r/Protomen • u/TheLakeAndTheGlass • 17h ago
Fan Works An (unofficial) Excerpt from Act 3 Part 2
His drink was empty now. There was nothing left to do but continue to gaze upon the burning silhouette of the city before him, his view fractured by the fissure in the glass, now extending across the entire pane.
The rebels had pressed their way block by block, street by street over the course of the night, and now they stood at the very foot of his tower. No doubt they’d be upon him in minutes. Albert set down his glass, and picked up the music box on his desk. After a moment, he set it back down, and looked again upon the incandescent horizon. His gaze did not falter as the elevator doors opened behind him. Nor did it waver as the steady crescendo of heavy metallic footsteps approached, a familiar shadow growing around his own form. Only inches behind now. The pounding gave way to silence. He took a breath, and closed his eyes.
———————-
Megaman met the girl’s glance briefly before they turned again to the tower looming before them. The engine of this city’s misery for so many years. It would fall tonight.
Still, an unspoken worry had been growing within them both as this night had gone on. They had encountered strikingly little resistance so far, and furthermore, the specter of Wily’s monster had not yet descended upon them. They knew escape would not be an option this time. They would have to stand square and tall, and somehow confront this unbeatable machine. And yet, Wily’s last line of defense remained undeployed. A trap was surely afoot.
A faint crash overhead. For a few seconds they were not sure they had heard anything at all over the din of ongoing skirmishes in the surrounding neighborhoods. All doubt vanished in a loud pang of crushed metal and a shower of broken glass, as a parked car only inches in front of where Megaman and the girl stood was suddenly flattened. The girl jumped back, startled against her better instincts, while Megaman cautiously approached the ruined vehicle, studying the caved-in rooftop.
He froze.
It was him. Dr. Albert Wily. His broken corpse lay contoured nearly perfectly in a cocoon of twisted steel before the two of them. His eyes wide open, transfixed on some invisible point in the sky as he lay dead in his cradle of metal.
For a while, Megaman could only stare. The girl slowly approached him as she placed a hand on his shoulder. Her gaze turned upward to a shattered windowpane, about twenty stories above.
The architect of this city’s nightmare was finally dead. She had come here to achieve as much. Still, an anger grew within her. In his last act, this coward had denied the city the justice it deserved. A tear rolled down her cheek, past her lips concealing clenched teeth.
Megaman placed a hand on her shoulder in kind.
“You’ve told me before. The fight is never really done. And I see now why you fight. We did not come here for vengeance, Carol. We came here for a future. Your future. My part in this is almost done. But yours is only beginning.”
She looked up at Megaman. Suddenly the front door to the tower burst open, and the two immediately turned and aimed their weapons. From the darkness, a hulking metal frame came into view. Emerging from the shadows, a glowing red light. Wily’s monster. It was here.
———————-
It slowly advanced. A hail of gunfire erupted from the handful of rebels with small arms. But the beast neither attacked nor changed its pace, continuing its march undeterred. In the middle of the street, it came to a halt.
Megaman sensed a change since their last encounter. Calm and deliberate. This was not the merciless tornado of blades and bullets he had met before. It did not want to fight. It wanted to speak.
He lowered his weapon and approached the machine, as he signaled Carol and the others to hold their fire. They could only watch now.
Megaman briefly looked again at the remains of the fallen tyrant behind him. He understood now that this was not Albert’s own doing. He met the machine’s gaze again, and spoke first.
“It was you?”
The voice that returned surprised him. Mechanical without doubt, but uncannily human in contrast to this construct’s appearance.
“Son of Light, I have ended the reign of Dr. Wily. Consider it my apology. Since our last meeting I have seen much of this city, its people, and its suffering. My creator was a scourge. This city will be better for his death.”
Megaman continued to study the machine. It was sincere; he could ascertain that much.
“What are your intentions, then?” Megaman asked, sensing that he knew the answer already.
“The same as yours. To save mankind.”
The machine extended its hand. An offer of peace.
Megaman remained silent for a moment. He looked back upon the crowd of rebels watching them silently, the men and women adorned in tattered clothes and makeshift armaments who’d fought beside him; who’d rescued him at their own peril when he’d last fallen in battle.
He looked back at the machine. Long ago he had stood in the place of this prospective savior. The righteous fury, the ache in his heart for the pain of these people. He remembered it all too well, and he could plainly see it in the face of Wily’s son standing in front of him.
But he also remembered his brother’s words. He understood now.
A hero to save them. A tyrant to dominate them. Neither would allow their true freedom. These people had earned their own destiny.
This machine was no hero. But in its visor gleamed the reflections of many. He would allow them their future once and for all. The two of them would die tonight.
Megaman raised his weapon, the blue light of his charging blaster illuminating half his face in a menacing glow. Finally, he replied to the machine before him:
“You’ll do no such thing.”
