"What is up with you Angel?" Lan asked irritably. "You've been as bad tempered as a bear with a sore paw."
"It's him," he replied. He refused to use MegaMan's name any more. "I've gone over everything. He was definitely there watching me. Even the network confirms it. Except the network also confirms that he never went in or left – he was just there, and his excuse holds. It's just too perfect."
"Maybe it wasn't MegaMan?"
"It was definitely him. The network was very specific. And you know something else? He's been there watching us every time we've handled an incident. All of the WWW Navis, all of Gospel and Nebula. Even the liberation missions, he was there watching, and did nothing."
"Maybe he was just curious?"
"Oh, come on Lan. You saw everyone's reaction to Nebula's Net takeover. Only the Undernet didn't turn a hair when that happened. Then there's this thing about the Cybeasts..."
"What's that?"
"When we defeated them, it affected Cyberspace on a massive scale. A lot of ordinary Navis took incredible damage during that. Any of them who'd been jacked into those giant copybots would have been instantly deleted. Yet he was there too, I remember it clearly. He was there, through the battle with both Gregar and Falzar. He should have been deleted, or at least become heavily damaged, but nothing happened to him."
"I think you're just worrying over nothing, Angel."
"What can I do to make you see reason, Lan? He's up to something, I know it."
"Alright, what do you suggest?"
"If he had been there with us when we took on the Cybeasts, it would have left an imprint on his programming, something that couldn't be removed. I've got one deeper than most because I stored Gregar, remember. I can still call on that if I really have to."
"So you want to get him examined for it?"
"And me as well. Mine's probably the most intact imprint of Gregar left, we can use it as a baseline."
"Dad would be able to find and extract it, wouldn't he?"
"Of course."
"So all we have to do is get him to come with us to see Dad."
"That won't be easy."
"I've got an idea. We just need to explain it to Dad in advance."
"I'll send him a mail. Are you really sure about this?"
"Stop worrying. It'll work. Trust me."
Angel sighed, but said nothing more. Lan picked up the PET, let Chaud know he was going out again, and took the short walk to Hub's house.
He knocked on the door once and waited, but got no reaction. He knocked again.
"Alright already, I'm coming!" Hub's voice came from the other side. He looked damp when he opened it, and had one towel on his head, and another wrapped around him. Hub took in their puzzled expressions, then said, "I was in the shower. Do you want to tell me what you think I've done this time?"
"Nothing," Lan replied. "I'm just concerned about your Navi."
"MegaMan? What for?"
"You know that error you were on about, where you met him?"
"Naturally."
"He was in the same area as the error. Dad had to check Angel afterwards to make sure he wasn't affected by it."
"So you want to get MegaMan examined too."
"Yup."
Hub thought about it for a moment. "Oh, alright then. Wait here for a bit while I dry off and put something on," he told them.
"Angel?"
"Yes, Lan?"
"I think you might want to be a bit nicer to him."
"Why?"
"You're alienating him from me."
"He could be working with his Navi on whatever it is they're doing."
"We can't prove that though, so at least try to get along with him."
"If you insist," Angel said, though his expression showed he didn't share Lan's point of view.
When Hub returned, he looked different. His hair was now blue-black, and he wore a top matching it, with green camo styled pants.
"What's with the change of look?" Lan asked.
"Oh, I got bored and decided it was time for something new. I almost went with blue for the hair, but this seemed better to me. I like it."
"At least it means fewer people will mistake you for me."
"I've never noticed anyone doing that. So where do we go to handle the checkup?"
"Dad's lab."
"Huh. SciLab."
"Something up with that?"
"No. Just not somewhere I expected to be going."
"It'll be quiet, and won't take long"
"Yeah. Guess so."
They walked on in silence for a time. It seemed that neither Hub or MegaMan wanted to say much, and Angel still held them in suspicion, so wouldn't say anything either.
Lan was left to try to make conversation by himself.
"I hear Castle Area got connected earlier," he said.
"I know," Hub replied.
"There's some massive security on it. Can't even get close."
"Sure you can. You just have to be invited."
"By who?"
"I dunno. I sneaked in for a look just before the security arrived."
"What's it like?"
"Big. It's a proper medieval like castle. It's only half built for now, and there isn't much there. It's strange though. There were no Navis working on the construction of it. It was like it was building itself."
"That's impossible," Angel said, finally breaking his silence.
"I know what I saw, Angel," MegaMan told him. "I was the only Navi there. There were only a few programs, and no one else. It was building itself."
"You must have seen wrong."
"I don't think so."
"Stop arguing," Lan told them. "There isn't any point in wondering over it now. I doubt we can get in to have a look now."
They were silent again on the Metroline to SciLab. Hub began to look worried, and MegaMan's expression mirrored Hub's. Lan tried to assure them getting checked wasn't going to do any harm, but it didn't seem to matter. Hub just shrugged it off and continued looking worried.
Their Dad was waiting for them.
"You're here early," he noted. "Its all done. Angel, I'll need to re-examine you too."
Lan and Hub surrendered their PETs, which were slotted into his computer while he ran an analysis. Hub looked even more worried now, absently gnawing on one knuckle.
"That's odd," Doctor Hikari murmured, examining outputs and information that made no sense at all. "That's completely backwards..."
"What is?" Hub asked.
"It's this imprint. Angel should have one, because he was there, and MegaMan shouldn't have any trace because he wasn't – or at least a faint one if he was."
"But?"
"Angel doesn't have any trace of it at all, and MegaMan's is so clear that I believe he could activate a Beast Out whenever he wanted. There's other strange things about MegaMan too. He looks a lot like the Navi I tried to create for Lan, just after his brother died."
"I remember you talking about that, Dad. Something about trying to save him by turning him into a Navi, right?"
"That's right, but it failed. I learned a lot from it, and was able to create Angel, but I couldn't save your brother." He turned to Lan, a serious look on his face. "Lan, do you remember what I told you his name was? Your twin brother?"
Lan thought, then realization dawned. "Hub."
They all turned to Hub now, who backed away, looking afraid and worried.
"Give me my PET back," He told them nervously. "Don't make me do anything else I'm going to regret."
"It'll have to wait until the program handling the analysis is complete. Disconnecting it early might damage MegaMan... or you."
"I'll take that risk, just give me my PET!"
"I can't do that, Hub."
"Then I'll do it myself." He closed his eyes, his brow furrowing in concentration. The PET containing MegaMan vanished from the computer, reappearing in Hub's hand. Hub winced, groaned, and staggered slightly, as if hurt.
"How..."
"None of your business," he snapped back, clearly in pain. "And I don't want your help. I don't care what you think you can do. I don't need it, and I don't want it."
"That's not true-" he began, but Hub vanished. A few small spots of red on the floor where he'd been standing were all the evidence that was left to show he'd been there.
Lan, Angel and Doctor Hikari remained completely still, trying to understand what happened.
The Doctor recovered first. With a curious, almost detached expression, he took a small dish from a draw with a small tool Lan couldn't identify, and collected the blood. He then put it into one of the many devices attached to his computer, and began to work on it.
"Lan," he called. Lan didn't react. He was still trying to understand. Hub was his brother, and had died. Yet somehow he'd been alive? And he'd never noticed the connection. Then there was MegaMan... the failed Navi that his Dad had worked on. But it too was still around?
"Lan!" he called again, more insistent.
"Huh? Sorry, what?"
"Have a look at this."
"What am I seeing?" he asked, looking at two identical looking strings going across the screen.
"The top is your DNA, Lan. The bottom is Hub's."
"The Hub that was just there?"
"Yes. This DNA was also inside MegaMan too. They're exactly the same person."
"How is this possible, dad?"
"I don't know. Can you tell me something now, son?"
"Of course."
"What did he mean by 'Anything else I'm going to regret'?"
"I don't know."
"I think I do," Angel said. "I think he's behind some incidents that have happened lately."
"Incidents?"
"The school's air conditioning system went haywire, overheating the building. Lan and I sorted it with the help of Chaud and his Navi, ProtoMan-"
"Wait, Chaud and who?"
"Chaud's a kid that we found. He didn't have a home, so we gave him one. He created ProtoMan himself."
"Impressive feat... I'd like to see him some time. Go on."
"He and his Navi helped us out in sorting it, and defeating the Navi that caused it, HeatMan."
"Operated by Mr. Match?"
"Yes. But right before I jacked out, I saw MegaMan watching."
"That's not all," Lan added. "Angel told me that MegaMan has been seen watching nearby every time Angel and I have taken on a Navi for any of the three organizations we took on, and at every liberation mission we did."
He took this in, looking from Angel to Lan, then sighed and indicated for them to sit down. He picked up a laptop computer, and set it in front of him, taking the seat opposite.
"Lan, Angel... I want you both to recall every time you've seen him, and everything you can remember about him. I'm going to use the information to get to the bottom of this."