Chapter 8: Deception Afoot

Christmas Eve dawned fresh and bright. A new layer of snow was falling, and Proto awoke feeling new, as if his life had just begun. He lay still for a few moments, just looking at the ceiling and listening. Faint sounds could be heard from outside, but all other than that and his own breathing, all was quiet.

As had happened the previous night, the door creaked softly opened, but this time it wasn’t Mega who entered. Out of the corner of his eye, Proto saw a little cub peek in. It was Alcor. The playful Half-Kin child crept in, low to the ground, then pounced in one leap onto Proto’s chest.

“Oof!” Proto grunted, lifting the cub off. Alcor laughed.

“Zatana told me to see if you were up yet.”

“Well I am.” He gently tumbled the cub to the floor. Alcor scampered out of the door, and Proto, after a brief stretch and donning his helmet, followed.

The instant he stepped from the room, he was forced to execute a small hop to avoid colliding with Twitch and one of her friends, a vixen that Proto hadn't met. At least, to him it was a small hop, but to the two kids it was a tremendous leap, the bot’s hands touching the ceiling before he came back down to earth.

“Wow!” both gasped. “That was so cool!”

“What?”

“That jump!” the vixen clarified. “You leapt clear over my head, and I’m almost four feet tall!” For Proto such a leap wasn’t a shocker. In fact, he could jump much higher. He’d had to to get into Wily’s Skullcar.

“I was designed and built that way,” he explained. The two followed him outside.

“Really?” asked Twitch from his left.

“Yeah.”

“Can you leap higher?” This from the vixen to his right.

“Yeah.” It was interesting having to look from one side to the other to answer.

“Than could you get our ball down for us?” The vixen pointed to a colorful ball stuck high up in some tree branches.

“It’s too high for us to climb, and the bigger kids can’t get to it,” Twitch added.

“The branches are too thin.”

“Well, I can try.” The kids cheered. Proto eyed the limbs, then moved a little ways away, choosing a running leap to be his best option. When he judged himself to be far enough away he lined up his leap, then darted towards it, leaping at just the right spot. He passed the ball at the zenith of his leap, grabbing it and then landing easily. He turned back to the girls, tossing them the ball. “Here you go.”

“Thanks.” the vixen caught it. Twitch jogged over and hugged him, then ran off with her friend to play. Proto, feeling rather pleased with himself, wandered around for a while, then went for a solitary walk through the woods.

“So this is Christmas - heh, or Winter Fest - Eve,” he muttered to himself. “Doesn’t look to much different, but I can feel something.” He laughed quietly to himself. “Guess I know now why Mega enjoys his life so much. And one good thing is that I don’t have to listen to that-” Just then, he heard a familiar voice that made him stop dead in his tracks.

“Do all of you worthless pieces of scrap metal understand the plan?” It was Dr.Wily! Proto peered through some bushed next to him and spied his former leader and some of his underlings in the adjacent clearing. It was obvious that even here Wily was up to his old tricks. After listening to Wily explain the (as usual harebrained) plan for Guts Man one more time (who of course hadn’t gotten it the first time), Proto smiled, looking suddenly very much like his old self. He reached into the only compartment on him, pulled out the pieces of his visor, and set the halves back into place, where the break was completely invisible. Then, boldly, knowing that he had nothing to fear from them, he stepped past the bushes and into the clearing.

“Dr. Wily. It’s good to see you.”