M3 3 - Thursday, June 08, 2006, 4:53 PM

 

Tower of Light - Laboratory/Medbay

 

        The medical bay and the home of the science team of the Hunters, this area is more than just a single room, in fact encompassing as small hall branched off into several rooms. A large medbay facilitates the healing of both the human and robotic members of the Hunters, an operating room and intensive care unit sealed off from the main area. Behind blast-shielded doors, laboratories where researchers can work undisturbed are housed, as well as testing areas for new inventions. On the far end of the floor, a large sealed off area serves as a robotic construction facility, containing the technology and equipment needed to create new reploids and androids.

 

 

 Contents:                               Contents:                     

 Blues [Casual] [C]                      Cinnamon [Maiden] [H]

 HunterMachine <Wind Lancer Armor> [Gene Maverick Hunter Workshop              

 Wilysaucer                              General Upgrade Unit <THE BOX>        

 Repair Chamber

 

 Southwest <SW>:           Tower of Light - Spiral

 

In the back corner of the Laboratory there's a secure lab. It's got large and wide forcefield windows on both sides that face in toward the room. Within it there is a medtable pushed into the corner with two solid walls. Blues is sitting on the medtable, his feet up on the table with his back leaning against the wall. If you pay careful attention you can see the small tremble in his hands still.

 

Storm Owl was greatly surprised when he received word that he was being granted an audience with Protoman. He still isn't even sure who he should be thanking for this. Either Dr. Light or Dr. Cossack. The former hates him, but the latter seems powerless in this situation. Storm Owl was similarly surprised that Dr. Cossack has been pushed around by Dr. Light like this. Cossack seemed almost scared of him. Whatever Light's faults may be, Storm Owl has to admit that he's made of very stern stuff.

        At any rate, Storm Owl is here. So it was the Tower of Light after all. This is the first time he has been in the tower, and he makes the most of the opportunity, looking around and examining the place as he's escorted to the medical bay by a pair of Hunter interns.

        Within minutes, Storm Owl is standing outside of the forcefield windows, peering into the secure laboratory. His hand and cannon are clasped behind his back as he stares at Protoman.

 

"Hey Butterball," Blues says, the hint of the sarcastic wit he had before all this still there. Though he quickly sombers as you're standing there. It's odd that Storm Owl is giving Blues the silent stare treatment, usually it's been the other way around.

        "Seriously though... what can I do for you Owl?"

 

Storm Owl remains staring at Protoman for several additional seconds. He sees the slight tremble in the hands, but is unsure of how to interpret it. His beady optics try their best to analyze and judge Protoman. Finally, after a short time has past, the war bird makes eye-contact with the original child of Light and speaks in his droning monotone. "Were you being mind controlled by Ra Moon?"

 

Blues remains quiet, shifting his hands so that he now has his arms wrapped around his legs as he sits there. His eyes look down at the ground before looking back up at Storm Owl. "Does it matter if I was? I'm still responsible for all the death that happened during the time I was within the Legion. I'm still responsible for all the death in San Angeles. I still see all the faces at night."

 

Storm Owl, in his discussions with Dr. Light, Dr. Cossack, Prismatic Spider, and various other Repliforce officers, never did find out what Protoman himself thought of all this. Now he knows. Unless the mech is putting on a good act. "Yes, it does matter," Storm Owl replies. "Were you being mind controlled by Ra Moon?" He doesn't bother explaining why it matters as he doesn't know how much access to information Protoman has down here.

 

Now Storm Owl will be the second person to have this admitted to outside of the family. "I had the WilyCode removed and something else put into place. I don't know how much control it had, but it should tell you something that I don't have a death wish, yet went to fight Rock and tried to convince Rock to kill me."

        Blues shifts finally, throwing his legs over the edge of the medtable to sit more traditionally. His hands on either side of him grip the edge of the table, trying to get them to stop shaking. There's a slight flinch in his right eye, no longer able to hide it behind the shades he doesn't have; for someone who has been in battle enough as Owl has, it's an obvious sign of pain.

        "In the end, it really doesn't matter if I was controlled; Owl. You're fooling yourself if you think you or anyone else can forgive me for what I've been a part of. The only reason I wasn't hunted down and killed for the things twenty years ago is because time dulled the pain on people."

 

Some might try to console Protoman at this point, but Storm Owl is not one of those people. He remains standing in one place with his hand and gun arm clasped behind his back. His eyes track Protoman as he sits upright. He sees the flinching, and he wonders what Protoman's condition is. Surely Dr. Light, so devoted to his son, would never leave Protoman in this condition were it within his power to do otherwise.

        Either way, Protoman claims that he isn't sure if he was being controlled or not. "The removal of the Wilycode and the insertion of the new code. This happened before or after you decided to join with Ra Moon?"

 

The few who have tried to console Blues have been told to take a hike. He's not one to want to be coddled or babied over things he's done or been a part of. "I made the choice to join him freely. I wanted to get Mirror Orange out of that hell. I wanted to find a way to stop him. This doesn't excuse what's happened," Blues states first, "But the WilyCode was removed and whatever Ra did to me happened before I blew up the core of the Fortress V."

 

Storm Owl agrees. It doesn't excuse what's happened. He equates this to someone getting drunk and then committing a crime. You're still liable. And when the 'getting drunk' is actually 'taking a huge risk by joining Satan', then you're /really/ liable. He is glad to at least have personal assurance that Dr. Light is not telling the whole truth on the matter. Owl then speaks, and for the first time, speaks on end. "You're quite right - it doesn't excuse what's happened," Storm Owl drones. "Yet as you may or may not know, your father has told the President of the United States that you were being mind controlled throughout."

        "The US government has already pardoned you, although I am certain Seers knows the truth. The rest of the world remains skeptical. -Repliforce- remains skeptical. Your father is putting himself at terrible risk all on your behalf. But you are correct - you are responsible for the deaths in San Angeles, responsible for the deaths on the Fortress V, responsible for the deaths of Detective John Boone & Mr. Zane Sandoval, and responsible for those killed in Tartarus. Soon - I do not know when - your fellow Hunters will be voting on your fate. Many seek to have you forgiven."

        "The Maverick Hunters are split on this. In some ways it is tearing them apart. All of the Hunters are putting themselves at risk on your behalf. The question becomes now: Are you going to let themselves sacrifice the Hunters in order to protect you?"

 

Blues sits there and listens quietly throughout it all, his face completely neutral throughout before he finally looks up toward you again. Remaking eye contact, Blues says with a tone that tells you easily that he didn't want to cause this, "I was going to hand myself in to San Angeles for my crimes, Owl. I was going to give the world the right to judge me and eventually kill me; because we both know thats what the punishment would have been. Da...Light, asked me to hand myself over to the Hunters instead. You can condemn me for what I did, I deserve it. But my initial decision to try and break Ra from within... I felt it was right at the time. We've faced so many things in nearly twenty years, this was different, an epic level above anything else."

        His hands clenching down tightly on the edge of the medtable, they finally stop shaking simply from the sheer pressure he's putting on the end of the table. "I've told Light and Zero that I'm going to do all I can to avoid a schism. If that means when tonights done and over with...that I need to leave, so be it. You people keep telling me how much I should be sorry and how I should answer for my crimes." Blues face finally goes tight, "You people have no idea what I've been through; not that it matters to any of you. And I know it doesn't, and that's fine too. I'm sorry for everything I've done in ways you can't understand. John was /family/ to me, so you want to condemn me, that's fine... I'll be taking anything people want to give me without fighting back. So when tonights over, if you want to have your boys hunt me down and beat me for everything I've done, you can do that, I won't fight back."

 

"Dr. Light made the wrong decision," Storm Owl replies. "And because of it he's being dragged down with you. You know full well that if the Hunters decide to welcome you back with open arms, it will not be just you that we will be forced to hunt down. If you allow your friends and family to serve as your protectors, you'll be getting them involved in your own mistakes."

        "You admit you deserve to be condemned for your actions. That you have been through a bad time is no excuse for the deaths you caused. I can assure you," Storm Owl says with dry wit, "That they had a much -worse- time of it." Storm Owl pauses here for a moment, and then asks, "Why not tell Dr. Light to have yourself turned over to the actual authorities? The ones that you actually wronged?"

        Storm Owl is unsure of what Protoman meant when he said he wouldn't fight back. Does this mean he'd be willing to turn himself in? Or that he'd teleport away and not shoot back?

 

And then it happens. Something in Blues slips back to his old mindset as his looking at Storm Owl goes from a simple conversation to a glare. Maybe it was the vague threat on all the Hunters being hunted down and condemned, maybe it was the sanctimonious attitude that Storm Owl has taken throughout. "You know, Owl, I really am sorry for whats happened. You want to condemn me even if I wasn't in control of all my actions; and thats understandable. But you threaten my family, and you won't find me in a very good mood after whatever happens tonight. You people never hunted down Zero after all the shit he pulled, you never hunted down Alpha when she went Maverick. You /caused/ Vile to be what is today. So you know what, shut the $#168@ up and take your hypocracy and shove it."

 

Zero arrives from the Spiral.

Zero has arrived.

 

Storm Owl's left optical brow rises two milimetres as Protoman shifts gears from victim to his former self. He remains unmoving beyond this, however. The war bird didn't expect this at this time. He feels the need to first ask, "Are you done?"

 

        "Yeah, and so are you." Blues says, as he finally stands up. "Come at me afterward, I won't run, you guys can get your ten tons of flesh out of my ass. But you touch another Hunter, and I will break you so fast you won't be moving for years."

 

"And that goes double from me." says the familiar voice of Zero from the doorway of the lab complex. The berserker steps into the medbay looking rather cross at the Owl. "I don't recall giving you permission to show up here, Commander. I /especially/ don't remember telling you you could talk to our prisoner and threaten my orginization as a whole." The second in command moves easily through the labs to stand with Blues and look at the Fortress commander. "If you're through with this unexpected visit, you can do me the favor of getting the hell out of here." He's so pleasant today.

 

Storm Owl lifts his head slightly in order to keep his watch directly on Protoman. Owl never even seems to blink. Hand and gun cannon still behind his back, he replies in a low voice, as if this is some sort of secret the Maverick Hunters just cannot seem to grasp. "Protoman, I do not tell you these things as threats. Believe me when I say this. I mean them as fact. If Repliforce does not do it, then someone else will. It is a fact that cannot be changed, no matter what Dr. Light has told the President."

        Storm Owl is about to continue when Zero makes his entrance. Finally, the war bird has no choice but to break his glare from Protoman in order to turn to Zero. For a brief moment, Owl almost suspects that Zero is going to slash him in half. But no.

        "You didn't." Storm Owl replies concerning getting permission. "Dr. Light did. If you have an issue with it, by all means, speak with him." Owl returns his gaze towards Protoman.

 

"Whatever, your tone, your implication was a threat. You're here as Repliforce representative, so it means the threat comes from Repliforce." Blues sighs and just shakes his head, "And now you'll go back to Repliforce and the United Nations, and write your own version of tonights conversation...so I'm done talking. Go away, because nothing I say is going to change your mind."

 

Zero's expression goes from disapproving to irritated. It's like the terror alert being lifted from yellow to orange. "Doc isn't the leader of this group. I am," says Zero. Sure, Light's got a lot of sway, probably more than Zero himself, but in the letter of the law, Rock and he are in charge. "In any case, you're done talking to Blues, or rather, he's through talking to you." Zero looks from Protoman behind the energy field to the Owl and back again. "I'm sure you can find your way out of here, 'Commander'. I have a meeting to get to. If you'll excuse me." The berserker tries to look reassuring, but he's not very good at it. With one more glare at the Owl, Zero turns and leaves in a wash of gold hair.

 

Storm Owl's beady optics remain on Protoman as the first son of Light decides that he's done here. Disappointed, but not showing it, the war bird doesn't answer. Instead he listens to Zero declare that he's the leader of the Maverick Hunters and that the discussion is over. Owl is of course in no position to argue. He doesn't give Protoman any last words, but does turn to face Zero. "Yes. Please send Dr. Light my thanks for this opportunity." He then purposefully strides for the exit, where several Hunter interns will probably show Owl out even if he could find his own way.