Guts Man looked proudly around the cliffside construction site that he'd taken over. He had it completely secured. His gaze took in his subordinates. His Mets, his Picket Men, his flying saucer, his Bladers—

His flying saucer?

It was coming in fast and low, almost skimming the ground. It smashed through robots by the dozen without seeming to be adversely affected in the least. Finally it came to a halt, touching down on the ground, leaving smoking, shattered machinery behind it.

Guts Man growled. His strong legs propelled him through the air, and the ground shook as he landed in front of the saucer. "Hey!" he yelled. "Those were my workers! Who do you think you are, breaking them like that?!"

The canopy of the saucer opened, and he recognized the man inside. "Dr. Wily?" he asked, confused. He'd never met him before, but he was registered in his database. "Dr. Light's former assistant?"

Wily bristled. "Yes, that's right. His…assistant. I'm working with him again on his grand plan. Speaking of Thomas, what sort of project does he have you managing? Something important, I'm sure, anything else would be a waste of your talents."

That seemed to perk the Robot Master up. "Oh, definitely! We're building a factory here, to make weapons and more robots. Well, we would be if I had more than a few workers left," he added, almost as an afterthought.

"Sorry about that," Wily replied. "I'm still getting used to flying this thing."

"No p—hey, shouldn't you know why I'm here?" Guts Man asked, suddenly wary.

"Oh, you know Thomas," Wily said, waving his hand dismissively. "Always neglects the details. He'd lose his own beard if it wasn't attached. He tells me to come see how you're doing and then bustles off to do something else without even telling me what it is you're doing."

Guts Man, his suspicions dispelled, laughed loudly at the image of Dr. Light wandering around trying to find his misplaced facial hair. "Tell you what," Dr. Wily continued, "Why don't you give me a little tour? You lead the way and I'll follow you in this thing. I'm afraid my legs aren't what they used to be."

The robot nodded and began walking around the construction site, pointing out a series of conveyor belts here, a tunnel sunk deep into the earth there. Dr. Wily followed just behind him in his saucer, the canopy still open, asking the occasional question. Guts Man led them to the edge of the cliff.

"Now, you can see we're shoring up the edge," he said, too caught up in showing off his work to notice that the doctor had closed his saucer. "That's very important, the last thing we need is for everything to—"

Before he could finish the sentence, the craft suddenly lurched forward, striking Guts Man in the back and sending him bouncing down the cliffside. Dr. Wily opened the canopy and leaned out, shielding his eyes from the sun and looking down at the motionless Robot Master.

"Oops," he said dryly.

-W-

The saucer was cramped with just him inside; there was no way the bulky robot would have fit as well. Fortunately, with Guts Man inactive, the few remaining robots that had been under his control were freed and accepting orders from humans again. Under the roboticist's instruction, they rigged up a harness, allowing the Wily UFO to drag Guts Man behind it as it soared through the skies.

Not the most elegant solution, nor the most aerodynamic, Wily thought as he returned to his Pacific stronghold, But one that works.

Upon arrival, he sent Guts Man off to be repaired. Once he was fixed, he'd start poking around in his circuitry. Until then, he might as well take care of other business.

His first task was to check on the construction of Skull Castle. As far as he was concerned, that was the most important issue. Once it was complete, he would be ensconced in a place of absolute safety from which he could strike at even a victorious Light at will. He was pleased to see that it was coming along quite well. It might even finish ahead of schedule, regardless of what else was going on in the world.

Speaking of which…

Another communications scan revealed that the civil authorities hadn't been able to make any headway against Light's Robot Masters. He wondered when they'd realize that one of them had been taken out.

He wondered if Light had realized it yet.

One of his consoles beeped. Guts Man was ready.