The Damage Done

Air Man was sitting in the second seat, arguing quietly with Cut Man, who seemed a little lost without his usual partner. Roll wondered briefly if he depended on Guts Man to shield him from the stronger robots and she felt kinda sorry for him, especially since she could relate. She had been programmed to be weaker and was only now coming up to par.

Proto Man, who was in the driver's seat, was enjoying himself and their success over his goody-two-shoes brother and that made Roll very suspicious, at first she had attributed it to not ending up in pieces like they usually did. But there seemed to be something else. They hadn't succeeded in capturing the president, so shouldn't Dr. Wily be…angry right now? Or maybe his bots failed so much, the anger had eventually drained out of him. She sighed, supposing she'd figure it out later and tried to edge away from Snake Man, who was sitting in between her and Metal Man, who had been glaring at her sullenly, much to her annoyance. Finally she snapped.

"What's your problem?"

"What's my problem? We could have been blasted when you froze up like that!"

Air Man and Cut Man turned around to look at her, Proto Man scowled in the rear view mirror.

"She froze up?" Cut Man scoffed.

Whatever pity Roll had been feeling for him vanished. She turned on Cut Man.

"It's not like you never froze up Mr. Tough Guy! And I could kick your butt even without the new programming."

Snake Man grinned a little. The new bot had spunk.

Air Man looked irritated.

Cut Man was clearly stung by her remark.

"Well at least-"

But before he could finish, Proto Man cut him off.

"But we kicked his butt, so it doesn't matter, now does it? It was just a rookie mistake. She'll smooth out and blend in, just like all the new bots do. So shut up and be happy for once! I'm trying to drive here." He was irritated now.

Roll sighed, crossed her arms in front of her chest and squished herself even further away from Snake Man, staring at the flashing roads and trees.

As they all trooped back into the base, Air Man stopped Proto Man. "I think the little girl is putting on a very convincing act."

Proto Man lowered his voice. "Wily knows what's going on." He said evasively. "He's got things planned out a little better this time around. She's obedient by programming, the doc just had make sure that she's obedient to him now, just like all of us." The last five words were spaced out with careful, sarcastic measure. "If you don't like it, go talk to him Air Head."

"I aint some weak little bot that you can punk around, ProtoMan." Air Man warned him.

"I'll remember that."

Roll counted several bots as she headed towards her room, some like Guts Man, Heat Man and Top Man were in Hibernation Mode. Others, like Star Man, Crystal Man, Gemini Man and Gyro Man, were guarding the base.

Roll mentally tallied all the robots Wily had under his command. There were thirty-eight, not including her, which was a lot to keep track of, sixteen were in Hibernation Mode and twenty four were active. That meant that were thirty-two on base now, including her.

Seven were missing. But where? Did Dr. Wily assign them other projects on the sly? Was it possible that there were unrecorded crimes he committed right under their noses? A robot stopped in front of her, bringing her back to attention.

"So how did you do?" Star Man asked.

Better than you usually do. Thought Roll flippantly, still irritated with Cut Man and Metal Man but answered, "The same I guess. We didn't get our butts kicked, but Snake Man and Air Man didn't capture the president either."

Thanks to me warning Dr. Light in time. Heh. Snake Man and Air Man must be getting an earful from Wily.

Star Man gave her an, I-know-something-you-don't-know look and sauntered off.

"That wasn't too bad sis." Proto said. "For your first time fighting against my goody-goody brother."

"I guess.' She said. Than she remembered something.

"Hey! You said you were going to tell me why Dr. Wily called me Ultra Girl!"

"Oh that. Well, the doc is just sorta making his mark on you by renaming you."

Making his mark? That just sounded…creepy...

"He did the same thing with me too."

"You mean when he stole you?" She asked.

"Sis. He didn't steal me. Back when Dr. Wily and Dr. Light were partners, they created me together."

Roll nodded, she knew that already. "But I'll bet your old man never told you that there was something seriously wrong with me."

He had, but he had never told them what it was.

"Dr. Light was gonna shut me down, scrap me." He said, a hint of resentfulness in his voice.

"What? He would never-" and then Roll thought about all the malfunctioning robots Dr. Light had shut down, many with deep regret.

"Wily wanted to fix my flaws, but Light didn't want too. Figured they'd just try again instead."

Roll shook her head. Dr. Light only shut down robots when he had absolutely had too. He'd never just do it on a lazy whim. There had to be something critically wrong with him, to make Dr. Light decide to shut him down permanently.

"That's why Wily took me out of there, fixed my flaws and that's why I'm here today!" He said, stretching his arms out for emphasis. "Than he renamed me."

So did that mean that Proto Man served Dr. Wily by choice instead of programming?

"What was you original name?" She asked.

There was a long silence and Roll was beginning to think he wouldn't answer her.

"Blues." He finally said. He didn't seem to like the name at all. Looked as though he had swallowed something bitter.

But to her it made sense. Blues, Rock, and Roll. The three names went together, and formed a sentimental picture in her head and she suddenly wondered what he really looked like under that helmet. Not Proto Man, but Blues.

"Can I see what you look like?"

"Why?" He asked.

"Just curious."

He considered and than removed his helmet.

Roll blinked in surprise, the similarities between him and Mega were obvious, though his hair was a darker shade of brown and where Mega's face was rounder, softer, more boyish, his was more refined, a little more like hers, but with a certain something that made him look more mature, despite the fact that he was an obnoxious jerk.

He gave her his famous smirk, which transformed his face now that she was seeing it without the mask. There was a mischievous, challenging gleam in his eyes and it caused to Roll to grin back.

The helmet was replaced.

"Spoilsport." She grumbled.

"Dr. Light working with Dr. Wily? Many of you wouldn't believe it, but the FBI had received a phone call from Dr. Light, warning him that Dr. Wily would be sending his robots to kidnap him. The president and his body guards fled to a secret location, only to be kidnapped by Dr. Wily's forces that same day, the building was destroyed and there were only a handful of survivors left. One of them claims that the robots who kidnapped the president told him that Dr. Light was responsible. Another condemning piece of evidence, is that one of Dr. Light's robots was seen aiding the robots that raided the White House today. We'll have more on this grounds breaking story after these commercials."

Dr. Light and Mega Man stared at the TV. Mouths opened in shock.

"I don't understand, what's going on here?" Mega Man said.

Dr. Light sighed, it was time to reveal the true situation, but before he could do that, there was a loud pounding on the door.

He went to open it.

"Dr. Light, your under arrest for conspiring to kidnap the president."

"What?" Mega Man demanded. "Dr. Light would never-"

"I assure I am completely innocent and to prove that, I will go quietly into custody."

The man nodded and handcuffed him.

His partner looked at Mega Man uneasily.

"What should we do about him?" He asked.

"Leave him for now." The other police officer replied. "If he causes trouble…" The rest was left unsaid.

"Mega Man, look after our home and get Roll back." Dr. Light said.

Mega Man clenched his fists.

Dr. Wily and his robots grinned. "All according to plan." He smiled.

Dr. Light's reputation would be in shreds and Mega Man faced the possibility of being shut down, leaving Dr. Wily the opportunity to take over completely unhindered. Of course there was always the risk that his "newest addition" would figure out that she had been used to send and receive information from Skull Fortress to his former partner's lab, but that could be replaced by throwing her off with misinformation. Shadow Man had always been quite clever regarding deception, which both intrigued him and frightened him.

Now he would have to figure out a way to have the authorities deactivate Mega Man. He called Shadow Man to his office and decided to send Proto Man out to lead a new raid with Ultra Girl, he couldn't risk having the two of them foul this up.