Gray Matter

Captured

Mega Man and Nico continued to make their way toward Dr Wiley's hideout. Both of them were rather silent.

That's when a red robotic dog jumped in their path and wagged its tail eagerly. Mega Man and Nico blinked at it. Then the dog pounced on Mega Man as if he was its long time friend.

"He likes you." Nico said, amused but unfazed. She knew who the dog was, it was the same one that had helped bring Roch to Hikari.

"He thinks I'm Proto Man." Mega Man said, trying (unsuccessfully) to get the dog up off of him.

"How'd you figure?" Nico asked, luring the dog from Mega Man by whistling to it. The dog looked at her and glomped her next. "Because he seems to think he knows both of us pretty well."

Mega Man said nothing, choosing to watch Nico play with the robotic dog as if it was a dog she had raised from its puppy days. He smiled a little at this, but then he noticed something on the dog.

"He can take us to Wiley's hideout!" Mega announced, partially surprised at the revelation. Then he said,

"Rush, transform into Rush Jet."

Immediately, the dog stopped playing with Nico, jumped a little away from her, then extended himself the same way he had when he helped Roch earlier. Nico looked at the dog, then at Mega Man.

"How did you know that he would do that?" she asked. "Better yet, how do you know his name is Rush?"

"Every robot that Dr Hikari and Dr Wiley made (whether it was together or on separate terms) is in my memory banks, even if I've never seen them before."

Nico opened her mouth to say something, then closed it.

"Come on." Mega Man told her, hopping onto Rush's stretched back. "We'll get there sooner if we use Rush."

Holding back what she wanted to say, Nico hopped onto Rush's back behind Mega Man and they took off.

- - -

In moments, Rush delivered the duo to the entrance of Dr Wiley's hideout, but behind a bush so they couldn't be seen. Mega Man and Nico got off of the dog and crouched to see the challenges ahead of them.

"Cut Man, Ice Man, and Fire Man." Mega said, as if he was telling Nico of the robots present to guard the entrance. She didn't care though, she was still mad at him.

Mega Man made his arm cannon appear.

"Stay here." he said, about to go in. Nico held him back.

"No, I'm not staying behind this time." she said. "I'm going in with you whether you like it or not."

"It's too dangerous for me to let you..." Mega Man started to say, but Nico cut him off in saying,

"It's always going to be too dangerous. I'm going too."

Mega Man looked at her, as if just looking at her was going to change her mind. Finally, he sighed.

"Alright." he agreed. "But stay close."

Nico nodded, and the two headed in. They started out fine enough, but a security camera caught them, and soon enough they were in battle. Shots were fired on both sides, not many actually hit, however. Slowly creeping in and out of battle, something was coming toward Nico. By the time Mega Man realized that she had been taken, it was too late to stop them.

- - -

"Let me go!" Nico said, struggling to get out of the ropes that had been tied around her and kept her bound to an old wood chair.

"Not until Mega Man is destroyed." a man said in the shadows.

"Who are you?" Nico asked. The man stepped out, with Proto Man by his side.

"My name is Dr Wiley, my dear." the man said. "And I'm sure you're well acquainted with Proto Man already."

Nico and Proto Man exchanged a glance, but said nothing to each other. Neither of them knew what to say. No matter what they could have said to each other, it would have been taken the wrong way, so they just stared at each other.

Dissatisfied with how the kids did not exchange some sort of banter toward each other, Wiley said,

"Let's begin our little game. Shall we?"

"You won't get anything out of me Dr Wiley!" Nico told him.

"What do I want from you?" the robotist asked. Nico's face grew pale but also got very angry at the same time. The result of whatever emotion her face was trying to portray was terrifying.

"If you hurt Roch, so help me God I will murder you with my own-"

"Whoa there girlie," Wiley said, surprised at her sudden uproar, "I don't plan on hurting the cyborg."

"Then what are you going to do?!" Nico shouted.

"I only want to modify your friend, just a little bit." Wiley said calmly, as if it would calm her as well. It did nothing of the sort.

"You even touch Roch, I'll murder you!" Nico screamed. Wiley looked at her, not sure whether he should say something more on the matter or not.

"Dear child..." Wiley then said in a soft tone that seemed out of place in his voice, "Would you like to hear a story about the origin of madness?"

Nico looked at him. She didn't give a response, but she sat still in preparation to listen regardless. Not that she was going to listen too hard any way...