The Last Hope

“Protoman.”
The red robot jumped, then smiled as he recognized the voice. “There aren't many people who can sneak up on me, bro.”
“Yeah, that's your job,” Mega Man said softly, but Protoman could tell his heart wasn't in it. He kept close to the wall, looking down as if afraid. “Protoman, I....”
“Is something up? You should be repairing from the battle.”
“I'm okay,” Mega Man said, biting his lip. “Listen, brother...I...need your help...with something.”
“What's going on?” Protoman half-limped closer—his leg injury was still bothering him.
Mega Man hesitated, searching for the right words for a moment. Finally, he sighed and sat down on a nearby lab table, hugging one knee to his chest and resting his chin on it. “Protoman, we've been fighting for almost ten years,” he began rather abruptly. “How does that make you feel?”
He blinked, then sat down across from his brother. “What do you mean?”
“It's always the same thing,” Mega Man said. “Wily, Wily, and more Wily. The same war, the same people being hurt, the same smoking cannons, the same wounds opened up again and again. For ten years.” Unexpectedly, he leaned forward, holding his head in his hands. “I...I'm getting so tired.”
“Mega Man....” Suddenly unsure what to say, Protoman settled on a cliché-sounding “It'll be all right.”
His brother took a long, deep breath before continuing. “I've decided I'm going to take fate into my own hands,” he said. “But I need your help.”
“What are you....”
Mega Man held out a sheet of paper, his expression grave. “I found this in a memory chip from Burner Man that Doctor Light was scanning.”
It was a detailed sketch of a too-familiar building. “The Skull Fortress. What about it?”
Mega Man closed his blue eyes for a moment, then looked up and met Protoman's. “I'm going to collapse it.”
Shock flashed through him like a bolt of electricity. Robbed of the words to speak, Protoman stared back at his brother, horrified by the grim conviction he saw in his expression.
“There's nothing you can do to change my mind,” Mega Man said. “I've studied the schematic and there are six pillars that support the main building. All I have to do is weaken them with a few blasts, and just like that, Zero's history.”
Protoman couldn't seem to find a reply. “But....”
“Protoman, you know they'll come again in the morning. This time, in full force. What happened yesterday is only a fraction of what they can really do. Once they wipe us out, nothing will stop them. Who knows what'll happen to Earth without us to protect it? I can't let anything happen to the humans.”
“Do you know...” Protoman swallowed and started again. “Mega Man, you know Wily will be inside.”
Mega Man was already at the computer, punching in the teleportation coordinates. “I know.”