"Are you with me or not?" Hub asked Match.
"You reckon we can't get caught?"
"Absolutely not. I've got it all covered. I just need you and HeatMan to cover your part."
"I'm not convinced. Wily said the same thing."
"I'm not Wily, and I've put a lot of planning into this. Or are you just worried you can't meet what's expected of you?"
"Don't try and manipulate me. I'll do it."
"Just watch out for Lan and remember you won't see me at all, only my Navi."
"I'll disavow any knowledge of you kid. I can handle Lan this time too," Match told him, leaving.
MegaMan pulled his Hub avatar back as soon as there was no one around, and returned it to his house in ACDC. As far as anyone else knew, that was where Hub had been since he'd gotten home from school. How could he be at SciLab, if there was nothing showing him going there?
He'd had concerns over his new plan, and like always when did something that was unquestionably wrong, he was left feeling guilty over it, but he'd concluded that it was bound to work.
Lan had been involved in every incident that had risen in this reality, just as he had been in the original one. There were differences, such as Angel instead of MegaMan, and Lan running the liberation team during Nebula's net takeover instead of Chaud, but it was still him at the centre of it.
So naturally, in creating a new group, calling people together, and at least appearing to have a plan, the moment Lan and Angel found out about it, they'd be on it, and if he could get it right, they'd find out exactly what he wanted them to, and provide him with a way home again.
If it worked out right.
He turned his attention back to the orb, and watched as Match met Lan once more. Angel, of course, got suspicious. Match wasn't very good at hiding when he was up to something, which was the main reason MegaMan had chosen him to set things in motion.
They then headed off to find out more about the link's disappearance. MegaMan understood now why it had appeared – and why it had disappeared again after. During the time just before he and ProtoMan had gone through it, the two realities had overlapped just enough that the link that the MegaMan from this reality had investigated with Angel, was the same one that ProtoMan investigated with him.
So far though, he had no explanation for why he'd been confronted by himself, except for a single suspicion that he didn't like the idea of.
Lan and Angel would be kept out of trouble with their chase after MegaMan, and the orb. Of course they wouldn't find it – MegaMan already had it. It was what started all this. But it had conveniently given him the goal for his plot there. He'd already begun to plan the seeds that would grow useful when the time came for Angel to 'find' the orb. That part was already seen to as well.
He left them to it, and reoriented on HeatMan and Match, already deep in preparation for tomorrow's event at the school. MegaMan had taken a leaf from when BlastMan had taken over the Cyber City school network. There were differences, but it was the start he wanted. Obvious enough that even Lan would see it.
Satisfied that they were pulling their part of it, he went in search of the second person he needed.
The now-ex Prosecutor Ito, and his Navi JudgeMan. JudgeMan had been deleted by him, in this reality by Angel of course, but it was a small matter to revive him and retrieve Ito's PET to deposit him in there. When Ito reactivated his PET, JudgeMan would be waiting for him.
Next, he went to the cell where Ito was held. Apparently his punishment was a long-term sentence, but this wasn't any concern of MegaMan's, except to tell him where to look.
As no one had called on Hub at home, he moved Hub to the complex where Ito was, having altered events so that a meeting between him and Ito could take place during visiting hours.
A few moments with the guard on duty, and he was there in a single room with the glass screen separating them.
"I don't know you," Ito told him.
"Not yet you don't. I'm Hub, and I've a need for you, your talents, and your Judge Tree."
Ito shook his head, "I'm not eligible for bail out, and in any case, I was stripped of my title."
"I can solve that for you, and get you out of here. How would you like your old life back, without any chance of getting caught this time?"
"Wait. What about the guards listening?"
Hub snapped his fingers. At the same time, MegaMan concentrated on the lock to the room, which locked, and the guard present fainted. "You mean that Guard there who's now unconscious, and the others locked out?" he replied with an arched eyebrow.
Ito stared back in amazement. "How did you..."
"Not important, Prosecutor. Now, how about I remove those cuffs, and we leave?"
"We're just going to walk out?"
"Absolutely."
"Nothing going to stop us?"
"Not a chance. I've put a great deal of planning into this. There's no chance you'll be caught at all if you're with me. If not, then I'll still free you, as thanks for listening, but if you choose to act against me... well, I'd be forced to take steps, you understand."
"Of course... when do we leave?"
"How about now?" He snapped his fingers again, and the cuffs clicked onto the ledge in front, before vanishing along with the glass screen. Ito stared, amazed again. Hub pulled him to his feet, and calmly led him to the door he'd locked.
It unlocked at his touch with another thought, allowing them to leave the same way he'd entered. No one so much as turned a hair at Ito following him.
"That's unnerving," he commented. "Until you showed up, they would have had me back in a cell in no time."
"I know. I think we'll want to collect your personal effects. I left something for you in your PET."
"What's that?"
"You'll see,"Hub told him. MegaMan recalled Ito's reaction to hearing JudgeMan had been deleted when he'd chased down Wily for the third time, and decided it was probably better that he found out about his gift this way. In a way, it was a kind of apology to Ito for what he'd done.
Ito picked up his belonging,s but at Hub's insistence, didn't activate his PET until outside. He was almost too happy to hear him out after that.
"It's quite simple Ito," he told the reinstated prosecutor. "I've two projects underway, and I want to minimize interference. Firstly, I'm opening a new area on the net, connected to it by ACDC area 1."
"You want patrols in effect to keep everyone out until you're ready, right?"
"Maximum security, Ito. It'll raise suspicions, but there's things that will go on there that I want kept absolutely silent."
"That's easy. I'll have it done the moment the connection is made."
"Good. The second isn't so easy. I'm in the process of locating and getting a small orb. It's purple, and holds great power. Unfortunately, I can't guarantee I'll be the first one to it."
"I'm not certain what you're asking."
"Anyone who's found to possess anything matching that description is to have it confiscated. Unless it's me, of course. As soon as I've got the exact location of it, I'm sure you'll be able to enforce it better."
"Now I see. I'll have it done, master Hub."
"I'd take it kindly if you conveniently forgot my name. In future, you'll hear from my Navi, MegaMan, instead of me."
"I understand. JudgeMan and I will have it all seen to. You say we can't get caught?"
"There isn't even the most remote possibility of it. I would, however, warn you to be wary of a certain Lan Hikari. I believe you know him?"
"Ah... him. He deleted my JudgeMan last time... he won't do it again."
"Good to hear it. You'll be hearing from my Navi in time. I'll see you around."
Ito watched Hub walk out of sight, where MegaMan once again moved him back to his home. Moments later, someone knocked the door.
It turned out to be Lan with Angel.
"Well isn't this unexpected? What's up?"
"Angel wanted to know-"
"Where did you meet MegaMan?" Angel asked, interrupting Lan.
"Right here. I had been online. Then there was an error, and I lost my Navi. MegaMan just dropped in after that. I could hardly meet him online without a Navi."
"Why don't you have a homepage, Hub?" Lan asked.
"I never got around to it," he shrugged. "I never saw much point to it, myself. I just go straight onto the net when I go online."
"You know MegaMan has his own goals," Angel asked him, still regarding him with suspicion.
"Of course. We had an interesting discussion on it. I helped him find out more about the orb he's looking for, and then left it at that."
"We're looking for the orb too. Maybe you can tell us something?"
"I would, but I'm fairly certain it wouldn't mean anything to you."
"Try us."
"We discovered the area it's in is hidden by a riddle. 'In the Castle, above the throne, the left of the face, the jewel is shown'. We haven't figured it out yet."
"It could mean Netopia castle, or the one at Castillo."
"I've been there already before I met MegaMan. It's not there. There's only one other place I know of that it could be, but there's no way in yet."
"Where?"
"The Castle Area. It's meant to be a new area on the net, connected to ACDC 1, but it's not active yet. I don't even think the connection's been made yet."
"How do you know about that?"
"Oh, I heard about it from someone working on the project. I overheard it, actually."
