Gray Matter

On the Brink of Nothing

Proto Man took Nico to the smallest island in New Eden, and there he looked at her arm more closely.

"Don't touch it." Nico whimpered without meaning to. "It hurts... a lot."

Proto looked at her and nodded, then looked back at the wound. When he had a good inspection, he looked at her with a deep amount of fury in his eyes.

"Who did this to you?" he snapped. Nico refused to look at him, but her lack of answer was as good as any answer to him.

"This is what you get for trusting Hikari, Nico! I told you that something like this would happen, you're lucky at this point that you're not..."

Nico looked at Proto Man as he trailed off. She was ashamed, but she felt more bad for him than anyone.

"You can't hurt him." Nico told him. "He's my friend. He's your friend."

"I wasn't going to. It's Hikari's fault... and mine."

Nico looked at him, a little bit confused. Proto Man picked up on this.

"If it wasn't for me, Roch would not have become Mega Man and we wouldn't be in this situation."

"That wasn't your fault." Nico told him, about to cry in pain or sympathy. She couldn't tell which.

"No, it's Hikari's and Wiley's." Proto said darkly. "If it wasn't for them, I would have never been built, then all of this could have been avoided. The world is going into something dark and horrible, and Hikari is still making machines while Wiley uses them to danger others. I may still glitch when introduced to simple human activities, but it's not going to stop me from doing what I feel is right. I was given a free will, independent of the Three Laws while still having an understanding of them, and I don't plan on the intuition to go to waste."

Suddenly, a rush of pain went up Nico's arm, making her howl in pain. Proto Man instantly reacted and embraced her, in some slim hope that it would make her feel better. It did, but then again it didn't, he only became a living punching bag to her pain. Except she was clawing at him, like a cat, but it hurt all the same.

"But I'm not going to leave you behind though." he told her, continuing what he had been saying. "I'll take the MWDD to Wiley so he can remove the tracking chip and anything else that might work on Hikari's side, and then you can live your life the way you want after you get better."

"I want to break whatever conditioning Hikari has over my friend." Nico told him, looking him right in the eye. Proto nodded, understanding.

"For now though," he said, "We rest."

Nico nodded, but still skeptical of what was to come to her friend.

- - -

Mega Man watched as Dr Hikari looked over his blueprints for a new robot. The cyborg grimaced, but could not voice an opinion on the matter.

"You were just the beginning Mega." Hikari told him, almost absentmindedly, "These next line of robots will be unstoppable. Not even Albert can defeat them!"

Dr Hikari turned to look at Mega Man. The cyborg looked back him, the status pod preventing him to move or respond.

"Don't worry, I'm sure where ever your little friend went, she is safe. Or dead. It doesn't matter, she will be either way..."

The corner of Mega Man's mouth twitched, desperately wanting to say some very unkind words at the moment. Hikari seemed to have some enjoyment out of this.

"And your brother, Proto Man, he thinks he can go 'save the world' by himself. But he is still flawed, it won't take long before he too is incapacitated."

Dr Hikari smiled a little and gave a light chuckle.

"It won't be long now, Mega Man," Hikari said, starting to walk away to the building room, "It won't be long until the world knows and understands the meaning of Hikari!"

They were all perfect. Robots with powers beyond a normal being's imagination. Robots with weapons that were more deadly than a nuclear or atomic bomb. Dr Hikari looked at these robots in their neatly placed rows, understanding and admiring the pure destruction they could cause if given the wrong programming.

It was a beautiful idea. He was in control of all of them.

The world would never see them coming.