Note: Hello! Looks like it's time for a revision!
The former version is just ok to me. I don't think I conveyed why Tempo reacted the way she did, and I believe I could've executed it better. Plus, I'm inching closer to her introduction in RS, so this is good practice.
I'll admit that a lot of my women/girls are kind of ice queens.
Plus, I decided that, yes, this IS canon to the Variables universe, in that Variables is a retelling/AU anyway, I don't see much issue with saying this happened way before the events of that series.
Although I'm not sure if Proto X Quake would be a thing or left ambiguous. Because this story hopefully sort of shows that. Granted, I'd like to experiment with that angle, but maybe not here. Again, like the pairing, just think Tempo was too easily accepting of Blues.
Again, don't hate Proto/Blues, but as much as I like him, there's a lot of angst and regret potential regarding the outcome of his actions, blackmailing notwithstanding.
Plus, he is kind of a jerk at first.
And, I won't lie, I'm kinda projecting a bit in this.
Thus, here is Just Not Today rewritten!
Not Today
"Forgiveness?" He snarled, fingers curling tightly as he clenched them into a fist. He then turned around to face her. "I don't need anyone's forgiveness!" He declared to her, her green eyes studying and observing his rising anger.
It was becoming somewhat uncomfortable for her, but Tempo continued speaking. "Then you prefer to be alone?"
"I'm fine on my own." He retorted defensively.
"Are you?" she questioned. "Who does your repairs?" Then she paused.
Break Man, formerly known as Blues, raised a brow from underneath his helmet. "What?"
She was hesitant, yet, ultimately, she had to know. "How did you find out about Dr. Lalinde and me?"
The red and grey Robot Master bearing a yellow scarf and a thick shield upon his back knew that this question would perhaps come up. "I saw the footage at the A.R.T.S. show, and…" he paused. "I…got curious."
"Is that all?" Tempo questioned. "I doubt it was that easy." she didn't present it openly, but a twinge of apprehension began to develop from within her core. Had he been tracking her? If so, for how long? Better yet, was that why he was here?
"All right," Break Man confessed. "I had some help with…"
Tempo remained silent, then noticed a swift shift in his emotions, anger, and frustration rising yet again. Her facial features were a little delayed, yet she couldn't deny that the robot's presence was making her a little nervous.
"Enough!" he shouted. "Don't turn this around on me! I know it was Dr. Lalinde that Light was talking to about reprogramming me!" Break Man's fists clenched still. "I came here for answers, and you've given me nothing!"
It was a slight movement, but the brunette robot in civilian mode scooted back against the cushion of the blue couch, trying to put as much distance between the other robot and herself. "I…" she stammered, finding that her systems were beginning to process and react to the situation she was in. The one she had now realized she had foolishly placed herself into. "I've answered everything you asked, you did not like my answers."
"She toyed with who you are!" Break Man argued, a framed image of Dr. Light catching his concealed eye. "You can't just forgive someone for that!"
He was growing steadily angrier, Tempo realized. So much that she could practically feel it radiating off him. "I…" she had answers, yes, but so far, he wasn't satisfied. Quite the contrary, she was now beginning to regret letting him into her house at all. What was he going to do? Would he do anything? Could he do anything? Was that why he had come here? "I…"
Break Man remained silent, the image of Light's smiling face reflecting in his visor.
"I…I can and I have because I want to move forward, I can't change what has happened," the green-dressed robot answered. Then, she found herself with a question of her own. "Dr. Light did nothing to you,"
Light…his creator. His father. His abandoner.
"Is the problem that you cannot forgive him for nothing?"
That smile he wore, those friendly eyes…it was all a lie. A lie that he no longer wanted to look at.
In a split moment, everything seemed to be in fast-forward. The red-helmeted robot's fist collided with the framed portrait, just mere inches away from the right of Tempo's head, the impact close enough to where she felt shards of glass fly over. The sound of plaster caving in and fragile covering breaking was all Tempo could hear, the robot's visor, surely hiding rage-filled eyes, was mere inches away from her own, her own eyes wide and shocked, unsure of what to do. Before she could say anything or ask any further, Break Man answered her question.
…
Dr. Lalinde knew that she should step in. Even if Blues was Dr. Light's boy, that didn't change the fact that he had proven himself to be capable of very destructive things. Needless to say, the woman was quite shocked upon seeing the Robot Master had entered her home, her mind immediately planning out a stern talking-to regarding Tempo and letting in strangers. Still, she had been listening to the conversation, both out of fear for her child, but also because, honestly, she wished to know Blues' reasons for doing all that he had done.
Even with all he had done, Lalinde recognized that Thomas would still want to know if his boy was alright.
Yet when her daughter had questioned Break Man about his reason for despising his creator, the violet-haired woman heard a crash and a bellowing shout of pure fury.
"HE REPLACED ME!"
All she registered at that moment was that Tempo, Quake Woman, her daughter, was in potential danger. This had gone on too far. She had to intervene. "Blues!" Dr. Lalinde shouted, getting the red robot's attention, as well as Tempo's. From the looks of it, he hadn't hit her, but she still gazed ahead with a wide-eyed, almost shocked look, as if she were unable to process what had just happened. "Did you ever stop to consider that he built a brother and sister for you?!" Lalinde questioned, quite infuriated at his behavior. "So that when you came home, as he always hoped you would, you'd never be lonely again?!"
Break Man was rendered silent by Dr. Lalinde's sudden appearance, time coming back to him as his thoughts caught up with his actions, and he suddenly pieced together what had taken place. His hidden eyes observed the human woman's disapproving glare, yet her creation's optics were much different. Tempo sat on the couch, silent and staring at him as if he had just sucked the life right out of her. As if he had put her in a state of shock. He raised his hand, yet he saw her flinch, raising an arm to shield herself from his fist.
It was then that Break Man realized that perhaps he went too far.
"Get out of my house," Lalinde ordered, crossing her arms. "Now."
To her surprise, Blues seemed almost receptive to her command, as if he were a child being scolded by his parents. He glanced back at Tempo once again, who had then scooted back a few more inches away from him.
It was official. He had gone too far.
A part of him wished to speak, yet he found himself unable to conjure up any words. The broken wall, the smashed picture, and the glass that had fallen onto the furniture, and the two startled residents of the household rendered him silent.
Thus, he did what he knew how to do best.
Make himself scarce.
In a red flash, Blues vanished from sight, leaving Dr. Lalinde and Tempo alone, the latter still silent and unable to properly articulate words. "Tempo!" Lalinde cried out, rushing over to her daughter's side. "Did he hurt you?!" she asked, looking her child over. "Are you ok?!"
She didn't answer.
"Tempo?"
Tempo didn't even seem to register her creator's voice. The robot simply sat there, green eyes large and staring forward into seemingly nothing. Her lips began to part as if she were trying to speak, but nothing came out. Everything had happened so fast, it was only now that her new circuitry was being put to work.
Her emotional circuitry now alerted her of how she just potentially escaped mortal danger.
"Tempo?" Dr. Lalinde shook the robot's shoulders lightly, trying to rouse her from her stupor. Eventually, it worked, and the brunette turned her large green eyes to face her creator. "Did he hurt you?" She questioned. "Are you ok?"
Tempo's lips parted, yet no words came out. The sound of the wall surrendering to Break Man's blow and the splintering of fragile glass continued to replay in her memory circuits. "I…" she stammered. "I…"
Seeing that her child was still in a state of shock, Lalinde brought her close, arms wrapping around her more solid form. She was shaking. "Tempo," the human then spoke, tone growing more firm. "I don't mean this harshly, but what were you thinking, letting someone into the house? And especially someone like that?" Blues was Light's yet the reality was that he had caused some major damage.
"I…" Tempo struggled to speak. "He…he wanted to know why I stayed with you," she answered. "Why I've put what happened behind me, and…" she glanced over at the hole in the wall. "He…wasn't satisfied with my answers," she then turned to face her mother. "You were…listening?"
Dr. Lalinde held her head in her hands. "I…I'm sorry, Tempo," she said. "I was afraid."
Afraid. While several other emotions were firing up her processor, that was one of the recently installed feelings that she was familiar with, having experienced it not too long ago with Mega Man in the Arctic. Nevertheless, she continued. "Afraid that Break Man would hurt me?" She questioned. "Or-"
"HE REPLACED ME!"
The Robot Master went silent. "Tempo?" Dr. Lalinde noticed that her daughter's usually stoic face and features were beginning to slowly transform and convert into an expression of upward brows and eyes growing uncertain and fearful. "Tempo, honey?"
Tempo felt a sudden sense of tightness in her back, causing her to hunch over. Her hands gripped the fabric of her skirt, and, to her shock, she felt her eyes grow moist. "I…" she spoke, voice cracking. "I'm…I'm sorry I let…that happen," the robot croaked, finding it difficult to control the manner of her speech. "I'm…I'm sorry I let him in, I…"
Lalinde turned Tempo's head to face her, the human scientist seeing tears developing in the machine's ducts. "Tempo?"
"Scared…" the robot stammered. "I…I feel scared."
Lalinde bit her lip, averting her hazel eyes. "I was scared too," she admitted. "I…I wasn't sure what to do, but…" She then lowered her head into her hands. "But…I…I was worried."
"Worried?" Tempo questioned.
"About…what you would say," her creator confessed. "About me," she could bear it no longer, it was too much. To the shock of her child, the human woman burst into tears. "I'm sorry, Tempo!" she cried out. "I'm so, so sorry!" she continued to weep. "I…I thought that, by removing your personality, I was helping you. Helping us both," she stifled another sob. "But…but it seems that I just made things worse…"
The brunette machine was unsure of how to respond or what to do. Even now, she was still reeling from what had just happened, the shattered portrait of Dr. Light and the hole in the wall evidence that, indeed, that moment her CPU flared up with signals alerting her of danger had happened. It was an instant, no longer than a second or two, but it happened. And, as she looked at her sobbing creator, it began to dawn on her just what her mother was afraid of.
And now, what she feared as well.
"...will he come back?"
Dr. Lalinde rose her head and turned her tear-filled eyes to her creation. "Wh-What?"
"Blues…Break Man," Tempo clarified, her internal circuitry growing deathly cold as creeping terror slowly consumed and swallowed her reasoning and logical components. "He…he asked me why I wasn't out there living a name for myself. Does that mean…being like him?"
Lalinde was unsure of what to say. "I…I don't know…but…"
"Because, if so, what if I don't want to?" Tempo asked. "What if…" a million possibilities came to her all at once, each one just as terrible as the last.
Lalinde saw her daughter rendered silent by what appeared to be unspeakable terror. "Tempo?"
He can come back, the brunette machine thought with dread. He can come back for me. He can force me to go with him, or…he could kill me if I don't.
"Tempo?"
What if…just now, he didn't punch the wall? What if he took his buster and…?
"Tempo!"
The robot's green eyes widened as her creator's voice brought her back to the present reality, the brunette realizing that she was trembling. Lalinde said nothing, only looking down at her daughter.
"I…I'm sorry," she choked out. "I'm sorry!" She couldn't contain herself anymore. She wasn't sure of what to do, this sickening cold dread in her chest was as unbearable as it was intense, her entire being consumed by it.
It didn't take her long to realize just what this feeling, this emotion was.
Fear.
A Few Days Later
Still watching, still observing, still not understanding how the robot on the screen could have ever been her.
This machine, this "Tempo" was nothing like the one that sat in the present day and time. If she had to be honest, she found this previous her to be rather grating. If not outright annoying. Daresay, the longer she watched, the more the brunette LMN grew frustrated.
"Aw, I remember that," she suddenly heard her creator say, having entered the living room. Of course, upon doing so, she realized she had startled the robot. "Oh, sorry," she sheepishly apologized. "I forgot, you're still a little jumpy."
Tempo quirked a brow. "Jumpy?"
"Well, yes," Lalinde explained. "You've just seemed to be a little…on edge, lately."
The green-dressed android shifted her equally green eyes, pondering what her creator meant. "As in…frustrated?"
"Um, kind of, I guess you can say," Lalinde answered. Then, after a few moments, she ultimately decided to come out with it. "You're still shaken up over what happened the other night, aren't you?"
Tempo's head whirled away from the screen and to her creator, eyes wide and fearful, as if she were a child that had been caught doing something against the rules. Although, in retrospect, perhaps she had.
"I'll admit, I'm still not pleased with the fact you allowed Blues into the house," the violet-haired woman said, adjusting her spectacles. "But, I'm just glad nothing too serious happened."
Tempo bit her lip. She too had a question. "Why did you put up with me back then?"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, look," Tempo said, gesturing to the screen. "I'm so…so…" she tried to conjure up a fitting word, yet, frankly, there were so many that fit, she had difficulty choosing. Sometimes having a computer for a "brain" with a built-in thesaurus made the thought process more complicated than necessary. Finally, she found something to use. Even if she didn't entirely understand it, she found it reflected what her emotional circuitry told her when she watched her past self. "Frustrating."
"Frustrating?"
"Or, if you'd rather, downright annoying," Tempo answered, grimacing at the screen as she continued to observe the robot that she once was. And, frankly, it was someone she didn't seem too fond of. "Truly, you should've at least reigned me in a few times."
Lalinde chuckled. "That's another thing too," she said. "You seem a little more…direct."
Tempo raised a brow in confusion. "What do you mean?" she inquired.
"Like, it's almost as if you see no reason to mince words," the older woman explained. Even if her daughter was still a little stoic, she was rather expressive with what was going on in her head. "You're…honest. And with no sugar coating."
"Sugar is harmful to your health and bad for your teeth," Tempo responded, crossing her arms. "And the truth is the truth," she added. "No matter how much it hurts."
Lalinde bit her lip. Indeed, it seemed the encounter her daughter had that night still lingered in her processor. "Well…if anything, consider this a step in the right direction."
The brunette was puzzled. "What do you mean?"
"The current model of an android's processor is roughly based on the human brain," Lalinde told her child. "Of course, I'm sure you already know that."
"Technically speaking, I'm already aware of that, yes," Tempo answered. "Although, I still don't entirely understand how merely possessing a processor is a positive development."
"True, while the current robot's "brain" is similar to that of a human's, so are its emotional receptors," the woman paused, knowing that she was perhaps entering sensitive territory. "And, those that have…more repressed feelings, there are two that, eventually, always make themselves present."
"And those are?"
Lalinde smiled. "Fear, and anger."
A Week Later
"Fear and anger…" Tempo, now technically Quake Woman, mused softly to herself, turning a corner to collect further samples.
While she wasn't too certain that she was progressing at all in her emotional development, the green and purple Robot Master couldn't deny that she had experienced one recently, both with one of Light's machines. Her trip to the Artic and becoming trapped with Mega Man, buried once again deep in the earth. Right back in the same scenario that she had been in before. Granted, she eventually found her way back to the surface with the help of the Blue Bomber, although it was an experience she would prefer to not have again.
And then, there was that night. The night she had allowed Blues…no, Break Man, into her home.
True, her incident with Mega Man was more eventful, but her company was one that she felt no danger towards. He could be trusted. True, Quake Woman didn't necessarily like the Blue Bomber in the way Roll had hoped, but Rock Light was someone she felt comfortable with.
DLN-000, Mega Man's "brother" was another story entirely.
In retrospect, she should've perhaps known better. This was a robot that had proven himself to be dangerous. Had he just run away, that would be one thing. But no, he was also involved with so much trouble and potential catastrophe that endangered many of those she knew. He had attacked his own brother, and, in doing so, shot Roll. It was fortunate that she survived, yet, in retrospect, perhaps that was a clue that Blues couldn't be trusted.
But that wasn't all. Their conversation that night…stirred something within her. Signals that she hadn't felt in so long were firing up and functioning again. Once the fear had settled down when it was clear that, hopefully, the renegade machine wouldn't come back, something else had taken its place. Quake Woman couldn't entirely describe it, yet she found it manifesting whenever she watched the old footage of herself before the accident. It was a scratching, itching sensation, irritating and grating. As if there were an invisible fly continuously buzzing in her ear, and all she wanted to do was squash it.
Her analysis of her own mind was cut short, however, when she turned the corner, and her eyes spotted a figure of grey and red, sitting atop a large rock.
Seemingly waiting for her.
He spoke first. "I can see you're doing better," he said aloud. Quake Woman, however, didn't answer back. The red-helmeted Robot Master crossed his arms. "It's clear that you're not happy to see me."
Still, the other machine said nothing, continuing to stare at the runaway DLN with wide, green eyes. "Y-You…" she finally found her voice but found all she could do was stammer. "Wh-What are you…?"
Blues, currently Break Man, noticed the sudden tension that came to the pigtailed digger, his concealed eyes watching with puzzlement. I did, didn't I? He wondered. I went too far that night. Quake Woman remained quiet, Blues began speaking again. "I'm…sorry, about…what happened," he said, sounding rather awkward and almost shy. "I know I wasn't exactly.. courteous."
Still, Quake Woman said nothing.
Great, he thought. Things are now worse, Blues rose up from the rock and took a few steps toward the other Robot Master, his thick visor reflecting the sun on its darkened surface. As well as the brunette android's face.
A face that was steadily becoming more panicked.
Sensing this, Blues stopped, but it was then that Quake Woman began to turn and run. "W-Wait!" he called out, following after.
Needless to say, she didn't get far, his hand seizing her by the shoulder not long after she had made her getaway. Quake Woman whirled around and immediately began struggling, trying to loosen the other robot's grip. "N-No!" she cried out, her core becoming engulfed in cold dread once again. "Let go!"
"Wait, please listen to me!" Blues pleaded. Had she not been so wrapped up in her panicked state, Quake Woman would've noticed how his voice changed.
"No! Let go of me!"
"Look, I know you don't trust me, I get it," Blues told her, trying to get her to listen. "But please, hear me out-"
"No!" Quake Woman shouted. "You're here for a reason!"
"Well, yeah, but-"
"You're here to take me to Wily!" Quake Woman then bellowed, catching Blues off guard.
"W-What?" she began struggling with him again.
"You heard me!" she retorted. "You're here to do that! Or you're here to kidnap Mom! Or maybe Vesper Woman!" she continued. "Or maybe you're here to burn down this place like Light Labs!"
"I didn't do that!"
"Liar!"
"Hey, what's going on over here?" A short distance away, unbeknownst to either Quake Woman or Break Man, a Robot Master fashioned after a honeybee fluttered over, drawn by the sudden noise occurring at the front of the house. "What the…?" her blue eyes scanned the area and immediately spotted the source of the commotion. From the looks of it, her newly adopted "big sister" was in a skirmish with what appeared to be another robot with a red helmet and a peculiar yellow scarf.
"Stop!" Quake Woman shouted, still trying to wrench herself free from Break Man's hold. "No! I don't want to go with you!"
"I'm not here for that!" he tried to assure her. "I'm not here to hurt you!"
"I don't believe you! You attacked your own family and are working with that madman Wily! I bet you're here because of him right now, aren't you?!"
"Tempo-"
"GET AWAY FROM ME!"
What happened next was lost to her at first.
All she knew was that Blues was holding her, trying to retrain her, or was it to calm her down? Either way, it didn't have the intended effect, for his words fell on deaf ears, and the terrible possibilities and "what ifs" that came to the other Robot Master's mind overpowered any sense of logic or reason.
Indeed, it was almost as if she, in that brief time, wasn't a machine at all.
All that she knew at that time was that Break Man, Blues, the robot that she had let into her home that night, was here, and perhaps to cause trouble. And, at worst, someone was going to get hurt. And, in that moment, Quake Woman believed that person was her, the sound of plaster cracking and glass breaking still echoed in her ears, along with the roar of the one that had caused such damage.
Thus, she did the first thing that came to her mind.
Thrusting her arms outward, the pigtailed robot pushed against the other, yet seemingly misjudged the strength used, for, while she had meant to send Break Man back, she hadn't expected him to be thrown off the ground and into the side of another large sample that was situated at the front of the house and truck. Before she could comprehend what she had done, Blue's helmet slammed against the sizable rock, the angle at which the stone surface hit the helmet dislodged it from Blues' head, the red protective gear slipping off and bouncing off the ground, coming to a stop a few feet away from the rock.
Silence fell in between the two of them, neither entirely sure of what happened. Blues attempted to rise, but upon getting up, he found his strength immediately sapped away from him, forcing him to his knees, exhaustion becoming more and more forceful in his system.
Then, with one last look of her shocked and, surprisingly enough, worried eyes, Blues' world went dark and still.
Note: Again, Blues is one of my favorites, but angst and self-loathing with him are fun to write.