CHAPTER 10
SCREAM OF THE WILD
Bass felt as light as a feather, and then his nostrils filled with the exotic stench of a dark jungle. He opened his eyes and glanced around at his surroundings. The sun had set over Ecuador, but the air was still hot and muggy. The full moon floated overhead, gracing him with enough light to see. He stood in a dense, lush forest of trees with long leaves and strange fruit dangling from their branches. The chipper cries of nocturnal animals echoed all around him.
He was stunned as he took it all in; now that he was a Reploid, he noticed what his senses brought him much more than before. The jungle had a damp, muddy scent, as if it had just rained. A warm wind blew through the sticky air, easing the humidity for a moment. Forgetting his desire to fight, Bass took off his helmet and let the breeze blow his hair around. It felt pretty good.
He took a few steps around, looking at the shapes of the leaves and the odd fruits. In his previous life as a battle robot, he never would have "wasted" his time observing unimportant surroundings, but now he was interested in the fruit. It had such an odd, yellowish-gold color... Maybe it tasted good, too.
As he reached for one, though, he heard a sickening squelch, looked down and yelled angrily. Whatever animal had been eating at this tree before had not cleaned up after itself.
"Son of a!..."Bass growled as he hopped away from the spot, kicking his foot in different directions to dislodge the stuff. He was not watching where he was going, though, and his forehead met a low-hanging branch. He cursed even louder, rubbing the red spot.
"OK, that's it!" he huffed, slamming on his helmet and readying his Buster. "Get in, kick butt, get out! No more screwin' around!"
Through all of the foliage, he spotted one tiny glimmer of light; that Maverick could be hiding there, waiting for his challenge. With a cocky smirk and an itchy trigger finger, he made a beeline for it. Everyone would soon see who was the greatest robot, even after two hundred years.
As he got closer, he stopped and crouched in the underbrush. He was at the base of an ancient Mayan pyramid, its stones reaching high above the jungle canopy, looking dark and foreboding in the moonlight. The small light was coming from a single lantern in front of its gaping entrance, where two Reploid sentries dressed in weak-looking armor stood, gripping small guns. Both looked nervous, and even a little depressed.
Bass raised an eyebrow and grinned; this Maverick needed extras to fight? He must be an even bigger pansy than he had thought!
"I still don't get why we had to do this..." the first sentry said to the other. "Why do we have to work for Mavericks? They're bad news!"
"Shut it, Hodges," the second grumbled, a cigarette butt dangling from his lips. "If you want your paycheck, you don't ask questions. That's how this business works."
"Yeah?" Bass asked as he leaped out of the bushes with his Buster pointing right at them, "well, let me show you how MY business works!"
The second soldier grumbled crossly. "Great. Now we have to deal with the Hunters, too..." He raised his gun.
"C-come on, Thomas!" Hodges warned. "You know what happened to everyone else who messed with 'em! Let's run!"
Bass chuckled. "Smart kid," he said. "I've only got a beef with your boss, but if you insist... I could use some target practice."
"Thomas!" Hodges urged. "He's gonna kill us!"
"...And if we don't attack, Agile'll kill us anyway," Thomas reasoned. "We might as well-"
A shot from Bass knocked the gun clean out of his hands. "You might as well what?" Bass smirked.
Thomas growled with frustration. Hodges was paralyzed, too scared to move.
"You gonna run?" Bass asked, "or are we doin' this the FUN way?"
"Y-you're crazy!..." Hodges gasped, dropping his gun and cowering against the pyramid wall. "I'll do whatever you want! Just... just don't...!"
"Ahh, I love it when they beg," Bass cackled as he charged his Buster. "Sayonara, chumps!" With that, he fired.
Suddenly, the shot bounced high into the air and fizzled out. Bass looked upwards in surprise, then back down at what had blocked it. Both Hodges and Thomas had backed away, and a third person stood between them and Bass. He lowered his white shield and glared at the Wily bot through his sunglasses.
"HEY!!!" Bass huffed angrily. "Mind yer own business!"
"Obviously, you don't know much about Reploids yet," Proto Man said. "You can't just rebuild them."
Bass fumed. He had never liked Proto Man; the shady guy never stuck around to show that he had the muscle to back up his flightiness. "Why're you here?!" he asked. "This ain't any of your business!"
"You're here to fight the Maverick, right?" Proto Man asked, pointing at the entrance. "He's in there, searching for the temple's treasure."
Already forgetting about the two simple guards, Bass readied his gun and started for the entrance. "Right! Big game time!"
"Don't you want to know why he wants the treasure?" Proto Man asked, not looking at Bass. "It might be useful for your friends."
"Friends?" Bass laughed. "Who says I have any friends?!"
Proto Man scowled, but continued. "The Ecuadorian government is in charge of the world's most up-to-date research on human biology," he said. "Scientists from all over the world give their data to it for safekeeping. They store the data inside this old pyramid to hide it from crooks. There are plenty of traps."
"Yeah? So?" Bass retorted.
"The Maverick wants it," Proto Man concluded. "He wants it because Agile wants it."
Bass snorted. "Big deal," he said. "That's got nothin' to do with me. I'm gone."
As he turned to enter the temple, Proto Man chuckled. He turned on him angrily. "What's so funny?!" he demanded.
Proto Man adjusted his shades. "Are you sure you can handle it?" he asked. "Are you sure you won't get distracted by your body's new features?"
Bass looked at him with a raised eyebrow, then laughed loudly. "Gimme a break!" he said. "Ain't nothin' I can't handle!"
"I see..." Proto Man replied. "Well, then I'll leave it to you."
Bass grinned wickedly. "Just the way I like it," he said, then ran into the opening.
The two guard Reploids exchanged glances, then turned to Proto Man. "You're really going to let that nutcase go?" Thomas asked.
"He'll figure things out soon enough," Proto Man said. "In the meantime... you two'd best find another line of work."
With that, he vanished, leaving the guards alone beneath the dark pyramid.
The inside of the pyramid was darker than a night with a new moon. Bass grumbled to himself, suddenly wishing for a flashlight. Ah, well. It wouldn't matter, he thought. It was just a stupid building. How far would he really have to go before he met up with some action?
With only a few steps in, the light from outside vanished altogether, and he could not see a thing. He banged his shoulder against the ancient stone, and a slight twinge of pain ran through his body. He cursed angrily. That had never happened before; why was he getting hurt from stupid walls? For a second, he thought of Proto Man's warning about his new body, but shrugged it off. "That wannabe doesn't know the first thing about me," he growled to himself. "I'll show 'em all."
He looked around for another moment and decided that it was too boring in the temple. He raised his Buster to the ceiling and fired a barrage of purple blasts. They shattered the rock and lit up the path like a laser rave. He heard someone yell up ahead and grinned; now that he had their attention, the fun could begin.
Three bright lights rounded a corner. "Hey! Who's there?!" a voice demanded.
"Your worst nightmare, kiddos," Bass laughed. "Bring it on!"
Not knowing what else to do, three humanoid guards rushed at him. As they approached, Bass saw that all they had were coshes- sticks that police officers use- and groaned; what kind of challenge was that? These guys weren't even worth blasting.
He leaped over the first and came down on his back, then launched into the second in a devastating headbutt. Both guards went down like bowling pins, hitting the floor with simultaneous thuds. The third guard shrieked and tried to run, but Bass put him in a headlock; he gasped and struggled as his air started to dwindle. "N-no... please..." he wheezed.
"OK, here's the deal," Bass cackled. "Drop the light and tell me where yer boss is!"
The flashlight clattered to the floor. Gasping horribly, the guard pointed into the darkness. "Th... there..." he rasped. "Central... ch-chamber..."
"Smart fella," Bass chuckled, then hurled the guard against the wall, knocking him out. He grabbed the flashlight and charged down the tunnel, his Buster ready for the next worthy opponent. He rounded one corner and then another, gaining speed with each step.
Suddenly, there was a loud groan above him. He looked up and bounded forward just as a tremendous block crashed onto the floor. He hit the ground and rolled a few feet, then turned back and looked at it. It was a huge slab; if he had been a split-second slower, it would have flattened him.
"...Yeah, but it didn't, did it?" he chuckled at his own thought as he walked over to it and lifted his foot to kick it. "Ain't nothin' in the world that can hurt-"
His foot met the block. A moment later, he registered the throbbing pain in his toes. He leaped backwards, swearing and grabbing the appendage. "AGHHH!!!" he yelled. "What the hell?!" He had stubbed his toe plenty of times before, but never had it hurt like this. He was furious and confused at the same time; why did he hurt when he scraped his shoulder or banged his foot? It made no sense. He was an all-powerful machine! Machines didn't feel pain...
He hopped a moment more, then steadied himself. This was no time to be wondering about stuff like that; there was a fight to be won. He glanced down at his Buster and grinned. Victory would be short and sweet. That would show them all who was top dog.
His ears picked up the sound of approaching footsteps, and he turned to see another group of guards coming. He cackled and cracked his knuckles. "OK, fellas," he laughed, "who's next?!"
Back at the museum, the mood changed quickly. One moment, X, Sharon and Professor Smith were laughing and talking about the Winter Carnival with Dr. Thompson and her Reploids; the next moment, they were scrambling for the basement, the Maverick alarm blaring in their ears.
"Son of a...!" Sharon cursed as she started clunking down the steps. "When's my armor gonna be fixed?!"
Smith and X ran for the iMarc and stared up at the screen. Maverick symbols had appeared in three locations around the world. He noticed that there was one other mark on the map very close to one of the Maverick marks, but Smith had other things on his mind. "We'd better call the others back, and fast!" he said, turning around. "Sharon, you-"
Sharon was nowhere to be seen. "Sharon?" Smith asked again.
There was a loud clang and a barrage of swear words as Sharon tumbled down the stairs and rolled past the computer room, smashing face-first into the corner room door. With the words she spouted, an uninformed onlooker might think she had Tourette's Syndrome.
"Are you OK?!" X asked as Smith and he ran to help her up.
"Lousy, stupid, rotten..." she growled as she peeled herself off of the floor and looked up. "I want my old-"
She was staring right at the open, empty safe. Bass's Buster was gone. Smith noticed, too, and he did not look pleased. "...Oh, dear," he managed.
"That no-good son-of-a!!!" Sharon fumed.
"How did he get the safe open?!" X asked.
Smith paused for a second, then remembered that weird symbol on the monitor. He rushed back to the computer room and looked again. The mark was a small, purple dot. He frowned. That had to be Bass's symbol; who else on the team had any purple on them? A sick feeling washed over him. "Oh, no... Sharon!" he called. "He went off to fight one of them!"
Sharon clunked into the room, followed by X, Dr. Thompson, and the curious Reploids. "Whaddya mean 'oh, no,' prof?" she asked crossly. "It's not like he's unarmed or anything..."
Smith gave her a hard look. "He's a sitting duck with that gun," he said.
Sharon scratched her head. "What? I thought you said you upgraded the oldies' weapons when you made 'em Reploids..." she said.
"Not Bass's," Smith replied. "I took his away because he was so crazy! He doesn't realize how outgunned he is!" He started pushing buttons on the computer. "We have to get him back here! X, get to the teleporter room and set it to pick up Bass's comm signal. We'll have to yank him back, since I'm sure he won't stand still."
Sharon cursed under her breath, but joined him on the computer keys. X dashed off down the hall.
Thompson cleared her throat. "Erm... I guess we've come at a bad time?" she asked.
"It's not your fault," Sharon said over her shoulder. "This creep Agile has been giving us lots of grief lately. He's got a bunch of Mavericks doing something bad."
"Mavericks, again..." Buffalo sighed, looking at his broken hands. "I wish there was something I could do to help..."
Sharon turned to him and smiled sympathetically. "Actually," she said, "why don't you go and get everyone? They're all back at the carnival, and they don't have their communicators. We really need them for this. Zero, Darren, Roll and Iris; you know what they look like? "
She thought she saw a hint of a smile in Buffalo's eyes. "I'll do that," he said, turning and lumbering out of the room.
"Dr. Thompson, Slash Man and you go and get some restraining cords; we might need them," Smith directed. "They're in the closet down the hall."
The doctor and her newest Reploid disappeared, and Smith turned back to the screen. "Ugh... This I didn't need..." he grumbled.
Something on Sharon's side beeped. "Prof, I've got 'im!" she announced. "The signal's kinda weak... but I've got a locale!"
The screen's map zoomed in until it showed the top of the pyramid. In its center flashed the Maverick's symbol, and quickly approaching it was Bass's.
"We'd better call him, quickly," Smith growled as he grabbed a headset, "or... I don't even want to think about it!"
Sharon gritted her teeth and stared at the monitor. Stealing his gun, teleporting off into the jungle and picking a fight with a Maverick way stronger than him... How stupid could Bass be?
With an exhausted thud, the last guard collided with the wall. "Aww, is mistaw Bass playing too wough for 'oo?" Bass mocked as he kept moving. He was close to his battle; he could feel it. Soon he would wipe the floor with this Maverick, and everyone would see that he was still the mightiest warrior on Earth. He just had a few more paths to go down, and then-
A piercing feedback screech shot through his helmet. He shouted in surprise and stopped, swatting at it. "What the hell?!" he demanded out loud.
"This... fess... ith..." Professor Smith's voice started to echo in his head. "This is Professor Smith! Come in, Bass!"
Bass snarled. He did not know that they had given him a communicator, and now they had found him out; how annoying. "...Whaddya want?" he asked, grabbing at the piece of his helmet over his ear.
"Bass, listen to me," Smith warned, "you're trying to fight an enemy who's way stronger than you. Let us bring you back."
Bass laughed out loud. "Are you kidding me?" he jeered. "These guys have been a piece of cake so far! This ain't nothin' I can't handle."
"Listen, you braindead basket of burned-up bolts," another voice- Sharon- yelled, "you're gettin' your ass back here right now!!!"
Bass grinned to himself. "Oh, so you're there too, stick?" he asked. "Good! You guys can watch as I whup this guy's butt."
"No, stop, Bass!" Smith warned. "Mavericks are really strong, and you're not used to that Reploid body yet! Also, your Buster-"
Bass was suddenly annoyed at Smith's inferring that he was weak. "That's enough outta you guys," he snapped. "I'm goin', goin', gone!" With that, he took off down the tunnel.
Had Bass been back at the museum, he would have seen Smith switch off the communicator as Sharon hurled a block of obscenity at him. As it was, though, he only saw the entrance to the central chamber. He grinned wickedly; the time had come. He leaped into the room, his Buster out.
He stood in a high, wide, stone chamber, with torches lighting the center, but leaving the corners in shadow. Wide pillars adorned the chamber, all of them etched with reliefs of various Mayan gods. He looked up at the drawings and scowled. Why would someone drive pictures of things that did not even exist into a substance as tough as rock? Humans did the stupidest things; he would never understand them. Still, something about the statues' expressions gave him a hesitant feeling. Their huge feathered headdresses and their eerie, angry, cartoon-like eyes made the back of his neck get hot. He gnashed his teeth. Why did he feel like that? They were just a bunch of stupid pictures on stupid rocks. He stared a moment more, then turned violently; he had better things to do than wonder why he was nervous around them.
Though the room looked and felt ancient, he heard the high-pitched hum of a machine nearby. Off in the far corner stood a large computer, its screen rapidly flashing from one image of human biological stuff to the next. Several guards stood around it while a lone Reploid stood at it, his hands typing furiously at its keyboard. Bass could not really make out what the person looked like, but he did know it was someone much taller than he was. He grinned; that was just how he liked them.
"Hey! Tall, dark and ugly!" he yelled. "You the Maverick?"
The Reploids stiffened, and the big one turned and walked into the light, and Bass could make out his features. He was a tall, buff, hairy Reploid shaped like a humanoid lion. He had long, sharp claws on the ends of his arms. A large letter R- similar to the one that Iris's brother had, Bass recalled- was branded onto his chest. His mane was long and wild, and he was missing one of his eyes. He looked at Bass and his lips curled into a mocking grin, revealing his razor-sharp teeth. "I am Slash Beast," he growled, "and who are you, boy?"
Bass smirked. "Count yerself lucky, bud, 'cuz you're gonna get trashed by the one and only Bass!" he announced, pumping his free fist.
Slash Beast's grin did not fade. "So, you're the Maverick Hunter they sent, hmm?" he asked. He paused for a moment, then laughed loudly.
Bass's eye twitched; this was not the reaction he had expected. "What's so funny?!" he demanded, lifting his Buster. "I'll blow you to smithereens!"
"Um... Mister Beast!" one guard announced, raising his gun. The others did as well. Beast glared at them and raised his arm, signaling that he would deal with the nuisance on his own.
Beast looked back at Bass with another grin. "Is that so?" he replied. "Well, then let's see what you're made of!"
"Bass, wait!" a voice shot into Bass's ear; Smith had turned the communicator back on. "You don't stand a chance against that guy!"
"Shuddap, old man!" Bass yelled, then charged at Beast, socking him right in the chest. Beast, however, did not look like he had even felt it.
Bass hesitated for a minute. "What the..." he mumbled, then snarled and tried again. He punched the Maverick's arms, kicked at the backs of his knees and pummeled his torso, but nothing happened. Beast just stood there calmly, watching him. As he swatted at the Maverick, Bass began to sweat. All the guards had been pansies, but this guy was like a fortress. Why wasn't he getting hurt? Finally, he collapsed to the ground before the lion Reploid, exhausted.
Beast looked down at him and chuckled nastily. "Have we started yet?" he asked mockingly.
Infuriated, Bass rolled backwards and got to his feet. "Have we started...?! You walkin' hairball! I'm gonna show you!!!" he raved, lifting his Buster and firing round after round. His brilliant, purple blasts flew through the air... and bounced right off of Beast's chest. There was an awkward silence as Bass gawked at the Maverick, his eyes almost out of his skull.
Beast's grin got even wider. "You certainly are showing me," he cackled.
"I tried to tell you!" Smith's voice crackled in Bass's ear. "I didn't upgrade your Buster! It's not strong enough!"
Beast laughed again. "For such a little boy, you have moxie," he growled, "but you won't be stopping Agile's plans with that ancient thing."
Bass's teeth gnashed. He hated looking weak, and this big cat was making him angry. "Oh, yeah?!" he yelled. "I don't give a rat's ass about your stupid plans! Agile can sit on a rusty tack for all I care! I'm gonna bust you up if it's the last thing I do!!!"
Beast's expression changed from amused to angry, and he started towards Bass. "Now that you have insulted my master..." he growled, balling his fists, "It SHALL be the last thing you do!!!"
Before Bass could react, Slash Beast was on top of him, landing blow after blow of rapid, fierce punches. He put up his hands to block, but the salvo was too fast and too strong. He swung for Beast's face, but Beast caught his arms and rocketed his knee right into Bass's stomach. Bass went sliding across the floor on his back, stopping only when his head slammed into a pillar.
Bass groaned loudly. He had never hurt as badly as he hurt now. Every one of his muscles ached, and there was a crushing feeling in his chest. It hurt to breathe.
"You can't beat that guy!" Smith's voice echoed in his head. "Let us pull you out of there!"
He snarled angrily and forced himself to stand up. So he was a little rusty after a hundred years; big deal. He could get back on his game in no time. "No dice, beasty boy," he cackled as he cracked his knuckles, "It's really on now!"
"So be it," Slash Beast growled, opening his palms to loose his claws. "I enjoy the hunt much more when the prey is resilient!"
With a defiant yell, Bass leaped at the Maverick with an uppercut, but Beast moved at the last minute and kicked him in the chest, then swiped at him. The claw's swing just barely missing him, Bass hit the ground and rolled away as it smashed into the floor, leaving a deep gouge. He got to his feet and smirked, but then realized that something warm was on his forehead. He put two fingers up and touched it, and they felt wet. He looked at them and his jaw locked. A shiny, red liquid was smeared across the white glove; he was BLEEDING. He was not supposed to bleed; bleeding was for wussy humans. What the hell kind of new body had they given him?
Not knowing what else to do, he put the fingers in his mouth and sucked on them. He wanted to get that stuff out of his sight; it gave him an icky feeling he had never felt before, and he didn't like it. In his mind, he cursed Professor Smith; how dare he give him this new body that bled and ached! When he got back, that stupid man was in for it.
Slash Beast laughed cruelly. "You cannot stand the sight of your own blood?" he mocked. "Pathetic."
Bass clenched his fists. "Nobody makes me bleed blood I ain't supposed to bleed!" he yelled. "I'm gonna blow your ass to Mars and back!"
Ignoring Professor's Smith's warnings yet again, Bass charged at the ferocious Maverick. He had to answer the insults thrown at him. His rivalry with Mega Man could wait; one way or another, Slash Beast was going down.
"Bass! No! Stop!" Smith yelled into the headset, but was met with more sounds of body blows. He sighed and angrily kicked the base of the computer. "Why won't he listen?!"
"He's a puffed-up jackass, that's why," Sharon grumbled, shaking her head. Indecision weighed on her. That overbearing moron deserved every blow he got, but he was still one of her coworkers, and he had been through hell. Zero had told her that Bass had been locked in a dark room for over two hundred years by Dr. Wily for not being the kind of machine he had wanted... Thinking about it made her shudder, recalling the horrors that Dr. Sushi had put her through when she would not submit to him. She bit her lip; they were both victims of their creators. As much as she hated to admit it, she sympathized with his desire to prove himself; she had done exactly the same thing when she had escaped.
More sounds came into the room, mostly of whumps and smacks and triumphant laughter from Slash Beast. "He can't take much more of this," Smith groaned. "Oh, man..."
Sharon gave an irritated snort, then grabbed the headset from the professor. "Prof, bring up a visual for this, will ya?" she growled.
Smith was puzzled, but did as she said. The screen flashed and gave them a view from Bass's perspective, with the deadly Maverick coming in with one slash after another. He swung his left claw, then his right, then kicked, and finished with his right. He repeated this combo three times, with Bass getting hit by each part every time.
Sharon watched for a moment, then her eyes lit up; that was a technique she recognized! Slash Beast was using one of the martial arts that she herself had mastered! She knew exactly how to counter him. Now she just had to get Bass to listen to her. She grinned and cracked her knuckles.
"What are you going to do?" Smith asked.
"Coach," she replied.
One more claw to the side of his helmet, and Bass smashed to the ground with a yell. Certain that victory was in his grasp, Beast approached the fallen machine. "This is the fate of those who oppose us," he growled, almost as a warning to his men on the other side of the room.
Bass looked awful. His lip and nose bled profusely, and rows of claw marks were gouged into the purple slashes on his face. His fists clenched and unclenched, not knowing exactly what to do. His mind jumped between shock and panic. He couldn't lose; he was the greatest robot ever made!... but this guy was so strong, and his Buster was useless... How could he win?
Before he could think rationally, he staggered to his feet, raised his hand to the Maverick and flicked him off. "Up yours, pussycat," he snarled.
Beast's eye twitched furiously. With one swipe, Bass's offending arm flew from his body, spattering more blood across the floor. Bass shrieked in agony and stumbled backwards, completely flabbergasted. He had lost his robotic limbs a few times in his fights with Mega Man, but never had it hurt as much as this. For a brief moment, he almost wished that he would shut down just to be free of the pain.
"I was going to give you a painless end, boy," Beast growled, approaching him with his claws up, "but now I shall enjoy teaching you a lesson... limb by limb."
Bass backed up, his eyes wild; what could he possibly do?
"Yo, janitor!" Sharon's obnoxious voice crackled in his ear. "Listen up!"
"What do you want?" Bass growled.
"Lay off for a sec," Sharon retorted. "He's gonna come with his left, then his right. When he kicks, jump in and shoot his throat!"
"Ain't you been listening?!" Bass snapped. "My gun's a no-go!"
"Just trust me!" Sharon replied, then chuckled. "Of course, if you can beat this guy yourself, I'm waiting..."
Bass clenched his teeth. The pain from his missing arm was immense, and he didn't think he could last much longer... If he died here, he could never prove his superiority to Mega Man. Maybe it would be better this time to swallow his pride and take some advice.
With a roar, Beast came at him with his left claw. Bass shifted right, then lurched back left when the right claw came. Surprised at Bass's sudden evasion, Beast furiously swung his kick too wide. As Sharon had ordered, Bass lunged inside the kick, pressed his Buster to Beast's throat and pulled the trigger.
There was a sudden pop, and Beast's open maw dribbled blood. He staggered for a moment, then collapsed to the ground, dead. A uniform gasp came from his henchmen, who dropped everything and ran for the exit. Peace reclaimed the temple.
For a moment, Bass stared wide-eyed at the monster he had just toppled, not believing it himself. Then his ego kicked in and he laughed. "HAH! It's like I told you, kitty cat! Ain't nobody gonna stop Bass!" he declared, raising his Buster in victory...
...And then toppling backwards, out cold.
"He's coming to... Thank goodness!"
Bass groaned, opening his bleary eyes to the whitewashed world of the museum medical room. Professor Smith stood over him, looking relieved. Sharon stood nearby, now in her familiar red armor. He looked past her and saw some of the others standing outside the door, curious.
"Well, welcome back, Mr. Bass," Smith said, taking his glasses off and wiping them on his labcoat.
Bass tried to sit up, but found that he could not. He looked down and snarled; his arms were bound in a straightjacket, and his whole body was tied down with several restraining cords. "What the hell?!" he yelled. "Get these offa me!"
"Hey, that's no way to talk," Sharon snapped. "You stole a gun and ran off. You're lucky nobody slapped the Maverick label on you."
"Who asked you?!" Bass growled. "I was just showin' you pussies how it's do- AGH!!!" he stopped as pain shot through his arm... and then he realized that his arm was back where it belonged.
"Easy, now," Smith warned, "I reattached your arm, but right now it's only held by a few stitches and a lot of hope. You'll have to wear that for a few days to let it firm up."
Sharon folded her arms. "You did a pretty stupid thing, Bass," she grumbled, "but... you got rid of one of Agile's Mavericks... and we got the data they were after. It's safe here now... So... I guess you did a good thing, too."
Bass opened his mouth to complain, but suddenly realized that he did not really have anything to complain about. He closed it and stared at the ceiling smugly.
"Of course, don't think you're off the hook," Sharon added. "Just you wait until you get better!"
"Aww, shut up," Bass grumbled.
"Professor!" Iris chirped as she walked in, Zero at her side, "is he going to be OK?"
"He'll be as well as can be expected," Smith replied. "He just needs some rest... The rest of us need to deal with the other Mavericks. Come on."
Smith, Zero and Iris left the room. Sharon started to go, too, when Bass stopped her. "Hold up," he grunted.
She looked at him out of the corner of her eye. "Yeah?" she asked.
Bass chuckled. "Didn't know you knew so much about fighting," he said, then turned back to the ceiling.
Sharon paused, then smiled wryly; that was as much of a thanks that she was going to get, and she knew it. She paused, then fished a small chip out of her pocket. "This is the Twin Slasher, Slash Beast's weapon," she said, placing it on his bedside table. "Might come in handy sometime." With that, she turned and left.
There was a long silence as Bass stared at the ceiling. A lot had happened in the past few hours; he had broken into a safe, run off to South America, triggered numerous traps, and gotten the crap beaten out of him by a bloodthirsty Maverick... but he was still alive.
He chuckled again and smirked. "Yep," he mumbled, "I've still got it."