Better Judgment:
The Dr. Wily Story

By Hadrian (Hardman) Howell

Chapter 10

199X

“This seems so mundane,” I sighed.

“What, shopping?” Noele asked. “Shopping is FUN, Albert, and don't you dare blaspheme it ever again.”

“Could you BE a bigger stereotype?” I asked.

“Well, unlike the rest of the women around here,” she said, glancing around the mall, “I didn't drag a boyfriend or husband along to help me carry bags.”

“That's true, I suppose,” I admitted. “You just brought me.”

“Hey, you volunteered.”

“No I didn't,” I protested. “I said 'hey, I'm going to the food court to get a sandwich, does anyone want to come with me?' and you said 'that sounds like fun!' and then this happened.”

“Sounds like volunteering to me.”

“You're a sick and twisted woman,” I sighed.

“Ah, I see where you get the idea of me being a stereotype now,” she smirked.

“What are you even looking for? Christmas was three months ago.”

“March deals,” she remarked. “Ooh, shoes!”

“Oh god no.”

“Come on, pack mule! Ya!”

I followed with some reticence. Honestly, I had no clue why I was letting her push me around like this, except that the longer we were here, we were NOT on campus. On campus was Tom, and things had been... estranging lately. I wouldn't admit to having the seed of doubt in my head planted there by Alfred Gibbs out loud, but it... bothered me. It was, in fact, compounding the unease I had been feeling since that night Noele had dropped by and told me Tom was planning on building... kids.

It wasn't the idea of building children that bothered me. Technology existed in all forms to help fill voids in the lives of human beings and to satisfy needs beyond what can normally be achieved, and who could honestly blame Tom for taking a shortcut past this ridiculous nonsense I now found myself embroiled in to get to what he wanted? Hell, helping people like that was the reason I told myself I got up in the morning.

But I was starting to ask myself a few questions. Granted, Tom was much more personable than I was, and much more willing to deal with other human beings, but by leaving such relationships to Tom with regards to our joint business ventures, was I edging myself out of the picture? I mean, the REAL reason I got up in the morning was to be told I was amazing and prove I was smarter than other people, but now Tom was the one getting all the credit, it seemed.

And I knew that was a silly thought, but it nagged at me so. I had little actual people skills, a flaw marked by the fact that I only had four actual friends on a campus of thousands, and I worked with one of them. Without people skills, establishing a business would be difficult, and I knew Tom filled that gap in my skill set the same way that I augmented his limited programming knowledge with my own not-inconsiderable genius. But still... by having a guy to do the talking for me, I inevitably set myself up to become the unseen, silent partner that nobody knew about.

Damn it all, this was annoying.

I knew I had to talk to Tom about it before it became worse, but I also was a little embarrassed to bring it up. I mean, I KNEW this was a stupid way to feel, and admitting to it out loud would somehow make it official that I was less than the genius I am. It honestly bothered me that much.

So, I said nothing. I contented myself with my work, which currently consisted of using a rented garage and a vast percentage of the prototyping money Tom had secured from Walter K. Weisel to expand Tom's first Flea (which I discovered had some flaws and had since fixed) into a fully functioning squadron of the things with their parent unit. The parent unit, thanks to a bit of whimsy on my part, took the form of a large Cat, and the back was had a hatch that served as a launch and dumping point for the Fleas. I had even made it capable of moving about on its own, albeit slowly, which had not been in the original design.

We were getting ready to showcase the system as a whole to Walter at the end of the week, and we were both very excited, but as the work became more cosmetic and less substantive, I found myself spending more time with Mikhail, Isaac, or Noele than Tom, mostly to try and ignore my gorwing unease.

I figured the meeting with Walter, if it went well (which I knew it would. I mean, come on...) would help ease my doubts about our arrangement.

“Albert, over here!”

Noele's excitement startled me out of my thoughts. “Let me guess,” I said dryly, “you found some sandals you like.”

“Oh good god, no,” she gasped. “It isn't sandal season. But aren't these high heels adorable?”

“Oh, please be pulling some sort of prank on me,” I pleaded to a higher power.

“And they're in yellow! Oh my god, that's my favorite color!” Her voice reached a higher pitch with each word, ending somewhere in the realm of dog hearing. “I'm gonna wear these forever!”

“Yeah, you do that,” I said, trying to get the ringing out of my ears.

This hell went on for a while, and we eventually found ourselves heading back to campus. “This was fun!” she said.

“This was a waste of time,” I grumbled.

“I got new shoes,” Noele pointed out. “And a new blouse, and some hair pins-”

“Please stop proving my point,” I sighed.

“God, you're so gloomy,” she snapped. “How do you stand yourself?”

“Looking in a mirror helps,” I lied. “Just bring someone else next time you want to torture someone.”

“Who? Isaac? Oh god, no thank you. And Mikhail will be JUST as snarky, but in Russian, which I can understand, but is still somehow worse. And Tom's too wrapped up in... being Tom.”

“I understand that.”

“Hey, don't you guys have that presentation thing this weekend?”

“Yeah, right after our Building The Future class on Saturday.”

“Good luck with that, you guys. I mean it.”

“Please, no real feelings. It'll ruin this whole thing I have going on with you.”

“What?” she laughed.

“You heard me,” I said, dead pan. “We have a decent arrangement here: you're a cold bitch and I'm an aloof genius. No need to complicate that with hidden layers of friendship.”

“Oh, so THAT'S how you see this, is it,” she smiled devilishly. “A bitch, am I?”

“Not gonna lie about it. You kind of are.”

“Kind of?”

“Well, okay, yes, you totally are.”

“Damn straight,” she laughed.

We carried on like this all the way back to campus, where I handed her the bags of her stuff I had been carrying and we parted ways toward out separate dorm buildings. Tom was missing from the room when I got back, so I called the rented garage.

“Hello?” Tom answered.

“How's it going down there?”

“It's going well,” Tom said, a smile plainly obvious in his voice. “We're pretty much all set for Saturday. It's just down to the showmanship part of the presentation. You know, making it flashy.”

“Not my thing,” I said. “I trust you to wow this guy, though.”

Tom laughed. “Come on, Albert, we're partners. I at least want you to see and approve of things. Do you have time to come by Friday? I know you've been busy.”

“Being Noele's pack mule is less fun than you might be led to believe,” I cautioned. “I'll stick to the science, you please the crowds, Tom. Everything will be fine.”

“Okay, partner. I trust you. Do you knew where I can get a unicorn on short notice?”

“Wait, what?”

“Just kidding, Albert,” he laughed. “It'll be fine.”

It better be, I thought. This was one of those opportunities that changed your entire life, for better or for worse, no matter how you handle it. A true turning point. God, I hope we're really ready for this...

20XX

“Are you ready for this?” I asked over my shoulder.

“Intimidating some human idiot?” Punk asked, slamming his fist into his open palm. “Oh, this is gonna be great!”

“Might as well have some fun before I get blown up again,” Ballade remarked.

“It'll be nice to be armed again,” Enker put in.

I smiled and knocked on the door in front of me. This was possibly one of the nicest slumlord houses I knew of, and I knew a lot of them. Columbia was always beautiful at any time of the year, but this time was especially nice. Maybe it was because it was sunny out and my skin was drinking in all of the solar goodness for the first time since I'd gotten that flu, but it was almost relaxing to be outside again, even if it was in the presence of three killer robots.

The door opened and a black gentleman in a bad-fitting suit poked his head out. “Is there something I can help you with?”

I nodded once and Punk kicked the door in, sending the man behind it flying backwards. The door itself disintegrated into little bits and pieces. I sighed.

“Not THAT hard,” I told him.

“That WASN'T hard,” Punk protested.

“What the hell is going on in here?” Screamed a larger man, sweating profusely despite wearing only a speedo and a bathrobe.

“Good god, Julius!” I cried. “Put on something close to pants, would you?”

“Albert Wily? Holy shit man, why didn't you call?”

“I tried,” I told him, following the Mega Man Killers into the room. “You weren't answering.”

His entire face shifted back and forth. Julius was a smuggler. And a crooked land lord. And just about anything unsavory you could think of. He was quite proud of his ability to 'pimp' things, and I'm certain his use of that word wasn't always appropriate to its actual meaning, but whatever. I kept Julius's contact information around not because he was a fat, sleazy moron who would probably rat me out to any figure of reasonably powerful authority that might ask, but because he was a man who could acquire things.

And because he had NO poker face. “I figured the heat would still be on you after that epidemia thing, holmes,” he said, fumbling the English pretty hard. His accent was thick and made him sound even stupider than he actually was, if that was even possible.

“Oh it is,” I said, waving a hand in boredom. “In fact, it's on pretty high right now, from a lot of directions, and I need something from you, just real fast.”

“Tell me, my man. What can Julius pimp for you?”

I rolled my eyes behind my sunglasses. This was one of those times that being thin and malnourished sort of paid off. I could wear my coat, a shirt and tie (with a skull motif on it, natch) and a pair of khaki slacks and still not sweat through my shirt. It gave me a 'classic' look that I had decided a long time ago was pretty good for trying to conquer the world.

“First off,” I said, “seriously, put on some pants, or I'll have Punk put them on you.” Neither of them looked happy about the idea, but I continued anyway. “Secondly, I need to make a call to another associate of mine while Ballade and Enker escort you to the mine and get the materials I need from you.”

“Aw, the mine, man? Don't make me go down there right now,” Julius whined. “The people what do the digging are all angry and rioting right now.”

“Your workers are rioting?”

“It's really cutting into my business,” he complained. Julius had a mine in his back yard that went down and out into the surrounding countryside for miles. A lot of very interesting things had been 'discovered' down there, mostly to cover up the fact that 90% of those things were actually imported in an illegal fashion before being sold to various contacts or governments.

“Is that why you didn't pick up my calls?” I asked. “You didn't think you'd be able to help?”

He nodded numbly. “I don't know what you use the stuff for, man, but you're my only pimp for the Tellurium...” The only metal actually FOUND in Julius's mine, and about as rare as Platinum. Julius was the only black market source I knew of for the stuff, the rest of the Tellurium business tied up in legitimate ventures and, mostly, Silicone Valley.

On its own, it was next to useless, but it was handy in making alloys, and worked well as an energy collector in proper amounts. It's use in solar panels is what had actually led me to the breakthrough that would be Enker's Mirror Buster.

I smiled broadly. “Julius, come on, if you have a problem like this, you should have called me sooner.”

“What?”

I gestured to my three Mega Man Killers. “These three will be more than happy to help settle any labor disputes you may have. Take them to the mine with you while I make my call, got it?”

His fat face brightened somewhat. “You'd do that for me?”

“Despite what you may hear, I'm not a bad person. Just evil.”

“Thanks a lot, holmes,” he smiled. “Come on guys, let's go pimp us some slaves!”

Punk, Enker and Ballade gave me pleading looks of 'please, no' but I waved a hand after Julius as he waddled out of the room, and they went begrudgingly. Once the opportunity for some violence arose, they'd feel better, but I didn't care, really. So long as they secured the Tellurium I needed, I wouldn't have to care what happened to Julius and his little criminal empire for a while.

I looked around Julius's house for his phone. A regular one wouldn't help me, but I knew he had a direct line to my bunker hidden around here somewhere. Probably... Ah. I approached a large square mirror that took up a seemingly random place on the wall in a hallway. I tapped the center twice and something inside of it clicked and whirred.

“Fingerprint ID confirmed,” flashed across the mirror's surface. “Welcome Dr. Wily.”

“Call Quick Man,” I said.

At this point, the mirror took on the same look and functions as one of the call windows back in my lab. Quick Man's face was quick to appear. “Lord Wily! This is a surprise!”

“Isn't it always,” I told him. “How are things going?”

“We're up to three.”

I stood there for a moment, not comprehending, until it dawned on me, “You've stopped three assassins?”

“Yes,” Quick Man said, “and that last one was crazy. He was going use some sort of device to turn the water supply for Dr. Light's lab into some sort of acid. That wouldn't have been pretty.”

“That would be Dr. Serizawa and that ridiculous Oxygen Destroyer of his,” I scoffed. “I can't even begin to imagine how that could be useful.”

“I think we have another one prowling around right now. Shadow Man's on it.”

“Keep up the good work,” I told him. “Let me know if you need some extra hands down there. Ballade is going to be pretty bored after we get done here.”

“Three guys in six hours?” Quick Man sounded less sure of himself than I had ever heard before. “I mean, don't get me wrong, this is fun, but... Just how bad is this going to get, master?”

“Bad,” I admitted. “Very, very bad.”

“The faster everything is in motion, though, the less time we have to spend... protecting Dr. Light, right?” Quick Man almost spat the last few words.

“I'll take care of Tom in due time, but we have some other things to take care of first,” I said. “Get back to work.”

The call ended and I stepped away from the mirror. The Book was not holding back or even being all that subtle. Something that Tom was up to must really be a problem for them. I smiled at the thought. Even in his old age, Thomas was a brilliant and helpful individual, even if he didn't realize how much danger that put him in. I'd have to put some research into finding out what exactly he was doing that was pissing Mr. X and his goon squad off so much.

Something occurred to me and I went back to the mirror, placing another call. This time to Freeze Man, who answered promptly. “Yes sir?”

“How's it going out there?”

“Surprisingly well, actually,” Freeze Man reported. “We're through the upper layer of ice now and it's just a matter of gauging how much distance is left until we can pull it out.”

“Excellent.”

“Um, sir, if I may ask a question?”

“I suppose,” I said, looking at my watch, “I have time.”

“Why do we need this? I thought it made an untenable power source?”

I grinned. “As a power source, yes, it's terrible, but it has certain properties that were very helpful to my research before Mega Man and that idiotic Stardroid destroyed the supply that I had. Finding this little diamond in the rough of the arctic is almost serendipity.”

“We'll have it back to base in the next two hours or so,” Freeze Man told me.

“Good work,” I nodded, ending the call as Enker, Punk, Ballade and Julius returned. Enker was holding a pair of bags and a smile on his face.

“That was fun!” Punk was saying.

“You guys have a pimped out definition of fun,” Julius was pale faced and looked like he was about to be sick.

“What's wrong, fat man?” Ballade asked wryly. “Never seen a man go all to pieces before?”

“Not violently and in every direction... ugh...” with that, Julius actually DID vomit on his own floor, causing the Robot Masters to back up.

“Look, those guys were leading your little strike, and now they aren't a problem. Simple as that,” Punk said in a mockingly comforting tone.

“Nwaargh...” Julius moaned.

“I've got what we need, sir,” Enker said, lifting the two bags for emphasis.

“Pleasure doing business with you Julius,” I grinned as I led my Mega Man Killers out the door. “We should do this again some time.”

“Hwwaaa...” I heard him try before we were out of earshot.

“So what's next, boss?” Punk asked.

“Ballade is going to be joining Quick Man and Shadow Man on their assignment. It sounds like they'll need some extra help,” I said as we made our way into the wilderness and toward the platform we'd used to get here.

“Oh, man, I have to be near Light Labs?” Ballade sounded worried. “But... Aw, man...”

“Stop whining. Mega Man is probably half a world away from there, trying to find us right now.”

“That does much less to make me feel better than you may believe,” Ballade commented.

“When we get back to the bunker, I need to do some work in the Lab. Punk, you'll be joining the rest of them in the Wreck Room, and Enker is going to do some work for me once he's armed again.”

“Glee!” Enker smiled. “And I won't be anywhere NEAR Mega Man, right?”

“Tough to say,” I told him. “It depends on how smart Tom is. He may see my next move coming...”