FicWad

Enigma

Puzzle 04: Human

The clock tower continued to burn and you were trapped on the top floor, while Protoman and Megaman fought on the roof. "I heard someone, there's someone still trapped in here!" Megaman urged.

"So what? That's not my problem!" Protoman shot a powerful blast of plasma at the blue armored robot.

"I have to go," dodging the blasts; Megaman dived into the hole on the roof, landing on the floor below.

"You're not going anywhere!" Protoman immediately gave chase.

You were struggling to reach the emergency stairs. Megaman had his hands full with Protoman. Proto would most likely not relent his attack even if the one Mega was trying to save was you, or perhaps especially if the one Mega was trying to save was you. You were sure that you had no choice, you had to get yourself out of there on your own. You hoped that at least Blues made it out safely. You were a bit angry at him for leaving you behind but you gave him the benefit of the doubt. Maybe he thought you were already outside and was looking for you among the crowd that had rushed out.

Protoman saw you making your way down the hall. You were so light headed you were practically crawling. He bolted past his brother and rival towards you. The ceiling above you was about to collapse. You fell on the floor unable to move any longer without your precious oxygen. Protoman dashed forward picking you up and retreating on time before you were crushed by the flaming debris. This wasn't what he wanted, he didn't mean for you to end up dead, but you were dangerously close to it. "Hold on, don't die!"

You were too lightheaded to comprehend what was happening. The smoke was everywhere and without the advanced vision the robots had, you couldn't see through it. You opened your eyes a little, someone was holding you and there were voices. You caught a glimpse of yellow. A yellow scarf, you couldn't see anything else but that was all you needed to know. Blues, your rescuer had to be Blues. It was true that Protoman had an identical yellow scarf but he hated you, he would never help you, they were so different from each other. You lost consciousness, but you felt safe.

"Protoman!" Megaman hurried to his brother's side, looking at the unconscious girl in his arms. "The smoke is suffocating her."

"Take her, you're the one who's always playing hero," Proto handed you over to Mega. "It looks like our fight will have to wait, get her to safety, hurry!"

Megaman didn't have to be told twice, he bolted towards the hole on the roof, easily jumping up with great agility. Rush was still damaged, but he had recovered enough to fly. "Quick Rush, we have to get her to the hospital," the blue armored robot jumped on the transformed red robo-dog and they flew away from the smoke and flames of the clock tower.

xoxox xox xoxox

You didn't know for how long you were unconscious, but when you first woke up, you were very light headed and disoriented. You muttered something under the oxygen mask, taking in the massive whiteness of the atmosphere.

"Name?" You tilted your head lightly to the side and saw him sitting beside the bed.

"Blues... where?" You whispered softly.

"You're in the hospital, its okay, you're safe now, get some more rest," Blues assured you.

You didn't want to go back to sleep, but you were so tired. You couldn't help it but to drift off into slumber land once again.

xoxox xox xoxox

The next time you woke up you felt much more rested than before. A nurse soon came to check on you, relieving you of the oxygen mask. You took a few medical tests just in case and were free to leave soon after, insisting that you could get home by yourself.

Someone addressed you on the way out of the hospital. "Name?" She looked like a human at first glance, a young woman with blond hair and blue eyes. She had a sort of armlet that went from her left wrist to her elbow, that was the only thing that really stood out.

You had seen her on TV before and recognized her instantly, "Roll?" She was a human-looking android, a sister to Megaman and Protoman. From what you knew, Proto and Mega were very similar but Proto had more of a rebellious free will. Roll certainly thought of Mega as her brother, but she didn't consider Proto much of a brother despite the close similarities between Proto and Mega's designs.

"Hi," Roll greeted cheerfully. I was on my way to visit you, but it looks like you're all better now.

"You were coming to visit?" Roll's initiative puzzled you. You wondered what triggered such a course of action.

"Yeah," Roll continued smiling, "when Mega took you to the hospital he heard you don't have any family in this city. They didn't know of any friends to call and you were unconscious so they couldn't ask you. Mega told me about it so I decided to visit."

"That's very nice of you," you returned the smile; it seemed to be her favorite expression. Her AI, from what you could tell, was a gentle kind one. You had gone far in pursuit of your goals. You dedicated yourself fully to you robotics projects going wherever there were opportunities to learn. As a result you had not been too social over the years.

"Are you going home on your own?" Roll inquired.

You nodded, "yeah, I'll be okay," you certainly couldn't lead her to the hideout, but another idea occurred to you. It was lucky that you met Roll, if you played your cards right, you could get yourself a tour of Dr. Light's laboratory. "I don't feel like resting at home all by myself though, but I don't want to keep you here. I'm sure you must have interesting things to do at Dr. Light's lab. It must be an amazing place; he was a truly great scientist. I can only imagine what his laboratory is like." You made a sad face, including every sign you could put into it that you would expect an AI to recognize as sadness.

"Why don't you come visit us?" Perfect, Roll said exactly what you wanted her to say.

"If it's okay," score! You got yourself a tour of the laboratory of the greatest scientist that ever lived.

xoxox xox xoxox

Dr. Light had been a brilliant mind. When he passed away last year, his robots, Megaman, Rush and Roll continued operating without him. They had become completely independent. You remembered seeing Wily in a news report throwing a fit about his rival not sticking around in the world of the living long enough to witness him taking over the world. Dr. Light had been in many ways your inspiration. He was involved in the construction of the initial version of Protoman back when Dr. Wily was his partner. Wily's ambitions came to light and the two scientists went their separate ways with Wily taking Protoman away. He later stole a series of robots, reprogramming and modifying them to be his minions.

Protoman was another story, from what you heard he seemed to have a mind of his own from the start. You soon reminded yourself that you were being silly. Self sufficient machines were still machines, even if they were detailed, human-like creatures. You remembered Dr. Light use to think of his robots as his children and he spoke of them proudly, everyone knew he cared for them as sons and daughter.

Back then when you were a child you used to share Dr. Lights views. As you grew up you were pushed to change your perspectives by necessity. No one took you seriously when you spoke of robots as your friends. No matter how many people looked to Megaman as their hero, the scientific community was something else. A precious marvel of technology sure, but not a person. The great Dr. Light with all his achievements to defend his good name was the only one allowed the luxury of holding robots in high esteem without being ridiculed.

As a scholarship student depending on funding from the scientific world to survive, you couldn't afford not to be taken seriously. Even so you felt as if Dr. Light's robots deserved a special kind of respect. Even long after their creator's life had ended, they continued to loyally function abiding to his wishes. Because of that, in gratitude to Dr. Light and to Megaman, the robot siblings and their robo-dog were left to continue inhabiting Dr. Light's home, going about their business and keeping each other up to date with technology.

"There isn't a lot of human food around here," Roll handed you a plate with a slice of cake. "I hope you like cake, than again, who doesn't? Mega and I don't need vitamins so we only have food like this because it tastes good."

"Thanks, and you're right everyone likes cake," you tried it, "this is delicious."

"You really think so? I made it myself," Roll looked quite pleased with herself. "Mega never compliments me on my cooking, he eats it alright, but never says a word of thanks. He used to complain when I was a beginner though."

"You're quite talented," a true miracle of technology. You wouldn't mind if all the cooks in the world were replaced with Roll units, but her design was not to be replicated, as per Dr. Light's wishes.

"Thank you," Roll smiled brightly. "It's too bad Mega ran off somewhere. It would have been nice for him to have the chance to talk to you too."

Talking to Roll reminded you of your childhood when you decided to pursue a career in robotics. She was in a sense a child back then too, not in appearance but just recently activated. You let yourself forget she was a robot and spoke to her as a friend. You realized then that maybe that was why Proto hated you so much. Maybe he was just sensitive about the entire robot thing. Maybe that was the particular variable you scored dangerously on and got thrown into the black list.

xoxox xox xoxox

Later in the city park, in a quiet area away from easy view, "I almost didn't recognize you, brother."

Blues looked at the blue armored robot; he knew it was of no use to pretend he was someone else. "Want to fight?"

"You're not properly armed for us to go all out, Proto." Megaman pointed out.

Protoman alias Blues huffed, "I can take you on any time."

"I don' doubt that you're still strong even without your armor and complete weaponry, but that's not why I approached you." Megaman got ready to try again; he had been attempting to convince Proto about this for years. "I want you to join the side of good. I can convince the mayor to give you a chance. You can live with Roll and me. Seeing you stop our fight to save that girl is more proof to be added to the fact that you're not really bad."

"I'm not going to join you, I didn't come into existence to serve the city," as usual, Proto refused.

"It's not about serving anyone. I do what I do because keeping the city safe feels good," Mega continued with the same argument as always.

"Save your arguments, it's not going to work," Proto walked away.

You were on your way home after visiting Dr. Light's lab. You passed by next to the park and saw someone familiar exiting it. "Blues!"

"Name? I thought you were in the hospital, I was just on my way there," until Mega saw him and he decided to take a detour and not reveal his intentions to visit you. No one but his brother could recognize him without his armor, not even you.

"I'm all better, I can go home now," you remembered his visit earlier and the way he saved you. "Thanks for helping me back there."

"You knew it was me?" For a moment he was surprised.

"Of course," you grinned, "well actually, I couldn't see you with all the smoke," you admitted. "I remember catching a glimpse of your scarf though; I knew it had to be you."

"I'm not the only one with a yellow scarf," he pointed out.

"Yeah, but the only other one I've seen with a scarf like that is Protoman and he hates me," you concluded without a doubt, the one who save you had to be Blues. "Besides, you were the one who was there with me. Who else would be looking for me?"

"Yeah, you're right... it was me," he finally admitted. You returned to the hideout with Blues. You had fully recovered from the clock tower incident but you were starting to get tired. Another full night of rest should get you back on track.

To be Continued

Disclaimer, I don't own Megaman.