//------------------------------// // VSW-017: Answers // Story: Wily's Wittle Wub // by Tatsurou //------------------------------// Mega Man started to open his mouth to ask the questions he wanted answered, but hesitated. Given everything that had happened so far, he wouldn't be at all surprised if Vinyl only allowed him three questions, just like the Four Guardians had. Unfortunately, he had a lot more than three questions he wanted answers for. As such, he closed his mouth and put his hand to his chin as he began running a few optimization algorithms on his curiosity. "Whatcha doin?" Vinyl asked cutely, tilting her head fetchingly while smiling at him. "Trying to figure out how I can learn everything I want to know in three questions," Mega Man replied. "Oh, no question limit for me!" Vinyl reassured him happily. "Just ask away!" Blinking in surprise, Mega Man reorganized his thoughts. "...why did you do all this?" he asked finally. "Daddy!" Vinyl replied firmly. "I wanted my Daddy back, which meant breaking him out of jail. When I thought about how to do that, I asked myself, 'What Would Daddy Do?' And in everything he does - whether it's taking over the world, making new friends, or making Christmas-" "Christmas?" Mega Man asked, stunned. Wily pointedly did not meet his gaze. "-he uses eight Robot Masters that you end up fighting!" Vinyl concluded, having completely missed that interchange. "So I knew if I was going to bust Daddy out of jail, it would require eight Robot Masters...and that you'd end up fighting them." She lowered her head, pawing at the floor with her hoof. "I...didn't really like that idea. I mean...even though you put Daddy in jail, you're my friend. You were just doing what you were programmed to do. I can't blame you because Dr. Light hadn't figured out how to sneak alternate programming loopholes into your core processor back when you were first built-" "Wait, alternate what?" Mega Man interrupted. "Alternate programming loopholes!" Vinyl explained. "See, none of my Wub Masters were actually illegal constructions, cause they were all completely programmed with the three laws. But there were loopholes embedded in their programming triggered on specific circumstance combinations that allowed them to reinterpret their third law programming based on their personality core...which in the case of every single one, led them to decide that doing what I told them to do was more important than the rest of the laws, since I was defined as the most important 'human' according to their programming and personality cores." Mega Man could only stare, completely stunned. "...seriously?" he demanded. "Yup," Protoman agreed as he stepped up behind Wily. "She took each and every one of her Wub Masters before the International Robotics Committee to get them approved for manufacture and programming before building them, and every last one was given the green light." "How the heck did you manage to get eight obvious combat robots cleared for construction?" Mega Man demanded, stunned. "Cause their combat statistics were manure!" Vinyl explained. "Most of their weapons were little better than a Fourth of July sparkler based on their power output, and would do more damage to them than you if used for combat. As far as structural integrity, most of them could barely hold themselves together when using their weapons, let alone when in a full fledged fight. Just cause I was doing the whole Robot Master thing and you'd fight them didn't mean I wanted you to get hurt!" She shrugged. "The only exceptions were Giganto and Sewer Gator, since they did the actual work of busting Daddy out." "Then why'd you make the approaches to them so crazy and challenging?" Mega Man growled. "If you didn't want me to get hurt-" "Well it wouldn't have been any fun for you if it was a total cake walk!" Vinyl interrupted. "So I designed challenges based on the games we played together, and the movies you watched together. Especially the stuff you really liked. It's why Mutilus' castle and Giganto both had self destruct systems. You always got the biggest thrill from the video games when racing the countdown timer." "And the reason their designs were so...weird?" Mega Man followed up nervously. Vinyl shrugged. "While I didn't want to hurt you, when I first started it I was feeling kinda spiteful about you putting Daddy in jail, so...I went on some internet message boards and asked around for Robot Master designs that'd make you feel awkward to fight to get back at you. Gas Pump and Dirty Fighter I liked...but I didn't understand the rest, so I used a few internet polls to decide the rest. ...then I didn't really understand the joke for the winners that they liked so much, so I asked around on another message board for where those Wub Masters should go." "So...it seemed so slapdash because it was so slapdash?" Mega Man concluded. "Uh huh," Vinyl confirmed. "By the way, can you tell me what the jokes are for the others? I...don't get 'em." "Neither of us are old enough for those jokes," Mega Man replied firmly. He sighed, rubbing his forehead. "So...all of this was to free Wily in a way that wouldn't actually put me in real danger? ...then why the much more intense challenges and Guardians in the Fortress?" Vinyl giggled. "You know that! The final area challenges and bosses are always super hard compared to the rest of the game if the design's good! But I realized I'd made Typhon and the others too tough, so I didn't make you have to beat them." She shrugged. "Besides, I didn't wanna lose them, either!" Mega Man sighed ruefully, shaking his head. From the outside perspective, this made absolutely no sense...but by Vinyl's logic, it all made perfect sense. He wasn't sure how to handle that, so he asked another question. "If you wanted to be like Wily, why not Giganto Man, and names like that?" "You mean other than because they sounded stupid when I tried to say them?" Vinyl joked. "Because I didn't want to be an exact copy of how Daddy did things...so I tweaked a bit. Like the naming scheme. And not making you fight duplicates of the Wub Masters here in the Fortress. Things like that." Mega Man nodded in understanding. "Well...while I do understand your reasoning...I still need to take you both in now. You for breaking Wily out of jail, and Wily for escaping prison." "I've got two secret weapons to make you not do that!" Vinyl replied happily, looking really eager to demonstrate said weapons. Mega Man couldn't stop himself from chuckling. "Alright. What's the first?" Vinyl took off her glasses and looked up at him, her eyes wide and dewy. Her eyelashes flicked as her crimson orbs stared into his core. Her horn glowed as music played from nowhere. She clutched her glasses tight against the two sizes too big lab coat she was wearing. "Pwease don't take my Daddy away?" she pleaded. Wily clutched at his chest just from hearing her speak, half afraid it would be lethal levels of cute to any human looking straight at that. Damn, she has made progress weaponizing cuteness! he thought to himself. ...I'm so proud! Mega Man was certainly phased by the cute assault, but he rallied gamely. "You forget how much time I've spent with you, Vinyl," he groaned as he struggled against the overwhelming force of adorability. "I've built up a resistance!" Sighing, Vinyl put her sunglasses back on as she stopped the music. "That's okay. It was only Plan A to stop you here. Plan B is much more effective." "And what's Plan B?" Mega Man asked curiously. "A secret weapon," Vinyl offered tantalizingly. "I get that, but what?" Mega Man demanded. "I built nine Wub Masters, not eight." As his proximity and danger sensors went off, Mega Man started to spin, but the robot behind him moved too fast. Bzzzown-wownnnnnn! Mega Man could only stare as the V-shaped slash left his arms and legs falling to the floor separate from his body...but otherwise undamaged. He landed on his back so he could stare up at the robot behind him. All he saw was a black cloak covering everything except the blade on one arm, glowing blue and humming with energy, yellow light arcing along it in regular intervals along the length. The blade itself was flat, wide at the base, narrow at the tip. "I am Secret," the robot offered, its voice erroring as though it were using a half complete voice synthesizer. "You shall never know me." "I perfected the Sonic Blade tech!" Vinyl proclaimed proudly. "Come, Secret! Time to go!" With that, Secret blurred over to Vinyl, Wily, and Protoman. "By the way, Mega Man!" Vinyl called out. "Teleport shield's down now, so you can go back to Dr. Light at any time!" With that, Secret teleported the group away. Mega Man glared after Vinyl. He really wanted to be angry with her over this. But looked at from her perspective - that this was a game between them - he couldn't take it personally. It was a good move. As he activated his teleport beacon - pleased it took his limbs with him - all he could say was... "...clever girl..."