Rockman.EXE (Keep Quiet)

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Rockman.EXE (Keep Quiet)
Instance	I-KQ
Age	~20
Pronouns	He/Him
NetOP	Netto Hikari

Maybe you're better off this way.

Rockman.EXE is a main character of Keep Quiet, and the NetNavi of Netto Hikari.

Personality

Rougher around the edges. While still the hero he always was, he has experienced much hardship and trauma. More wary of others, and tends to get lost in his own thoughts. Sometimes prone to acting out/lashing out, for which he feels horribly for later.

History

Middle — Highschool Era

Following the events of Battle Network 6, Rockman lived a more quaint life. With less world-threatening stressors on his and Netto's plate, he was able to grow up more closely with his Operator and his friends. Using the copyroid formerly owned by Iris, he often attended school with Netto and tried out life as a human for a while. However, during this time, his past endeavors were starting to catch up to him, and he found life as a human dissatisfying. After middle school, he began to retreat back into the net more often, finding more comfort in a space he'd known for most of his life.

During Highschool, Rockman began to develop a fairly pronounced identity disruption. While subtle, he would often have periods of time where he would lose himself; this is when his DarkSoul returned, and their agreements were made in order to keep the peace. He also found a resurgence of the BeastOut returning as well; he knew it had graphed itself to his memory, but he did not know to what extent.

Alongside this time, Rockman began suppressing this experience from Netto, who he didn't want to hold back from growing up. While supported by his partner, Blues.EXE, graduation approached with much apprehension from Rockman.

Graduation & Post-Graduation

Upon Graduation, Netto and Rockman were posed with two paths; a traditional college experience, or a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to join the Officials (properly) right out of high school. Dissatisfied with school, Netto opted for the latter– and let Rockman choose for himself if he wanted to come along with him. Afraid of holding him back and unable to make a determination for himself, Rockman opted for a year away from Netto— so that the both of them could grow for themselves.

Not long after Netto went away to the Officials' "bootcamp", Rockman was taken by Regal.

Regal Kidnapping

In The Beginning marks the start of Keep Quiet canon. Rockman and Enzan are kidnapped in late winter by Dr. Regal, who was formerly presumed to be amnesiac. For a few weeks, Rockman and Enzan are experimented on– to what end, Rockman had no idea. In his mind, all it could be was a horrific revenge plot— anything else didn't make sense with the amount of violence they were both subject to.

During this time, Regal created a near-perfect replica of Rockman in order to fool his loved ones into thinking that only Enzan was missing. In order to make the replica convincing, Regal removed the eye-programs that Rockman had, since their green were very specific and influenced by his human DNA.

During the experimentation, Rockman was subject to a full breakdown of his programming. Regal inspected all parts of him, and took special interest in the Saito.BAT program. While Rockman was shut down in order to inspect these parts, Regal inserted a virus of his own creation into Rockman's code— SAViOR. This virus was able to mimic the existing identity disruption Rockman was experiencing, and mask as his own thoughts and feelings– while it eroded him from the inside out.

To escape Regal's torment, Rockman and Enzan performed full synchro while Regal is not in the facility. Rockman offered Enzan inhuman strength in return for a chance at getting a message out– which was found in a SubPET set to transmit a message the next time Regal connected with it.

The two of them were caught after setting up the message, where they briefly attempted to threaten Regal's life. Unsuccessful, Rockman would synchro with Enzan more often, trying to comfort him through the unspeakable horror they were going through.