Bass swore. It was just as he thought. The enemy robots had torn up his laboratory to shreds. Crystal Bot had worked on it so hard, and all of his books had been there. But now all that remained of it was shredded walls and the occasional mostly intact piece of literature. He kicked at a tattered copy of Great Expectations, swearing again as he realized that book used to be Dr. Light's.
Crystal Bot must have given the Cain-bots the directions there when she was first infected by that virus. Bass felt he couldn't scowl enough. He had wanted Crystal Bot to give away as much of the Cain-bot's plans as she could before he took control of her, but he had apparently waited too long. Epidemic Man would never have found this place otherwise. Bass kicked more of the rubble away in a fit of anger. It was bad enough losing Treble and almost losing Crystal. He didn't even know if she was going to be free from the virus. Just because she seemed alright now didn't mean something worse wouldn't happen later. He wasn't confident in his ability in virus-busting.
Thankfully though his depression had mostly passed, and it left him only with a sour shame that he had cracked under pressure. In front of Rock too. He was silently thankful for Crystal Bot, though he couldn't help but think she was stupid for believing in him. He shook the thought aside. He would just prove to everyone (especially Jewel Man) that her belief wasn't misplaced. If only Treble were there...
Bass snapped around, his buster pointed at the newly arrived robot that thought he could sneak up. But it was only Proto Man, so he lowered his buster. Not that Bass liked that. If it were a baddie, he could just shoot the robot and feel better. While he still cared nothing about the self-righteous (in his mind) loner-bot, there was no point in fighting him. Not in those circumstances, anyway.
"What do you want?"
Proto Man half expected this reaction. "I need a favor."
"No." Bass snapped. "I've got more important things to do."
"If you're referring to the rampaging robots, then you'll have to leave them to the human authorities." Proto Man remained cool. He never let Bass get to him. And it was funnier to watch Bass get frustrated anyway. "There's too few of us to do any good. Besides that, you owe me."
It took Bass a minute to remember what that was about. "Ugh, that was five years ago!"
Proto Man smiled the faintest smile. "I still managed to get Crystal Bot under control for you. So anyway, as I was saying, there's a more important target to go after if we're going to protect this world. I discovered the general location of Zero's activation device."
Bass' demeanor changed, and he allowed himself a cheery grin. "You didn't have to call in your favor for that."
"Yes I did. This is not a situation where you can just go in, guns blazing. A cool mind should be in charge of this. Mine. And that's where the favor comes in: you'll do exactly what I say."
"WHAT?"
It was obvious that Proto Man was enjoying this far too much. Bass had half a mind to blast that smirk off his face. "Think about it. When Crystal Bot was under their control, she basically said to activate Zero right away. Either they delayed because we have Crystal now and they need her for some reason, or else their plans have changed. I think I've found out their base of operations, their real one, and that's where they have the device. I can't get in there alone, and I'll need a stronger robot to distract them so I can get past their defenses. They've snagged some of the military's best machines for this."
Bass frowned, then his eyes narrowed, warning Proto Man that he was going too far. "No. I'm not taking orders from the likes of you."
"But you owe me."
"You weren't going to pay back the favor you owed me five years ago!" Bass hissed. "And I hauled you out of a stupid volcano."
"You wanted me to see Dr. Light in the hospital, and I did." Proto Man said. "How is that not paying it back?"
"You didn't do it because I told you to, that's for sure!"
Proto Man smiled bigger. "That makes a difference, how? Besides, good guy, it's your job to prevent Zero from being activated." From here Blues took on a more serious tone. "And if Zero wakes, then all of us are gone. Then there will be nothing left of Dr. Light's legacy, and Wily wins. You're not going to let a thing like pride get in the way of stopping Wily, are you?"
Bass cringed. Proto Man knew him too well. He would have objected to Blues saying that Zero could kill him, but if someone as crazy as Wily could pull off the scheme he had with taking over all the world's robots, then there was no room for taking chances.
"Fine. Let's get this over with."
-t-
Mega Man equipped his buster and his super armor.
The face of Paris was a bleak one. All the modern cities had had the most advanced and important robots, so of course the disasters there were the most horrific. There was a laboratory on the east side of the city where Dr. Light had often visited. Mega Man made a point of avoiding the area. He wanted to have his memories of the place be one of goodness and progress, not the rubble and wreckage that the rest of the capital of France had become.
Fortunately for the bomber, there didn't seem to be a lot of rebelling robots around. One good side effect of Wily's plan was that these robots would have to be destroyed eventually, meaning that any damage they could do would be short-lived. The blue bomber couldn't avoid a feeling of dread, though. If their damage was subsiding, it wouldn't be long before a large, blonde, red-armored robot would come to put an end to the last vestiges of what Mega Man held dear. He thought of his friends, especially Roll. it was bad enough that he thought he had lost Roll, but really losing her would mean losing himself.
His large eyes looked out over the once bright Paris. It was all empty now, and what remained of it resembled pictures of World War II aftermath. Only now it wasn't just France. Mega Man's eyes lowered to the ground, but even as he tried to avoid the gaze of the tattered landscape, he could still see the cracked cement of the pavement. He didn't expect any trouble, but he went warily in any case. If Dr. Cain was suspicious that one of Wily's minions would go after his sons, then it would probably happen. Mega Man shuddered; he knew how vindicative Wily was. Even though Cain was his (forced) compatriot, he wouldn't forget how Cain had first humiliated him.
Ah, there they were. Robots began to crawl out of the wreckage. They were going around and looking for any hidden humans or targets. He had intercepted some of their transmissions, and he could guess what they were doing. The two sons of Dr. Cain were somewhere nearby, he was sure of it. Mega Man didn't know where to find them, so he followed the renegade robots in hopes they would lead him there. He wished that Cain had given him a direction to go. He was lucky that he found out it was France. Klaus had been visiting his older brother at the college he went to, and they had been there when the attack had started. Mega Man cringed as he thought of the poor human refugees, huddled somewhere under the streets to keep away from any renegades still hunting them down.
There were five robots he was following, and they were some of the tour guide robots that Mega Man had met only the past year. He thought with pain as he remembered Auto's diagnosis of the virus that now had them in sway: it was so deeply ingrained into their CPUs that there was no way to get rid of it in time before the virus destroyed their minds. And if you tried, it was programmed to shut them down early. All of the robots would deactivate to the point of disrepair before anything could be done. Mega Man hated it very badly.
But he chose not to think about it. He was tailing them through the rubble of Paris to save lives that he knew could be, so he was forced to think of them as his enemies. He had no choice in the matter.
One of them, not a tour-bot but a miner's guide made to detect underground oil, started to giggle hideously through a backwards grimace that could only be vaguely called a smile, if you saw it in the correct lighting.
"Hey guys," Mega Man guessed that was what he said. The french he used was very awkward and broken. "I think I found the little runaways!"
As he transmitted some coordinates, he danced about oddly. Mega Man could only feel sympathy for him: this was another symptom of the robot's impending death, as the deletion of his personality AI resulted in weird behavior. But as sorry as he felt, Mega knew he had to destroy the five robots. He caught the coordinates, and so he had to wreck them before they found the humans. He charged his buster.
The robots heard it, and they turned around with threat in their stances.
"Look! Get him!"
To his horror Mega Man found that they weren't trying to kill him, per say, but each of them reached out with relentless arms to hold him still. One of them was brandishing a small computer chip, and he gleefully started to bring it towards the blue bomber. Rock unleashed the charged shot, taking down the two bots to his left. The other two near him grabbed his arms, but before the last could try and get the chip installed, Rush flew by, snagging it away and chopping it to bits.
"Good job, Rush!"
Mega Man pulled his arms out of the robots' grasp and fired. One of them immediately fell, and the other was a little tricker to take down. Fortunately, none of them were designed for fighting, so no matter what Wily had infected them with, they couldn't beat the blue bomber. And also fortunately, none of them were smart enough to try to run away to the humans or try to communicate to any other robots in the area where the humans were. For now, they would be safe.
"Alright, Rush," Mega Man said to his dog once the battle was complete. "Let's go find those humans. I know of a place we can take them that will be safe and they'll like it a lot better than they will underground. You called for the rescue helicopter, right?"
Rush barked in the affirmative.
-t-
"How long do we have to wait here?"
The dark robot looked out into the dark streets of New York, where the wreckage now appeared quiet. But Bass and Proto Man were not fooled. Both of them could detect the movement of the stealthy robots wandering the streets. They were converging on the bottom of a half-collapsed skyscraper, obviously the base that Proto Man had mentioned. As for stealth on their part, the two heroes were one street over, hidden in the shadows of a wall. It was the only remains of that particular building.
"We're waiting for Epidemic Man." Proto Man replied. "Or one of the other Cain-bots. If you notice, the army-bots they're using to guard the place are never allowed into the interior of the basement, where I'm sure the activation device is kept. We'll wait until one of them comes and opens the door. Your part will be to distract Epidemic Man - or whoever it is - letting me sneak inside to reach the device while they think that you are the one trying to stop them."
Bass was convinced that Proto Man was making at least half of his information up. "That sounds dumb. You could just end up trapped in there and get killed by somebody. Not that I care, but if I have to put up with Rock's whining it'll piss me off."
"Oh, because everything that exists was made to be convenient for Bass." Proto Man rolled his eyes, vaguely amused by his helper's commentary. "I'm obsolete. If I haven't died at some point before now, I think I can manage this. Besides, if you want Rock to 'not whine' then you can come in and rescue me."
"You'll owe me again."
"No, a calm Rock is your reward."
"Whatever."
There was silence for a time, as both robots scanned the radio waves and gazed up at the sky for any sign of Epidemic Man. His coloration was not one that would show up well, and Proto Man found himself hoping that Algorhythm Man would be the one to show up. His bright, neon patches would make him the easiest of all the Cain-bots to spot. Then again, Psycho Man wouldn't be too hard to spot either, especially if he sent out his electrical attack. But surely the enemy wasn't that stupid. They knew better than to think so.
Bass did a quick check of his busters. Both dequipped and re-equipped silently and properly, and his power level was looking good. He resisted the urge to tap his armor; Crystal Bot had taught him that as a way to test the quality of a particular metal, and Bass longed to hear the ring of his custom-engineered armor. It was a comforting sound. No reason to make too much noise and alert anyone to their presense, though, so he just folded his arms and leaned against the wall.
"Bass?"
"What?"
He glanced over at the red Light-bot, noticing the strange look on his face. Proto Man was biting his lip, and seemed to be half fighting his curiosity. He spoke his mind anyway, a bit apprehensively.
"When you worked for Wily...did you ever kill anyone? Humans, I mean?"
"Yeah. Lots. Hundreds. Maybe a thousand, even."
Even through his visor, Proto Man was able to convey perfectly his unamused glare. He was asking an honest question, and didn't care for sarcasm.
Bass lifted one side of his mouth in a crooked smile. "I never killed anybody. Sheesh."
Proto Man was taken aback. "Wait, you worked for Wily all those years and you never...? I think even Top Man killed someone, once."
"Top Man?" Bass chortled. "Oh, I feel so sorry for that person. They'd have to try hard to find a dumber way to go than that. Ha."
"And you?"
Bass shrugged. "I was too busy fighting Rock to care much about killing people. That, and Wily usually just ordered me to steal things from them. They nearly crapped their pants - some of them actually did - at the sight of me, so I never needed to do much besides rough them up a little. Hehe, watching them squirm was hilarious. When you've got it, you don't need to prove you've got it. Ha, good days, good days..."
Proto Man winced, shaking his head. The irony of it was stunning - it was Bass' desire for fear that saved their lives? That protection could come from such a demented source was beyond Proto Man's understanding.
"You killed someone, didn't you?"
This question broke into Blues' thoughts like a sledgehammer into glass. For a moment the pure shock of it paralyzed him. Unable to look Bass in the eyes, Proto Man only muttered quietly his answer.
"Yeah. It was when I was very young...I didn't know better, and Wily had said..."
Blues stopped, bitterly scrunching his lips together. Attempting to explain himself and his miserable reasoning only made him sound more pathetic. He wished he hadn't asked Bass about murder in the first place. Bass was a bad guy, why hadn't he killed? It wasn't fair. Proto Man had always tried to do what he thought was right, and somehow he ended up being the killer, rather than a demented robot who only cared about being the best in the world.
"Eh, that's right, somebody did say you worked for him before I was built." Bass was completely indifferent to Blues' internal struggle. "But you got away, and that's what counts."
"Please don't tell Rock."
"Heh, imagine him crying about it." the dark robot grinned at the thought. "Nah, that guy's way too innocent. He'd probably blow a gasket or something if he found out."
"I'd rather not think about it."
"Have it your way."
The two remained silent. Proto Man realized that Bass hadn't said directly that he would keep the information to himself, but he figured that Bass didn't have a reason to. Besides, pressuring him about it was more likely to get him to tell. So Proto Man dropped the matter. He shifted uncomfortably. Bass seemed inexplicably calm for the topic they had just been discussing.
"So who'd you kill?"
"Bass, please...don't ask me about it."
The dark robot didn't care enough to persue it further. Again it was ironic: the bad quality of indifference was what kept Bass from scorn, mockery, or some other reaction he could have to learning something darker about the Light-bot.
"Well, don't cry about it. You've made up for it by now."
Proto Man didn't think that was possible, but he abstained from contradiction. "I wish I felt that way."
There was no more conversation. Bass wasn't that curious, and Proto Man wasn't willing to divulge, so the matter dropped. And it wasn't long before they both detected the Cain-bot they knew would come, and they both got ready. Blues disappeared, and Bass made ready his busters, waiting for the signal to begin. Epidemic Man lowered to the street, looking about him with a sort of grin on his face. Bass swore he'd change that expression, as well as remodel his face.
He'd look REAL good with a plasma burn hole between his eyes...
Epidemic Man disappeared in the rubbish, but that was to be expected, or so Proto Man said. In any case, Bass couldn't get any closer for the time being, so he just waited for the signal. It was another reminder that he was following Proto Man's orders...yuck. Fortunately Bass was too focused on his enemies to bother with complaining, even in his thoughts.
Three army-bots, waiting out front, at least two went where I can't see, but they're on radar...Epidemic Man in place...
There was a pinging sound somewhere in the distance.
That's the signal. Now they die.
-t-
It was some sort of panic room, Mega Man guessed. It was supposed to have been hidden by a movable wall in the subway system, but that wall had crumbled. Mega Man couldn't really tell why, but he guessed that it had something to do with aboveground explosions causing earthquakes. He passed through the wrecked wall and found himself face to face with huge metal panels, and in the middle of one was a heavily armored door. Small round black things embedded in the wall were cameras, he guessed. A small speaker was attacked to the wall, and Mega Man pressed the button so that he could speak to those inside.
"Paris survivors," Mega Man said in perfect (and absolutely adorable, if he had known it) french. "This is Mega Man, and I've come to bring you to where you can be safe! Are Rodney and Klaus Cain in there with you?"
There was a pause, and Rock made sure to stay within camera range so they could see it really was him. It was only then he noticed the laser guns hanging overhead, pointed exactly at him. He laughed at himself. He should have noticed those first. It made him feel better that the humans were prepared for a robot attack, though he couldn't help but think putting up a weak sort of resistance as that would only alert other bad robots to their presense in the shelter.
"This is Rodney Cain," a voice crackled through the speaker. "My brother is here too."
"Good!" the blue bomber was relieved. "You're not hurt, are you? None of you in the shelter, I mean?"
"Besides a sprained ankle and a manner of bruises and cuts, we are all fine. There are fifteen of us altogether."
"Okay. There's a rescue helicopter coming, and it should be here in ten minutes. I'll stay out here and keep the way clear for you until it arrives."
"I'm glad you showed up, Mega Man." another voice sounded through the speaker, a young one. "Can you find our parents for us?"
Mega Man guessed that this was Klaus. "I'm not sure about your mother. As for Dr. Cain..."
He paused. How could he tell them about their father's death? The very fact that he had died was bad enough, and the method of his departure was frightening even to a robot that had fought in many wars. And to tell them that their father had been the unwitting dupe of the evil mastermind Wily would be just too much. Mega Man knew he had to figure out some way to say it. They deserved to know at least a watered down version of the truth.
"...he said that he loves you both very much."
When the crackling speaker sounded again, Mega Man could hear weak crying in the background. Rodney's voice was the one who spoke next. "Did he have something to do with everything that happened out there? To Paris...and to the whole world? I have to know."
"It wasn't his fault." Mega Man said, trying his hardest to keep calm himself. "He told me a long time ago that he wanted to get out of villainy, but Wily...Wily did a lot of bad things to him. He installed a chip in his brain-"
"No, Wily didn't." Rodney said. "Dad got the chip installed on himself years ago. It's a prototype he invented to interface with his computers. But if Wily somehow could manipulate it, then...that makes sense." The young man sighed before continuing. "There's no point in talking about it anymore. Where can you take us that it will be safe?"
"There's several islands around the world that the UN ordered to be made in case of a robotic attack. No robots are allowed there, and they have the best anti-machine weaponry that the world has produced." Mega Man explained. "It's a whole lot better than being stuck in an underground shelter - oh! That's Rush! Don't come out of the shelter until I tell you, okay?"
"Okay."
Mega Man signalled his loyal dog. " - is it all clear up there Rush? - "
" - Woof, woof woof, ruff! - "
" - Great! You keep sniffing around and make sure no one approaches as the helicopter lands. I'm going to make sure the path is clear and then bring the survivors up to the helicopter. - "
" - Ruff-ruff! - "
-t-
As expected, there was a secret door among the New York building's wreckage, and it probably led to what was the basement of the formerly tall and noble skyscraper. Also to be expected, as soon as Epidemic Man noticed Bass killing his servants, the door snapped shut. But Bass didn't care. Proto Man was probably already inside, tearing up anything that remotely looked like an activation device. And Bass, feeling like he should keep up his side of things, was ready to kill anything that looked like an enemy.
"Having fun, Fish?"
"Call me that again and die!"
"Oh, so it's magic then?" Epidemic Man lifted a curious hand to his chin. "If I say the magic word then I will instantly die? I shall now test that theory. Fi-"
The sudden THWANG of an army-bot head smacking into his face stopped Epidemic Man, for a moment anyway. He laughed heartily, despite some fresh new dents in his metal visage.
"Ha ha, you have no sense of humor."
"I'm not a comedian."
With that, Bass promptly equipped the psycho pulse and threw a fist with such impact that the last army-bot's head went flying in one strike. Epidemic Man's eyes widened, as if he had some light approval for the dark robot, who was now turning his attention to the evil Cain-bot.
"Eh...I'd like to fight you," Epidemic Man's tone wasn't altogether that convincing. "But I'm afraid that my dear brother Al has first dibs on taking you down. Mind waiting a bit for me to go fetch him?"
"Yes, I would!"
Quickly getting the signal shot ready, Bass fired it off. It hit his enemy straight on, and Epidemic Man was stopped cold, forced by the strange substance to slow down.
"Ugh! That Signal Man!" Epidemic Man swore. "He always was more useful to you idiots rather than us!"
Bass found that using his buster was often more poignant than any conversation he might have made. This was one such time, and each purple pellet maddened Epidemic Man further (and amused Forte that much more).
"Oh wait, you're weak to Echelon Man's weapon, right?" Bass' gold turned to brick red. "Alright, let's-"
Certainly Bass wasn't going to say "let's kick me in the face", but that's precisely what happened. Bass had overestimated the length of time Signal Man's weapon (if you can call it that) lasted, and he paid for his mistake, flying backwards from Epidemic Man's dash-kick.
"You can do that?"
"I'm just full of surprises, now aren't I? Stick around, okay? Algorhythm Man's on his way!"
Bass jumped to his feet and started firing. "You get back here!"
But Epidemic Man lifted up and flew off, dodging the purple plasma rather cleverly as he dodged the pillars holding up what floors remained overhead. Cursing once for good measure, Bass slammed his fist into what remained of a wall.
Hey wait a minute. Can't that guy teleport? Must be broken.
Bass stored this information away later, also noting Epidemic Man's dash. He wasn't going to be taken advantage of again. But now that the ruined streets were empty, the dark robot's thoughts turned once again over to Proto Man, wondering why in the world he was following along with such a ridiculous plan. Proto Man had probably gotten into the underground hideout, but there was no telling what defensive measures were in there and he could have been shot and killed within a minute of getting there.
He went over to the door to investigate. It was a round thing lying level along with the tattered floor, one of the very few areas where you could actually see the floor. The metal door was split into eight triangles, and these apparently opened apart, leaving the center open for passage. There was a panel with numbered buttons and red lights, but Bass couldn't get it open. He wasn't going to try, either.
"This stupid place is made in a basement - it's not armored." he muttered to himself. "I can blast through the floor."
And that's what he did, though once the ground beneath him collapsed he realized he probably should have thought things through a little better. Sinking down with the falling rubble, he found himself inside the underground base. He threw off the junk around him and got up to take a look.
The hall was filled with a large number of auto cannons hung wherever they could find room in the basement, all pointed at where the true entrance to the base was. Expecting them to shoot at him, Bass readied himself to dodge. But they did nothing. On closer inspection, they were seen to have no power.
"You're so subtle, Bass."
"I had to get in here somehow, Proto-idiot, so relax." Bass usually only liked sarcasm when he was the one dishing it out. "How did you get in here without activating the autocannons? Or were they off when you got here?"
Proto Man smiled as he walked towards his partner. While most of the time he had a rational opinion of himself, he knew he was clever. "I told you, I know what I'm doing."
"Whatever. Did you destroy the activation device or what?"
"I believe I did." Proto Man nodded. "Everything I checked in the computer seems to indicate that. But I'd like to make sure there's not an alternate device, and also to see if there's anything else I can learn about what the Cain-bots are doing. This base is a tunnel that extends several blocks outwards, and there's bound to be something worth seeing further down. We can't assume we know everything about Wily's plan, even now."
"He's already torn the planet up, and without Zero what can he do?" Bass said. "But whatever. Lead on, 'brave leader'."
"No." Proto Man handed out three discs to Bass. "I found these, and I believe they'll be useful to us, so you'd better get them back to the lab with them. I'm going to go alone. If there were any more robots here you would have alerted them with your entrance in any case. Leave this to me."
For a moment, the dark robot just stared at him, leaving the discs where they were. "That's not smart. You're going to face whatever's there alone?"
"Just trust me. I've been practicing stealth longer than you've been alive. Besides, I did deactivate the autocannons without any so much as firing at me. I know what I'm doing."
"If you say so." Bass took the discs and stashed them under his armor. "But if someone doesn't hear from you when I get back, I'm sending Rock out to find you."
"Wow, you almost sound concerned for my welfare."
Bass sneered as he started heading for the hole he had made so he could double-jump out. "Don't get used to it."
-t-
Roll looked out the window of the lab. She didn't want to leave it, but at the same time, she was bored. She hated herself for being bored, what with so much danger around her, but she couldn't help it. Being bored was far better than wondering about her brothers, or Bass. So there she was, standing at an outer window, hoping she would see someone with some news.
She looked back aimlessly. She was in the "library" of Dr. Light's old documents (a place she found more comforting and welcoming than ever), and through the open door she could hear the noise going on in the lab. Crystal Bot was repairing the set of Bass' legs that she had just replaced, so that he would have a spare, though from her desperate mutterings, Roll could still tell that the poor tech-bot was trying to repair at least one of her comrades. Roll shuddered. Auto was still working on a cure for the virus that was infecting the robots around the world. He wanted more than anything else to work on the greater virus that had forced its way into Crystal Bot's mind, but he had no safe way of doing so.
Roll stopped listening to the chatter of the technicians. Most of it was beyond her, and all of it was depressing. The only hope she had was that Rock would come home soon, telling them that all the Cain-bots were gone and wouldn't trouble anyone anymore, just like he did after defeating every other robot team that had tormented them. She stared out the window at the quiet surroundings of the house, still amazed that no one had attacked the lab yet. She didn't know how strong the security was.
A glimpse of something red and yellow was outside the window, standing out in the grass beyond Light property.
"Proto Man!" Roll screamed with delight as she ran for the door.
The lab seemed larger than ever as Roll impatiently ran through it to where she could leave. Auto saw her running by them, but Roll paid them no mind. She was going to find her brother. Only as Roll finally got to the outer door did it occur to her how strange it was for Proto Man to remain outside the force field that protected the lab. He had the proper coding. He could just walk on through. She didn't notice Auto coming behind her.
As she continued to run outside, she heard another familiar voice.
"Huh? How the crap did he get here before me?"
It was Bass, who was far more confused than anyone else. He was closer to Proto Man, as he was coming up to the lab himself from behind. The red and grey robot, however, was standing stock still, his face expressing...nothing. But that didn't stop Bass from trying to get his attention.
"Hello? Earth to Blues..."
The dark robot grabbed his shoulder. Without warning, Proto Man's head tumbled forward, falling off his shoulders and leaving his scarf in Bass' hand. Pushed out of balance, the body crumpled up as the falling helmet dumped out all that remained of Proto Man's mind: bits and pieces of random plastic and metal, with the occasional wire that managed to stay intact for about an inch. They had shredded his mind to bits. It became apparent that the only part of his head intact was the part of his face that showed from under his visor.
"Um...you can fix that, right?"
Auto didn't answer Bass' question. He simply started scooping up the tiny bits that once made up Proto Man's mind and putting them into his upturned helmet to make sure they were collected. Among them, he found a folded piece of paper. It was a note, and once unfolded, it read this:
"Keep your nose out of our business."
Auto crumpled the noted in his hand angrily, then silently went back to gathering Blues' remains. Not sure what else to do, Bass awkwardly handed the yellow scarf to Roll. The girl-bot took it reverently, stroking running her hand down its length. But then she began quivering.
"It's not fair...it's not fair!"
Bass awkwardly reached for shoulder (everything he did then was awkward), but Roll just shook her head, crying too hard to tell him not to touch her. She ran inside the lab, the golden yellow scarf fluttering behind her as she ran, and a forlorn Bass watched her go. He kicked at some dirt bitterly. He had messed up again.
\\\
Author's Notes:
- I hereby dedicate this chapter to Queen Sunstar, because she's the one that said Proto Man would live. :D Oh, I had his death planned out way before you suggested it, and I'm so glad I get to share it with you guys now. BWAAHAHAHAHA!
- Gah, me and my never ending battle with the segment breaks...
Since there's no one new in this chapter to introduce, I'll do some peeps I meant to do but forgot earlier.
=====Drill Man
"Oops, I damaged the gas pipe..."
Good point: Industrious
Bad point: Haphazard
Like: A rush job
Dislike: Calculations
Drill Man is the second robot Dr. Cossack built, and he is very loyal to his master, hence why he had the hardest time with being taken over by the mind-control virus and destroying Cossack's lab. While Pharoah Man is fairly lacking in emotion, Drill Man is essentially the opposite, and they two represent Dr. Cossack's early problems working with sentient AI. However, Drill Man, while impatient, does like a job well done. He generally works more for the Russian government than for Cossack personally, but he's under the doctor's authority. He's pretty much the most nuts of all the Cossack-bots, but he gets along very well with the family, especially Kalinka, and he doesn't like to come back from a job without some sort of story or joke to tell her. Drill Man has fights with Bright Man, at times, as he has trouble listening to anyone but Cossack or Pharoah Man, and sometimes he can be annoying to them. But he always means well. Admittedly, Drill Man actually liked working for Wily, as he got to drill whenever and wherever he wanted. It spoiled him a little, but he still cares too much others and being thought of well by them to ever go bad on his own.
=====Ring Man
"Expect no mercy, Megaman!"
Good point: Good strategist
Bad point: Too confident
Like: Deck quoit
Dislike: Children
Ring Man and Skull Man were both emphatically "suggested" by Wily. While Skull Man made sense, being both scary and Wily's mascot, pretty much, Ring Man was just strange. He was made specifically to assassinate Mega Man - so Wily said - but yet had rings for a weapon. Dr. Cossack told Wily that rings as weapons didn't make any sense at all, but Wily said that's why it would work. Of course it didn't, and the evil doctor never forgave Cossack for being right.
Ring Man was always a fairly serious robot, but he could be mischevious at times. Out of all Cossack's robots, the doctor felt that Ring Man's personality AI was the most successful, as he seemed the most human, despite his generally serious nature. That was perhaps the biggest reason why Cossack kept him after the events of MM4. Over the years, they became good friends, and Ring Man showed himself to be a great conversationalist. Surprisingly enough, he became very competent with his rings, and often serves as a guard for Cossack's more serious projects when they need to be delivered somewhere in Russia.
By the way, deck quoit is a game pretty much like horseshoes, only with rings instead.
- This chapter's depressing music is The Gift, and here's a vid: www. youtube .com /watch?v=we_Tu-85X5M The music video is about Dragon Ball Z, so I highly encourage you to just skip the vid and listen to the music. Not that I have anything against DBZ, the song just doesn't seem to match. Also, you can download the music for free legally at the website www. djredlight .com Illegal downloads are bad! Don't be a music pirate if you don't want to get assassinated by music ninjas!