Multiple Illusions
Mega Man walked around the house restlessly. The house just felt so empty without Dr. Light and Roll.
"I can't believe how much has gone wrong in the last few weeks." He muttered to Rush.
And Roll, there was something odd about the way she was at the battle. Even though she had attacked, he had seen her hesitate, she hadn't attacked Rush and had sounded just as angry about his treatment at Proto Man's hands. But she had been perfectly comfortable with Wily's bots and hadn't protested when Proto Man called her sis. Things just didn't add up.
"And what did Dr. Light want to tell me before he got taken to prison?"
The screen flickered to life.
"Chief of Police to Mega Man, Wily's bots are flooding the city. You've gotta help us!"
Behind them, large amounts of sewer water flooded the streets at frightening speeds, sweeping away terrified citizens and lighter debris.
"As if things couldn't get any worse. C'mon Rush we've gotta stop them!"
Dr. Light sat next to his lawyer and towards the investigators.
"Now listen, I'm having a hard time believing that you would be on Dr. Wily's side, considering all the good you've been done for this country but you have to admit the evidence is…damning."
"I assure you that despite all the evidence, that I would never take Dr. Wily's side."
"And how is it, that he got his hands on this particular robot when it's been evading his capture for years?"
It. That's all she was to them now, just an it. How disappointing.
"You knew Dr. Wily was going to attack that day, and then Wily's bots kidnapped him at a secret base. How is that? You have to give me something a little more concrete Dr. Light."
And then it came to him.
"So that's how he knew." He said.
The investigators looked at each other.
"You see, Roll was there with Dr. Wily voluntarily."
Now he had to choose his words carefully.
"I sent her there as a spy, allowing herself to be "captured" and I set a carefully hidden reboot program in place as well as programs to transmit vital information that would help put Wily behind bars for good, but he must have discovered it somehow and reprogrammed it."
Moreover, if he had discovered that, then there was a good chance that he had discovered the reboot system as well, which meant that Roll might be lost to them forever.
"Can we find this information in your computer?"
"Yes. Please let me give you my passwords and files, you should find everything there."
The investigators looked relieved. No one wanted to see Dr. Light in prison, but the stakes were much higher then anyone suspected and the whole situation had been compromised, possibly beyond repair. His willingness to cooperate and be honest would help clear his name.
One of the investigators looked at him grimly.
"I believe you Dr. Light, but now that things have gotten out of hand, we're going to have to make very careful choices for this to be a success. If it's true that Dr. Wily found a way to tamper with your robot, then we have to let him continue to believe that we haven't caught onto him."
Dr. Light nodded.
"Now, if the evidence you've given us holds up, we'll have to quietly move you to a safe house and regrettably because your robot, registered as Roll, is listed as one of Wily's bots and because we have no idea how much it's been tampered with, we have no choice but to destroy it when we catch it."
"No! You can't! I can fix her! I know I can! Please give us a chance!" Dr. Light leaped out of his seat imploringly.
"I'm sorry Dr. Light, I understand that Roll's like a daughter to you, but it has to be done and she'll be honored as a hero."
"At least you'll still have Mega Man and you could always build another one right?" The younger investigator said consolingly.
Dr. Light slumped in his chair, defeated.
How could they understand that he could never build another robot like Roll? Each of his robots had their own unique personality, they were almost human at times. If only he hadn't destroyed his time machine, he could go back and prevent this whole mess from happening. His family would eventually be ripped apart and there was nothing he could do to stop it, because even if he found a way to try to convince Mega Man, they might try to destroy him too. He could only hope that she would evade capture and perhaps they could find one another and move to a quaint, out of the way place where they need never be bothered by anyone again.
He clung to that hope fervently, for he felt that if he didn't, he'd go mad.
"There's one more stipulation."
Dr. Light looked up wearily.
"We're going to need you to tell Mega Man to give us his full cooperation."
Dr. Light stared at him in horror. But that meant-
"We both know that this is much bigger than clearing your name."
But at what price? To rip his family apart forever? To force Mega to destroy his own sister?
He felt a bad pain in his chest and toppled off the chair, fighting for breath.
"Dr. Light!"
The two investigators opened the door cautiously.
"Mega Man, it's Mr. Rice and Mr. Santiago. We've been given authorization by Dr. Light to access his computer."
"He's not here."
The two walked into the lab, punching in the security code system. Then they accessed the exact files Dr. Light specified.
It was all there, even the transmissions Dr. Light had been receiving from Roll. They punched in commands so that they could receive the information on their own computers instead of Dr. Light's. Keeping Mega Man out of the know would be crucial to their success. They locked up again and Mr. Rice left a note for Mega Man, he was sure the robot would want to know that Dr. Light was in the hospital.
"Let er rip." Proto Man said. Toad Man let loose a missile and his acid rain attack melted a hole in the double thick titanium wall.
Spark Man slipped through, tapped into the surveillance system and drained it of power.
"After you."
Proto Man beckoned to Roll and struggling to fight her reluctance, she silently slipped through the hole into the factory, Toad Man and Quick Man already far ahead.
Several guards rushed them and Roll froze when she saw how easy it was for the others to kill them. Usually the Wily bots threat to people had little to do with direct killing, and more to do with mass destruction. Roll never knew that they could just…use their powers to kill people. She felt a chill creeping into her at this disturbing revelation.
"C'mon sis hurry up! We don't have all night!" Proto Man called in a loud whisper.
Toad Man turned his creepy eyes on her and sneered.
Roll glared back, hoping he could feel it from behind the visor.
They stepped quietly through the dark halls, hid in the deep shadows when people came near and finally reached their target.
Proto Man knew that having Roll go with them had been a difficult choice. Wily didn't want her to figure out that he always sent out two teams, one to distract Mega Man and the authorities and one to get the real job done, but he couldn't have her find out that Dr. Light was in prison either and another confrontation with Mega Man would ruin those chances. So, on Shadow Man advice, he had chosen the lesser of two evils.
So this is how Wily gets equipment for his large projects. Roll thought as they hurried away.
She thought they were finished when Quick Man came back with a struggling man in his arms.
"Dr. Vallejo." She whispered.
The young scientist was doing innovative research that could send out a wave of energy shutting down all dangerous robots within a five-mile radius at once.
"Good work Quick Man." Proto Man said approvingly. "Do you have his plans?"
"Yeah, I sped up his fancy computer and downloaded them into the discs."
"Dr. Wily is very interested in your work Dr. Vallejo." Proto Man told him.
Dr. Vallejo shuddered.
"You already have what you want. Please let me go!"
"I'm afraid we can't do that, cause then you'd go blabbing to the authorities."
"No! I promise I'll never say a word! I swear on my life!"
Proto Man seemed to be considering.
Roll clenched her fists, hoping that Proto would spare the young doctor. Even if he were forced to work for Wily, it'd be better then-
She couldn't finish that train of thought.
"Roll, Toad Man, Spark Man go ahead without us. We'll catch up later."
"A-are you sure?" Roll asked.
"I said go." Proto growled. His voice had taken on that menacing tone again.
Roll hesitated once more before following Toad Man towards the van. Hope for the young doctor draining away like water through cupped hands. All these years they had taken Wily and his bots as an underrated threat. But they had only seen what Dr. Wily had wanted them to see, they were much more dangerous then any of them had ever imagined.
Mega and Rush finally trudged into the house, covered in foul-smelling water. Wily's bots had put up a very hard fight, with no Roll to bring home. Even Proto Man was missing from the scene.
His eyes caught a piece of paper with his name on it and he grabbed the note and read it, a grim expression formed on his face.
The doctor said he was in stable condition but Mega Man was still worried. He was sure that if Roll knew what had happened that she'd try everything she could to come see their father. He took a quick shower, cleaned off Rush and headed towards the hospital.
After Roll had dutifully reported to Wily, who had only been mildly surprised to hear that Proto Man and Quick Man had stayed behind, she fled to her room. Hopefully she wouldn't have to see Proto Man or Quick Man anytime soon…like for the next week.
It had been so easy to bond with her eldest brother, which had nothing to do with obedience or friendliness programming and everything to do with the fact that he was actually a likeable guy. But how could she bear to be around him, when there was a little voice of near certainty in her mind that whispered "Killer" over and over again?
She had known Dr. Vallejo, had promised to protect him from Wily's bots if they ever caught wind of what he was doing and tonight, she'd simply stood by and then walked away when he'd needed her the most. The guilt she felt inside was crushing and she wondered if she'd bitten off more then she could chew this time. Even if she succeeded, she'd be guilty of crimes that she could never tell anyone else.
Roll waited anxiously for Proto to come back and when he did, she switched into hibernation mode. When she finally came out of it, she barely spoke to him and when they did speak, it was in brief sentences, which left him puzzled.