Family of Steel [Exemplary]

[Proto Man]

With the Dataverse a few days behind him, Proto Man found himself attempting to direct his energies elsewhere, lest he dwell too much on his feelings toward Coruscant and Judge Dredd. He found such plans easier than he would have thought due to the interesting parcels of information he was able to obtain from recent news.

The reports were disheartening at best. There were several news stories about the humanoid robots leaving his hotel. Those were followed by a string of sightings and at least one armed conflict at a transit station. Since the robots’ armaments didn’t match the murder weapon, the police had rule them out as suspects in the original homicide. Most of their energy was now towards something called the ‘Liberation Front,’ which apparently was behind a few other terrorist acts, although nothing on the scale of the attempted Dataverse takeover.

Since his apartment was down the hall from the scene of a crime, Proto Man decided not to return to ‘El Presidente.’ His other reason was to avoid any unwanted attention from Dredd. While the two were on half-decent terms following Proto Man’s actions in the Dataverse, the android wanted to avoid being on the Judge’s radar as much as he could.

With that in mind, the Robot Master found himself in an upscale cafe-slash-Dataverse hotspot. He figured his Dataverse connection could easily be tapped or at least watched, so he went with the low-tech solution. The news reports were little more than sixth-page tidbits given the recent activities in other verses. Thus far, he could verify that Crash Man, Magnet Man, and Guts Man were in Coruscant. Of those, only Crash Man had performed anything outside the confines of the law, when he flushed out an elevator on the other side of the city. Were these Robot Masters all working together? Nothing in the articles seemed to imply that, but why would Crash Man essentially hold up an elevator and wreck all the cameras?

He’s got to be covering for allies...but who?

Crash and Magnet had never met, and Guts Man had been functioning within parameters on Proto Man’s visit to Dr. Light’s laboratory/house.

With a scowl, Proto Man closed the display and stood up from the chair. If the Robot masters had fled to a lower tier than he had to do so as well. The last thing he needed on his conscience was a bunch of chaotic brothers .

And a sister? The initial report had mentioned a blonde girl in red. Where would a machine go to hide…

“You’re pretty easy to find, you know.”

A gasp escaped Proto Man’s mouth as he turned to see the cloaked inspector standing behind him.

“Security Guard Gashon,” the robot muttered as the pale man grinned.

“Please, I am off duty, it’s just Gashon. How are you doing, Proto Man? I saw all the news reports about your little adventure in the Dataverse. That’s a shame what happened to those Copper Eye lads. Does Dredd have you on his payroll?”

“I’m not on anyone’s payroll.” Proto Man glared behind his visor, despite knowing the other man couldn’t see his eyes. “Are you stalking me, Gashon?” Try as he could, Proto Man couldn’t bring himself to have a neutral opinion of the pale, cloaked guard. Something about Gashon’s eyes were off-putting--like he was an eagle patiently watching its prey scurry about.

“No, no… I just thought I’d follow up with you about the investigation.”

“The police already linked it to some terror cell.”

“I wasn’t talking about the murder. I was referring to the mystery robots with the somewhat cartoonish proportions and specific themes that were seen fleeing from your hotel. Like the bomb-armed android who held up that elevator.”

“What do you know?” Proto Man asked, his tone intensifying as he took a step closer to the cloaked man.

Gashon, sensing that he’d struck a nerve by bringing up the topic, smiled and held up his hands. During the motion, his cloak slid away, revealing a strange sidearm attached to his belt. The inspector was quick to fix his heavy garment before opening his mouth to speak again. “Some of my contacts on Tier Four have information that several androids slipped down through utility pipes that connect to Tier Six. He also has some reports from his contact on Tier Two that some robots took a freight lift down to Tier Six as well.”

“What’s on Tier Six?”

The guardsman shrugged his shoulders. “Nothing… it’s the furthest down you can go and still see the trappings of an actual culture. It’s a bunch of ghettos and industrial parks. It’s not a place civilized people or even Imperial soldiers like to go. Just a bunch of roving mobs and Motorball clubs.”

“So then it’d be a great place to hide?”

Gashon nodded his head. “Most of the people down there are hiding from one thing or another. There are few better options. Five is nicer and has a few functioning guard stations. You’d like Five… it’s a lot like a pre-FTL urban setting.”

“I don’t care about Five.” The robot interrupted, his mouth twisting up into a scowl that ensured the man stayed silent for the moment. “Tell me how to get to Six.”

“There aren’t many direct routes from here, with the exception of some telepads the Imperials might use. You ain’t getting to one of those, so your best bet to remain under the scope is to take a utility line from Three. Unfortunately, you’re going to attract attention wherever you wind up, kid…especially from Copper Eye sympathizers.”

“I’ll make due,” the android shot back. “Where are the lines on Three?”

“If you take Elevator Tri-Beta, you can access a utility conduit in an adjacent building. It’ll be the big one with the yellow trim on the windows, so it’d be pretty hard to miss. It’s not exactly a public structure, though.”

Without replying to that statement, Proto Man left the cafe in a hurry.

[Proto Man]

Part of him wanted to try and savor the experience of the other cities that existed beneath Tier One. He was too focused to sightsee, so when Proto Man exited the elevator complex on Tier Three, he made his way to the giant steel building with the yellow trim. As he drew closer, he noticed the small detachment of guards near the front door.

Fortunately for the preteen android, his goal was the large pipelines that vanished into the floor/ground. A hop over the fence and a well-placed blast were all he needed to slip down into the tube. Once inside, he simply let gravity carry him down the massive pipe, which bent and twisted every now and again to ensure he didn’t accelerate too fast and become a colorful smear.

After what felt like hours but registered on his head’s up display as only a few minutes, the service piper went into a short spiral and dumped Proto Man into a small chamber. A few bursts opened a hole to the outside, which the adolescent quickly slipped through. He found himself outside a tall, dilapidated structure at the intersection of a few streets.

This was closer to how Proto Man remembered his urban experiences: Dirty, disheveled, and depressing. Coruscant’s Sixth Tier was a ghetto, with its collapsing tenements and garbage-cluttered streets providing a stark departure from the higher cities. The aerial streets of the first three tiers were gone, as it seemed that the tiers below lacked the accommodating vertical space to allow for such luxury causeways. In their place, there were poorly maintained asphalt streets filled with potholes, debris, and pieces of cars. Proto Man wondered if there were even garbage services on this level. The fact that a quick glance around the area revealed three burning cars served as a pretty definitive answer.

If this was the sixth tier, the android wondered what sort of hell awaited anyone miserable enough to find themselves at the bottom of this verse. The seventh tier had to be something barely above a wasteland. If anyone was foolish enough to live down there, they probably weren’t doing it of their own accord.

Ignoring the blatant and all-encompassing gloom of the area, Proto Man walked away from the service pipe and scanned the area a couple more times. He wasn’t paranoid—each visual sweep let his GPS and mapping software download and save more data on the area. The only schematics he’d been able to find were utility lines and a street or two with some civic structures on them. With any luck, he’d be able to acclimate a little faster than the normal visitor.

The data he’d collected spoke of organized crime serving as the closing thin to a business down here, with being a slum lord coming in a close second. Given the lack of any real imperial presence outside a few state-run buildings, Proto Man knew he’d have to rely on his own capabilities in the event that things went sour. If the other Robot Masters were lurking about, he figured he’d have to do the hard work of tracking them down without any outside help.

How many of the machines were down here? He knew from the articles and a few video feeds that the entire series of Robot Masters, with possibly one or two exceptions, was in the Omniverse. They’d apparently appeared in his hotel around the same time he’d rebooted to update his software.

Were these the actual Robot Masters? Certainly some of them were still alive—Dr. Light’s initial series had been saved—but most of them had been destroyed by a combination of Proto Man’s brother and Monsteropolis Special Forces. Had someone hacked his system during that time to steal the information he had himself stolen from the doctors about all of their robots? He hadn’t found any evidence to suggest tampering with his systems, but given the nature of the Omniverse, he wasn’t ready to rule anything out just yet.

“You don’t belong down here, little boy.”

Spinning around, Proto Man found himself confronted by a semi-circle comprised of three dirty-looking men in ragtag outfits.

“Excuse me?” The android asked as he sized up the trio of vagrants. He’d seen their type before in ‘normal cities’—either natural sleaze balls or down-on-their-luck homeless people who became highwaymen preying on the timid, wealthy, or drunk who were ignorant or stupid enough to stumble onto their turf.

“Give us your valuables and we won’t have to teach you a very important lesson about the sixth circle of hell.”

A smile formed on the preteen’s pallid face as he tossed his scarf over his shoulder and activated the Proto Buster. The sudden appearance of the gun-arm caused two of the men to recoil. The central figure, after a cursory glare at his two companions, drew a sidearm from the inside of his raggedy coat. “He’s still just a boy, you cowards.”

“Screw you, Malcolm, I follow the news. He’s one of those new Primes that took down those terrorists in the Dataverse. I’m not dying for this.” With that, the vagrant on the left fled, and with a quick nod, the man on the right joined him in flight.

“You should go with them,” Proto Man said as he summoned his shield in his free hand. “I don’t want trouble, I’m just here to find some machines.”

“Screw you, Prime!” Malcolm’s hand jerked as he discharged his gun, releasing a bolt of plasma at the robot’s chest.

With a scowl, Proto Man brought up the shield to intercept the blast. Once it had dissipated across the glossy steel surface, he charge—shield-first—at his attacker. Two more shots slammed into the metal before Proto Man closed the distance and bashed the highwayman with a scorched shield. As Malcolm staggered, the red robot swung around the front and sent a high kick into his foe’s sternum, launching the target from his feet. The vagrant slammed into the street with a wet thud and rolled for a few yards before running out of momentum.

Despite the thunderous pair of blows and his impact with unyielding asphalt, the man had not only kept a grip on his side arm, but his shaking arm was trying to bring it to bear on the boy. Before Malcolm could steady his aim, a burst of energy hit the gun and blew it and two of his fingers into a fine mist.

After he scanned the man to prove to himself he hadn't caused any fatal injuries, Proto Man started down the other end of the street.

Need to work on my aim…that man’s going to be partially handicapped for the rest of his life pending some cybernetics. A frown spread across the face of the robot as he started toward the Sixth Tier Community Center, which was supposedly the only state-affiliated facility that actually received funding.

[Proto Man]

From the shadowy balcony of a nearby tenement, a pair of humanoid machines stepped forward to survey the scene below them in a little more depth.

“There’s no denying it…that was Proto Man.” Spoke the first android, whose forehead bore a bladed metal disc. Despite the guard over his mouth, his voice came out clear and unimpeded.

“It changes nothing, Metal Man. We knew sooner or later that he’d track us down. Those damned Light Robots probably got him to come here to meddle with our plans.” The second machine had a similar physical appearance: Red-and-black with yellow accents, but the resemblance ended with body shape and color. Where the other robot had a metal blade, his companion had what seemed to be glossy, yellow horns. Given the yellow boomerang on his chest plate and the one hanging from his belt, it was obvious that the crest was designed to emulate the appearance of the thrown tool.

“Well, Quick Man, what should we do about this? We certainly can’t deal with Light’s lackeys and the Prodigal Son, now can we?”

Quick Man snorted as he watched the vagrant struggle to his feet. “The plan goes forward regardless. Father wouldn’t want us to quit just because of some obstacles. We’re not even sure the Prodigal is working with the others, he could wind up as just another rogue element.”

“And what of the Hybrids? Perhaps we should reach out to them again?”

“No, they had their chance to join us, Metal Man. Now they can watch as we succeed with Father’s will. They can feed our scrap heaps!” With that, Quick Man stepped to the edge of the balcony, grabbed his boomerang from his belt, and sent it spinning into the street beneath. The metal arc spun through the air before curving back and impeding one of its arms square into the chest of the human who’d tried to attack Proto Man.

Metal Man scoffed as he watched the grotesque human twitch and bleed out onto the cracked, trash-stained streets of the city. “I could have dispatched him from twice this distance.”

“Don’t over-sell your skill, Metal.” Quick Man said with a smirk as a fresh boomerang materialized in the loop on his belt. “Report back to the others at the plant. Tell them we can confirm that the Prodigal Son is on Six, but we’re going to press on with construction and manufacturing in an attempt to meet our initial goal.”

“What will you do up here?”

“I’ll trail the Prodigal. Air Man is around here somewhere keeping tabs on the Lights.”

“No leads on the Hybrids?”

“Negative, but I’m sure they’re lurking somewhere on this level or the one beneath us. We’re all wanted for questioning on some level, so I don’t see them risking being caught up there with all the cameras and soldiers.”

Metal Man nodded in response. If Quick Man believed something, it was probably true. The boomerang-wielding android’s moniker referred to more than his speed or reflexes. “I’ll hail you on the com when I get in touch with the others.”

The android responded with a nod and a pat of the walkie-talkie also belted to his waist. They’d constructed the short-range devices to stay under the ears of the Imperials, and since they’d gone undisturbed more or less since their departure from the top tier, they imagined the communicators were working flawlessly. Without another word, Metal Man hopped off the balcony and vanished into an alley across the road, leaving his brother to mull over the best route to take.

As Quick Man slid down the side of the structure with the grace of a career acrobat, Shadow Man, who had been hiding in the room behind them the entire time, emerged from the blackness and smiled. The Gen 2s had seemed quite one-dimensional from the information in the archives, but the ninja robot was amused to see that his intuition and research were overwhelmingly spot-on.

“Now what are you all planning?” The Gen 2s—Wily’s combat robots—had approached Shadow Man and his cohort about a week ago to propose an alliance. It seemed that they were sticking to the original purpose they’d be designed for: The destruction of mankind.

While they were still quite unsure about their situation, none of Shadow Man’s allies felt any compelling interest in putting themselves at risk of destruction once again. The memories of their deaths at the hand of Mega Man were still fresh in their minds. Despite the fact that they had been designed by the two doctors, they found they lacked an integral, unitary purpose. Their urge to destroy Monsteropolis had been the result of hacking, rather than a fundamental aspect to their code. In that sense, most of them appreciated the strange sense of freedom they had. Because of that, Shadow Man and his brothers didn’t really want to see the Gen 2s succeed in whatever scheme they had hatched.

All he knew at this moment was that he should trail Quick Man, especially if the robot succeeded in tracking down Proto Man. With that thought in mind, Shadow Man did what he did better than anyone or anything—he slipped into the shadows and became an invisible element of the night.

***

The Sixth Tier Recreation center seemed to be the only bastion of color and joy on the entire tier (at least the parts of the city that Proto Man had seen). Unlike the other structures, the center was well-maintained. Its windows were intact—albeit with bars on the outside—and its outer walls were free from decay, graffiti, and unwanted plant growth.

Perhaps the most important indicator of its importance was the fence and the armored marine patrolling the gate. As Proto Man approached the rec center, the helmeted soldier turned to face him and drew his weapon, which appeared to be a high-powered rifle with a chainsaw for a bayonet.

“Order of business?” Without a pause, the man cocked his massive weapon, and the chainsaw hummed to life, the individual blades quickly vanishing into a lethal metal blur.

“My name is Blues.” Proto Man almost had to shout to be heard over the thrum of the horrifying weapon. “I’m just seeking some momentary asylum as I search this city for some machines.” The boy robot raised his hands and executed a slow 360 spin to show that he had no visible weapons. A few seconds later, the heavy gun fell silent, which seemed to be as good a sign as any that the marine wasn’t planning on rending him to pieces.

With a sigh, the soldier holstered his weapon on his impossibly broad back. Once the gun was secure, his helmet broke apart and slid back to reveal a haggard-looking man in his mid- to late-twenties. “I am Private Hiberius of the Angels Revenant.” The marine remarked as he ushered Proto Man through the gate. Once the robot was through, Hiberius closed the entrance behind them and resealed the heavy latch. “It’s been a little more exciting down here since the Copper Eye took that thrashing in the Dataverse. A lot of their sympathizers and members of surviving cells fled here for solace and vanished into the mobs or safehouses.”

[Proto Man]

“Mobs?” Proto Man asked, his eyes tentatively scanning the very open areas that surrounded the front of the structure.

Hiberius furrowed his brow. “Yes, mobs. Some are just gangs of petty criminals or highwaymen trying to score drugs or money. Those are the easy ones to deal with. There are some who remain barely human. They survive through chems and illegal tech implants and make a living smuggling said items through Coruscant. This entire tier survives on black markets, trafficking, and blood.”

“Why doesn’t the Empire do more about it? I’ve been topside--there must be three troopers for every one resident of the top tier.”

Hiberius shrugged his enormous, plated pauldrons. “What giant city uses its resources to fix its ghettos? The only difference is here the ghetto is the size of an entire city.”

“Are you the only soldier?”

“Yes. For what it’s worth, I’m quite confident that I could rip apart a platoon of those stormtroopers with my bare hands, let alone the petty thugs down here. Before I arrived in the Omniverse, I participated in battles that raged for years across entire star systems.”

“So why don’t they have you out there doing real good?”

The massive, armored marine let out a laugh as he pointed to a metal sheet on the wall of his little outpost near the front of the structure. At the top were a string of tally marks. They continued in an orderly fashion for a row or two before they became jumbled and erratic, like someone had too many to make and not enough patience. “There are two hundred and thirty six there,” Proto Man remarked after his processors provided him with the tabulation.

“I gave up after four days… and that was nearly a month ago. You’re looking at the only place here where there are supplies and materiel flowing into the city through credible means. Everyone out there would kill for a piece of we have. This place is the one beacon of light in this dismal place. The people who have to live down here… most of them are genuinely good folk who are just too poor to do any better. They don’t deserve what happens to most of them.

“I’m looking for some machines,” Proto Man remarked as the two sat down near the barred front doors of the facility

“You’re going to have to be more specific. Machine could be a toaster, a cd player, a robot, or anything in between.”

“Androids like me,” the preteen answered. “Humanoid. Probably only two or three colors… they’d probably have arm cannons?”

The space marine nodded. “Yep. We’ve had a few of those. Some are rather nice,” he said, gesturing to the building behind them. “Others have been adding to the general chaos around here,” his metal digit gestured to the panorama of decaying tenaments and high-rises that overlooked the square.

Proto Man turned his attention to the heavy door. “You said you have androids inside?”

“Yes,” Hiberius responded. “Seven of them. They arrived a few days back. Some have pretty oddly specific functions, but those that can help are good at it, especially the girl.”

“The girl?”

“Red dress and blonde pigtails. She--” Hiberius paused to glare out at the roof of a nearby building. Proto Man followed his gaze but neither his eyes nor his system could determine if there was anything out there. After a moment, the space marine relaxed and looked back over at the preteen. “She was some of housekeeper, so I guess she’s been a big help to the staff inside. Apparently she’s the only one in there who can actually keep a home.”

“Roll?” Proto Man asked.

The marine nodded. “Yea, that’s what she called herself. Do you know her?”

A frown spread across the boy’s visage. “Only sort of. I don’t know if she would know me.”

Hiberius furrowed his brow as he entered a code to open the heavy bolts that sealed the front door. “You check out as far as I’m concerned, so you can go ask her yourself. If you hear any alarms just remember to stay calm and avoid windows and thin walls. They rarely throw the heavy ordinance at us, but you don’t want to be smoking out a window when they do.”

“Expecting a riot or something?” Proto Man asked as a reinforced plate, powered by whining, mechanical gears, slide down to the ground to reveal a plain set of brown double doors.

The space marine let out a booming laugh and shook his head as the helmet slid back over his face. It sealed shut with a hiss, and when he spoke again, his now distorted voice came through a speaker somewhere on the helmet. “You’ll learn soon enough, kid.”

[Proto Man]

Quick Man sneered as the Prodigal was ushered into the Community Center. The reinforced structure, with its steel walls, titanium fences, and armored marine was the closest thing to a fortress on this tier, even if its advertised function was that of a settlement house. Some of the local mercenaries, bandits, and smugglers had impressive hideouts, but nothing compare to the ‘Community Center.’ Quick Man had heard rumors that there were missile systems and automatic turrets hidden in and on the facade of the building. It was possible that those were just rumors or stories told by defeated mercenaries, but even if they were false, Quick Man wouldn’t want to risk a pitched confrontation with the place solely because of the marine.

Just because he was smart enough to avoid such activities, that didn’t mean that others shared his thoughts. The place came under siege on an almost hourly basis. Most of the time it was just a few exchanges of gun- or laser-fire. Explosives were common, but mostly it just seemed like an attempt to keep the guard on edge. Quick Man had actually figured the hulking, steel-clad behemoth for a machine, until he saw its helmet unfurl to reveal a man within the suit. Behind the robot, something--a glass bottle perhaps--tipped over and cracked on the rooftop.

“I heard you back there,” Quick Man shouted without turning to face the source of the noise. “The Prodigal has found the Light children…” While he had wanted to remain stone-faced for his colleague, the boomerang-wielding Robot master knew they’d have a thorn in their side if Proto Man sided with DLN-002 and her doting brothers.

“You wouldn’t have won him to your side anyway,” a whispery voice responded.

Quick Man spun, boomerangs drawn, and deflected the shuriken away just inches before it found its mark on his cheek. Following the path of the projectile and source of the noise led his gaze to Shadow Man, one of the Hybrids. “It would appear that I am quicker on the draw,” the red-black Robot Master said through a sneer.

Shadow Man smiled. “Or I simply didn’t attempt to bring an end to your functions.” The ninja-themed android had no visible weapons and seemed oddly relaxed, but Quick Man didn’t trust him. The DWN-series machine had been destroyed before the Hybrids were created, so he had no idea how they fared in physical conflict.

Undoubtedly inferior… The thought, however vain, brought another smirk to the robot’s face as he crossed his arms over his chest and stared across the roof at the other machine. “Have you reconsidered our offer to join with us?”

The ninja android shook his head. “If you fight against Proto Man, you will lose. The First Son was more than capable of besting Mega Man in singles combat. You and your brothers failed against the latter, so I doubt you are capable of defeating the former.”

“My brothers and I returned from the dead less than two weeks ago.” Quick Man held up his hands as if to point out the foreign landscape around them. “This isn’t Monsteropolis. We’re thinking the skies the limit, and there’s nothing that will stand in our way. Why are the eight of you still lurking around in the darkness, anyway?”

“Your bomb-fisted brother’s antics have marked us all as dangerous elements, and the only way out of the city is that guarded gate on the first level.”

“Well you better buckle down, Hybrid, because we haven’t even gotten to the good part.”

“Is that a threat, Quick Man?” One of Shadow Man’s hands drifted to the kunai belted around his metal waist. The other robot’s hand risted atop one of his own signature weapons likewise holstered in a belt.

“You are either with us or you are against us,Hybrid. There is no gray in this equation. Once we begin,there will be no stopping us. We will conquer these two ghettos and then work our way up from the rotten core of his mega city until only steel and ash remain.”

“Then it seems like I have no choice in this matter.” With a sudden flick of his wrist, Shadow Man hurtled the kunai at the sneering visage of the other machine. Quick Man twisted and threw his boomerang from the hip. The ninja responded by erupting in a poor of black smoke as the kunai spun harmlessly spaced the side of his foe’s face.

With a scowl as his own weapon passed through air, Quick Man drew two more boomerangs and stepped away from the edge of his overlook. There rooftop was only covered in scattered garbage, so the only shadows came from the taller structure across the alley. As he scanned the shadowed portion of the area, his fingers tensed around his weapons.

The strike and the android behind it came from the blackness, but not fast enough to nail its target. Quick Man threw up a boomerang to intercept the kunai a foot above his head. Shadow Man smiled and jumped back into the darkness, his figure vanishing the moment it was wholly shrouded in the blackness

Quick Man fell back and ducked as the blade sliced at his neck from the opposing direction. The robot spun and swung his boomerang at the ninja’s face. Shadow Man evaded the strike and sent a shuriken at his foe, who used his other boomerang to deflect the projectile.

Seeing that he had momentarily unbalanced his foe, Quick Man stabbed with one of his weapons, but instead of punching through steel, it cleaved harmlessly through black smoke. Shadow Man reappeared behind Quick Man and hooked his arms up and around the other robot’s shoulders, lacing them behind his neck.

“You are apparently not quick enough to fight shadows.”

The boomerang-themed android scowled as he tried to escape the full nelson. “But unlike you, Hybrid, I exist solely to fight and destroy!” With a grunt, Quick Man hopped up and threw all his weight forward, tugging his surprised assailant with him. As Shadow Man lurched forward in an effort to maintain his hold, Quick Man took the lapse in the grip to hurtle both of his boomerangs down at the other machine.

Seeing the attack, Shadow Man released his grip, but not before one of the projectiles sunk into his right shoulder. The ninja grimaced as sparks sprayed out from the injury, but before he could assess the injury, Quick Man sun and swung at him with another boomerang.

The ninja quickly pulled his kunai free from its sheath and batted away the oncoming weapon. As he did, he gracelessly lunged shoulder-first into his foe. The awkward offensive succeeded in catching Quick Man off guard, and with a swift, upward slice, Shadow Man caught the other Robot Master across the face with his kunai. The red and black android let out a shout and grabbed at his injured visage, leaving himself open for a thunderous kick to the gut that sent him across the rooftop.

“Embrace the oncoming oblivion,” Shadow Man whispered as he stalked across the roof toward the prone, twitching robot.

“Hey, Hybrid.” Shadow Man heard the voice just a beat before what sounded like a jet engine firing up to full power. He found the speaker to be another robot with a massive turbine in his chest. “Hope you can fly.”

Before Shadow Man could offer a response or even a defensive maneuver, a sonic wave burst from Air Man’s turbine chest. The ninja was swallowed up in the horizontal tornado and carried with it over nearly an entire city block before it petered out and dropped him down between a few structures. A sigh escaped Quick Man as he dropped to a knee and continued to clasp a hand around his injury.

A few yards away, the walking wind machine’s turbines died down, the the stout machine jogged over to his comrade. “Are you okay, Quick Man? Were you injured grievously?”

The boomerang-themed Robot Master shook his head. “Only my pride, Air Man…only my pride.”

[Proto Man]

The interior of the Community Center was an improvement over the exterior, yet it was still all too obvious that the place ranked very low on the imperial budget. After passing through a relatively advanced security checkpoint, Proto Man was ushered into a very large common room. From a first glance, it appeared that there had once been separate rooms, but the walls had been knocked down to form a larger area. Ten feet above his head, Proto Man spotted a spacious, wrap-around balcony that looked slightly newer than its surroundings. Decorated with old carpet and wallpaper that could do little to hide its age, the room’s most common pair of furniture was the table and chair. Many tables had chess or checkers boards atop them, while others were occupied by people sharing a meal or gossipping over a hot beverage in steel cups.

A few of the inhabitants turned to check out the new kid, but most continued doing whatever it was they were up to, either oblivious or apathetic toward another face in the large, house-sized room. Seeing none of the DLN-Series in either the common room or the balcony above, Proto Man made his way toward the far wall. His olfactory system was indicating that strong, almost pungent smells were wafting through the east door, which meant it probably housed the cafeteria.

Through the far door, Proto Man found himself in a much smaller room. Decorated only with some signage and a light fixture, this chamber contained three doors and a set of elevators. Seeing that the elevators led to small apartments on the floors above, the android bypassed them and a locked door as his way into ‘Connecting Hallway A.’ As the door clicked shut behind him, he found himself walking down a thin, poorly illuminated hallway, which stretched for about ten feet before sharply turning to the right. On one side of the hall he spotted a few assorted closets, probably for custodial storage.

The other wall of the corridor contained the remnants of former windows. Based on the cracks in the mortar, it seemed like the former openings had been bricked over a few years ago. Given the lack of visible repairs, the android imagined that the outer wall was probably covered in something a little sturdier than clay bricks. Turning from the walls, the preteen machine spotted a door that led out of the hall.

Before Proto Man could work the handle, the entire building shuddered as something outside detonated. A few seconds later the explosion was following by the chorus of various energy-based guns. Despite the suddenness of everything, the gunfire faded away after ten seconds and once again, silence fell over the hallway.

There had been no alarms, no automated message, no indicator that something abnormal was going on. Were these exchanges so frequent that they were just scenery for the inhabitants of the Community Center? Proto Man frowned as he mulled over just how miserable it must be for people down here in the ghetto of Coruscant.

Passing through the door left the android in some sort of reception area. A few yards in front of him, a bunch of raggedy chairs and sofas were arranged, with a stack of worn magazines on an endtable. A huge desk shielded by glass and steel bars stood to his left.

A doctor’s office of some sort? A few of the waiting area seats were occupied by haggard-looking people. As he glanced their way, someone excused herself as she slipped around Proto Man. The android looked at the woman and saw that she was carrying a bag full of tinned meat in one hand and a wrapped loaf of bread in the other. Moving his eyes from the woman, he took a moment to read a large sign that extolled the virtues of sharing rations with fellow community members.

Seeing that he was in some sort of ration distribution center, Proto Man made his way over to the clear pane that separated the person behind the desk from the rest of the room. As there was no one on the other side, the android turned to the people sitting in the chairs. “Is there no one running this place?”

Before the middle-aged man could answer, there was another exchange of high-grade munitions somewhere outside the Community Center. This time, Proto Man swore he heard someone let out a shriek amidst the cacophony of automated fire. Once the firing died down, the older man shook his head and looked back at the boy in the strange outfit. “The attendant had to go retrieve something after helping that last woman. She said she’d be back ‘lickety split’...” a grunt escaped his stubble-coated mouth as he shifted his weight around in the chair. “This is what they get for putting a child in charge of this stuff.”

“I assure you that I was designed specifically for tasks like this, Mr. O’Hale.”

That voice! With a gulp, Proto Man slowly turned and watched as a preteen-sized girl popped into view, aided up to adult level by a hidden stepladder. Although her initial attention was focused on the surly man waiting for his rations, she soon caught sight of the android from her peripherals. If the red dress and blonde ponytail hadn’t already given away her identity, surely those deep blue eyes would have. The girl’s mouth twisted up as she stared down from the desk at Proto Man.

“Do I know you?” She asked bluntly as she pulled herself up onto the desk itself and scooched over to get a clearer look at the helmeted, scarf-clad preteen.

“Maybe,” Proto Man said as he reached up and removed his helmet and set it on the ground before him. With another motion, he raised his sunglasses for a fleeting second, just long enough to prove a point that would have been so much harder with words alone.

The effect was instant as a gasp escaped Roll. “...It’s you!”

[Proto Man]

“One sugar?”

“Yes, that’s fine,” Proto Man replied as he shifted uncomfortably in the wooden chair. Much to his bewilderment, Roll had needed no further convincing as to his identity or his motives. The girl had readily accepted him, even with the very limited knowledge she had. When he had asked her why on their walk to the small staff lounge, she had simply smiled and said ‘I was designed to know these things as per my operating parameters.’ Apparently, a lot more went into a housekeeper than how to cook, clean, and organize rooms.

Glancing up, Proto Man made eye contact once again with Fire Man, who sat in the corner of the room. The first generation Robot Master sat in a chair, his eyes glued to his wayward brother. Just because Roll trusted the prototype at face value didn’t mean the others would readily follow suit.

“So how long have you been in the e(gg Omniverse?” After asking her question, Roll set a steaming cup of tea in front of her older brother and took a seat across from him. She took a sip from her own cup and flashed him a smile.

Proto Man took a drink as well before replying to her question. “Less than two weeks? I can’t remember the precise date as my systems weren’t fully operational then… when did all of you arrive?”

Roll glanced over to Fire Man. “About a week and a half, right?” The other machine nodded his head.

“Did all of you arrive together?”

His sister shook her head, causing her blonde ponytail to whip around her face. “I arrived before Fire Man and our brothers. I was fortunate to find them shortly after eluding those other Robot Masters.”

“You mean the Gen 2s? I saw a news broadcast with Crash Man in it.” From the corner of his eye, Proto Man noticed Fire Man bristle at the mention of one of Wily’s personal soldiers.

“Yes, and the DWLN-Series… it seems like almost all of the Robot Masters are here,” she trailed off, a slight frown on her youthful face as she drank from her cup again.

It didn’t take Proto man long to understand her sadness. “Except for Rock…”

She nodded her head as she set the cup onto the table. “We’ve managed pretty well, though. The others thought it best to trail Wily’s Robot Masters, so that’s why we’re down here. We stumbled across this place, and the nice man outside was kind enough to let us inside.”

“And so you all work here?”

Another nod. “We were all designed to help humanity in one way or another. For some of us, there’s a direct translation. Fire Man over there is the main reason why the heating system is still working, and Elec Man can provide enough energy to power this place if we need to rely on the archaic generators that the government gave these people.”

Although he wanted to ask how Robot Masters like Bomb Man and Cut Man helped out in a Community Center, Proto Man swallowed the question down and went for the more obvious response. “And they put you in charge of ration distribution?”

After another sip, Roll flashed a warm, wide-eyed smile. “Yes, you should have seen the state of this program before I arrived. It was anarchy and the storage units were disorganized dumps. But I also take shifts with the cleaning crew, which means that some of the human workers can get some extra time for their breaks. Unlike them, I don’t have to worry about fatigue.”

“I suppose so,” Proto Man replied, although he knew that he was unique in the sense that he could very well feel the mental side of exhaustion, even if his robotic body would never show the signs. The benefit of being a fully sapient android also had its downsides. “Do you have any idea what the non-DLN Robot masters are up to?”

“Not a clue,” Roll replied as she turned to look back over at Fire Man. The other android shrugged his shoulders, illustrating that he likewise had no idea. “Elec Man makes occasional patrols, but from the sound of things, they’re all laying low. For all we know they could be hiding next door or on a different level of this city...this tier is very porous.”

“Yea, I arrived through some nondescript utility lines,” Proto Man replied as he leaned back in the chair. He swore he heard some more gunshots, but the sound was too muffled for him to discern it.

“So will you be staying here with us?” Roll asked, her blue eyes lighting up as she laced her hands in front of her chest. “This place needs all the help it can get, and I’m sure you could use a roof over your head.”

Proto Man tried not to frown, lest he insult his sister. “I don’t know,” he finally replied. “I was planning to track down the other Robot Masters to ensure they weren’t following old habits.”

“I’m sure you could join Elec Man on his rounds!” Roll replied, her enthusiasm failing to waver. “And in the meantime, I could use the extra hands. Please?”

The preteen android, as he looked into the other robot’s eyes, could tell that he had already lost this discussion. Part of him, that side that had wanted to meet her on any and all of those occasions he had stalked or infiltrated Light Labs, knew that he couldn’t pass up on this opportunity. He had expected the same level of distrust from her as he saw in Fire Man’s eyes, and instead, she had welcomed him with a warm heart.

She probably misses her other brother… her real brother. He fought back another frown as he mulled over that thought. After a moment, he realized he wouldn’t have cared if that was the reason anyway. He was human enough to know that he’d never get another chance like this to have a sister. “I’d love to stay and help out,” he said with a smile, eliciting a squeal of delight from the young girl. While Fire Man had a metal plate over his mouth, Proto Man could tell from his eyes that the android wasn’t in love with the idea.

***

And so Proto Man passed a handful of months experiencing the closest thing to a pedestrian life as he could imagine. He and his sister worked together the majority of the time--their efforts mainly revolving around repairs inside the complex. Due to a lack of imperial funding, much of the block-sized gestalt was starting to decay from the inside out. Much of the basements were flooded or had collapsed, and several of the structures were infested with mold or simply too grotesque even by the standards of the people of Tier Six.

When Roll would let them be parted, Proto Man would go on rounds with Elec Man. While the electricity-inspired Robot Master was initially distrusting of Proto Man, they had forged a close working relationship following several armed altercations with the organized gangs that took potshots at anyone and anything. The preteen android’s unwillingness to murder the ruffians had won over Elec Man, who likewise favored a mantra of ‘dazzle and flee.’ Most highwayman didn’t pursue them once they’d been zapped by a low-voltage burst of electricity or watched a burst of energy pothole the ground in front of them with ease.

With the exception of Elec Man, the other members of the DLN-Series had warmed to Proto Man at a much more glacial pace. Fire Man still glared at him with those judgmental eyes, and Guts Man had once or twice threatened to ‘pound him into mush’ if he discovered that Proto Man was some sort of double-agent for the rogue Robot Masters.

As for the other machines that undoubtedly lurked in the surrounding city and the wasteland below, there had been no sign of them. Elec Man and Proto Man’s patrols, which they usually took three or four times a week, had netted nothing but ruffians and some gangs.

On a quiet afternoon close to a month after his arrival on the tier, Proto Man got some interesting news. Walking in unannounced, Roll handed him a small tablet device. “I thought you might appreciate this story.”

Furrowing his brow behind his visor, the android accepted the tiny computer and started to read through the article. The reporter was relaying news from some place called Camelot, which Proto Man only vaguely remembered as the location of the other major power in the Omniverse--the Kingdom. From the sounds of it, there was a dragon rampaging throughout Camelot, causing damage to villages and the outlying farmlands. When he reached the end of the article, the android glanced up from the screen to his sister. “I don’t get it? What’s the draw?”

“Third post in the comment section.”

Proto Man scrolled down. “‘Nothing like a damned dragon to draw in the refuse from Coruscant. I swear, if I see another one of those blasted robot men, I’m going to smash their smug faces in with my warhammer.’” The android looked back over to his sister. “You think this random person ran into one of the Robot Masters?”

“It’s possible,” Roll replied as she sat down at the end of Proto Man’s bed and began to swing her feet gently. “If they’re holed up on Tier 7, it’s possible they’ve had more than enough time to find a means to escape Coruscant entirely. I mean, Dr. Light developed a teleportation machine to send Rock to fight Wily. It’d be no stretch of the imagination that they would have that knowledge in their databanks.”

While he wasn’t entirely sold on the idea, Proto Man figured a trip to Camelot would be a little more enjoyable than scrounging through Tier 7. “I suppose it’s worth a look… but will I function properly in that world? Isn’t Camelot like, pseudo-Middle Ages?”

“Omniphysics,” Roll offered as she hopped off the bed. “I don’t think you’ll be able to summon bikes and stuff, though.”

Proto Man frowned as he mulled over the thought of having to ride a horse. He couldn’t even remember the last time he’d seen a horse in real life, let alone would he have the first idea about how to get one to obey his commands. “How do I get to Camelot?”

A soft chuckle escaped his sister as she planted a fingertip on his shoulder. “You’re the one who arrived at the fountain, not me. Just go back there and go through the Camelot Gate. We might be able to stay in touch through the Dataverse if it exists in some form there.”

The helmeted android nodded his head as his sister and he left behind his small room. “Let’s hope I can leave without having to deal with Dredd or his troopers,” even as the words left his mouth, they were replaced by a scowl. Proto Man hadn’t thought about the Judge in several weeks, and the mere thought of the man instantly made his synthetic blood boil.

“I’m sure he’s forgotten all about you by now,” Roll replied with a smile as she took him by the hand and walked with him all the way to the lift that connected to Tier 3’s transit hub.