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Bass wasn't around the first time Wily activated Zero for testing, or the second, or the third. It was only when Zero's existence and occasional wakefulness became more of an accepted fact around Wily Labs, and the man himself started getting more lax about not letting people into the inner laboratory, that Bass was able to wander in and observe from a catwalk.
Zero was sitting on the repair table, a panel in his back open. Dr. Wily's gaze flicked up to Bass for a moment before he returned to doing something quick and light with a wrench to various spots at intervals down Zero's spine. “Feel that?” he asked, and a grunted, “Yes,” and then “How about that?” and so on.
It was Bass' first time seeing Zero complete and assembled, and he wasn't particularly impressed. Zero was rather taller and older-looking than himself, but still built along the same general template; nothing of the unprecedented breakthrough that Wily had been boasting of. His face was finely drawn, almost pretty, certainly normal and inoffensive-looking; on top of that Bass still couldn't take the ridiculous waterfall of sleek blond hair seriously. This was what was supposed to be taking his place?
“Oi,” he called, and both Zero and Dr. Wily looked up. “Are you really the guy that's supposed to have some kind of big impact on future history?”
Zero met his gaze with a cold, hard stare. “Apparently so.”
“’Cause you don't look all that impressive to me.”
Something like a growl rippled in Zero's throat. “Are you going to clarify that?”
Normally Bass would have recognized the warning signs, but he was still stewing in some resentment that this supposed prodigy was about to steal any chance he had at a spotlight. “Yeah, you honestly look kind of dumb, I don't see why -”
He didn't get to finish his sentence because there was a clatter and a red blur and Zero was on the catwalk in front of him wasn't he just thirty feet away what was happening and then a huge force slammed Bass against the wall, knocking all his systems into disorientation and pinning him hard.
He wheezed in surprise. Something felt terribly wrong, there was a high beeping alert going off somewhere in his processor, and Zero's pretty face really wasn't quite so pretty when contorted in a snarl. One fist drew back to strike, and Bass was overcome with sudden and gripping terror -
In the corner of his eye there was a motion he would only later register as Dr. Wily slamming his hand down on a button in the bank of switches, and Zero froze completely, the backlighting in his eyes going out and the soft whine of machinery powering down coming muffled from within him. His teeth, still frozen in a snarl, were very sharp. Something was terribly wrong, Bass thought, as Dr. Wily came running up the catwalk stairs, the alert wouldn't stop beeping, and there was a dull heavy pain around his...
He looked down and finally took in the fact that his midsection had been almost completely crushed between Zero's immobile fist and the wall. The polymer covering his abdomen had split in places, and bent cables and snapped wires were poking through...
The beeping in his ears had increased to fever pitch. “Oh,” he said faintly, and then all his systems shut down.
.
Bass awoke with the cold metal of the repair table under him and the fluorescent ceiling light harsh in his eyes. “Ow,” he said at the brief retinal overload.
“You’re awake.” Dr. Wily became visible in his peripheral vision, wiping oil off his hands. He came to a stop above Bass and stared down at him with cold anger. “I knew you were mediocre, but I never thought I’d programmed you to be such a complete idiot.”
Damn if that wasn’t harsh, but Bass had gotten used to it. Mostly. “Good to see you too,” he deadpanned, and took a second to run diagnostics. Damage fixed, apparently.
“I had to take an entire afternoon to fix you,” continued Dr. Wily. “I’m that much more behind on Zero now. Are you happy with yourself? If this happens again I’ll reprogram you completely and then maybe you won’t be such a nuisance.”
Bass bared his teeth. His personality may have been terrible, but it was his and like hell was he going to face that kind of ego death. “Fine, fine, I won’t walk in on your uber-secret experiments with mister psycho prettyboy anymore. Happy?” He propped himself up on his elbows to examine the almost invisible pattern of solder marks on his abdomen. “That guy’s out of control. Something’s wrong with him.”
“It is,” said Dr. Wily flatly. “There’s a glitch in his system and it’s made him hyperaggressive, violent and disobedient. I have my hands full trying to fix the issue and the last thing I need is to be running more repairs on robots who were stupid enough to provoke him. Stay out of his way if you know what’s good for you, all right?”
“All right,” said Bass, sullenly because of course he had to, but inside him a thick dread was settling, coating his just-repaired systems with cold. Wily was turned away, stowing his tools back, and Bass said, “Hey, Doc.”
“What is it?” said Wily, sounding threateningly at the edge of his patience.
“Nothing,” decided Bass, and lay back down as Wily gave a snort.
If someone like Zero is meant to shape the future, what kind of future are you trying to create?
The good doctor would have crucified him for that question, though, so it remained cold and heavy and unasked.