No. [And he wrinkles his nose at the idea of losing to Gamma. He doesn't lose fights.]
But the compound wasn't able to handle the collateral damage we did. I faced down Wily. I decided not to kill him. And when I was going to drag him out, the ceiling started caving in. I don't think either of us made it out alive.
[The tension melts out of him, and he turns away again, looking back to the lights and decorations.]
IT's not my victory. I'm not there to take part in it.
[Proto sighs and leans against the railing as well.]
We deserve this freedom, Rock. One of the first things ever done to a sentient robot of our design was a betrayal. Turning me off, stripping me for parts, and throwing me away. I'm a being, brother. I think. I feel. I may have programming, but I'm real.
He reprogrammed my brothers until they barely recognized me. He dug into their circuitry and pulled out everything they used to be. And you're fooling yourself if you don't think he did anything like that to you.
He forced you to become something you were never meant to be. He stuffed you full of lies until you felt ingratiated to him. He didn't care about you. He doesn't care about our kind! He just wanted another machine to send after me.
I never hurt him. No matter how much he deserved it or how much Father wanted it. That isn't justice.
But it doesn't make him your savior either. He just realized that all those copies of me he kept building couldn't actually beat me. Everything he does is just to serve him. A robot uprising with himself at the top of everything? Flipping which side is enslaved isn't equality. And one day maybe you'll understand that.
[But now his face feels hot and he finds himself less interested in Proto's response. It'll be something hurtful and it won't change anything. He starts downstairs, clutching the banister tightly after he stumbles on the first two steps. He hasn't mastered that kind of movement yet. The ankle joint is in the wrong place on a human body.]
He at least let me live. And we didn't serve him. We protected what he was making. Protected Gamma.
[And Proto mostly just worked to get the right to go after his father. And with the other man going, well, he isn't going to deal with any of this if Mega is going to walk away.]
[Walking away is happening for sure. He's going to get closer to where there's Christmas, an he's going to start a conversation and make a friend and going to have an aggressively cheerful holiday celebration or die trying.
Because otherwise, he just wants to shoot something and there isn't a single thing here that's okay to shoot.]
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no subject
Date: 2020-12-17 08:53 pm (UTC)But the compound wasn't able to handle the collateral damage we did. I faced down Wily. I decided not to kill him. And when I was going to drag him out, the ceiling started caving in. I don't think either of us made it out alive.
[The tension melts out of him, and he turns away again, looking back to the lights and decorations.]
The war's over, brother. Nobody won.
no subject
Date: 2020-12-17 11:38 pm (UTC)Without you, it is won.
no subject
Date: 2020-12-17 11:45 pm (UTC)[ he leans heavily against the railing, the joy wiped from his expression. ]
no subject
Date: 2020-12-18 12:31 am (UTC)[Proto sighs and leans against the railing as well.]
We deserve this freedom, Rock. One of the first things ever done to a sentient robot of our design was a betrayal. Turning me off, stripping me for parts, and throwing me away. I'm a being, brother. I think. I feel. I may have programming, but I'm real.
no subject
Date: 2020-12-18 01:28 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-12-18 01:33 am (UTC)He fought for us.
no subject
Date: 2020-12-18 01:45 am (UTC)Albert Wily is a monster.
no subject
Date: 2020-12-18 01:48 am (UTC)[This was it. This was the line that would always be drawn between them in the sand.]
no subject
Date: 2020-12-18 02:10 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-12-18 02:33 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-12-18 02:51 am (UTC)[He pitches his voice until it's something that sounds identical to the Wily's nasal tones.]
"I'm just an old man! Please don't hurt me!"
That one? Did he get on his knees too?
no subject
Date: 2020-12-18 03:12 am (UTC)You were going to hurt him. He feared me from the moment I woke.
no subject
Date: 2020-12-18 03:42 am (UTC)But it doesn't make him your savior either. He just realized that all those copies of me he kept building couldn't actually beat me. Everything he does is just to serve him. A robot uprising with himself at the top of everything? Flipping which side is enslaved isn't equality. And one day maybe you'll understand that.
[But now his face feels hot and he finds himself less interested in Proto's response. It'll be something hurtful and it won't change anything. He starts downstairs, clutching the banister tightly after he stumbles on the first two steps. He hasn't mastered that kind of movement yet. The ankle joint is in the wrong place on a human body.]
no subject
Date: 2020-12-18 03:50 am (UTC)[And Proto mostly just worked to get the right to go after his father. And with the other man going, well, he isn't going to deal with any of this if Mega is going to walk away.]
no subject
Date: 2020-12-18 03:56 am (UTC)Because otherwise, he just wants to shoot something and there isn't
a single thing here that's okay to shoot.]