"Junkbots, all of them..." Bass remarked grumpily as he mercilessly kicked a met out of his path. He wanted to speak to Dr. Wily without delay, and due to Dr. Wily's raid of the robot museum, not only were several lesser bots scattered over Dr. Wily's secret island base, but the robot masters had returned. Bass couldn't stand any of them, and the only robot he could tolerate for extended amounts of time was his loyal dog Treble, who was currently in disrepair, and one of the topics on Bass' mind.
The path to the fortress first went underground into a large cavern, one as huge as a city. Long, metal pillars, placed there by Wily, kept the huge cave from falling in on itself. The fortress itself was large, ostentatious, and without a doubt based on the evil genius' obsession with skulls. Bass never did understand his creator's fixation, but it wasn't something Bass cared about.
"Let the old man design what he wants however he wants." the robot thought with irritation. "Who cares?"
Entering the building and ignoring whatever robots that bothered to say "hello" (and there were few of those), Bass made his way into the main repair station where Dr. Wily spent most of his time. And Wily was there, standing on the side of one of his Armoroids that had been damaged in the earlier fight against Mega Man.
"Well, old man, is he done yet?"
Dr. Wily looked up from his work and scowled. "If you want anything done, Bass, you can use a more respectful tone of voice."
With that, Wily turned back to his welding, hoping in vain that his troublesome creation would simply go away without an argument. It was a ridiculous hope, and he knew it.
"I've been waiting for four weeks for you to repair Treble," Bass continued, seething. "And yet all you've done is work on another one of your retarded schemes? All of those robot 'masters' are junk, and you wasted your time getting them back. If you would just fix Treble, I'd be on my way, and I'd be taking Mega Man down already."
"Oh really?" Dr. Wily slapped down his tools violently on a nearby table as he turned his attention to his aggravating robot. "How many times have you said that before and failed? No, I'm not going to put my faith in you any longer, Bass. Not until you can actually bring in some results."
"What, you really think the robot masters are better than me?"
"They complain less, don't they? And their sheer numbers are something to be reckoned with. Don't distract me from my work, Bass, and if I feel like it, I'll fix Treble...if I feel like it! Now stop bothering me. I've got better things to do, and unless you plan on cooperating, then I don't want to hear it!"
"Obba!" the nearby double doors opened up, and Crystal Bot came through with a large glass of something thick, green and unpleasant smelling. "It's time for a for your wheatgrass special! Ah, Forte-kun, Anyonghasaeyo!"
"Don't call me 'Forte-kun'." Bass growled, folding his arms in annoyance. That girl-bot was more trouble than she was worth, and Bass figured that Dr. Wily must have created her simply so that he could pretend he actually had a real daughter.
"Crystal Bot, what is all that you're saying?" Dr. Wily asked as he reluctantly picked up his drink and sniffed it uncertainly. Crystal Bot had the habit of "enhancing" it with additional supplements, none of which were appetizing.
"Oh, I'm learning korean, and Obba means Dad." Crystal Bot grinned. "It's fun. I think I'll learn spanish next."
"You know I can simply install both of those languages in your head, right?" Dr. Wily chuckled before turning to the substance in his hand. He observed with disgust that it could barely be categorized as a liquid. "Ugh, do I really have to drink this?"
"Now, Dad, you know it's good for you." Crystal Bot said with glee, as she walked over to the table, sitting on it and swinging her legs very childishly under it. "It keeps you on your feet while poor old Doctor Light is in the hospital."
"What, is that true?"
Crystal Bot nodded, happy that she could inform Dr. Wily of something he didn't already know. "I heard he's basically on his last leg, and he's getting all of his affairs in order. I did a little research and found out he's probably got a year left. That guy got old quick."
"Ah," Dr. Wily distractedly placed the glass down on the table as he mused over this bit of news. "So my old rival is will soon pass into the next world? That means the timing is perfect for my next attack! He will be able to look on as I finally take over the world, and be helpless to do anything about it! This is absolutely perfect!"
Crystal Bot let out an extremely girly giggle as Dr. Wily laughed as only an evil genius could. Bass couldn't help but facepalm and wonder how someone so insane could have possibly come close to conquering the world nine times.
"Ahem." Bass said roughly. "I believe we were discussing Treble's repairs."
"No. Absolutely not." Dr. Wily's cheery mood crumbled, instantly returning him to his state of high annoyance. "You can either cooperate and join in on my plans, or you can go without."
Crystal Bot watched as the two continued to argue. She didn't like these kinds of fights either, and wasn't really sure what to do. But the thought of a poor little robot lying broken in some abandoned workstation made the girl-bot want to cry. So she thought for a moment before speaking.
"Oh...you know, Dad, you don't have to repair Treble." Crystal Bot interrupted, a little timidly, gaining confidence as she went on. "I'll do it! Treble is such a cute little dog, and I like him a lot! Oh please, Daddy, let me! It would be so much fun! Please...?"
Dr. Wily considered it. "...Very well. But only because you asked me. Bass, if you were polite, you would thank her."
But he wasn't going to. He just rolled his eyes.
"Alright, I've had enough of this. I need a break." Dr. Wily took one more look at the Armoroid. "Hm, it's about finished. Crystal Bot, get some of the mechanoloids to repaint this Armoroid before you start on Treble. And Bass, I have some specific plans for you, so get to the main computer lab when the dog is finished. Until then, make yourself scarce."
With that, the doctor started to leave.
"Uh, Dad?" Crystal Bot held out the wheat grass accusingly.
"Oh, right...right." Dr. Wily took it with a sheepish grin.
"Ha, you thought you were sneaky." Crystal Bot winked.
As Dr. Wily left, Crystal Bot turned to Bass. "See, you've just got to know how to talk to him."
"Ugh. The day I say 'please daddy' like a sap is the day I should be caught in a trash compactor." Bass sneered. "How long until Treble is finished?"
"Well that's nice. You just make demands without a word of thanks."
"Okay, fine. Thank you, Crystal Bot." Bass said with sarcasm. "How long?"
"Hm, I'm not too familiar with his design, but he's not that complicated anyway. I caught a glance of his problems earlier, and I can guess he'll be done tomorrow."
"Good." Bass began his abrupt departure, trying to think of ways to amuse himself until then. But as he reached the door, it opened from the other side, revealing Elec Man. The older robot looked a bit surprised to see Bass, but he merely said "excuse me" before going around and confronting Crystal Bot.
"What exactly are you doing here?" Elec Man folded his arms disapprovingly at Crystal.
"Um...I was just about to get to work on Treble, why?"
"No. You're supposed to be working on the monitoring systems. You know it's vitally important for Dr. Wily to be able to keep track of us when we're carrying out our plans, and he can't keep everything maintained by himself. Get to work on it now. That dog can be fixed later."
"Elec Man, you may be in charge of us robot masters, but Dr. Wily is still the boss of you." Crystal Bot's eyes narrowed with uncharacteristic violence as she got off the table. "And he said I can work on Treble, so that's what I'm doing. Anyway, Bass is witness if you don't believe me."
Elec Man looked back bemusedly at Bass, who had remained in the room to see how the situation would play itself out. He certainly wasn't pleased with Elec Man's demand. Turning back to Crystal Bot, Elec Man replied, "Bass doesn't count. He just wants his assistant back. The monitoring systems are far more important, so get to it, you disobedient, team 5 piece of junk."
The elder robot's words struck a nerve in Crystal Bot. She clenched her fists and glared at him, wishing that her helmet was less covering so that she could give him a really nasty look. As it was, she merely walked up to him sternly and stuck a defiant finger in his face.
"NO."
And as she left the infuriated Elec Man in the workstation, Bass couldn't help but feel a little proud of her.
-t-
Back at Dr. Light's laboratory, Mega Man was a mess. He was lying on the mechanical repair table, still operational, but barely. While his mind was awake and capable of thought, the rest of him was in a far more distressing state. His left leg was dented in several places, but his right had to be reattached altogether, once its burnt out wires were replaced. His buster's power conduit was badly damaged, not only requiring the normally efficient weapon to be restabilized, but forcing Auto to rebuild most of his buster arm. Sundry cords and robotic arms were about him, automatically reparing and upgrading as much as they could, while Mega Man's computer mind continued to wander the internet as he did his investigating.
"I suppose this was the best time for him to get injured." Auto remarked to Roll. "His new armor platelets are ready to be installed."
"I just can't believe he was beaten this badly..." Roll remarked, worry covering her face. "Those Armoroid things proved to be a challenge."
"Don't worry, he'll be fine in just two hours." Auto patiently insisted. "Besides, Mega Man at least destroyed three of them. And with these new upgrades, the last two shouldn't prove to be a problem."
As Auto finished speaking, Mega Man blinked and disconnected from the internet. He frowned, appearing deep in thought about something.
"What did you find out?" Roll asked.
"Well, you know that the mayor keeps all of the robot master's CPUs locked up, and Dr. Wily retrieved them yesterday while I was distracted."
"That's pretty low, even for him." Auto remarked.
Mega Man nodded before continuing. "But I've been communicating with town hall's security team, and it appears that several alarms mysteriously were shut off just before Dr. Wily's attack there."
"So? Wily wanted them taken out."
"But that's not it." Mega Man said with concern as the robotic arms finished working on his upper body, allowing him to sit up. "They were shut off with access codes, not through hacking. Someone on the inside wanted Dr. Wily to get the CPUs."
"Oh no!" Roll exclaimed. "Someone in the government is working for Wily? That's terrible!"
"Right." Megaman said. "As soon as I'm completely ready, I'll go in person to find out what I can for myself."
\\
Notes:
You probably guessed it, but just to make sure, every time a Wily bot mentions "team 5" or whatever number, they're refering to the Mega Man game they first appeared in. For example, Elec Man is a team 1 robot. Each of the robots is more or less loyal to their group, and they generally work together or brag about each team's superiority. Wily now is in possession of all teams except for teams 4 and 9. 4 is of course Dr. Cossack's robots, all of whom are now in Russia with him, having been reprogrammed for helpful tasks. Team 9 is Light's, and they're scattered around, usually in the US or Japan, doing their usual jobs and the occasional special task from Dr. Light.
- Just fyi, Anyonghasaeyo means "hello", in formal tone, like you would use with strangers or people you should respect. You'll be seeing a bit more korean throughout the series, mostly because I just felt like it.