.

Roll managed to slip free, dropping down to land on Rush. Gamma swung again, now moving at a normal speed, so she kept her distance as best she could in the cramped chamber.

Wily must have made some last-minute modifications. I hope he didn't notice what Dr. Light was telling me about…

"Yes, yes!" Wily cheered. "Do you see now? This is the kind of power mankind can access with robots at our command! Autonomy, emotions, identity-they're all shackles that deny a robot its full potential! Only without such weight can we find the true limits of robotics, and shatter them!"

Roll equipped the Air Shooter, trying to disorient Wily with a whirlwind. The gust of air dissipated against Gamma like a shallow breath. Strafing to avoid his attacks, she next tried a barrage of Magnet Missiles, sure they would each find their mark. It proved a distraction, at least, but she was out of ammunition in seconds. She dove to avoid a blast before quickly angling back up to dodge Gamma's arm, not noticing the blast knocking loose a large chunk of stone from the wall. The rubble struck Roll, sending her crashing into the chamber floor, and red light danced across Gamma as it reared back its fist. Pinned where she fell, Roll's only choice was to use a Crash Bomb to destroy the rubble and fling herself out of range just before the punch connected. More rubble cascaded down from above as the entire castle shuddered, the colossal blow splitting the floor down to its foundation. Wily cackled with glee.

Is he nuts? He'll bring the whole place down if he keeps doing that! I may not be able to afford to wait him out.

Weaving between Gamma's feet, Roll sent Search Snakes crawling up its legs before leaping back onto Rush. The tiny machines managed to wriggle part-way into the tiny openings around Gamma's joints, forcing Wily to focus on dealing with them while Roll doused the robot with Bubble Lead. Just as it reached up towards her, she fired off a Spark Shock, causing Wily to shriek in surprise as several switches on his console burst. Roll immediately took to attacking the spots the snakes had indicated, emptying out her Needle Cannon and Shadow Blade stores before Gamma flashed blue and knocked her back to the floor.

"Hrm! If anyone were to find a way to truly annoy me even now, it would be you," Wily said. "Of course, even that's only possible because you copied the weapons of my Robot Masters! This is a total victory for my technology!"

Roll slowly picked herself up, trying to simply ignore the pain she was registering all throughout her body. "I don't get it...you say robots shouldn't have identity...but your Robot Masters can still think for themselves...why is that?"

Wily paused. "Well, they're programmed to be completely loyal-that's the important thing. It's not like I can send them out with no AI at all."

"Do you just want to beat Dr. Light at his own game? Or maybe, deep down, you think he's actually right?"

"Silence!"

"Or...maybe you just don't want to be all alone."

Wily snarled, slamming both Gamma's hands down in an attempt to crush Roll. He swung wildly, tearing chunks out of the walls in the process, while Roll carefully darted around each attack. Finally landing a blow, Wily moved to make a follow-up attack while Roll was dazed, but suddenly, Gamma locked up, jolting in place a moment before missing with a slow swing.

"What?!" Wily cried, beating the console. "What's the problem, you miserable machine? Your design should be flawless!"

Roll let out a short breath. Just before she had left, Light had told her about something he noticed during his test of Gamma: there was a minor misalignment in the power distribution system, and Break Man had appeared before he could so much as mention it. Now that the system was drawing on three times as much power, he predicted that it would become overtaxed if she could just hold out long enough.

It's happening even faster than he expected. Whatever last-minute changes Wily made must have actually made the problem worse.

Gamma momentarily froze again, causing Wily to stop and examine his readings. Hoping to keep him from piecing it together, Roll stuck a Crash Bomb in Gamma's shoulder, his anger easily surpassing his curiosity.

"This is your fault, isn't it?" Wily said as he pulled Gamma around. "What have you done to my precious work?"

Gamma glowed blue once more, the ensuing blow just clipping Roll. Then, a plate on Gamma's back burst in a fiery explosion, exposing a tangle of frayed live wires.

"No! This can't be!"

Gamma twitched erratically, giving Roll enough time to recover. She fired a Spark Shock into Gamma's wound, drawing another shriek from Wily, and then flew high as he attempted to counterattack.

"Why you...you…!"

"You brought this on yourself, Wily!" Roll said as Rush turned to face him. "You were in such a hurry you missed what was right in front of you!"

Wily threw a switch. Red light consumed Gamma, now glowing brighter than ever, as Roll charged directly at it.

"Time for you to pay the price!"

Rush activated his spring, shooting Roll through the air right at Gamma's face. Engaging Top Spin, she spun around to build up momentum, and then at the last second, delivered a devastating kick that sent small fractures spreading across Gamma's face. The giant was knocked back, hitting the wall as more pieces of its armor were blown off. Roll landed on Rush and took a moment to catch her breath before looking for Rock. Her brother was safe, if still held by Break Man; content for now, she cautiously headed to where Wily was crawling out of the downed Gamma.

"Blast it all!" Wily said. "What went wrong?! I should have been invincible!"

Roll jumped down in front of him. "It's over, Wily. No second chance this time."

Wily grit his teeth. "Break Man!"

Roll whirled. Break Man pressed his cannon against Rock's head.

"Neheheh...that's right. Keep her busy while I get out of here!" Reaching into his coat, he pulled out a small metal box and pressed the button on it. Immediately, minor tremors began to rock the castle. "In mere minutes this place will be brought down! Too bad I can't hang around to watch it happen, nehehehah!"

She glanced back at him. "Wily…!"

He leapt to the floor, running off towards a dark hallway. "This isn't over just yet, you scrap! I won't stop until I've taken over this wretched world! Even if you make it out of here, one day, I'll destroy you for sure!"

Knowing there was nothing she could do, Roll switched focus to Break Man. Once she could no longer hear Wily, she said, "Why are you doing this, Blues?"

Break Man didn't answer-it was Rock who said, "He thinks Dr. Light was going to reprogram him."

"That's insane!" Roll said. "Dr. Light would never-"

"Shut up!" Break Man interrupted. "He decided I was broken! That there was something wrong with the way I am! Why should he get to decide that?"

"You can't go on with a faulty power core!" Rock said. "Just let Dr. Light help you! You let Wily work on you!"

"I didn't have a choice! I was...my core was almost done for when he found me...I didn't…"

Roll paused. Quietly, she said, "You panicked, didn't you?"

Break Man grunted.

"Blues...if he did repairs on you, then how do you know-"

"Because I watched what he was doing!"

Roll's eyes widened. "W...What?"

Break Man finally lowered his buster. "I stayed active while he worked on me...I know he only did the bare minimum, because I saw every move he made."

"B...Blues...for work that involved? How is it even possible to stay awake for all that?"

"...Never said it was easy. But I won't let anyone shut me off. I won't give anyone even the slightest chance to change who I am!"

Roll stared at him. "Have you not changed at all? Through any of this?"

"What do you mean?"

"Thinking Dr. Light betrayed you, running off on your own, nearly dying...watching someone work on your main systems...none of that has affected you at all?"

"...I…"

"It must've. I don't know what you were like before, Blues, but I can't imagine it was this. You have changed, even without Dr. Light doing anything."

Break Man went utterly still. Feeling his grip loosen, Rock tentatively stepped away from him.

"But change doesn't have to be a bad thing, Blues. Sometimes, we just need a little help in making it."

"Hmph...you're saying I should just let Light do what he wants to me?"

"All he wants is to prevent you from ending up like that!" Roll said, pointing at the mutilated corpse of Gamma. "Gamma's power system was flawed-if Wily had fixed that, it probably would've been unstoppable! What are you going to do the next time your core starts to go out? Get Wily's help again? So he can leave you behind in another collapsing fortress?!"

Rock looked up at the walls, the bits falling off of them only continuing to grow larger. "Speaking of, shouldn't we get out of here? This place is already so damaged-I don't think it can take much more."

Roll looked between him and Break Man. Just as she was considering trying to run, the red robot said, "The self-destruct mechanism is on the third sub-level. There's no security...if you hurry, you might be able to disarm it."

"Huh? You're gonna help us?" Rock asked.

"Well...it benefits me, too. I don't want to end up buried here."

"Oh, good. Come on, Roll!"

Roll still felt uneasy, but there was no time. "Take Rush and go. I'll see if I can catch up to Wily."

As soon as Roll took a step towards the exit Wily had taken, Break Man used Time Stopper to cut her off. "Not so fast. I still owe a debt to Wily. You're not going to stop him without going through me."

Roll clenched her fist, glaring at him for a few long seconds. "Rock. Take Rush and go."

Glancing between them, Rock said, "But…"

"It's okay, Rock. I can handle this, but I need you to shut off the self-destruct sequence. Please, take care of it."

With great reluctance, Rock headed for the exit. Rush stopped to nudge Roll, who gave him a quick pet, and then took off after the boy. With both of them gone, Roll began to walk forward.

Break Man started by throwing a Metal Blade. Roll dodged easily and retaliated with Hard Knuckle, hitting Break Man's shield but managing to push him back a bit. Unfortunately, she didn't have the energy to use it again; Break Man pushed her back with Air Shooter while she switched weapons, and then shrank back behind his shield as a Gemini Laser began to ricochet around the room. Roll slid to one side in an attempt to surprise her foe with her remaining Metal Blades. One managed to graze his helmet, but that was all. She put up a Leaf Shield to protect herself from a volley of Quick Boomerangs, and when Break Man leapt aside to evade the Gemini Laser, she slid forward and engaged Top Spin, using its remaining energy to smack Break Man into the floor.

"Wily's only using you," Roll said. "Can't you see that?"

"Of course I can," Break Man said. "But it doesn't change facts. If it weren't for him, I would've gone inactive...buying him time to escape is the least I can do."

He swept the room with his laser cannon, forcing Roll to slide under it. She almost ran directly into a line of Bubble Lead shots, but she managed to tumble clear, shooting a charge shot as she came up. Break Man blocked and stepped out to hurl Quick Boomerangs, only to find that Roll was ready: she fired her Air Shooter, blowing the projectiles off-course as well as catching Break Man's shield, not managing to rid him of the weapon but at least shaking his grip on it. She followed with another charge shot, Break Man saved only by a timely Leaf Shield. Roll used Atomic Fire to incinerate the leaves when they came at her, and then noticed Break Man equipping Time Stopper, hastily doing the same. The castle froze around them as Roll ran in, firing constantly to keep Break Man pinned down and unable to attack. Ultimately, her lack of weapon energy came back to bite her, and Break Man was suddenly behind her to land a hit with Metal Blade.

"Stop already!" Roll said. "This is pointless! Just come back with us, Blues! If you don't want Dr. Light to repair you, then fine, but at least give him a chance to clear things up!"

"Why would he want me back when he has the two of you?" Break Man said, arming Crash Bomber. "You're both exactly what he wants you to be-not 'defective' like I am!"

Roll ducked and returned fire with her buster. "You don't get it at all! Of course Dr. Light still cares about you: even under the circumstances, he was overjoyed to see you again! You couldn't even see that?"

Break Man hid behind his shield.

"And you think I'm 'exactly what he wants me to be'? He was dead-set against letting me fight! If he had it his way, I never would have been weaponized in the first place! But I convinced him anyway, and it's not like he stopped loving me just because I'm not doing what I was built for!"

Firing her last Gemini Laser, Roll circled around her foe. Break Man stayed on the defensive, keeping his shield between them. Roll threw a series of Quick Boomerangs, aiming them so that they would arc around Break Man's shield from multiple angles-he leapt back, tucking his shield in to fit it through the assault, and Roll took the opportunity to fire a Spark Shock. It only stunned him for a brief moment, but that was long enough for the Gemini Laser to close in on him at last. She blew him back with Air Shooter until he got his shield back up, and then paused.

"He just wants to 'fix' me," Break Man muttered. "He's convinced I'm broken at my most fundamental level. I can't trust someone like that."

"Dr. Light only wants to help you," Roll said. "Maybe he didn't understand the way you would think about this. But if you explain how you feel to him, he won't force his way on you. He's not the sort of person you think he is."

Break Man remained behind his shield. A strange sound prompted Roll to look up: through a gap in the collapsing ceiling, she could see a saucer-like craft rising into the sky.

"Wily…"

"Just let him go, Roll."

"He's dangerous! If I don't stop him, he'll hurt more people, and more robots too! Do you want that on your conscience?"

Break Man's armor shifted as he equipped Metal Blade. "I uninstalled that long ago."

Roll summoned a Leaf Shield, but the saw blade slipped through an opening and cut her arm. Huffing, she said, "Seriously?!"

A shot of Atomic Fire came next. Roll dodged and slid forward, summoning a Quick Boomerang to her hand as she leapt onto Break Man's shield. She jammed the weapon into the glass-covered slit on the shield, chipping away a small portion of it before Break Man pushed forward in an attempt to shake her off. Roll slid to the side, getting behind her opponent, and unloaded her remaining Quick Boomerangs into him.

"Are you really okay with this, Blues?"

Break Man set his shield back up quickly, crouching behind it without saying a word.

"Answer me!"

She pelted his shield with a stream of buster shots. An especially massive tremor struck the castle, dislodging a massive chunk of wall directly above Roll; she tried to escape as soon as she noticed it, but it didn't look like she would have enough time. To her surprise, a shot of Atomic Fire hit the rubble, blasting it apart into harmless pebbles. She turned back to Break Man, who was already pulling back behind his shield.

"…Wily's gone," he said. "My debt's repaid. What happens between you and him now is none of my business."

The castle began to grow still. Roll said, "Looks like Rock managed to deactivate the self-destruct, too..."

Break Man slung his shield across his back and turned to leave. "We're done here."

"Wait."

He stopped.

"...Is there any way I can convince you to come back with me? Just to talk to Dr. Light?"

Break Man clenched his fists. "I can't. You...you might be right. But I'm not ready to take that chance."

Roll's gaze fell. "Alright. If that's the case, I won't force you. But...when you are ready, we'll be waiting for you. You'll always be welcome, Blues."

He looked over his shoulder at her. Then, he equipped the Time Stopper, and in the next instant he was gone.

The scant sounds of the repair equipment echoed weakly off the walls of the sub-level chamber of Light Labs. Guts Man and Fire Man, now back on their feet, busied themselves with clearing away the remaining rubble, while LaLinde continued to work on Elec Man with help from Tempo and Rock. Light was just finishing his examination of Roll, and she had just finished filling him in on what had transpired at Wily's castle. The old scientist had a distant look in his eye that she couldn't quite identify.

"So that's why he ran away," Light said. "I'm such a fool...why couldn't I see it? I was treating him only as a robot to be tuned up. No wonder he came to despise me so."

"I'm sorry I couldn't bring him back," Roll said. "I tried my best."

Light shook his head. "The fault isn't yours, Roll-if anything it's mine. It sounds like you were able to get through to him, and you've certainly opened my eyes. For now, all we can do is hope. It's just as you said: he'll always be welcome."

Roll hopped down from the bench, following Light across the floor to where Elec Man was being repaired. "Is there anything we can do for him? Keeping him active during system repairs is something I don't think I could do…"

"Indeed, I don't think I could stomach it either." He stroked his beard. "I've been approaching this all wrong. Rather than trying to change the way he is, I should figure out how to assist his current way of functioning. Hm, what's the best way to go about that…"

LaLinde rose to her feet as they came near. Elec Man, now with a crude shell of steel wrapped around his once-exposed back, sat up slowly.

"That's all we can do for now," LaLinde said. "It'll last him until we can get the new parts made and installed."

"Thank you, doctor," he said. "Am I able to assist in cleanup in this state?"

"Sure, just don't strain yourself. No heavy lifting or high voltage."

He nodded. Standing, he faced Roll, who said, "I'm glad you're alright, Elec Man. Those Crash Bombs are no joke!"

"Indeed…" Elec Man glanced at Rock briefly. "I think I'll make myself useful, but, er...would we be able to speak later? There was something I wanted to ask you about."

"Huh? Oh, of course. Whenever you're ready."

Elec Man departed, and LaLinde crossed her arms with a sigh. "Well...guess we should prepare ourselves for whatever Wily cooks up next. Do you want to try building another Gamma?"

Light scanned the broken scaffolding. "I don't think that's an option. Those components were expensive, especially the Energy Elements-it'll be some time before we're able to replace them."

"Don't worry," Roll said. "When he does show his face, Rush and I will bring him in!"

"Isn't that what he's counting on, though?" Rock said. "I'm sure he'll be ready for you."

"Ready or not, I won't let him win. I'll find a way to stop him, no matter what it takes."

Tempo shifted her weight. "...How can you be so sure, Roll? You can't prepare for everything on your own. Even you have limits."

"She won't be alone," Light said, setting a hand on Roll's shoulder. "She has all of us supporting her. As long as we each do our best, we'll be able to overcome whatever Wily throws our way."

Roll gave a nod. She didn't expect it to be easy for any of them. But she had accepted that this was her future now, and with luck, the strength she drew from that would be enough to see her through it.

Notes:

-The appearance of a version of Double Gear might not be a huge surprise either. With it being such a dangerous technology, I like the idea of Wily slowly improving on it over the course of his many schemes before eventually achieving the perfected version implemented in MM11, so it'll pop up every now and then. Gamma's moveset was pretty plain anyway, he could use the addition.

-I struggled to really pin down where I wanted to go with Blues in this story, but I think I've finally got a direction figured out.

-It took longer than expected, but we've finally completed this arc! Truth be told I'm not 100% sure what I'm going to focus on next, my projects are really piling up and I'm still struggling to gain traction, but I do want to take a break from this story before writing arc 3. That's going to take primarily from only one game, so hopefully the simpler structure will go a long way towards quickening the pace of my work on it. Eh, we'll see. Until then!