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I resisted snapping a scathing insult at Burst Man as he all but shoved me aside. The words would have fallen on deaf ears, anyway. I instead swore under my breath and continued on my way down the many corridors that made up the Skull Castle.

SLASH Fortress...SLASH Palace...SLASH Fort...et cetra et cetra et cetra.

Tengu Man literally shoved me into the wall as he passed. I bottled up the anger and stored it away. Anger is good...anger is good...makes battles easier...oh, who am I kidding?

Tengu Man screeched, then fell over, twitching from the after effects of a Thunder Beam. I ran the rest of the way to the fork in the corridor. Naaaah...I didn't do it!

Hard Man was not so easily fooled. He held out one of his large, heavy arms, barring my "escape". "That was uncalled for, Elec Man," the large, blue robot said in a perfect imitation of anger.

The way he was saying it, you'd think I just killed his lover or something.

"Dr. Wily will have to know about this," Hard Man continued. My hackles rose. Oh, no. Dr. Wily would not hear anything! I closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them again, staring ahead. Hard Man froze. "Stand aside," I commanded. Hard Man dropped his arm and stepped back. I said, "Don't speak a word of this to Wily. Do you understand?" Hard Man nodded. "On your way." I waved Hard Man away, and the blue robot continued on his way. I sighed, shook my head, and ran the rest of the way to the empty room the others and I had agreed on.

Centaur Man was already waiting by the entrance, punctual as usual. Centaur Man nodded to me, turned, and entered the room with me behind him. I quickly glanced around, spotting a lone security camera slowly scanning the room. I asked, "Could you...?" Centaur Man nodded. The camera exploded, made into scrap by a Centaur Arrow. "Thank you."

Ah, Centaur Man...not only loyal and prompt, but thorough, too. I remembered first meeting Centaur Man two -- almost three -- years ago. I'd felt the familiar tingle in the back of my mind which usually marked the "birth" of a new Kaiser and quickly made my way to the room in the reinforced "dungeon" so to speak where the new army was waiting to be reprogrammed after having been stolen from the Robot Tournament. Centaur Man, the only one who really appeared to care about what was going on, had demanded answers from me. I never was quite sure if he really accepted the explanation I gave him. He had been outraged for several moments before going quiet, retreating to the back of the room, and crying about how he didn't want to be here and that he wanted to go home.

Sometimes I wonder if he knows how much I empathize with him.

I shook my head and looked to the entrance in time to see Magnet Man enter. Magnet Man...for some reason, I never could remember clearly how I first met him. I shrugged. Magnet Man checked the hallway outside the room briefly, waved to someone outside the room, and fully entered, leaning against the wall with his shoulder.

Ring Man and Crystal Man entered. I hid a grin as I remembered first meeting both of them. Crystal Man had been sitting on his table meditating and "trying to find the answer" to why he was already awake. Ring Man had been so confused and disoriented -- almost like I had been, myself, eight years past -- that he stumbled into everything in the room before making a crash landing right on top of me. Thankfully, it was only the confusion that had made him so clumsy.

Finally, Metal Man entered, closing the entrances behind him. I could still remember when Metal Man had awakened. Instead of being confused like everyone else had been, Metal Man had been scared. He was so disoriented by awakening early that he was frightened, talking about seeing shadows crawl along the walls, watching him. I'd ruled it out as confusion and disorientation. I was the only one who knew of the "incident".

I looked up and spoke, "...it's time..." Around the room, expressions hardened and stomachs clenched.

Crystal Man asked, "Are you certain, Elec Man?"

"It's been two years since the last Kaiser came to be," I stated, "I doubt another will be made, and we can't afford to put this off any longer." My companions nodded. "First, Crystal Man and Magnet Man will pay visits to each one of Wily's old fortresses. See which one is in the best shape and try to get it working again." The Kaisers in question nodded. "Ring Man, you'll stock up on energy tanks. I don't care where you get them or how, but don't start until after Crystal Man and Magnet Man have decided on one of the old fortresses." Ring Man nodded.

"Centaur Man and Metal Man will start planning for the first attack, but keep in mind that we're not attacking until after the old fortress is put back together and all of the access codes changed so that Wily can't hack into the system." The last two Kaisers nodded.

"What about you?" Crystal Man asked.

I hesitated, but answered, "...I'm going to spy on Rock and Dr. Light and make sure they don't notice us. We don't need them attacking while the fortress is being fixed up."

"How're you going to do that?" Magnet Man asked.

"...I don't know; I'm making this up as I go," I muttered, starting away. No one commented. It was an ongoing joke of sorts that I used whenever I had no real answer. The reply basically boiled down to "I'll solve that problem when it comes". The response to the first time I'd said it still cracked me up whenever I remembered it. Magnet Man had face-faulted, Crystal Man and Ring Man had nearly fallen over, Metal Man's eyes had bulged, and Centaur Man had literally fainted.

Crystal Man asked as the other members of the group began to disperse, "When do you want me and Magnet Man to start?"

"As soon as possible," I answered. Everyone else nodded and left. Crystal Man and Magnet Man stayed together while Centaur Man, Metal Man, and Ring Man separated. I waited until they were all gone before taking my leave as well.

* * * * *

"Enter," came the grunt on the other side of the door a moment after Centaur Man knocked. Centaur Man wiped his face clean of any potentially betraying expression and entered as he was told like the "good little robot" that he was. It had been several days since the gathering, and, as far as Centaur Man knew, Crystal Man and Magnet Man had not had much luck in finding a salvageable fortress. Dr. Wily looked at him and near-demanded, "What do you want?"

Centaur Man resisted clearing his throat as he answered, keeping his expression blank, "Sir, you sent Cut Man and Plant Man on a mission to mine those coring samples from the mountains, but they do not have any backup in case Rockman discovers them. Might I aid them?" It sounded innocent enough.

Dr. Wily shook his head as he answered, "No. Mountainous terrain is not what you were built for. Your hooves would slide around all over the place. You'd be useless."

Perfect. Now for the ploy. "What if I was able to shift to two legs?" He hoped it sounded an innocent enough question to come from a "good little robot".

Dr. Wily looked as if to decline again, but stopped, thinking about that. Centaur Man hoped that he had not noticed the minor detail that was the fact that a "good little robot" should not have curiosity.

"Hmm..." the scientist drawled, "I suppose...being able to shift would enable you to work properly in a great many more terrains and situations." Centaur Man nodded. "Very well. Let me find your schematics and figure out how to do this. Dismissed." Centaur Man nodded again, turned, and left.

When the door closed behind him, he snickered and bounded down the hallway, kicking his back hooves in the air. He tricked the doctor without any coaching from Elec Man! He found himself wondering if Elec Man would like the idea. It certainly would make it easier for him to work in different terrains. Magnet Man would probably call him stupid for risking blowing his cover.

"Watch it!" a shriek sounded, tearing through Centaur Man's glee. The green and gold robot looked around, blinking before looking down to the floor. Metal Man glared at him, arms crossed as he lay under the horse-bodied Kaiser. Centaur Man felt his face flush as he backed up and helped Metal Man to his feet.

"Sorry," he apologized sheepishly as Metal Man dusted himself off.

"No problem," Metal Man responded, "What are you so happy about, anyway?" Centaur Man attempted to look innocent. He was the best at it. Ring Man often said he looked adorable when he played innocent.

"Happy? Me?" he drawled, "What gives you that idea? I'm a good little robot!" Metal Man groaned. Centaur Man knew he was grinning behind the facemask.

"Seriously..." Metal Man said, starting back down the corridor, Centaur Man loping beside him.

"Where's Elec Man?" Centaur Man asked.

"Spying, now stop answering questions with questions!"

Centaur Man looked sheepish as he answered, "Well...I just talked to Dr. Wily..." He could feel tension surging into Metal Man's shoulders. Metal Man knew that Centaur Man was one of the best when it came to acting as convincing as a normal robot, but the less risks the Kaisers took, the better. "I managed to sucker him into thinking about giving me the ability to switch back and forth between my horse form and a two-legged form. It'll make getting around in some areas a lot easier--"

Metal Man cut him off as he yelped, "You what?!" Centaur Man stopped in his tracks, blinking as he repeated himself. Metal Man looked ready to strike the youngest Kaiser. "He's going to have to look at your schematic for that, and he'll notice that you don't look the way you should!" Centaur Man felt like kicking himself. Why had he not considered that before? "Dr. Light was lenient with Elec Man when he sprained his ankle upon activation, but that was just his ankle! This is your entire lower half!" Metal Man forced himself to calm down, but his anger and exasperation still bled through. "And if that doesn't make Wily suspicious enough, you can bleed and you have nerves. And he won't knock you out." Centaur Man paled. "If you don't bleed everywhere during the operation, you'll go insane from the pain!"

A moment passed before Centaur Man finally spoke, his voice nothing but a high-pitched squeak as if his windpipe was being constricted.

"...oops...?"

* * * * *

"Hm...what do you think?" Crystal Man asked upon his and Magnet Man's arrival at the bottom-most floor of the next-to-last fortress available. Three had been completely destroyed and were out of the question and, so far, none of the other still-standing fortresses were in good enough shape.

"Seems good enough," Magnet Man answered as they surveyed the last room left to explore in the fortress. There were burns, dents, holes, and scratches in the metal from a battle that took place too long ago. Which fortress was this, anyway? The very first? Judging from how worn away the burns were and how thick the dust was on the computers and equipment, it had to be either the first or second. "I don't think there's much damaged at all--"

A piece of sheet metal fell down from the ceiling onto him. Crystal Man choked.

"...remind me to keep my mouth shut, next time."

"Will do."

* * * * *

Black boots, black slacks, a dark red t-shirt, and a black trench coat gave me a very human guise. When combined with my unruly, platinum blonde hair and pale skin which both looked and felt much more real than the soft rubber that made up the other Robot Masters' exterior, I could hardly be mistaken for anything else, even if I do say so, myself. The only betraying feature were my golden eyes which tended to glowed in the dark from my internal nuclear generator. When I was angry enough, my eyes sometimes crackled with electricity.

A set of mirror shades completed the ensemble, hiding my eyes completely. I let a small, amused grin crack my overly serious expression for a brief second before wiping it away. The last thing I needed was to get cocky.

"Are you sure you don't want me to go with you?" Ring Man asked from behind me, "It won't take but a minute for me to change."

I shook his head, answering as I adjusted my coat and found myself wondering exactly how cold it was outside, "No. Wily's already suspicious about Crystal Man's and Magnet Man's absence. Two more of his Robot Masters going missing will be too suspicious."

"No more than one," Ring Man pointed out, tossing a small, hand-held communicator to me. I caught the communicator and shoved it in my pocket while still looking in the mirror. "And, besides, we'd only be gone a few hours, right?"

"You're still not coming." Ring Man pretended to look offended.

A moment of silence passed before Ring Man spoke, "At least change shirts." I blinked. "The lightning bolt. It might give you away."

I looked down at my shirt, a bright yellow lightning bolt sewn into the chest. "Aww...I like it..." However, I saw the wisdom in the brown robot's words and slipped the trench coat off so that I could change shirts, yelping when one was thrown in my face. I fumbled to try to get it on, issuing a snicker from Ring Man. "Oh, shut up," I sniffed, pulling the trench coat back on.

"You're welcome," Ring Man snickered.

"Thanks. You're still not coming."