ENKER'S TALE – PRELUDE
AUTHOR'S NOTE: This story sits directly before the opening of the Enker's Tale Webcomic, which is currently undergoing a large reboot in order to update the illustrations and visual style of the comic from the (fairly poor) original standard I started it with 10 years ago. I obviously don't own anything to do with the Mega Man franchise, all rights to Capcom, etc, etc.
The heat of the fire lapped at the gold armour around Enker's legs and for one horrible moment he thought that the floor was going to give way beneath him. Increasing his pace as he ran across the landing he dived instinctively hard left and felt a door slam open, spilling him into an apartment. The fire was just as bad in here, but at least the floor wasn't making that ominous creaking sound. He could probably survive the fall, but the little bundle of life he had wrapped protectively in his arms was another matter.
The little girl wasn't older than three, and she'd foolishly hidden in the wardrobe of her bedroom when the fire started. In the rush to evacuate her parents hadn't noticed she was missing until it was already too late. With the Fire Service still on-route Enker had ignored Switch's urgent instructions to the contrary and headed into the inferno to try and save her. Now she was babbling in his ear, but the details were lost in the din of the fire. Taking a moment to catch his breath he tried to spot an exit. They were six floors up, the solitary window wasn't an option when he was holding a Human life, hell it was hardly an option when he was alone, the fall would certainly damage him as well.
"Switch." He rasped into the communications unit built into his gauntlet, the system was designed so that he could hear her at all times through his helmet without anybody else noticing, but two-way contact required he activate his comm. "I have the kid but we need an exit, fast."
Miles away at Hunter Headquarters the smaller female Reploid's hands flew across a keypad. In front of her on shimmering holographic screens were readouts on Enker's systems, his current status, even a small point-of-view camera display feeding her visual data that he probably didn't even know was there. It was her job to look out for him when he was in the field and keep an eye on him when he was off-duty. Today that meant making sure he wasn't destroyed in a fire.
Fingers tapped across buttons faster than the Human mind could process and an overlaid map of the complex appeared in front of her, Enker's current position appeared as a blinking red dot. "I have you." She commented into the headset she wore over one ear. "Searching for possible exits now, can you reach the stairs?" she paused and listened for an answer, then cursed quietly to herself as a negative reply echoed into her ear.
"Enker you have to move, the floor above that room is going to collapse and take everything below it out with it." Her voice crackled down the headset and Enker's eyes snapped up, where the fire was licking the ceiling. Barrelling back out the door into the inferno that was the hallway he crossed straight into the apartment opposite, the door giving only a moments resistance against his weight and shattered inward in a shower of splinters. Outside he heard the crashing as the roof gave way and felt the rubble whisking down past them.
"I've got two possible exits." Switch's voice, normally cool and collected was rushed and her sentences clipped short. Enker didn't reply, he was glancing around to check that this room wasn't about to disappear as well. The smoke was becoming an issue, the action of breathing was just an automated response that Doctor Light had decided made people feel better around Robots a hundred years ago and Wily hadn't bothered to remove from the original specs, but the child was another matter. He was beginning to worry that the fire wouldn't have a chance to finish her off at all. "One. There's a fire escape on the far side of the building, if you can make it to the East facing quarter you can get out of a window and away. Two. There's a life shaft that you could climb down to reach the ground floor."
"Got it." Enker sounded tired, his systems were struggling to control the environment inside him and his own unique components were working double time in confusion. So much energy around him, lapping at him, his receptors were trying to process it into power. The trouble was that fire wasn't the ideal resource for that. Too little actual energy was processed from the flame to heal the damage from the fire. He'd burn slowly, but he'd burn all the same. It was a design flaw that Mega Man had used to defeat him back in the day, and one Wily never got around to fixing. "The fire escape collapsed in the first round of evacuations. I'll try for the lift."
Edging his way toward the door he was half-out when the floor finally gave way and collapsed in a scorching mess onto the floor below. Throwing out his spare hand he managed to grip the door frame and toss the child back into the room where she rolled and sat up blinking away tears. Enker hung there for a moment suspended between the safety of the room and the drop beyond. He could make it, he rationalised. The fall wouldn't damage him, but with the stairs gone he'd never get back up to save the child and all this would be for nothing. With an effort he managed to pull himself back into the room and lay flat on the floor for a second before standing back up. That had been too close. This place was falling apart around him faster than anybody could keep up with.
Scooping up the child again she nuzzled against him, shivering in terror despite the heat and clinging to him like a lifeline. "No go." He whispered into the comm, and across town Switch froze one hand in mid-air over her keyboard. "I'm going to have to try something drastic."
He'd spotted it earlier when he'd arrived. There wasn't another building close to the complex but this was the tallest object in the area. If he remembered correctly he'd circled the house on the inside and the second window in this apartment should be facing the right way. He hoped to god he hadn't gotten turned-around in the confusion.
Taking a chair he threw it through the window and then backed up to get a decent speed before sprinting and leaping through the open portal. Shooting out of the burning building like a bullet into the cold night air the fingers of his free hand snagged against the reassuringly solid surface of a lamp-post and for a moment he thought he was going to miss it, but they caught tight and stopped his fall mid-way. Swinging around it to take the momentum out of the fall he paused and looked down, it was still a long way but he could make it. Dropping heavily to the ground below Enker winced as the servos in his legs protested but the toddler in his arms seemed fine. Lightly he placed her onto the ground as her family came running to snatch her up into a warm embrace.
"Enker?" Switch's voice was a whisper over the comm.
"I'm alright Switch." He commented and dropped into a sitting position at the side of the road and watched as the Fire Department went about its duty, bathed in the flashing red and blue of the lights from their equipment. Ironically it had started to rain. Light layers of water drizzled down in the night and were highlighted by the flickering yellow of the building as it burned.
After what felt like an hour but was probably only a few minutes the little girl tottered over and sat with him, her parents in a heated debate with the Fire Sergeant who was asking them questions about what had taken place. Unlike the rest of the squad he was Human, and not somebody to be messed with. The little girl looked up at him and then leant against his side a promptly went to sleep. Not knowing quite what to do Enker just stared at her in silence. A moment later the mother squeaked something and ran over, scooping up her child and giving him an expression that would have scorched the earth clean.
"Stay away from my child Robot!" She spat, and then turned her back on him and stalked away. The Fire Sergeant wondered over a minute or two later and stood in the light of the lamp-post with Enker.
"She's making a complaint about you, thought I should give you the heads up." He scratched his beard and sighed. "Stupid woman doesn't even think about her kid 'till she's out of danger, then gets all pissy 'cause she's rescued by you. It's a joke, you saved the damn kid's life in there and she can't see past the fact you're . . . well, you know." He ended begrudgingly. Enker knew all too well, he'd been constructed as a weapon in a war waged by a mad-man. Over five hundred people had died because of his direct actions and he didn't forget that, even after over a hundred years since then, not even for a day. Neither did the people of the city, to them he was still something to be feared rather than trusted. "Well . . . I just wanted you to know that as far as I'm concerned you did well. My report will say that too."
"Thanks." Enker managed a smile and then sighed as the Fire Sergeant left him to himself. Wiping water from his face he stretched the aches from his legs and moved back to the silent bulk of his hover-bike. Sitting on the faux-leather seat and flicking the little screen between the handle bars on as he did. Switch's face fluttered into picture and she smiled at him. Oddly, a smile from her was worth more than anything. "What have we got?" he asked.
"Break in on the North Quad, electronics store." She answered immediately; she'd obviously been waiting for the question. "Possible Maverick involvement."
He thumbed the ignition and the bike purred beneath him, coming to life as he skirted the edge of the building and then shot away from the scene of the fire out across the city. There was another six hours left of his patrol, and no doubt the night still had some surprises lined up for him.