Episode 4: On the Spear's Edge
Hey there guys, gals, and non-binary pals! Tardispilot297 here bringing you another new episode of Mega-Man: Robotic Hero! And once again, I would like to shout out to current reigning trivia champion RedstertheGamer for once again guessing right on the identity of this month's Mega-Man villain.
As always all forms of Mega-Man media are property of Capcom. Please support the official release. That said, let's get this show on the road!
Whoever said that sneaking into a building was a "fun experience" obviously didn't know what they were talking about. Especially when said building happens to be the robotics company your dad works at with high-tech security. As for why I was trying to sneak in well since the investigation on who was sending killer robots after me wasn't going so well it was high time to go straight to the source.
Naturally, I had to wait a bit to make sure Dad and Auto wouldn't check up on me in my room before I could sneak out with Rush. After we both transformed we flew over into the city till we were right over Light Industries. We hovered down near one of the windows ready to head inside when suddenly a security bot with a flashlight was about to turn the corner inside. When it came into view it stopped to shine its light right at us.
It stood still for a moment looking right towards us with me and Rush just floating there frozen. Eventually, the security bot turned away from us and continued down the hall going right past us. Not that you'd notice what with me and Rush being invisible. You see, about two days prior Douglas had managed to rig up a homemade cloaking device for me and Rush out of some salvaged junk from the junkyard and a few spare parts dad had lying around in his workshop at home.
After the coast was clear I contacted Douglas via our comms that we were going in. "Copy that friend. How's the stealth mode holding up?" He asked. "Douglas I gotta say you are a genius. This cloaking device is working great." I told him. "Excellent. Now remember Rock it only works as long as you and Rush stay connected." Douglas explained. "Gotcha." I replied. I carefully placed my hands against the window and gently pressed against it until it gave way and came loose.
I managed to catch it before it hit the floor and placed it against the wall. Rush and I flew down the hall and around the corner towards the elevators. I hit the call button and we went in when the doors opened. "Ok now according to the map the labs should be on the sub levels." Douglas directed me over the comms. I had managed to download a schematic of the building from my Dad's home computer yesterday and sent it to Douglas to act as my navigator. Axel would've done something to help but he had been stuck babysitting his brother Tommy while his parents were out on a date.
When the doors opened we were just about to go out when we almost ran right into Dr. Wily who stepped onto the elevator with us. We quickly backed up as he stood there looking around the inside curiously. He just shrugged as he stepped inside and hit the button. We hovered in the top corner trying to keep our distance from him when suddenly our cloaking started to flicker between visible and invisible. Rush also had trouble staying in the air. I looked over at Wily's back hoping he wouldn't notice.
Eventually our cloaking finally shut off just as the elevator reached Wily's desired floor. He stepped off and Rush landed on the floor with a small yelp. I looked to see Wily stop suddenly causing me to close my eyes and brace for when he turned around. Instead he just let out a loud sneeze and continued walking. I opened my eyes and let out a breath I didn't know I was holding. I stepped off Rush and kneeled down just as Rush transformed back into a dog and fell unconscious. I shook him to try and wake him up but he didn't budge. Thinking on my feet I quickly dragged him out of the elevator and down the hall.
Douglas contacted me to ask if I was on the sub levels yet. "Yeah, about that…" I went on to explain to him what had happened. Naturally he didn't take it well. "Well what about Rush is he ok?" He asked. "He's fine, I think the cloaking drained his power cells." "I see. Think you can get back outside?" He asked. "Now hold on Douglas, we're not done yet. We still need to find clues to who wants to kill me." Douglas tried to reason with me by saying that without Rush I couldn't use the cloaking device anymore and that without it I wouldn't be able to sneak back out without getting caught.
"I'm not gonna get caught Douglas. Once I find something I'll head back to the elevator and go out through the garage." I assured him. "Right without alerting security when you go to force the door open because you don't have a security pass." Douglas pointed out. "Oh right." I continued to drag Rush down the hall when I heard another security bot coming from the other end. I quickly looked for a place to hide when I spotted a large metal door on my left. I dragged Rush over and went over to the door panel to try and open the door. When it asked me for a password I slowly started to panic and tried to think what it could be. I turned my head around to the security bot's flashlight getting closer to us.
I took another look at the panel and noticed that the dial pad had a few light smudges on a few of the buttons. I looked over them carefully trying to find the pattern. After a few seconds I took a shot in the dark and put in a code. To my luck the door opened and I dragged Rush inside and closed it just as the security bot went by. I brushed some sweat off my face and looked around the room we were in. "Douglas it's me, I made it into some kind of room. Looks like a storage room of some kind; there's different equipment everywhere." I reported. "That's probably the vault. You know where they store stuff from R&D or machines that are in the prototype stage." Douglas theorized.
Wherever it was it seemed like a good place to hide Rush for a while. "Ok I've got an idea, I'm gonna hide Rush in here so I can try and get back outside and get some new power cells for him and come back for him." "Are you sure you can make it back out without triggering the alarm?" Douglas asked. I told him not to worry and that if all else fails I'd head up to the roof and jump. "Until then I'll just have to be careful not to get caught." "Be careful Rock, you know what will happen to you if you're caught." Douglas warned. The last thing I needed was to be reminded of the fact that I was to be experimented on should I be captured here.
I opened the door and peeked out to check if the coast was clear. I looked back in and told Rush that I was coming back for him even though he probably couldn't hear me. I closed the door making sure it was left unlocked. Hopefully no one would notice until I could come back to get him. I went down the hall and started looking around for any clues. I peaked around a corner to see two security bots meeting up at the end and turning to head straight for me. I quickly ducked into a nearby room and hid behind the door as they passed. I noticed the room I went into was a private office belonging to one of Dad's colleagues.
I stood up and looked around and went over to the desk hoping to find something. I spotted out of the corner of my eye a photo on the side of a younger Dr. Cain and two other people smiling at the camera. I recognized them as Dad and Dr. Lalinde. It started to dawn on me that I was in Dr. Lalinde's office. I went to the computer and tried to access her files when suddenly the screen lit up with a voice saying 'ACTIVATING FACIAL RECOGNITION SCAN'. Next thing I knew it the camera built into the monitor shot out a thin laser that went over my face. Before I could say Uh oh an alarm was sounded with the whole room flashing red.
I stormed right out of the office and turned around to see the two security bots rushing right at me shouting Halt. Without hesitation, I ran the other way with them chasing me. I turned a few corners before running into more of them forcing me to go in a different direction. I ran at full speed down another hallway running smack dab into Wily who was stepping out of another room. We collided with each other with both of us hitting the floor. When we picked ourselves back up he looked at me and scowled before shouting YOU!
I apologized to him and continued running down the hall while I heard him scream GET HIM to the security bots who were still pursuing me. Up ahead of me I saw another set of windows and without thinking ran straight for them, leaping through and breaking the glass as I flew out and landed on the street below. I looked back for a moment before running off and out of sight. Back inside Wily stood by the broken window with a scowl and raised an eyebrow. One of the security bots asked him if Dad and the other scientists should be notified. "No. Scour the entire building top to bottom. Mega-Man was here for a reason and I want to know why." The security bots nodded and went off to carry out their orders.
It took me a while to get back home thankfully nobody noticed that I was gone. Once I was in my room I contacted the guys for an emergency meeting over comms. After telling them what happened they wasted no time trying to put me at ease. "Look on the plus side dude, you can always go back in for him tomorrow night." Axel suggested. "Unfortunately I'm not sure that's a good idea. They'll most likely beef up security tomorrow." Douglas pointed out. "Ok well as long as nobody finds Rush we should have some time to come up with a plan right?" Axel asked. "Except Dr. Wily saw me. For all we know he's already told Doctors Lalinde and Cossack and is having the building searched for why I was there." I explained.
Just the idea of them finding Rush and telling Dad about it filled me with dread over what he might do to me. Thankfully Douglas got me to calm down by offering an alternate solution. "If we can't sneak in to get Rush out, then perhaps we'll just have to go through the front door." He proposed. At first me and Axel asked if he was insane or not until he started laying out the full plan for us.
It involved two words: Field Trip. The first step involved each of us undergoing a specific task for tomorrow morning. My job was to contact Dr. Cain to authorize a visit for our school science class. At first he seemed to like the idea but pointed out the dangers of my being discovered by any of Dad's colleagues. After all, he kept my existence a secret, especially from them. I understood his concerns but suggested that as long as he was the one leading the tour everything would go smoothly. I even added how much of an experience it would be for me to finally see where he and Dad worked. After a few minutes of convincing Dr. Cain finally agreed to Ok the field trip.
Meanwhile with Axel his job was to see the school principal and get him to Ok the field trip to Light Industries. And from what Douglas and Axel have told me there's nothing Mr. Strickler appreciated more than students with initiative and going over paperwork. As hall monitor Axel had busted almost every student in school for hallway violations. And such was able to get their parent's signatures from the reports to write up the permission slips. Douglas' job was convincing our science teacher Mr. Klein which wasn't too hard since the man was a huge science buff like him.
A few hours later we were all on a bus on our way to Light Industries. The three of us sat in the back of the bus discussing the next step in Douglas' rescue plan. "Now once we're inside we create a distraction, slip away from the group and get to Rush so we can change his power cells and fly him out." Douglas explained. "Douglas if you ever go evil, we're all in trouble." I added. We all nodded in agreement and looked to see Dad's company coming closer through the windows.
We all exited the bus and started making our way toward the entrance where not too far off was a large white van pulling into the parking garage. The driver was wearing a blue cap and a pair of shades showing a janitorial ID to the scanner at the entrance. When he was given the ok he drove the truck and parked it near the building elevator entrance before reaching back and knocking a few times on the wall behind his seat. Suddenly the back opened to reveal a squad of people dressed in blue jumpsuits and blue caps carrying large duffel bags.
The driver stepped out removing his shades to reveal a red eyepatch over his left eye with a spear symbol on it. He turned to the group with a sneer. "Alright everyone this is it. I want everyone to get into their assigned positions and wait for my signal. Remember robot casualties only, no humans unless you have to." He instructed. They all nodded with one of them tossing him a duffel bag of his own. He threw it over his shoulder and put his shades back on. "Ok troops, let's move out." He turned to the elevator and they all piled in with the doors closing.
Back at the main entrance everyone was stepping through the doors and receiving visitors passes. Looking around Douglas wasn't kidding about them beefing up security since last night. There were a few security bots in the main lobby checking everyone's ID with one or two cameras nearby looking over everything. I started to feel a little nervous until Dr. Cain came up to welcome our class. He started introducing himself and welcoming all of us to Light Industries. I would've walked up to say hi to him but I didn't want to draw too much attention to myself.
Especially when Dr. Lalinde entered the lobby and walked up to Dr. Cain and asked him what was happening. After he explained, Dr. Lalinde then looked over at all of us and welcomed us as well. Her gaze nearly landed on me before I quickly moved behind someone to hide from her. Once she finally left I let out a sigh and relaxed a little. At least until the person I was hiding behind decided to speak up. "You know a simple hi Alia would have sufficed." I immediately jumped back with a yelp and stiffened up when Alia turned to look at me with a mischievous smirk on her face.
I stood there frozen with slight embarrassment with a nervous smile on my face. "Uhhhh hi there Alia. What are you doing here?" I asked her. "We have the same science class together." She said, with her arms placed across her chest. "Ohhh right. Right obviously." I chuckled nervously, rubbing the back of my head. "Well anyway I was hoping to talk to you." When she said that my nervousness was replaced with newfound excitement. "You were!? I-I mean sure what's up?" I asked her hoping she couldn't see the red on my face. "Good question. What exactly are you up to? And don't lie, because you're really bad at it." She told me looking me right in the eyes. "I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about, none." I lied. "See what I mean? You're a terrible liar. You, Axel, and Douglas had to go to a lot of trouble To make this little excursion happen." She pointed out.
I nervously fumbled with my words trying to come up with a good excuse. "We love science. Nothing weird about that. Now let's go in, please." Before Alia could say another word a security bot came up to us grabbing my shoulder. "Excuse me sir, I need you to come with me." "What? Why?" I asked them. "Just come with me." The robot insisted, pushing me toward the entrance. I quickly gave Alia my backpack which had the power cells inside. "Alia, don't forget to give Douglas his lunch. He gets really hungry." I yelled at her. Nearby Axel and Douglas watched trying not to panic. "Well that fell apart fast. What now?" Axel asked. "I don't know. Plan "a" was so awesome, I didn't come up with a plan "b"." Douglas told him.
Before Axel could berate him Alia walked up to them carrying my backpack. "I'm guessing that there's something much more interesting in here than Douglas' lunch." She told them with an eyebrow raised. They nervously looked at each other until she gave them my backpack. "You know next time you guys could just try asking me for help." Alia told them before walking off to join the rest of the group. Axel and Douglas stood there as Douglas tried to quickly come up with plan B.
As for me apparently security was having trouble authenticating my ID. Being the secret son of the world's greatest roboticist obviously had its drawbacks. The security bot told me to stay out and went back inside. Nearby I could hear the laughter of two certain jerks hanging around by the bus. "Getting kicked out of your own Dad's company, Nice one Light." Bulk commented while bouncing a basketball off the ground earning a laugh from Skull. I just stood there rolling my eyes at them. "And why aren't you guys inside?" I asked them. "Dude we got kicked out before we even got off the bus." Skull told me. Now that didn't surprise me at all.
Back inside the tour was well underway with Dr. Cain showing everyone the fusion reactor lab where scientists worked on ways to create new, clean, and inexpensive power sources for the good of the world. Normally Douglas would like nothing more than to admire the equipment in the lab with childlike fascination. Unfortunately he and Axel were in the middle of working out a backup plan to rescue Rush without getting caught. "But why can't I do it?" Axel asked Douglas, looking irritated. "Look I have to be the one to get Rush. I know the exact location of where Rock hid him. And I know how to change his power cells, You don't." He explained.
Axel stood there grumbling to himself letting out a small groan. "Ok fine I'll do the diversion. But once this is over you and Rock both owe me big time." Douglas nodded in agreement and Axel looked around until he spotted a switch on the wall. He went over to it and pulled it down activating a nozzle above him, dousing him with white foam. Everyone turned to look at Axel covered in foam with an embarrassed look on his face. "Uhhhh, fire?" He said with a small chuckle. His embarrassment only increased when Dr. Cain told him that the switch was not a fire alarm. "It's a hazardous material station." He finished.
Most of the class erupted into laughter with Mr. Klein instructing everyone to settle down. He turned to Dr. Cain and tried to apologize for the disturbance. Dr. Cain just waved it off and told him no harm done. He then looked over at two janitors nearby and asked if they could escort Axel to the nearest restroom and help clean him up a little. The janitors looked at each other nervously before one of them stood in front of the other accepting Dr. Cain's request while the other was secretly placing a small bomb under one of the tables. With everyone distracted Douglas was able to quietly slip away as the janitors escorted Axel out of the lab.
Meanwhile the man with the red eyepatch was making his way up the hallway pushing a cleaning cart. He turned a corner entering the building's security room. There two human security guards were sitting in swivel chairs overlooking screens showing different areas in the building. He reached into the cart and pulled out a gas mask and a small canister. He twisted the top a bit causing a cloud of gas to seep out of the canister as he rolled it across the room towards the guards. They soon started to cough before eventually falling unconscious.
Once the gas cleared the man removed the mask and went over to the control console and input a command to place the security robots on standby mode. He then grabbed a walkie-talkie off his belt and put it up to his ear. "This is Commander Payne, the security room is secured. All teams report." He ordered. The walkie-talkie made a sound as different voices sounded off. "Alpha team check, Bravo team check, Delta team check." "Gamma team report." He ordered. When there was no answer he started to get annoyed. "Gamma team I said report!" He nearly shouted.
The aforementioned Gamma team would have answered if they weren't in one of the elevators with Axel standing in between them. Axel overheard the radio chatter and glanced over at one of their walkie-talkies. "Gamma team, that is an order now respond!" He looked up at the janitors who looked at him with annoyed panic. "I don't suppose you guys would believe me if I said I didn't hear any of that?" He asked with an awkward smile. A few minutes later they were finally able to check in. The man with the eyepatch then smiled and spoke into the walkie-talkie. "All teams: commence the operation!"
Meanwhile sometime later Dr. Wily was in the conference room with Dr. Cossack and Dr. Lalinde. The latter seemed to be lost in thought. She remembered how she looked over at the tour group earlier and spotted one student go out of her sight. She only managed to get a small glance at him but she couldn't shake the feeling that she had seen him somewhere before. Her thoughts were interrupted by Wily talking to her. "Dr. Lalinde are you listening?" He asked. "Oh. Yes sorry, what were we discussing again?"
Before he could answer the doors burst open with a group of people dressed in green sweaters and brown army pants wearing green berets carrying guns rushing in. The three scientists stood up shocked as they were surrounded and held at gunpoint. One of the soldiers ordered them to put their hands up which they complied. Not long after Dr. Cain and the rest of our class were walking through one of the robot testing labs when they too were captured by a few of Payne's troops and held at gunpoint.
Back in the security room Payne and a few of his men were set up in the security room with the two guards unconscious and restrained in the corner. Nearby with his hands tied behind his back Axel was seated in one of the extra swivel chairs. One of the soldiers called Payne over to look at one of the screens. "It looks like they were doing a security sweep of the building before we took over." Payne looked at the screen with interest. "A sweep for what?" He asked. "Unknown sir but the sweep is at 81% completion." "Reprogram a few of the bots and have them continue the sweep, I want to know exactly what Light's co-conspirators were looking for." The soldier obeyed and upon doing so noticed something else in the security command codes.
"Sir there appears to be something else. The system was trying to confirm the identity of one of the students trying to enter the building with the tour group we captured." Payne looked over and saw my picture and name on the screen. "Where is he now?" He asked. "Security puts him outside near the bus." The soldier explained. "Clear out the building, have the tour group moved into one of the labs and the scientists brought up here. Once that's done, bring the boy to me."
Back outside I tried to think of a way to get back inside but one of the security bots remained on guard at the entrance. They often say that desperate times call for desperate measures. Whoever said that obviously didn't have to contend with convincing people like Bulk and Skull to help them get through those times. I tried my best to get them to help me but they weren't convinced. If anything they found my request for help amusing. "And why should we help a dork like you?" Bulk asked me. I told them if they did that I'd do their combined science homework for a week. This obviously got their attention as they talked amongst themselves. Skull looked over at me. "What about two weeks?" He asked.
Any other time I would've argued with them about extending it to a full two weeks but at that time I was desperate to get back inside so I reluctantly agreed. As soon as I did without batting an eye Bulk hurled the basketball at the security bot hitting it on the head and falling to the ground. He and Skull ran over to it with Skull waving me to go past while it was dazed. "Dude are you ok?" He asked the bot as I snuck past. I walked through the door only to hear screams and gunfire as people were being rushed out of the building by armed soldiers.
I quickly ran into a nearby elevator and hit the button to go up. As the doors closed I hid near the wall as one of the soldiers walked past looking over at the elevator. I went up and quickly contacted Douglas over comms. "Douglas, it's Rock. I made it back inside but something's happening. What's going on?" I asked. "I don't know. Axel and I had to improvise a new plan and I separated from the rest of our class." Douglas gave me the full recap of how not long after he split from our class people dressed as janitors started to remove their jumpsuits revealing soldier gear underneath and began roaming the building carrying guns that were hidden in the cleaning carts.
Douglas had managed to evade them but they had managed to capture both our class and Dad's colleagues. "They must have taken over the security room because most of the security bots have been switched to standby mode." He added. "Alright, find a place to hide and stay put. I'll get to you as soon as I can." I told him. I then wasted no time transforming into my armor as the elevator continued up.
Back in the conference room Doctors Cain, Wily, Lalinde and Cossack were tied up with Payne walking through the doors. "Hello doctors, I hope you're all sitting comfortably." He told them. "What is this? Who are you?" Dr. Lalinde asked. "Who I am is of no importance. What is important however is that I'm the man who's going to save humanity from total annihilation." He answered. When asked what he was talking about Payne went on to tell them how humanity will one day be destroyed by the very machines they created. He added that as a former soldier he had seen how much death and destruction robots can cause gesturing to his eyepatch.
"Robots created by people like you. The traitors to humanity." He said pointing his finger accusingly at them. One of Payne's soldiers told him that the building was now cleared and that they had eyes on the bus outside. He asked whether they had eyes on me. Instead they told him they could only see Bulk and Skull still hanging out next to it. He obviously didn't like that and turned back to his hostages. "Where is he?" He asked them. They looked at him confused. "Where's Thomas Light's supposed son?" He asked. Dr. Cain tried to hide the look of shock on his face while the others just looked more confused.
When Dr. Cossack asked him what he was talking about, Payne responded by punching him in anger. "I'm talking about one of the brats that came with the school tour today." He said glaring at them. He turned to Dr. Cain and walked up to him. "A tour which you authorized. So tell me, where is he?" He asked calmly. Dr. Cain simply shook his head. "Even if such a child existed I wouldn't tell a man like you." He boldly told him.
Payne turned back to the soldier. "I want this building put on lock down. That brats here somewhere, find him and bring him to me." He ordered. The soldier obeyed and relayed the command through the walkie-talkie. Dr. Lalinde looked over at Dr. Cain and noticed a small look on his face. It was the look he had whenever he was lying.
Outside Bulk and Skull were on the bus talking when they started hearing police sirens coming closer. They looked to see police cars pulling up and creating a perimeter around the building. Apparently one of the company's employees had called the cops after they were forced out of the building. Detectives Stones and Krantz got out of their car with Stones shouting orders when a loud alarm sounded with large metal doors closing over the entrance.
Stones cursed at this as one of the officers walked up to him telling him about a potential hostage situation inside. When Stones asked what kind the officer pointed towards the bus.
As soon as he saw it his expression grew pale and worried before switching to anger. "Someone get me a line in there. I wanna talk to the whacko behind this now!" He shouted.
Meanwhile I was trying my best to sneak around the building without getting caught. Which considering how I was in my armor wasn't exactly easy. I looked around a corner and spotted two soldiers roaming the hallway. I stayed hidden until they got close enough for me to hear them. Apparently they were combing the building looking for Dr. Light's son. "I didn't know he even had a son." One of them commented. "Yeah well once we find him, Light will do whatever we say to get him back." The other told him.
As they turned the corner they stopped in their tracks upon seeing me standing there. "Hi, how are ya?" I told them before grabbing the both of them and bashing their heads together knocking them out. After they fell to the ground I grabbed their feet and dragged them off to the nearest broom closet and locked them inside. I walked down a few more hallways when I spotted a few more soldiers going into one of the testing labs.
I walked up to the door and peeked through the window to see Alia and the rest of the tour sitting on the floor. The soldiers started going over every student trying to look for me. "Doesn't look like he's here." One of them reported. Another was about to talk into their walkie-talkie when one of the phones in the labs started ringing. The soldiers looked at each other before one of them walked up to answer it. When they did they stood there listening for a bit before asking the other person to hold on.
They looked at one of the other soldiers and told them that it was the police. They then started going back and forth about what to do which gave me the opportunity to sneak into the lab. Alia and a few students saw me but quickly kept quiet when I did the shush gesture with my hand. As the soldiers were talking I slowly walked up behind them getting right up behind one of them. I then tapped one of them on the shoulder causing them to turn around. As soon as they did I said Hi before knocking them out with a punch.
The other two turned and tried to use their guns but I managed to quickly grab the barrels, bending them upward. They both looked at their guns nervously before looking back at me. I then grabbed them both by their shirts and held them up off the ground. "Now who are you guys?" I asked them, doing my best to make my voice sound deep and menacing. One of them wasted no time telling me everything. Apparently they were part of a group called the Emerald Spears being led by a former soldier turned anti-robot terrorist named Xander Payne.
When I asked them what they were doing here they told me that they were saving humanity by stopping the evolution of robot weapons by destroying the place where they were created. "What are you talking about? Light Industries doesn't make weapons." I told them. "That's not what the commander believes." The soldier told me. He then went on to tell me that they had placed bombs on select floors in the building and that Payne had the detonator. I knocked them both out and turned to the phone and picked it up.
Both myself and Detective Stones were surprised to hear the other's voice on the phone. "What's going on in there?" He asked me. I told him about Payne and the bombs and that the students were safe. "Thank God. The building's on lock down. It's gonna take us a while to cut our way inside." He told me. "Ok I'll do what I can about the bombs." I told them before hanging up the phone. I turned to the students and told them to stay here. "Don't worry you'll be safe." I went to tie the three soldiers with some computer cables.
I was about to go through the door when Alia called me and walked up to me. "Axel and Douglas are still missing." She told me. "I'll find them. You just stay here with the others." Before she could argue I ran out of the lab and went to try to find Douglas. Unfortunately Alia wasn't the type of girl to just sit around and do nothing. Despite objections from Mr. Klein and some of the students she left the lab to go off on her own.
Back with Douglas he had managed to dodge a few more soldiers and made it to where Rush was. "Rock I made it to the vault." He called me. "Ok good I'm on my way to you now." I replied. Douglas then went up to the door and put in the code to open it. Once the door opened an alarm sounded. Douglas covered his ears from the loud sound. Up in the security room one of the soldiers went over to one of the screens to see what was happening. Axel looked over and spotted Douglas and quickly acted like he was freaking out to distract them. "Whoa what's happening? Is it a fire? A meltdown? Are we going to die!?" He started shouting.
One of the soldiers told him to calm down but Axel kept up the act to keep them away from the screen. Back with Douglas I finally caught up to him and asked what happened. "I don't know. I just opened the door." He answered. Suddenly the ceiling opened up and three drones appeared and turned towards us. They started shooting at us as I quickly shoved Douglas into the vault and jumped in before closing the door. "Um, while I'm glad we're safe, how are we going to get back out?" Douglas asked.
As if on cue part of the door started to glow as the drones started using lasers to cut through the door. "Well there ya go. They're cutting a way out for us." I told him. Douglas was less than relieved but managed to stay focused enough to help me replace Rush's power cells. Back in the security room Payne contacted the soldiers to ask what was going on. "We don't know sir. Something triggered the security on level ten. Security drones are trying to cut their way into one of the vaults." They reported.
Axel was still tied up when he noticed someone coming into the room near him. He looked shocked to find Alia sneaking over to him and trying to untie him. "No sir as far as we can tell it's a standard storage vault." The soldier said. Alia finally got Axel free and they were about to sneak out when one of the soldiers said that they'd try to access the camera inside the vault. Axel stopped immediately and looked over at the console as the soldier was about to bring up the screen. Axel looked around quickly, confusing Alia. Before she could ask him what he was doing he spotted the emergency shut off switch near the door and ran over to flip it.
Everything I'm the building instantly shut down causing the room to go dark a little. "What happened?" One of the soldiers asked when the other one turned around and spotted Axel and Alia standing there. He aimed his gun towards them and told them to hold it. They both stood there with their hands up.
Meanwhile Payne looked around the now dark room as he spoke into his walkie-talkie. "What's going on?" He asked. "Sir, one of the hostages flipped the emergency shut off switch and cut power to the whole building." The soldier reported. Payne grumbled and told them to get the power back up as soon as possible. Back with me and Douglas we managed to replace Rush's power cells before the lights went out. It wasn't long before Rush powered back up and transformed back into his armor.
He then jumped on top of me and started licking my face. "Ha ha. I'm happy to see you too, boy." I told him. The reunion was short lived when the door finally gave way as the drones finished cutting through. The drones flew in ready to attack but Rush quickly growled and jumped up at one of them tackling it to the ground and ripping it apart with his mouth. Before the other two drones could react I quickly raised my arm cannon and fired two shots destroying them both.
I then called Rush over to me prompting him to run up and transform back into hoverboard mode. I got on and told Douglas to get on with me. "We need to get out of here before the power comes back on." Once he got on we took off like a rocket out of the room and flying down the hallway. The power finally came back on just as we were spotted by a few soldiers who then fired their guns at us.
I quickly angled Rush down another hallway to dodge and charged straight for a closed elevator. Douglas tried to warn me but we were still heading right for it. I instead told him to cover his eyes as I used my arm cannon to blast open the elevator doors and fly us up through the elevator shaft. We then came out on another floor with Douglas looking a bit nauseous. I asked him if he was OK but he insisted that he'd be alright in a minute. "Nevermind me worry about saving everyone else." He told me.
I nodded and told Rush to get ready to "fetch" some bombs. We then took off and started fly throughout the building tracking down the bombs using Rush's sense of smell. And by smell I mean the electronic scanner built into his nose. In a matter of minutes we were able to find all the bombs and collect them before heading to go outside.
Meanwhile the soldiers had reported seeing me and Douglas to Payne. Upon hearing that he ordered all his remaining troops to get ready to evacuate the building and call in a chopper to meet them on the roof. He then turned to Dr. Lalinde and ordered one of his soldiers to grab her and take her with them. The soldier went over to her and untied her and lifted her to her feet and escorted her out the door. He then reached into his pocket and pulled out the detonator.
Suddenly the bombs lights started blinking rapidly. My eyes widened a bit before having Rush fly faster towards the nearest window. Outside with the police they were still working on getting inside when the sound of glass smashing drew their attention upward as me and Rush flew out.
We hovered there for a minute before the bombs lights started to flicker faster. I quickly threw them up in the air with all my strength. A few moments later the bombs exploded in the air. I looked up at the cloud for a moment before Rush started growling. I looked back at the building with my vision switching from normal to x-ray and saw Payne, Dr. Lalinde and a few soldiers went into an elevator and going up to the roof.
Up on the roof a chopper was flying over to land as Payne and everyone walked out of the elevator. They made it halfway before a loud sound drew their attention. They looked just in time to see me and Rush fly right at them with me leaping off and punching the nearest soldier. I took out two more with Rush tackling the last one to the ground. I quickly turned around and saw Payne posting a gun at Dr. Lalinde's head. I stood there aiming my arm cannon at him. Payne just smirked at me. "Go ahead and shoot. Show this traitor what you really are." He yelled at me.
Rush barked behind me and I turned around to see two more soldiers holding Axel and Alia at gunpoint. One of them told me to lower my weapon. I reluctantly complied and put my hands in the air telling them Ok. Payne ordered his troops to put Alia and Axel on the chopper. "They'll make acceptable bargaining chips for the police." They started walking them past me to the chopper. I looked over at Payne who just continued to smile. "That's it, follow orders like a good little robot." He told me, earning a glare from me and a growl from Rush.
Rush walked over to me slowly as they got closer to the chopper. Once Rush was close enough reached over and touched him, activating the cloaking device and turning us both invisible. Payne and the other soldiers looked around desperately until the soldier holding Axel was knocked out and fell with the other soldier following suit soon after. Payne stood confused until he cried out in pain as something grabbed his hand crushing the gun. At that moment me and Rush reappeared next to him with me pulling him up and away from Dr. Lalinde.
I looked at Payne right in his face before telling him "lights out for you" and knocking him out. He fell to the ground unconscious as I looked over at Dr. Lalinde and helped her up. I asked her if she was OK and she just looked at me before nodding. We both shared a brief glance that felt almost familiar to me. The silence was broken by two police helicopters flying overhead. One of the pilots shouted out an order for me not to move and to put my hands up.
I quickly reactivated the cloaking device and me and Rush disappeared in front of everyone. A little while later everything was starting to calm down. The police had rounded up and arrested every Emerald Spears member and were loading them up into the back of a van. Xander Payne was the last one to be loaded in with Detective Stones personally closing up the doors. Back at the bus the class was starting to get back on board to find me, Bulk, and Skull studying in the back of the bus.
Inside the building Wily was in the security room trying to gain access to the security footage from within the vault but to his frustration found nothing. "Blast it, where is it?" "Looking for something Albert?" Wily turned around to see Dr. Cain rolling in. "I think you'll find that all of the footage from today was completely erased because of the system shutdown earlier." Dr. Cain told him. "If there was something specific you were hoping to find-" "Oh uh no no it's fine. I just wanted to make sure our computer systems weren't damaged by those radicals." Wily quickly explained.
Wily then quickly left the room while Dr. Cain kept a close eye on him. He left soon after only to be quickly met by Dr. Lalinde. "Excuse me Dr. Cain but I was hoping to talk to you about something." "Of course Noele, what's on your mind?" As they walked Dr. Lalinde asked if he was keeping anything from her. Dr. Cain said no and asked her why she thought that. "No reason, I was just wondering." She lied. Dr. Cain looked at her curiously for a moment. He eventually just shrugged it off as they continued down the walkway. Once again Lalinde spotted when he was lying but decided not to force the matter. At least not until she found out the truth herself. For now all she knew was that there was something strange about me when she looked at me. That combined with what Xander Payne said about me only raised more questions for her. Questions that she would stop at nothing to answer.
As for me, Axel, and Douglas the three of us were sitting on the bus relieved by the fact that we managed to rescue not only Rush but also that the day was saved once again. Naturally Alia had asked some questions about what the three of us were up to before the hostage situation but we managed to play it off as just three guys being stupid. And while she still looked doubtful she finally accepted that as the truth. "But seriously guys next time you could just try asking me for help instead of randomly stringing me along." She said with a smile that still makes my chest feel warm.
Once Alia was satisfied she left the three of us back to our silent victory party. At least until Douglas asked me where Rush went after evading the police. At his question I started to smile nervously and rub the back of my neck. "Uhhhh yeah about that, I'm gonna need your guy's help again." I told them with a nervous chuckle. Meanwhile on top of the bus an unconscious Rush appeared on the roof before vanishing again.
*Preview*
Rock: Hey guys, Rock here to tell you all about what to expect in the next episode. A new robot makes an electrifying appearance in the city causing large blackouts.
Axel: You got this Rock. This guy's just a big show-off.
Douglas: I don't know friend, this one seems much tougher than the others.
Rock: And as if that wasn't enough Alia is determined to discover my secret identity.
Alia: What can I say? A good journalist never lets go of a good story.
Rock: Yeah well let's hope I stay alive long enough to read it. Next time on Mega-Man: Robotic Hero! Episode 5: Electric Swing! See ya soon!
I always find it refreshing to have a different villain appear besides the usual main antagonist in a series. And I hope you all found it enjoyable to read. As usual, guess the identity of the next Mega-Man villain correctly and receive a special shout out at the beginning of the next chapter.
And now replies to reviews
Theoldblood98: Glad to hear it.
Van Vu: Thank you.
Theoldblood98 & Half-beastdragonsoul2013: Yeah ain't I stinker? Lol.
Until then this is Tardispilot297 saying ALLONSY!