Of all the criminal robot mobs, The Steel Crescent Syndicate was by far the largest. They were wealthy, prosperous, and very successful—but for an organization so large and powerful to function efficiently, it had to have three rulers.
Gamma had been drawn into the Syndicate by its promise of riches. It was the Age of Robots and time was ripe to intimidate and coerce the weak and cowardly with powerful machines. Gamma wanted power, money, and all the benefits that went with it, and his robots were thuggish and brutal.
Six had been drawn into the Syndicate by a longstanding grudge she harbored against the law-abiding world. As a teenager, Six had been made a fool by a wealthy businessman. No court ever convicted him, and he walked away free until Six took matters into her own hands. But her anger was not sated by revenge, and she continued to pour herself deeper and deeper into crime. Six did not create robots—she created monsters that only answered to her, and she programmed them to hate all other humans.
Centum was the founder of the Syndicate and responsible for its 'good' reputation among the few outside the criminal Underground who knew of its existence. He was often regarded as the fairest of the three bosses, but you had to play by his rules, and Centum never yielded. Centum carried a deep respect for mechanical beings and the family structure of an underground empire, yet no one was certain what his true motivations were for being one of the world's most terrifying crime bosses. Centum's Robot Masters handled front-end business and were very cunning—and just as equally capable as Gamma's and Six's.
After the events in Seattle, the Syndicate leaders began discussing Dr. Wily daily, and they were angry.
"Wily has made a fool of Ballade," Gamma said in his gruff, short voice during a teleconference in May. "Trashed him good. 'Course, I had a mind to do so myself after he failed to kill Wily at Mount Shasta—"
"Forget about Ballade; Wily nearly destroyed the Purple Devil! Do you have any idea how difficult it was for me to arrange repairs without drawing media spotlight?" Six demanded vehemently.
"Wily has stolen from me and made fools of my work," said Centum. "To know one of my Robot Masters is acting as his servant is an insult beyond forgiveness."
"He's a nuisance, and needs to be rubbed out," growled Gamma.
"Our robots are greater in number and stronger than his, let's find his hideout and end him NOW," suggested Six.
"What, and proclaim our presence to the public?" Centum said quietly. "May I remind you that the power of our positions is linked directly to the subtlety of our actions under the eyes of the law?"
"You have no room to talk after the disgusting display at the National Ballet, Centum!" Six fired back instantly. "Big fiasco. Made international news and your valuable prototype went missing, to my understanding...oh, what was his name?"
"A...miscalculation," Centum acknowledged slowly. "I did not mean any disrespect to your judgment, Six. My point is simply that the world is shrinking every day. Wily will slip up as all maladroit criminals do, and when he does, he will be dead. He only narrowly eludes jail now. Let's not spoil things for ourselves when we've reached such a comfortable arrangement with the U.S. government...we cannot risk any brash moves that may later have to be accounted for."
"I agree with Centum," put in Gamma tactfully. "It's true enough we got machines big enough to do the job," there was a slightly smug lilt to his voice, "But that don't mean we need to show our faces in broad daylight. Not worth it. Wily's just too stupid."
Six, for the moment, seemed satisfied. "What about Mega Man?" she mused. "He's programmed lawfully, and seems built very skillfully…"
"He's fighting Wily, ain't he?" said Gamma.
"I agree, Mega Man is not a concern," said Centum. "If anything, he is an unwitting ally. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some business to attend to. We'll resume this discussion on Wily later."
Centum shut off the transmission and remained sitting in the darkness of his office, pondering. There was one vital piece of information that he had held back from the other Syndicate bosses. He knew they were giving Dr. Wily too much credit as a threat. In truth, it wasn't Dr. Wily wasn't Dr. Wily who had defeated Ballade. It wasn't Dr. Wily who fought the Purple Devil. It wasn't even Dr. Wily who had stolen his own Robot Masters.
Centum picked up his phone and dialed a secure line. "Ask our police contact in New York City if he has yet collected the information I requested on Proto Man."
Episode 12: The Mega Man in the Moon
A shakedown was in progress at a jewelry shop in New York City. It was Ring Man's idea; he and Magnet Man claimed to know the android working that day. Proto Man had also come along, partly on a separate errand for Dr. Wily, partly because Dr. Wily didn't trust Ring Man or Magnet Man farther than one hundred miles of Skull Fortress.
The figure behind the jewelry store's counter had lavender eyes and was disguised fairly well as a human (and presumably illegally pretending to be one as well), but Proto Man could still tell he was an android. That was the thing about androids: it was easy enough for an android to fool a human that he was human; for him to fool another android of the same thing was also possible, but rare. It took an extremely skilled roboticist to create an android who could seamlessly blend in with humanity, and the only one's Proto Man knew of were Mega Man, Roll, Elec Man, and himself.
Proto Man, Ring Man, and Magnet Man hadn't bothered much with their disguises. Aside from wearing long coats and hats, they were all fully armored. Therefore, it was no surprise when the android recognized them when they walked through the door. He tensed and shrunk back, looking slightly panicked.
"Hey Pink Panther, long time no see—" began Ring Man.
"I don't go by that name anymore; they call me 'Mr. Lytton' here," said the android shortly. Ring Man snorted loudly. "Look, you can't be in here, there are security cameras everywhere, it's a jewelry store for Christ's sake—"
"Aw Jewel Man, you wouldn't throw out your old pals, now would ya?" said Ring Man in a shocked voice.
"Shhh!" Jewel Man hissed angrily. He bent forward and whispered quickly, "I don't know what you want, but I can't help you. I'm trying to clean up my act, make an honest living for once—"
"I'll say! By selling rocks," interrupted Ring Man, leaning against the glass counter and gazing at the glittering displays inside. "Doesn't surprise me, Jewel Man here always did have an eye for these things, 'specially diamonds—"
"Get out."
"Pink Panther, come on now—"
"I'm serious, Ring Man, get out or I'll call the cops!"
"You could…" said Ring Man slyly, lowing his voice, "—And we could expose you for what you really are and your devious past—"
"You wouldn't." Jewel Man was beginning to tremble with anger.
"Course we would, isn't it the prime directive of all robots to serve the betterment of mankind by turning in criminals?" said Ring Man in a saintly voice. "Third option, we could also take you back to Skull Fortress, Dr. Wily'd give you a new job, might even put you in the front lines with Cut Man and Guts Man..." he trailed off.
Jewel Man glared at them in silence. Finally he drew a small silver key from his pocket and dropped in on the counter. "Here. Take whatever you want. Just try to leave some of the bigger ones, okay? I'm going to get in a lot of trouble from my boss because for this."
Ring Man scooped up the key. "Thank you, you really are a pal, Pinky!"
As Ring Man and Magnet Man opened the glass door of the display, Proto Man leaned toward Jewel Man and murmured, "Hey, if you do get into trouble with the humans and change your mind about 'cleaning your act,' you know who to call. 'Cause once you got a record, there's no going back."
"I'm cleaning my act," Jewel Man repeated defiantly. "Now get out."
Proto Man shrugged. "Alright, you're your own boss."
Jewel Man watched miserably as Proto Man, Ring Man, and Magnet Man left the store, their coats stuffed with strings of pearls and diamond engagement rings.
"Alright, let's pawn these things fast. See? What I tell you, quick buck," said Ring Man.
"You guys don't treat your friends very well," commented Proto Man.
"You have no idea," snickered Ring Man. He and Magnet Man seemed to be sharing their own private joke.
After returning to Skull Fortress several wads of cash, Proto Man reported back to Dr. Wily, who was pacing restlessly in his laboratory.
"Hey Wily, I just made a little dough in the Underground. Also picked up those generators you wanted."
Dr. Wily continued to pace in silence.
"So I was thinking…" prompted Proto Man, sitting on a spare lab table. "It's been awhile since the robosaur attack, right? 'Bout time we get back in action, y'know...tried a new scheme."
"Useless, useless, all useless!" Dr. Wily shouted abruptly, paying no heed to what Proto Man had just said.
"What's useless?"
"My plans, my robots, my duplitron, everything! I've tried everything to conquer the world, yet nothing works! I'm no closer to becoming supreme emperor than I was twenty years ago! And now I'm the scourge of mankind on top of it all off!" finished Dr. Wily morosely.
"Well…you did shrink the east coasters into gnats, turned the west coast into zombies, blew up the Washington Memorial, damaged corporate property, leveled New York City with an artificial earthquake then attacked it with robosaurs, and stole aircraft from Kennedy International Airport," Proto Man pointed out fairly.
"Yes, but I wouldn't have if they hadn't slighted me in the first place!" said Dr. Wily spitefully.
"Weren't you suspected of hacking into the government's surveillance grid before all that though?"
"Lies and prejudice! I only did that for my own protection from my enemies."
"Well—You know what, you're right. It's just one of life's great mysteries, like the chicken and the egg."
"You know why the hate me? Because I am loathsome."
"I don't think you're loathsome," said Proto Man. Dr. Wily glanced over at him, his brows raised. "In fact, when I first met you, I thought 'Wow, this guy should probably be in an asylum'—"
Dr. Wily whirled toward him furiously, scowling. "I don't know why I put up with you!"
"—But then I thought, 'hey…there's a method to his madness—'"
"You are skating on thin ice…"
Proto Man held up a hand. "Let me finish—That's when I realized that you were on to something big, that you really could make things happen. So what if those other plans didn't turn out so great...the important thing is that you keep trying and do something," Proto Man finished with an extra emphasis on the last part.
While Dr. Wily mulled this over sullenly, Ring Man entered the laboratory with Magnet Man, carrying the package he had retrieved from a private mailbox in Pleasant Valley on the way back from New York. He was also holding a newspaper, per Dr. Wily's request. "Good news, Wily. You're now the most hated person in New York, just beating out Governor Parson by a hair."
"Look at that, Dr. Wily. Back to being front page news," said Proto Man encouragingly.
"Actually, Wily's third page, column c, behind the accident at the National Ballet," corrected Ring Man, "—And a group of animal rights radicals getting busted big time. Apparently some humans were trying to steal a rocket so they could hijack the Lunar Sunfocusing Super-laser and blow up all the Purrington Coat Factories." Ring Man began laughing as he continued, "They tried sneaking into the French Space Center dressed as nuns. Might have gotten away with it too if Robot Interpol hadn't noticed several of them had beards..."
Dr. Wily glowered as Magnet Man and Ring Man continued to read the article to themselves, snickering.
Proto Man looked at Dr. Wily. "Say...that's not a bad idea. Hijacking the Super-laser I mean, not the part about the nuns. Why don't we do that?"
"Proto, those were dimwitted eco-terrorists, they didn't even have a Robot Master! We do not need to steal their schemes when I am fully capable of developing my own plans," Dr. Wily snapped. "It lacks prestige! It's soo…inelegant."
"Inelegant?! Compared to what, Cold Steel? C'mon, Doc, you've been holed up in your lab for over month now with no progress, we're all bored! Just think, by this time tomorrow you'll have the world on their knees begging you to lead them. It'll be a cinch. All we have to do is get first class tickets on a shuttle to Space Station 1."
Dr. Wily considered this with a frown. "It will be risky—I do not think Mega Man will be our only resistance—"
"Bring them on," Proto Man said confidently. "C'mon Wily, let's do this. Show those humans for hating you or whatever. You deserve it, right?" he added, lowering his voice persuasively.
Proto Man had said the magic word. Dr. Wily felt he deserved everything.
"Well, there is a space launch today that Tom is attending," Dr. Wily said tentatively. "I was thinking of sabotaging the ignition sequence just to mess with him..."
"No, let's steal it," goaded Proto Man.
Dr. Wily kneaded his temples, thinking, his back turned to Proto Man. Then he suddenly whirled around, a manic grin twisting his face. "Yes. YES! I can see it now!" he burst out, cackling, "'Dr. Wily, ruler of the Earth and sky, the moon as my new fortress, the sun as my weapon!' What a brilliant idea I have come up with! Ring Man! Magnet Man! Prepare yourselves for a voyage to the moon!"
Ring Man and Magnet Man jumped, looking up from their paper. "Um...to the moon?" said Ring Man. "Actually...we're—uh—busy."
"Working," supplied Magnet Man.
"Yeah, not Ring Man and Magnet Man. They're already helping us down here by getting us cash," spoke up Proto Man. He wasn't sure why he was sticking up for them, so he added, "Besides, they're screw-ups, and a lot of things can go wrong in space." Ring Man gave Proto Man a double thumbs up as he Magnet Man rushed out of the laboratory before Dr. Wily could call them back. "We'll take Cut Man and Guts Man," continued Proto Man. "They're handy, and if something goes wrong and they get lost in the vacuum of space, no big deal, right?"
"Fine, whatever! I must make preparations for departure," said Dr. Wily, striding to the laboratory door. "Gather the Robot Masters then meet me in the hangar in five minutes."
Elec Man had been working quietly on a pile of super transistors for Dr. Wily in a corner of the laboratory, but had been listening intently to their conversation. "You're right...a lot of things can go wrong in space," he called over as Proto Man slid off the lab table. "There's no way you're going to pull this off."
"Your vote of confidence is always appreciated," answered Proto Man mildly. "But it's pretty simple, actually. We point the laser at the cities and threaten to fire if they don't surrender."
"They're not going to surrender."
Proto Man shrugged. "Then we'll shoot them."
Elec Man paused, still looking at Proto Man, then turned back to transistors with a rather unpleasant smile. "You're right, it's a good plan, better than any Wily has ever come up with..." he trailed off. "Of course, you've never killed anyone before. It would be one thing if you were programmed to kill. But you're not."
Proto Man bristled at Elec Man's condescending tone. "You don't know anything about my programming. But it's not going to come to that anyway. Humans aren't dumb, they'll want to save their own skins. They'll surrender and Wily'll take over, just like he always said he would." And I can't wait to see the look on Mega's face when that happens, Proto Man thought, remembering Mega Man's smug smirk.
"Good luck," Elec Man answered simply.
While Proto Man was spending his morning stealing and conspiring, Mega Man was busy searching Dr. Light's laboratory for information on his devious brother's puzzling past. This had become a daily obsession with him, but so far, he had yet to uncover anything remotely useful.
"Whatcha looking for, Mega Man?"
Mega Man jumped away from the filing cabinet he was rifling through and turned guiltily to see the ping-pong eyes of Eddie gazing expectantly up at him. "Uh, nothing Eddie," Mega Man answered a little too quickly.
"But you look like you were looking for something!" Eddie persisted.
"No really, it's nothing. I thought I had misplaced my Analytical Chemistry Monthly down here, but I must have left it in my room."
"Well, if you need help finding anything, just let Eddie know!" chirped Eddie, skipping away into the main lab. Mega Man let out a sigh of relief, and made a mental note to be a little less obvious about his secret investigation in the future.
Dr. Light had to have an archive of Proto's activation somewhere...but he had already been through all the documents in the main laboratory and hadn't found anything. He didn't want to ask Dr. Light directly, figuring Dr. Light must want to bury that part of his past which was causing him pain. Still, Mega Man wasn't finding anything out on his own, so he turned to someone else who might be better at sleuthing out things that were meant to be kept hidden.
Roll was lying on the couch in the living room listening to her disc-man. "No TV today?" asked Mega Man with a wry grin, sitting down next to her. "I thought the robosaur coverage would never end."
Roll slid her headphones off. "You wouldn't want to watch the news today, there was a tragic accident in a theater in L.A. It's on all the channels."
"Well that's not good news…" Mega Man said, his smile fading.
"Yeah," Roll agreed. "Oh, but you did miss a speech from Senator King thanking you for saving New York City from the robosaurs." Roll gave what sounded like an irritated sniff.
"Really? That was nice of him. By the way, do you know what happened to our toaster?" asked Mega Man. Roll whistled innocently and smirked, her utility arm hand tracing the rim of disc-man. "Never mind. Hey, Roll…" Mega Man began quietly, deciding to broach the subject on his mind. "You wouldn't happen to know where Dr. Light keeps any secret archives, do you? You know, stuff he wouldn't tell us about?"
Roll gave him a sharp look of surprise, then sat up, her face bursting into a grin. "Is my goodie-two-shoes brother actually asking for my help to break a rule?" she asked, sounding intrigued.
"I'm looking for information on that super secret project Dr. Light's been working on," answered Mega Man. Technically, this wasn't a lie.
Roll's eyes lit up. "It's starting to drive you nuts too, huh?"
"You could say that."
Roll grinned and beckoned Mega Man to follow her. Leave it to his trouble-making sister to know things she shouldn't. They pushed open the door to Dr. Light's office, and entered with a sudden solemn silence. They both knew they weren't supposed to be in here without Dr. Light, who was currently running errands but expected back any minute. Roll quietly crossed the plush white carpet to the rear wall and motioned Mega Man to join her.
"Where is it?" whispered Mega Man.
"Right here," Roll whispered back. She tapped the wood floor moulding with the toe of her shoe, and to Mega Man's surprise, it gave a bit. "I found it while looking for an earring I dropped."
"Why were you in here in the first place?" asked Mega Man, crouching next to the trick door that had blended so seamlessly with the rest of the moulding.
"You know...just looking to see what dad's up to. Kinda like you are now. But I never looked inside, I swear. Always wondered though..." she added hesitantly, looking hopefully at Mega Man.
Mega Man gently pushed the trick door open with two fingers, revealing a small space the size of a breadbox filled with assorted journals, each bound in a different color. It looked like they hadn't been opened in a long time, and there were no labels, but Mega Man smiled. Jackpot.
"Just a bunch of dusty old books, huh?" Roll said with disappointment.
"Expecting pirate treasure?" said Mega Man as he reached a hand inside to search.
"I dunno, maybe secret blueprints or a photo or something," answered Roll.
As Mega Man continued rummaging through the hidden space and examining the journals, the minutes ticked by loudly on a wall clock. Roll seemed to grow nervous, looking fervently from the door to Mega Man."Rock, I don't think we should look at these," she said finally. "Dad wouldn't like it."
"You're right. Let's get out of here, it's all just boring notes about past projects anyway," said Mega Man in a resigned voice, standing up and dusting off his hands. He closed the trick door and they quickly snuck back outside, shutting the office door behind them. Met eyed them suspiciously as they passed her in the hallway but said nothing as they climbed upstairs.
"So, get your rebellious kick out of the way?" asked Roll.
"Yeah, I guess so," Mega Man shrugged.
"Good, I was starting to worry you might be turning into a delinquent, and we can't let Dr. Light's favorite son go down that road again, now can we?" Roll teased. She stretched and yawned. "I'm going to change into my titanium jumpsuit, see ya in a few."
"Same here, see ya."
They parted into their separate bedrooms. Mega Man sank onto his bed with a sigh, then pulled out the little maroon journal he had pocketed without Roll noticing and began flipping through its pages. It was dated before September of 1993, the month in which Mega Man knew Proto Man's activation date to be. His fingers began to tremble. This was it. The last remaining physical record of Proto's time in the laboratory outside of Dr. Light's, Dr. Wily's, or Proto Man's memories. There wasn't much, the pages were small and Dr. Light's neat handwriting mostly chronicled the many conferences, fundraisers, inventions, and lectures that filled Dr. Light's day to day life, but Proto was there, all the same.
Mega Man glanced at his door, which was shut, then for good measure out his window, ensuring that he was completely alone, before flickering to the front of the journal again, and began scanning for mentions of Proto. This is what he read:
After the disaster with the bomber-robot commissioned by Civil Defense, (a collaboration I created with Albert), I was discouraged. It is easy to see failure as the limits of one's own capabilities and be fearful to start afresh.
But I will begin again, and put everything that happened with Project Bomber behind me. Sometimes we scientists under the pressure of deadlines and budget constraints produce robots with programming so far removed from the nature of humans that we fail to meet the bare minimum in artificial intelligence, as evidenced by the doomed bomber-robot. We never pause to consider the individual and what exactly makes us choose to do what is right. Without understanding that essential connection to human nature, how can we hope for our creations to follow in our example? I must free myself from all that I thought I knew and focus on what is most important.
After extensive study, I have narrowed down the quality of mankind's goodness to three fundamental principles: conscience, compassion, and self-determination. The robot will commit no evil—not because he or she is physically incapable of it (or even has a pre-programed aversion to it), but that he or she will choose not to commit evil, and that, in essence, will be the nature of advanced artificial intelligence...
There was a sudden knock at his door.
Mega Man nearly fell out of his bed in shock. He quickly shoved the journal under his mattress and grabbed a book from his bookshelf and pretended to have been reading. "Come in!" he called, trying to sound casual.
The door opened and Dr. Light strode in with a small smile, his arms behind his back. "I just wanted to make sure you and Roll are packed and ready to go to Florida. So long as our flight has no delays, we should make it with time to spare before the shuttle launch this afternoon."
"Yeah, that sounds great, I'll change into my armor after I finish this chapter," said Mega Man.
"Good, we leave for the airport in half an hour," said Dr. Light. He then winced as the room next door suddenly began blaring loud music. "If you need me, I'll be in my office."
Dr. Light shut the door, and Mega Man listened to his footsteps disappear down the hallway and back downstairs, his pulsar pulse was hammering. It felt as if a small hole had opened up inside knowing that he had taken something from Dr. Light without permission.
But at the same time, he did not replace the journal to Dr. Light's office.
Still feeling uneasy, Mega Man changed into his armor and headed downstairs to distance himself from the journal like a criminal ditching evidence after narrowly escaping the scene of the crime.
As he entered the main laboratory, he noticed that the emergency satellite scanner was beeping, but it wasn't the normal urgent sound it usually made when it warned Dr. Light of Dr. Wily's attacks. Mega Man looked curiously at the Emergency Satellite Scanner (a massive computer terminal shaped somewhat like the front of a steam locomotive filled with radar maps, dials, buttons, and an icebox-sized CRT monitor at its top) and spotted a small yellow light flashing next to a radio. He pressed the button to transmit.
"Hello?" he spoke into it uncertainly.
"Hello!" answered what sounded like a bright, youthful voice mixed with an electronic synthesizer. "Is this Mega Man?"
"Uh, yes, it is...um...I'm sorry if this sounds rude, but am I talking to the Emergency Satellite Scanner itself? Dr. Light never told me you were sentient," Mega Man admitted awkwardly.
The voice gave a tinkling laugh, reminding Mega Man of a computerized wind chime. "Well of course he hasn't, it's imperative that I remain secret less I be compromised by Dr. Wily. My name's Galaxy Man, the Emergency Scanner's robotic operator. Salutations from space!"
Mega Man blinked in surprise, then smiled. "Wow, are you one of Dr. Light's Robot Masters?"
"Yes of course!" Galaxy Man buzzed happily. "I read, produce, and collect radio transmissions, redirecting any distress signals to the receiver in Dr. Light's laboratory. I also monitor the earth remotely through satellite imagery. It's my responsibly to spy on Dr. Wily and warn Dr. Light when he's up to no good."
"Well I think everyone's in your debt there," said Mega Man. "With your heads up, we're able to stop Dr. Wily's plans before they really get out of hand."
"Thanks, it's nice to hear that! It can be a bit lonely in space," Galaxy Man admitted. "But I like my job!"
Just then Dr. Light came rushing into the laboratory. "I'm sorry, Galaxy Man! I was on the phone with Dr. C—, er, a very important client and lost track of time."
"No problem! I'm sending the server logs now for your review."
"Thank you, Galaxy Man, this won't take long," said Dr. Light, puling up a chair next to his supercomputer as lines of text began crawling across the screens. He sat for a few moments in deep concentration. "Everything is as it should be," he pronounced finally. "Now I'm afraid Mega Man and I must go, we have a flight to catch soon."
"Keep in touch more often, Galaxy Man," said Mega Man.
Galaxy Man laughed again. "The less you hear from me, the better for everyone! But I'm afraid you'll likely hear from me again very soon. Have a safe trip while I keep an eye out for Dr. Wily!"
The transmission ended.
"I really had no idea about Galaxy Man. When did you build him?" Mega Man asked Dr. Light.
"Shortly after Dr. Wily's attack on the airport," Dr. Wily answered. "I believe him to be an advanced Robot Master, impervious to the protocol-disruptor. After Cut Man, Guts Man, and Ice Man were stolen I realized the necessity that Galaxy Man's guidance system could not be tampered with, and I gave him conscience, compassion, and self-determination. I do hope he's alright up there on his own though," Dr. Light added worriedly.
"You think Wily will try to get to him anyway?"
"Oh no, Galaxy Man's very clever and knows to avoid contact with everyone to prevent even the slightest chance of capture, and just in case I have him transmit his code so I can personally analyze it every week. He also has some very unique defensive capabilities, and is much stronger than he sounds." Dr. Light looked at his watch. "But we really must be going, our driver will be here soon. Go and get your sister."
The air was warm and muggy at the launch site in Florida. The Icarus space shuttle stood in the open field with its black nose pointed toward the sky, its bright white finish gleaming in the sun like fresh snow. Many news vehicles were gathered around to document the event, and a set of bleachers had been erected for spectators to watch the launch. A sizable crowd was already gathered when Mega Man, Roll, and Dr. Light arrived and were murmuring in anticipation.
"Let's see…our seats should be somewhere in the middle," Dr. Light said, peering up at the bleachers. They had been given front row seats by Dave McIntyre, the shuttle captain of the Icarus and former pupil of Dr. Light's.
As they reached the set of stairs leading up into the stands, they noticed a man was approaching them with long strides, flanked by large but fairly nondescript robotic bodyguards in black suits. For other humans, the man may have been physically intimidating, as he was very tall, broad-shouldered, and physically fit. He had a short beard and keen eyes, and the well-groomed look of a politician. Mega Man recognized the man at once as Senator King, the congressman who had been publicly endorsing Mega Man's past heroism.
Senator King stopped in front of them and gave them a friendly grin. "Dr. Light, Mega Man, I thought I might meet you here! I am Dorian King, U.S. Senator," he introduced himself, extending a hand to each of them in turn. He had a cool, firm shake.
"I know, I've seen you on the news," said Mega Man.
"I bet you have," Senator King said warmly. "I have seen you on the news too, Mega Man."
"Hopefully nothing too bad," said Mega Man with a rueful smile.
"Well, everyone gets their share of bad press, but what I was more impressed with is your determination to bring Albert Wily to justice and your heroism in defense of the American citizens, especially against the mayhem involving the shrink ray. I was very fortunate not to have been in Washington D.C. that day." Senator King shuttered.
"Mega Man is programmed with conscience and compassion and acts with free will, just like a human being supported by a sophisticated ethical program," Dr. Light put in brightly. "In fact, his programming is so advanced that he has been absolutely resistant to any of Dr. Wily's reprogramming attempts since last July."
"Ah, I see. Excellent," said Senator King in approval. He stood back a pace, his grey eyes appraising Mega Man (he did not seem to notice Roll, who had crossed her arms impatiently). "Made of titanium. Very strongly built, expert craftsmanship, though I'd expect no less from Dr. Light. I have to admit, I'm very impressed. He's a fearsome warrior against Dr. Wily, yet has the gentle demeanor of a polite young man."
"Mr. Senator—" Mega Man began.
"No need to be so formal, Mega Man, King will do," interrupted Senator King, chuckling.
"Alright, King," said Mega Man smiling. "I really appreciate all the encouragement you've given me in the last year. I've only lived a short time and have had a turbulent road to protecting the United States from Dr. Wily, and am honored to have your support."
"No need for thanks, it's about time someone stood up for our robot heroes, is it not?" replied Senator King, waving a hand dismissively. "And don't fret too much about bad press, Mega Man. With politicians like me on your side, you have little to worry about."
"T minus fifteen and counting," announced a voice over the launch site's loudspeaker.
"Time for us to take our seats," said Senator King with a regretful nod. "Well Mega Man, I'm glad we bumped into each other. I hope we'll get in touch again soon." He shook their hands again, bade goodbye, and strode off toward the other side of the bleachers with a sweep of his long camel hair overcoat, his bodyguards tailing him closely.
"Wow, Senator King in person," Mega Man said quietly to Roll as they climbed the bleacher stairs. "I wonder what brings him all the way out here."
"Don't be such a geek, it's not like you just shook hands with the president or anything," Roll replied testily. There seemed to be a tinge of jealousy in her voice.
Mega Man, Roll, and Dr. Light squeezed their way through the front row of the crowded bleachers until they reached their seats. A mousy-looking teen with large round glasses and a pink bandana tied into a bow in her hair was waiting for them.
"This is Tina, Dave McIntyre's daughter," said Dr. Light, introducing her. "She's going to sit with us while we watch the shuttle launch."
"Hi Tina, nice to meet you," said Mega Man, waving.
"Golly, Mega Man, just like on TV! It's nice to meet you too!" exclaimed Tina. Then she went pink and turned away in embarrassment.
Roll nudged Mega Man in the ribs, smirking. "Think she has a little crush on you," she whispered.
"She does not, shut up," Mega Man whispered back.
Shuttle Captain Dave McIntyre and his second pilot Buzz Picard were sitting alone in the break room, awaiting the final call before they boarded the Icarus. A five-course meal lay on a table before them, complete with a roasted turkey, fried chicken, filet mignon, shepherd's pie, a giant bowl mashed potatoes, steamed vegetables, buttery biscuits, and a cherry pie.
A door opened and Proto Man strolled casually into the room. "What a spread! Last meal before you go into space?"
The second pilot glanced up at him and nodding amiably. Then he frowned, and said through a mouth full of steak, "Hey, you're not supposed to be in here—"
But Buzz Picard was cut short as Proto Man dropped a smoke grenade into the butter dish. It hissed and emitted a pungent pinkish vapor. Dave McIntyre and Buzz Picard had only time to jump in shock before the gas hit them. Then their eyes closed as they slid out of their chairs.
"T minus five and counting...all astronauts to the shuttle entry," said the loudspeaker.
Tina had gotten over her initial shyness and was talking happily. "Isn't this exciting, Mega? It's my father's first shuttle flight!"
"I'm sure he'll be a first-rate Shuttle Captain," said Mega Man.
"He was a fine student. I was sad when he left robotics and joined the space program," Dr. Light said reminiscently.
"I spent last summer in Junior Space Academy learning to be an astronaut like my dad," Tina said brightly.
"Good for you, I hear it takes a lot of training to become an astronaut," said Mega Man.
Tina nodded enthusiastically. "It's not so hard though. I've been studying ever since I was four. My father promised to take me with him next time he goes up into space!"
"That's simply amazing, Tina," said Dr. Light. "You must really take after your father."
"Yup!" said Tina, glowing. She looked expectantly toward the Icarus's storage hanger. "He should be coming by any minute."
In the Icarus's storage hanger, ground crew drones in bright yellow hard hats were busy stacking heavy cubicles filled with supplies onto the back of a cargo transport that would eventually go into the Icarus's cargo hold.
"Good afternoon," rumbled a deep voice from behind them.
One of the robot drones was suddenly shoved him headfirst into a storage locker.
"Time for you to punch out, chump!" Guts Man thundered, sinking his fist into the locker's door. The human overseer shouted in surprise as Guts Man reached for another robot drone, turned on his heal, and fled toward the hangar's exit.
"Running from me is 'shear' stupidity!" Cut Man shouted after him, tossing his head shear. It snipped cleaning through the chain suspending a hollow OMS engine casing aloft, which fell with a loud FWUMP over the human's head like a cup over a mouse.
While Cut Man and Guts Man finished subduing the rest of the robot drones, two figures wearing the Shuttle Captain and second pilot's spare spacesuits entered the room, their reflective sun-visors completely obscuring their faces.
"All set?" asked Crystal Man. He was Dr. Wily's newest Robot Master, an android with a white face mask, red eyes, powder blue armor, and semi-transparent spheres adorning his helmet, shoulders, boots, and arms. Dr. Wily had given him the ability to create gemstones out of thin air, which he then sold for cash (a system that worked quite well until their customers discovered the unstable gems deteriorated after five hours).
The figure wearing Dave McIntyre's space suit nodded. "Good," said Crystal Man. "Cut Man, Guts Man! Time to ship out."
"Whatever you say, Crystal Man," said Guts Man, adding two extra supply cubicles to the cargo transport. Once this had been done, the second pilot hid the bodies of Dave McIntyre and Buzz Picard inside one, then nodded his head toward the Robot Masters, who stepped inside the other. After securing the supply cubicles shut, the second pilot boarded the front of the cargo transport with the Shuttle Captain and drove out of the hangar.
"There they are now," said Roll, pointing to the cargo transport driving toward the Icarus.
"Daddy!" Tina called excitedly, jumping up and waving her arm. She raced through the bleacher aisle and down to the launch pad, stopping the cargo transport short. "Good luck, don't forget to call me from the moon!" she said jubilantly, hugging the astronaut tightly. The Shuttle Captain went rigid under her embrace and pushed her away. Then he gave a curt nod and drove off. "...Daddy?" Tina murmured uncertainly.
When Tina returned, her face had fallen and she looked extremely upset, a deep contrast the animated happiness she had expressed earlier.
"What's the matter Tina?" asked Roll.
"I'm not sure…my father didn't speak to me," Tina answered glumly.
"He's probably just nervous," Dr. Light said soothingly.
Tina shook her head firmly. "No, he's never acted that way before. Something's wrong." She began shivering.
Roll and Mega Man glanced at each other, uncertain what to do; Tina seemed distressed. "Relax, Tina. I'll check it out," said Mega Man kindly. He gave her shoulder a small squeeze before hopping over the bleacher's railing.
By the time Mega Man reached the Icarus, the astronauts were already aboard the shuttle elevator rising toward the cockpit, so Mega Man followed them up by climbing the elevator's steel ladder. He paused halfway up and gazed into the open cargo hold, where the four supply cubicles had been unloaded.
What do they need all this extra equipment for? he wondered, stepping quietly into the cargo hold. He knew he wasn't authorized to go poking around in the astronaut's equipment, but at the same time, he had a funny feeling that something was very off, and that feeling was almost always associated with Dr. Wily. Besides, he could hear something that sounded an awful lot like snoring. He followed the noise to one of the cubicles, opened the latches on its side, threw open the door, and gasped. Leaning against the cubicle's interior walls were the astronauts. They appeared to be sleeping soundly, Buzz Picard's snores reverberating at even intervals inside his helmet. Tina was right!
"T minus one and counting...all personnel clear the launch area," said the loudspeaker.
"I gotta stop the launch," Mega Man muttered aloud.
"And we've got to stop you, blue boy!" cried a familiar wheezy voice from behind him as Cut Man, Guts Man, and Crystal Man (who Mega Man recognized from police reports) suddenly burst out from the other supply cubicles. Before Mega Man had turned around, Guts Man's Super Arm crashed into him, bowling him back. He skidded the length of the platform outside the cargo hold to its very edge.
"T minus four seconds and counting," said Crystal Man in his soft cool voice, his left hand raised in front of him. A perfectly round orb the size of a coconut and as lustrous as polished sapphire materialized in his hand as he counted down, "—Three, two, one!"
The diamond-hard orb shot forward like a cannonball, smacking Mega Man in the middle. Mega Man stumbled backward and toppled down the elevator shaft and landing smartly onto his back directly underneath the shuttle's twin space rockets.
"Ten seconds to ignition," announced the loudspeaker as Mega Man stood up and shook himself off, cursing himself for letting Cut Man and Guts Man ambush him like that.
I better beat it, he thought, and was about to sprint back to the bleachers when his foot snagged on something. He looked down and discovered that his boot had been caught fast in a bend of metal bolted to the launch pad. Uh oh!
"Five, four, three—" counted down the loudspeaker, the crowd joining in.
Roll and Dr. Light were beginning to wonder what was taking Mega Man so long when Roll suddenly bolted up from her seat. "What's Mega doing down there?" she whispered, pointing underneath the Icarus's twin space rockets.
In the cramped cockpit of the Icarus, the second pilot raised the sun visor on his helmet. He could see Mega Man struggling below through one of the shuttle's video monitors. "I'm pushing the ignition button, I want to personally fry my little brother," said Proto Man.
"Be my guest, Proto Man," answered Dr. Wily from the Shuttle Captain's chair.
If I don't act fast I'm going to be melted! Mega Man thought as the loudspeaker finished counting down. He fired at the binding around his foot as the rockets burst into blinding light on either side. A wall of dense smoke blanketed him as Mega Man ran from the launch area, feeling the ground tremble beneath him and the hot wind searing his back. The Icarus shot off into the sky, leaving a column of smoke behind it. Mega Man turned and glared after it as it disappeared through the clouds. The pilot had to be Proto Man, he knew Dr. Wily couldn't fly it. Did he just try to kill me? Proto must really be mad...
The crowd was on its feet cheering the successful launch as Mega Man returned to the bleachers, his armor tarnished by jet fire. "Are you alright?" Roll asked, her sky blue eyes scanning Mega Man critically.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Listen, we gotta big problem—Dr. Wily's 'bots have Tina's dad and the other astronauts tied up in the shuttle hold," whispered Mega Man. Both Dr. Light and Roll started. Mega Man nodded grimly, then noticed someone from their party was missing. "Hey, where is Tina?"
"She was here a moment ago," said Roll, glancing down their bleacher row.
"There's no time to find her!" interrupted Dr. Light. "We've got to get to Mission Control, hurry!"
To be continued…