I'll protect the world!

He was right, and if this were another time maybe Cut would have been on his side too. Can’t ever trust DWNs, even when they act friendly. 

But maybe Rock’s too right. 

He shook his sadly head to his big bro’s questions before getting the door.  “She–He? They can’t do anything right now. They couldn’t even hurt me! I trust Jewel, he’s strong. Besides, Dad already knows that Copy’s here. …I think?”

“But… It's Forte,” He stresses, staring wearily at the politically incorrect chili pepper. “He's not one of Wily's pushover Robot Masters or... or Toad Man. There's no way Jewel could win a fight against him if he had to!” It wasn't that Rock didn't think he was weak by any means! The mining robot had given him a good run for his money a few years ago, but Forte was on a different level completely; that, and he didn't want to come home to a burning house and a glittery smear left on the front walk.

“You know, this place is really racist… maybe that's got something to do with why it's Doctor Light's favorite. I wouldn't be surprised to hear that he was bankrolling this place with his patronage alone.”

Shoving his hands in his hoodie pocket, Rock shrugged. Either way, it seemed like this was a losing battle and putting himself in a bad mood about it wasn't going to fix anything.

“Alright, alright fine. Let's just get some tacos.” A smile finally budged on Rock's face.

He looked really excited, but looked at his little brothers and calmed down, putting a hand on each of their shoulders. “But this does not, in no way mean, that I’m ditching you guys again. Okay? I’m here to stay, thick and thin, no more being…a coward.” He says, looking towards Rock. 

But none of that today.

The smile he gave his oldest brother was one of trust. “Yep, got it!” This was the guy that got him to Skull Fortress to extract damaged A.I. programming from his head. How could Cut judge him after that?

Or maybe he just didn’t want another problem.

“Wait a minute...” Rock mutters quietly to himself, hand pressed to his chin in thought before it dawned on him. 

“Was that the Copy robot!? What’s HE doing in the house?” He looks directly at Cut, hopeful for answers. “Tacos can wait. There’s no way I’m letting Copy and Forte just walk through the place like they own it.” Especially not while their maker was sleeping and blissfully unaware of the Wilybots’ presence. 

“You couldn’t get me Unlimited data?” He asks again, a hand up to rub at his right eye which had a sudden little ATT loading world flash over it. But it worked, he wasn’t bound to Doctor Lights network anymore, he was mobile. “All nit picking aside, that was a good idea, Forte.” He compliments. “Its not ideal but its not bad either, I can leave the Labs, I just gotta turn off my data when not connected to wifi.” He snorts. “Maybe later we can find one to upgrade it.” 

Copy’s screaming and dramatic leave with Jewel caused him to follow and now he wasn’t sure what exactly he was looking at.

First he stares at Forte, then to Blues hugging them, then to Rock standing in the back looking all pearl-clutchy in his eyes. The orange DLN stood there, motionless and blinking occasionally. His hands twitched but ultimately unclenched. Then, very slowly, he opened his mouth.

Copy, still an adorable but odd amalgam of Roll and Jewel, takes a few seconds to take in the entire sight and scenario between the two trios. And then she GRINS like the devil himself just made her a new scarf and presented it to her in a silky purple box.

There was everybody, standing in the doorway, seeing it. Forte froze, looking like a deer in headlights that didn’t know how to put its arms down and had an extremely elderly robot clamped about its midsection partway through an expression of gratitude.

He made a noise then. It sounded something crossed between NGHHHHH and UGHHHHH and EGHHHHHH, and was rather loud. Prising Blues off of him, he too a few steps back, straightening his clothes.

Cut broke the ice at least, the SWN giving an aggressive shrug to his request. “It’s yours, that is now your very own personal massage chair.” he added, “And maybe if you give Rock ten bucks he’ll even give you a crappy mall massage.”

And Copy, wow, what a mess. He was Copy Jewel Man and Copy Roll simultaneously, the girl’s clothes sticking out from under mini-Jewel’s armour. “You weren’t kidding about being broken.” he commented, looking worried and a little disgusted. His gaze drifted upward to the real thing, to whom he accidentally made eye contact with and gave Jewel a 'sup-nod to, suddenly realising he was dressed like there wasn’t a washer/dryer anywhere in the Skull Fortress. 

Looking toward the small crowd gathered in the doorway, Rock’s smile slowly faded into a look of confusion upon seeing the strange state his sister was in.

“...Roll?” He questioned, hesitating. He barely even noticed Forte announcing his departure.

>JUST GET IT OVER WITH

Gospel complained, knowing his partner all too well. Forte could argue until the heat death of the universe occurred and still have more to say.

“Blues let me in the house, I got the chair at the mall at "Massagetopia”, and it’s uh… it’s-“ he examined the tip of the screwdriver for a moment. ”-medium size.“ he explained a little too confidently. He dug around in his pockets for a minute before holding out a small little chip, about no bigger than a pinkie nail.

His lips formed an unwitting smile at Forte’s response. “You don’t know anything about tools, huh?”

Gospel bitched, his doggy face unable to convey the depths of disgust he was currently mired in. >Maker please >If it was anyone else I’d think they were being sarcastic.

Forte didn’t immediately respond, staring at the two of them with a look of revulsion mixed with confusion. It really was a level of schmaltz he was unprepared for, and going from righteous fury to THIS in such a brief amount of time left him with emotional whiplash.

"What are you even doing in there?” The bomber prodded, venturing further into the room to take a seat. He’d sat in plenty of times for Blues’ comfort when Dr. Light did repairs on him, so it was only right that he did the same when it was Forte.

“Oh yeah, way to make it about you!” He snapped at him. Ugh, he felt like he needed a shower, there was something about seeing your nemesis in an oversize t-shirt and way-too-short gym shorts that was just disgusting and disheartening. “Shouldn’t you be cheering for his freedom? Shouldn’t YOU be trying to liberate him instead of ME? Why the fuck did this fall on my shoulders- aren’t you the ‘hero’ after all?” he sneered.

Forte shifted the screwdriver from overhand to underhand, like he was ready to have a screwdriver knife fight at any moment.

That sounded less like him playing the blame game with Doctor Light, even if he was stuck here because of Doctor Light. “If I can go where I want, when I want, then I wont feel trapped. You know? I can go to the corner store with you and cut and load up on guacamole chips and not be tethered. I can just…be free.”

“Its okay Forte, you know he can’t help it.” Blues says, standing up from the chair he walks up to Rock and puts his hands on his brothers shoulders, looking into his eyes. “I’m never going to leave you alone again, Rock. Someday soon, that is going to mean a lot more then Kirby night.” Humans didn’t live forever. 

“I'm sorry—”

Rock's jaw tightens as he glances toward the SWN. It was taking everything in him to keep his left arm an arm and not a buster. He was feeling bitter and disgusted with himself because Forte was right… Rock had went and made it about himself. He'd been more concerned about his own feelings than his brother! Some hero.

“I-I just— it was so nice to have you at ho— around the lab,” Rock corrects, “And we've already lost Elec this year,” The younger robot's voice wavered. “I'm so… so sorry Blues. I didn't mean to make it all about me.”

Blues approaching him seemed to lighten Rock's mood a little, though the air was still very tense around the three of them. “I just wish you'd told me instead of him.” He finally admits, cautiously reaching up to clap his hands on Blues' shoulders. 'You used to tell me everything,' he wants to say, but instead he smiles warmly.

He was about to ask how to ground himself (no seriously, how the hell does that even work) when he appeared.

Forte gripped the screwdriver he was holding so hard the plastic handle splintered, though he was comforted by Gospel’s sudden deep growl. Yes, sure the mechanical lupine was laying on the ground wrapped in one of Blues’ scarves- but it was the principal of it all.  It was okay though, things were still under control!

He had options. There was any number of things Forte could say to diffuse the situation, but unfortunately he was still Forte, and the SWN just blurted out the first thing that came to mind, which was,

“GET OUT!!!“ 

He unfortunately sounded like a teenager that’d just been walked in on during some alone time. "YOU GET THE FUCK OUT ROCKMAN!”

“Don’t mind us, Rock. We’re trying to fix my wireless issue. Forte things he’s got an idea, and I’m tired enough of caring around a linksys and a car battery that I’m crazy enough to let him try it out.”

“Blues? You wanna leave?” He asks rather suddenly, closing the door behind himself. Forte and his dog might as well have been invisible to him. 

“You could have talked to me about it. I know you can't trust Doctor Light, but you can definitely trust me!” But that bitten lip and those baby blues bright with sadness were the exact reasons why Blues couldn't have just come to Rock for help. 

“Now sit or…. recline or whatever the hell you do in this thing. Also uh, open the part of you that holds your communications uh, parts.”

Forte put the bag of screwdrivers down with a thud, unzipping to reveal… yeah it really was an entire backpack filled with different sized screwdrivers.

“Alright, alright. Both of you are so pushy tonight.” He sits down in it, and reaching up takes off his sunglasses, setting them off to the side before he reaches up and tugs his Doofy sweaty back down his neck a bit. “There is a button…” He mumbles, feeling around right behind his ear before his finger taps it just right and the whole back of his head opens up, and his neck opens down, both sliding away to reveal Blues’s communications hardware. 

Little white lights flashing here and there, complex connections, ribbon cables and micro processors hidden behind tough looking carbon fiber padding and heavy plastics. “You should be able to life the casings with a small phillips. 4 screws, don’t loose them. Got some trays you can put them on right over there.” He motions with his hand as he leans forward and puts his face in the head rest, resting his hands on the arm rests and letting out a deep breath. 

“Hey Blues? Is everything alright?” Rock mumbles sleepily, his lithe body leaning against the doorframe. “I heard the roll-up door, and...”

“Whoa!” He shouts, now very alert and blinking rapidly at the horror movie-esque sight before him.

I'm never sure what to think about the Wily Family situation. Like, how many of his bots are only programmed to serve him, and what others genuinely love and follow him... I know there's many that do, and that's okay, but then there's others that I'm not sure about..

Like, you and Enker both seem like you have mixed feelings about Dr. Wily, and then there's the whole deal with Elec getting forcibly kidnapped to serve him. And maker knows how many others might only be there the same way Elec is...