They soared through the clouds, Jett navigating the freighter by radar, the outside world a depthless sea of gray. Eddie handed out energy cans for the robots to top off their energy meters while the humans made a dinner of hard biscuits. Met fussed over Mega Man and Roll, dabbing at the battle scuffs in their armor with a rag. Dr. Light had taken Rush aside, and using the freighter's set of mechanic tools began to assess the state of his jet engines.

"What's the Underground Alliance's priorities in fighting Dr. Wily?" asked Mega Man, looking around at Bobby, Percival, and Finn, who were sitting on creates of ammunition. "Free everyone who's been decognitized or imprisoned?"

Percival shook his head. "Even if they were free, they're still only humans. We need the robots back on our side too, but they only obey Wily."

"So we need to capture Wily and force him to order off his bots," Mega Man murmured, catching on.

"That's what we were hoping you could do for us," Bobby said in a soft voice. "One powerful robot to fight his way through the empire's defenses and get to Wily."

The plan was as simple as it was dangerous. Proto Man's words echoed through Mega Man's head. Wily's getting old though. Don't know what's going to happen when he finally kicks the bucket. If Dr. Wily died before they captured him, would control of the robots pass on to Proto Man? He was second-in-command, but Dr. Wily was also selfish and controlling—what if he intended not to have a successor, to die as the last world emperor, leaving the robots to carry out his last wishes posthumously? This seemed likely, and if Dr. Wily was as frail as Dr. Light in old age, they had to hurry.

"Wily's a coward; if I can break through his defenses he'll surrender without a fight," Mega Man said aloud. "...But I'm not the best fighter. I don't want you to put all your hopes on me."

"Stop saying that! You broke out of Robo-Island Prison," Bobby said stubbornly.

"I couldn't have done it without Roll," said Mega Man. "How do I find Wily?"

"Wily's easy to find!" Roll spoke up. "He moved to New York City. There's an airstrip with 'Dr. Wily, the World's Greatest Evil Genius, Lives Here,' pointing to Wily Castle."

"You're kidding me."

"We can't get within a hundred miles of Wily Castle without getting blasted to bits," Jett called from the cockpit, "And the closer we get to New York City, the more guarded it'll be. Cop-bots won't be the only thing to worry about, there'll be Robot Masters too." He shook his head. "It's going to be a million more times dangerous than Robo-Prison Island, that's for sure."

They lapsed into dismal silence, thinking this over and wondering what Dr. Light's idea might be. Finn joined Jonas in the cockpit so Jett could look after Annie, and after awhile the silence turned into low, reflective conversation.

"I think deep down I always wanted to be a rebel," Jett said, his eyes gleaming. "I never liked following rules, even as a kid."

"I never wanted this life, it's shit," Percival said bitterly. Of the Underground Alliance members present, he was the grimmest.

Bobby pulled off his baseball cap, running a hand through his silver-streaked hair. "Well, someday it'll all be over. With Wily out of the way, we can reestablish normal civilization. It'll never be like it was before, but it's not so bad. Wily's cities are as solid as they are ugly, we won't have to start from scratch."

Roll remained silent throughout this conversation, watching Mega Man from the shadows of a corner. Mega Man realized with concern that he did not recognize the look on her face. Something had changed in her, something more than even years of imprisonment could have changed his tenacious sister.

"Roll, what's wrong?" he called over.

Roll continued looking at him with the same impenetrable gaze. "Just leave me alone," she said gruffly, standing up and striding into the cockpit.

Mega Man stared after her. "What happened? Is Roll upset with me?" he asked Dr. Light quietly.

"Oh no, Roll isn't upset with you," Dr. Light said soothingly as he rewired the fuel cells in Rush's turbo thruster, but he cast a worried look towards the cockpit. "Roll has a lot of anger in her. She, like most of us, thought you had perished, and spent the last three decades consumed in grief and hatred. I've tried countless times to help her find peace, to reconcile with—" Dr. Light suddenly cut himself off, clearing his throat. "And now, seeing you here, alive, proving most of her life has been warped in false vengeance...it's all very hard on her."

Mega Man understood. Though Roll hadn't lost reason, she was irreparably unhinged. Mega Man had sensed this after his reunion with Roll, which had been devoid of sentimentality. They had been close once, but she had since shut him out, treating him like an entirely different robot from her brother. She still hadn't accepted he was back—no, Roll didn't want him back. But why? Mega Man couldn't help but be hurt. He missed the old Roll.

It had become very late. Dr. Light claimed he wasn't tired and only needed a steady hand to help him with his work, which Met readily supplied. Roll had taken the controls of the freighter with Percival, and the rest of the humans curled under their coats on the floor of the fuselage to sleep for the night. Mega Man realized for the first time how thoroughly exhausted he was. The excitement of Dr. Wily breaking into Citadel, time traveling, and prison breaking had made him forget that it had been two days since he last slept. Taking one of the thick blankets, Mega Man stretched out on the floor and took off his helmet.

Annie pulled her blanket closer to Mega Man. She examined Mega Man's helmet curiously. "Ooo, it's heavy!" she giggled.

"It should be, it's made of solid titanium. The better to protect my head."

Jett watched them from a corner, a small smile on his face. A few minutes later, Annie had fallen asleep, her arms wrapped around Mega Man's helmet. Mega Man lay on his back, his eyes growing heavy as he stared up and the rusty rivets on the ceiling. It was pretty comfortable under the thick blanket, the lulling drone of the propellers outside…

The icy peak of Mount Shasta stretched miles above the clouds, its slopes sweeping earthward at a near vertical. They stood facing each other, snow swirling around them in fluffy gray flakes. Above, Dr. Wily's satellites twinkled in a velvety black sky, below lay Earth, a lonely gray sphere amongst the void.

Proto Man smiled at him. "So it's just me and you now," he said quietly. His stance was hostile, his feet apart and shoulders squared.

"Stop!" Mega Man shouted as Proto Man lifted his blaster.

"It's the only way out."

"No it's not! You only think it's that way because you make it that way!"

"You gotta wake up."

"Listen to me. I won't let you kill me, and I won't kill you either! It's not gonna end like this!"

Proto Man was still smiling, but he lowered his blaster. He turned toward the cliff, the toes of his boots hanging over Mount Shasta's precipice, his masked face lifted toward the sky. It was no longer filled with the winking satellites, but the glitter of a million violet chronitons. A wind played through the tail of his faded scarf, sending it dancing behind him. Mega Man shouted at him. Suddenly the ground between them gave a lurch and stretched. Proto Man was miles away. Mega Man ran towards him, shouting again, but Proto Man didn't hear him. He'd never get there in time. The chronitons began falling from the sky like hot embers, scorching his skin. Torn pages from The Adventures of Mega Man fluttered up from the ground like butterflies, their wide, papery wings brushing against his face. Mega Man slapped at them as drawings of the past blocked his vision until he could no longer see Proto Man. Blinded, he came to halt. The ground began to shake, then Mount Shasta erupted beneath his feet. He was covered in ash, blown upward into space, spinning faster and faster, burning up—

Wake up!

Mega Man opened his eyes and shot up, the woolen blanket falling off his chest. Chronitons and comic book butterflies still flickered in the corners of his vision, but he blinked and they were gone, his optics focusing on the freighter's fuselage.

His nightmare about Mount Shasta had changed. It had become confused and muddled, but one thing was clear: he had to go to Wily Castle. He had to see for himself.


Wily Castle was impossible to miss. It perched on a floating island, blanketing New York City in its shadow. Mega Man watched it encroach on the horizon like a black dagger riding the clouds before returning to Dr. Light, who had just been putting casing on a small device with the assistance of Percival.

"You've been working all night, Dr. Light. How's it coming?"

"I've finished it, Mega," Dr. Light said wearily. Rush had been given a complete retune, the rust cleaned from his armor. He was bounding spiritedly across the fuselage, playing fetch with Annie using an empty canteen. "I've adapted Rush with a cloaking device so you'll be undetectable on Wily's scanners. I believe stealth is the best chance you'll have against his defenses."

"That's fantastic, Dr. Light," Mega Man said gratefully. Then he lowered his voice. "The Underground Alliance wants me to capture Dr. Wily."

"That would be the most peaceful way to end his reign…" Dr. Light murmured.

"But I've been thinking. There might still be a way for me to return to the past," Mega Man began hesitantly.

Dr. Light's eyes flickered over to Mega Man, listening intently.

"Maybe Dr. Goss and Dr. Stinson are with the scientists Dr. Wily has captured. If I can free them, they might be able to help me. It's been thirty years, maybe now they understand the chronitons and know how to reverse the reaction…" he trailed off.

"Well, it's an idea, Rock," Dr. Light said gently. "A good idea, but I don't want you to get your hopes up...there has been so much disruption and madness since you've disappeared. Concentrate instead on what you need to do, and things will work out."

Mega Man nodded, but despite Dr. Light's advice he wasn't going to give up on this idea just yet.

But thoughts of time travel were driven from Mega Man's head when he heard a thud from outside and the freighter gave a sudden jerk, shaking with something greater than turbulence. Mega Man and Roll raced to one of the small windows to look outside. Black jets with decorative femurs on the tips of their wings were cutting through the air toward the freighter, and along side the jets streaked small robots carried by propellers.

"Attack-bots and blaster masters," growled Roll. "Damn it."

"Why are they firing at us?"

"Must know we've got you."

"Then I'm endangering us—"

"Don't be stupid, you've got the best gun here," Roll said gruffly. "Now use it and help me take down these pests!"

But before either of them could roll open the fuselage door, there was another loud thud from outside, and the freighter pitched, loose crates and supplies skidding across the floor, a barrel of dried apples spilling over.

"Percival, how's it look back there?" Jett called from the cockpit.

"Not good, our left engine was shot, we have to land," Percival called back.

"I was afraid you'd say that," muttered Jett, dipping the freighter into a clumsy dive.


Mega Man didn't see exactly what Jett had done, but everything went black for a moment, the engine stalled, then the engines began to whine down as they came to a jerky halt inside what looked like a large, underground bunker. After putting out the fire on the left wing, they hurried up a fire escape to street level.

Everything outside was covered in dense fog, almost like a thick smoke. Above there was no sky, but the twisted metal mass of Dr. Wily's flying island, blowing steam down to the streets below. Despite the fog they were totally exposed and needed to get to a new safe point fast. Mega Man's mind whirled through the list of allies he had in New York: the New York Police Department, Mayor Hill, Senator Wolfe—but surely Dr. Wily would not have left any of the old city officials around...

"I know where we can go," said Bobby, and they began to creep through the streets of New York City.

Unlike Sacramento, few humans lived in Wily-controlled New York City. Instead, the streets were populated by construction bots, garbage bots, all the robot-drones who had before served humans as laborers. Mega Man now understood Jett's initial skepticism of a robot working to help humans.

"What's that ringing noise?" Bobby asked uneasily as they paused in a vacant, two lane street. "I've never heard an alarm like that."

Mega Man recognized the sound at once. "We gotta get out of here, fast." He motioning down the street toward an alley. Everyone followed—everyone but Jett, who was guarding the rear.

"Move, Jett!" Bobby barked. "Mega says we gotta get out of here!"

Jett stood rigidly in the middle of the street. "I—can't—something's got hold of me," he gasped, his teeth locked together.

"What are you talking about?" Bobby asked in bewilderment. "There's nothing there!"

"I—can't—move...Hide! Get her out of here," Jett implored, looking directly at Mega Man.

"We're not going to leave you," Mega Man promised.

"Don't—worry—about me! Go! Be a brave girl, Annie!"

"Uncle Jett!" Annie cried as Mega Man scooped her up. Her arms wrapped tightly around Mega Man as they hid around the corner of a building. "What's happening to him, Mega? Is he going to get decognitized?"

"Shh. Just wait and watch, I think we're in for some luck."

Metallic foot steps echoed down the street, and Time Man appeared through the fog, apparently in no great hurry. A golden Wily insignia had replaced Robot Interpol's emblem on his violet titanium skin.

"I thought I heard a disruption in the streets," Time Man said in a voice devoid of warmth. "It's sixteen and a quarter minutes past the hour, you know the penalty for those who disregard curfew. I'll take this." He pried the pistol from Jett's stiff fingers and removed its fuel cell. Time Man paused, his piercing cyan eyes narrowed. "Wait...you're one of the criminals Lord Wily has ordered for immediate capture. Jett Condor of sector 38-121, age thirty-nine, involved with an illegal conspiracy against Lord Wily's Empire and aiding the renegade robot Mega Man."

Jett trembled with rage as he glared at Time Man, his arms still posed above his chest as though holding a gun aloft. "Arrest me then! But you're wasting your time, I'm working alone! I've never heard of Mega Man!"

Time Man's voice lowered dangerously. "You won't help your situation by lying. Lord Wily may spare you in exchange for your cooperation in apprehending your co-conspirators. Now tell me where Mega Man is."

"I'm right here."

Time Man whirled around, but Mega Man had already copied his weapon and fired Time Slow. A clock hand made of violet light shot forth like an arrow into Time Man's abdomen. Time Man froze mid turn like a statue, his left hand half risen to strike. Time Slow was much more powerful than it had been in the past, Mega Man knew from its weapon data that he could hold Time Man immobilized for hours with the same effortless concentration needed to breath.

The moment Time Slow passed from Time Man to Mega Man its effect broke over Jett, who stumbled forward, gasping in relief. Mega Man looked at Time Man with pity. Time Man didn't seem angry about the ambush, but his eyes were hard as he watched Mega Man. Somewhere, deep down, the old Time Man still existed, filled with shame and self-loathing at what he had become.

"C'mon Time Man, you use to fight criminals, not work for them!" Mega Man pleaded. "Fight off Wily's control and help us repay for what he did to you and the Robot International Police!"

"Your scheme against Lord Wily is pointless," Time Man answered, his expression unchanged. "Our forces have you outnumbered. Don't make things worse for your friends, turn yourself in now."

"It's no use Mega Man, Wily's programming is too strong," Dr. Light spoke up. He and the others had joined Mega Man in the street.

Mega Man knew Dr. Light was right. Regretfully, he released Time Man from Time Slow, who without a second glance sprinted back down the street.

Mega Man caught sight of Bobby training his gun on Time Man's retreating back. "Bobby, don't!"

Bobby frowned, lowering his gun. "He'll report our position!"

"We can't just blast him, he use to be a good guy!"

Bobby sighed as Time Man disappeared in the fog. "Use to be, Mega. Time Man enforces curfew around here. I've heard stories about him—he'll freeze anyone caught after hours and leave them out for the cop-bots to arrest the next day. We're lucky he only got Jett, if he had expected more of us and had used his power at its max, we'd have been done for."

"It's not his fault!" said Mega Man. Everyone was looking annoyed with him, everyone except Dr. Light, Annie, and Percival.

"I don't like fighting corrupted R.I.P. officers either," Percival whispered to Mega Man later when they had moved on again. "My father designed some of them. But we can't risk getting captured now that we're so close. Time Man wouldn't have wanted that."


Bobby lead them into a grim looking residential district, the dwellings here cramped tightly together rather like a slum. He knocked on one of the doors and waited. A moment later it opened by a crack, and an eye peered cautiously out.

"Who's there?"

"It's me, Bob Coone, remember?" answered Bobby. "I've returned from California, and I've brought friends. The cop-bots are after us, we need a place to lie low."

The door opened wider to reveal a squat old man with a barrel-like belly. He had a vaguely familiar face. "Captain Lee?" Mega Man asked.

"Just Lee now," replied the bald old man. "Hurry in, a patrol just went by."

The large windows of the New York residential district prohibited some of the privacy in the small living area, so Lee lead them into his sparse bedroom, which became cramped once filled with six adults, two androids, a robo-dog and bird, two support robots, and a nine-year-old. After they got settled in, Lee's wife brought out a tray of watery coffee.

"What now, Mega Man?" asked Jett. None of them said it aloud, but they could feel time ticking against them again.

"I got no choice but to bust into Wily Castle," Mega Man replied dryly.

"All right! What's the plan? A frontal assault? Or how about disguises? I could—" Annie rattled off eagerly.

"Sorry Annie, too dangerous. You have to stay here."

"Aw, Mega…"

"Wait a second, why should you go?" Roll spoke up suddenly. "You said yesterday that you didn't feel up for it. I'm the only one here who's ever broken into Wily Castle. I should be the one to go, not you."

"I…" Mega Man trailed off. He had assumed he would go, the Underground Alliance had indicated as such. "Roll, I need to go," he said finally. He couldn't explain his motivations. Roll was much older, much more experienced. If she thought Wily Castle was too dangerous for him, Dr. Light might forbid him from going. He realized both the unfairness and irony of this predicament with a sting of chagrin.

"I've been fully functioning for thirty years, upgraded my utility arm, and even I couldn't stop Wily from taking over," Roll continued in a low, dangerous voice, her light blue eyes boring into him. "Do you think just because you've magically reappeared we can instantly change this? The Robot Masters are stronger than they were before. What chance do you stand against them?"

"I can disarm them by copying their weapons. Can your utility arm copy Master Weapons?"

A flash of resentment flickered across Roll's face, her eyes darting briefly to Dr. Light. "No, but—"

"Roll, I think Mega Man should go," Dr. Light interrupted in a placating voice. "You should both go, you'll have the best chance as a team with Roll as a guide and Mega Man's weapon copy."

Roll looked like she wanted to continue arguing. She glared fiercely at everyone in the room, including Dr. Light. When no one quelled under her fiery gaze, she consented with an annoyed, half-hearted dismal of the hand.

Dr. Light gave a somber nod. "You must be on your guard, Mega Man. He undoubtably knows you're alive by now."

"When do you want to leave for Wily Castle, Mega?" asked Jett.

"Let's go tonight. Better than waiting around here with the cop-bots on the prowl." Roll answered for him. "We'll take Rush. Met, Pipi, and Eddie will stay here with Dr. Light."

"But Eddie is ready!"

Roll ignored Eddie. "Time Man must have alerted Wily by now so he'll be expecting us, a direct assault is out."

"What can we do?" asked Bobby.

"Can you keep Dr. Light safe?" Mega Man broke in. "Listen, I know getting Wily is important to you guys too, but our best chance is to sneak into Wily Castle undetected, so the less who go, the better. And...if I don't make it back, Dr. Light can show Percival how to make another, better fighting robot."

"Stop saying that!" Bobby said fiercely. "We'll be here waiting for you, man."

With that settled, Roll and Mega Man made preparations to leave. Eddie insisted on giving them each another energy can, then they were ready to go. Mega Man was just giving his final goodbyes, the Underground Alliance wishing them luck, when Jett pulled Mega Man aside.

"Watch out for Roll," he whispered.

"Huh?" Mega Man said, startled.

"There's a reason she and the Underground Alliance have never worked together," Jett explained tactfully. "She's really reckless. I don't think she cares if she gets caught, she'd love any excuse to fight Wily's bots."

Mega Man nodded, but didn't say anything, leaving Jett behind to join Roll at the door.

Whether from Jett's warning or the impending task of breaking into Wily Castle, Mega Man felt an unease in his stomach that something would go wrong. But it was clear from the blaster master attack that they wouldn't make it long in hiding. What options were left for them but to try?


Wily Castle was much larger than Skull Fortress, though it shared the familiar skull facade front. Sharp skeletal fingers protruding from the foundations. The millions of gun turrets pointed skyward gave Wily Castle the appearance of having quills, the blaster masters patrolling above like flies circling a porcupine.

Dr. Light's cloaking device must have been doing its job, for Roll and Mega Man were able to get within two hundred yards without a hitch. The top of the flying island was covered in granite, which looked as though it had once been smooth, but now was marred with obvious signs of warfare. Roll and Mega Man landed in a blacked gash near Wily Castle's eastern corner. "Watch out!" Roll said suddenly as they dismounted from Rush, shoving Mega Man's head below the rock.

Feeling uneasy, Mega Man peered carefully over the trench's edge and spotted Enker pacing beneath the skull facade's teeth, the Wily insignia on his chest glinting in the moonlight. His expression was very similar to Time Man's, his eyes monitoring the clouds ahead with cold alertness, a squadron of attack-bots at standby before him. He clutched his barrier spear tightly in one hand, its ends modified into cruel points.

"So Enker's been reduced to guarding Wily's front gate now," Mega Man said sadly.

"Yeah...and he's also an ex…" Roll admitted sheepishly.

"Yeah. Wait, what?" Mega Man whispered loudly, tearing his eyes off Enker.

"C'mon, let's go to a back door."

"Hang on, you had a relationship with Enker?!"

"Yeah, back when he still worked for Robot Interpol," Roll answered impatiently. "The split was mutual, but it's still really awkward to run into each other. But it's fine, we'll just go over to one of the back entrances. They're less guarded." She began edging along the trench, Rush padding silently next to her. "I just hope Crash Man's not on duty…" she murmured thoughtfully.

"Why? You didn't date him too, did you?" Mega Man asked sharply as he crept along beside her.

"Rock…" Roll said, getting embarrassed.

"How'd that work? He's a Bad-bot!"

"It wasn't serious, and didn't last long. None of my dates last long, I never found the right 'bot."

"Is that so. Before we go inside, let me know how many Robot Masters we're about to encounter that you've dated before."

"It's none of your business," Roll said imperiously.

Mega Man was about to push the matter, but then stopped, smiling a little. This was the closest Roll had been to acting like her old self, and he didn't care how many Bad-bots she dated as long as he got his sister back.


The outline of a door inlayed into the wall lay before them as they climbed out of the trench. "Welcome to Wily Castle," a feminine automated computer voice rang out. "If you are an intruder, traveling insurance salesman, recruiter for the organization 'Bring Back Trees to the Empire,' or juvenile female peddling processed baked goods, please standby for vaporization. If you are a robot citizen of Lord Wily's army, please enter password at the keypad located to the door's right."

"Hey, I know a password!" Mega Man said brightly.

"You know a password into Wily Castle?" Roll said skeptically.

"Yeah, it's A-1-3-6 red, B-2-5, D-3, F-5," Mega Man said, keying in the sequence Proto Man had used to get access to Dr. Wily's tanker.

"Password denied," the voice announced cheerfully. Roll looked exasperated.

"But...I thought that'd work," Mega Man said disappointedly.

"Security threat detected," said the voice. "Intruder will be vaporized in 10...9...8…" Two massive laser guns unfolded from the wall above them, training instantly on Mega Man and Roll.

"Move aside bro, this is my speciality," Roll said, giving Mega Man a sharp push that sent him sprawling to the side. Her utility arm transformed into a large, boxy cannon. Roll braced herself and fired just as the laser guns began to hum with life, and a magenta beam blasted the door to smithereens. Roll landed five feet backward from the utility arm's recoil and was covered in soot.

"That's my password into Wily Castle," she quipped as Mega Man helped her to her feet. "C'mon, let's get inside before anyone checks out the noise."


"So you've broken into Wily Castle before?" Mega Man asked as they wove through a labyrinth of thin corridors, Roll leading the way.

"Yeah, lots of times. I never made it into the inner tier though. Couldn't get past—" Roll cut herself off. Mega Man thought he saw a shadow flicker across her face. "You just gotta be careful. It's all booby trapped. Think Raiders of the Lost Arc on steroids. Wily Castle is set up with Wily's laboratory in the center and two tiers of defenses surrounding it like rings. To find a path through the inner tier, we'll have to clear the outer tier to get to the control room."

"Won't Wily be there?"

"No, Wily stays in his lab. Elec Man's in charge of security and surveillance."

The hallway ended in a small room containing a group of identical hollow devices along its walls. "What are these?" Mega Man asked.

"Teleport hatches. It's how Wily's robots get around. We'll use them to get through the tiers."

Mega Man looked at the white cylinder uneasily. It looked horribly familiar. "Hope I don't run into Snake Man while using one of these."

"You won't. Or at least I think you won't, he's suppose to be stationed in Brazil." Roll gave him a sever look. "Don't be a baby, they're safe. Wily's bots used them all the time."

"I just don't want to come out the other end in someone else's body," said Mega Man, smiling playfully at Roll.

"Well wouldn't that be terrible! You'd lose precious weapon copy ability, wouldn't you?" Roll replied nastily. "But on the upside, maybe Dr. Wily will go after the wrong Mega Man and you'll be safe."

Roll wasn't in the mood for jokes. "Right," Mega Man said quietly.

Roll pointed at the top of the teleport hatches where a stripe of light was visible. "The purple teleport hatches are all interconnected inside Wily Castle. The gray teleport hatches are used as emergency exits and teleport the passenger outside. Ignore the other colors, I don't know where they go." She stepped inside one of the purple teleport hatches. "Meet you in the control room!" she said as the door slid closed and she vanished in a flash of white light. Mega Man chose a different purple teleport hatch, Rush at his side, and after taking a deep breath, teleported.


Roll hadn't been kidding when she said Wily Castle was booby-trapped. Each teleport hatch lead to a new level that Mega Man had to navigate safely before reaching the next teleport hatch. Some levels contained platforms that snapped in half dropping occupants into rivers of molten steel or walls of fire that leapt unexpectedly from the floor. Others had narrow pipes that spewed hostile robotic worms, or spike traps that fell from the ceiling, crushing whatever was unlucky enough to be caught underneath. Twice, he thought he heard the squeak of a battonton, but never saw one, though he did find a few robot sentinels with limited AI that he was able to take out using his buster. One teleport hatch opened up directly into a brick tunnel filled with water and robotic sharks.

He still hadn't run into any Robot Masters, but he did find a curious room that contained a myriad of colored teleport hatches stacked in columns of three, which robot drones were flitting between. Mega Man and Rush hid in this room for a few moments to observe the odd assortment of robots, which ranged in all sizes and shapes from springs to mechanical bees with sharp steel stingers. Mega Man concluded it was teleport hub. He watched as an oversized walking grenade used a magnetic generator on a wall to project platforms that hung suspended in air to access out of reach teleport hatches. Curious, Mega Man copied the data of the odd magnetic projector obtaining energy for an item called Magnet Beam. Then, when the coast was clear, they entered the only purple teleport hatch.

The next level was lined with five foot long spikes, which Mega Man avoided using Rush's jetmode. As they sailed through the passageway, Mega Man felt his worries lift a little bit, knowing that they had to be close to the control room now, the teleport hatch was just ahead—

KABOOM!

Mega Man was thrown from Rush, smashing painfully into a metal wall and falling to the floor.

"Huh, I can usually blast a bot in one hit. So it's true, the blue dweeb's returned from the scrapheap!" croaked a familiar voice. Bomb Man stood before him, juggling a hissing Hyper Bomb from hand to hand. "It's a shame to to destroy an old pal, but orders are orders, and you are an intruder in Wily Castle. I don't write the rules."

Mega Man struggled into a sitting position, lights flashing in his eyes as Bomb Man lobbed the bomb. With a growl, Rush scrambled to his feet and lunged forward. "Rush, wait!"

Rush caught the Hyper Bomb midair and bounded toward Bomb Man. There was another KABOOM joined by a piercing howl. Bomb Man fell backward with a thud, his eyes staring blankly at the ceiling. Rush had been thrown into a corner, and lay in a crumpled heap.

"Rush…" Mega Man whispered, bending over his damaged dog. Rush gave a weak whimper. He rose, but teetered unsteadily on his paws. "It's okay boy...go back to Dr. Light, he'll fix you up."

Mega Man watched Rush disappear in a flash of light through a gray teleport hatch. Steeling himself against the prickling sense of worry, he hurried to the adjacent purple teleport hatch, pausing only to collect the devastating Hyper Bomb from Bomb Man's prone form.


The passageway leading to the control room appeared bottomless; Mega Man tested this by dropping a screw into its depths. A pit in a flying fortress should open up to the city below, but instead he stared into ominous black void, strings of electricity dancing across it at irregular intervals.

Mega Man wished he still had Rush's jetmode. As it was, he'd have to improvise. He decided to try out his latest acquisition, the Magnet Beam. He fired it experimentally and a pearly white square materialized midair. Mega Man hesitated at first to step on to the unsupported platform, but it felt solid under his weight, and used the Magnet Beam to create hovering stepping stones. As he crossed the pit, the used platforms disappeared silently in his wake.

The passageway dead-ended into the control room, a wide opening beneath Mega Man's suspended platforms. Elec Man sat at a desk, a thicket of computer screens surrounding him, all showing various angles of Wily Castle. He seemed apathetic to the warnings flashing across their screens of intruders or that his fellow Robot Masters were being attacked. Instead, his gazed fixed on a small screen in front of him where he was playing Hearts, his head resting listlessly against his hand.

Playing games on the job, Mega Man thought with a smirk as he leapt silently to perch on an outcropping from the wall. Well, no wonder I haven't had too much trouble with Dr. Wily getting here—

Something had moved beneath him. Elec Man's head snapped up. Like a black streak he leapt the distance of the room to the door, his chair whirling in place behind him. His red hands lashed out in front of him with an earsplitting crackle as white lighting blazed from his fingers into the doorway.

The blackened husk of a battonton dropped to the floor. It squeaked pitifully at Elec Man's feet, its red ripstop wings twitching. Elec Man's eyes swept the bottomless passageway, fully alert, then looked down at the helpless spy bat. He wrinkled his nose before nudging it with the toe of his boot over the edge, where it fell screeching into the abyss below. He then returned to his computer, settling down with a sigh.

Mega Man's pulsar pulse hammered. He had flattened himself against the wall during the commotion, but Elec Man hadn't noticed him. Suddenly Mega Man felt glad he had not confronted the bored android, uncertain if he would have won a fight with him.

Elec Man had lifted his communicator to his mouth. "Elec Man to Dr. Wily," he spoke into it. Silence. Elec Man tapped his finger impatiently against the desk. "Dr. Wily, pick up, an intruder has breeched the second tier—"

"Outbound transmissions from the control room have been suspended," interrupted an automated voice from Elec Man's computer.

"Outbound transmissions have been—Who authorized that?" Elec Man muttered incredulously.

At that moment, Roll dropped from the ceiling. Neither Elec Man nor Mega Man had known she was there. As she landed, Elec Man sprang from his seat, his hands about to discharge lighting, but he was too late—Roll had already fired something at him. A spherical capsule burst and a vibrant red glob smelling strongly like rubber cement splatted against Elec Man's chest. Elec Man struggled as the sticky substance glued his arms against his side and began to stiffen, then went still as Roll held a rotary saw to his neck. "Alright pretty boy, you know the drill!"

Elec Man stepped away from the computer terminal, glaring at Roll as she followed his movement closely with her utility arm. Mega Man dropped into the control room and hurried forward to join her.

"Took ya long enough," Roll grumbled. "If I had waited any longer, Elec Man might have fixed the control room's transmissions."

"Roll, what's this red goop?" Mega Man asked, inspecting the mysterious substance curiously.

"Don't touch it! It's industrial strength super-setting Dino Tar," Roll warned, "Bonds instantly on contact. Pfister Mining & Manufacturing developed it as an adhesive used in aerospace engineering. Best of all, it's an insulator, which means no more Thunder Beam."

"Very clever," Mega Man said admiringly. "Well, since he can't use Thunder Beam—" Mega Man carefully placed two fingers on a part of Elec Man's shoulder that wasn't covered in Dino Tar and absorbed his weapon.

"Smart using a spy-bat as a decoy while you sabotaged my communicator," Elec Man said in a haughty, nasally voice. He glanced at Roll. "I wouldn't have imagined ingenuity possible from you. So, a dozen failed fortress assaults still hasn't been enough humiliation for you yet?" He winced as Roll gave his shin a brutal kick.

"What's the safest way through the inner tier?" asked Mega Man.

"I'm programmed to obey Wily, you dolt, I can't tell you that."

"Don't waste your time, Mega. We'll get everything we need from the computer," said Roll. "And since he's not needed…"

She began to drive Elec Man towards the level's bottomless pit. Realizing with a flash of horror what Roll was about to do, Mega Man ran forward to grab his sister's arm. "Wait, don't kill him!"

"Why not?"

"He's defenseless!" Mega Man sputtered. "When I fought Wily I never destroyed any of his Bad-bots, if I could I'd have taken them all to Dr. Light to be reprogrammed!"

Roll gave Mega Man a steely look. "It's not like that anymore, Mega, and I know what you're thinking, but this isn't Time Man or even Dr. Light's Robot Masters; Elec Man's never been good—!"

"I don't care, it's not right," Mega Man cut her off stubbornly.

They glared at each other for a moment. Elec Man didn't look remotely grateful that Mega Man had intervened on his behalf, having the same resigned air of someone called away from a tedious task by an annoying distraction.

"Fine," Roll said after a moment. She shot another Dino Tar capsule at Elec Man's face, who gave an 'Mmph!' as his jaw glued shut. His pale eyes cast Roll an extremely dirty look as she shoved him into a supply cabinet and wedged a steel rod through the door's handles. "That'll hold him." She looked around. "Where's Rush?"

"He got damaged while fighting Bomb Man, I told him to go back to Dr. Light."

"Oh super, we could have really used his jetmode on the way back...But it was genius of you to jam outbound transmissions at least," she congratulated airily.

Mega Man stared blankly back at her. "I didn't jam it, I thought you did."

"Oh well...lucky then." Roll said dissmissevly. "Let's see if we can hack into the security feed of the room Elec Man was trying to call…" she murmured, tapping at Elec Man's vacated computer counsel.

"Um...Roll," Mega Man began in a very low, tentative voice, glancing pointedly at the supply cabinet. "You never dated him, did you?"

"Who, Elec Man? You gotta be kidding me, he's totally stuck up! I doubt he's even into girls," Roll said loudly, apparently uncaring if Elec Man overheard this conversation. Mega Man wasn't completely reassured by this answer. "That's Wily's lab," she whispered as she pulled up a grainy video feed onto the monitor.

The laboratory looked at first similar to the control room, but it was grander, with characteristics of a war room. A miniature holographic city sat on a round table and paper thin monitors displaying digital maps of the world stretched the walls, red dots flashing at the capitals. Supercomputers and surveillance devices wrapped around the adjacent wall of the laboratory. The wall on the other side opened into a vast, blackened space, presumably an adjoining warehouse, but Mega Man couldn't be sure.

The stooped form of Dr. Wily was easy to spot under his white lab coat. His head looked like a giant talking walnut wreathed in grizzly white hair, two beady blue eyes glaring out of black, sunken sockets. The appearance was slightly comical, contrasting drastically with the portraits around the empire which depicted a younger Dr. Wily. Apparently ruling the world gave had him vigor in old age, for he still had the same energy of youth, and hobbled from monitor to monitor using an aluminum cane.

Proto Man sat on the edge of a computer server watching Dr. Wily, his arms folded across his chest. They hadn't expected him to be here too. Mega Man glanced at Roll and saw a snarl fix on her face. He knew Proto Man's presence jeopardized their mission, yet he couldn't block the guilty feeling that he wasn't as upset to see Proto Man as Roll was.

Dr. Wily stopped in front of a blank central computer monitor. "Overseer 524, report the status of the Robot Manufacturing Plant," he growled to it.

A rotund android with gray skin and a mustache of iron wire appeared on the screen, his visage a parody of a human boss of the past. He gave Dr. Wily an enthusiastic salute, a Wily insignia pinned proudly to his collared shirt. "Everything's on schedule, Lord Wily. Your robot security force will be ready for shipment any time now."

Behind him lay the interior of a dimly lit factory. Gray robed figures hunched over the tangle of conveyer belts winding below, each working frantically on an assembly line of new cop-bots.

"Good. Make sure their net cannons are tested for compressor flaws before they are sent out, I'll have new work orders soon." Dr. Wily dismissed the robotic overseer and began tabbing between different security cameras in the Robot Manufacturing Plant. His shriveled face scrutinized the images of his most loyal supporters with deep disgust as he eavesdropped in on their conversations. "Why do they talk like that, Proto? Exchanging the 'w's in words for 'v's and etcetera. They sound ridiculous, like the nasty little boys who teased me in primary school!"

Proto Man gave a slight shrug. "I don't think they're making fun of you, Doc. They're trying to flatter you."

"I sound nothing like that!" Dr. Wily said hotly. "They have no idea what it's like to be me, no one does! I think I'll of triple their work shifts, just to teach them not to act like idiots!" Dr. Wily kneaded the wrinkles on his forehead. "What would they be doing if I hadn't taken over?" he asked, pacing from screen to screen, his cane clicking noisily against the tiled floor. "I haven't vanquished the spirit of the human race yet. They still don't appreciate all I've done for them, how much better the world is now that I make all their decisions. I know those cockroaches are planning a nasty human uprising at this very moment!"

While Wily paced, Proto Man mimed checking a watch. Mega Man almost laughed aloud at his rudeness. The gesture didn't go unnoticed by Dr. Wily, who rounded angrily on him. "You are unconcerned, Proto? You think it a wasted effort doubling the cop-bot patrols in the streets?"

"I just think you're making a big deal out of nothing," Proto Man replied calmly.

"Nothing?" Dr. Wily's nostrils flared, brandishing his cane at Proto Man's chest. "We fought tooth and nail to build this empire! You better than anyone should understand the peril we are in! Of all the times I repaired you—saved you from the brink of powering down permanently!—I think you would be less complacent about your own mortality!"

"What fun's a world without nasty uprisings? I want action."

"If you are so bored, go under cover. Get chummy with the rebels and find out where their bases are."

"I brought you those two Umlauf brats."

"Whatever use they were," Dr. Wily muttered, turning away from Proto Man. "Just a pair of blubbering idiots. Knew nothing about the rebellion."

This was the first time Mega Man had ever observed Dr. Wily and Proto Man alone together. He was pleased to see that Proto Man didn't let Dr. Wily order him around (though Mega Man had expected no less). Instead, Dr. Wily treated Proto Man like a lazy teenager who wouldn't apply himself, while Proto Man seemed to regard Dr. Wily's manic ravings with amusement.

"But I know the humans are planning on uprising," Dr. Wily resumed, his face darkening. "The pieces are falling into place. Light's meddling blue bomber has returned from the dead…from that night, thirty years ago, when he disappeared. He was as good as destroyed! How he hid all these years from the eyes of my spy-bats I don't know, and now that he's back, he's already broken himself, Light, and his wretched robotic allies out of Robo-Prison Island. If that wasn't enough, he also released the other prisoners, leaving a mess for the robo-jailers. The humans whisper of a blue savior, one who'll bring me down! How could you have taken him there, boy? You should have brought him directly to me…" Dr. Wily moaned, tearing at his hair. "Sometimes I think your head is full of tin!"

Proto Man didn't look remotely abashed at what Dr. Wily seemed to feel was a huge oversight in his judgement. "They wouldn't have escaped if you had built stronger jailers."

"Don't you understand what this means?" Dr. Wily spat, his eyes popping. "He intends to ruin me! He'll be here next!"

"Why would he come here? It's suicide."

"He doesn't care how dangerous it is! He never did, that titanium nitwit was almost as bad as you when it came to self-preservation! He'll be here, he'll be armed, and he's coming for me. I can feel he's already here, watching me…"

Proto Man sighed. "Don't you think you're acting a little paranoid, Wily? A fly can't make it through the grid without our security scanners picking it up. If he was here, you'd know."

"I'm not taking any chances, no one will take Dr. Wily for a fool in his old age! Mega Man's allies will pay dearly for their treachery," Dr. Wily growled, leaning closer to his central computer monitor, the crime profiles of Percival, Jett, Bobby, and other Underground Alliance members now blanketing the screen. "No one gets away with crossing me, no one! Perhaps I have been too lenient, perhaps decognition is not a sufficient punishment...if only I still had my super shrink ray..."

Proto Man seemed to have lost interest in Dr. Wily's rant, his gaze sliding idly to a red light that had been blinking persistently on a handheld device next to him. He pressed a button at its side and the blinking ceased, then he slid off the computer terminal and strode toward a teleport hatch at the end of the room.

"Where are you going?" Dr. Wily demanded.

"Out."

Dr. Wily watched Proto Man disappear in a flash of light, then turned to the table with the holographic city, muttering darkly to himself.

Roll closed the video feed from Dr. Wily's laboratory. "Good, Wily doesn't know we're here yet and Proto Man's leaving. Now's our chance," she hissed as she accessed the computer's root directory and opened a map of Wily Castle. "There's the path through the last tier," she said, tracing her finger in a zig-zag line. "Got it memorized?

"Yeah."

"Then let's get going."

As they passed the supply closet, they heard a muffled thud against the door, as though it had been kicked from the inside.

"Oh quit complaining," Roll said, punching the door back.


Mega Man felt inexplicably reassured after watching the video feed, realizing he had never been afraid of Dr. Wily and their mission wasn't so difficult after all. He and Roll had just stepped out of a purple teleport hatch, when Roll suddenly whirled on the spot and kicked its door, leaving a deep, boot-sized dent. "I hate him! I hate him so much!"

"Who, Wily?" Mega Man asked distractedly. He turned to look at her and saw her lean against the teleport hatch, trembling.

"Why did everything have to be like this!" she shouted, hitting the teleport chamber again.

The reassured feeling was gone. "Roll, I'm so sorry—" Mega Man began, reaching for Roll's shoulder.

Roll slapped him away. "Stop it Mega, it's not your fault, it's Proto's, don't you get it?! If he…if he..." she stopped in mid sentence, looking confused.

Mega Man dropped his smarting hand, flummoxed. Then he remembered Proto Man mentioning an argument between himself an Roll. "Roll...why do you want to kill Proto Man so much? What did he say to you?"

"Why don't you want to kill him? He'd kill you."

"Because he's our brother, even if he doesn't know how to act like one. Family first."

Roll was glowering at him. "You just...you just don't understand."

"I don't understand what?"

Roll looked confused again. She slid down the teleport hatch, coming to a rest on the floor, her hands on her knees. "Why do you have to be so good?" she demanded, her eyes flashed up at him accusingly.

"I'm not!" Mega Man protested. "I make mistakes, just like everyone else! Remember when I helped Dr. Wily attack Washington?"

"Even then it was for noble reasons," Roll said bitterly. "You thought what you were doing was right. Sparing Time Man, sparing Elec Man—I bet you'd spare Wily too."

A chill ran down Mega Man's cybernetic spine. "Roll, we need Wily alive. He's the only one who can call off the robots. If he dies while they're still under his control—I'm not sure we'll ever win."

"I know that!" Roll snapped, but she was looking defiant.

He didn't reply to this. He could sense the rift between him and Roll again. They could shout at each other, but they'd never be on the same terms again. Some things couldn't be mended.


The last room of the outer tier ended in another teleport hub, but unlike the one Mega Man encountered before, the teleport hatches in this room looked unused, cut off from a power source. "There, that's the one we want!" Roll said, pointing to a teleport hatch within an alcove on the other side of the room. They darted forward towards it, when suddenly two figures leapt out of trap doors in the floor, blocking their path.

"You gotta get through us to get in there!" jeered Guts Man, hefting his large fists.

"But if you're looking for Wily Castle's scrapheap, I can show you a shortcut," Cut Man joined in with a wheezy laugh, punctuating himself with a swift clack from his head shear.

Mega Man groaned. "Wily's still uses Cut Man and Guts Man for bodyguards?"

"The new and improved Guts Man! We're taking you prisoner!" Guts Man bellowed.

Mega Man opened fire, but Guts Man caught his golden plasma blast as if it were a tennis ball and threw it back, striking Mega Man down with his own weapon. "Useless," Roll hissed at his side. As Gut Man howled with laughter, Roll fired the super weapon in her utility arm, and both were blasted backward five feet.

"Hey!" Guts Man yelled indignantly, a hole as large as a trash can blasted in his chest. He began to flail like a turtle on its back trying to roll himself upward again.

Cut Man darted forward. "Let's see how you do against kung-fu Cut Man!" he cried, his arms sweeping in wild circles through the air before locking into a straight backed position, his hand slicing through the air in a vicious chop. "YAH!"

Roll sprang from the floor to her feet in one motion. "This one's mine!" she said fiercely, mirroring Cut Man with a kung fu stance of her own. Her movements fast and sharp, infinitely more intricate than Cut Man's maneuver, and finished by crouching low to the ground with her feet wide apart and her hands curled before her like claws.

Cut Man's eye twitched, and instead of using martial arts let loose a Rolling Cutter. It whizzed through the air as Roll dodged, but her ponytail swung in the way and with a clean snip! the light blonde end fell to the floor in a heap.

Roll froze, her face stricken, a hand running through her blunt ponytail. Then her face contorted in rage. "NO ONE GIVES ME A BAD HAIRCUT," she shrieked.

"Roll, wait!" Mega Man called, but Roll had already lunged after Cut Man, presumably to tear him apart limb from limb. Crazy or not, Roll can look after herself. She always could, Mega Man reasoned, and he sat down and watched Roll defeat the Robot Masters with unnecessary force, until both lay at her feet, out like lights. Roll was breathing heavily, her shoulders rising in falling in sharp heaves.

"Well, aren't you going to take their weapons?" she panted, shooting Mega Man an impatient look.

Mega Man meekly stooped over Cut Man and Guts Man, copying Rolling Cutter and Super Arm respectively. He then glanced at the inner tier's teleport hatch tucked in its alcove, wondering what could be left to face. But as he turned toward it, Roll began walking in a different direction.

"Roll, where are you going? The inner tier is this way," he called after her.

"Hold your horses, I saw something we need on the map," she answered, a slightly feral glint to her eyes as she disappeared through another teleport hatch. Mega Man frowned. The other teleport hatches had been deactivated when they first entered the room, when had that one turned back on? He waited uneasily for a few minutes, wondering if he should go after her, when she reappeared, carrying something large in her arms.

"Here, it's Stone Man's weapon," she said dully, dropping a large disembodied arm at Mega Man's feet. Mega Man looked down at it with shock and revulsion. Roll gave a heavy sigh. "I didn't kill him if that's what you're worried about."

Mega Man looked at her warily, but decided she was being honest and copied Power Stone. "Thanks, now let's get going."

But Roll grabbed Mega Man's arm. "Wait, not yet. Air Man is at the other end of that teleport hatch. I know I can get his weapon too."

Mega Man stared at the teleport hatch Roll was pointing to. "That teleporter wasn't working just a few seconds ago. I don't think it's a good idea."

"Of course it's a good idea, the more weapons you've got, the better!"

"No. We don't need to provoke any more unnecessary fights. We're wasting our chance at Wily."

"It'll only take a second, Mega."

"Roll, please, let's just go," Mega Man said urgently, pulling away from Roll and stalking stubbornly toward the inner tier's teleport hatch. He realized his mistake too late, as soon as he entered the alcove, a gate fell behind him like a portcullis, locking him inside and Roll out.

Roll pounded against the gate from the other side. Then there was a muffled explosion. "Ugh, it's made of giga steel, I can't blast through it!" she called in frustration.

Mega Man examined the area around the gate. "There's no way for me to open it from this side either. Damn it, I shouldn't have gone forward without you."

"Mega...there aren't any gray teleport hatches in the inner tier...the only way out is through Wily."

There was a pause as the situation sank in. Mega Man would have to go on alone. "I'll be okay, I've got five Master Weapons now," Mega Man said. "Make sure Rush made it to the Underground Alliance's base okay. No matter what happens...take care of Dad, understand?"

There was a heavy silence. "It would have been nice if we could all hang out together," Roll said finally.

"Who?"

"Me, you, and Proto."

"Oh." Mega Man didn't know what else to say, he hadn't expected this.

"He was always nice to me, even when he teased me…but Proto never quit working for Wily. He never will."

There was another long pause.

"So long, Mega Man," Roll whispered.

"Yeah," Mega Man replied, his voice oddly constricted.

For some reason, a proper goodbye seemed inappropriate.


The defenses in the inner tier were more dangerous than those before. The first teleport hatch lead to a tight pass filled with hundreds of self-propelled drills that bored out from the ceilings and floors to pierce intruders. The next lead to hallway whose ceilings leaked drips of blood-colored acid, and the level after that was filled with blazing force beams that Mega Man had outrun before they vaporized him whole. In nearly every level lay hologram traps that concealed deadly pitfalls, and Mega Man became accustomed to carrying a stray bolt with him to test floors for solidness before venturing out onto them. Hyper Bomb became useful to break apart walls and uncover shortcuts. He saw no trace of the scientists Dr. Wily was holding prisoner.

The levels were also packed with many more robotic sentries, which he invariably began to resort to Master Weapons to take out faster than his plasma cannon alone. The power of the Thunder Beam was especially addictive. It felt warm as it danced between his hands and was easy to direct, and cooked most robots in one shot.

Despite these challenges, his progress through the inner tier went well until he reached a level where the robot drones were packed in so thickly that he had to stop and consider how he would cross this particularly treacherous hallway. He knew if he revealed himself, the robot drones would swarm upon him like piranhas to a t-bone steak. The Thunder Beam could take care of a few dozen of the propeller robots, but that still left hundreds more, plus the whirling disks with razor sharp edges zig-zagging across the floor, the worm dispensers, the wall-mounted cannons, the walking grenades and flying rockets, the scuttling crabs with diamond bladed claws, and much, much more.

While Mega Man pondered his options, he heard what he though sounded like a whistle. Mega Man whirled, blaster raised, but saw no one. Then he noticed a service ladder just out of reach above his head leading up through a hole in the ceiling.

How had he not seen it before? Mega Man considered the ladder, wondering what he should do now—continue into the hall and certain death, or climb the ladder, which might also be a trap. Mega Man didn't like leaving his fate up to chance. The ladder wasn't part of the route Roll had shown him, but he didn't really have a choice.

He leapt for the ladder, his fingertips just barely catching the bottom rung. Then he ascended, leaving the robot infested hallway behind to pass through a narrow service shaft and into a new hallway above. Mega Man strained his senses, searching the room with his eyes while tuning his ear plate receptors to their maximum, yet felt he was alone here. There were no enemies in this room. It was completely boxed off, the only way out aside from the service ladder was a ledge some hundred feet above him. Then Mega Man noticed something else.

"What the…?" He muttered aloud as a blue cube the size of a crate suddenly appeared midair with a pop, then disappeared a few seconds later with a hiss. Another block appeared a few feet away from it, then two more, until the room was filled with the strange disappearing and reappearing blocks. Mega Man couldn't imagine the purpose of these. He watched them for a moment in awe, then concluded that he could use them to reach the ledge.

It was much easier said then done. Though the blocks appeared at predictable intervals, they seemed to vanish a second sooner than what Mega Man was prepared for, and he found himself crashing to the floor over and over again as the block he had been jumping toward vanished, forcing him to start over from a beginning. Finally, feeling battered and with bruised pride, Mega Man clambered onto the ledge, then stopped, beholding what lay on the other side.

An endless abyss identical to the one in the control room stretched the size of a football field, containing another cloud of vanishing blocks. "You've got to be kidding me…"

He watched the vanishing blocks for several minutes. It was possible to cross the room if he timed his jumps correctly—of course it was possible, Dr. Wily would want to make sure to give the intruder hope, to lure him into the death trap. Once again Mega Man wished Rush was still with him (he had no desire to venture out onto the blocks) and he was out of the useful Magnet Beam. But after studying the blocks pattern, he felt confident he could do it.

But as soon as he stepped on the first block and saw the blackness yawn below him, he began to panic, and leapt from the block too soon to another block which was about to vanish. There was nothing for it but to keep jumping. He leapt from block to block like a frightened cricket, feeling a terrible swooping sensation every time he jumped with the block hissing to nothing behind him.

He was almost there. Just a few more blocks. One vanished beneath his feet as soon as he landed, but as he plummeted his flailing arm caught the corner of another block by his pinky before swinging onto the ledge, sticking his landing with a heavy thud. He froze for a moment, watching the vanishing blocks disappear and reappear innocently behind him, his pulsar pulse still hammering, but then grinned wildly. He had made it. He had crossed the death trap all by himself.


After leaving the room with the vanishing blocks behind him, Mega Man was about to turn the corner and find the teleport hatch when he froze, hearing voices.

"—so then I told her, 'Look, babe, I'd like to spend all day at Wily Tropical Resorts and Day Spa soaking up rays with you, but I just don't have time. Too many fans, not enough Gryo Man.' Then she threw some kinda knife at me and told me to die in a electromagnetic field. So I said 'My bad,' and ducked under a skull tank for cover. Guess she didn't like heavy metal or whatever we're famous for."

A wicked cackled bubbled up at the end of this story. Mega Man crept carefully around the corner, spying the Robot Masters formally known as Cold Steel standing idly in the next room. Gyro Man was speaking energetically to Spark Man while Gemini Man leaned against a wall with a scowl on his thin face. Mega Man sprang into the room, taking them by surprise and blasting each with the remainder of his Time Slow energy. The Robot Masters instantly froze, Gyro Man toppling over onto his propellers, his arms frozen where they had been gesturing for part of his story.

Mega Man hurried forward to collect Gryo Attack, Gemini Laser, but was momentarily waylaid from reaching Spark Man's weapon when a sudden jolt of electricity burst unexpectedly from the tip of one of his needles.

"Sorry, that sometimes happens," Spark Man said as Mega Man cautiously approached him again and took his weapon.

"That's Mega Man, you idiot! We're not suppose to let him through!" snapped Gemini Man, who was frozen with his arms still folded across his chest.

"Oh yeah…"

"Thanks for the weapons fellas, I'll be sure to tell Wily you said 'hi'!" Mega Man said with a grin as he left the frozen Robot Masters behind.

"This is seriously not cool dude," Gyro Man complained from the floor as Gemini Man let out a slur of rude insults directed at everyone.


Mega Man came upon one last set of vanishing blocks over a pit of spikes on his way out of the inner tier, but this time used Gyro Attack to produce a propeller on his back and fly safely over the spiked pit, completely avoiding using the blocks at all. It was the last obstacle of the inner tier, the only thing left was to pass through a sliding gate leading outside.

Between the inner tier and Dr. Wily's laboratory lay a wide trench filled with silvery sand that had accumulated over time as dust became trapped between the buildings. Ahead, Mega Man could see the back Dr. Wily's laboratory, a cathedral-sized building with a skull-shaped dome.

He stepped from the gate into the soft pale sand. There weren't any obstacles here. This area was a blind spot, the one weakness they could find on the map completely unprotected or observed by Dr. Wily's robots, but Mega Man knew it couldn't be this easy. His journey through Wily Castle felt too convenient, almost orchestrated. Someone wanted him here.

He heard the low whistle again. Proto Man was sitting on the outer wall of Dr. Wily's laboratory, looking down at Mega Man with a blank face. "It's just you and me, Mega," he said quietly, raising his hands to show he had no weapon.

"You look like you're expecting me," Mega Man said light and conversationally, but his blaster arm's finger twitched nervously.

"I've known you were here since you used my password on the back gate."

So the password slip had been deliberate, Proto Man had expected Mega Man to break out of Robo-Prison Island and assault Wily Castle. But despite this preparation Proto Man did not look happy to see him. "So you've been waiting for me to get here," said Mega Man.

"Not exactly. I used a battonton to watch you until Elec Man destroyed it. Then I followed you through the inner tier."

This was too much. Mega Man felt a stab of anger. "You were shadowing me? But why didn't you show yourself? I could have died!" he shouted, thinking back to the vanishing blocks.

"I wanted to see you make it on your own, but I wouldn't have let you die."

Mega Man stared at Proto Man. "You've been helping me this whole time, from rescuing us from the cop-bots to dropping me off at Robo-Prison Island so I could find Dr. Light and Roll. You were the one who blocked the control room's outbound transmissions, and then made sure Roll couldn't follow me into the third tier, and...I bet you convinced Wily to let Dr. Light keep his mind."

Proto Man's face hardened a little at this. "Don't misunderstand, I wasn't helping you so much as keeping you out of trouble."

"Why haven't you turned me into Dr. Wily yet? You would have killed me back then."

"Yeah. We only knew each other for a short time...I never guessed how much you being gone would change me."

Mega Man's anger abated, accepting Proto Man's enigmatic answer as the truth. Proto Man slipped from the wall, landing silently into the sand between Mega Man and Dr. Wily's laboratory. "I know what you're trying to do. It won't work, yet you came anyway. So...are you looking for a fight?"

"No, I need your help."

Proto Man drew up, becoming very severe. "You can't rely on me like this, I'm not on your side."

"Proto Man, please…I'm desperate."

"You're a dweeb."

"You're the only one who can help me."

"I'm not interested in reforming."

Mega Man half expected Proto Man to draw a blaster at this point, but he held his ground. "Believe me, if you haven't reformed in thirty years, I don't think you ever will," he said hastily, but his thoughts were whirling excitedly. Proto Man was here. Proto Man hadn't attacked him yet. He had to take advantage of this, Mega Man knew what he needed from his older brother more than anything else."I want you to train me. Teach me how to fight."

Proto Man was still. Mega Man recognized his expression as the same one he had before dropping Mega Man off at Robo-Prison Island. He was calculating something, measuring Mega Man. Mega Man could now truly appreciate what time had done to Proto Man. He seemed so...serious. It didn't quite suit him, Mega Man decided, but it was an improvement from the Proto Man he had met on Mount Shasta.

"I have a lot of time, and so do you," Mega Man spoke quietly. "C'mon Proto. I know you've always wanted to."

Proto Man was still considering him. Mega Man watched his own face in his visor, determined and steadfast.

Then the corners of Proto Man's mouth lifted into a reluctant smile. "Alright, one hour."


They stood apart from each other in the trench, a mound of sand between them, fists raised.

"Watch where your opponent holds his weight," Proto Man instructed.

Mega Man obeyed, glancing at Proto Man's red boots shifting silently in the sand, then felt a sharp jab under his chin that sent him stumbling backward."Hey, you punched me!"

"Don't look down. Keep your eyes on your opponent."

"You just told me to watch where he's holding his weight!"

"Always look your opponent in the eye while fighting. They're first to betray what he's thinking."

"But I can't see your eyes."

"Doesn't matter, watch my face then."

Mega Man sighed then concentrated on Proto Man's masked face, and this time lifted an arm to block Proto Man's punch.

"There, you're getting it," Proto Man said, smiling. "No big deal, right?"

Mega Man grinned back. "I can't believe N.Y.P.D. never taught me this."

"They taught you how to fight ordinary robots...but we're not ordinary." Proto Man moved to throw another punch, but it was a feint and while Mega Man shielded his face Proto Man kicked his legs out from underneath him. "It's all about reading your opponent and being smarter."

"I want to fight fairly," Mega Man replied edgily from where he had fallen, spitting out a mouthful of sand.

"Well, you've come to the wrong bot, I don't fight fairly."

Mega Man thought about this for a moment, still indignant about Proto Man's trick, than relaxed, a smile creeping across his face. "I could grab you by the scarf."

"You can try. Get up."

The practice gradually grew rougher, Mega Man struggling to keep up with Proto Man's pace. Once Proto Man had started training him, he began pushing Mega Man very hard, refusing to let him rest until he performed each fighting technique properly, and the session went on much longer than an hour. Mega Man wasn't going to complain. This was fun. He was getting pointers from the best fighter in the world, and he was determined to master everything Proto Man taught him.

"What do you think about when fighting a robot more powerful than yourself?" Proto Man drawing his blaster for the first time.

Mega Man eyed Proto Man's plasma cannon cautiously. "That I'll do my best to protect those I care about, but I'm probably gunna die."

"Wrong. If you really care about what you're fighting for, you can't accept defeat as an option. You decide if you're the winner, not your opponent."

Proto Man leapt effortlessly across the trench, firing down at Mega Man. Mega Man skidded quickly across the sand to avoid the plasma barrage, but did not return fire, careful to preserve his own plasma reserves. "It's not that simple."

"Yes it is. Trust me, I know."

"Don't tell me, self-determination?" Mega Man lunged at Proto Man with a swift uppercut, but Proto Man seemed to have springs attached to his feet as he leapt once more out of harm's way.

"Something like that," he said pleasantly. He continued to spar by leaping forward and backward and from side to side across the trench like a red blur, the grace and deadliness of a cheetah, impossible to catch. "I've fought every known Robot Master. I know all their moves, all their tricks."

"See, this isn't fair—" Mega Man stammered, doing his best to dodge. "I don't have anyone to fight against."

"So go watch a kung-fu movie with Roll sometime. She's a kung-fu master."

"I'm not going to train with Roll."

"Why not?"

"Because she's gone off the deep end, and even if she hadn't, she's still too aggres—" Mega Man stopped talking. He had lost sight of Proto Man, nor could he hear him. He knew when he couldn't see or hear Proto Man to expect an attack, and brought both arms up just in time to deflect a super shot, which ricocheted into the sand and fizzled into a long black streak.

Proto Man reappeared at his side. "Almost caught you off guard," he laughed.

Mega Man laughed too. "Nah, you're just getting rusty with age."

"Pshhh." Proto Man changed his blaster back into a hand. "Hey, there's something I gotta tell you about your helmet. The ear plates is where the bomber armor links directly with our electronic brain, and is our one true vulnerability. A concussive force to the side of the helmet will send a signal overload through the wires into your processor, blacks you out for a minute." Proto Man demonstrated in slow motion, his knuckles tapping Mega Man's ear plate lightly. "You could call it a design flaw."

"Hey, that happened to me once...the brass pedestal back in the room with chronitons hit me there," Mega Man mused. He decided file this information away in his memory banks. It might come in handy someday. "You said it only takes a strong concussive force to the head? You mean like this?" Mega Man asked as he aimed a judo chop at Proto Man's helmet.

Proto Man's face momentarily fell in surprise but blocked Mega Man's sneak attack in time. They both laughed. "Now who's getting caught off guard?"

"Nice try, but too slow." Proto Man was smiling, half exasperated yet half proud. He gave a nod of approval. "You're already a lot better. A little less clumsy and a lot more confident."

"Still not as good as you."

"Well…I'm thirty years older than you." He sat down cross-legged in the sand, his back to Dr. Wily's laboratory. Mega Man slumped down next to him, glad for the rest. They sat like that for awhile, neither talking, listening to the wind whining over Wily Castle. Mega Man felt good, better than he had felt in a long time. This was how it was suppose to be.

"You know, I always thought you were kinda a nerd, but you're alright," Proto Man said, breaking the silence.

"Thanks, means a lot coming from an old phony-baloney like you."

"Don't make me stick your head in a crunchran pipe."

"A what?"

"It's a ground defense mechanism Wily built, kinda like a big yellow bear trap."

"Oh." Mega Man snickered. "So are we going to continue training, or is that all you got, old timer?"

Proto Man shook his head slowly. "You're always seeking guidance, but you've got to learn to be on your own. I'm not always going to be there."

Mega Man attempted an airy laugh, but felt an uncomfortable sinking sensation. "What do you mean you won't be there?"

"If everything works out for you, I'm gunna disappear."

Mega Man started a little, the sinking feeling bordering on distress. "What? Why?"

There was a faint smile on Proto Man's face. "Everything's gotta change. You're changing. I've had my time, and that's how things are."

Mega Man didn't like the crypticness in Proto Man's voice. "I gotta ask...why won't you change? Wily doesn't control you—"

"I created this empire," Proto Man cut him off. "It was half me, everyone knows that. Wily never would have made it anywhere without me."

"But you regret it, don't you?"

"No. I feel nothing at all."

Mega Man stared at Proto Man, who was looking blankly ahead. "Hey, listen to me. I don't want you to go away, even if you won't change. I want to hang out more."

Proto Man lifted a fistful of sand, letting it cascade through his fingers. "Wouldn't you rather be with your family?"

"You're family too."

Proto Man was watching the sand slipping from his hand. Wind began to whistle mournfully through the trench, sweeping drifts of sand into the air. Mega Man rubbed his eyes against the coarse soaring particles.

"Mega...how many Master Weapons do you have?" Proto Man spoke up suddenly.

Mega Man didn't respond, growing tense. Proto Man sighed and leaned back, his head tilted towards the dark sky. He had the air of someone who was about to make a hard decision. Mega Man became nervous. Something had to happen, they couldn't stay in this neutral ground forever.

Finally, Proto Man rose soundlessly to his feet, seeming more like a shadow than a machine of silicon and titanium.

"Proto…" Mega Man began feebly, wanting desperately to stall the inevitable.

"Don't go anywhere," Proto Man replied in a light, cheerful voice, but didn't look at him as he began to walk away.

"Proto…"

"Just stay put, I'll be right back."

"Proto, I wish we had more time."

Proto Man acted as if he didn't hear him, vanishing through veil of sand.

Mega Man stared after him for a moment, wondering what Proto Man was doing, what he wanted him to wait for. But his ticket home might rest in the next room with Dr. Wily. He was too close now, the opportunity was too good...making up his mind, Mega Man stood up and turned toward the gate to Dr. Wily's laboratory.

Besides, he knew better than to trust Proto Man.


When Mega Man entered the laboratory, Dr. Wily was gazing at the holographic city. He looked up as Mega Man approached him, a spasm of fear and alarm transforming his face.

"Mega Man!" he cried.

"It's over, Dr. Wily," Mega Man said quietly, pointing his plasma cannon at Dr. Wily's chest. "You're no longer in charge here. Now where are the scientists you've captured?"

"Don't hurt me! I'm just an old man!" Dr. Wily begged piteously.

"I'm not going to hurt you, I'm taking you hostage. It's time you called off your robots, dismantle your empire, and face your crimes."

"Have mercy!" Dr. Wily sobbed, falling to his knees and wringing his hands. "I never meant for it to get this far! It was all the robots' idea! They made me do it, I had no choice!"

As Mega Man drew close to Dr. Wily, he scrambled into the black warehouse with surprising agility. Mega Man reluctantly followed, wishing Dr. Wily had more dignity or or that he had more Time Slow energy. It was very dark in here, with only the rumble of the turbines that powered the floating island on either side. "C'mon, Wily. You and I both know this has to end."

Dr. Wily let out one last terrified scream, collapsing to the floor in what looked like tantrum. "NOOOOOOO-OOOOOOOOOO-OOOOooooo!"

Mega Man sighed and reached to grab his elbow when Dr. Wily's eyes suddenly bulged out like fish and his head shot toward him like a jack in the box.

"Sh-shit…" Mega Man stammered, taking a step backward. Dr. Wily's head was undulating midair on a spring issuing from the collar of his coat. A super steel door slammed behind them, blocking off the laboratory, and Mega Man was trapped in the warehouse with the dummy Dr. Wily.

In the darkness came a heavy clunk and Mega Man whirled to find the real Dr. Wily behind the controls of three-story bipedal machine, a skull-shaped plate of armor protecting its cockpit. "Foolish android, you have fallen into my trap! Behold, my greatest creation yet, the Wily Doom Treader! MUA-HAHA-HA-HA-Ha—!" Dr. Wily's laugh broke off into a series of harsh, wheezing coughs. Recovering, he flashed a grin full of crooked yellow teeth at Mega Man. "Now I will destroy you, and this time you'll never come back!"

"Oh no you won't!" Mega Man yelled back lamely, then rushed forward to meet Dr. Wily for the first time in direct combat.

Each step from the Doom Treader's massive feet caused the ground to quake. Furiously pulling levers, flicking switches, and pressing buttons, Dr. Wily advanced the death machine towards Mega Man, the jaw of the machine's skull opened to reveal a rotary cannon, which whirled to life and began shooting spheres of energy. Some were green and bounced along the floor like giant dodge balls. Others were cherry-sized pellets that burned holes in Mega Man's titanium skin. There were also spiraling pink spheres that chased Mega Man across the warehouse and strings of tangerine-colored fireballs.

Yet Mega Man felt strangely disembodied, calm, collected, less like he was thinking about his actions and more that he was feeling them, using the tools available to dodge Dr. Wily's attack and counter with his own. Dr. Wily's gleeful face changed, first growing sour, then enraged as Mega Man broke down his defenses by alternating between Power Stone, Gemini Laser, and Spark Shocks (which were as effective as Thunder Beam), until finally, the skull plate cracked in half and fell to the floor. The Doom Treader was now smoking copiously.

"Wait! Wait!" Dr. Wily shouted, holding up a gnarled hand as Mega Man raised his blaster toward the cockpit. "I'll show you where I've been keeping the scientists!"

At Dr. Wily's shout, a battonton dropped from the ceiling. It flapped between them and projected a green holographic image to the floor of a thousand of miniature blank faced-scientists. They stood neatly in rows but there, in the front row (Mega Man's heart plummeted) were the underground Alliance—with Bobby, Percival, Jett, and even Annie among their numbers—and Dr. Light, all held at gunpoint by cop-bots.

"Do you understand your folly now? You've revealed your friends, and now they're all mine! You wouldn't want them to be hurt, would you?"

"Wily, you dirty coward!" Mega Man growled.

"Surrender yourself to defeat, or your allies will pay for it!" Dr. Wily ordered, the Doom Treader lumbering forward, its cannon trained on Mega Man. "It is only too bad I cannot reprogram you. It's rare when robots are immune to my protocol-disruptor, you would have made a great servant." The cannon began to power up, a white energy source building in its heart.

But Dr. Wily was interrupted by two sudden flashes of blue light. The legs of the Doom Treader fell off and the cockpit crashed unceremoniously to the floor. Proto Man stood between Dr. Wily and Mega Man, his blaster smoking. The battonton flew away with terrified squeak.

For a moment, Dr. Wily was speechless, his jaw working furiously, but no sound came out. Finally, his face brick red, he spluttered, "Proto Man! You're aiding a criminal!"

"What can I say, Doc. I've never liked following the law," Proto Man replied playfully.

"Proto Man…" Dr. Wily growled.

Proto Man lifted his hands in truce. "Hey, I couldn't let you blast my little brother—I gotta do it myself," he said with a cool smile, his hand reforming into a blaster. "Gee, sorry bro."

Mega Man had no time, it was too fast. He only saw a blaze of blue then was sent skidding across the floor. Sparks danced before his eyes. His head pounded and heard Dr. Wily and Proto Man talking as though through a tunnel.

"You cut it very fine with your timing, Proto, and always much to rough against my machines!"

"Psshh. But I did tell you I could get him to come here on his own."

"He trusts you."

"Yeah."

"Hmmph. Well too bad for him. Finish him off...but keep his body intact. I have use for the plasma cannon."

Mega Man heard soft footfalls then Proto Man was crouching next to him. "Told you it wouldn't work this way…you should have listened to me," Proto Man said in a voice only Mega Man could hear.

"Proto, please—" Mega Man gasped out, his body aching.

"Shhh. Don't worry, everything's going to be okay," Proto Man whispered soothingly. "When you wake up, you'll be home." He was reaching behind Mega Man's neck to power him down.

There was loud boom from above, and a hole was blasted through the ceiling. Through its gap of light came Roll on Rush's back. Proto Man dodged away as a flying rotary saw came whizzing past his left shoulder. Roll landed on the ground, Rush growling beside her (and sporting a hasty duck tape repair Roll must have performed on the fly). She stood motionless, her sky blue eyes alternating from Mega Man to Proto Man.

"See? Told ya I didn't kill 'im," Proto Man said with a small shrug.

Roll's eyes fixed on Proto Man, her lips slightly parted as though about to say something, then she shut them.

"Like the new hairdo, by the way," he added with an impish smile. "It's a good look for you."

Roll bristled, her mouth stretching into a snarl. "You bastard!" she snapped, drawing her super weapon, swinging it forward, aiming for Proto Man's visor, and—

BLAM.

A brilliant white beam hit Roll's back and threw her across the warehouse.

"Roll!" Mega Man cried.

Roll lay limp in a tangle of lab equipment, unmoving. Rush bounded over to her, whining and licking at her face. Dr. Wily cackled gleefully. "One down, two to go!"

An identical beam shot from the cockpit at Proto Man, who only just leapt out of way in time. "Hey!" Proto Man shouted angrily. "Are you double-crossing me, Wily!?"

"You double-crossed me first!" Dr. Wily accused. "And after all these years I had begun to believe you never would!"

The anger on Proto Man's face dissolved into a relaxed smirk, caught in his act. "I didn't think I would either…today's been a weird day."

Without looking away from Dr. Wily, Proto Man reached for Mega Man's arm, draining him of all weapons in one touch.

"Hey!" Mega Man protested. "Proto—"

"Just stay behind me," Proto Man said softly over his shoulder.

The cockpit of Wily's machine disengaged from the ruined Doom Treader and began to hover menacingly on small jets. "So it's true then! I should never have trusted you, you could fool Tom, but not me! I knew you were rotten from the beginning!"

Proto Man didn't taunt Dr. Wily back, his face set in a blank seriousness. Dr. Wily began screeching louder and more deranged than ever, lamenting that he never destroyed Proto Man while he had the chance, that he always knew it would come to this. It wasn't a pleasant sight. Mega Man felt a tinge of pity for Dr. Wily, who seemed genuinely hurt by Proto Man's betrayal.

The Wily Capsule was Dr. Wily's most dangerous form yet. Proto Man's strategy of staying airborne as long as possible was paying off. The capsule zipped and whirled through the room, occasionally vanishing completely from sight, all the while shooting balls of energy that swept across the floor or honed in on Proto Man like a swarm of hornets. Proto Man was just as fast as he leapt from side to side, but the fight was rough, much rougher than the one Mega Man had against the Doom Treader. Mega Man himself was driven back. He wanted to help Proto Man, but he had no remaining weapon energy.

As Dr. Wily swooped low at Proto Man, Proto Man grabbed onto the Wily Capsule's main cannon and held on. There was a brief struggle midair, Dr. Wily flying haphazardly in an attempt to throw Proto Man off while Proto Man did something to the canon, then Dr. Wily finally fired a brief flash of electricity. Proto Man was flung back toward Mega Man with a sickening crash.

"Are you hurt?" Mega Man asked worriedly.

"Nah," Proto Man replied, dusting himself off and climbing to his feet, though he winced a little as his left leg bore weight. Then his head snapped up. "Wily, don't!" he called.

Mega Man followed Proto Man's gaze. The main cannon on the Wily Capsule was damaged, three Rolling Cutters embedded into its side, and sparking critically.

But Dr. Wily wouldn't listen to Proto Man's warning, too caught up in his own feelings of wrath and hurt. He fired, and the cannon exploded, sending a shock wave which reverberated through the walls of Wily Castle. The power turbines caught fire and exploded, setting off a chain of more explosions, the ground floor worse than ever, and chunks of the ceiling began to fall upon their heads.

Wily Castle was caving in. Dr. Wily gave a shrill scream of terror as a cluster of mangled super steel crashed down upon him, crushing through the cockpit and burying him alive.

Mega Man backed away, but there was no escaping the falling ceiling. A truck-sized cube of super steel flattened him against the floor. Proto Man was at his side in an instant. With a shimmer of light, his plasma cannon enlarged into the Super Arm and he tossed the rubble aside and pulled Mega Man to his feet. "Wily! Roll!" Mega Man shouted, moving toward the collapsed ceiling, but Proto Man held him back.

"It's too late. You can't help them," he said quietly. "We gotta go now."

Mega Man was unarmed and weak. He reached for Proto Man's arm in an attempt to steal his weapons back, but Proto Man caught his elbow, holding it back. "Let me go!" Mega Man shouted. Proto Man ignored him, dragging Mega Man with him as the floor began to tip sideways, the floating island succumbing to gravity. Mega Man struggled as Proto Man pulled him into a red teleport hatch, and they were consumed by a flash of white light.


Mega Man was still fighting Proto Man when they reappeared on the other side.

"Teleport hatch 000 has lost connection with Wily Castle," an automated computer voice announced as they stumbled outside.

Mega Man stared back at the red teleport hatch uncomprehendingly as it began to power down. Then he turned on Proto Man. "I hate you! It's your fault this happened!"

"Yeah, that could have gone better," Proto Man acknowledged.

Mega Man stared at Proto Man. Why was his voice so calm and patient? Was Proto Man incapable of feeling emotion after all?

"—But I have some good news for you. It'll cheer you up."

"Good news? I just watched them die!" Mega Man shouted. "No one could have survived that, not even—" Mega Man stopped. He couldn't accept it. "That was our only chance, we needed Wily—" he began again.

"Shut up and listen," Proto Man interrupted. "I know where to find a time machine."

"…What?"

Proto Man released his arm. "Wily's got one. C'mon, I'll show ya."

Mega Man followed Proto Man, the shock of the last hour numbing him. They had teleported inside a hangar. He saw interceptors with noses like needles, bombers that had bullet-riddled hulls, fighters whose cramped cockpits had room for only the pilot, and the black jet Proto Man had picked him up in. There were a few old robo-mechanics roving between the jets on heavy treads. Each snapped to attention as Proto Man passed, ignoring Mega Man completely. He realized everything here must belong to Proto Man.

Proto Man lead him past the military aircraft toward the end of the hangar, stopping next to something underneath a white sheet. "Gotta warn you, she's no DeLorean," Proto Man said, tossing away the sheet to reveal a turquoise pod with a smooth convex window. "Wily invented it seven years ago, but never tested it out. Called it the Transtemporal Interspacial Modular Egg, or T.I.M.E. Pretty corny, huh?"

Mega Man stared at the time machine in awe. "Does it work?"

"Only one way to find out," Proto Man answered as he lifted the window to the cockpit. "I programmed it to warp back to the time and place you went missing. But don't get any irresponsible ideas about skewing the timeline any further, it's rigged to detonate as soon as you return to the past."

"You lied when you said you didn't think I could return to the past, didn't you? You knew Wily had a time machine all along."

"I didn't want you to go back at first, didn't know what your intentions were. But you're ready now…I trained you myself."

Mega Man looked from the time machine to Proto Man. "Why are you doing this?"

"Ask me again later," Proto Man said with a broad grin.

Mega Man smiled back weakly. He didn't know how to thank him, nor how to say good bye. Finally, he held out his hand. "Hey." Proto Man grasped it, then Mega Man climbed into the time machine. As the window shut behind him, the time machine began to power up, its engine making a thin, high-pitched hum.

Something began happening to the hangar. The light outside had dimmed, the fighter aircraft turning gray and transparent, the air thickening with a strange mist. To his horror, Mega Man saw Proto Man was changing too. "What's happening?" he called through the plexiglass windshield.

"Dunno," Proto Man replied, looking down at his ghost-like body without concern. Behind him the robo-mechanics were vanishing like puffs of smoke, the large bombers melting into thin air. "Have fun in the past and stuff. Try not to die."

Mega Man pressed against the windshield as Proto Man's form grew grayer and fainter. He thought time traveling would be like teleporting and hadn't expected to watch the future implode. It was his last chance to say something before Proto Man disappeared for good. "It's not too late for you, it never was!"

Proto Man just smiled, saluting Mega Man as his outline dissolved into swirling gray mist.

Mega Man was alone now. The time machine began to rock like a raft set adrift in white water. It vibrated violently, the plexiglass rattling in its frame, rivets popping from the interior. Mega Man huddled in the cockpit's only seat, drawing his knees to his chest, wondering what would happen if the time machine fell apart in this dusty mist of nothingness, if he would fade into non-being like Proto Man had...

Color flashed outside. Through the window Mega Man saw fireworks shower violet sparks in a black starless sky, then a glittering row of skyscrapers. Gray dust pressed against the window (or was it silver sand?). When it passed, he was inside Citadel laboratories, the disheveled security lab spinning slowly around him. The time machine stopped shaking, coming to rest on the tiled floor with a soft bump. Mega Man was still breathing very fast, but he felt calmer, the journey finally over.

Then the time machine exploded. A brilliant white flash the last thing Mega Man saw before he fell unconscious.


The first thing Mega Man became aware of when he came to was that his cheeks were stinging. Someone was slapping him.

"Ow, quit it, I'm awake, I'm awake!" he complained, opening his eyes. He was lying on his back, Rush licking his hand. Someone's face swam into focus, her eyes shining in concern. "Roll!" Mega Man cried happily, pulling his sister into a tight hug.

"You scared me, I couldn't get you to wake up!" she said, her voice breaking with relief as she hugged him back.

Mega Man let go of Roll, stood up and looked at the Sacramento skyline, the New Year's fireworks bursting above, the Wily-less posters taped on the inside of bus shelters, the ruins of Citadel's Discovery Lab, then back at Roll, grinning wildly. "Everything's back to the way it should be! Everything!" he repeated, hugging Roll again.

"Mega?" Roll said uncertainly, pulling away. "Are you feeling alright?"

"Better than alright—I made it back from the future!"

"You did what now?"

Mega Man sat up, still grinning. "It was incredible! Wily had taken over and robots ruled the world. I couldn't stop him, but I escaped back here."

Roll looked perplexed. "Mega, what are you talking about?"

"I time traveled thirty years!"

"You time travel thirty years?" Roll asked skeptically. "How?"

"The chronitons," Mega Man said impatiently. "They transported me to the future. Wily remodeled the cities and filled them with millions of cop-bots under his command. He reprogrammed everyone, even Robot Interpol. Humans were forced to serve robots by working in factories, but an Underground Alliance was resisting his control, Bobby and one of Dr. Umlauf's sons were part of it—"

"Mega Man, you didn't go anywhere!" Roll cut him off crossly. "You've been out cold for over an hour, muttering about underground rebellions and temporal chronitons." She giggled. "Are you sure you didn't have a Star Trek dream again?"

Mega Man was taken aback, feeling seriously affronted. "No," he said, shaking his head, his grin slipping. "No, I didn't dream this Roll, it was real. I went to the future. The time machine brought me back—"

"You never time traveled!"

"Yes I did!"

"No you didn't!"

"Okay, if I never time traveled, explain how I know so much about the future."

"Easy. The chronitons went kablooie, destroyed the security lab and knocking you out, and you had a nightmare. This isn't rocket science, Mega Man, this future world you visited was all in your head!"

"It wasn't in my head," said Mega Man, frustrated.

"Prove it. Show me the time machine."

"I can't. It exploded when I got back. That's what really destroyed the security lab."

"Uh-huh. And when you traveled to the 'future,' how many new Robot Masters did Wily have?"

"I'm not sure, I didn't run into any—"

"Isn't it a little coincidental that you didn't see new Robot Masters, yet you found humans you knew from the past?"

Mega Man paused, stumped. "Well, there was Jett Condor and his niece—"

"How about this one, H.G. Wells. If you time traveled to the future and then came back, how come you didn't run into yourself?"

"Because I was gone when the world changed."

"But you're back now...aren't you planning on sticking around?"

"Yes, I'll make sure that future doesn't happen!"

"Then how come that future did happen if you made it back to the present?"

Mega Man knew what Roll was getting at. "I, well—maybe it was an alternate timeline, one where I never made it back," he began doubtfully. But it was becoming more and more difficult to prove his story. No. It couldn't have all been just a dream, he was determined for it not to be—

Violet chronitons, gray mist, white flashes. Mega Man's mind suddenly went fuzzy, and he stumbled. Roll reached forward to steady him, watching his face sympathetically.

"C'mon you big dope, let's get you home so Dr. Light can run a diagnostic on your head. Wily and his goons are long gone anyway, Fictus's robo-officers chased them off. Let's go before they come back." Roll's grip on Mega Man's arm tightened as she began to pull Mega Man away from Citadel's Discovery Branch.

But Mega Man froze, his mind clear again, his thoughts racing. "Wait…"

"...Mega?" Roll said uncertainly.

Rush's ears perked up as Mega Man shrugged out of Roll's grip. "Wait. I have to go do something." He began to run, Rush bounding beside him.

"Mega, where are you going? It's too late, they've already left!" Roll hollered after them.

"I'm not going after Wily, I'm going to Raley field!"

"What? Why?"

"I can't explain, I just gotta go!" Mega Man called as he hopped on to Rush and jetted off into the city.


A fresh layer of frost glistened on the grass of Raley Field baseball diamond. At home plate sat what looked like a gigantic black satellite dish, a pointed capital 'W' painted on it side. "This must be it, the giant protocol-disruptor Proto was talking about," Mega Man murmured as he crept closer to the device, Rush watching him from the pitcher's mound. He smirked. "You never could resist putting your name on everything, Wily."

The steel casing of the amplifier had no obvious weak points, and Mega Man was out of plasma energy anyway. Prying open an access panel with his fingers, Mega Man discovered a small computer screen displaying a count down timer. He had less than a minute.

"To access operation controls of the Protocol-Disruptor 2.0, enter password," said an automated feminine computer voice.

His hand hovered hesitantly over the monitor's keypad. "Well...here goes nothing." He punched in he sequence A-1-3-6 red, B-2-5, D-3, F-5.

"Password accepted. Welcome Proto Man. Awaiting voice command."

Mega Man felt a thrill of excitement. "Uh...terminate operation!" he ordered, keeping his voice steady.

"Operation terminated," answered the voice.

Mega Man whooped. The password worked! He'd done it!

"Self-destruction in 10...9...8…"

Uh-oh.

Mega Man stood up as the super protocol-disruptor began to hum ominously and sprinted towards outfield with Rush. There was loud boom and a shower of bleacher seats rained upon them. Mega Man looked back. Infield had been completely obliterated, and a groundskeeper yelled angrily at him from the stands. Mega Man didn't care. He had stopped Dr. Wily's plan, no one had been hurt, and, best of all:

The password worked.


Mega Man didn't return to the hotel. He knew Fictus and the California State Police would eventually come knocking with questions about the explosions at Citadel and Raley Field, but that could wait. Instead, he flew to the roof of the tallest building in Sacramento to wait for the sunrise. Rush lay next to him, his head in Mega Man's lap, and Mega Man scratched behind his ears absently. Something was swelling inside, bursting to get out, and he couldn't stop smiling. He didn't even feel tired anymore.

Proto Man had given him a chance to change the future...no one would ever believe him, but Mega Man would never forget what had transpired.

Was Proto Man wrong for stealing the bomber armor from Dr. Light? Yes. Did Proto Man feel remorse for this or any of his crimes? No. Could Mega Man forgive him? Yes, because Proto Man was family, and Mega Man still firmly believed there was nothing more important than family. To see a future where Proto Man had everything he could ever want yet still be unhappy, to see Proto Man give it all up to return Mega Man to the past...it was enough to convince Mega Man his brother was worth redeeming after all.

But getting Proto Man to give up crime wasn't going to be easy; Proto Man would kill to protect his freedom. If Mega Man ever wanted him on his side, he'd have to respect that.

The road to redemption starts with one good act, too bad you haven't committed yours yet. Mega Man watched the first dawn of the year, the golden sun peeking over the mists of the El Dorado National Forest, and made a new resolution as a robot hero.

I know you said you hated being a good guy, Proto...but times are changing.


"You told him about the amplifier I was building, didn't you!" Dr. Wily accused Proto Man from within his mountain base's laboratory.

Proto Man was on the defensive, matching Dr. Wily's boiling temper with his own cold fury. "Yes, but Wily, he couldn't have found out where the amplifier was hidden!"

"This is your fault! Proto Man, I expect so much more from you. Explain how the blue dweeb authorized the destruction of the super Protocol-Disruptor using YOUR password!"

"I never gave him my password!" Proto Man denied angrily.

"Well he couldn't have guessed it. He had to have known the correct password, I had the P.D. 2.0 rigged to destroy any intruder on their first wrong attempt."

"I know that Wily!"

"A month of scheming and gathering supplies, all wasted!" Dr. Wily moaned. "Are you sure you didn't accidentally let your password slip? Perhaps while making a valiant attempt to win Mega Man over to my side? Or is treachery I'm seeing—?"

A beaker exploded behind Dr. Wily in a flash of blue plasma. He jumped, his face turning white as a sheet. Proto Man lowered his blaster, the desired effect achieved. "Wily. I didn't tell Mega Man my password. I cannot make that any clearer," he said in a low voice.

Recovering from his shock, Dr. Wily cast Proto Man an indignant look, a beady eye glaring piercingly at him. "Then how did he get it, boy? Hmmm?"

Proto Man turned his back on Dr. Wily. "That's what I want to know."

Proto Man stalked out of the secret mountain base, shaking from head to boot with rage. The chilly mountain air whipped at his face. He didn't care that Dr. Wily's scheme had failed, he never did. But how had Mega Man known his password? Proto Man felt violated, like someone had spied into a piece of his mind. It was more than a breech in Dr. Wily's security, this was personal, a direct attack from Mega Man against him.

Proto Man's hand clenched into fists. He wasn't going to let that blue pipsqueak take it all away from him. Not after he'd worked so hard to get where he was. He glared at the rising sun. I'm going to kill him, he decided. I'm going to kill Mega Man.

Next time on Mega Man Recut…

The criminal partnership of Dr. Wily and Proto Man grows brittle as they delve deeper into the dark and twisted underground of the Recut Universe. With Mega Man on one side and an angry robot Syndicate out for blood on the other, the noose is tightening...tune in next time for 20,000 Leaks Under the Sea!


A/N: Thanks to Star Trek and Futurama for the idea of the chronitons.