Gray Matter

Trust

Mega Man and Nico made their way toward Dr Wiley's hideout, making good time.

"Wasn't it a little odd to you that Dr Hikari wanted us to harm a man we know nothing about?" Nico asked Mega Man.

"We know enough." Mega Man told her.

"But what do we know?" she asked in return. To this, Mega Man did not give a reply, or chose to ignore her. It made her angry either way. In the distance, something rustled in a tree. Nico looked up, making sure she had not just imagined it. Mega Man noticed that she had stopped walking and turned to look at her.

"What's wrong Roru?" he asked curiously, beginning to feel a bit worried.

"I thought I heard something..." she said, unsure of if she had heard something. Mega Man nodded and looked around.

- - -

Proto Man hid in a tree far enough from Mega Man and Nico that he couldn't be seen or heard. At first, he couldn't even believe that he saw Nico, of all people, with a creation that could have turned on her and strangle her without thought.

When Mega Man and Nico thought they had heard something, Proto Man wished badly that he had some kind of camouflage system in him. He really didn't want to see either of them face to face. To Mega Man, it would mean destroying a creature that was, in essence, his own brother. To Nico however...

Suddenly, Mega Man's hand transformed into an arm canon similar to the one Proto Man had. The android looked on, fearing that they had found him.

- - -

"Wait here." Mega Man told Nico, starting to walk away, armed with his Mega Blaster (as Hikari had dubbed it).

"Why?" Nico asked him, stopping him from going any where. "I can fight too."

"You're not supposed to." Mega Man told her. "Dr Hikari gave you the Multiple Weapon Disposal Device to aid me if I need it."

"And that's not the same as fighting with you?" Nico asked, growing quite furious. "I have the power to help you, and you just expect me to stay on the sidelines?"

"Yes." the cyborg told her, then ran off before she could stop him. Nico was fuming. It took all it had in her not to go into a full out tantrum. It was in this state, that she turned around to look at Proto Man, who was hiding in a tree not that far away from her. It was her very angry face that made him fall out of said tree in surprise and fear.

"Landiao?" she asked. Her rage at the moment was blinding her vision a bit, so she wasn't quite sure if that was who she saw or if she was seeing things. It was him, however, and he stepped forward, looking as guilty as a child that was caught stealing cookies from the cookie jar.

"Proto Man." Nico then said. "That's who you really are, isn't it?"

Proto looked up at her in surprise.

"How do you-"

"I saw your blueprints."

The android looked at her in a mix of shame and sorrow, then he looked at the ground.

"Why didn't you tell us?" Nico then asked. "You were our friend and we trusted you!"

"I was scared!" Proto Man told her. "I know you trusted me, but how could you? I didn't even trust myself!"

Nico looked at him, her anger was slowly mixing into sympathy, but the rage was still prominent. Finally, Proto Man couldn't take the sudden quietness.

"You're on the wrong side of the war Nico!" Proto blurted. "Hikari doesn't care about the Laws of Robotics or world peace! He's insane!"

"He saved my friend's life, we owe him." she told him, quite simply enough.

"With the same blueprints that created me." Proto told her. "Blueprints that wouldn't have worked if a human hadn't sacrificed themselves first. Who ever your friend was didn't realize that Hikari is evil, more evil than what Wiley seems."

"My friend never made the choice. He was going to die either way." Nico told him, looking in his eyes with hints of remorse flickering in hers. For a moment, Proto looked at her, then something in his data banks flickered back at him like an old movie projector. What he saw made him jump back in shock and surprise.

"Mega Man is Roch?!"

Nico nodded, her body beginning to tremble.

"You didn't know that...?" she asked him in a small voice, all of her rage disappearing and replacing it with a more dizzying feeling. Before he could answer her, a blast from the Mega Blaster just barely missed Proto by a centimeter.

"Get away from her Proto Man." Mega Man said from a distance, armed to fire again. "I don't want to fight you today, but I can if I have to."

Proto looked from Mega Man to Nico to Mega Man again. He sneered, then took off on rocket boots that Wiley had upgraded him with. Nico watched him leave, her mind was swimming from their conversation. So many emotions, not enough time to unveil everything.

Meanwhile, her words echoed in Proto's mind. Roch was Mega Man... His friend before...

No. He wasn't going to think about that right now. It was only going to make him short circuit. But maybe Wiley knew more about the situation than what he let on...

"Are you alright Nico?" Mega Man asked, taking a hold of her shoulders as if trying to snap her out of a trance.

"I'm fine." she said, pushing him off. "Let's just so get to Wiley's hideout so we can end this."

Mega Man looked at her, then nodded before they headed off again.