Mega Man and Bass: Frenemy Mine

Always Been A Loner

Both heroes warped back to Light Labs to arm themselves with their new weapons and get some quick repairs...

"So, this weapon is..." Rock began, shifting somewhat uncomfortably as Dr. Light buffed the remaining scratches and dents from his last outing. Roll, now finished cleaning, looked on in worry.

"It's called Soldier C4," the scientist said, putting away his buffer. "This weapon can stick to walls and explode either on command or after a few seconds."

He glanced back at Bass, who was leaning against a wall. "Are you sure you don't want any repairs?"

He got a scoff in response.

Sighing deeply, he straightened out the creases in his coat. "Bass, can't you see that we're trying to help you?"

By the way the special Wily robot responded, the good doctor might as well have told him to eat a live rat. "You can hand out your 'help' to someone who cares. I don't need any of it!"

"What about back at that cave?" the heroic robot asked, now sitting up on the metal table. "You sure looked like you needed my help when Soldier Man was on top of you..."

"Hmph. He got lucky."

Roll was indignant. "Hey! You could at least thank my brother for saving your life! Ungrateful..."

Bass rolled his eyes at her. "Please. I would've been fine..."

When he finished looking his creation over for what felt like the thousandth time, Dr. Light looked up at Bass. Rock recognized it as the look he got whenever he thought about Dr Wily: full of sadness and a deep sense of longing.

"Sometimes, Bass... I wonder whether your father knew what he had his hands on when he built you. Wily may have built you in his tirade against me, Mega Man, and all of humanity, but I believe that he underestimated how smart he made you... Even back when we first met you and you busted him out of prison, you took it upon yourself to tail Rock throughout his adventure."

"Get to the point, old man."

"You have no problem acting on your own to fight my son in a one-sided rivalry to determine who is 'the strongest robot', as if that was ever what this was about..."

Bass caught Rock looking at him and shot him a hateful glare.

"You, like Mega Man are capable of independent thought. You might want to think about using that marvel of a brain of yours to get help when you need it..."

Bass was apparently unmoved. Literally. He hardly moved a mechanical muscle throughout the whole speech. After it was done, he walked off to his next mission with his heroic counterpart tagging along much to his chigarain.

"Do give the rambling of this 'old man' some thought!" He called after the two, particularly the evil robot.

When they left, Dr. Light turned to Roll.

"About seeing something more in Bass... Do you think I'm over- optomistic or senile?"

"Um.."

"Don't answer that. Answer me this, though: how do you feel about him?"

Her eyebrows knit together in strain. For someone who never had a bad thing to say about anyone, she was loathe to come to the defense of the one who constantly attacked her brother. "I... I don't like him. He's always fighting with Rock, after all...If you see something in him, though, who am I to argue?"