(Pre-Show) The Lobby

[Proto Man]

With the turtle gone and the cleanup crews racing to make the place look unblemished as other groups were throwing together some sort of stage, Proto Man found himself once again anonymous amongst the growing throng of people entering the facility. Everyone who had tried to prevent the spread of the killing spree had dissipated, leaving the preteen machine to stand by the wall in silence.

“Are you a contestant?” A voice asked from a few feet away.

The robot glanced over to see a small news crew—reporter, cameraman, and a third person with a more ambiguous role. From their clothes, they had to be from either Coruscant or a more modern settlement in the Vasty Deep. People from Camelot weren’t the type to throw on suits and wear such clearly manufactured shoes. “I don’t know,” Proto Man replied as he twisted up his lips and tried to remember if he had ever agreed to anything. “I just ran after that guy after he shot up the little registration camp I was at.”

At the mention of ‘that guy,’ the news crew all seemed to light up, and before Proto Man could protest, they all slid in a little closer. Although the female reporter didn’t thrust the microphone into his face, she certainly held it somewhere firmly within his personal bubble. A glimpse showed that the cameraman had started to record, and the third guy was looking at some handheld equipment. “You were on the other side of the gate when Wartortle arrived? Can you tell us anything about him? Did he say anything to you or give any reason for his actions?”

“I don’t think he had any motivation outside of causing a scene and hurting people,” Proto Man muttered as he glanced down at the scorch marks from where he’d been hit by the forty-millimeter explosive rounds.

“Surely he had to have a reason,” the woman asked, trying to pry more words out of the preteen android.

Proto Man shrugged his shoulders. “I think there are a lot of monsters out there who just want to hurt people and try to drag the world into the flames.” Before the woman could ask him another question, the Prototype Robot Master beat her to the punch. “Where are you guys from?”

“Coruscant, Tier 5,” she replied with a smile. “My name is April O’Flanagan, and my crew guys over there are Bob and Rock.” The two bulky crewmen waved their hands when their names were spoken, allowing Proto Man to determine who was who. “Where are you from…”

“I’m Blues,” the android replied after he realized she had trailed off under the assumption that the rest of her sentence was rhetorical. “I’m also from Coruscant, but you’ve got to head a little further south to reach my house.”

“Tier Six?” April asked, eliciting a little nod from the machine. “How, uh… how’s that?”

“I haven’t been home in a while,” he responded as a frown crept across his youthful features. “I left to go find someone, and since then, I’ve been chasing shadows and monsters across the Omniverse.”

Before April could ask another question, Rock the tech guy interjected into their conversation. “Hey, I remember you!” He declared, prompting April to scowl and glance over at him. If the man was supposed to feel bad for violating some sort of interview protocol, he didn’t show it. “You were one of the primes that took down those dragons in Camelot…”

“Yea,” Proto Man said with a smile as he thought back to when he’d slipped out of Camelot. “I’ve been to a few more places since then and stopped a few more monsters.” The machine dug into his side bag and pulled out the scale he’d collected after the defeat of the Tarrasque. “This one’s from something called a Tarrasque,” he explained as his age started to seep through into his tone and mannerisms. “The stuff that happened afterwards wasn’t quite as pleasant, but I think we all did a good thing stopping the monster from ravaging the Pale Moors.”

“Care to give us the dish on that story?” April asked with a grin as she leaned a little closer to the machine, who leaned backwards to get some breathing room.

“Maybe a little later,” he replied, feeling slightly uncomfortable as the crew slowly closed in around him. “I’m starving!” He declared as he slipped underneath Bop and vanished into the crowd of visitors.