Note: Got only one more mandated update after this one. Proto-centric chapter this time.

Musings of The Red Bomber

Two Months Prior

"Well, since you're my only company at the moment, I suppose I should ask," Dr. Cossack began, furrowing his eyes at the red and grey machine residing in the room with him. "How did you even discover my home?"

Proto Man cocked a brow from underneath his helmet. "That's it? That's what's at the forefront of your mind?" he questioned the Russian human seated in a chair, arms tied behind his back. "You've basically had your machines stolen from us once already and become part of Wily's forces, and you're more concerned about how we found out where you even live?"

Cossack glanced up. "At the moment, what's currently at the forefront of my mind isn't my own wellbeing," he said. "But someone like you wouldn't know about that, would you?"

The red and grey machine crossed his arms. "Nothing wrong with having a sense of self-preservation," he remarked. "Although given you're so concerned about whatever is in that house, I'm surprised you seemingly haven't given your robots a second thought," he said. "After all, aren't you supposed to be one of those guys that actually like your machines?"

Dr. Cossack was silent for a few moments. "...the grieving for them began after you stole them the first time," he said. "I have accepted their fate. It's something you must do to continue through life," he then went quiet, muttering the last part under his breath. "Still, if you had to do it, could you not have waited until her mother's death had been a less recent event?"

"You say something, Doc?" Proto Man questioned, then chuckled. "Heh, guess I got to call you something else, seeing as Wily's not the only 'Doc' here at the moment."

Dr. Cossack said nothing, only turning his head away in disgust.

"Look," Proto Man began again, circling around the bound scientist. "Wily sent me in here to get answers, and he sent me in here to get answers from you because, well, he wants to give you a chance before he finds out for himself just what you're hiding up in that little mansion of yours out in the woods."

The bearded Russian raised a brow and gazed inquisitively at the red and grey Robot Master. "What do you mean?"

"Well, the thing is, my bro's kinda messed things up for the Doc again," Proto Man explained, yet then stopped for a quick moment. "Oh, by Doc, I mean Wily, just so you know," he clarified. "Anyway, let's just say, he's not exactly in the best of moods right now, and, well, let's just say that, when he's like this, something usually gets broken," he then sneered. "Or someone."

"Like you?" Cossack shot back, Proto's grin vanishing in that instant, replaced by a scowl. "And it's as I've already told him, the land that is technically my home has taken more from me than any man or machine ever could," he told the robot plainly. "Your hollow threats mean nothing to me."

Proto Man huffed. "Whatever," he scoffed. "You may be hailed as one of the world's most brilliant minds, but you've got to be pretty dense if you don't realize that this is the chance you could get your machines back."

"They are not my machines anymore," Cossack answered. "Besides, even if I were to reprogram them to their former selves, it would do no good, the world would not accept them," he narrowed his brows. "The work of your creator has seen to their return never being a possibility."

"Then why not use them to work with the Doc?" Proto Man suggested, completely brushing off the Russian's observation regarding his creations being let out into the world again. As if it touched on a subject the robot himself didn't exactly wish to acknowledge. "From the way I see it, despite being a hostage now, it doesn't have to stay that way," he said. "You could use your machines to finally make the jerks that made your life miserable pay!" he declared, pounding his fist into an open palm for emphasis.

Still, Cossack appeared unaffected.

This was getting frustrating. True, Proto Man didn't exactly trust that this guy would go with whatever insanity Wily had planned this time (whatever it was, he honestly didn't care, just as long as he got a chance to tangle with his brother), but he was technically given a task to fulfill. And, quite frankly, while he wasn't one for following rules, he wasn't exactly in the mood to be on the receiving end of his co-creator's fits.

Especially given both the robot clones of electoral candidates and Fun World were a bust.

"I always wanted a real brother relationship…"

"...you do?"

It was then that the red and grey machine noticed Cossack studying him. "What?" he questioned, the snark formerly present in his tone completely gone.

"You appeared lost there for a moment," the scientist noted. "Something on your mind?" his green eyes grew into slits. "Someone, perhaps?"

Proto Man swiftly turned his head. "None of your business, old man." he hissed.

"That's funny, considering your creator is decades older than I," Cossack answered back without any perceived offense. "Although, it seems that your years of existence have given you no sort of developmental growth."

This struck a nerve with the red and grey machine, he in turn whirling around to face Cossack. "Excuse me?"

"Well, you speak of how I would benefit from extending my services to Wily, yet there's nothing on your end of just how it's going to benefit you."

Proto Man was puzzled. "What do you mean?"

"Consider it," Cossack continued. "I have the opportunity to rebuild my Robot Masters, the ones that you and Wily stole from us-" he stopped himself. "From me and my beloved Annie Frid."

"Annie Frid?" Proto asked. "Isn't she from ABBA?"

The Russian shrugged. "Sweden is a nation known for many things, a pop group just being one of them," he said. "Yet, regarding what I was saying, the machines that I built, the ones stolen, they're all gone now, right?"

The red and grey Robot Master paused. "...yeah? And?"

"Think of it," Cossack went on. "They're all gone, presumably scrapped, yes? Some of Wily's more useful troops, right?" he then centered his gaze on Proto. "So, what's to say the same won't eventually happen to you?"

Present

"Psh! What does he know?" Proto Man hissed as he went along, continuing his way through the secret corridors that ran throughout the entire fortress, taking a few seconds to look at the map installed in his CPU to get an idea of where he was. "Ok, so Bones' turf is this way," he said aloud, tracking both Skull and Mega Man's signatures as he ran toward his destination. "Bro, you better not let yourself get pounded by some bot going through an edgy goth phase," he snarled to himself. "That's MY job!"

Two Months Prior

It took a few moments for him to process just what had been said, yet the stunned stupor didn't last long, the red and gray machine scoffing at the human's words. "Yeah, right," he snorted. "That'll never happen."

Cossack raised a brow. "And how are you so sure?"

Proto Man huffed. "Oh please," he retorted. "Wily helped out with the guidance system installed in my head here, so there's no way he'd damage what he essentially considers his greatest creation!" he proclaimed, gesturing to his dome.

Cossack did not appear impressed. "He considers a disobedient, defiant, and overall undisciplined and ill-mannered delinquent the pinnacle of his scientific achievement?"

The Robot Master's pride was struck, somewhat taken aback by the human's brazenness, yet it didn't take long for the context of his words to set in. "Hey, I take pride in that!" Proto Man retorted. "In fact, I'd say those aren't even my best features." he puffed out his chest.

"Wouldn't that be worst?" Cossack questioned, once again catching Proto off guard. Yet, instead of giving him a chance to respond, he continued. "Then again, given your general behavior, it'd be fitting that you'd see your situation from a childlike perspective."

The android snarled, any shock occurring this time not lasting long. "Are you calling me dumb, old man?!"

"I'm pointing out your lack of perception, yes, if that's what you mean," the Russian scientist answered. "You seem to look at things as if Wily is your caregiver," he said. "Your parent, in a sense."

Proto Man grew puzzled. "Well…he kinda is, isn't he?" he questioned rhetorically. Quite frankly, he'd be more than happy to gag Cossack at any moment. "I mean, he's far more of a parent than Light ever was," he said. "At least he wasn't going to open my head and screw around with what's inside."

"Hasn't he already threatened you with that several times?" The Russian scientist questioned him. "In fact, didn't he say he'd intentionally cross your wiring if you couldn't get me to cooperate with you all?"

"He's bluffing," Proto Man scoffed. "It's one of his usual threats, but he'll never go through with it."

"And you know this how?"

"Because I'm not the source of his grief, my bro is," the red and grey Robot Master responded. "I'm one of the Doc's few reliable sources of assistance he's got."

"For now," Cossack stated. "Again, you seem to have this misconception that Light would be the one to change you and not the madman you currently reside with."

"Light was the one that was going to reprogram the guidance system installed in me!" Proto retorted. "Or, what was me, at least," he clarified. "I wasn't as tall when I first started out," he then examined himself with a smirk. "Wily saw fit to add the more chiseled parts."

"And what? The scarf was your idea?" Cossack rolled his eyes.

"Why yes, it was actually," Proto Man declared with pride. "Light never lets Mega wear something around his neck."

"Have you ever considered it's simply because he doesn't want to?" the human pondered aloud. "And your guidance system clearly has a flaw in the way it processes basic concepts! Perhaps Light tinkering with it would do you some good!"

The scarf-wearing robot brushed the other man's remarks off. It wasn't anything he hadn't heard before, let alone the worst. "Either way, no one is getting into my head," he said, his hand then coming to rest on his chest, directly above his core. "No one is getting into any part of me."

"You can't guarantee that," Cossack warned. "If Pharaoh and Ring Man were deemed worthy of being scrapped, then what saves you from the same eventual fate?"

Proto Man was about to retort, yet was cut off by a familiar voice coming over the intercom. "Proto," the German-accented, clearly frustrated scientist began. "Would you mind coming to the control room?" the robot didn't even get a chance to either question why or to say yes or no. "Now."

Present

He stopped in his tracks, pondering, for the first time he set off on his quest to meet his brother, what exactly he was doing.

In a sense, that was a simple question: he was doing what he was almost always doing, trying to trounce his baby blue goody-two-shoes bro and maybe perhaps convince him to come on over to join his side.

Yet, at that moment, the intrusive thoughts and memories regarding his talk with Cossack and what led to Wily's arsenal being nearly empty to almost full again in the span of a few months began to make him question a few things.

And, quite frankly, he didn't particularly care for it.

He was so close now, Skull Man's chamber was just a short distance away! He could slip in and go in from there! What was he afraid of?!

…what indeed?

Two Months Prior

Geez, just what the heck did that balding old coot want now?!

"Yeah, yeah, what is it-" Proto Man began, only to find a wrench being thrown in his direction, the robot just barely dodging the incoming projectile. "Whoa!" he then looked at the elderly man who had just displayed some surprising strength. "Just what in the name of Isaac Asimov was that-"

"Shhh!" Wily hissed, cutting the android off entirely. "I'm trying to see what our newest little friend is trying to get a view in on."

Proto Man slowly approached the monitors and saw that Reggae was perched on a tree branch, having caught sight of someone at the window. But they went off, and now the bird was trying to relocate the figure occupying the house.

Reggae…he didn't know why, but the musical theming of his name seemed to fit with the rest of his world, Proto Man thought.

"So, who did he get a view of?" Proto Man questioned Wily. "Wife? Kid? Some friend?" he listed off the options, as sometimes the more obscure people in their hostage's lives had to become useful.

"That has yet to be seen," the old German confessed. "Yet, Reggae's caught sight of someone, so Cossack isn't living alone."

"Well, who could it be?" the red and grey machine inquired. "I thought he said his wife died."

"She did," Wily answered. "Which is why you're going to update him with this news and perhaps we'll be able to finally get an answer."

Proto Man shrugged. "Yeah, don't know if you'd be successful in that, Doc," he said. "He hasn't said a peep since we caught him back up in the Swiss Alps, and I doubt you'll be getting anything out of him now."

"Oh, I'm not going to get anything out of him," Dr. Wily clarified, turning to face his co-creation. "You are."

Proto Man raised a brow from underneath his visor. "Uh, didn't you just hear me? I said-"

"I heard," the human interrupted. "But it seems you didn't hear me," he said. "I am tasking you with getting answers out of Cossack," Wily informed the robot. "And, unless you want your entire cerebral chamber rearranged into that of a washing machine, you'll take this assignment given to you."

Present

He didn't believe him at first. And, frankly, even now, he still didn't entirely believe him. Threatening to reprogram his systems was an act Wily hung over Proto Man's head any time the machine got underneath the human's skin, yet that particular incident seemed to stick with him. Whether it be due to Cossack's own words, his protests, or how Wily seemed to be, at that exact moment, proving everything that the Russian had said would happen, the former DLN couldn't entirely say.

Whatever it was, however, he found himself feeling rather self-preserving in that moment, although he wouldn't go as far as to say afraid. No, he could never be afraid of Wily. Not ever.

…no, of course not.

Two Months Prior

Upon hearing the door open, Dr. Cossack's green eyes turned upward to see Proto Man had re-entered the room. Only, while his face was somewhat obscured by his visor, he didn't appear as cocky or sure of himself as before. "Back so soon?" he questioned.

"We know you're lying about living alone, Cossack," Proto Man didn't even bother with presenting a confident facade, getting right down to business. "Our newest little sky spy just caught sight of someone in the windows."

It was for a mere second, yet the robot saw the human's features become grim, blood surely turning into ice. Just where he was needed.

"...surely you could assume that I have help keeping up the place while I'm gone," the Russian scientist replied, trying to dispel the theory that was clearly developing in Proto's head. "Haven't you heard of butler bots?"

"Or maid droids?" the red and grey Robot Master retorted back. "Last time I checked, unless they're high quality, robots don't have that high of quality of hair," he said. "Unless they're like my sis, but hair is a difficult feature to include for a machine."

"There's the existence of wigs, you know," Dr. Cossack suggested. "And, besides, how do you know that this person you saw even lives with me? They could be an intruder for all I know."

"An intruder that has reportedly knows their way around as if they've lived there all their life?" Proto inquired. "Who are they, Doc?" he interrogated the human.

Cossack was silent for a few moments. "...and if I refuse to tell?"

The red and grey android grinned, the ball finally back in his court. "Then I'll go pay them a visit myself," he told the bound scientist. "And, contrary to whatever you might think, I'm probably the last bot you want going to your place."

Present

As to what that meant exactly, Proto then went into how he wasn't like the others in Wily's arsenal in that, unlike them, he possessed no automatic ties to the Three Laws obeyed and embedded in all robotics. Even Ice Man, with his previous betrayal, could not eventually bring himself to terminate the human himself, having planned to simply imprison him in a little igloo prison he planned to craft by hand.

In the end, Proto wasn't like them in the sense that, technically, should he have wanted, he could indeed do whatever he wanted with Wily.

Anything.

Still, even with this present freedom compared to the rest of his comrades, Proto Man himself saw no point in terminating Wily himself, let alone Cossack's child when he found out about her. True, the threat was useful to get the scientist to comply with them, finally, yet the truth was, even after all the years he had been in this game with Light, with his brother, he found that he had never gone further past threatening the lives of humans.

No human themselves had actually perished by his hand.

Of course, Cossack didn't need to know that, let alone that Proto wouldn't do it if his brat became too much to handle. That got him actually pleading with the robot. Seeing as he was now the one in control, the red android saw fit to wrench every piece of usual information from the Russian to deliver to Wily.

Fitting, considering that, just as Cossack had finished telling him everything, the German had called him again.

Two Month's Prior

"Daughter, eh?" Wily asked, clearly intrigued by this brand of news.

"Yeah, apparently," Proto Man reported. "He didn't say the age, but from the other snapshot our Reggae was able to get," he glanced at the information sent to them via the black bird's camera system, presenting a portrait of a younger Cossack with a blonde woman and a younger blonde girl. "I'd say that she's our ticket in."

"Yes, this will do nicely," Wily observed, the wheels in his head turning as he viewed the shots. "Relatives are almost always guaranteed to get some form of compliance." It was then that the old man saw his robot's features fall, an unusual sight for him. "What's going on with you, Proto?" he questioned, seeming to surprise the machine that the human even noticed. "Something on your mind?"

"Oh, uh, well…" the red and grey Robot Master stammered, feeling a little put on spot at the moment. "Sort of, I guess you could say," he admitted. "Or, rather," he said. "It's something I remember Cossack saying he'd do as long as we don't hurt his kid?"

The balding German raised a brow. "And that would be?"

As quickly as his uncertainty was present, it was quickly concealed again with a knowing smile. "Oh, he said he'll take care of all the hard construction stuff," he said, knowing Wily wouldn't be able to refuse. "But, since he's now willing to work with us, he's got a proposal put out for you."

Present

At least, he initially believed that Wily would take the offer.

Yet, to his surprise, as well as dismay, the old man outright said no.

Indeed, when he first proposed Dr. Cossack's supposed "bargain" with them to prevent anything from happening to Kalinka, Proto Man added that he would be willing to tune up the other Robot Masters' control chips, seeing as that was the one thing Wily was almost always guaranteed to keep, even after a machine had been reduced to tin foil.

Although, given what it would lead to, perhaps, in retrospect, Proto Man had already pushed his luck by even mentioning it. Especially given what occurred when the subject of bringing all the Robot Masters that had been destroyed back.

Two Months Prior

"You're up to something, aren't you?"

Proto Man's eyes widened from beneath his visor, unsure of just what Wily was saying. "I…don't think I'm catching you, Doc."

"Don't play dumb with me," the German growled. "You're planning something for them all, aren't you?"

The red and grey machine shook his head. "What? No! What would I even-"

"You and Cossack, you worked something out, haven't you?" Wily continued. "You think his child is someone you can use to force Mega Man to fight you, or maybe you want her for yourself!"

"Wait…what?! No! I don't even know how old she is!" Proto protested. "Plus, she's a human! She's gonna get all old, like you!"

"Then Cossack has worked out a deal with you so that he really can surpass Dr. Light before I can!" the human declared with an accusing tone. "And, with the Robot Masters by your side in an army, you can simply leave me on my own and go destroy Mega Man yourself!"

The android shook his head, trying to dissuade the old man's accusations. "Doc, you're crazy! What gain would I have in-"

"Don't lie to me!" Wily bellowed. "You've been planning this for some time, haven't you?! Planning to get rid of me, or at least ditch me for your own way! I know how you operate, boy! I LITERALLY made you!"

"Now wait just a minute-"

"Dr. Wily?"

The door opened to reveal the last three machines left aside from himself, Cut, Guts, and Elec Man all witnessing the seemingly frenzied old man about to try and throttle Proto Man via strangulation. Although, given the other possessed no lungs, all three wondered just what good would that even do.

Present

He would never dare admit it aloud, yet Proto Man had never been more thankful for their intrusion, specifically those two dolts.

Apparently, Cut and Guts Man had heard the commotion while Cossack somehow managed to gain Elec Man's attention and request that he tell Wily of the Russian's offer for the safety of his child. While the electricity-wielding Robot Master had yet to receive his "newer" personality in regards to programming, his retelling of Cossack's proposal probably saved Proto's skin, so to speak, as it actually got Wily to listen.

True, he gave the red and grey machine the side eye for a little bit after that, but still, everything eventually worked out. So everything was fine, right?

…then why was he still getting that feeling that he was forgetting something? Something that could perhaps completely screw things up for later?

…

Well, whatever. Too late to turn back now. And no stupid skull-brain was going to rob him of his chance to face his brother!

Besides, even if his sis was able to somehow get in, what could she do? She'd let herself get caught instantly!

Everything was fine!

…just fine.

Note: All right, a little shorter here, but the next chapter has the reveal! Thank you for reading!