//------------------------------// // 9: To Five // Story: Wily's Wittle Wub // by Tatsurou //------------------------------// Vinyl frowned as she heard Mega Man's full report once he arrived in Sky Lagoon. "This is concerning," she mumbled softly. "That's an understatement," Mega Man mused idly. "Someone out there sabotaged your mission, and tried to make it into a frame-up of Wily making another world takeover attempt." "While that's true, that's a minor concern at best," Vinyl countered. "The bigger concern in this case is how they went about doing it." "Why is that so concerning?" Mega Man asked curiously. "Didn't they just use the same cookies you used to flip the Robot Masters going after the Energy Ore back before you built Doc Robot?" Vinyl's glasses slid down her muzzle, revealing her wide, startled eyes. "H...how did you know about that?" "I put together some details a while back," Mega Man explained. "Specifically around the time 'Breakman' 'kidnapped' Dr. Light." The air quotes in his voice were plainly audible. "During the incident, I started thinking in terms of who had the capability to do various things at various times. The only ones with the resources to manipulate the Robot Masters back then - or build Doc Robot - were Dr. Light, Dr. Wily, and you. If Dr. Light wanted to get ahold of the Energy Ore to make Gamma his weapon, he would have just altered Gamma's control circuitry to only respond to him. And Dr. Wily at that point had put his full priority on being a good father to you before any world takeover attempts." He smiled impishly. "Which, of course, also explained why he took credit for it all once he figured it all out. To keep you from getting a juvey record for world terrorism." Vinyl shook her head as she chuckled ruefully. "It's real easy to forget you've got a super computer for a brain," she commented idly. "And yes, the cookies are the exact same tactic I used then." She wasn't worried about Mega Man trying to arrest her for that, or even making an official action about it. He wouldn't have brought it up casually if he was going to. "In fact, they might as well have been the same batch. It was certainly the same recipe. But again, that's not the issue." "Then...what is?" Mega Man asked curiously. "According to Splash Woman's report, they were given the cookies at the shuttle launch," Vinyl explained. "That's the concerning issue. The shuttle was launched from here after all. The sabotage was initiated...from within Sky Lagoon." She steepled her hooves and stared at Mega Man. "We don't have a tourism industry up here, and we're in control of all transit to and from here as well. We know every name and face that arrives here - or at least we should - and we're close knit. Since we're all scientists with similar ideals - and the families thereof - we don't even have any crime up here. Nobody even locks their doors, we trust each other so much." She leaned back with a sigh. "So...somehow, a saboteur made it here where he had no business being...and I can't even investigate too deeply or openly, or that trust we've built up here - an example meant to show the world below how much better things are following our ideals - will fall apart. And if I do investigate secretly, it's betraying that trust on my part!" She stared up at the ceiling sorrowfully. Mega Man nodded understandingly. "Yeah...I guess I can see where that's a problem. But that's not the only problem, now that I think about it..." "What do you mean?" Vinyl asked curiously, rolling over in her chair to lay on her back, her glasses sliding back to brace against her horn. Her chair lifted up so she was still looking over her desk at Mega Man. "The tech of that Copy Bot," Mega Man spoke up. "I've only seen tech that could let a robot restructure itself to imitate another entity - robot or otherwise - to that level in one place." "What place?" Vinyl asked. "Couldn't they have found it there, then?" "Impossible," Mega Man insisted. "I've only even spoken of the concept. The specs never left the lab where he's being built." "He?" Vinyl asked curiously. "Anton." Vinyl froze for a time, then let out a curse. "They got into that lab? But...that's impossible!" "It should be," Mega Man confirmed. "And yet...somehow it's happened." Vinyl frowned as she rolled back to her hooves. "Unfortunately...there's one way I can think of that this might have happened...but it'd be opening Pandora's Box even trying to investigate it, and even the idea of it strikes at the core of everything we've built here. If it's true...everything could fall apart." Mega Man's eyes closed as he reached the same conclusion. "A sleeper agent...who doesn't know that they're sleeping. A robot who came up here as part of the immigration groups to settle...with a program inside that causes them to unknowingly send information back to someone below." "Occam's Razor says that's what's going on," Vinyl murmured. "As well as what would happen if it got out. So...what do I do?" Mega Man stared up at the ceiling. "Well, for now...I'd suggest doing nothing." "Nothing?" Vinyl asked, stunned. "Nothing official, anyway," Mega Man explained. "After all, there's been no official incident here. However...whoever tried this obviously isn't going to be happy that it didn't work. Guard against a similar assault, and keep an eye out for others." "And if this continues?" Vinyl demanded coldly, her eyes calculating. "Well...I'd suggest being prepared for something to ensure they can't try a third time," Mega Man offered thoughtfully. "I'm sure you'll figure something out." Vinyl stared after Mega Man as he turned to leave. I think I might have an idea, she thought to herself.