Be Welcome to the Seat of the Council.

[Proto Man]

With the exit door set, Proto Man and Samus were free to come and go as they saw fit. The preteen robot had been quiet since they’d left their little sit-down. His eyes were transfixed on his palm and the fact that his organic layer had repaired itself. This wasn’t like Samus’ suit gradually starting to fix itself…there was no damage whatsoever to the synthetic epidermis. Even stranger, there was no scarring to indicate that a wound had existed in the first place. While the synthetic organics were more than capable of healing injuries, they’d always at least left scars.

As Harry started to talk, Proto Man was distracted by a flashing indicator on his internal display: ‘Incoming Call – Number Unknown.’

“Sorry, I have to take this call…” the android said as he took a few steps away and opened the channel. “Hello?”

“Hey, Blues, this is Roll. I see that you finally got your broadband communication software functioning properly.”

I guess? The preteen furrowed his brow. “Yes, I certainly did. Is everything all right on Six?”

“Just the same as it always is: Too much trouble and not enough food or water. I called because I wanted to see if you had any luck finding what you were looking for.”

“It was a dead-end.”

“So you opted to fight dragons? I’ll have to send you some of the news articles posted by the Tier 1 propaganda machines…they’re a hoot.”

“Of course they are,” Proto Man mumbled as he looked over at Samus. The bounty hunter also made her home on the city’s lower tiers, which meant she’d probably get almost as much flax as he would for spending time in Camelot defending the Kingdom’s citizenry.

“I have another lead for you, though,” Roll added. “The remnants of an exploratory group limped back to Tier 1 today. Out of a group of two dozen, there were only three survivors. They had been attempting to explore and map out a few quadrants of the Ashen Plains when they were…and I quote: ‘Viciously attacked by a giant Zippo lighter with limbs’.”

“Heat Man?” Proto Man asked rhetorically, knowing full-well that the only other fire-based Robot Master was probably within ten meters or Roll as they spoke.

“This is the first genuine report in a few months, although the boys and I can’t figure out how they would have got passed Elec Man, Hiberius, or any of the security forces near the gates. But if they’re out there murdering people indiscriminately, we have to do something about it.”

“I understand. I’ll head out soon, I’m just tying up loose ends here.”

“Be safe, Blues, the Ashen Plains is an inhospitable place. You’re not going to find much in the way of civilization or security.”

“I’ll manage, Roll. Thank you. Over and out.” Closing the channel, Proto Man walked over to the others, who had been watching him the entire time. “Sorry, that was my sister calling. I have to head back to the Nexus. I can escort you to Dalaran on the way there, Harry. I mean, it’s a massive floating island, so I imagine once we get in the general area you can figure out the rest.”

“Sounds good,” the wizard replied with a faint grin. “You coming our way Samus?”

“I’m certainly not going to stay here by myself,” the bounty hunter replied as she followed the pair into the underground tunnels.