Chapter 9

"Captured!"

Dragonman sighed and wiggled his clawed toes, and the last of the paint flecks finally fell off. There was no one left from that meeting, so there was no need to keep up the charade.

Dragonman frowned as he remembered that night. A prospective meeting, with many more Navis there he could control… until Requiem showed up.

His lip curled. He had been so sure—so sure—that Requiem would not fight back. He had observed her, seen what she had done, and what she didn't do. He hadn't believed the rumors that she was Bass' copy. An imitation, perhaps, but a direct copy…?

He hadn't believed, and it had cost him.

"You've failed me Dragonman."

The Navi let anger flash across his features, before composing them and turning to face the call screen with a calm face. As always, his employer was sitting in a darkened room—the person himself was just a slightly lighter shadow against the dark background.

"I have not failed," Dragonman replied, letting his voice go cold. "It is just a small setback."

He had the sense that his employer raised his eyebrows. "Small? The loss of ten thousand potential soldiers can hardly be called small."

Dragonman curled his hands into fists behind his back, working to keep his face composed. "With that loss we have a potential for great gain."

The human was silent for a minute. "Explain."

"That group was destroyed by a single Navi; an independent by the name of Requiem."

"And?" He sounded unimpressed.

"Requiem is truly a copy of Bass: she has his powers, his abilities, and his skill—but not his unconquerable personality. Not yet." He held out a hand to the side, palm up. "If she could be controlled, she would become a powerful ally."

"Yes…" the human said softly. "She could be made to serve us…" He was quiet for a long time.

"Very well," he finally said. "Keep to the schedule, but do what you can to gain control of Requiem. Use any means necessary. Everything would work much smoother with her on our side."

Dragonman bowed his head, hiding his satisfied, sharp-toothed smile. "As you wish."

-0-

Requiem sneezed.

"Sorry," she said, sniffling and bumping against Nocturne. "How do you stand traveling in a space this small?" She asked again, looking around the tiny space of the PET.

Nocturne shrugged. "You get used to it," he said.

"But normally, you're not trying to squeeze two Navis into one either," April added, walking into the lab. Chaud and Lan were at their terminals, and Dingo was talking to Dr. Hikari, but no one else was there.

"Where is everyone?" She asked, stepping up behind Chaud.

"Their internship ended," he replied, not taking his eyes off the screen. "Hideaki, Naeva, and Jie are all students, remember? Classes started back up again today."

"Ah, that's right," April said. She gave him a kiss on the cheek, then headed over to where Dr. Hikari and Dingo were standing.

"Dr. Hikari?"

"Ah, April," he said, turning to her. "I understand we have a guest today?"

She nodded and flicked the hand holding her PET towards the port; the two Navis appeared on screen.

"Requiem," Dr. Hikari said, nodding. "It's been a long time."

"Hello doctor," she said, nodding in return.

Dr. Hikari gave her a long, hard look, then nodded again. "Dingo's been telling me how you saved Tomahawkman. Thank you."

"You can thank me after Dragonman has been stopped," Requiem said, her gaze cooling. "He is after this program—whatever it is you are making."

"Ah, yes, but he can't get in here." Dr. Hikari smiled. "This lab currently isn't connected to the Net—not even the SciLab Net. No Navi can get in without jacking in directly to a port here in the lab."

"I see…" Requiem said, then she turned and wandered to look closer at the Destiny Stream cube.

"Well, let's get started," Dr. Hikari said, clapping a hand on April and Dingo's shoulders. "Without the other three here, we'll have to work twice as hard to finish and debug the Destiny Stream. Hop to it!"

April headed back to her terminal, slipping her PET in its pouch. Nocturne appeared on one of her screens. "Ready?" He asked.

"Yep."

She rested her fingers on the keyboard when a bright flash erupted from all the screens, blinding everyone.

-0-

Dragonman allowed himself a tight smile at the scientist's words.

Ah, but if only you knew, you fool, he thought. Navis I control are everywhere in the Net—even here in SciLab. All I had to do was order one to reconnect this lab… and here we are. His smile widened. In the perfect moment to gain two new powerful soldiers…

He glanced at the group of Musclemen behind him. Each silently signaled ready. Dragonman looked down at the lab's Net below, where the group was preparing to work on the program.

Requiem… I didn't expect to find you here. My intention was to test this on Megaman, to be sure it would work on you as well. But now I can kill two viruses with one shot.

He aimed his hands downwards, took a deep breath, and activated the program he had stolen.

"Data Freeze!" He shouted, and a blinding white light erupted from his hands, engulfing the entire network.

-0-

April blinked rapidly in shock, trying to clear her vision.

It can't be… she thought. It can't be…

Blinking around the purple blob in the middle of her sight, she took one look at Nocturne and gasped. "No!"

"Megaman! Megaman! Can you hear me?"

Lan was pounding uselessly on the screen. April looked up, and gasped again.

Megaman, Protoman, Tomahawkman, Nocturne… and even Requiem… they were all frozen and slightly transparent, their codes swirling underneath their skin.

It's… my program… someone got a hold of my Data Freeze program.

And they've made it even more powerful…

Laughter came from the Net, and several figures dropped down, surrounding Megaman and Requiem.

"You!" Dingo shouted at the one Navi who remained in the air. "You're that Navi we tried to stop the other day! You're Dragonman!"

April looked at the black and red Navi. He grinned, his wings flapping slowly.

"Very good human," he said. "You've managed to figure out who I am. But you and your pathetic Navis are too late to stop me." His smiled widened, showing off his fangs. "And with this last step, the preparations to the destruction of your race are almost complete. Soon we shall show you fools the real power of the cyber world!"

Laughter came from the real world this time. April blinked, and looked over at Lan.

"The real power?" Lan laughed. "Please! Megaman and I have lost count of the number of things we've beaten claiming to be the real power of the Net! What makes you any different?"

Dragonman's smile hardened. "The fact that Megaman will no longer be on your side."

"What?"

Dragonman snapped, and Muscleman and all his copies grabbed Megaman and Requiem. Dragonman snapped again, and they joined him up in the air.

"Good luck trying to figure out how to save the world without your precious better half," Dragonman snarled. April blinked, and they were gone.

Nocturne gasped and collapsed on her screen.

"Nocturne!" she shouted, palms flat on the screen. "Are you okay?"

He rubbed his chest. "So that's what the Data Freeze feels like," he said. "No wonder Bass wanted to kill me after I used it on him."

"Lan…"

Footsteps sounded next to her, and April looked up to see Chaud running over to Lan.

"No…" the young man said, his voice thick. "Not again… they can't… why…?" He threw his head back, both hands clenched into fists, and screamed to the ceiling and the sky beyond.

"MEGAMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN!"

Props to anyone who spotted the Star Wars reference. XD

And I cut out the other three programmers because I kept forgetting about them… . when you have to look up a character's name every time you want to use them, they're not important enough. So they got the ax.

*shrugs*

Short chapter is short again.

Sorry!

And for those who don't recognize the Data Freeze, go back and take a look at Requiem's Awakening again… about the 3rd and 4th chapters… ish... ^^

Next time!

The situation looks hopeless… but perhaps there's a way that Megaman and Requiem can escape before they're forced to destroy others… perhaps…

Leave a review please!