Dr. Light's Lab: "Reluctant" Patients

[Stoney]

Zero just...stared.

He didn't know what to think. All these years he'd wondered who his creator was, wondered about the past he had lost, wondered if perhaps there was a loving family out there somewhere waiting for him, eager to accept him back with open arms if he could just breach the fog clouding his memories and find out where they were...

...And now...

...Now...

...

Zero bowed his head, the shadow from his helmet covering his eyes.

Now he knew the truth.

His father was a megalomaniacal madman bent on world domination, a plague on humanity and a truly despised person by the world at large. He was an insane, paranoid bastard who would stop at nothing to kill the family of his best friend. He...he was Dr. Wily.

Wily!

That name pierced his mind, striking a chord somewhere deep, deep inside of him and getting a response; sudden, illogical anger.

Zero gritted his teeth and lay a palm on the crystal of his helmet, regretting having ever asked Dr. Light anything now. The sudden mix of rage and sorrow was almost too much for him to bear.

"I...need some time to think about this," he stated, voice thick and slow. And to look up everything I can about this Wily guy, he added mentally. If his family was indeed the antithesis of everything he had hoped, it would be better to know what they had done. He...he had to know how many deaths they were responsible for, how much pain and suffering they had caused...

He felt the rage building upon itself and took a deep, calming breath -

"ROCK?!?!"

- And almost choked on it when a sudden shout from the other room made him spin around, a hand going to his Beam Saber's hilt out of reflex.

When he found no immediate threat behind him, he blinked a couple times and turned to glance at Dr. Light over his shoulder.

"Pardon me a second."

He walked over to the door leading into the other room and opened it.

"......."

After a long period of silence, Zero turned around. If it was possible for a reploid to look ashen, he was accomplishing it with flying colors.

"The...the TV..." was all he uttered, eyes wider than Dr. light had ever seen them. "It...no, it's not possible..." He closed his eyes and rubbed them with one gloved hand. "I must be malfunctioning..."

[Vize Viper]

He could understand why Zero would need some time to... come to terms with what he had told him, but he'd wanted to tell the warrior that, even as a creation of his rival, he was still welcome in the Light's home.

In fact, he'd been about to say as much when-

"ROCK?!?!"

The doctor's head had jerked towards the door as he heard his son's name almost screamed, and had nodded in response as Zero left the room. But just as he was about to return to working on Blues, the red reploid stepped back into the room, and he looked... haunted.

"Zero... are you all right?"

[Stoney]

Zero said nothing, staring at the floor with the intensity of a laser. His mind was in overdrive, trying and failing to comprehend what he'd seen. He replayed the visual data over and over, as if repeated exposure would make it be more logical. This failed, of course.

Harpuia was dead. He and the other three remaining Guardians of X had been killed when Omega went nuclear after Zero stabbed him through his microfusion tank. There was no way they could've survived; the only reason Zero had was because X had teleported him out of danger with his Cyber-Elf energy in the nick of time.

Zero had always grieved over their deaths, but it was a silent grief; never had he let on to anyone else his true feelings in the matter. This was possibly because the roots of his grief were an irrational conclusion that he might have been able to save the Guardians somehow if he'd been stronger, or faster, or more powerful in general; they'd been in an area that blocked normal teleport signals at the time, but if he'd been able to hack his way around it...

The fact that he had been the one to strike Omega's killing blow and indirectly kill the Guardians did not help matters. If he did not exist, they would still be alive.

And yet, just now...that was undoubtedly Harpuia he'd seen, alive and flying around like nothing had happened. It was impossible.

Unless...

Zero's head jerked up in surprise, an old recording flashing across his vision at blistering speed.



It was snowing.

Zero blinked emotionlessly as the flakes settled on his face. He did not feel discomforted by the weather, and it was a gentle snowfall in any case; slow and sparse, more of a flurry than a blizzard. He could feel the flakes melting against his skin, their liquid running down to drip off of his chin. He covered a jagged hole in his chest armor with one hand, praying he wouldn't suffer from an electrical short.

More important matters required his attention, in any case. Zero's eyes narrowed as he stared ahead through the snow at a hovering green figure holding two purple energy blades.

"Dr. Weil?!" Harpuia cried out, glaring ahead of him at another figure. "You're kidding me! It can't be!"

The second person was a man...sort of. A disembodied human head floated inside of an orange cone filled with life-sustaining liquid; the base of the cone was attached to a robotic body, currently masked by a long black cloak. He smirked at the astonished Guardian, his grey hair gently waving in the liquid.

"Why are you, who were banished from Neo Arcadia a century ago, with Omega?!" Harpuia demanded, pointing at a third figure right behind Weil. It was massive, dwarfing everyone else at the scene, covered in thick purple and black plate armor which nicely accented the massive metal sword attached to its back. It too hovered in the air, silently and without a word.

He doesn't stay down, does he?, Zero thought idly. He'd just fought the giant to a standstill, yet Omega still looked ready and willing to tear them all a new one. Zero was unsure if he could truly defeat such a colossus at his current power level.

Luckily, he wouldn't have to. A new voice spokee up suddenly over their comlinks.

"That's simple. I-I brought him."

Before Zero could so much as blink in surprise, a new figure teleported into the snowy clearing...a very familiar figure covered in blue armor.

Harpuia paled; he was seeing a ghost. "M...Master X?! Is that you?!" He caught himself cringing and quickly changed position, landing on the ground and kneeling respectfully. The whole time he had a look of utmost disbelief on his face, as if what he was seeing wasn't quite possible yet it was happening anyway.

Zero couldn't blame the reploid for being shocked; Master X, ruler of Neo Arcadia and a ruthless suppressor of Reploid civil rights, had been dead for over two years now. Zero was also incredulous at the fact that said Reploid was now standing here alive and in the syntheflesh, but he managed to hide it better.

"Harpuia! Hehe..." X chuckled, his head twitching with an odd facial tic that affected his speech, making him stutter. "You haven't ch-changed! And th-then there's..." He looked past Harpuia, directly into Zero's eyes. "I missed y-you, Zero..."

Zero's expression darkened like a thundercloud. No...it wasn't the original X. Couldn't be. The only logical conclusion was...

"You must be..." Zero gritted his teeth as he stepped forward, glaring accusingly at the robot made in his friend's image. "You're a copy, aren't you?"




Zero's mind slammed back into the present with enough force to send his mind reeling in shock. A copy...of course, he thought with dawning realization. Someone copied his blueprints! Someone...someone had the GALL and the AUDACITY to...

He realized his body was trembling with unmasked rage and calmed himself. It would do no good to blow up at Dr. Light right now, he needed to keep his cool and be logical about this.

He needed more information, first and foremost. He needed to know who had built this copy of Harpuia, and whether they had rebuilt other Reploids he'd known.

His mind buzzed with activity as he considered what he should do. He did not know how long Copy Harpuia would remain at the location shown on the news. It was possible the reploid was fleeing the scene at that very moment, traveling beyond the range of both Zero's radio and radar. But Zero had also given Protoman his word that he'd stand guard throughout the entirety of the repairs. He could neither break his promise nor allow Harpuia to escape without being questioned, leaving him at an impasse.

"Dr. Light." Zero spokee up with a tone of sudden urgency, eyes darting between the doctor and the deactivated robot on the table. "How much longer will the repairs take?"

[Vize Viper]

The man looked down at the android on the table, having a feeling there was now some pressing matter that Zero needed to attend to quickly... and the only thing delaying him was his promise to Light's eldest son.

"I'm actually almost finished. It was mostly standard maintenance, long in coming." Thomas reconnected a few wires, and made sure some of the various more complex parts were firmly in place.

With a nod, Thomas then reached for the console connected to the brown haired android, and input a command, as lights began blinking all over the screen.

Closing the access panel on Blues' chest, the man then took a step back.

"And now I am finished."

As if on cue, Blues' eyes slowly opened, the blue in them seeming to brighten before he sat up, looking around. After a moment to check his internal chronometer, the android blinked in mild surprise, before putting on his large sunglasses.

"Done already, doc?" The boy almost smugly asked, as he carefully put his now slightly tattered scarf back around his neck, treating the worn piece of fabric like it was his most valuable possession.

Thomas nodded. "And as promised, I only repaired your body." The man smiled softly, his hands ending up behind his back in a motion all to familiar to those who knew him.

The android, for confirmation, then looked up at Zero, his expression again lost behind the dark sunglasses.

[Stoney]

Zero also nodded. "It is true. I have both audio and video confirmation of the repair procedure. There were no acts of subterfuge."

He paused, wondering if Protoman would ask to see the recordings just to be sure. He and Dr. Light had breached some rather...sensitive topics. Topics he'd prefer be kept private. No, it would be better for him to avoid such a request altogether. Since he was in a hurry to reach...(he paused, replaying his footage of the TV report to see what name was displayed)...Station Square, he could use that as a pretense.

Zero turned his back to the father and son duo. "My business here is concluded. I'll be leaving now." He half-turned to look at Doctor Light. "Thank you for your hospitality."

And with that he quickly strode to the door, hoping to leave before anyone could question him.

[Vize Viper]

For a critical moment, Dr. Light just watched Zero as he headed for the door, then called after him.

"Zero, wait!" Hoping he could finish before the reploid left, Thomas continued.

"Zero, I'd like you to know that no matter who built you, you have a place here."

"Where're you goin', anyway?" The boy hopped down off the table, and after a moment, was engulfed in red light, stretching as he looked over his armor, restored from the data in his warp module.

With a smaller smirk, and a stretch, he then looked towards the blonde warrior. "I owe you for bringing me here... even if I'd rather have not come. You saved my life, so now I'm watching your back till we're even."

[Stoney]

Zero seemed to freeze up when Dr. Light said that. He slowly turned to look at the man, but said nothing. Harpuia's re-appearance had effectively driven that subject from his mind. Being reminded of it was disconcerting.

"U-understood," He finally mumbled to the doctor as he turned to leave again.

...And then froze up again at the potentially more dire proclamation from Protoman. He stared at the self-confident robo-boy and felt the oddest compulsion to cover his face with one hand.

"That...is not advisable."

[Vize Viper]

The man paused, glancing at Blues as his expression became one of concern.

"Blues... you JUST got repaired, you really shouldn't-"

And, ignoring Dr. Light, Protoman just crossed his arms.

"'Not advisable'. Neither's running into an unknown situation without any backup. I'm coming with you. And if you just teleport, I'll trace you." The boy robot frowned lightly.

"I don't like owing people favors."

[Stoney]

Zero's stare became a steely glare as he turned to face Protoman fully. Looking down at the shorter robot, a frown tugged at the edges of Zero's mouth.

"I work alone," He declared coldly.

[Vize Viper]

The android's expression matched Zero's as he crossed his arms.

"Fine. Whatever you say, "Batman", but I'm going whether you like it or not. I didn't plan on following you EVERYWHERE anyway."

The doctor just watched the exchange, a bit worried that it might turn into a fight in the middle of his lab.

[Stoney]

Zero was silent for many long seconds as he and Protoman held a glaring contest.

"...Fine," He spat out at last, realizing that he would ultimately be unable to ditch the insistent robot. From what he'd seen, Protoman was just as stubborn as he was...fighting him on this would be more trouble than it was worth.

Zero turned back to the door, expression looking more pained by the second. "Just...stay out of my way."

He hastily exited the room before anything ELSE could happen.

[Vize Viper]

It wasn't until after Zero had turned away that Protoman just smirked, and then followed, waving over his shoulder. "Seeya, doc!"

And with a quiet sigh, Dr. Light just... waved tiredly in response. After a moment, he started searching his pockets, and drew out his trusty pipe, putting his in his mouth, before checking his pockets further... and cursing quietly.

"Roll must have hidden it again..."

So... he just followed the two who had just left, placing his hands in his pockets.