"Come! It is time to give the Machine-Man your face!"
-Rotwang Metropolis
In the living room of Wily Fortress, Bass was lying down on the floor with his head almost detached from his body. Every connection to Bass head was disconnected save for Bass's audio connections and the main power connecting his head to his power core. Bass had also brought over a speaker from the junk room so that he could talk to the others during the operation. Roll and Rhythm had the test head already prepared with the necessary wires already jutting from the bottom of the cranium.
"Are you ready Bass?" Roll asked.
"Ready as I ever will be" Bass's complaint came out through the speaker.
Roll smiled smiled as she attached the cables to the hearing sensors of the test head to Bass's torso. With a little bit of solder, the connections were now secure.
Now the v-vital part.
Roll then attached the wires of the temporary head's hearing sensors and soldered them in place.
H-how does e-everything sound b-bro?
Bass let out a short yell "AHH! I'm hearing everything in double stereo!"
Roll chuckled a bit as she disconnected Bass's head from his torso and then began attaching the other wires of the test head to the body.
I must a-admit Bass, you do look r-ridiculous.
"That's not the point" Bass replied with a sigh "What matters with this test is whether or not this works at all."
"That's true" Roll said with a nod "Let's attach the temporary head fully and finish the experiment."
Meanwhile in the lab, Mega Man and Dr. Wily were still cleaning and finishing the last components on Rhythm's head.
"It's strange" Dr. Wily spoke as he sipped a cup of coffee.
"What's strange?" Mega Man asked as he crushed his empty E-tank before tossing it into a recycling bin.
"Take a good look at him" Dr. Wily spoke as he covered Rhythm's damaged eye "What do you notice?"
Mega Man took a good look at Rhythm's face, touching his cheek.
"Its almost... its almost like looking into a mirror."
"My thought's exactly" Dr. Wily spoke as he removed his hand "His blue eyes, the face like that of a boy, the brown hair, it's pretty uncanny."
"Do you think that whoever made this robot was inspired by my design?"
"I don't think so. Since Rhythm was made by a robot, maybe his creator creator based him on himself" Wily then suspiciously glanced at Mega Man "You didn't make him, did you?"
Mega Man turned back to the scientist "That depends, did you immure him?"
Dr. Wily took offense to this "Are you saying that if you made a robot that I would want to dispose of him?"
"Well to be perfectly honest, yes!" Mega Man admitted "It would all depend on the powers that Rhythm might have had. It would also depend on if we were on less pleasant terms than the ones we have developed with each other the past few days."
Dr. Wily nodded in agreement and then turned to Mega Man "I have a quick question…"
"And that is?"
"What do you think could have been the motive of the one who immured Rhythm?"
"You're the one who's been played out the same evil scheme year after year and you're asking me about motives?"
Wily chuckled "My plans involve subjugating the masses, I'm not one for just going after one person. A single person may have pushed me to do what I have done, but getting back at Dr. Light is not the only goal I have."
Mega Man rolled his eyes as he leaned against the work the table "Maybe…jealousy? I mean, we have concluded that a robot made Rhythm. So if it was a human that enclosed him, the person must have been jealous that a robot was able to achieve such a feat. Then again, why not go for the creator too?"
"Maybe Rhythm's creator was more difficult to get to. He could have been murdered after Rhythm was."
"That's a good point… but we can't be sure…"
"No we can't" Wily admitted "To be perfectly frank, I would be jealous if a robot made another robot as able as Rhythm. Even I think that its cruel knowing that he was damaged to the condition Bass found him in."
Mega Man nodded "I understand... and to answer your previous question, no I didn't make him."
"I though not, but I wanted to be completely sure" Dr. Wily answered "If you did however, I would think that either you or Rhythm would have remembered almost immediately, despite Rhythm's memory being compromised."
Suddenly, a scream came from the Living Room. Fearing the worst, Rock engaged his cannon and dashed to the location of the scream. Once he arrived, he saw the reason for the scream.
"AHHHHHH! YOU PUT IT ON BACKWARDS!" Bass shouted.
Bass was looking at Rhythm and Roll, but his body was turned away from them. Roll and Rhythm were both giggling at the gaffe, and Rock couldn't help but chuckle.
"A bit of an overreaction Bass, don't you think?"
"Hahahah…" Bass replied with a mock laugh "If your head was put on wrong, wouldn't you freak out?"
"I thought you'd be used to having your head on wrong by now" Rock retorted.
Bass tried to lunge at Rock, but his body lurched away from Rock due to the mechanical mishap.
Mega Man then turned to his sister "How do you mess that up in the first place?"
"We weren't paying attention" Roll spoke.
I-It was a first time m-mistake... I'm sorry.
"There's no need to be sorry Rhythm" Mega Man spoke as he patted Rhythm's shoulder.
Dr. Wily then arrived, unfazed at the scene "Well then, what happened?"
"We were testing a method of transplanting heads so that Rhythm doesn't lose the ability to hear nor his power, and we ended up putting the test head we found on Bass backward" Roll explained as Bass began to stand "there were no hiccups in the transplant."
"That's good to hear" Mega Man replied "I just wish that we thought of this previously so that we didn't have to deal with this issue the first time."
"We know, we know" Bass lamented "Now could I please HAVE MY ORIGINAL HEAD BACK?"
Dr. Wily sighed as he took Bass's head and lead him into the lab. Rock, Roll, and Rhythm followed the two. Bass got on to the work table and Wily began the operation. On one of the tool benches was Rhythm's head, which disturbed the head's owner.
I-It's not often you're able to see your head after you have been…d-decapitated.
Roll nodded "I understand Rhythm, It's not something that anyone wants to experience in the first place."
Replacing Bass's original head took less than an hour, but even with the successful test on Bass, everyone was worrying if the transplant technique was going to work for Rhythm. The head was finally finished, and Dr. Wily was testing the head to see if it would work properly. Once Bass's original head was back on, Dr. Wily left the room for a quick break and left the four robots alone.
Rhythm listened to a cassette tape as they waited.
"Like father like son
Not flesh nor fish nor bone"
As Bass's head rebooted and regained focus, he noticed that Mega Man was jittering ever so slightly.
"Rock? What's worrying you?" Bass asked as he got up up from the table.
Mega Man sighed "I'm just concerned about what Dr. Light may think of Rhythm when he comes later."
Bass then turned to Rhythm, his temporary face showing a silent expression.
"He's a sly one, he's a shy one
Wouldn't you be too?
Scared to be left all on his own
Hasn't a, hasn't a friend to play with"
"Rhythm," Bass began "are you worried about meeting Dr. Light?"
Rhythm stopped the tape.
I-I'm a little bit w-worried. I've gotten to know so much about you four, i-including Dr. Wily, these past few days. With Dr. Light h-however, I don't know what to expect.
"Would you like me to tell you a little bit about my maker?" Mega Man offered.
No thanks, I would like to form my own i-impressions of him by myself if that's okay.
Dr. Wily then reentered the room wiping his face with a paper towel and made his way to Rhythm's head "Alright... Roll, Bass; since you two did the test operation you can do the honors of putting Rhythm's original head back on."
Mega Man helped Rhythm lie down on the worktable and Dr. Wily placed Rhythm's head next to his temporary one. Roll began detaching Rhythm's temporary head and Bass started preparing the wires on the fixed one.
"So how exactly does this operation work?" Dr. Wily asked.
"First, we attach wires from Rhythm's body to the power and hearing sensors first of the original head" Roll explained "then we disconnect the temporary head from Rhythm's torso, and then finish installing the original one."
Dr. Wily shrugged and sat in the corner to watch. Rock made his way to the supply of parts acquired the correct grade of wire needed for the connection. He then soldered them to the correct connections of the original head and then began to solder the wires attached to the hearing sensors to Rhythm's torso.
"Is everything going well Rhythm?" Roll asked.
E-Everything is fine, I'll j-just have to p-prepare for the double stereo.
Rock then soldered the wires that connected the power from the torso to the head, causing Rhythm's face to wake up and then tensed.
"Rhythm?" Rock asked "Did that hurt?"
I-I'm ok. It's just that the double voice s-startled me.
"Sorry about that" Rock spoke "I'll fix that soon."
He then cut the wires attached to the temporary head, which killed its operations and relaxed Rhythm.
"Feeling good Rhythm?" Rock asked.
I feel much b-better.
"Wonderful" Rock spoke before he turned to Bass "How is his power? Did we lose any?"
Bass shook his head "None at all. No change in energy levels."
Mega Man and Roll sighed in relief.
"I'm glad we tested the concept before installation" Roll spoke.
Bass nodded in agreement "Same, though I wish I didn't have to be the one that had his head tested on."
"Knock it off Bass…" Roll complained "Why don't you finish connecting Rhythm's head back to his torso while we take a break."
Bass kept working as Dr. Wily briefly left the lab and returned with a six pack of E-tanks and a bottle of soda for himself. He dealt out the E-tanks and then began to stand on top of a stool.
"What the hell are you doing doc?" Bass grumbled. as he opened his tank.
"I would like to make a toast" Dr. Wily explained.
Bass simply rolled his eyes as Dr. Wily raised his bottle of soda in the air.
"To Rhythm, for understanding through adversity."
"To breaks from the monotony" Mega Man added.
"To new friends!" Bass spoke.
"To the lives examined!" Roll cheered.
To all that and m-more.
The five sipped their drinks but froze once a chime came from the front door. Dr. Wily got down from the stool while the others put their glasses down.
"Bass, stay with Rhythm" Dr. Wily spoke "Rock and Roll, follow me to the door."
Bass remained with Rhythm as the other three made their way to the front door.
"Why do you want us accompanying you?" Roll asked.
"So that Dr. Light can be certain that you two are not being operated on. It's for Light's peace of mind."
The three arrived at the door and Dr. Wily pressed a button underneath a security screen to see who was on the doorstep. The figure had white hair and a beard, held a bag in his left hand, and was wearing a white lab coat.
Dr. Wily pressed another button and spoke into a microphone.
"Hello Tom"
"Hello Albert. I hope that we are meeting on cordial terms."