Memory Bank

[Proto Man]

Accessing memory banks...Date: 3 mo. BOV ... Location: Monsteropolis, NY...

Loading file 'Wily no Saigo!' ... 3 ... 2 ... 1 ... Engage.

The red figure stumbled and clutched at his chest.

Power…. Failing.  Recommend immediate cessation of expenditure.  The words flashed on the android’s internal display and were accompanied by a few flickering warning signs.
 
“God… darn it!”
 
With a grunt, Proto Man fell to his knees.  Clutching a gloved hand to his chest, the android sucked air into lungs that didn’t exist.  Even though he wasn’t a human, sweat stained his temples and made the hair inside his helmet awkwardly moist.  Twenty feet in front of him, another robot watched with a grin as his opponent huffed and heaved on the ground.
 
“Just lie down, Proto Man; you can’t hope to defeat me.”  Although the other Robot Master lacked the finer intonation and speech patterns of his more advanced ilk, he was not without his fare share of evil bantering capabilities.
 
“You’re not intimidating, Drawl Man.”  With a grin, Proto Man firmly planted a red, metal boot on the ground in front of him.  A beat later, he clenched his synthetic teeth together and rose up to his feet.  Extending a hand, the prototype android clenched his fist, and all of a sudden—
 
—nothing happened.  A message popped up in the corner of the robot’s field of vision that spelled out the situation in rigid, unsympathetic red letters.  Power levels critical.  Proto Buster inaccessible.  Lowering his hand, Proto Man watched as Drawl Man threw a hand out to his side like a diva.  The next moment, the metal fingers closed around the high-tech revolver on the cowboy Robot Master’s belt.
 
“Dr. Wily is going to be so pleased when I bring your body to him.”  Drawl Man’s mouth twitched, which meant he was trying to smile but lacked the necessary level of sophistication.  Many of Wily’s Robot Masters were designed with the sole purpose to destroy things and bring and end to all living things, particularly Dr. Light and his cronies.  As a result, they all had limited vocabularies and usually plastic expressions.  There were always exceptions, like the morose Bubble Man and the overly egotistical Top Man.
 
Unfortunately, Drawl Man needed neither high-level sentience nor elaborate facial nerves to beat down Proto Man.  The cowboy-themed android had simply managed to pounce on his opponent when he was down.  As the very first ‘Robot Master,’ Proto Man was not without his flaws.  Dr. Light hadn’t perfect the hybrid nuclear-solar power cores that served to fuel his machines, but he rushed to production so Wily didn’t take all the glory.  The two men, who were partners at the time, were constantly embattled with one another for the bragging rights to their inventions. 
 
From what he’d been told, Proto Man had once been closer to Drawl Man.  In those first few weeks—before the fault had happened—he’d been the obedient, cordial machine that both men had hoped to create.
 
The incomplete and untested core that went into Proto Man wound up being stable.  There were times when the fluctuations of energy were almost too painful to bear, and in the end, the casing splintered.  Proto Man knew that he could trace his real existence to that moment when the power core corrupted Wily’s programming and unlocked something in the prototype’s CPU beyond the scope of science.
 
He’d been trapped in that lab and left to his own devices.  Despite being brilliant, the two doctors didn’t really understand what they’d created.  They left the robot alone and confused.  Who could you talk to when you were the only one of you kind?  The closest thing to Proto Man before the creation of the extensive line of Robot Masters had been the computer AI that operated the Mettaurs.  While beyond anything else in existence, the Mettaurs were as close to sentience as a few circuits and chipsets could be.
 
So Proto Man ran away the first chance he got.  He kept running and running until his paint started to peel and his boots began to rust.  He wasn’t sure how many years passed, but he eventually found himself back on the outskirts of Monsteropolis.  In some cruel irony, his strength finally failed him as he wandered down the old country road into town.
 
It was then that Dr. Wily found him and promised him the gift of a life without an expiration date.  The scientist fixed the glaring design flaws but refused to correct all the outdated problems unless Proto Man helped him get revenge on Dr. Light.  And while the prototype couldn’t stand Light, he wasn’t the type to commit patricide.  In an attempt to casually depart from Dr. Wily’s headquarters, he’d been overwhelmed by an assortment of the man’s robotic creatures.
 
“Come on, now, Drawl Man, we can talk this out.”  With an attempted smile, the cowboy drew his revolver and put a round of energy through Proto Man’s chest.  The concentrated round shattered the prototype’s chest armor and exploded out through the other side.  Tiny bolts of electricity danced out from the small hole as a slew of warnings began to pile up on Proto Man’s display.  Before the robot could read the first one, the screen went black and all of his functions stopped.

[Proto Man]

Systems Operational…

…

Rebooting…

…

With a gasp, Proto Man’s field of vision went online and the child-sized robot’s upper body swung into an upright position. Glancing around, he noticed that his vision was without its usual tint, which meant his visor had been removed. Looking down at his chest, the android noticed that the gunshot wound to his chest had been repaired. There wasn’t even a mark to show where the steel had been soldered. Groaning, Proto Man’s eyes fell to the metal bands around his legs and arms. An attempt to lift one of his shackled hands was met with astounding resistance.

“Ssso you’re awake, Proto Man.”

Damn it. Turning toward the serpentine voice, the prototype Robot Master looked up the lithe, green-colored figure of Snake Man. From what Proto Man had gathered before his escape, Dr. Wily and Dr. Light had collaborated on another series of Robot Masters. After seeing an opportunity to get back at his rival, Wily had apparently stolen and reprogrammed all the machines to serve his needs.

The concept of their being more than one advanced robot out there still baffled Proto Man, who had been so very alone during his days in the Light Laboratories. Wily’s database had held the information for over twenty-eight other Robot Masters. A few were built off of Proto Man’s designs, but most were unique creations, like Snake Man or the cowboy who had botched the prototype’s escape. I wonder how many other destruction machines have their origins in me… At times like this, Proto Man wished he lacked the articulate emotional capacity of robots such as Drawl Man or the Mettaurs. Maybe then he wouldn’t feel responsible for all the destruction the drama between the two doctors had wrought on the city.

“Are you lissstening to me, Prisssoner?”

“Yesss, yesss, I hear you, Snake Man.” The imprisoned Robot Master grinned when he saw the frown on his captor’s visage. Proto Man was genuinely surprised that the snake-robot had been programmed enough to understand humor. Then again, Dr. Wily’s was always talented with programming. Looking away from the humanoid reptile, Proto Man spotted his helmet and scarf lying on a nearby countertop. The prototype frowned—he always felt so naked and bland without his effects. The helmet had been a staple of his since his creation, but its visor and the scarf had been added by Proto Man to make him feel more unique. Without them, he just looked like a preteen in an awkward bodysuit. “So what does your ‘boss’ want with me, Snake Man?”

“He wantsss me to remind you that you owe him and are going to come clean on your part of the deal.”

“Why can’t he tell me this in person?”

“Dr. Wily isss at the laboratory he isss leasssing with Dr. Light.”

“Still sticking to his charade, eh? You should tell him to stop focusing on that and start focusing on fixing your lisssp.”

One of Snake Man’s hands shot up from his side, converting into a buster-type weapon as it came to bear on the bound Proto Man. “You ssshould be lucky that Dr. Wily left usss with ordersss not to kill you.” Despite clear intensity on Snake Man’s face, his voice remained at the same tone and volume. “Dr. Wily wantsss you to report to Magnet Man’sss hideout downtown. You are to intercept Dr. Light’sss lackey.”

“His lackey?”

“The reassson why Wily hasss been unable to take over the world. Dr. Light reprogrammed one of hisss asssissstantsss.” Proto Man cringed at the other robots attempt to spit out the word ‘assistants.’ “You are to neutralize Mega Man to prevent him from stopping Dr. Wily’sss plan. Dr Wily hasss bugged you, ssso any attemptsss to essscape will resssult in something far worssse than a ssshot to the chessst.”

“Can you let me out of these stupid things?” The prototype asked as he tried to lift his shackled arm.

“Unfortunately, I mussst.” Snake Man scowled as he walked over to a nearby control panel and tapped a button. The thick metal bands slid into the chair beneath Proto Man with a pneumatic hiss. With a scowl, the android hopped off the inclined surface and brushed off the oversized pads of armor that covered the lower halves of his legs. When he was finished, Snake Man tossed him his effects. Despite the situation, Proto Man was more than happy to slide on the helmet and wrap the scarf around his neck. He was far more accustomed to filtered hearing and tinted vision.

“You’ll need thisss asss well.”

With a frown, Proto Man reached a hand up and caught the lobbed item. Looking up at it, he noticed it was type of face guard. A look over at Snake Man revealed that the serpentine robot was waiting for the prototype to don the piece of armor. Although unsatisfied with the notion of having accessories forced on him, Proto Man placed the face guard over the lower half of his head and almost winced when a few small rods popped out to keep the armor in its rightful location. Turning to a small mirror on a nearby wall, the android noticed that his entire face was concealed, and that his visor looked less like stylish, helmet-mounted sunglasses and more like a robotic views screen. One glowing red eye was even present, although Proto Man couldn’t see it himself on his field of vision.

“That’s a disssguissse to help keep you concealed from Dr. Light and his croniesss.”

“Great.” Proto Man rolled his eyes beneath his shades. “Just show me to the teleporter…”

“Thisss way.”

[Proto Man]

With an electrical bloop, Proto Man beamed into the center of the large industrial park that served as Magnet Man’s base of operations.  Apparently, Dr. Wily’s plans to take over the city always involved his expensive, robotic weapons of mass destruction squatting on important landmarks and waiting for someone to come and destroy them.  Why the evil doctor didn’t simply use said robots to blow up the City Hall or the Police Department was apparently beyond even Proto Man’s grasp.

Must be some sort of human thing… Behind his face guard, the prototype Robot Master smirked.  

“Intruder Alert!  Intruder Alert!”  The dry, staccato voice ended and was replaced by a thumping techno beat that seemed to emanate from everywhere at once.  All around Proto Man, once idle machinery began to hiss steam as it clambered to life.  Less humanoid robots lit up and began to patrol the various catwalks and passage ways, trying their damnedest to ensure that the intruder didn’t reach their overlord’s domain.  The few machines that were nearby either failed to notice Proto Man or were programmed not to view him as a threat.

Up ahead, a more humanoid robot was leaned against a larger boiler.  For a moment, the prototype thought he was looking at Magnet Man, but after a step forward, the android realized he was simply gazing upon a newer robot.  The seeming slacking machine was human-shaped, but he had a glowing yellow eye, a buster arm, and a very familiar-looking shield design.  The only thing missing from the entourage was a red paint job and a scarf.

Are you kidding me?  I don’t see this as a compliment.   Stomping forward, Proto Man jabbed the taller robot in the side with a metal finger.  The poor facsimile turned its eye to bear on the prototype and promptly tilted his head to the side like an inquisitive cat.  Lifting his hand, the android clenched his fist, prompting the extremity to convert into a buster gun.  The other robot continued to stare even as the back of the gun flashed yellow.  A beat later, a concentrated burst of energy crashed through the machine’s face—tearing apart its skull and blowing a hole through the back of its helmeted skull.  Now headless, its body jerked a few times and spewed a few handfuls of electricity before collapsing onto its haunches.

“I’m sorry.”  Proto Man kept his gun-hand trained on the twitching body, as if he half-expected the headless robot to spring up and attack him. “But I don’t find this flattering.”

Somewhere behind the prototype, there was an explosion strong enough to shake the concrete ground.  Spinning around, the Robot Master watched as one of the heavy boilers fell over onto a group of scrambling machines.  Twisted chunks of metal and thick, viscous clouds of boiled water splayed out in all directions.  As Proto Man watched, a blurred figure jumped up onto the boiler for a brief moment before making another jump that brought him within sprinting distance of the prototype.

Smiling, the Robot Master jogged behind a small generator.  Reaching for his neck, he wrapped his metal fingers around the whistle that hung from a thing piece of rope.  As the dull, echoing thumps approached the hallway adjacent to the generator, Proto Man placed the whistle up to his lips and played a short, melodious tune.  At once, the footsteps stopped a few paces beyond the generator.

Dropping the whistle back beneath his scarf, Proto Man jogged out from behind the humming piece of machinery and leveled his weapon with the blue android standing in front of him.  A proximity warning must have gone off in the other robot’s head, because he promptly spun around and brought his blue-plated buster-arm to bear on the masked robot.

Creepy…  Behind his shades, Proto Man’s eyes couldn’t help but widen as he sized up the other android.  While their armor varied in color and style, the material was the same, and in terms of their boots and hands, they were almost identical.  Their pelvic girdles were different in terms of plating.  Their helmets, although having unique ornamentation, both shared the same base shape and distinctive aural receptors of the Dr. Light and Dr. Wily robots.  Although they had their disparities in terms of clothes, the other Robot Master’s facial structure was nearly identical to Proto Man.  Had the prototype’s exoskeleton not become haggard over the last few years, he was certain they would look exactly the same.  I was offended by that machine and yet Dr. Light went and made a copy of me...  

“You’re … not the same as the other robots.”  The blue-plated android’s voice was squeaky and slightly prepubescent.  “Who are you?”

“I am Pro—ere… Break Man!”  Throwing his hand forward, Proto Man smiled behind the face mask as his left hand converted into a buster weapon.  “And I’m here to test you…” It was then that the robot realized he’d never learned the name of the blue android.  All of Wily’s files pertaining to his prior defeats had just mentioned ‘one of Light’s infernal robots’ or ‘that damn Blue Bomber!’

“Mega Man.”  The response took Proto Man by surprise, as the perplexed expression on his face was concealed behind a dark visor and a mouth guard.  Stepping back, the younger machine threw up his buster arm and released a burst of energy.

“Pleasant.”  Sidestepping, the prototype threw his own identical weapon forward and fired back a quick series of concentrated projectiles.  The first tagged Mega Man on the chest, but the preteen robot rolled with the force of the impact and escaped the path of the next several blasts.  Grinning beneath his metal mask, Proto Man dashed toward his opponent and gracefully leaped over the bursts that came surging at his face.  As he passed up and over Mega Man, the prototype slung his gun-hand down and nailed the other robot a few times on the skull and back.

Landing a few feet behind his opponent, Proto Man spun around and aimed his weapon just as a blue fist sailed into his chin.  Reeling back as his face plate caved beneath the synthetic strength, the prototype Robot Master fired a few blasts to stall any attempts by his adversary to press the advantage.  As Mega Man moved to evade the blasts, the other android retreated to a nearby generator and scaled it.  Once at the top, Proto Man aimed his blaster down at the blue robot and released burst of energy.  The younger machine threw up his buster arm and returned fire.  

The two projectiles, both shades of yellow, struck one another and violently exploded.  The omnidirectional shockwave was enough to throw Proto Man off the generator and send Mega Man rolling backwards head over heels.  Landing with a dull thud, the prototype cringed as warnings began to flare up along the corners of his display.  After pulling his torso up off the ground, the red robot placed a hand to his chest and tried to calm his synthetic breathing.  

I guess we’re more identical than I thought.  Energy fired from buster guns that operated on the same wavelength tend to react catastrophically when slammed together.  That only meant that Dr. Light hadn’t bothered to change much when he took Proto Man’s designs and created his brother.  I’m sure he has a functional power core!  Cursing his maker beneath his ‘breath,’ the prototype used the nearby generator to pull himself up into a standing position.  He quickly slipped around to the other side and noticed that his sibling was lying motionless on the ground about ten yards away.  Well I suppose having an unstable energy core can have its advantages at times.

“Get this thing off,” Proto Man hissed as he clenched a metal hand around one side of the face guard.  With a grunt, he tore the dented armor away from the lower half of his head and threw it across the room.  The accessory clanged loudly against the metal walkway and slid a few feet before falling silent.  Raising his buster arm, Proto Man watched it return to its idle mode, allowing him to utilize his left hand once again.  After flexing the digits to ensure they were responsive, the android brushed them across his bare chin and smiled.  If he could easily destroy Wily’s ingenious ‘disguise,’ what was there to prevent him from seeing just how far he could interfere with the dear doctor’s nefarious scheme?  Proto Man’s grin spread a little wider as he glanced over his shoulder at the tall factory near the center of the city’s industrial park.

“I think I’ll pay a visit to Magnet Man…”

[Proto Man]

The hunt to find Magnet Man was less of a hunt, per se, and more a matter of simply looking at the tallest structure in the complex that just so happened to be emblazoned with a giant, steel ‘W.’ Shaking his head, Proto Man pondered whether the display was rooted more in hubris or just good, old-fashioned lunacy. With a little jump in his step, the prototype passed through the chain gates that portioned off the structure. The giant, overgrown mettaur that patrolled the entryway paid absolutely no attention to the Robot Master as he scaled the fence and dropped down in front of the door.

At the top of the small stoop, Proto Man was faced by a large security grate that concealed the entranceway. Arming his weapon, he advanced on the steel shielding and was startled when it automatically pulled up into the wall, revealing a thin hallway. Moving forward, the prototype advanced a few feet and was once again taken aback when the grate behind him clicked back into place. Up ahead, an identical ‘security’ measure barred access to what lie beyond the cramped walkway. Now that he understood how the drill worked, Proto Man jogged over to the gate and rolled under it before it had a chance to retract all the way.

With his buster arm supported by his other hand, the android scanned his immediate surroundings. The room he’d rolled into was a perfect square—about twenty feet on all sides. Like the hallway, all the flat surfaces were comprised of metal plates and bars interspersed with thick red electrical cables. Across the room, Proto Man watched with just a smidge of delight as Magnet Man dropped down from the ceiling, dropped into an awkward stance, and suddenly tilted his head.

“Proto Man?” At roughly five and a half feet, the master of the industrial park was only a little taller than the average Robot Master. Any physical impressiveness he may have otherwise had was negated by his red bodysuit and the oversized plates of armor that covered his feet, hands, chest, and shoulders. The fact that there was a large magnet mounted to his forehead didn’t help amp up the intimidation factor of the Robot Master, but then again, anything that had been plagued by Dr. Light’s input tended to be utterly goofy. The Gen 1s were shining examples of the ‘creativity’ of the good doctor. “What are you doing here? This is where I’m stationed!” Even behind the guard that masked his nose and mouth, Magnet Man’s partially muffled voice was rife with confusion.

Can’t be too bad on him, this is one variable he isn’t programmed for. With a smirk, Proto Man leveled his buster-arm with the other Robot Master and fired off a concentrated pellet of solar energy.

Unlike the simpler machines, Magnet Man contained enough contingencies to allow him to protect himself from the oncoming attack. Falling down into a squat, the red-black android threw out his arms as the magnet on his head thrummed. Streams of white energy began to waft off the robot’s body, and for a brief instant, Proto Man felt as if he was being tugged. When the pellet came within six inches of Magnet Man, it suddenly and violently reflected off toward the ceiling. Upon relaxing his posture, the field clicked off almost instantaneously and the magnet lost is luminescence.

“Traitor!” The magnetized robot shouted as he threw out his right hand. The appendage flashed and was replaced by a buster arm that terminated with a large magnet instead of the usual circular opening or stylish nozzle. Before Proto Man could throw out a pun, a few bursts of steam erupted out of the other Robot Master’s buster weapon and the magnet came zipping toward him.

Diving to the wayside, the prototype managed to escape from the projectile’s initial trajectory, but as magnets are wont to do, it made a wide u-turn and came right back at him. Mumbling vulgarities beneath his breath, Proto Man quickly swung up his buster-arm, took aim, and blasted the self-propelled magnet out of the air. Pivoting, the android fired three bursts at Magnet Man as the latter casually leapt ten feet into the air and landed behind his opponent.

Turning sharply on his heels, Proto Man got a metal fist to his face, and a beat later, Magnet Man clenched his fists and his eponymous magnet began to glow. At this proximity, the prototype was flung toward the magnetic robot, who began to wail him in the skull and face. It wasn’t until Proto Man was able to angle his buster-arm and shoot his adversary in the chin that he could escape the barrage.

Lifting a hand to his face, the prototype Robot Master pulled away a fissured shard of black hyper-glass. “You broke my visor.” Shrugging his head, Proto Man initiated a command string, and his ruined visor popped off of his helmet, revealing the angular sunglasses the robot wore beneath them.

“You…you wear two pairs of sunglasses?” The blank look in Magnet Man’s eyes revealed that the Wily-Light Robot Master was unable to fathom the notion of wearing extra accessories.

“You wouldn’t understand,” Proto Man scoffed as he backpedaled away from his opponent. “After all, you’re just a robot.”

Magnet Man’s head tilted to the right, but before he could form an inquiry, Proto Man blasted him square in the chest. With a sputtering cough, the magnet-headed machine stumbled backwards a few paces before righting himself and returning fire.

Retreating to the wall, the prototype sucked in a deep breath and dropped down into a crouch just in time for the two magnets to slam right into some of the room’s metal plating. The impact indented the thick steel and caused one the thick support bars to bow outward. Near the middle of the room, Magnet Man dropped into his stance and clenched his fists. Flinging his buster-arm up, Proto Man shot the bowed section of the bar, causing it to separate and swing down. After catching the bar, the prototype gave it a violent jerk to remove it from the floor of the chamber, and just as Magnet Man’s tug kicked in, the scarf-clad android took a step into the magnetic field and hurtled the bar like a javelin.

The Wily-Light Robot Master’s eyes went wide as his own powers turned him into a shish kebab. With a string of incoherent babble and white noise, Magnet Man’s field kicked off and the robot toppled over—spewing sparks and various internal fluids. With a relatively satisfied grin on his face, Proto Man advanced on the twitching ‘corpse’ and grabbed it by the buster arm. A signal flashed briefly in the corner of the android’s internal display, and then his armor, beginning with his hand and moving out across the rest of his body, changed colors. The prototype’s gray bodysuit became a few shades lighter, and the various regions of plating turned a deeper shade of red. I guess he and I did share a slightly similar color design…

Lifting his buster arm up to his face, Proto Man suddenly jerked around and fired a magnet at the wall. The self-propelled projectile slammed into the wall and crashed through the plating, leaving a jagged gap in its surface. Upon lowering his weapon, Proto Man’s body switched back to its normal scheme and the android retreated through the hole he had created. A beat later, he heard the sound of the security grate sliding open and the sound of metallic boots clicking on the steel floor.

[Proto Man]

The preteen machine watched from the shadows as his ‘brother’ jogged into the room. When the lights failed to turn on, Proto Man heard an audible ‘humph’ as the younger robot searched for a source of illumination. There was a whoosh of gas before a small fire flash to life near the center of the room.

“What?” Mega Man muttered as he jogged over to the broken corpse of Magnet Man. His gauntleted blue hand closed around the shard of debris as his other hand touched the side of the dead machine’s face. “I’m sorry.”

The fu— The red robot cut the thought off midstream and watched as his younger sibling gingerly remove the makeshift lance of twisted metal and set it on the ground. Leaning forward, the blue machine pulled apart a section of the Magnetic Robot Master’s chest plate. After a few more moments of sifting around inside the inner workings of the other machine, Mega Man pulled out what seemed to be some sort of mechanical piece.

A servo? A processor?

Whatever it was, it seemed to have some value to the younger Robot Master, who tucked it inside of the large armored padding around his lower leg and feet. Once he was standing back up, Mega Man placed a hand against the side of his helmet and spoke aloud. “I’m ready to come back home, Dr. Light.” A moment later, Proto Man’s baby brother was gone in a flash of light and electricity, leaving the Prototype Robot Master hunched inside the wall of the room.

Stepping back out from the damaged portion of chamber’s wall, the preteen machine scowled as he made his way back over to the corpse. From a simple glimpse, he couldn’t tell what had been removed, and despite sharing the same creators, the internal layout wasn’t the same. Certain components were similar, but most of it didn’t match up with anything inside Proto Man. At his next trip to Wily’s lab, the preteen machine would have to make certain he ‘reviewed’ all the files on the other Robot Masters.

As he pondered the issue, a notification popped up in the corner of his internal display. It was a message from Drawl Man, who was wondering what the situation was with Magnet Man.

With a groan, the preteen machine accepted the request for an open communication link. “Go for Proto Man.”

“You’re Break Man. Remember that.”

“I’m not the Break Man,” Proto Man groaned as he reached up and touched the space where he’d worn the face guard.

“Incorrect. What happened to Magnet Man? His systems went offline several minutes ago.”

“The blue one got him,” the preteen machine lied. “Then he went and removed something from Magnet Man’s chest… what was that about?”

There was silence on the other end of the line for a few moments. “Your quandary is unknown. Did you fail to stop the interloper?”

“Correct.”

“You still live?”

Proto Man sneered. “Is it that hard to believe, Drawl Man?”

“Why did he not destroy you?”

“Because I wouldn’t let him? I escaped.”

There was another pregnant pause on the end of the line. “You… Escaped? You abandoned your task to flee?”

The preteen machine furrowed his brow before he realized that these other machines were probably designed to never retreat. “I’ll finish him the next time.”

“…Next time? You should be decommissioned for your failure.”

“’kay. I’ll be back later.”

“What do you mean? You will return now to finalize your debriefing.” Despite the fact that he was being threatened, Proto Man could only smile at the other android’s complete lack of intonation or emotion in his voice.

“Goodbye, Drawl Man,” the red robot replied as he closed the link. At this point, Proto Man was certain that all the threats had been hollow, and until they managed to remotely shut him down, he was content to do as he pleased.

Time to track down Dr. Light.