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It had been different before, he told himself. Cutman, Elecman, Gutsman, Bombman, Iceman, Fireman, Timeman, and Oilman. They had all been his brothers. It was a simple matter to damage them enough to activate the emergency shutdown that Dr. Light had installed, and then take them back to the lab to be repaired. It was not murder.
All those countless Mechaniloids that had gone berserk, that scary yellow robot that kept shouting "Bumo!" and the bubble machine hadn't bothered him too much. They weren't Robot Masters, they had much less intelligence than the Robot Masters did. He didn't feel too bad about destroying them. Neither did he feel terrible about destroying the incomplete, non-sentient clones of his brothers. But Robot Masters...
He had never expected Wily to create a Robot Master himself, much less a clone of him. That didn't change anything. Sure, Copy Rockman (or Copy, Rock would mentally call him) hadn't been a 100% identical clone - the frontmost mark was a triangle as opposed to a square, the M-shaped cut on their helmets was different, Copy had a reddish tint to his blue eyes, making them seem purple, and Copy was wearing that bright purple scarf around his neck, but they were similar enough that at first glance, no one would be able to tell the difference.
From what he had heard during their little "talk" during the battle, Copy had been much like himself - playful, young, and eager to do what he had to. No surprise, since Wily had apparently copied EVERYTHING, including memories. Fight fire with fire. Fight a Rockman with a Rockman.
No. Copy hadn't been similar to himself, he had been just like himself.
Even now, the Copy's voice continued ringing in his ears. The voice had sounded exactly like his own. Childish. Full of life. And according to his brothers, who had met the Copy, he enjoyed cracking puns and being silly in general, though there had been a definite mean streak in his jokes and such. But that was understandable, they were not friends, after all.
"Hey, Blue Bomber! Just a little unfair to steal other robots' arms, don'tcha think~?"
"A clone of...me?! How far will Dr. Wily go?..."
"But I guess being a copy of you would make me the biggest cheat of them all, right~?!"
But he had to do it. Copy had had to do it programmed to be loyal to Wily. A Wilybot designed to help Dr. Wily take over the world. A Wilybot designed to defeat him and then replace him, with everyone finding out only when it was too late. It can't be murder if he had had to do it... right?
So why, as he thought about the broken blue figure lying motionless, did it feel like he had just killed a part of himself?