Everything was black.

Where, were am I? Rock couldn't feel anything.

Wait, this is the new program that Dr. Light put into me after what happened with Break Man.

When the human part of me goes down,

my robotic functions kick in and,

Rock opened his eyes

I go Mega Mode.

He sat up, the gas no longer affecting him.

"That feels...

SO much better.

I should have stayed in Mega Mode the entire time. I was so busy getting out that I wasn't thinking.

Ugh. Stupid mistake."

He recalled the laughing outside.

That sounded like...

Cut Man?

No. There's no way the Robot Masters could have came here.

The door opened, and Rock quickly fell on the ground, eyes closed.

"And I was all like,

'YOU

SHALL

NOT

PAAAAAAAASSSSSSSSS!'"

That voice was definitely Cut Man, chuckling to himself as he walked into the waiting room.

"Yeah, Yeah hilarious." Another voice, over their communicators. Elec Man. "No one got out on my side, and I'm closing all the windows now.

Fire Man. Ice Man. What are things like over on your ends?"

"Top floor is cool as can be. And like ice, I'm heading down to the middle floor now."

"No one has escaped on the bottom floor, me and my smoke rise to the rendezvous point now."

"Perfect, and since I shut down all communication, no one made any phone calls. Gentlemen, I think we've got the whole place to ourselves, at least for a while."

Elec Man came in from the door to the wards, and soon Ice and Fire Man came from the stairs.

Cut Man clapped his hands together. "What did I say boys? I told you that cat would make great surveillance. And all you guys wanted to do was take pot shots at the little fella."

"Well I'll admit," Elec man started, "Its more useful that its short-out master. Thinking the guy that lying on a hospital bed was Mega Man. Ice, remind me to buy cat treats on the way back."

"Will do. Good 'ol... whatever its name is has certainly earned it."

"His name is Tango. I always remember it because it reminds he and Break Man remind me of that movie Tango & Cash."

"Yeah well, its more like Tango and Ass. I'm not counting this as a win until we get Mega Man and the dog."

"Why wait?" Fire Man charged up his Fire Cannons, and pointed them at Malyu and Geo, both prone and unconscious. "We can leave a little present for Mega Man now, and come back to finish the job later."

"Is that really satisfying for you? I want to see his face as slaughter his family."

"I'm with Elec Man on this one." Cut Man said. "I want Mega Man to watch as we cut down his whole world in front of his eyes. This is basically a milk run with just these guys. These people aren't what I came for."

"We had a job to put anyone connected with Mega Man on ice, but Mega Man is top priority right now. Fire Man, like Cut said, we can always come back and use these guys for leverage next time."

"Yeah, next time." Elec Man was looking like he was about to explode. "There wouldn't have been a next time if Proto Man had done his DAMN JOB!"

Ice Man took a step back. "Woah, woah, woah man. Chill. You know Break Man hates it when we call him Pro-"

"IT DOESN'T MATTER WHAT HE HATES! HE HAD ONE JOB, AND HE ABSOLUTELY BLEW IT! I SHOULD HAVE BEEN THE ONE TO HUNT DOWN MEGA MAN! NOT THAT SECOND- RATE, IDIOTIC PIECE OF CRAP! FOR ALL WE KNOW MEGA MAN COULD BE IN THOMAS LIGHT'S BASEMENT-"

Elec Man paused for a second,

then cracked a smile. "That's exactly where he is."

Fire Man was confused. "Sorry. In the midst of watching you burn up I don't understand what you're getting at. Please, restate your revelation."

"Think about it. Where did Break Man said he came from? Thomas Light's personal playground.

The 'secret' little basement of Light Labs.

That's probably where Mega Man and the dog are at right down."

"Well if he's asleep," Fire Man said. "It would be quite rude to not wake him up to say good goodbye to his family wouldn't it?"

"Yes Fire Man.

Quite rude indeed."

"Uh Sherlock?" Cut Man interjected. "While I congratulate you for solving the mystery of 'The Case of the Missing Smurf', I just noticed someone's else is gone too."

"What? Who?"

"Yuichiro Hikari is no longer here. I could have sworn Tango said he was."

"I THOUGHT YOU SAID NO ONE ESCAPED!" Elec Man snapped.

"And no one did. He must have left before we got here."

"So he just decided to get up and go right!" Elec Man face-palmed. "Great...

Hold on, let me find him through his cell phone." Elec Man paused for a second.

"Okay, he's at a park bench not too far from here. Let me go...

You know what Cut Man? You lost him, you get him."

"I didn't even lose him what the he-"

"Stop being a baby about it. Just get him and bring him here and for God's sake, make sure your not detected by anyone."

"Ugh... fine." Cut Man walked into the fire escape door, grumbling.

Elec Man turned to his remaining brothers. "Ice Man, Fire Man, go to Light Labs and bring Mega Man and the dog here."

Fire Man nodded. "Alright. But, perchance he isn't there?"

"What do you think? Burn the place to the ground."

"Can I burn it to the ground even if he is there?"

"Especially if he's there."

"OH YES!" Fire Man cheered, running for the stairs to the top floor

"What about you?" Ice Man inquired.

"I'll stay here and make sure everything and everyone stays down."

"Of course, you get the easy job."

"You get the fun ones. You get first crack at Mega Man, I get to babysit dumb humans."

"Fair enough. Well, see you later." Ice man hurried to catch up after Fire Man.

"...And now we wait." Elec man said, taking a seat.


Rock laid on the ground, processing everything he just heard.

This was a kill order. A kill order of everyone he loved.

They wouldn't even have a chance to defend themselves.

Ice Man and Fire Man were on their way to the Labs. The only thing that they would find was empty space and machines.

And...

The Cossacks. Kalinka and her mother had flown in the morning of Thanksgiving, and were currently living in the Labs. As was Auto. Light Labs had security measure sure, but not enough to withstand the power of two Robot Masters.

Rush was a home with Roll, but Rock dared not to move a muscle with Elec Man right here.

The only person that could do anything at this point was...

Dr. Hikari. And Cut Man was hunting him down this very second

Dad. I have no idea where you are, or what you're doing. But...

please, help me.

Five slow, agonizing minutes passed.

"C'mon... someone let me know something." Elec Man said out loud.

His communicator came on. "Guys?" It was Cut Man. "I think we have a problem.

"What now? Where's Hikari?" Elec Man asked.

"That's what I'm asking myself now. You said how you traced his cell phone to a bench? Welllll, the cell phone is there. The owner, however, is no where to be found.

It gets worse."

"How could it possibly be worse?!"

"Next to the aforementioned bench, was a payphone. A payphone that just happened to call Yuichiro Hikari's DNA on it. Which means he made at least, one phone call."

"Can you find out who he called?"

"Nope. Payphones are anonymous, I have been able to if it was my specialty, but I'm Cut Man, not Phone Man."

"Damnit! Okay, keep looking for Hikari.

Ice Man, Fire Man, how are things looking for you?"

"Everything was going great until we ran into the Great Firewall of China." Fire Man responded. "Ice and I are decrypting everything now. Give us ten minutes max."

"Can't you just blast yourselves in?"

"That's what I wanted to do, but Ice Man doesn't want to set anything off. At least we now know where one of Hikari's calls went. I'll make sure to return the favor when I meet him."

"Guys, we are SO CLOSE to revenge, whatever you guys do, do NOT let it slip through our fin-"

Elec Man paused, jolted by the new energy spike.

"What was that..."

A beacon just exploded across the city. Even Rock felt it.

It took him a moment to recognize the source, but once he did,

he smiled.

Good boy Rush.

Good boy.

Elec Man's communicator blew up. "WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?" "CUT MAN WAS THAT YOU?" "I DIDN'T DO ANYTHING!"

"SHUT UP!" Elec Man yelled. "It was the dog. Its giving us its location, scrap it!"

"What about Mega Man and Hikari?"

"Obviously they are going to be in the area. Now after it!"

Elec Man stood up. "I need to get going, I need to get in that fight!" Elec Man raced to the roof.

Rock paused to make sure the coast was clear.

They want Mega Man?

Rock slowly began to amourize.

I'll give them Mega Man.


Elec Man raced up the stairs, completely enthralled in his mission.

"Guys! If you can, try to herd them back toward the hospital. Remember the plan!"

"Well the dog has other ideas!" Cut Man yelled. "Its looking like it can go offshore any minute! We can all swim right?"

"We can, but I hate it! I become so ineffective." Fire Man interjected.

"We can talk about how you doggy paddle later!" Elec Man said, slamming open the door on the roof. "Just hold on, I'm coming! Run that dog down and find Mega Man!"

He turned on his jets, ready to zoom into the air when...

Something grabbed onto his leg.

Next thing Elec Man knew, he was being slammed into the ground.

"Elec Man? You okay? Did something just happen?" Cut Man inquired.

Elec Man rolled over, getting back up, and saw.

Him.

Elec Man stumbled to his feet, almost growling. "The gas is wearing off fast. People are starting to wake up. Give me 10 minutes to sort this all out."

Elec Man turned off his communicator.

"You know, there's a difference between specialized machines of absolute destruction,

and a few defenseless innocent people." Mega Man said.

"What you call machines, I call brothers." Elec Man responded, every word coming out sharp as a bolt. "And besides,

it still hurts the same, when you see them hurt, see them die."

"I'll give you that." Mega Man said, rather soft. "Family is family, no matter what it looks like."

"Yeah. At least we can agree on that." Elec Man looked at the ground for a minute, fallen silent.

"You know, in retrospect its ridiculous, but when I first saw you, I didn't completely want to destroy you.

I knew you were like the rest of us."

"What do you mean?" Mega Man asked, a little taken aback.

"Built by Thomas Light.

To be his slave."

"I'm not his slave. I do this because I choose to,

because I want to." Mega Man perished the thought.

"I knew you'd say that." Elec Man responded. "Its the exact same thing we told Albert Wily in 1990."

"What?!" Mega Man knew that Dr. Light help built the Robot Masters, but that they turned to Wily on their own?

"I thought Wily just reprogrammed you guys..."

"Nope, that's Dr. Light's shtick. Just ask Break Man.

But, do you know why we joined over to Wily?"

"Does it really matter?" Mega Man asked, although truthfully he was insanely curious.

"Yeah, it does. Because it applies to you too.

This hospital is a great example.

You know the tree that they have as soon as you walk in here? They call it the 'Tree of Life'.

That tree is maintained by 3 computers. Each of are high-powered, state of the art, top of the line pieces of machinery in the basement.

Mega Man,

where do you think those computers are gonna be in 5 years?

10 years?

20 years?

They are going to be like anything else in this world: eventually scrapped and forgotten.

Everything has its heyday,

granted some longer than others,

but sooner or later, the world just moves on.

That's the fate of all technology.

And sooner or later,

that's what going to happen to us."

"So is that was this is all about?

Relevance?

Importance?"

"Try survival. And stop vilifying us." Elec Man sneered. "Don't you see the irony in all this?

By fighting us you're only killing yourself faster!"

"I'm not concerned about how long I'm around; all that matters to me is what I do while I'm here."

"Spoken like a true pet." Elec Man barked. "I can see why all other machines don't do anything: they aren't like us. They aren't self-aware.

But you are!"

"So just because I'm self aware means I have to play the long game?"

"Someone has to." Elec Man replied curtly. "All of the great people in human history: Alexander the Great, Napoleon Bonaparte, MLK, they all set out goals, and they achieved them, and solidified their places in history forever, even after they die.

So even if I can't be here forever, I can do something that will."

"Listen, Dr. Light can make Mega Man II or III or IV, or even X,

but as long as I keep fighting, keep saving the day,

no matter what happens, or when, I can die knowing that at least I served my,

my...-" Mega Man realized where he was going with his point a little to late.

"C'mon, finish it."

"my purpose."

"Are you getting it now? Like the rest of us did?" Elec Man asked.

"Yeah, I get it." Mega Man said, looking away. "You know, when I came up here, I was looking for a fight, not a philosophical debate."

"I was thinking the same thing. But, we were talking about family, and then I realized that there was something I wanted to ask you.

Mega Man, do you still have their I.C. Chips?"

"You mean Guts Man and Bomb Man? Yes, I made sure I saved those."

"Give them to me. Join us."

Mega Man stepped back in surprise. "Are you serious? Your just gonna let me off the hook? I know that with their I.C. chips that we can bring them back-"

"Then you know that in the end, its no harm no foul. You're Light's slave, I get that.

That's why I'm giving you this one chance. Give us the chips so we can bring them back.

I'll even let your family live."

Mega Man froze for a second. His friends and family were still prone in the hospital, Rush could only hold back the other Masters for so long.

And assuming those military guys weren't on the way...

But, as soon as Mega Man handed over the chips, what was to stop the Masters from killing him? Its not like they wouldn't have the chance, and besides, they still wanted to take over the world.

Mega Man took a deep breath. Rush, I don't know how your gonna do it, but hold off the rest until I'm finished here.

"You're not getting anything." Rock hoped he sounded bold. "Hopefully we can bring them back someday, but not as a part of Wily's army."

Elec Man sighed. "Damnit. I really hoped we could've have work this out. Oh well." He electrified his arms.

"I guess the only way to fix a toy is for it to be broken first."

"You said it." Mega Man agreed, warming up his Buster.