It was a very, very, very hot day in Silicone City. So hot, Zero thought his mother would drain her entire bank account on the AC bill. He went to the kitchen, cup in hand when he found her lying in front of the vent wearing nothing but her underwear and bra. "Ever thought about installing a pool here?"
"Yes. So many times, son. Unfortunately, there's not enough room to put it anywhere, what with the lab and the weapons test room..."
"Or maybe we could go down to that public pool."
"Can't. It gets hotter every second. Look!" She held up a thermometer to prove her point. Sure enough, the temperature slowly began rising. "This isn't normal."
"Well, I'm getting me my fourth glass of water." Zero went to the sink and switched on the tap water, expecting a cool liquid refreshment. Instead, what he got was cup of boiling hot water! "Uh, mom? Did you remember to fix the plumbing?"
"Sure, I did. Why?"
"The sink's pouring hot water when it's set to cold. In fact, it's all the way cold!"
His mother stood up. "That's weird. I wonder if..." She went to the bathroom and turned on the shower. Instead of cold water, scalding hot water came out. The same thing happened when she tried the bathroom sink. But the final straw that broke the camel's back was when she saw that even the toilet water was bubbling and red! "Even the toilet's boiling hot!"
"This is not normal," Zero said, dumping his hot water down the drain.
"Indeed. Let's see..." She checked her scanners. "Thought so. The water supply in the entire city has gone up to a thousand degrees! If this keeps up, the whole city will boil."
"Why does that sound familiar," Zero murmured.
"It's Fire Man, I know it," his mother said. "I told you you should have finished him."
"And I will. Just tell me where he is."
"Well," she said, looking at the scanner. "The water plant's been having an unusual rise in temperature. Think you can handle it?"
"Of course, mom." He activated a button on his chest and instantly, the red armor appeared on his body.
"Oh, and one thing," she added. "If you encounter Mega Man there, do not hesitate."
"I won't."
"Good."
(!)
When Zero arrived at the water plant, he saw someone had already beat him to it. Make that two someones. A girl with dark skin and black hair whom he recognized as Dr. Light's daughter and a boy with wild red hair and...wearing spandex bike shorts? "Looks like I got me an audience," Zero joked.
"You!" the boy exclaimed. "Stay away from here, Zero!"
"Yeah," the girl said, blocking Zero's way. "Mega Man's got this under control. We don't need your help."
"And what makes you think you can stop me," Zero said, pushing the girl out of the way.
"Because I got this!" The boy held up a drone.
"My Suna Copter Drone?" asked the girl. Zero guessed her name was Suna. "Heat proofed? How did you do that?" The boy gestured to what remained of some kind of bike. "Your bike? Bert Wiley, you are a genius!"
Wiley blushed. "Ah, we all do our part. Heroes in our own way." Suddenly, he realized something. "Hey, where's Zero?"
Suna looked around. "Oh, no! He's in the water plant!"
(!)
As Zero silently walked around the main cooling facility of the water plant, he realized for the first time he was sweating profusely. "Mom," he said in his intercom. "Is my armor upgraded with the self-cooling feature?"
"Affirmative. Just press the button on your arm."
"Okay." He did so and almost immediately, he felt a lot more cooler. Suddenly, he heard the sounds of fighting coming from nearby. It didn't take long for him to find Fire Man fighting Mega Man. "Ahem," he coughed, catching their attention.
"Oh, no, not you," exclaimed Mega Man. Unfortunately for him, this distracted him long enough for him to get smacked aside by the larger Robot Master.
"So," the flaming Robot Master growled. "We meet again, human. Don't think you're going to get the drop on me again! I've had some major modifications to myself since our last encounter!"
Zero chuckled as he readied his Z Saber. "And what makes you think I won't slice you to pieces again?"
"Because I am enflamed! I am enlightened! You humans are gnats!" He fired balls of flame at Zero, only for the renegade to dodge his attacks and hide behind a pillar. He noticed that Mega Man is with him. "So, what's the plan?"
"Plan? What plan? Let you use me as a distraction for you to slice him to pieces? No thank you!"
Zero then noticed something. "Hey, your Buster Cannon. What happened to it? Why is it overheating?"
"Blame Fire Man's schematics. It's too hot in here to use his powers now!"
"I'm gonna mindfully melt this dump," shouted Fire Man. Suddenly, a buzzing sound caught everyone's attention. Then a small drone hovered in front of him. "Aw, you lost little buddy?" Then he realized, "Wait, this is no bot! It's a human tool!" He tried swatting the drone like a fly, but it was too fast for him.
"Hey, hey," Mega Mini called out. "Big sis is distracting Fire Man with her Suna Copter!"
"Nice going, big sis," Mega Man said.
"So, Light's daughter is useful after all," Zero said.
"Hey, she's plenty helpful!"
"Well, now that she's distracting Fire Man...I'll give her backup. Stay put while you cool off." Zero, ignoring Mega Man's protests, walked out in the open and shouted, "Tell me, Fire Man. Just what do you hope to accomplish? That you're better than humans?"
"It's not just me, fleshy squirt!" Fire Man fired more balls of flame at him, only for Zero to block them with his Z Sword. "It's about proving that we robots are superior to all organics!" Zero charged at him, only for him to block the Z Sword with his flamethrower hands. "We robots are stronger!" He tried to punch Zero only to have the arm blocked. "We are smarter! We are-"
"Built that way," Zero shouted, slashing into Fire Man's chest. "We made you smarter, made you stronger! YOU OWE US EVERYTHING!"
That made Fire Man mad. "I OWE YOU NOTHING!" And he fired a wave of flame out of his arms. Zero ducked behind a wall and recoiled against the heat. Suddenly, his forehead started sweating. "Uh, mom? What happened to the cooling system?"
"It's malfunctioning," she said in his communicator. "It just can't handle temperatures that high! You've made him so angry, he's turning into a walking volcano!"
"And at this rate, we will be cooked alive!" Something dripped next to his foot. To his horror, it was the ceiling! "Mom! The ceiling's melting! We're melting!"
"Forget the mission then, just get out of there!"
"No! If he's not cooled down, the whole city will boil! Come on, Mega Man!"
His prayers were answered. "Activate Wave Man schematics!" A jet of ice cold water soaked Fire Man. "Is this...water? Oh! I hate water! Gotta go to my happy place!" The flaming Robot Master took off running.
"Relax," Mega Man called out. "I hear getting blasted by hydro-powered water cannons is refreshing." He approached Zero and gave him a good hose down. "You looked like you could cool yourself."
"Thanks. I think I just sweated out about ten percent of my bodily fluids."
"Good. Now, go on out of here. Me and Suna will take care of the rest."
"Sorry, no."
Mega Man got mad. "I'm not going to let you hurt him!"
Zero snapped, "Or what? You'll just let him walk out of prison so he can do it again?"
"And there it is," Flame Man shouted, blasting another wall of fire at the two. "Another human weakness. Always running on emotion and instinct while we run on logic and reason! You're on the wrong side, Mega Man! Robots are hot, humans are yesteryear!" The Suna Copter bonked him on the head, distracting him long enough for Mega Man to say, "Nah, things are a lot cooler from where I'm standing. Proof!" before blasting him with a jet of water all the way outside the water plant.
Fire Man groaned as he got up. "Oh, I shouldn't have skipped hot robo-yoga this week."
"Ahem." Fire Man looked up to see Zero carrying a huge tank. "What is that?" he asked.
"Oh, nothing much," Zero said. "Just a tankful of liquid nitrogen that will freeze you solid in seconds." Flame Man's eyes widened and he took off running. He didn't get far; Zero smashed the tank over his head, freezing him solid. "And now, the finishing blow." And he stabbed Fire Man through the chest.
"NO!" shouted Mega Man, who arrived too late to stop him. "What did you do?!"
"Wait for it..."
CRACK! The block of ice shattered, along with Fire Man's armor, leaving him a bare metal skeleton. He looked down and shrieked as he hid his "nudity". "My upgrades!" he screeched.
(!)
The Good Guild escorted the "naked" Fire Man into a paddy wagon and took him to prison shortly after that. "Guess being heat resistant wasn't so bad after all," Suna said to Mega Man and Zero.
"Yeah, I might need to work on that the next time," Zero said. "I thought my armor could withstand the heat, but, like I said," he said to Mega Man. "We made you that way."
"The differences are what makes humans and robots click, Zero," Mega Man said. "I can stand the heat, but I couldn't put out Fire Man without you and Suna."
"Wow, I just witnessed greatness," Wiley said, excited. "The city's temperature is back to normal! Thanks, Mega Man!"
"And thank you, wild haired citizen," Mega Man said. "Your contribution will be legendary!"
"What am I, chopped liver?" Zero asked.
"Yes," Mega Man, Suna and Wiley said at once.
"Fair enough. I gotta get back home anyway." He took off running, leaving the three kids alone.
(!)
Zero didn't even bother saying hello when he got back home. He just stripped himself of his armor and body suit, leaving him completely in his underwear. "And just where do you think you are going?" his mother asked.
"To go into the fridge. It's the only place I can think of to cool down."
"Oh, no, you're not! You're going back to the lab with that armor and we're going to improve the cooling system!"
"Yeah, wake me up when you get to that." And he crawled into the refrigerator and slammed the door.
"Oh, that little," his mother exclaimed before sighing. Then she sniffed and plugged her nose when she smelled the foul oder of onions. It was the body suit and armor, stinky and covered in sweat. "Oh! You could have at least put them in the washing machine!"