Chapter 9: Meanwhile in reality

Dr. Light was visibly frazzled when his monitor flashed on with Dr. Cossack's face. "Benjamin! Benjamin, what's wrong? It's been 12 hours since Mega Man went into Dr. Wily's fortress. People have been trying to contact you. You haven't been answering the vidlink. I had to hack in here."

Light looked up. "Sorry, old friend. I didn't realize. Um, Wily contacted me a few hours ago about Mega Man."

"Wily contacted you? That would mean that he...My God man, he didn't! He couldn't?"

"He did. He killed Mega Man." Dr. Light wiped his face off and put on his spectacles. "I guess I just shut myself off from the world there for a while. Sorry."

"That's ok. Are you alright?"

"No. But if Wily wasn't lying, I have to get to work. I've already wasted precious time. Wily will attack, and soon. I've got to find Break Man. I also need to try and contact King and Duo."

"My transmission equipment is at your disposal."

"Thank you, Dr. Cossack. I'm going to get to work modifying Roll for combat."

"Alright. I'm sending Kalinka over. She's a good lab assistant, and you'll need someone there to help."

"Good idea. Also...Wait a minute, I've got someone on the other line, I have to go now!"

"What? Who?" Cossack asked.

"Wily!" was the last thing Cossack heard before the line disconnected. Dr. Light activated the vidlink to instead see Bass on the other end. "B-Bass? Wily said you were dead. He built another of you so quickly?"

"Don't be stupid, old man!" was Bass' quick retort. "Nothing that he can make can kill me. I'm the one calling the shots around here now."

"What do you mean, Bass?"

"Wily thought he could kill Mega Man. He was wrong. I finished Mega Man, and Wily will pay for his double cross." Bass stepped aside from his monitor for a moment to reveal a bound and gag Wily in the background.

"Wait, Bass, you're not working for Wily anymore? He's your captive?" Dr. Light asked. There may be hope for the world yet, he thought.

"Are you brain-dead, Light? What the hell does it look like? Also, what did you think you would accomplish sending Proto Man over here? He might have had a chance if he hadn't given me that energy tank first. Really messed up system of honor on that one."

Dr. Light sank. "You've destroyed Break Man?"

Bass was belligerent. "Now why the hell would I do that? I've got no problem with him. Hell, he gave me an E-tank. No, I've got him in a cage in the back room. Took his shield, put some cuffs over his hands so he can't form an arm cannon, the whole deal. Wily tries for ten years to get rid of these guys and I do it in one day."

"So Break Man is all right?" Light asked.

"You got wax in your ears, old man? I just told you. Maybe I'll even give him back to you, but I have a planet to run here. Wily's gone and I'm in charge."

Dr. Light sighed. "So now you want to take over the world just like Wily?"

"Why not?" The black clad warrior retorted. "Anything that could stop me is gone. I'm sure these computers can make some more robots to help me."

"Bass, don't you hate other robots?"

"Shut up. You don't know me."

"Bass, why are you even calling me? What do I even have that's of any interest to you? You already killed Mega Man and captured Break Man."

"I...I have demands!" Bass replied, hesitantly.

Dr. Light shook his head. After all that had happened today, this robot's idiotic tirade was beginning to give him a migraine. "Bass, what were you built to do? What's your primary function?"

"To destroy Mega Man. That is my primary function. Idiot."

"Have a secondary function, Bass?"

Bass thought about it for a moment, then got angry. "Shut up! You're trying to confuse me."

"You don't have a secondary function, Bass. You finally kill Mega Man, and after a few hours you're so bored you decide to pester an old man over the phone. Your life has absolutely no purpose without Wily to tell you what to do. Why don't you try and figure that out? And if you want some kind of guidance, don't bother me today! My son was just killed and his brother has been captured!"

Bass looked puzzled. "Wait a minute. You have a son? What kind of person would kill...oh. I see what you did there."

"This conversation is over!" Light yelled as he shut the vidlink off. Light was as upset with himself as he was with Bass. I may have just blown a chance to get Bass to hand Wily over, he thought.

Meanwhile, Bass turned to face Wily, who was laughing. Bass removed his creators gag. "What do you think is so funny?"

Dr. Wily stopped laughing for a moment. "It's just that Dr. Light was correct about you. You've served your purpose and you don't know what to do with yourself."

Bass formed an arm cannon and pointed it at Wily. "I'm not some piece of trash robot creation of yours! I don't have any single purpose! I can do whatever I want!"

Dr. Wily grinned. "If that were true you would have killed me already. I certainly would have dismantled you if you had used me to destroy Mega Man. You're my creation and you have no control over yourself. The fact is you couldn't shoot me if you wanted to."

Bass shot a leg off of the chair Dr. Wily was tied to, sending him hurtling to the ground. "I'm alive! I can do what I want! You don't own me!"

If Wily felt threatened, he didn't show it. "You're alive, sure. You can make your own choices. And what are you going to do with those choices? Take over the world? Mega Man already destroyed most of my robots, and I know for a fact that you don't know how to design and build them. Without me you're just a thug."

"So you think I'm just going to automatically follow in your footsteps? Screw you. I'm calling Dr. Light. They can have you. I've already done all I wanted to do. I'm going to go down as the one who beat Mega Man and you're going to go down as a crackpot scientist arrested by his own creation." As Bass finished his statement, finally panic entered his creator's face.

"Bass! Wait! You don't know what you're saying. You don't need to turn me in!"

"No, Wily, you've served your purpose. I don't know what to do with you. You did create me so I'll spare your life, but Light can do with you as he will." Wily began a string of obscenities directed towards his creation, but was soon greeted by a strip of duct tape to his mouth.

As Kalinka arrived through the teleportation system, Light had brought the deactivated Roll into his main lab for modification. Roll was not aware of the current situation, but Dr. Light had promised to fully inform her after the procedure.

"Thank you for coming, Kalinka. With your help I should be able to modify Roll very quickly. I appreciate it."

Kalinka painfully looked at Dr. Light. "It is no problem, Doctor. It is an honor to be working for you, but are you alright?"

Dr. Light shook his head. "I'm fine enough to do this. I can't do anything to change what happened, but I can change what happens next. Go to the blue console over there and open up the bottom panel. My basic toolset is in there."

"Of course," Kalinka said as she complied with Dr. Light's request. Before she could get the tools, Dr. Light's vidlink switched on again.

"Dr. Light, this is Bass. Come in, Dr. Light."

The scientist reluctantly walked to the video console and answered the robot. "What is it this time, Bass?"

"I'm ready to negotiate, Light. Play your cards right and I'll free Proto Man and hand Wily over to you."

The good doctor was a little surprised. "What changed your mind, Bass?"

"You and Wily were right. I've achieved my primary goal and now I can do whatever I want. One of you tried to kill me a couple of hours ago, and one of you has always tried not to kill me. That's a weakness on your part if you ask me, but it doesn't tick me off nearly as much."

Dr. Light sighed heavily. "So you'll do all this if I play my cards right? What do you want, exactly?"

"I don't want the government trying to dismantle me. I don't want to be arrested for my so called 'crimes against humanity'. I'm perfectly willing to cooperate. I'm not such a bad guy, Light. I just hated Mega Man. Now that he's gone even that is starting to fade."

"Excuse me Bass, but this is all a little hard to believe."

"Look, doc, I know how it sounds. You've never seen anything but betrayal from me. Well, I never saw anything but trust from you. I'm asking you to trust me. What if I release Proto Man as a sign of good faith? All I want is to be left alone."

Light could hardly think of anything to say. "I...I'm not the right person to talk to about bargains. Listen, Bass, I'm going to contact the world council. Stay where you are. If you can release Break Man, I will be most grateful."

"Thanks Doc, I'll get right on it. Please call me back as soon as you hear something. I'm transmitting a master transponder code to you. This will let you call any room in Wily's base, and I'll be able to hear it. And Doc, I'm sorry about Mega Man. I can't honestly say I'm sorry I killed him yet, I'm experiencing weird sensations. But I'm sorry for the way I taunted you."

"That means more than you can possibly know, Bass. Thank you." Dr. Light paused for a moment. "Light out." Light cut off the vidlink and turned to Kalinka, wiping his brow. Kalinka already had handkerchief ready for him. Dr. Light let forth some tears and quickly wiped them away with the handkerchief. "I'm sorry, Kalinka. It's just for a moment there...Bass reminded me..."

"He reminded you of Mega Man." Kalinka suggested.

"Yes" was Dr. Light's only response. After a brief pause, Dr. Light spoke again. "Well, we have some calls to make. I no longer need to modify Roll. I don't suppose you could make me some mint tea?" Kalinka smiled and nodded before leaving for the kitchen.

Back in Wily's lab, Bass strolled over to the bound Dr. Wily, and painfully ripped the duct tape off of his face. "You're making a huge mistake, Bass! They will never be your friends. You can't trust them!"

Bass chuckled. "Shut up, Wily. I thought Light would fall for this spiel but I thought you might be smarter." Bass began to untie the mad scientist.

"What? What are you doing?" Wily demanded.

"You were right about one thing. I can't design and build robots. I'll need you to do that and everything will be fine as long as you realize that I'm in charge."

"Bass, what the hell are you talking about?"

"I'm taking over, Wily. I have a plan. Now I need you to build me a Dark Man so I can release Proto Man as a sign of good faith. In the meantime I'll prepare for my meeting with the world council. They're gonna have to promise me in person that you won't be killed before I 'turn you over', and that's when I make my move."

Dr. Wily pulled himself up and dusted himself off. "Well, Bass, you made the right choice."

"Just shut up and get to work, old man. You serve me loyally and there's a small continent in it for you. And don't try any funny business. I can take out any security forces you have and you know it." Bass vaporized the chair Wily was just in for effect and walked out of the room. Wily was upset at being overthrown so easily, but he couldn't help but smile with pride at his creations latest machinations.