Robert fights back the urge to vomit as Katrina works on the android, sheering away damaged flesh and tossing it to the floor. The android spasms, gurgling...until she reaches inside his chest, pressing a button and making him slump back, unmoving.
"Emergency failsafe," she says, "This will give us the time we need to repair him."
He sits down, looking away as Katrina eases the eye back into place, removing the shards of red metal from the scalp.
"Why were you in the area?"
"I...um...my girlfriend...well, Rebecca...I was being an asshole earlier today...and I wanted to apologize."
"So you tracked her cell phone, I see. Not too hard to do," she says as she welds off the shattered right arm, "Bass used her as bait for him."
"Bass...? As in..."
"Yep. Wiley's prodigal son," she responds, tossing aside the arm, and then levels a gaze at him, "As in Dr. Wiley."
"Why? What did he want with-"
"Recognize the body?", she asks, lifting up the android's limp head, "I don't know why Allen turned his attention to Protoman, but..."
She clears away the skin and clothing from the chest area, folding her hands.
"Time to get to work.", she says, and walks over to a tool-layered bench behind her.
Rebecca turns as the door to the barely-lit, bare room opens, the black-haired woman walking through.
"Professor Lien?", she asks, "My name is Melina. Professor Wiley asked me to see to your needs."
"Needs?", Rebecca asks, "I need to get out of here! Where am I?"
"The Professor's retreat outside of Buffalo, New York," Melina responds, "I'm sorry for the inconvenience. They're not telling even me what the plan is, this time."
"Plan?"
"The Professor always has a plan when he sends Bass to do something," she responds, shuddering involuntarily, "Forgive me, Doctor Lien. It has just been...odd, around here, for the past day. I will be outside. Call me if you need anything."
She backs out of the room, closing the door, leaving Rebecca to sit against the wall in the darkness.
Rush faithfully follows Rock around the house, the young android peaking in every door he walks by as he walks down the hall, Roll watching him from the couch, the monitor muted, playing news of a car accident in Manhattan.
"Hate to break it to you, but Anna went home," she says, "Professor Ferris insisted."
"I know that, Roll," he responds, peaking in his bedroom, "I can't find Dad."
"He said he had an errand."
"Roll, this is Dad we're talking about," he responds with open hands, "He isn't exactly high maintanence."
"He must have something to do," she says, lying back on the couch, "Calm down, Rock. There's a logical explanation for everything."
He smirks, shaking his head.
"You even sound like Kenneth. You two are serious."
He walks into his room before she can respond. She chuckles, arching her head back to look at the report...when she sees a description of the missing accident victim. A description and a face. Which she instantly recognizes.
"ROCK!", she screams as she freezes the image of Protoman's face, jumping off the couch, "GET IN HERE!"
Katrina swears, loudly, in russian as she holds the screwdriver in her mouth, coolant spraying from a severed tube on his left arm.
What was Protoman is now a barely recognizable endoskeleton of blue-marred and dented metal, his eyes vacant white, the lights running around his head, chest, and limbs a dull yellow.
"Get me a clamp, now!", she yells, "If we don't close this off his generator will fuse!"
Robert nods, looking over the tools and handing a odd-looking pair of plyers.
She clamps off the tube, wiping the coolant on her forehead as she welds on plates on his torso.
"The channel directors aren't holding!", she yells, "The HO conduits are blocking each other off!"
"What the hell does that mean?!", Robert demands.
"It means the signal's being mixed," she says, "If we don't fix it, he'll-"
The android endoskeleton shudders, the vacant eyes glowing bright red.
"...activate."
Protoman spasms, eyes flashing bright red, clenching his skeletal fists...and he screams, in a unrecognizable, monotone voice.
The restraits holding the wrists shatter, the hands lashing out, Robert ducking as the android's left hand bolts out, clamping around Katrina's throat...and she holds it, prying it off with inhuman strength.
"Damn you...stay down..."
"Protoman, deact."
The android goes limp, eyes fading back to white as it slumps down onto the operating table.
Katrina stares down at the body, the only sounds her heavy breathing and the clicking of a cane against the wooden floor. She looks up, smiling.
"You came. Why?"
Thomas Light smiles, adjusting his glasses.
"No father ever wants to see his child die," he responds, "How is he?"
"Bad. I can't make the enhancements. I can't repair him. Can you?"
Light takes off his brown overcoat, laying it on the table as he undoes his vest.
"I designed him and built him," he responds, rolling up his sleaves, "He blames me for everything that's gone wrong. Putting him back together is the least I can do to make amends."
He walks over to the table, and they get to work.
The woman turns, dark blonde hair swirling about her face as she laughs, watching him run from the snowball-throwing children, her giggles giving off small whisps of condensed vapor.
She places her gloved hands over her mouth, watching with a mix of amusement and embarrassment as Niccolai's snowball nails him in the back of the head, throwing off his sunglasses and sending him to the ground.
"Niccolai!", she admonishes, "That was not a nice thing to do!"
"Sorry, Atena," the boy responds, looking down, "Is Mr. Light alright?"
"I'll see to that. Go and play with the others."
The boy nods, running off to the other children.
She goes down to her knees as he rubs the back of his head, his wild black hair soaked from the snow, his blood-red eyes looking up at her.
"Something tells me he needs to pick better targets."
She smiles, running a hand through his hair, helping him up.
"Then make yourself a less appealing target," she responds, "You may be an android, but you should dress like a rest of us."
She gives a quick glance over his light, open overcoat, thin khakis and t-shirt, raising an eyebrow.
"What do you suggest?", he asks.
She purses her lips, looking about...and nods, reaching into her winter jacket and unwinding her bright yellow scarf.
She wraps it around his neck, tucking it into his overcoat and closing the overcoat over it.
"There," she says, patting him on the chest, "You look almost normal. Now you just need some boots and you'll be inconspicuous."
He slides on his sunglasses, smiling.
"My eyes still look bloodshot."
"Not bloodshot, Brian. I think they look more like a sunset."
"You can't find any faults with me, can you?"
She smiles, pecking him on the lips.
"No, I can't. Now come on, I have a snowball with Niccolai's name written all over it."
She grabs his hand, pulling her with him as they chase after the boys in the field of snow...
Brian opens his eyes, staring at the muted florescent lights on the ceiling high above him.
He raises his right hand, seeing the replaced, seamless synthetic flesh, touching his chest and finding no cuts, no rips.
He's been repaired. Fully repaired, but...something feels different.
"Brian?"
He recognizes the accent on the spot, quickly sitting up to find Katrina Cossack and Robert Kalgick sitting in chairs next to a coolant-and-flesh covered worktable, looking at him uneasily.
She takes a pair of sweatpants from the floor, tossing it to him.
"Put on the pants, Brian," she says, "You're making us feel inadequate."
He pulls on the sweatpants, climbing off the table, clenching and unclenching his hands, looking about with a furrowed brow.
"Where am I?", he asks, "What time is it?"
"It's been nine hours since Bass attacked and nearly killed you," Katrina explains, "I repaired and upgraded you, since you'll no doubt find him and rescue Professor Lien. Or try, at least."
"I won't try. I will," Brian responds, "Where's my armor?"
"Shredded by one full impact of Bass's arm cannon. Am I getting through to you, just yet? Bass did not even break a sweat when he mauled you. If you will wait, I will give you things that will give you a chance in Hades."
"Fine. Just get me on my way."
Katrina sighs, walking out, leaving Brian alone with Robert, the two staring at each other for a long moment.
"I was my fault she's involved," Brian states, "Considering Wiley's tactics, she's most likely still alive."
"Most likely?!", Robert demands, "What if she's dead?!"
"Then I'll make sure Bass dies, to," Brian growls, "This is a normal rescue operation. I have done these before."
"Yes. With me," Katrina says, walking in with a large suitcase, "Now, Brian. Let's get to work."
A storehouse in Eastern Germany.
Skullman, a tall, bone-white armored android, leans against the storehouse's wall, seven walkers doing their normal patrols of the area.
He should expect this. Like all of the other androids, he got totalled by Megaman, so he was reconstructed and given a menial task by the Creator. Boring as hell, but he never was too much into the 'kill the humans' thing. Not nearly as much as Bass.
Christ, Bass, he mentally moans, Father treats him like the prodigal son. Even gave the bastard a first name.
He looks up as he hears footsteps, arching an eyebrow as the new figure approaches.
Six feet tall, maybe an inch taller. Covered from neck to toe in black armor. Some of it like cloth or chain mail, but the sections at his chest, abs, hips, and shins are solid metal or plasmetal.
He wears a long black overcoat like a cape, swirling about in the wind, a head brace covering his head except for the top, black, unkempt hair spilling out. And a visor is hiding his eyes, which have a faint glow from underneath.
"This's private property," Skullman says, standing upright, "Get out."
"Where is he?", the man asks, in a low, growling voice.
"Where's who?"
"Wiley."
Skullman shrugs.
"Ain't my place to say," the android says, and waves flippantly, "Now get. Shoo."
The man doesn't move. Skullman sighs, the seven walkers assembling in front of him.
"Get him outta here," he says.
One of the walkers advances, an energy shield forming on the crimson wardroid's right forearm. It charges, raising it to strike...
And the man lunges out of the way, going under the strike, turning, and swinging an open knife-edge hand.
And severing the walker's head from its neck.
The walker explodes as it hits the ground, the man turning to them...and red eyes glow from underneath the visor.
"Get him!", Skullman orders.
The other six walkers charge, as the man draws a katana blade from his overcoat.
"The sword is a specialty model, Brian. It is equipped with a monowire filament and a vibromotor, giving it not only impressive cutting ability, but increased cutting power."
"Understood, Katrina. The design is also impressive. Who made it?"
"One of my father's friends. Jonathan Melitt."
Brian flips the switch on the sword's hilt as the six walkers coverge on him. Six walkers. All fully updated and upgraded. Normally, Megaman or Protoman wouldn't be able to handle six at once.
He smiles, faintly.
Time to see how well he was upgraded.
"Based upon his designs and Dr. Light's designs, your psychokinesis has been channeled directly into your endoskeleton and musculature. It increased your strength and speed."
"How much?"
"You can lift, at this point, at least twenty tons. Without further enhancement."
He leaps into the air, flipping about and slamming his heel into the face of a walker, swinging down his sword and slicing it diagnolly, not bothering to see the explosion as he turns, flipping sideways to avoid a plasma blast.
With a yell, he lunges forward, bisecting a walker and slamming its still-aloft torso with his fist, sending it careening into another walker and detonating them both.
One of the walkers coverts its shield into an energy blade, swinging it at him as Brian skips back, kicking aside the attacking hand and skipping into a heel kick, pushing it back as he grabs a walker behind him, snapping its neck and tossing it aside.
He snaps into a roundhouse, spinning as he snaps the walker's head to the side, raising his sword as he faces the walker again.
And slicing it clean down the middle, the walker exploding as he takes back the sword.
He turns to the disabled walker and the one remaining walker, a quick stab from his sword detonating the disabled robot as he turns to the last one. He twirls the blade about, sliding into a scabbard tied into his coat...and, smirks, his eyes red slits.
The walker fires, blasts curving around Brian as he forms a psychokinetic shield, narrowing his eyes and walking forward.
"How did he know about my powers, Katrina?"
"Professor Melitt had worked with my father. He figured it out, really. He also designed weapons, which is probably why he was killed. The weapons you have been given are the prototypes he designed, his greatest works."
He walks up to the walker, grabbing and crushing the arm cannon, gritting his teeth as the metal yields in his grip.
"Unfortunately, your arm cannon is gone. It would not adapt to the enhancements and had to be removed."
"I'll manage."
He slams his hand into the walker's face, sending the face grill careening into the CPU, the walker sputtering as it collapses, dead, to the ground.
And he turns to Skullman, extending his hand.
And gesturing for him to come over.
He snaps back, one fist behind his back, the other forward as the android walks over, narrowing his eyes.
Skullman lunges, his fists glowing as he surrounds them with ambient plasma energy...
And Brian's chambered fist strikes him in the throat, making him wheeze as he collapses to the ground.
He looks to the fallen android, then back to the warehouse, reaching behind him to the holster under his overcoat.
And drawing a long, twin-barrelled shotgun.
"And this, Brian, is his greatest work."
"It's a shotgun."
"It uses Interphasing technology. It folds space inside the barrel, multiplying the power of the plasma shells it uses. It could detonate a small warehouse with both barrels. And it could possibly penetrate Bass's shields with a good shot."
Brian cocks both barrels with a single thumb motion, and pulls the trigger.
Energy gathers at the barrels for a microsecond, and then bursts into two beams of yellow plasma.
And the warehouse explodes in a detonation of light, sound, and force.
Brian turns back to Skullman, cocking the barrels and pointing them at his head, a puddle of pale yellow liquid leading from the fallen android's crotch protector.
"Where...is...Wiley?"
Skullman swallows, hard, backing away, shaking.
"He...he's in a warehouse outside of Buffalo," he whimpers, "Honest, really...please, please...don't kill me..."
"I'm not going to kill you," he says, uncocking the gun, "I want you to do me a favor. I want you to tell him I'm coming."
"W-what the Hell are you?"
Brian holsters the gun, reaching down and lifting up Skullman by the neck. He pulls him over...and smiles, darkly.
"I'm Breaker."
He tosses him aside, and disappears into a beam of ebon light. And Skullman finishes pissing himself, and collapses.