Chapter 14

A Little Normalcy

As Proto walked down the hall to Roll's quarters, he could not have been more proud. His sister was proving herself an accomplished Robot Master. She had busted in, gotten the goods and got away.

He punched in the code and opened his mouth to congratulate her, but stopped when he saw her huddled in the corner and shaking violently.

What had happened? She couldnt've been afraid. Not when she'd flung herself into battle countless times before with that mess she'd called a weapons system.

"Sis?"

He moved slowly and spoke softly as though approaching a frightened animal, kneeling down and barely putting his hand on her shoulder.

She didn't look up.

"I…Proto…I…"

"C'mon, let's hear it." He coaxed gently.

She whispered something that even his advanced hearing had a hard time picking up. When it registered what she'd said, he gaped for a second, but managed to get his face under control as she told the whole story. When she was finished he asked,

"Are you sure you killed the human?"

She flinched.

"I-I'm not sure…I should have been…my programming should have-"

"Do you want to be shut down?" Proto asked harshly.

"No but-"

"Did you know you were shooting at a human?"

"No but I should have-"

"Was it in self defense?"

"Well sort of I mean…he was gonna blast Ice Man but-"

"Then it wasn't unprovoked. You should be grateful Wily knows how to disable that programming."

It wasn't that Proto didn't care about human life, he did his best to avoid taking it himself, but the thought of his family being automatically shut down disturbed him deeply.

"I don't wanna be shut down Proto!" She burst out, hands clutching his armor. "But I don't like feeling like I'm not whole either! Like a part of me's missing!"

"Nothing's missing. Think of it like a part of you has been given back. You're on equal footing with the humans."

There was a tense and heavy silence as she clung to him and he rubbed her back before she asked.

"Have you ever…"

"Taken a human life?" He finished for her, shoving the guilt about Dr. Vallejo deep down inside.

"I try not too, but I'm sure I have without realizing it."

It was the closest he could come to admitting the truth about that night.

Inspiration hit him.

"Lemme ask you something."

She blinked uneasily.

"You were trying to stop them right? And you didn't realize that the guards were humans in titanium armor right?"

She nodded.

"Then that proves, without a shadow of a doubt that you never needed the programming.'

She looked doubtfully at him.

"I'm pretty sure there are soldiers, human soldiers that do their best to avoid killing and tried to keep innocents out of it. I'm sure they felt pretty damn terrible about it. The fact that you feel terrible about it means you're not a heartless machine."

"Doesn't make me feel better." She mumbled.

"I'd be disturbed if it did." He said with a rueful smile. "But it's still true."

He hauled her to her feet.

"C'mon. Let's get outta here for a while."

"Huh?"

"After pullin a heist like that, you deserve a little off time."

"Wily gives you guys off time?" She asked stupidly.

"Uhh…not officially." He smirked as he steered her to his room, handed her some human clothes he'd swiped a long time ago and told her to get dressed.

With her mind cleared after her brother's talk, Roll hastily sent out a carefully encrypted message to Dr. Light about the Mag-Viper and since the mad doctor wasn't paying attention to anything but his latest prize at the moment, he didn't notice.

Though he certainly expected her too. He suppose he could have caught and punished her, but keeping Light and his own double agent in the dark was just too good an opportunity to pass up.

Roll didn't comment as she and Proto headed out on some motorcycle he'd built and modified for a night out on the town. She didn't argue, the way Rock would have over their false IDs. She'd had one herself when she just wanted to be a regular girl and away from Mega and Dr. Light's disapproving eyes and while she wasn't too keen on stealing some clothes for herself, she understood that it was more then just a concession to vanity. They were her ticket at Skull Fortress to normalcy.

They sat on the roof of the bar, enjoying the warm, summer night air and swigging the disguised energy cans in companionable silence. It was almost closing time and the velvety sky was studded with stars. Proto was enjoying himself, sure Roll had been a downer for the first couple of hours, but after some mischief and a little small talk, he'd gotten her more relaxed.

Sharing his personal off time was something he'd never do with any other robot master, but with Roll it seemed right. They understood each other better then Mr. Goody-Goody ever could and while he'd always secretly been curious and wanted to spend time with his siblings, one of the reasons he constantly insisted on battling Mega himself, he never dreamed that it'd be his bratty, younger sister that he'd find himself so close too.

Kinda crazy that Light could have two "kids" that were so much alike, making Mega the odd one out. Not that he considered the old coot his father but still.

"You do this kinda thing a lot with Light?" He asked.

"Yeah, sometimes." She said. "I just…needed to get away from it all. Ya know?"

"Yup." He popped the P and stretched out, listening to the occasional car drive by, the dog barking off in the distance. Without the hustle and bustle of humanity, everything seemed calm and peaceful.

"You know, I always thought it'd be me n Mega like this. Hanging out, doin the doc's dirty work, kickin ass together."

She snorted and rolled her eyes. "Nice to know I was never in your plans." She said dryly and tried to fight off the wave of melancholy that had been threatening to consume her all day.

"But I'm glad it was you, I wouldn't have it any other way." He muttered softly.

She felt a surge of guilt at those words, but countered them boldly.

"What was that? I couldn't hear you." She cupped her hand around her ear and leaned in close.

"I said you're blockin my view, move your big, metal ass outta my way!" He grinned.

"When I get my hands on you buster, I'm gonna rip you a new one!"

Roll was slightly outraged by that comment and her E can clattered to the ground as gave chase, half leaping, half sliding off the roof, tackling him.

He threw her to the ground and gave her a furious noogie.

"Say Uncle!"

"Hell no! You're not my uncle!"

She broke away and their laughter echoed through the town as they roughhoused playfully.

They had to make a run for it when the cops to investigate the disturbance and zoomed out towards the desert, Roll looking back every now and again to make sure they weren't being followed.

Proto was triumphant, he'd finally gotten his sis to smile for real and he was feelin pretty good but his mood soured slightly when he saw Crystal Man waiting impatiently by the door.

"Proto Man! Ultra Girl! where have you two been? Wily needs you both for a bank heist."

"A bank heist? But I just-"

"Don't argue!" Wily barked as he came out of his lab. "Money doesn't grow on trees and I have a world to conquer. Now get going!"

He eyed their human outfits irritably, but made no comment. He was used to Proto taking off from time-to-time. He didn't like it, but he allowed it, so long as the android continued to be loyal.

Roll swiftly donned her helmet, muttering violently under her breath, Crash and Crystal were going with them and Quick Man would be the one driving their get away vehicle.

"Don't be mad sis." Proto whispered. "It's just a normal night at Skull Fortress."

He had to stifle his laughter, because she looked like she might short-circuit trying to keep herself from saying anything sarcastic.

"Sir, we just received a coded transmission from Light's spy."

"Get to work on cracking it!" A man barked, "Make sure it's not being bugged by Wily."

"Got it."

The hacker bot's fingers flew over the keyboard, enabling protection and checking the transmission for anything suspicious, her electronic brain made short work of the encryptions and she scowled. Well that certainly explained the malfunctioning "robot" disaster at Venixion Corps the other day, but what was the company planning on doing with a fire breathing snake?

"I think you should see this sir."

He scanned the short, but precise transmission quickly.

"Take this to Rice," He said, clearly agitated "and put in calls to Mega Man and the military to be on high alert. We never know when Wily's gonna strike."

The mad doctor was unpredictable and they needed to ensure this thing was taken out as quickly as possible. They would have to contact their spies at Venixion and see if they could get blueprints to try and determine a weakness in this monster and more importantly what the company's original intentions were.

"Get me Brain Bot too." He said after a moment of thought, "we'll need all the help we can get with this one."

After all, this wasn't a Wily built machine they were dealing with. While his inventions pushed the boundaries of sheer genius, he didn't have the financial backing to make them, which was a blessing, but the Corps was very secretive about their company secrets and it worried him. He could only hope that this whole thing wouldn't end in tragedy and disaster.