The duo were back at the lab in an instant. Roll was already freaking out, pointing at the very conspicuous hole in the ceiling.

"Calm down! We'll put a stop to Wily, whatever he's planning..."

Then a certain person entered the room, seemingly taking the air out of it with his arrival.

The boy had a grim look on his face, though given his heavily prosthetic and cybernetic appearance, it would be somewhat unfair to call him a boy per se. The only things unscarred and human about him were his blonde hair, patches of his face, torso, and his right side. The rest was all heavily marred to the point of unrecognizability or mechanical, taking some inspiration from earlier designs for Rock along with some secret and...ahead of their time influences. His state served as a grim reminder that consumer-grade medical care had its limits and the very price he paid and was still paying for even living in this place...

There was a reason why he preferred heavy turtlenecks and lab coats, and it wasn't just to mask a small weight problem he was still getting under control: there were times where he scared even himself when he looked in the mirror in the morning.

Proto Man locked eyes with him and the rest of the world melted away.

"Hello, You. I wonder whether another Wily had something to do with this..."

Said Wily knew exactly what he was implying as he shook his head vigorously. "Hey! Don't look at me! I've gone straight, remember?!"

"Once a Wily, always a Wily."

Now the boy looked indignant. "Oh, would you prefer it if I changed my surname to Light?"

The red robot shot him a death glare. "Don't even joke about something like that. You're lucky Father bothered repairing you. I wouldn't have wasted all that work and all those parts on a mon—"

"GUYS?!" The two helper robots screamed at the top of their vocal processors. The arguing duo promptly went quiet.

"Now then..." Roll started, getting things back on track. "Some kind of machine came by and kidnapped Dr. Light!"

"Well, what did it look like?" Mega Man asked.

"Like nothing I've ever seen! It didn't look like one of Wily's saucers..."

Proto Man tapped his foot, clearly disinterested in either further talk, or possibly the cyborg boy standoffishly staring at him.

"Well, if it isn't him, then who was it? I couldn't imagine anyone else..."

The formerly dead lab monitor snapped to life on its own all of a sudden. The ugly grinning mug of longtime adversary Dr. Wily contaminated the screen. "I can answer that!"

The Blue Bomber's eyes widened. "How did he hear what we just said? This whole conversation?!"

"I have my ways, you cheap tin can."

"Spit your scheme out already, whatever it is, so we can stop it! We're burning moonlight..."

An amused chuckle echoed throughout the lab. "We'll get to that, Proto Man. But first..." The old man's eyes narrowed upon turning attention to the human boy. "You. Traitor! You couldn't even destroy Mega Man, so instead you team up with him?! How dare you!"

"They took me in when I was dying from fighting your battles for you back when I was stupid enough to believe that I wanted to be anything like you!"

The elder Wily's voice turned sickeningly sweet. "Well, it's a good thing you feel that way, Joshua, since I hereby officially disown you as my grandson. From this moment onward, you mean absolutely nothing to me personally. You're just another enemy to be destroyed or conquered, and I'll take great pleasure in doing just that."

Hurt flowed through Joshua in waves and he came dangerously close to tearing up in that moment, but covered it up with the death glare he shot back at the monitor. "Y-you know what? Good! These people, with one exception, are my real family, anyway!"

"One exception? I take it, there's trouble in paradise...? Anyhow, I think you'll be far more useful to me as our slave in the new world order!"

"Our?!" Everyone chorused.

The evil scientist grinned like a shark, eating up their reaction. "In due time. Let's just say that I have a new business partner who wants all of you gone just as much as I do. I have four Robot Masters to keep you busy until we're ready for you to kneel. I also have taken Dr. Light himself, in case you needed some 'encouragement'. Don't disappoint me, Mega and Proto Man!"

Proto Man balled up his fist. You're the one who's gonna be kneeling as always, Doc!"

"Ha, ha." The old man had one last message for his former relative. "Joshua... Well, I'd tell you not to disappoint me, but we're well past that point by now... Disappointment. In any case, bad luck to you!"

The screen went black.

---TBC---

Poor Joshua, what will you do?

Art of Joshua above courtesy of @evelynaddison910 on Instagram.

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