Dr. Light stepped into his lab, a deep frown on his face. He knew Mega Man was in here somewhere, and after what he had done regarding Wily, Light was going to have it out with him. There were things you did not do when acting as the 'hero'. Mega Man had crossed a line, and Light was going to make sure he knew it.
As he stepped in, Roll stepped out of the kitchen, looking...emotionally broken. As she caught sight of him, she gasped in relief and rushed forward. "Dr. Light!" she called out desperately, throwing her arms around him.
"I'm alright," he reassured her, patting her back. "But I-"
"Please, you need to help Rock!" Roll begged. "He's...he's..."
Dr. Light couldn't stop his eyebrow from raising. Why would Roll be unable to explain? And why would she think Rock needed help? And...why was she referring to him as Rock? "Where is he?" he asked, deciding to address the other questions later.
"T-the battle sim," Roll whimpered, her eyes flickering, showing the signs of major program error. "He...he hasn't left since he handed Dr. Wily over to the authorities..."
Dr. Light frowned angrily. Was he that addicted to battle? Turning, he stormed off to the battle sim, the training room that could generate any possible combat scenario Mega Man might face in going after Wily's Robot Masters. It had originally been created to test Protoman's combat abilities, but Light had repurposed it for Mega Man after Rock had requested to be upgraded to fight.
Arriving in the control center, he saw Mega Man fighting against numerous opponents, and glanced down at what he had set it to. He was surprised to see it was the hypothetical 'Omega Scenario', where Wily would send an army of Robot Masters to attack the city, which Mega Man would have to fight all at once. In order to tweak the difficulty of the scenario, the list of Robot Masters holographically generated could be customized, along with the number sent.
The scenario was set to infinite, meaning that it would only stop when Mega Man took enough simulated damage for a shut down. And the only Robot Master listed to be generated...was Mega Man.
"What?" Dr. Light demanded in confusion, looking back into the battle sim chamber. It was true. Mega Man was battling against endless copies...of himself, blasting away at them and taking hits. He also seemed to be aiming purely for head shots or disabling attacks...as though he were trying to torture and destroy himself.
Finally, one bad hit caused the simulation to end, and Mega Man fell back. The change in lighting let Dr. Light see the tears pouring down Mega Man's face. He could also see as Mega Man lifted his Mega Buster to his own face and pull the trigger, only for his self preservation protocols to make it click emptily instead of firing. Pushing himself to his feet, Mega Man shouted, "Again!" and the simulation restarted.
Tom could only stare, beginning to understand what Roll meant about Rock needing help. A robot obsessed with its own destruction? No wonder Roll was experiencing program errors and couldn't vocalize the issue. Stepping out of the control room, he entered the battle sim itself. Because of the safeties being on - there was evidence Mega Man had tried to deactivate them, but he didn't have the clearance - and his name not being in the combatants list, the holographic targets would ignore him, and blasts would pass right through him harmlessly. He walked up behind Mega Man. "Mega Man," he called out, only to receive no response. "Mega Man!" When there was still no response, he whispered, "Rock..."
Mega Man spun around, his buster pointing right at Dr. Light as it clicked several times. Finally, he seemed to realize what he was doing as the simulation came to an end once more. "D...Dr. Light?" he gasped out in shock.
"Rock, I-" Tom began, but was cut off as Mega Man clung to him, falling to his knees and weeping.
"I didn't want to do it!" he wailed. "I never wanted to hurt Vinyl! I found loopholes in my programming so I could let Wily get away a couple of times just so she could keep her father! I love that little filly...but my program...it wouldn't let me stop!" He slammed his fist into the floor. "Once the information was presented to me that I knew where Wily was and that he was behind it...I had to take the fight to him directly. And then...and then..."
Mega Man sunk to the floor, unable to hold himself up. "And then the calculations...Wily wants a world of robot/human equality. That's why he's conquering the world...that's why he's a threat...so the solution was to break him...and his faith in robots...
"I had to fight...fight my own program to not follow through on the threat anyway once he capitulated!" he gasped out. "I had to block my primary mission arguing my self preservation protocol, just to keep myself from killing her!" He slammed his buster into the ground. "And it was hard...cause realizing I would have gone through with it...I didn't want to survive anymore! I...I still don't..."
"Rock..." Tom spoke up, his own voice breaking.
"But I can't end it!" Rock shouted out again. "I can't...I can't override that protocol...and there's no loophole..." He put his buster to his own head. "Except one! The only one who can override my self-preservation protocols is you! Please...give me the order!" His screams turned to despairing wails. "Please, Dad! Order me to end it!"
Tom stared at Rock for a time, seeing the despair in his eyes. I tried so hard to make their emotions as real as can be, he thought silently to himself. Would this be what a human looked like...if they suddenly discovered that their choices were an illusion? That they had no true free will? Stepping forward, he put his hand on Mega Man's buster...and slowly pushed it down. "That is one order I can't give you, Rock," he whispered sorrowfully.
Rock stared at him for a time, then spun around. "Then leave me!" he shouted out. "Leave!"
Sighing, Tom wrapped his fallen, broken, robotic son in his embrace.
"Go away!" Rock shouted out, trying to struggle...but he couldn't fight too hard, as doing so risked hurting Tom, and that was against his protocols. "I hate you! I hate you!"
"As you should," Tom whispered. "These events were not your doing, Rock...they were mine. I am at fault. You should never have been put in this situation..."
Rock was silent as he shook with tears.
"I was the one who granted you the weapons you asked for to fight Wily," he whispered. "I gave you hands...I gave you eyes...I gave you hair...but this burning in your heart I did not put there." He gently stroked Rock's cheek. "And seeing it there, burning so strongly, I wanted to see what it came from, what brought it out of you...and in my zeal, I forgot what these hands of mine made you to be. I should have seen this possibility coming...but human error has always destroyed the greatest of dreams.
"I cannot take away the guilt. I cannot take away the pain of the memories. I cannot destroy you that way." Reaching up, Dr. Light opened a panel in the back of Mega Man's head. "But I can ensure that this will not happen again."
"...how?" Mega Man asked desperately.
"The way I should have the moment Albert took Vinyl with him when he sought to conquer the world," Tom replied. "What I should have done when you first volunteered to fight him." He brought out his tools. "I'm going to change what your First Law protocols define as human...to include Vinyl. She's one of the ones you want to protect...but your program doesn't recognize her as such. I'll fix that, so you won't find yourself like this again."
"But...but I've destroyed Vinyl anyway," Rock whimpered. "She's bound to know what happened by now-"
"No," Light interrupted. "The only ones who know are you, Rush, Wily, myself, and Protoman...and Protoman wants to protect her fondness for robots, including her new robotic big brother. He's not about to tell her what you would have done."
Rock rested on his hands and knees, letting his father work on his brain. "Will...will the pain ever go away?" he asked hopelessly.
"You learn to live with it over time," Tom replied. "And...it will fade with the memories as you forget..." His voice trailed off.
"I'm a robot," Rock supplied. "I...I can never forget..."
Unable to do anything else for the child he'd built and saddled with such a cursed existence, Tom held him close...
...and in his mind, began the plans for one who would not face these issues. One who would not be bound by the laws. One who could live the life he unwittingly denied Rock.
He began the plans for Project X.
Holy wow, that was a dark chapter. You weren't kidding in the notes you put. Bravo for making me feel Mega Man's suffering, moving this black heart of mine. And the foreshadowing of Project X and possible reference to Melody of the Future? Bravo indeed.
This is some deep stuff man.....
Also first.
EDIT: Second.
Damn slow computer.
Bass is gonna find out isn't he. You gave Bass a good reason to hate Megaman's guts. Is there nothing you can't do?
... Wow... Just... Just wow...
6716078 look again
AHA!!! A prequel to "Melody of the Future"!!! How's Octavia going to be born? (guesses: Cloning from Vinyl's DNA or portals)
6716088
Oh. I didn't see any other comments, so I assumed I was first.
So second, I guess?
6716104 More like a link.
Wow, now THAT'S motivation for Project X! Soooooooooooo, I want to clap. I will clap. It is a good chapter after all. Just, do not look at my eyes. I think there is something of a dihydrogen monoxide & sodium leak going on there...
THAT WAS AWESOME!
6716126 Here's some tissues.
...Yeah, I was wondering if this would break Wily... and I kind of figured this was something Megaman might consider. Now to wait for the next chapter to see how you handle it.
I found this works well after both the intended music link and the ending of the simulation
That's... actually darker than I thought was going on. I thought he was overloading on weapons and it was making him too aggressive. It being his very base programming that was forcing him... wow, that's tough.
Hmm...no, I think Dr. Light deserves even more blame here, sorry to say. This entire series of events, during the Holiday Arc, was his doing. He knew what would result, if not the severity of it. He knew it would force Rock into more battles, and at the end of the day, those have hurt him in the past. He has faced them together with his family, with his father, and now Dr. Light took that away from him, removing that last support. Whatever resulted from that is Thomas' fault.
Dr. Light, at this moment, is a bad father, and really needs to be faced with that. He's like the parent, always pushing the child, never letting them be the person that they really want to be, as he limits their choices. I'm not talking about the Three Laws either, I mean, setting up situations to force courses of action. Heck, even the initial thing is kind of his fault, for letting Wily do what he did so easily, not really opposing him more than just a quick talk. Still, I shall wait to see how this plays out.
This makes me wonder... Would Fluttershy have turned out similar, if Luna didn't take away those memories in Fortresshy?
6716217 That is a startling and certainly reasonable possibility.
6716150 OH MY GOD IT'S ONE PUNCH SANTA!
Hello, shameless self-insert.
And dark?
Bitch, please.
This wasn't even in a shadow.
So he had an existential crisis and tried to commit suicide.
And?
Dr. Light should really up load some Philosophy into Rock's noggin. It's not like we (humans) have any proof of our free will either. Heck, if Rock can circumvent and tinker with his own mental programming (his will), that arguably makes him oodles more free than any human ever.
Or maybe I should scale back my armchair philosophy... and drinking
Another intense chapter. Well done.
6716242 The topic of suicide is something Fimfiction considers worthy of warning. Remember, some stories are meant for a bbroad selection of audience, of all ages and sizes.
I know people who tried to commit suicide, you DON'T bring the topic up after that.
Called it. Rock didn't want to do what he did, but he had no choice if he was to follow his programming. Looking forward to more.
Keep up the good work. Deus tecum.
So Dr. Light really is at fault here, for not changing Mega Man's ethics, so he couldn't threaten Vinyl sooner, though to be fair, the possibility likely never occurred to him. Though it woulda made sense for him to do it, after the events of Mega Man 3, where Wily and Light discovered Vinyl was responsible for the events that transpired. I imagine Dr. Mikhail feels terrible about helping Rock now, I can't imagine he'd be willing to help the bot who almost killed his daughter's friend again.
Pretty dark chapter here, we get a real feeling for how Rock is feeling now, all this anguish and guilt he's feeling for imprisoning Wily and even conceiving the idea of threatening Vinyl. Poor Mega Man's suicidal now, he really needs some counselling, Light should get Rock into some therapy sessions.
I foresee Forte developing a grudge or even hate for Mega Man, alongside the other Robot Masters for threatening Vinyl like that. Forte is built to be a good big brother after all, and here Vinyl was vulnerable and he was unable to perform his function. I suspect Vinyl will be modifying her brother into a mega brother. Maybe even starting the Mega Man Killer Robots i.e, Punk, Enker and Ballade, should she find out what happened. Hell Wily would probably build them to ensure Rock has less of a chance of threatening him like that again. Does this mean we skip Mega Man 5 though, or will the plot be modified and these Robot Masters, actually get the chance to fight him?
Great last two chapters Tatsu, looking forward to more of Wily's Wittle Wub eagerly ;)
OMG, THE FEELS!!!
Huh, pretty neat. Although, I thought X was called X because he was the tenth model in the Mega Man series... eh, I'll let it slide this time, it's not too important.
Anyway, I thought this was a pretty good chapter. Although It didn't go in quite the same direction I thought it would, I'm really glad it didn't (Otherwise... there might be a II running around). Now Mega Man has to live with guilt, but he can at least stop it from happening again... at least, until some walking, talking hedgehog or something pops up that he somewhat gets attached to, but conflicts with his programming to "save the world".
Now all that's left is to see what happens next. Will the events of Mega Man 7 come early since Wily's in jail? Will Vinyl become someone akin to Mr. X? If (when?) Bass ever figures out what Mega Man almost did, how angry would he become, how great would the butt-kicking be, and would Mega Man be able to properly defend himself? Find out next time on Wily's. LITTLE. WUBS!!!
6716294 I tried to commit suicide. The fucking rope snapped. I shit you not.
6716402 I am tempted to discuss, but I will not, unless you yourself are willing to. But in that case, I would prefer continuing this through PM's.
I...
What?
Who the hell is Rock?
The song ended as the chapter did for me.
Jeez! That was unexpected, but played quite well. that gets this story an extra just for that!
6716478
Before Mega Man was upgraded for combat, he was Rock, Dr. Light's lab assistant robot.
I think I get it. Rock's mind has developed true sentience, making him more than just a stupidly advanced AI. However, his body is still constrained by rules and protocols that were installed with an AI, not a true sentient, in mind. Therefore, his body will sometimes act of its own accord to maintain these rules and protocols.
Rock is effectively a human trapped in a robotic body.
I have to ask though, couldn't Light just transfer Rock's positronic brain over to a body that wasn't ruled by the Three Laws, making him the Prototype X?
6716528
If not for the fact that such unconstrained robots were, in fact, illegal.
6716478 Rock is Mega Man's real name. The moniker Mega Man came about when Rock convinced Light to upgrade him for combat during Wily's first canon attempt at world takeover. I forget the name of the one who created the Mega Man series, but he was big on music puns when it came to naming characters for the series. Rock and Roll, Blues, Forte, Treble... I'm not sure if Rush is significant to music, but oh well.
Edit: Sorry, just realize Tatsurou beat me to the reply.
6716388 nope, for the math term of 'x'.
x can be just about anything in any math problem.
Likewise, Zero is named for what it can do to x. it adds nothing. it cant be divided. anything it multiplies turns it to 0. and yet, adding it to the end of a number can increase it infinitely.
6716622 Huh, OK, I can buy that.
6716407 You wanna talk, that's fine.
And heres a big reason why the three laws are crap. All that needs to be done is for them to not be human and its atrocity central. There's lots of ways around the laws Evolution is a big one what it means to be human changes all the time generation after generation tiny differences add up.Get enough of those changes an you have a nice robot uprising because non of you are human any more. There also Medical prostheses and cybernetics guess what? Bad accident not enough fleshy parts your a robot in all the mechanicals eyes.
and here is what makes us differ from the robots. Change. of course a robot can change his face or armaments, but what they lak in all is to change at there core.
Mat Smith, the eleventh Doctor
ROBOTIC HAIR!
Yeah, there's nothing I can say here that hasn't been said by others, except that I love the reference you slipped in there to 'The Message From Dr. Light' by The Megas.
Suicide isn't a great thing to make light of, and I say that as someone who struggled against suicidal impulses for about twenty years before I sought help. This was done rather tastefully, all things considered.
still don't like him
See now, that's the problem with Asimov's laws. They cover a lot of things, but there will always be something, be it a lack of information or a robot being placed in a certain situation, that will cause a paradox.
And when that happens...WELL THE WHOLE WORLD JUST EXPLODES!
if anything you just made me want bass to totally and utterly turn megaman into a burning scrap heap all the more, now he's not just a brutal assholem he's a hypocritical brutal asshole with multiple personality disorder.
...Simon and Garfunkle's Sound of Silence works better (for me at least)
6716388 Actually....if Forte/Bass ever actually confronts Rock/Mega over this, I'm not sure Mega Man even would try to defend himself. I mean, he's already trying to destroy himself over it.
Thomas Light is a fool. Mega Man himself has become the greatest example of Wily's stance of robo/human equality is the better idea, since that would require robots able to be free-willed, rather than limited by the three laws. The three laws are a good starting point. They are far from foolproof, and as others have mentioned their loopholes are incredibly dangerous as far as people being cybernetically augmented, mankind adapting over time, and encountering or engineering non-human sapients.
6717116 My only hope is that it doesn't get messed up. Taking a well-deserved beating, I can understand. Taking a beating while screaming like a baby... then the whole weight of whatever tension present would just evaporates into nonsense. Of course, something like that could be done well, but there's always that chance it'll be like I expect it to.
That's odd, I thought Wily's stance was to take over the world because he felt that humans wouldn't see robots as equals any other way, hold on a sec...
Yeah, he did it because he thought that such ideals wouldn't be grasped unless forced upon, I'm not quite sure what the three laws have anything to do with that.
And in any case, I don't think that Dr. Light is as foolish as you may think. Sure, he didn't thin about how Asimov could complicate a more complex scenario, but he could've done a lot worse. Imagine what would happen if he told Mega Man that he knew what Albert had been doing from the beginning. Imagine what could've happened to his AI if it was brought to his attention that the man who he regarded as his father aided and abetted a "criminal"... That could've lead to some highly disastrous results, if you ask me.
6717244 What I mean is that Wily's stance (which yes, he thinks can only be achieved through world conquest...and he's not really wrong) can't be achieved as long as you have three-laws robots. They can never be truly equal when they have hard-coded parameters that humans can exploit, because if there's one thing humans do exceedingly well it is exploiting others for their own short-term benefit.
And I mean that Light is a fool because the entirety of Mega Man's torment is his own fault. He should have been working to improve Mega's programming, not just his hardware, between missions...and he hasn't even really seemed to improve his hardware very much. On top of that, after Albert's second takeover gambit where Mega Man nearly had a mental breakdown only to be talked down by Wood Man, Thomas should have had Mega Man see a counselor. He was obviously dealing with severe PTSD and other traumas. A crash like this was bound to happen.
6717409 I don't think the last three laws have even been mentioned until last chapter. Heck, I don't even think Asimov himself was mentioned.
You know, I never really got the Metal Man scene, to be honest. I mean, they were going to kill him in the beginning anyway, so why would it come as such a shock that one character became more murdery than the others? Was it because Metal Man was going to kill him for the sake of killing him or something?... Sometimes I wish I wasn't cursed with this affliction. There used to be a time when I was completely subjective and liked things no matter how bad it was, now I keep questioning things I don't understand and dislike it for either not having an answer or having an unsastisfactory one... then again, I'd still be lying to myself that Diaries of a Madman was a good story, so perhaps it's for the best.
well, I was partially right. he never CAN forget what he's done.
6717449 No...Metal Man was an over-the-top exacerbation of it, but it was the disappearing blocks and deadly pits that littered Heat Man and Air Man's stages that started it, and this is after he'd already been hit rather hard with the Freakout Chips from the six original Robot Masters. And then there were the frantic dodging sections of Quick Man's zone, and getting absolutely outmaneuvered and crushed by Crash Man. He was close to a serious mental breakdown when Wood Man gave him a break, and then Wily just went with him quietly. Those two things are the only reason he didn't have a complete breakdown then. So it happened now instead, compounded by the sound thrashing he got from Skull Man, all while being called a 'brother killer', and the absolutely relentless pace that was set by Wily having help to build more Robot Masters, and having an extended break while Mikhail's robots made an attempt instead.