Bass bit off a curse as another plasma blast hit him in the shoulder before he returned the favor. Protoman grinned as he blocked several shots with his Protoshield. "Hey, YOU were the one who said it was gonna get hot 'n heavy."
Bass spun around and drove his fist into one of the many copter-like drones that suddenly filled the hallway. "Yeah, but this is a least twice the security that's supposed to be here!"
Mega Man fired off another huge beam of plasma, wiping out a line of said drones. He'd really have to thank Auto for that enhancement one day. It was keeping him alive now much as it did in his latest match with the Green Devil a few weeks back. "So what are you saying, exactly?" he asked Bass.
Bass grimaced as he somersaulted backwards to avoid another five shots, took out a couple of drones with a fully charged shot of his own, and finished off by grabbing and smashing two more together. "I don't know, either someone's trying to delay us, or they're inviting our Reploid buds to something really unpleasant!"
X, Zero, and Iris warily stalked down the all-brick corridor. Not so much as a Met had attacked them yet, and it was really fraying on the two male Reploids' nerves. "I don't like this," X muttered. "Where's all the little security drones who's only pleasure in life is to shoot at unsuspecting tresspassers?"
"I'm with you, X," Zero replied. "It's like that old adage-How did it go, again?-'Welcome to my parlor said the spider to the fly.'"
Iris could not repress a shiver.
Zero noticed Iris's discomfort. "Oh, sorry," he said with a grin. "X and I have a tendency to be kinda dramatic sometimes."
X nodded, though he did not stop scanning the area around him. "Yeah, it's probably nothin'. And even if Siggy does have a trap set for us, it won't be anything we can't handle. We have done this before, y'know."
Iris smiled slightly at her friends' assurances, but something still troubled her. Zero seemed to believe these words wholeheartedly. He felt himself invincible, and why wouldn't he? He'd survived death itself once. X however...he was agitated to say the least, but Iris didn't think it really had to do with whatever trap Sigma had set for them. Rather, something else seemed to be bothering him. Something...bigger, if that could be possible. Funny that she'd notice this while X's best friend missed it. And yet...
Iris glanced at Zero. He didn't seem to be bothered by anything. He was even whistling the theme from The Andy Griffith Show as he scanned the area around him. However, his gaze did seem to shift to X's direction more than any other. Maybe Zero noticed after all. Iris couldn't help it. She shivered again.
Back at Maverick Hunter HQ, Wily was growing restless. He was allowed fairly free access around the tower, but he was always accompanied by a Hunter-a human hunter. The Hunters were smart, Wily had to give them that. He'd guessed that blasted Light tipped them off to his penchant for reprogramming robots. This time, though, they made a mistake. They had him followed by that idiotic cripple of all people. They seemed to forget that robotics was simply another form of mechanical engineering, and a robotisict could easily tinker with basic mechanical constructs. Like Matt Baker's hover chair.
It was just outside the Ride Armor hanger that Wily made his move. He was nonchalantly strolling past the door that led to the hanger when he flicked a small chip behind him to the chair. Matt instantly lost control of his chair and toppled over. Matt propped himself up on his elbows as Wily gave him a mocking salute. "So long, sucker!" Wily said as he ran though the doorway with the best maniacal laugh he could muster-which was pretty good by now, actually-and locked the door shut as soon as he was through to the other side.
Matt crawled to his hover chair and somehow managed to right it again. Then he picked off the little device off of the chair and crushed it between his thumb an forefinger, which gave him control of the chair again once he got in it. He brought a cel phone-style device from one of the armrests and punched in the number for Dr. Cain's room. "Dr. Cain, we got problems..." he said into the reciever.
"Yes, Matthew, what is it?" came Dr. Cain's voice from the other end.
"Well, Doc, Wily kinda locked himself into the Ride Armor hanger."
Dr. Cain something that made Matt's eyes widen to about twice their normal size. He'd heard cussing before, of course. After all, Zero could cuss in seven different languages, but coming from Dr. Cain, now that was shocking.
Wily's jaw practically hit the floor when he saw the materials he had to work with. There was the Chimaera-the basic Riding Armor design that looked very much like Guts Man expanded to twice his normal size without the head built in. It's fists were deadly powerful. Then there was the Hawk-built with powerful rocket launchers and jet propulsion on its back for short ranged flight. The Kangeroo-named for no particular reason, but anyone would feel nervous facing with those spinning rotary drills. Finally, there was the Frog-excellent for underwater maneuvering, but pratically worthless on land. It's torpedo launcher could come in handy, though. Any one of these walking tanks could cause serious damage to any foe. Once Wily combined them together...
"Hello, Albert," came a soft-spoken voice that took Wily completely by surprise. It was Dr. Light.
"Xavier," Wily growled between clenched teeth. "How did you know...?"
Dr. Light grinned. "Albert, I know you almost as well as I know myself. You may have changed from the Albert Wily I was once friends with, but you are still you."
"So, now you caught me. What're you going to do. You have no weapons on you."
Light shrugged. "Neither do you. All I'd have to do is unlock the door and the Hunters will be all over you."
Wily paled. That insufferable Thomas Xavier Light was right. But on the other hand... "Well, what are you waiting for?"
"I figured I'd give you a chance to explain yourself, first."
Wily's eyes practically bugged out of their sockets. After all he'd done to the man during all these years of war, and he was still going to give him a chance to explain himself? After a second or so, he regained his composure. "Fair enough. Sigma betrayed me. NO one does that and lives! I simply want to teach him a lesson."
Dr. Light nodded. "Fine, then. I'll help you." Wily's eyes bugged out again. "BUT," he added with such uncharacteristic fire in his gaze that Wily almost took a step back. "If you turn around and try to use this little toy of yours on Rock or Hadrian, may Heaven help you."
Meanwhile, in Sigma's subterranean fortress, Mega Man, Protoman, and Bass finally found themselves in a reprieve from the fighting. They were battered, bruised, bleeding, and in foul moods overall. Protoman, leaning heavily against the wall said to Bass, "Y'know, I thought you said the defenses were going to be somewhat lighter after the beating we gave the Mavericks topside."
Bass was sitting on the floor with his back against the opposite wall to Protoman. He was petting Treble who he had temporarily separated from during the lull. "They should be," he responded testily. "I think Sigma rerouted the forces that were guarding the path that X and Zero took our way."
Mega Man was leaning against one of the walls himself. "But, why in the name of all that's reasonable would Siggy do that?"
Bass shook his head. Mega Man made it a habit not to swear, usually, and he came up with some strange expressions to use instead. "Oh, come on Mega Man! You've fought against maniacal villains enough that you should be able to figure it out on your own!"
Mega Man thought for a second then nodded to himself. "Our Reploid friends are probably headed right into a trap."
Bass gave Mega Man one of his insufferable grins. "Wow, got it in one."
Protoman pushed off from the wall and started down the hallway. "Then I'd suggest we get a move on. They might need our help."
X, Zero, and Iris made it to the main lab with absolutely no resistance whatsoever. By now all three of them were ready to jump at the slightest movement. When they opened the door to the lab, all that was there was Dr. Doppler. "Well, I see you finally found your way here," he said with a smirk.
Zero glared at Doppler. "Yeah, well, it ain't that hard when all the defenses got shut off or rerouted. Now, let's get this little trap of yours over with, shall we?"
"If you insist..." Doppler said ominously as he put on a pair of protective goggles. He then hit a switch and all the lights went out. Before either of the three Hunters could adjust their sights to night vision, their optics were assaulted by what seemed to be an impossibly bright, impossibly fast strobe. Then all went dark again. When Doppler turned the lights back on, all three Hunters were lying on the ground, unconcious.