Mega Man blinked as his capsule opened up, shaking his head. "Ugh...Dr. Light, how long have I been out?" he called. When he received no response, he glanced around worriedly. "Dr. Light? ...Dad?"
When he still received no response, he began racing around the lab, looking for any sign of what happened. Eventually, he found Protoman's scarf beside a spilled glass of eggnog. "Protoman...kidnapped Dr. Light?" he gasped. "But...but he wouldn't just go with him..."
Turning, he accessed the computers, and discovered that the proximity sensors had registered eight unknown Robot Masters arriving with Protoman. "Eight Robot Masters? Is this a takeover attempt?" He checked the news feed, and sure enough, eight Robot Masters were on the loose. "...I need some help. Well...Dr. Cossack owes me one for covering for him over his Robot Masters. Come on, Rush!"
"Ruff!" Rush replied, leaping to Mega Man's side. The pair headed for the teleporter, putting in the coordinates for Dr. Cossack's lab.
Dr. Cossack was awakened to the sound of someone pounding at the front door. Grumbling, he went to open it. "Who is...Mega Man? What are you doing here?"
"Protoman's kidnapped Dr. Light!" Mega Man replied quickly. "Eight new Robot Masters are rampaging. I need some combat upgrades to handle them. One of them's a tank. A freaking tank!"
Mikhail quickly ushered Mega Man and Rush in. "Alright. Let me see what I can do."
After a while of working in his lab, Mikhail shook his head. "I'm afraid there's not much I can do to improve your Mega Buster. Dr. Light did an excellent job on this charge function. At best, I could give you another one on your other arm...but using both together could be dangerous for you."
"I'll manage it," Mega Man replied.
"Off to hunt again?"
Mega Man shivered. Turning, he saw the source of the voice leaning against a nearby wall. "Skull Man," he greeted calmly.
"Have fun slaughtering more robots...dirty brother killer," Skull Man added. "You certainly seem to enjoy it."
As Skull Man left, Dr. Cossack turned back to Mega Man. "Don't let him get to you," he reassured softly. "You don't-"
"Did you build Protoman's Robot Masters?" Mega Man asked suddenly.
"What?" Mikhail asked, shocked. "No! What possible reason could I have to do that? Why would you even ask me?"
"Because there are only three scientists in the world who could build Robot Masters of that level," Mega Man replied. "Protoman used them to kidnap one, and you are helping me stop them. Protoman couldn't build them himself. ...can you give Rush an upgrade as well?"
Confused by the way Mega Man's mind seemed to be leaping about, Mikhail nodded. "What did you have in mind?"
"Something...fast."
Forte walked back and forth in the halls of Wily's Castle, grumbling to himself. Vinyl had gotten a head cold the previous night, and was thus staying in bed for the day. While he was concerned for her health, he was also frustrated as he had nothing to do until she recovered. Wood Man was meditating, Air Man was fixing the Fortress' ventilation system, Crash Man was setting up Vinyl's future education plan, and Shadow Man was helping Protoman set up at his Fortress in preparation for Mega Man's counter attack. On top of that, Dr. Wily himself was up in his lab to offer Protoman some support when the time came, and the Robot Formerly Known As Doc was currently tending to Vinyl.
Grumbling angrily to himself, Forte kicked a nearby wall. "I wish something would happen!" he snapped. "Just to break up the boredom-"
The front door of the Fortress blasted open from a double charged plasma blast, and Mega Man came flying in on a motorbike with Rush's head. He sailed right over Forte before driving on through the Fortress, the bike's engine roaring as he turned through the halls.
"I didn't mean it!" Forte shouted to the universe at large as he tried to make chase...only to be thwarted by a large pit Mega Man had widened as he'd cleared it. "Dammit!"
To say that Dr. Wily was startled when Mega Man busted down his door on the back of a Rush cycle would be to say that Genghis Khan dabbled in real estate. He was quite floored when Mega Man leapt off the Rush cycle, blasted him, and then landed braced over him as all his muscles locked up briefly. Rush transformed back into a dog as he skidded towards the wall, deploying turrets of all things from his back. "Surrender now, Dr. Wily!" Mega Man ordered. "I know you're behind Protoman kidnapping Dr. Light!"
Wily was rather surprised that Mega Man had figured it out so quickly, but something else was of greater significance to him just now. "You shot me!" he shouted out.
"Stun blast," Mega Man replied. "I asked Mikhail to give me a stun setting so I could actually capture you this time. That way you would actually be in jail and not ready to do this all over again in a year or two."
"How did you come to the conclusion that I was behind this?" he demanded.
"Because only three people can make Robot Masters that advanced, and you're the only one Protoman would work for," Mega Man replied. "Beyond that, one was kidnapped by the Robot Masters, and the other is helping me stop you. I assume you programmed them with a voice command to make them shut down and withdraw, just in case they turned against you?"
Wily's eyes popped open. "How did you know I did that?" he gasped out. "I never did before!"
"Because you put the Robot Masters under Protoman's command," Mega Man explained. "Since you've confirmed you made them and programmed such a command, you're going to make use of it...or I'll make sure you regret not doing so for the rest of your life."
Wily burst into laughter. "You...you're actually threatening me?" He laughed louder. "An empty threat, but still, that's impressive!"
"What makes you think it's empty?" Mega Man asked coldly.
"You've got the three laws in you," Wily replied. "Tom was obsessed with Asimov. You can't hurt me, or any human."
"You're right, Wily," Mega Man replied, his voice...somehow dead. "The first law, hardcoded into my programming, says 'A robot may not harm a human, or through inaction, allow a human to come to harm." As Wily's eyes narrowed in confusion from the emphasis, Mega Man stepped back. "Rush, keep him pinned here," he ordered. Rush quickly moved to obey, pinning Wily beneath him. "I need to go find Vinyl." He turned to leave the room.
Albert felt his heart skip a few beats. "You can't!" Wily shouted out. "You could never go through with such a thing! You care too much!"
"My personality simulation is just that, Doctor," Mega Man replied without turning around. "A simulation. I, like any robot, am a tool. My brain is a difference engine. If projected calculations indicate that killing Vinyl will save humans, then I won't hesitate." He took another step forward.
"I order you to halt!" Wily gasped out desperately, struggling against Rush.
"I have long standing orders to ignore the orders of criminals if they interfere with my primary mission," Mega Man replied coolly, continuing out the door.
Wily refused to believe it. Wily could not accept that this would happen, wanted to call Mega Man's bluff. But as Mega Man turned the corner towards Vinyl's room...Albert broke. "Wait!" he called out, his voice broken. "I'll...I'll do it..."
Turning, Mega Man stepped back into the lab, hauled Albert up by his collar, and carried him over to the console.
Reaching out, Albert blindly activated the sequence that put him in contact with the latest eight Robot Masters. He then leaned forward and spoke into a microphone. "...abandon hope, all ye who enter here," he whispered, before slumping in on himself as his tears fell.
Elsewhere in the Fortress, eight teleportation signals indicated that the Robot Masters had been recalled. The screens indicated they were shutting down.
Mega Man turned Albert to face him, his voice dead. "Dr. Albert Wily, you're under arrest for crimes of robotic terrorism, destruction of property, and acts of world terrorism."
Saying no more, Mega Man teleported out, taking Albert Wily with him to jail...only for Protoman to step into the room, having gotten there in time to hear the end of the interaction, but too late to interfere.
I just wonder how light will react.
you're making me hate megaman
thanks dude
I know you said to not hate on Mega Man but... I really hope Skull Man tears him apart, permanently...
*blinks*
Uh... huh...
*turns to the Vinyl and Wily Shrine in his room*
...
*turns to the Megaman plushie on the other side of the room*
...
Well.... Light's gonna be a touch upset, threatening Vinyl?
Protoman and Vinyl are going to flip their lids.
... Wow.
... Vinyl is going to f***ing tear Megaman a new mega-asshole huh? I don't even want to know how much collateral damage she's going to cause. I DO, however, enjoy day dreaming :D
Give 'em hell Vinyl!
...I have no words... To describe how I feel about this chapter... Actually now that I think about it, I do...
The path to Tartarus is paved with good intentions.
6705560 More important, I think, is Vinyl's reaction.
She has Protoman and Forte on hoof, and a ton of robot masters around that aren't actually defeated yet, and all the ones in the club.
And if Protoman mentions the fact that the blue bomber used her life as a blackmail chip...
Well. DJ Pon3 is likely to become DJ PWN3 instead, if you catch my drift.
Well... That wen dark fast. But... At least Megaman's becoming more competent?
There is a time and place for shutting off emotions. There are a small handful of martial arts that train extreme emotional control to a phrase or series of actions, but it is just control not a literal turning off of them, no matter how it seems because if you did do that, you might as well be a biological machine of the highest order of complexity. Rock just demonstrated that difference quite well.
Oh for the love of God...I know exactly what's happening...he's taken way to many weapon chips hasn't he? DEATHBATTLE made a point of bringing this up to explain why he never has of the weapons that he had in previous games was because it affected his core personality making him more bloodthirsty. He must have never expunged the weapons from his system...or at least not completely.
6705600 Well, in the short term, yes. But he's failed to consider the consequences of his actions. Namely that Dr. Light is gonna be at least a little weirded with the whole "do what I say or I hurt your adoptive pony daughter" thing, and that Vinyl (who is as clever if not more so than either Wily or Light) is going to go on the warpath to rescue her dad and break Megaman down into his most basic components. Like, on the atomic scale.
Where is Dr. Light at the moment?
MEGGGGA MAN
6705646 Spam the Sonic Laser Gun!
I'm not sure if anyone animated this yet.
docs.google.com/uc?id=0B-UZHbKERL_cbjNzSGhsZXVhTFU
6705676
Oh my gosh, that's adorable!
6705677
Thanks!
Ouf. The feels man.
Mega Man is one dead bot...
That was scary. Especially when you consider Megaman is simply doing what he was programmed to do. Wily's capture has been his goal since the first chapter.
An intense chapter. Good job.
You know how I always pictured The Genocide Route as? Believe it or not... a little bit of Death Note. I mean, you play as a human who goes around killing because you think it's the best thing to do, when all of a sudden, a formidable adversary comes along. Time and time again, he bests you to your utter disbelief, under the assertion that your path is the incorrect way. Nonplussed, you defeat him for the sake of proving him wrong, and you move on to the final destination... and then you die. In your last moments, the adversary's last words comes rushing back to you, and you realize with absolute certainty... you've lost... everything you did up to that point was the wrong thing to do... you could've lived a better life, befriending a wide cast of characters, growing old with happiness following you wherever you went, but instead... all that's left is the cold emptiness that will follow you in your eternal limbo... (unless you use the Genocide Removal application, but you know what I mean).
Huh, but that doesn't really have to do with anything; how does this chapter go abou-...
...
....
..... Wow. You did it again! You've exceeded my expectations! But in the complete opposite direction I was expecting! I mean, the thing where he did that one thing, the thing where he did that other thing, actually doing the thing he should have done in the GAMES!!?... Oh, and the best part.
Normally whenever a person has Mega Man develop as a character, usually it involves getting closer with his human side, but HERE... that was the coldest thing I've ever seen... and I applaud you for it! Not to say I'm happy this event happened (Because then, what does that make me?), but what this can potentially lead to! What will Wily ever think of this? What will Dr. Light think of this? Will Mega Man continue on as if everything's fine or will he realize that he MIGHT have done something wrong? How shall Skull Man react to this, and will he fail to get through to Mega Man, or will it be the first paragraph all over again? Oh, and the most important questions to ask... will the Robot Formerly Known As Doc be Papyrus, and will this go in a Genocide!Papyrus-like direction?
OK, OK, that last bit's probably going a bit too far for the suspension of disbelief to handle, but I'm sure you get what I'm saying.
Anyways, despite what you may think, I don't think any less of you for going this route, nor do I necessarily hate Mega Man's decision... what matters now is how this one event affects the future. After all, you wouldn't want this to go nowhere...
BECAUSE THEN THE STORY WOULD UNDERCUT MY EXPECTATIONS AGAIN. MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!
Just kidding. Anyways, take care of yourself, and I hope to see such brilliance later on. See ya.
Yup Light needs to correct Megaman's directives fast because he just made a questionable choice here. Yea a sick and mad Vinyl will be very scary. We must remember Wily and Light have a plan here to get the robots off the three laws and Megaman just made a good case for why they need them.
Wow. No evil robot has ever steeped that low to threaten a child. Why would Mega Man stoop to that low?
*Hands Vinyl her sonic weaponry* You know what to write now Tatsurou, make it more glorious than Spike vs Ridley.
You said not to hate on Mega man, and I won't (for now...) but I just need to say, Vinyl, or Skull Man, SOMEONE, needs to beat the crap out of Mega Man. It's already happened before, we just need it to happen on the subatomic level.
On a side note, it is interesting, (though perhaps not in the happy way), to see Mega Man acting more cold and robotic. If this is a permanent change, that could make things MUCH more interesting down the line, (Mega Man becoming the villain, and Wily and Vinyl becoming the heroes), though somehow I think Mega Man will be redeemed. All just speculation, of course.
I can't really fault Mega Man for his actions, they were the only logical option. Mega Man doesn't like it anymore than we do, but he knows it has to be done. That's why he turned off his personality simulation, it hurt too much to do what he knew he needed to do. We'll see soon enough how it affects him after the fact. Looking forward to more.
Keep up the good work. Deus tecum.
Damn... that was harsh.
*Vinyl waking up, better*
V.S: Where's Daddy? *All the robot masters stare awkwardly, trying to find the right thing to say. Protoman and Forte enter*
P.M: Mega Man has taken him to jail. *Vinyl gasps, then whimpers. Forte picks her up*
F: Shh... it's alright, we're still here for you. *Vinyl looks at him, but angry*
V.S.: No! It's not alright! He needs our help! We're busting him out! *all the Robot masters gasp*
F: What the-!? How do you suppose we do that!? *Vinyl hops out of Forte's arms, pulls out the sonic distributor, and puts on her glasses like a boss*
V.S.: With the power of wubs and family!!!
I know what Skull Man's personalities are.
SPAGETTI AND PUNS!
maybe.
Mega Man must pay.
Do Sans proud Tatsu. FINISH THE JOB. MAKE HIM PAY FOR THREATENING THE LIFE OF A SICK CHILD.
Wow... Just, wow. Megaman might have gone a little stir crazy after being cooped up in recovery for a little too long maybe. There's a line which one crosses before slipping into madness and just about whatever you do won't be able to justify it being right. Megaman crossed that line and whatever comes, he's going to have to answer for it in the end one way or another.
How the mighty falls...
The three laws of robotics or so flawed its pitiful...
Have you played Megaman Unlimited?
And this is why the three laws are a terrible, horrible idea. One of them, anyway.
actually i kind of hoping Dr Light wake up and tries to take over the world to clear Wily's name in the spirit of christmas.
i.ytimg.com/vi/roQQ4EMv7ZI/maxresdefault.jpg
Time to bring out the Sonic weaponry.
And thus the dark energy shows up a few games early while infecting Megaman forcing Duo to show up and wipe his memory of the event.
Really I just want to see Duo show up cause he's so fucking cool.
Real One: Mega Man doesn't give a shit anymore.
West Cowboy: Yeah, but threatening an equine life form? Hell, he had too much bullshit.
Real One: Yeah, he wanting to hurt Vinyl? Do as I say, a human for a human.
I was amazed at how well Megaman saw through Wily's plans, but the last part was unexpected. Talk about a Templar Knight mindset
6705638 Definitely makes sense.
well, I think we know what made Forte get the Battle upgrade in this timeline.
and it appears that Rock is using pure logic, which is a very stupid thing to do as pure logic is incapable of handling variations.
It seems the Hero has lost it. Too many scarring fights have left him on a moral low ground... Now justice seems to justify the means if it means he won't have to face another skull man or metal man...
6705978
To be honest, the three laws are so wrought with loopholes, we could never actually use them. After all, what if the robot doesn't know it is one? Effectively, it wouldn't have to follow any of the laws, at that point...
I feel that Megaman is enacting on his cartoon show programming a tad.
It's a little to early for Rock to go all Megaman 7 on us isn't it? I don't usually get scared, but this genuinely bore into my brain.
You threatened Vinyl and took Willy...Prepare your self for war Maga man, because you'll need all the help you can get with Vinyl's Bass cannon and her army of robot masters after your sorry metal hide!
In other news, great chapter and I look forward to what you have in store for us all.
6706126
Robots aren't programed in English - references to "robots" would be replaced by something more akin to "this unit".
My point was that they're a terrible idea exactly because they do not simply allow but force situations like this. The thing directly preventing a robot from doing evil should be the same thing directly preventing a human from doing evil - nothing.
Abandon hope all ye enter here love the dantes inferno quote from the divine comeady
6706225
I'm not disagreeing with you; I'm simply pointing out that every traditional portrayal of the laws always had them interpreted in English, and thus, very exploitable.
And yes, AI that want to follow the rules would be for the best, rather than imposing artificial limitations. In fact, placing such restrictions upon them could be compared to slavery, in all honesty. It's really just asking for a robot rebellion, if you think about it.
6706225
Or, in essence, Mega Man's actions just now has proved the need for - and justified - the creation of Mega Man X.