Proto Man had changed little in the past five years. He was still his reticent, lonely self, and if he had changed, it was to be even more estranged from the ones that loved him than before. Roll, despite the fact that she too saw little of him, was the one he spoke to the most, and that was mostly because Blues felt he should at least try to get to know his sister. Though he could never have expressed it in words, Proto Man knew the reason why he was still so introverted. It was a darkness to come, one he had expected for many years. Now that Dr. Light was dead, so too fell robotic ethics. Dr. Light was their upholder, their defender, and the one that had kept them from becoming the tool of a demented mind. But robots were the subjects of humans, Proto Man thought dryly to himself, so however good or bad they were would depend on their creator.
And now the most innocent of technicians was dead.
But Proto Man had to balance himself. The most guilty of all technicians was also dead. Dr. Wily had wanted nothing more than to make the world sufffer for "not recognising his genius", but he too was erased by his mortality. Who then was left to be either good or bad?
Blues, as his own name suggested, had never been an optimist. For the past five years he had been watching and waiting for some sign of something to go wrong. And that was one of the reasons he was in Japan's Miyamoto Mechanics at the time. But now that all of these new incidents had made police everywhere more cautious. There would be less need for him to watch over the factory workers in any case. He knew what had happened to Gravity Man and Dr. Imahara. And though he didn't know the details, he knew that Kalinka had been targeted. And that made him ill.
From the service platform far above the factory floor, Proto Man could see everything. He gave a cautious eye to the many people below. Humans in met-armor hats monitored the robots (most of those being mechaniloid) as they worked at various noisy and complicated machinery. At any given day Miyomoto Mechanics produced mechaniloids, though when they had one of the few specialists in sentient robot science, those specialists would be allowed to use parts of the factory for their own machines. Despite the growing demand for the upper level robots, the specialists and thus the production remained low. It wasn't an easy field.
Imahara had been one of those scientists, and was Proto Man's main reason for visiting Miyamoto in the first place. But he had found nothing. Nothing that made any sense with the attack, in any case. Dr. Imahara had been killed without anyone even seeming to care about his work itself. What did that mean?
The factory would be crowded with more police than Proto Man cared to bother with, and while Kalinka had her father's lab and robots to protect her, Proto Man was not comfortable letting it go without at least taking a look. So he began to leave, carefully making his way out as noiselessly as possible. He wasn't worried about being caught. Evading prying eyes was like breathing to him, so it was easy to spot potential hiding places if anyone looked up. Or hiding places where someone else might be hiding.
A hunk of metal hit the proto shield. It fell from the high perch onto the floor, alerting the people below.
"Get out of here!" Proto Man shouted, still focused on Junk Man before him. "Evacuate the factory now!"
Proto Man didn't look to see if anyone listened to him, but he could tell from the screams that the grinning Junk Man was not the only bogey in the place. Blues allowed his lips a slight smirk. If they were coming to destroy the factory or someone in it, it was bad luck that they had come when he was there.
"Hey, Blues. How'ya doing?" Junk Man said in devilish tones. "I'm actually glad to see you. I was hoping one of the Light brothers would be here, so that I can show his junked up remains to the other!!"
Dodging a wave of the junk, Proto Man ran forward, and at the last minute flipped completely over Junk Man's head, clinging to Junk Man's back. He was on the inside of the haphazard robot's shield, and Junk Man struggled to pull Proto Man off, reaching back. But to no avail. Proto Man pulled back on the Wily-bot's neck, then jumped and swung Junk Man's body forward and off of the scaffolding. They landed with a crash on the floor, the shielding of Junk Man, as well as several of his parts, crumpling by the impact. Proto Man, just to be safe, shot a buster pellet into the back of his head.
Good...now where are the rest of them?
The humans and worker-bots seemed to be fleeing from behind him, Proto Man turned around, only to see something that disturbed him greatly. While the only outward sign of this was a small twitch of the lips, somehow Hornet Man got the idea and thought it was very funny. And with Hornet Man were Centaur Man, Spark Man, Magnet Man, and Cloud Man, each looking ready for a fight.
"You were a Light-bot." Proto Man's voice was filled with contempt as he addressed the insectoid. "You were shown mercy once, and it won't happen a second time. But Rock won't want me to harm you, so this is your one chance to walk away. You should take it."
"Oh no," Hornet Man objected in what seemed like a more fond tone. "This is how it should be. The world as you know it is ending, Proto Man. All the things you took for granted, gone. All the things and the people you love, gone. But there's a silver lining: so are all the things you hate! Come on, Proto Man, you knew this was coming! Welcome to the last of robotics' 'golden era', where humanity will all wake up from this dream!"
Hornet Man showed off his gleaming teeth, and the dark look in his eyes was hardly becoming of someone invented by Dr. Light. But it didn't faze Proto Man, who at most felt a tinge of regret for his brother's sake. But only a tinge. It wasn't near enough to stop Proto Man from turning Hornet Man into a pile of rubble, along with his Wily-bot companions.
"Oh look!" Magnet Man snickered and pointed. "The little obsolete proto-boy thinks he can beat us!"
The rest joined in the laughter, and were still grinning as Blues ran faster and faster towards them, blaster at the ready. Dodging every hornet, magnet beam, and lightning strike, the red fighter-bot finally reached them, then jumped clear overhead. As they turned around to see where he had landed, they saw -- nothing. The Light-bot had disappeared without a trace, and without so much as firing a shot at any of them.
"Why, he's scuttled off!" Centaur Man exclaimed. "I never took Proto Man for a coward."
"Look lively!" Cloud Man pointed at the factory wall which they had just broken through. "Here comes the cavalry!"
He was referring to the Japanese guards that had just come in, each of them in armor and bearing various plasma weaponry. And from a distant corner of the factory, the corners of Proto Man's mouth went up slightly. The guard could handle the Wily-bots. After all, they weren't the main priority. They were the distraction from the little teal thing that was crawling about and trying to mess with something over in the side offices. Proto Man snuck in to investigate.
An awkward robot that couldn't have been more than three feet tall was using its little claws to dig through the office files. Though occasional hissing laughter, like the sound of wheels in need of grease, escaped from the little spiky robot's gaping mouth, it appeared upset.
"Gah! Who uses paper files these days?" the creature scoffed, before his rusty chortle sounded again. "I'll find it!"
"Find what?"
The creature snapped around, then brought its metal paw together as surprise turned to amusement. "Ah you, I know you. You're Proto Man. Hmph, those idiots were supposed to distract everyone...but no matter. In any case," the large, crazy eyes of the robot narrowed. "Are you sure you should be here right now?"
"I know who you are as well." Proto Man ignored the question. "You're Demi. The last I heard, you were crippled by a virus."
The thing laughed harder. "Don't change the subject. Now, one of the things I know about you is that you are a good friend of Dr. Cossack, or rather, his little daughter. You were the one to rescue the cute girl when she was young. Wouldn't it be a pity if something happened to her now and spoiled your heroics, right?"
Blues was unfazed. "You're lying."
"Oh, I'm lying. I'm only your enemy. Don't I know my own plans? Little Kalinka is currently going to her father's lab. Now, what do you think she will find there, hm?"
Proto Man forced himself to keep his cool. Demi was trying to distract him, and he could see that the little robot was getting impatient. His little glances to the office's window where the Wily-bots held the guards at bay (for the moment) gave him away.
"Well, are you just going to stand there?" Demi asked. "Aren't you worried that Kalinka is in danger? Or are you really going to let her die just for the sake of a few pieces of paper?"
What Proto Man wondered about was why Demi would bother threatening her. Couldn't he simply fight and be done with it? Or did he not think he could win? Proto Man smiled, then in an instant the protoshield smacked the little teal robot in the face, then he had the wriggling robot by the neck. It's little claws tore its way out of the Light-bot's grip, but not before Proto Man had brought him to the main workfloor and yelled out --
"SO YOU'RE THE ONE THAT MURDERED DR. IMAHARA!!!"
Immediately the Japanese guard were alerted to the little robot, and Demi only had enough time to scowl dangerously at Proto Man before having to dodge the constant plasma bullets aimed at him. Proto Man was glad that most of Japan trusted him.
Blues looked back at the office. The sign on the door was one of those temporary ones, as it was probably used by the sentient robot specialists. And of course the last one that had been in Miyamoto Mechanics was Dr. Imahara. Demi had wanted one of his files. Three of the drawers and desk had already been rummaged through, so Proto Man quickly swept up the rest in the trash bin, wishing he had something better to hold it in until he could get a good look at what all of it was.
But he had his priorities. If Kalinka was in danger, he had to help. She was not going to be hurt if he had anything to do with it.
-------
Mega Man was relieved to be home. He knew that all robotics facilities would be on high alert and protected by soldiers, but he would have to leave the next time a robot master struck. But for now he could do a maintanence check and get an update on the situation. Intent on doing more research on the next possible target for the Wily robots, Mega Man let Gyro Man explain what had happened at Kalinka's home. He was bound to exaggerate his own role in the fight, but that didn't bother Mega Man much. He didn't mind letting Gyro Man hog the spotlight. So the propeller-bot happily chatted with his technician as he sat for repairs on the repair table.
"You're really lucky, Gyro-kun." Crystal Bot exclaimed as she unscrewed more of his dented armor. "Most of this damage is just armor and the rest of it is just stuff that won't take that long to fix."
"Lucky, nothing. It's pure skill!"
Mega tried to hide his smile. "So Auto, can you scan what's on Hard Man's CPU?"
Auto shook his head. "Not right now. I should have been more careful, but whatever was left on Flame Man's CPU was just a virus. It took out our safe computer, so I'll have to put together something new from storage so that I don't have to plug something possibly dangerous into our main computer. I don't think Hard Man's CPU will be virus-free, to make a guess."
"Darn." Mega Man complained. "It just looks like I'm going to have to figure this out myself...hey, where's Bass?"
"He got impatient. He said that Dr. Cossack ordered him to go to Russia, and that he has to obey because Dr. Cossack still owns him."
Somehow Mega Man doubted that Bass would have waited for an order. Patience is a virtue, but not to Bass. "Um....wasn't he still under investigation?"
"I think so. But well, if Bass is set on something, I can't stop him!" Auto announced with some indifference, shrugging. "He really wants to help, so I don't think we need to worry."
"Me neither!" the blue bomber cheered. "I just hope he doesn't get into too much trouble with the law!"
"Aaaugh!"
Everyone in the lab started as Gyro Man began glitching, holding his head as if it would split apart at any moment. His screams of terror intensified along with his glitching, and his eyes began to bulge. Falling to the floor, he continued to shout in pain.
"Quick! Get him to the computer!" Mega Man exclaimed.
"It's not safe!" Auto said with horror as he lifted his hands over his shocked face. "Whatever's doing this could get on the mainframe!"
Without a word, Crystal Bot forced her team member into a sitting position, then sat down in front of him and pulled a cord out of her neck to plug into his zip drive. Once she was connected to his computer brain, Gyro Man's screaming ceased, but his eyes remained blank. Finally, Crystal Bot sighed and severed the connection. The cord retracted back underneath her poly-titanuloid skin. Her unfortunate team member continued to sit there, staring at nothing.
"Whatever's on there is like a version of the data kill virus, except it doesn't quite destroy his more mechanical functions." Crystal Bot said as she stood up. "But I can tell whoever programmed it was the same one who programmed whatever erased Splash Woman's and Gravity Man's memories. But there's more than that. Some of the viruses weren't designed to destroy Gyro Man, because robots don't have the same data processors as normal computers, so they didn't activate."
"But why did that one virus get him now?" Auto wondered. "Unless...unless he looked like he was having trouble and Dr. Cain wanted us to plug him into our computer for repairs..."
"I've got it!" Mega Man said. "I think Dr. Cain wanted us to find something on Flame Man's CPU, because that something was the virus that would shut down our safe computer! And then if we wanted to save Gyro Man, we'd end up with the other viruses on our computer! It was sabotage! But Crystal, are you okay? It wasn't safe for you to link up to him."
The girl-bot narrowed her eyes at Mega Man. "We're Team 5, Rock. We watch out for each other even if it's risky." Lecture over, her tone relaxed. "Well, I was safe anyway. Those viruses couldn't even touch me. I don't know why."
"I do!" Auto piped up. "Your Mega Man X parts, of course! No common virus could hurt him!"
"That means Mega Man X is safe from Dr. Cain?"
"Yep!"
"Eeee!" Crystal Bot squealed. "That means I can study the viruses safely! Auto-kun, you and me have to cure the data-kill virus!"
"Roger!" Auto saluted, and the girl-bot giggled.
As happy as he was that both Crystal Bot and Mega Man X would be safe, Rock's exhuberance dissipated. Gyro Man was still there, sitting on the floor and completely inoperative.
"But what about Gyro Man? Can he be fixed?"
"His current mind is a goner." Crystal Bot said as she approached her green relative. "But he has a mind storage drive, like the one I gave you for Christmas a long time ago, Rock. All I have to do is get it back from the space station and...rebuild...him...."
Her blithe speech grinded to a halt as one of her trembling hands reached down into Gyro Man's armor. She pulled a green and white zip drive out, delicately turning it over into her hands. The badly crumbled casing of the drive revealed broken bits of computer board, as if some blow from a robot fist had smashed into it. Crystal Bot burst into glitching, dropping the defunct drive to the floor and burying her face in her hands.
"Why....why did you have to take it with you?!!"
As Crystal Bot sobbed over her friend, Mega Man shuddered, reaching down into his own armor. He'd always kept his mind storage drive with him, just in case he needed to clear his mind of a virus during battle. His drive, however, was perfectly intact, and Rock shuddered to think that one wrong plasma burst could have destroyed his emergency back up. But as he put it back into his armor, he noticed Crystal looking at him, her expression pinched by grief....and not a little anger.
He knew what was wrong. Her eyes said it all.
How dare you come back virtually unharmed when he is dead.
"You...you need to be checked..." None of the harsh emotions left Crystal Bot's face as she finally spoke, but she seemed to at least be trying to force down her bitterness. "I'm the only safe computer left, so hold still."
Crystal got up and plugged into Mega Man's hard drive, scanning it for errors. After a minute of trying not to look into the blue bomber's eyes, the tech-bot sighed.
"Nothing, you're fine. According to my scans, Algorhythm Man tried to hack into you and leave the virus. Trouble is, it was taking way too long, and you probably could have destroyed him before he finished. So he hacked into someone he thought he could get into."
Crystal Bot turned away from the others, sitting helplessly next to her dead companion. After a moment, she shut him down. There was no point.
Mega Man's heart broke for her. Carefully the blue robot knelt down beside her, trying to comfort her despite her resistance.
"Crystal Bot," he began. "Please don't grieve too much. Gyro Man died a hero. Now you know a clear way of curing the data kill virus, and we can immunize more robots before it spreads. He did a good job, and he saved Kalinka."
Sonata glitched once, but Mega could tell that his words did have some affect on the girl-bot. She glanced at him sideways almost looking like she would thank him. But she didn't.
"Hey Rock, Gyro Man told me that before you guys got there, Skull Man was fighting Algorhythm Man."
Mega Man got the implications immediately. "Oh no, that means.....Dr. Cossack!"
And he teleported out.
-----
"Ring Man, is everything on the back ups discs yet?" Alyosha Polovstiansky asked his father-in-law's robot.
"Not yet." Ring Man inserted another disc into the laboratory's computer. "I've just got one more computer to go. But after that we really should be going to Dr. Cossack's lab."
"I know, I know." Alyosha ran his hands through his thick, deep brown hair with anxiety. "I wish my lab was ready so that I wouldn't have to depend on him. I'm the one that should be protecting Kalinka."
"He does have Pharoah Man and that mechaniloid army." Ring Man replied as he continued to push more buttons on the console.
"Yes, yes. Well, I'm going out for a smoke, so let me know when you're finished here. Kalinka is on the way back to her father's, right?"
"I'd be surprised if she wasn't there now."
"Good."
With that, Alyosha went outside on the balcony of the three story building, his sharp blue eyes gazing over the Moscow landscape from his vantage point. This laboratory was a government run one, one that Alyosha was expected to use to fufill a contract with the Russian government. They were none too pleased to hear that his overprotective father-in-law wanted him to retreat to their lab, but as Dr. Cossack was the greatest Russian scientist mind, they tended to let him get what he wanted. And so that was where the young man would be going to reunite with his pregnant wife. She did want him to stop smoking before the baby arrived, but Alyosha figured that he would get one last smoke in before she got his cigarettes from him. He fished in his lab coat pocket for his lighter.
Ring Man waited just long enough for the doors to close. Then, though he had no mouth, his eyes smiled, and he laughed a quiet laugh that didn't seem altogether innocent. Ring Man went back to the computers, hastily pushing buttons and glancing nervously over at the door to see if Dr. Polovstiansky would return. But it he was going to glance nervously, he sure picked the wrong direction to look.
Alyosha heard the noisy clashing from outside. He dropped his cigarette and went for the door, only to see Bass holding Ring Man against the wall with a buster in his face.
"What are you doing?!"
"This guy was reformatting your computer!" Bass snarkily snapped back, never removing his gaze from Ring Man.
"No I wasn't! I was backing up the files!"
"Liar! You've got a virus! Don't pretend that you're still the normal Ring Man!"
Alyosha, short of his nicotine, was definitely out of patience. He tugged uselessly at Bass' arm as he said, "Let him go! You don't know what you're talking about. He was just going to back up my files and then we were going to Dr. Cossack's. You're out of your mind!"
"Why don't you check the computers and see what he was doing, then?"
Frustrated, Dr. Polovstiansky went over to the computers to do just that. But the large wall of servers and panels and monitors seemed just as it had been before. Moreover, one of the screens revealed that the discs would be finished initializing in thirty-three seconds. Alyosha folded his arms and 'ahem'ed loudly. Bass impatiently stuffed Ring Man under his arm so that he could turn and look.
"Erg..." Bass almost facepalmed when he saw the screen. "Okay, that's not right, that's a fake -- this guy's not right! He was laughing! Cossack-bots never laugh! "
Alyosha rubbed his wrinkled brow, wishing he'd had more time for his cigarettes as he walked closer to the continually defensive dark robot. Before Bass knew it, Alyosha had a plasma gun firmly planted under his chin.
"I'll admit that I never liked you." Alyosha said, his expression filled with contempt. "And I don't know why anyone bothered to trust you. But that robot is a family robot from Russia's greatest mind. So you'll let him go, and if you have a problem with him, you can discuss it with Dr. Cossack. Or you can get shot. Pick now."
Forte's hateful, toothy grimace wasn't exactly convincing Dr. Polovstiansky to have a different opinion.
"I'm trying to save your stupid life! They're after robotics guys now!"
He pushed the gun further into Bass' chin, and Bass almost spat in rage. But he did drop Ring Man, who crawled off and got up on his own. Dr. Polovstiansky backed away, cautiously keeping the pistol aimed at an increasingly infuriated Forte. He only lowered his weapon once Ring Man pulled him back and got between him and Bass.
"Let's go, Ring Man." Dr. Polovstiansky sent a sneering grin at Bass. "And you, go do something useful with yourself."
"Oh, go easy on him." Ring Man said. "After all, I don't need to hide it anymore -- he is right."
A yellow ring flew through the air and sliced into Alyosha's gut before he could even look surprised. Ring Man darted away, pausing just once in a mocking salute to Bass before he jumped out of the window. Though everything inside Bass told him to go after the robot master, Bass held himself back and forced himself to attend to the bleeding and squirming Alyosha, who every second was teaching Bass a new Russian curse word.
"Moron, don't pull it out! Let the hospital do that!" Bass snapped as Alyosha reached a hand for the ring still sticking out of his midsection. "You should've listened to me in the first place! Now hold still!"
Frantic, Bass realized that there was no time to wait on an ambulance. But this was the city, and the hospital couldn't be too far away. As gently as he could (and as a yelp from Alyosha told him, not gently at all), Bass scooped up the unfortunate human and summoned Treble.
"What about...my research?" Alyosha gasped, spitting blood as he spoke.
Bass winced in disgust as more of the red liquid hit his armor. "It's all gone now, so just shut up."
Treble was quick to show up, and was already converted to Treble jet so all Bass had to do was step on. As they flew Bass swore to himself to relieve Ring Man's shoulders of their head. He tried his hardest to focus his thoughts on revenge; Alyosha had gone into shock, and was whimpering for Kalinka. Bass shuddered; he was glad that hospitals had decontamination showers for robots. Both he and Treble were going to need it if the bleeding kept on.
Thinking of getting clean was a lot easier to think of than what would happen if Alyosha didn't make it.
\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\
=====Alyosha Polovstiansky
"Make sure you fix it correctly."
Good point: intelligent
Bad point: hard headed
Likes: Kalinka, robotics
Dislikes: Dr. Wily
Alyosha's first name comes from the book A Day in the life of Ivan Denisovich, from Alyosha the Baptist. I kinda regret giving him that name, because Alyosha the Baptist was adorable and this Alyosha can be a jerk when under pressure. Alyosha has lived in Moscow most of his life, and is the oldest of five siblings, with one brother and three sisters. From a young age he and his brother have had to work to bring in extra money, as a downturn in the Russian economy hit his family pretty hard. He was always a hard worker, and from his youth admired Dr. Cossack. He paid his own way through college, where he became a robotics scientist who made mechaniloids.
His work made him one of the few noticed by Dr. Cossack for studies in sentient robotics, and he was Cossack's number one student. Shortly afterwards he met Kalinka, and it was over a month before he found out that the two were related. Kalinka often teases him that he married her just to work with her father, but both of them know that Kalinka was the one that initiated their relationship. Alyosha loved her strength, and was quite happy with the fact that she could marry someone who had the time-consuming job of being a robotics scientist.
As a rationalist, Alyosha has always hated Dr. Wily, as his schemes "make people unnecessarily afraid of robots" and endanger "human progress". And he thinks that the goofy nature of Wily's creations has created the expectation that all robots be equally awkward. Though, on the same token, Alyosha was never a huge fan of Dr. Light. While he admired Light's brilliance, he always considered Light something of a naiive old codger, as Light's views were highly idealistic and spoke of a deep respect for robots. Polovstiansky, however, sees robots as merely useful tools or means by which to progress human understanding. Undue emotional attachment to robots has always made him nervous. Polovstiansky operates under the belief that too much intelligence can make a person at least a little nuts. This isn't very unique, as most of his Russian collegues share similar sentiments about getting too attached to artificial beings.
- There are weapons for humans that protect them from robots. Some are guns or cannons, some are tasers, and some are lockdown shields that numb but don't hurt robots.
- Bah, I'm so glad I scrapped the soundtrack thing. I have no clue what I would have put up for this chapter. But I guess since I want to share some of the stuff I listen to anyway, I'll share a more active song for a more active chapter: www. youtube .com /watch?v=0brhmQ3WSK4 This song is one of my absolute favorites, Are You Ready to Move? by P.W.M. It's for the hardcore only.