Coming Home

by Magus II1

Home is a beautiful place... but can Gravity Man find it?

Coming Home

by Gravity Mage

iKalinka's face, clear and shimmering in the moonlight. Sweat glistening on her smooth, white body as she entwines herself with a man, blonde and thin. A bouquet of roses, red and covered with dew, dropping to the ground. A woman's voice. Grunts and breathing. A moan - several. One of pleasure - one of exquisite, heartbreaking agony.

She looks up, her appetite appeased, and sees me standing there. She screams - a shriek of shock and embarrassment. She runs from the couch, her white face flushed red. The man - not me - turns and looks at me. His face, red for a different reason than hers, smiles - a horrible, evil grin that haunts my very soul. It's my friend. Star Man. Star Man keeps grinning, madly, uncontrollably, agonizingly. In my head, I invent a million possible deaths for that grin - the grin that destroyed my happiness.

I turn and run. I run and run and run and when I can't run anymore I get into my car and I drive, and I drive and I drive and I keep on driving and I'm driving still. And still the grin, the evil, black, lightly flushed, white faced grin, follows me relentlessly. There is no escape. My heart is entrapped by that grin, broken into pieces on the floor of Kalinka's apartment./i

Grav woke up that day with a thought in his mind. It wasn't a very clear thought, and he didn't quite know what to make of it at first. In the manner of such waking thoughts, it tried its best to escape his consciousness and dig itself into his subconscious. Grav's early morning mind was no match for the thought's power of distraction, and it was soon lost completely in the morning routine. Had he remembered it, it would have told him that his enemy, Doc Robot, was plotting to revenge himself on the unsuspecting Grav.

Shadow Man had killed Wily. It went against everything about humanity that Grav ached for in his heart, but he couldn't help but feel relieved that he could be safe again. As he absentmindedly got ready to live, he felt a little guilty - but not much - as he enjoyed the peace that Wily's death had given him.

He packed his clothing into his duffel bag and walked down the stairs of his hotel. He checked in, gave the lady his key, and tried to remember what it was he had been thinking about. He decided it wasn't anything important.

He drove through a nondescript grease bomb fast food shop for his breakfast, eating on the road - the road that stretched on endlessly before him. He didn't quite know what he would do once the road ended, besides find another road - but he knew that someday, eventually, he would hit the ocean. He dreaded the thought of the ocean, because he knew that once he reached the ocean he would have to turn around and head back home.

He pushed his foot down to the floor. The thought of returning to his home, to the house he had lived in, frightened him; facing his friends and family was a scary thought. He was a failure. He could not even keep his love faithful to him. And always, following close behind his thoughts of home, was the grin. He continued to accelerate, pushing his car to the limits of its speed. The faster he went, the further away he got from the grin - the further from home.

But the further from home, the closer to the ocean...

* * *

Doc Robot sat in a smelly, slimy jail cell. His cellmates had mysteriously disappeared shortly after his arrival, and no one thought to ask the ugly, slightly disfigured robot about them. The guards slid portions of inedible food under the bars three times a day. He stewed silently, wondering how long it would be until he learned of Wily's murderer. He thought of Grav's betrayal.

Doc Robot slammed his fist into the wall. Cracks formed, and he heard a startled shout from the cell next door. Doc Robot swore to himself again that all of the Robot Masters, who had betrayed his master, would pay. All of them that were still alive, anyway. Many of them he had already destroyed, robbing them of their powers to feed his own. He could still remember the screams of the robots as he stole into their bedrooms and private areas, taking them by surprise. Breaking their legs and arms so they couldn't struggle, ripping open their robotic arteries and drinking from them - draining them of their nanotechnological blood, stealing their powers and their life. Doc Robot smiled as he remembered their cries, their pleas, and their struggles - some more violent than others.

Astro Man had been the first to fall. The fat, cowardly slob had sickened Doc ever since the birth of that stupid, incompetent robot master. Then had come Burst Man - his bubbles had been completely useless against Doc Robot's armor. Others were quick to fall - Freeze Man, Frost Man, Aqua Man, and others. Half of the Masters had fallen to Doc's "primitive" armor and weaponry, and he knew that more of the recalcitrant ones were being held in the same prison that he was in. The only ones who had put up any kind of a fight had been Sword Man - Doc's first loss had been to that stuck-up swordsman - and Gravity Man, who had tricked him into falling captive of the pitiful, insignificant humans. Doc Robot was almost ashamed of the way that preying in the night had made him soft and vulnerable in the daylight. A pitiful fifth version blob like Gravity Man should never have been able to defeat him at all, let alone in broad daylight.

Doc Robot would find Wily's killer. Then he would finish his task, and suck the life of every last Robot Master, until he was the only one left - then his loyalty to Wily would be complete.

And most exquisite of all, the death of Gravity Man.

* * *

Gravity Man felt ill. He pulled over to the side of the road, at a small café called "Eat." He ordered a cola and some soup, then leaned his head back against the small booth he was in. He felt ill, sicker than he had ever felt in his life. A pit gnawed at the walls of his stomach, churning and demanding release from whatever ailment tormented him. The waitress brought him his food, which he looked at with trepidation. He sipped the cola weakly, having heard once that cola could help ease stomach pains. The waitress tilted her head at him, a concerned look on her face.

"You don't look so good, stranger. What's up?" She smacked a wad of bubble gum in her mouth as he slowly tilted his head toward her.

"I don't... feel... very good." He looked at the waitress, a small, thin human girl in her early twenties. Her long black hair was accentuated by the white color of her skin. He smiled weakly.

"If you're sick, maybe you should go see the Doc," the waitress said, a compassionate look on her face.

"Who's... Doc?" said the barely coherent Grav. Something inside his mind seemed to strike a chord, but his weakened consciousness couldn't hold on to the thought for very long.

"He's the doctor of this here village. He's good at treating just about anything."

"Thanks, but... I don't think I'm good... to drive," he managed to fumble out.

"Well, heck, I get off in five minutes. I'll drive you over." She smiled at him and ran her fingers through his hair once, comfortingly. The touch sent warmth through Grav's body, and for a second he almost felt better.

Then she took her hand away and walked off toward the kitchen. Grav slumped onto the table, his head buried in his arms. Well, he thought, at least things can't get much worse.

The waitress came back several minutes later, this time dressed in a low-cut blouse and shorts that matched it. Grav struggled to lift himself out of the booth, and succeeded in dragging himself outside. The sunlight nearly blinded him, and the waitress had to help him to her car. He climbed in her minivan and reclined the front seat, hoping to catch a few minutes of sleep.

All too soon, the car stopped and the engine sputtered to a halt. The waitress shook him and motioned for him to follow. Slightly rested, he managed again to follow her into an unassuming home with no signs or advertisements outside that would indicate a doctoral establishment.

"Come on, stranger. Just inside, then you can rest," she said, supporting him with her arm. Grav could imagine that they made quite a sight; a five-foot-two thin human girl supporting a six-foot, two hundred pound Robot Master. Somehow they made it into the house, which was larger than Grav had thought at first. The other houses around it, or so he had thought, were simply wings of a spacious mansion. He smiled at the waitress as she set him down on a soft, fluffy couch.

"Wait - what's your... name?" He asked her timidly. She smiled gently at him.

"Morgan. What's yours?"

"It's... Grav..." He slumped to the side and fell asleep.

"Grav? Grav what? Oh, never mind, it's okay. You can tell me when you wake up." She got up from beside him and pulled a large cord. A gigantic bell rang, somewhere in the house. From deep within, the man known as "Doc" approached.

Doc was a tall, thin, man with silvery hair. He owned a large portion of the small town Grav was in, and had amassed a small fortune through real estate and law. His mansion overlooked a beautiful cliff, with cool breezes running through the entire house regularly.

Doc shuffled over to Grav, his yew cane tapping against the floor with an ancient-sounding rhythm. He smiled at the young waitress.

"Who have you brought in to me this time, Morgan? Another one of your myriad lovers?" Morgan laughed, lightly and softly.

"You know I've never had a boyfriend, Doc. Never ever."

"Why not? You're a beautiful girl, Morgan." Doc bent over Gravity Man and began doing doctor stuff.

"Too much brains, not enough bosom," she joked. Doc chuckled along, sensing the pain behind the laughter. Then he felt Grav's neck.

"What the- Morgan, who is this?" He asked, alarmed. She shrugged her shoulders.

"Found him looking like crap in the diner. Didn't know where else to take him, and I couldn't just leave him there, could I have?" She raised her arms in question.

"No, it's just - well, come look at this." Doc motioned her over to look at Grav's neck.

"Look at wha- omigosh." Morgan gasped as Doc opened a panel in Grav's neck to show a small circuitboard, with a large tube of glowing red liquid flowing up towards his head. Doc shut the panel and looked at Morgan.

"You do know that that's not normal, right?" He asked her. She nodded, still in shock.

Grav began stretching. He sat up slowly, careful not to rush things too much. He looked at Doc, looked at Morgan, then rubbed his neck where they had opened it.

"Boy, you don't kid around, do you?" He said. "Name's Grav. I'm feeling much better now, thanks to Morgan." He looked at Doc. "Say, could you tell me where the heck I am? I've kind of been on the road for a long time, and I'm not sure where I am." He tried feebly to stand up, but failed.

"Well, Grav, you're in Celice, a small town on the west coast. You're currently in my mansion, which has a very good view of the ocean, if you're interested." He motioned over to a wall covered by giant curtains.

Once he reached the ocean, he would have to turn around. And in that direction lay the grin...

Grav, unbelieving, shuddered once and struggled to stand. Doc and Morgan reached toward him, telling him not to strain himself. He struggled loose, stood up, and stumbled over to the curtains. Right hand clutching his stomach, he threw them open with his left hand

The majesty of the waters struck Grav full in the eyes. Grav looked out on the ocean, blue sky above and blue water below stretching endlessly in front of him. The waves crashed against his heart, and he knew, inexorably, that he had only one direction left to go...

"No! I don't want to turn around! I'm not ready to go back yet! I can't go back!" Grav screamed, falling to his knees in front of the window, clutching the curtains tightly in his hand. He continued murmuring, his eyes tightly shut against the ocean that had come to him much sooner than he had thought.

"Doc! What's wrong with him?" Screamed Morgan, rushing to his side. Doc motioned her to his legs as he pried his fingers from the curtain.

"Help me carry him to the couch, then close the curtains." Together they carried Grav's large body to the couch, laid him down, and stretched him out of his fetal position. As soon as Morgan closed the curtains, Grav's muscles relaxed.

"The ocean has found me..."

And he fell asleep.

* * *

Grav woke up the next morning with a dull ache in his head and a pit gnawing at his stomach. There was a smell in the air, a salty, fresh aroma that Grav could not immediately identify. Grav looked around the room, and found himself in a comfortably sized guest room with an open window to the east. The curtains flapped inward in the cool, wet breeze. Then Grav remembered the ocean. Grav stood up and struggled toward the window. He shut it, barely retaining his consciousness as did. Suddenly, he noticed that a pile of clothes lay next to his bed. Realizing that they were his clothes, he sluggishly deduced that if his clothes were on the floor, then he wasn't wearing them. Ipso facto, if he wasn't wearing his clothes, he was probably naked. A quick look down confirmed this mental leap. He dived back into his bed, afraid of Morgan coming through the door at any minute. He buried himself in the covers and fell back asleep.

Grav woke again several hours later and pushed himself into a sitting position in his bed. The soft silk covers felt good on Grav's skin as he fully awoke. As he sat up, he saw a silver platter with some food on it next to him. He realized that he hadn't eaten since breakfast yesterday, and the food helped to take the edge off of his stomachache. He left the coffee on the plate untouched, however, as caffeine tended to wreak havoc with his delicate inner circuitry. Just as he was thinking that he was still hungry, the door opened, and Morgan entered. Grav pulled the covers a bit tighter around his unclothed body as she carried another food tray toward him.

"Good afternoon, sleepy head. You've been sleeping since noon yesterday." Morgan set the tray down on the bedside table and sat down on he bed. "Hey, you managed to eat! That's great!" She smiled, then put the back of her hand to Grav's cheek. Grav turned slightly red as her soft hand caressed his rough, unshaven cheek. Morgan didn't notice.

"You're not as feverish as yesterday morning, which is good, I guess. How do you feel?"

"I'm feeling much better. Thank you, Morgan." Grav patted her knee. "But, uh, why am I naked? And who took off all my clothes?" Grav slid a little further under the covers as he said this.

"You wish I had done it. No, all I did was help get you to bed. Why, never been naked before?"

"Not really used to it, I guess." Grav thought back to his past. First there were the long years of war against Rockman, when everyone slept in their armor; then had begun his time living with the guys. Originally, he had been too abnormally homophobic to sleep naked, and by the time he got over that he had formed non-naked habits that he had kept for no good reason at all.

"Everyone was born naked, you know." Morgan gave him a sidelong glance as she prepared the other food tray.

"Too bad I wasn't born," he muttered softly. She either didn't hear him or was ignoring him. As Grav saw some of the excellent looking food on the plate, his mouth began watering. "Wow, you sure know how to treat a guy. First a soft bed, then lots of food." Grav eyed the plate of food hungrily.

"Well, the bed belongs to Doc, and the food was his idea. I've never really had much experience with guys. Not worthwhile ones, anyway." She sighed softly as she said this. "I was never the prettiest or the most attractive girl, and I was kind of short and chubby, so I got teased a lot. I've always been really shy around men."

Grav stared at her face, which she had turned away while speaking. He sympathized with her, having been surrounded by a dirty old man and trampy women his entire life. Not much of a romantic atmosphere there. No wonder so many of the Robot Masters were gay.

"Are you shy around me?" He asked. She looked at him, then smiled.

"No."

At that moment, the door swung open, and Doc entered the room with a grim look on his face. He pulled a small chair up next to the bed and sat down, rubbing his chin with his hand.

"What's wrong, Doc?" Asked Morgan. Grav took advantage of her distraction to dive to the other side of the bed and grab his boxers. He had them on before Morgan turned around again.

"You've heard of the New Reno correctional facility, haven't you?" Doc asked.

"That's the secretive, ultra-high-security prison, right? Didn't they hold some of the Wily 'bots there after the war?" Morgan asked.

"Well... you're partway right. The truth is, it was the strongest holding facility in the United States until last night, and they were still holding some of the more violent Wilybots there." Doc gave Grav a haggard glance, although Grav had long since removed all traces of Wily's programming signature from his positronic pathways.

"What happened last night?" Asked Grav.

"Last night, a single inmate killed all of the guards and all of the other prisoners, then destroyed the prison completely. It's now a smoking crater outside of New Reno."

Morgan gasped, and a wheel clicked inside of Grav's brain. The thought that had been escaping him was almost within his grasp.

"What was the inmate's name?" Asked Grav.

"Well, the report said that his name was Doc Robot. No relation," the doctor joked weakly.

* * *

Grav, now fully clothed, stood in front of the window overlooking the ocean, the curtains shut tight. He argued with himself, trying to decide whether to open the curtains or not. As he stood there, he grabbed the ends of the curtains in both hands, intending to simply throw them open and be done with it. Before he could do so, however, Morgan entered the room.

"Grav?"

"Yes, Morgan?"

"Take me with you."

Grav turned around to face her, a quizzical look on his face.

"Where exactly am I going?" He asked.

"I don't know, but the look on your face says that you're going to leave as soon as you think you're ready. I want to go with you when you leave." Morgan stood in front of him, her eyes turned down.

"Don't you have family or friends here?" He asked. The pained look that crossed her face answered Grav's question for him. "Well, what about Doc? You can't just leave him alone, can you?" Morgan looked up at him.

"FYI, Doc's wife is just in the other wing of the mansion. He's not lonely." Grav did a double take.

"What wife? I haven't seen any wife."

"She doesn't like strangers. I don't have any ties here to keep me back, Grav! I want to go with you and see the world! And..."

"And?"

"I want to be with you, Grav. You're the only man, besides Doc, that I've ever felt good about in my entire life. You can't just leave me here."

Grav looked at her face. For the first time, he stared really hard at her eyes. They were a soft gray, and deep as the ocean outside the curtain. He stared into them for a while, looking at their beauty.

"I don't even know if I can go back." He looked at the window curtains again, and he almost ripped them open forcefully. He grasped them as hard as he could with both hands, but he couldn't continue.

"Why are you afraid of the ocean, Grav?" Morgan placed her hand on his shoulder and looked at his face, which was still staring at the curtains in indecision.

"I live far away from here. I've been on the road for weeks, maybe months. I..." He looked at her face again. "I always told myself that I wasn't running away - that eventually, I'd reach the ocean and I'd have to turn around and go home." He turned his head back to the curtains. "It turned into a promise I made to myself: I'd go home once I reached the ocean. I just didn't realize how close I was to the ocean until I opened those curtains. I guess that's why I was so sick; I guess I knew, deep down, that my journey was over. Now I've got to go home and face the music."

"What happened back there?" She asked, a compassionate look on her face.

A bouquet of roses, red and covered with dew, dropping to the ground. A woman's voice.

"Morgan, if I told you something about myself, would you promise not to think less of me or be scared of me?"

Morgan gave him a quizzical look.

"Of course, Grav. I could never be scared of you, you know that." Morgan rubbed his shoulder.

"What if I told you that I used to work for the most sadistic, evil man since Adolf Hitler or Josef Stalin?" He turned to her and grabbed her shoulders. "You know I'm not human, Morgan. You saw my neck panel. I'm a kind of robot, Morgan. And I used to be a Wilybot. Grav is short for Gravity Man. I even fought against Rockman, once or twice. Luckily for all of us, he won." Grav hung his head slightly. "I'm not proud of those years, Morgan, but they're a part of my past. I don't work for him anymore. In fact, I live with several other Robot Masters who rebelled against Wily."

Grav turned back to the curtains, gritted his teeth, and threw them wide open. The ocean struck him again, but this time he was ready for it. He welcomed the feeling, relishing in the freedom that it gave him. He met the ocean, met the pain inside himself, and let it go free. Tears ran down his face as he released the pain built up within his heart, and stopped worrying about what lay in wait for him at home. Then a darker thought crossed his mind.

"Morgan, I was the one who caught Doc Robot and helped the US military incarcerate him. And from what he told me before I locked him up, he's been killing all of the other Robot Masters - good and bad - in horrible ways. If that's true, then I've got to go home and help my friends to destroy him once and for all." Grav wiped some of the tears from his face. "It's obviously going to be extremely dangerous, and I wouldn't want him to hurt you because of me. But -"

"But... what?" Morgan asked.

"I do want you to be with me when I go home, Morgan. I think- I think I love you, Morgan. I know it's only been a couple of days, but I don't know how I would have survived without you here. I want you to come with me - but I don't want anything bad to happen to you." Grav looked straight into her beautiful gray eyes. "Will you come with me?"

Morgan paused for a moment. "I'm... I'm going to have to think about it..." She said. Grav's face fell. He turned back to the ocean raging beneath him and watched the waves smash themselves against the rocks of the cliff that the mansion was built on. Morgan turned and began walking slowly toward the door.

"Goodbye, Morgan..." He whispered softly to himself. Just then, he felt arms slip around his waist from him. Morgan rested her head on his back.

"I don't care about your past, Grav. I'll come home with you - as long as you promise to keep me safe forever." She sighed in happiness.

"I promise, Morgan."

* * *

Grav packed his things into his Mustang, ready to head back home and face his life. As he was fitting his suitcase into the trunk, he heard a large pounding sound behind him. He whipped around, ready to fight - and saw Morgan dragging a gigantic suitcase down a staircase. He stared in amazement as she lifted a trunk that looked - no, it was - was bigger than her. Eventually she made it to the back of his car and barely managed to shove her suitcase into the trunk of his car. Grav's suitcase - roughly one-fourth the size - lay forlornly on the ground. He shrugged, smiled, and threw it in the back seat floor space of his car. Morgan, exhausted from the effort, leaned against the car. Grav resisted the urge to mock her suitcase and unlocked her door.

As he started the car, Grav pressed the button that flipped the roof of the convertible down. He switched on the radio, fastened his seat belt, and shifted the car into first gear. He waved to the mansion, seeing Doc through one of the windows of the house. Then he released the parking brake and began driving home.

* * *

Doc Robot's plan was going perfectly. At the rate he was going - forty-eight of the seventy Robot Masters absorbed into his system and seven dead of other means - the last remaining Wilybots would pose no threat at all. And still Grav remained in Doc's mind - and his death would be the most exquisite of all.

* * *

Grav drove steadily toward home along a large freeway that Grav remembered from the coming. Morgan sat next to him, her head laid back against the headrest. Grav flipped the top up, making it easier for Morgan to nap. Grav, having driven for twelve hours straight, knew how she felt; a glance at the clock told him that if he wasn't asleep by now, he should be. He decided to pull off the road into a small motel. He parked his car outside the lobby and checked in at the desk. He pondered renting a one-bed bedroom, but decided against it. He asked for a room with two beds, then took his key and moved his car closer. As he stopped the car, he walked over to the passenger side of the car and lifted Morgan out of the car. He carried her up the stairs and into the bedroom. As he opened the door to the room, Morgan stirred slightly. She lifted her head up in confusion.

"Where..." She mumbled incoherently.

"We're in the Flower Bed Motel, room 16. I don't know where exactly we are other than that, but we're at least a third of the way there."

"Okay, thanks..." Morgan fell limp again in Grav's arms. He laid her down on the closer bed and flipped on the light.

As he did, he was confronted with a large mass of cockroaches on the far bed. Disgusted, he quickly picked Morgan back up and exited the room. He put her back in the car and stormed off to the front desk. He asked politely for a clean room, and the owner offered him their best room at no extra charge - if he would agree not to press charges. Grav accepted the offer and carried Morgan to the new room, which was perfectly clean and roach-free. He laid Morgan down and tucked her in. Exhausted, he fell into the other bed and was soon asleep.

* * *

Grav woke up that morning with sleep still caught in his eyes. Groggily, he wiped a trail of drool from his chin and got up, intending to change out of yesterday's clothes. He looked over at Morgan's bed and saw that she was gone. He assumed she had gone to the car and reached for his suitcase.

Then he heard the explosion.

Grav had heard a few explosions in his life, and he was familiar with their particular sounds and quirks. He figured that if he was going to be hurt at all from this blast, then he would already have been dead. He rushed out of the door.

The scene that greeted him was horrible. Half of the hotel lay in flames, and Morgan lay on the ground next to his car, unmoving. He vaulted over the railing of the upper floor and landed on the ground ten feet below. He stumbled once, then ran to Morgan's side. As he reached her, she groaned softly. Grav checked her for injuries, but found nothing worse than a few bruises. He picked her up and held her gently.

As the police arrived, Grav went to the front office. Finding nobody, he stepped behind the counter. He saw the woman who had rented him the room dead on the floor, her neck broken. Next to her lay the room registry. He picked it up and examined it. Inside, he found that his name was still written under Room 16 - the bug-infested room he had changed out of. His and Morgan's name were circled in red. Obviously, someone had trailed him to the motel, but didn't know which room he was staying in. They had come to the front desk and asked the lady for the room number. She had probably said it was against company policy, or some such excuse. Impatient, his enemy had killed her and checked te registry himself - before the woman had changed the records to match the room Grav was actually staying in. Then the attacker had set some kind of explosive device off in Room 16, unaware that Grav was in the other half of the complex. The whole thing had just the touch of brilliant insanity that Grav could immediately associate with Doc Robot.

As the police came in, Grav was able to confirm with them that the explosion had been centered in what used to be Room 16. He shuddered to think how close he had come to being vaporized that night, and he worried even more about Morgan. He pondered returning her to her home, but his heart decided that question for him. There was no way that he could let her out of his sight.

He laid Morgan in the car and drove to the nearest fast food outlet. He ordered a huge bag of food and some large, extra sugary sodas. As an afterthought, he reached up to his neck panel and switched the passive resistance factors to active. This, he hoped, would heighten his senses enough to keep him alive. He stuffed fuel down his throat to make up for not getting much sleep, and drove off again towards home.

* * *

Doc Robot smiled to himself as he reviewed his plan. After considering the outcome of his attack, he decided that Grav would be better off alive for now. That way, Grav could lead him to Wily's killer, and the rest of the traitorous Robot Masters.

But what to do about Forte?

Doc Robot had completely forgotten the black and orange robot. He was a different model from the Robot Masters, and Doc Robot wondered if absorbing his energy would give him strength. He decided that the point was moot; Forte was a traitor, along with all of the others. Whether or not his death would directly benefit Doc Robot, he had to die, just like everyone else.

* * *

Grav drove steadily onward, his head drooping and his stomach full. Consume as much fuel as he could, he just couldn't make up for not sleeping, He pulled off the side of the road, and saw Morgan stirring. She woke, smiling at Grav.

"Morning, beautiful. Are you alright?" Grav kissed her on the cheek.

"A little shaken, but not too stirred," she replied. They laughed.

"Would you mind driving for a while? I haven't slept for more than three hours in the past forty-eight." He offered her the keys.

"That's fine, Grav. Where are we going?" She asked as they got out of the car and switched places.

"Continue on this highway for about four hours, until you come to Bob's Crocheting Palace. Then get on the eastbound 177 and wake me when we get to the Bren Museum of Wax." Grav tilted the seat back and closed his eyes. Morgan kissed him once, softly, and started the car.

* * *

Eventually, alternating sleep and driving, they managed to continue traveling for the next thirty-nine hours. Needless to say, they were both extremely tired of being in a car by this time. Grav pulled into a large, safe-looking hotel and rented a room. He sat in the car pondering his decision with Morgan.

"Okay, look. I know Doc Robot was behind that bombing, and I think I know what he's thinking. If he thinks I'm dead, then he's not going to attack me - but I don't want to leave that up to chance. However, if he knows I'm alive, then he should have tried to kill me again. I'm not dead yet - so he probably wants me to lead him straight to the rest of the Robot Masters. If that's the case, then he won't attack me until he knows where they are - and we're not home yet, so we're safe. I hope." Grav rubbed his temples, trying to scare away the massive headache he could feel coming on.

"Where are the Robot Masters, Grav?" Morgan asked.

"They're at home - at least, I think so. I hope so. My nieces - kind of - are with them."

"Where do you live?"

"I'm not sure what the city is called, but it's somewhere east of here. We may have a long day tomorrow - or it might be the next city over. I don't know."

"All right. Good night, Grav. And don't forget your promise!" She kissed him again, then got out of the car and walked up to the room.

Grav woke up the next morning, fully alive. He figured that this was a good sign and woke Morgan up from her sleep. She smiled at him and gave him a hug that felt awfully cold, considering the blankets piled on top of her. As they loaded the car with their bags and stuff, Morgan turned to Grav.

"Where are we headed?"

"East."

"Where exactly?"

"East."

"You don't know?"

"Nope."

Morgan sighed and got into the passenger side of the car. Grav shut the trunk and got in the car.

As they drove, Grav seemed to notice that Morgan was constantly looking out the window and tapping her foot on the floor of the car impatiently.

"Why are you in such a rush, Morgan?" He asked. She turned her head to him and stopped moving.

"No reason. I'm just worried about Doc Robot - I'm scared that he might do something horrible."

"Don't worry - I'm here." Grav squeezed her hand, and she smiled weakly back.

* * *

At one point, Grav began to hear odd thumping noises from behind him. He pulled off the road to check the trunk.

"What are you doing?" Asked Morgan.

"Just checking the trunk for that weird bumping sound," Grav answered.

"Oh, that. That's my makeup kit - the straps that held it on to my suitcase broke last night, so it's probably flapping around." She squeezed his hand.

"Well - okay, then," said Grav. He started the car again and continued driving.

Suddenly, Grav recognized the freeway he was on. He saw the name of his offramp out of the corner of his eye and swerved across four lanes to get off of the freeway. Morgan shrieked as they barely missed several cars. As Grav shot across the road, a Geo Metro got caught in his tailwind, flipped over several times, and exploded. Well, it was more of a 'pop,' really, and the short people who were driving it were glad to be able to get some air.

Grav managed to maneuver off the freeway without hitting anything. He made a right turn at the light, and drove toward a small suburb a mile or so away from the freeway. Morgan breathed deep several times and clutched her chest. Then she gave Grav a glare that he didn't see.

Grav smiled as he remembered the neighborhood he was in. He was so close to his home! He remembered the path as clear as day - a right here, the third left there, go straight for half a mile... Grav smile grew as he approached his destination. He pulled over to the side next to the house and got out, hurrying to the door. As he came closer, the door opened.

And Kalinka stepped out.

She looked at him for a second, then slapped him across the face. Grav reeled from her blow, his hand moving reflexively up to the stinging cheek.

"What was that for?" He yelled.

"That was for leaving without a trace!" She screamed. "Where the hell have you been?" She stood there, waiting for an answer. Grav almost whimpered and asked for forgiveness - and then he remembered Morgan. He brought himself up to his full six feet and four inches and glared at Kalinka.

"I didn't mean to come back, Kalinka. As a matter of fact, I don't even know why I'm here, except that I couldn't quite remember how to get home." He almost slapped her, but held back for some reason that he couldn't quite fathom. "You slept with Star Man, you cheating tramp! My friend! And you frickin' came on the couch, right there in front of me! What did you think I was going to do, jump in for a threesome?" Kalinka looked shocked at this outburst from her ex-boyfriend.

"Well- I..."

"You never even tried to initiate any kind of sexual activity with me! You never even said anything at all about it! You never wanted to be with me at all!"

"No, I didn't, Grav. I'm sorry, I just..." Grav just stared at her. "You were very charming and handsome, but I didn't love you. I just let things get out of hand, all right?" She was in the middle of trying to formulate an argument when a voice called out to her. She looked down and didn't say anything. Out of the door came Star Man, dressed in shorts and a tank top. He looked at Grav Man and grinned.

Grav stared for a few seconds at his former friend. Then he stepped up to him and got right in his face.

"Why did you ever pretend you were my friend?" He asked the shorter Robot Master.

"Because you had lots of money to lend me." Answered the grinning Star Man. "Just kidding. Actually, I really did try to be a good friend - but I fell in love with Kalinka when I saw her a long time ago, and I didn't know that you were dating her. I'm sorry, Grav." He stopped grinning. "She just didn't care about you, Grav."

Grav punched Star across the jaw as hard as he could.

"Liar."

Grav turned around and walked back toward his car. As he did, he heard Kalinka shriek and turned to block a sucker punch that Star Man threw at his head - but as he blocked it, he saw that Star Man hadn't thrown the punch. It was Morgan.

Morgan smirked as she introduced her other hand to the shocked Gravity Man's gut. Grav doubled over as the physical pain in his body matched the pain he felt inside. He fell to his knees in pain and heard evil, maniacal laughter above him.

Above, Doc Robot laughed and laughed, as Kalinka shrieked and Grav lay on the ground in pain...

* * *

Grav awoke from the haze of pain that had enveloped him. He saw Kalinka, fainted on the grass outside of her house. Through the still-open door of her home, he could see the body of Star Man, sucked dry of robotic essence. His brain began to put together the pieces of the puzzle he had been enveloped in.

As he got to his feet, he heard a squeal, and saw Doc Robot give him a wave and a grin as he transformed into a car that looked just like his - a black Mustang - and Grav felt a twinge of pain for Turbo Man. As the Mustang disappeared down the road, a small red car screeched to a halt in front of the curb. He eyed the driver closely.

It was Morgan. Or... she looked like Morgan, anyway. And Doc Robot had just driven off, so this Morgan must be the real deal. He waved to her as she ran to him.

"Grav! I found you!"

"How..."

"Doc Robot showed up at the mansion while you were sick. He locked me in one of the rooms until he left. I had the real Doc make a tracer that could track you, and I've been driving as fast as I could to get to you. Are you all right?"

"I have... to get home now. I really need to be there now." Grav shook off the last of his physical pain, then enveloped Morgan in a huge bear hug.

"Don't ever leave, Morgan..."

* * *

Grav drove quickly toward home, a grim look on his face.

"I let him fool me once - I'm not going to do it again. And I'm not going to let him kill my friends."

He drove like a maniac, passing every car on the road. He swerved between a Suburban and a black Mustang, only to accidentally flatten a Geo Metro that he hadn't seen before. He counted is as no big loss and continued driving. As he drove, he formulated a plan of attack in his mind.

"How are you going to beat him, Grav?" Asked Morgan. He gave her a look that said, plainly, that she didn't want to know. She shrugged and laid back in her seat.

"I've spent the years since the Wily Wars training my butt off for no particular reason. I should have enough raw power to beat him, but he's got the advantage of versatility. He's got the powers of oh, say, fifty robot masters - even though some of them are repeats, like all of the ice and fire masters, or all of the different kinds of shield powers. I've modified my weapons drastically to adapt to his kind of combat, and I'm pretty sure that I have some good strategies to use against him." He smiled slightly. "Or, if he's already killed everyone when I get there, I'll just blow the whole fricking city up."

* * *

Grav pulled up to his real home - a large house with many different rooms. He rushed to the door and pulled a note off of it. He read it quickly and smiled.

Dear Grav,

We got your letter concerning Doc Robot. Shadow's positronic pathways are giving him problems - we think he's going berserk because he broke the First Law of Robotics 'n stuff. I'm trying to work on reprogramming him using the Zeroth Law argument, but it's not working too well. We moved everyone to Wily Labs, which have the facilities that Shadow is going to need to recover fully. Don't worry about Doc Robot reading this note - we encoded it with the code we made up when Emily and Chime were born, so only we can read it. I hope. In any case, we're all safe. See you in a bit.

X

Grav sighed in relief as he showed Morgan the note. "Now I know where they are, so I can get to them and get them to help me defeat Doc Robot." Grav folded up the note and put it in his pocket.

"What did it say? I couldn't read it," Morgan said.

"They're at Wily Labs," Grav answered.

"What!?! They're defiling it?!" Shouted Morgan. Suddenly Grav realized that something was amiss. He looked closely at Morgan. Then he punched her across the face, wiping the enraged look off of it.

"Grav? What did you do that for?" She asked, tears welling up in her eyes. Grav hesitated for a second. What if he was wrong? What if that was actually Morgan?

The pause gave Doc Robot just enough time to transform into his natural form. He got to his feet and assumed a fighting stance.

"Doc Robot! I saw you transform into a car and drive away!" Exclaimed Grav.

"You ever heard of Gemini Man, Grav? Forms a clone with exactly the same appearance and abilities? The real Doc Robot is getting audio feed from my ears right now, and the clone - that's me - gets to kill you while he kills the others," Doc Robot said.

"You better just disappear - and I mean now, you filthy excuse for a robot." Grav assumed a fighting stance.

"What are you going to do, you fool? I'm more powerful than you'll ever be, and you don't even have your armor on!" Doc Robot laughed at the fool that challenged him.

Without any hesitation, Grav slid over to the Doc Clone, flipped open it's neck panel, and grabbed the tube of glowing red liquid inside. Doc stopped laughing.

"You tell the real thing that he's underestimated me big time - and that if he thinks he knows what power is, he'd better wait to see me when I'm really angry." Grav ripped the artery out of the clone's neck and kicked it in the head. It fell over, clutching its panel feebly and trying to stop the precious fluid from escaping. Grav kicked it once more, knocking it out, and watched as it faded away into oblivion.

He walked back to his trunk, remembering the thumping he had heard early that morning on the road. He flipped it open and zipped open Morgan's suitcase - and, sure enough, Morgan herself lay curled up inside. He lifted her out gently and checked her neck to make sure that there was a pulse, but no neck panel. He laid her on the grass in front of his house and knelt beside her.

"Morgan, I'm so sorry... I'm sorry for letting him do this to you. I promise I'll catch him and make him pay!" He clutched her hand in his.

"Grav... the second hotel night... he stuffed me in the trunk and took my form..."

"I know, Morgan. I know - but you won't have to worry any more."

* * *

Grav set her on the couch inside his home. Then he lifted his and Morgan's suitcases out of his trunk and lifted up the pad that covered the spare tire space. What was underneath it, however, was far more useful than a spare tire. Grav's armor, upgraded and remodeled dozens of times. Grav didn't know if he could beat the real Doc Robot, but his clone hadn't been a problem. As he fastened the armor on, he pondered its nature and how he could use it.

Each Robot Master was created with an innate talent or character trait. Quick Man was naturally fast, Ice Man could manipulate ice, Snake Man had a natural affinity with reptiles... and so on. After Wily discovered each Master's potential, he crafted a suit of armor for each of them that was specially designed to magnify their innate abilities a hundredfold. Grav's wimpy innate ability had been to make things heavier or lighter as he willed it - and his armor had given him the limited ability to reverse gravity in a small area. Now, he had trained himself to have that much power even without his armor, as hatred and suspicion of Wily's robots grew among the humans. His armor gave him the ability to feel the fields of gravity generated by all massive objects - from planets to atoms - and manipulate them. He thanked Wily for the only good thing he had ever done: teaching him how to control gravity. Grav wasn't sure what he could really do - but he couldn't think of anything that would be totally impossible, either.

As Grav buckled on the last piece of his armor, he stepped toward his car. As he reached it, he realized that Doc Robot had a huge advantage of time ahead of him - Grav would never catch up. He hit his car in frustration. For a moment, he panicked; he just didn't know how to get to Wily's lab first. Then a light bulb went off inside his head.

Concentrating, he visualized the gravity field that the Earth was exerting on him, seeing it clearly in his head. Then he negated it, and he began floating upward. He visualized a field of gravity forming in front of him, pulling him toward Wily Labs - and suddenly he was flying.

Grav felt the wind rush by his face and grinned madly. He was free from the bindings of the Earth - literally - and he could get to Wily Labs in no time at all.

* * *

Doc Robot frowned as the communication with his Gemini Clone was cut off in a gurgle and a hiss of static. He ground his teeth as he imagined the power he had wasted making that clone, only for it to fail miserably. Just another good reason to beat the living snot out of Gravity Man before killing him. That, and he had actually hugged that filthy traitor. Thank heaven he had managed to avoid kissing the freak. Doc drove himself as fast as he could toward his home - and he didn't have any problems remembering where it was.

Home again, and then revenge.

* * *

Grav flew straight toward Wily's lair. He tried not to let himself get too absorbed in the feeling of flight, but he couldn't help giggling like a child as he soared over the Earth like a bird. He did a few loop-de-loops and even a barrel roll before he focused in on his destination and shot off. As he did, he could see it up in the distance: what looked like a nondescript, abandoned factory, with a long dirt road leading toward it. He could see his friends' cars in the parking lot, but no sign of Doc Robot - although his vision hadn't had such a great track record of discovering his enemy's location so far. He saw a large cloud of dust about halfway up the road and realized that Doc Robot was still on his way. He shot into the parking lot and dropped himself in the very center, directly between the now-arriving Doc Robot and his prey. Doc Robot changed himself back into his true form as he skidded to a halt.

For the first time, Hunter and Hunted looked each other in the eyes - although their roles had switched several times. It would have been impossible for any casual observer to say just who had more hatred behind his glare; the fury they bore for each other was equally matched. As the traitor and the betrayed faced each other, they bore a shocking similarity to each other that had nothing to do with Doc Robot's camouflaging skills. They both assumed a fighting stance. This was to be the final showdown between some of the greatest warriors Wily had ever built.

Grav began searching for the fields of gravity surrounding the parking lot, and wove them together like a fabric - creating a shield of gravity that would deflect anything that hit it. In this way, nothing outside the bubble could be affected (read: blown up) by anything inside the field. Doc Robot powered up a Starshield of similar proportions, intended to prevent Grav's escape.

"Neither of us is leaving until the other is dead on the ground."

"Did you even have to say that out loud?"

Standing a hundred feet away from him was the monster that had made his life miserable for the past week. He couldn't fathom how this thing had managed to slip through his defenses - but the battle was to end, here and now, forevermore. And his nemesis would be the one to fall.

Who was thinking that? It doesn't matter. Similar thoughts were running through both Masters' heads at that moment. It really applies to both of them - but only one of them planned on winning by trickery and deceit.

Gravity Man opted for the straight-ahead approach, and used his gravity powers to shoot himself toward Doc Robot. He put all of his momentum into a single punch that he threw at Doc Robot's face. Doc Robot sidestepped it easily and brought his knee up into Grav's stomach. Pain, however, had become a familiar visitor to Grav, and he had learned that sometimes the pain must be dealt with rather than ignored. Even if this wasn't the time to wax philosophical, the principles work. He brought his fist up and whacked Doc Robot across the face. Then he struggled to his feet as Doc Robot reeled from the blow.

Doc Robot couldn't decide which Master's power to use. He had so many options, so many choices - each as powerful as the last. Still, Doc Robot had learned from experience that each Robot Master had been built under a powerful system of checks and balances, intended to make sure that individual robots could never rebel. Rockman had used this system to great effect throughout the war. All Doc Robot had to do was find out which of the myriad powers he commanded would work best against Gravity Man - and then kill him with it.

Grav knew perfectly well that Doc Robot would be confused and disoriented - at least, until he discovered which Master's power he was weak against. Ironically, that power was that of Star Man, the person who had stolen Kalinka from him. Luckily, Doc Robot had already used that power to make a big shield, so it probably wouldn't occur to him immediately. Grav's strategy also included looking out for the Master he was strong against, Gyro Man. He reminded himself to lay it on thick if he saw any spinning propeller blades of doom.

The titans clashed, fist against fist and leg against leg. Punching, kicking, and using their powers and plasma weapons to do damage to each other. Doc's strategy involved shooting at Grav with a weapon until he hit him with it, seeing if Grav could still move, and then switching weapons. Grav's strategy was to dodge the weapons until Doc Robot left himself open - or until Doc hit him with whatever weapon it was. Then he attacked swiftly, while Doc Robot was recovering.

Grav dodged a fire blast and some kind of explosive bubble, then threw a ball of gravitic energy into Doc Robot's stomach. Doc Robot retaliated with a generic plasma shot that knocked Grav back on the ground. They sparred like this for half an hour, neither gaining an advantage over the other. Breathing hard, they stood at a small distance to each other.

"Hah! I've got you know, Grav. I suddenly realized that I don't need to be trying all of the Master powers - only the ones from the fifth war! That narrows it down to seven!" Grav had hoped that he wouldn't remember that, let alone which war he had been a part of. Grav gulped and hoped that the law of averages would work in his favor.

"First, we have.... Crystal Man!" Doc Robot shot a crystal into the air that shattered. Hundreds of razor-sharp shards of crystal flew everywhere. Grav simply brushed them away wit his powers.

"Okay, then... Hydro Man!" Doc Robot shot a towering wall of water at Grav. Grav responded by multiplying his own gravity by a hundred times, giving him too much friction to even be shaken by the wave. He took the opportunity to throw a feint punch at Doc Robot's head, then kick him in the stomach. Doc Robot knelt on the ground, then flipped onto his back and charged at Grav.

"Charge Man!" Grav was knocked over by the energy-powered slide, but then he made Doc Robot's personal gravity too light to have any friction with the ground. Doc kept on sliding until Grav flew to his side and kicked him sideways. Doc Robot wiped blood from his mouth.

"Napalm Man!" Doc Robot opened up his arms to reveal huge grenade launchers, with similar weapons emerging from his shoulders. Hundreds of high-powered grenades shot out and bounced towards Grav, each one brimming with explosive power. One explosion after another ripped into the ground at Grav's feet, creating a gigantic dust cloud that grew again with each explosion. Doc Robot laughed as he blew a huge crater into the ground.

"Didn't anyone ever tell you not to fire blindly into a dust cloud?" Coming out from above Doc Robot, Grav shot a beam of energy toward him. Doc Robot was knocked on his face and skidded forward in the dirt. He flipped up and growled.

"All right, then. Stone Man!" Doc Robot raised his arms, and the gravel on the ground that hadn't been blown up flew at Gravity Man. Grav shielded his face with his arms until the barrage stopped.

"You're almost out of weapons! There's only two choices left for you now, and I'm strong against one of them!" Grav began charging up his gravity cannon. He watched Doc Robot's eyes closely. Doc Robot paused for exactly one second - then raised his arm into the air.

"Star Man!" He cried. The Starshield around the arena began contracting slowly. "Try dodging this one, even if you aren't weak against it!"

"But what if I'm strong against it?" Said Grav softly, smirking. On the inside, however, he was praying like crazy that Doc Robot wouldn't call his bluff. Those little stars hurt like crap.

"If you were, you would have shot me by now. Face it, Grav - you're finished."

"But won't the Starshield kill you too?" Asked Grav. Doc Robot scowled. Apparently he hadn't thought of that.

"Maybe it will. Sure, it might. But I'm willing to bet that, since you're trying to talk me out of it, that you're weak against it - and that means that you'll die first and I can call it off."

"What if I contract the gravity shield at the same time?" Grav yelled. He began doing so, and saw Doc Robot's eyes narrow. He continued to charge up as he brought the shield in to be just ahead of the slowly contracting stars.

"That's still a risk I'll take." Doc Robot brought both of his arms down. The Starshield shattered, every tiny ball of fusion moving slowly toward the weakened Grav Man. Grav couldn't control the gravity of the little balls of gas because they were really supermassive stars made a lot smaller - and each came with its own huge gravity field, too large for him to control more than maybe three of the two hundred stars that were coming straight at him. Grav racked his brains for an idea, then got one so brilliant that it outshone the suns shooting towards him.

"Ever heard of a wormhole, Doc?" Grav asked. Doc cocked his head to one side.

"No."

"It's a hole in space that allows passage from one point to another without passing through the space between. Kind of like a shortcut in spacetime."

"So? What's that got to do with you dying?" Asked Doc Robot.

"Wormholes are opened by powerful forces of negative gravity, idiot. Weren't you paying attention in Physics class? Or did you just never watch Star Trek?" Grav, fully charged, put the backs of his hands together and reached into the fabric of space and time. He pulled it apart with the energy his capacitors had stored, forcing a hole through existence itself. His hands appeared on the other end of the wormhole, which was located behind Doc Robot - outside of the gravity shield. Grav widened the hole enough to fit his large mass and hopped through just as the first stars flew through the space where he just was.

Traveling through the wormhole was not a pleasant experience. Instead of the blackness of space, which he had visualized, he was witness to an entire spectrum of colors and shapes that were incomprehensibly alien to him. Time seemed to lose all meaning as he drifted through the odd space, feeling as if his arms were stretching out in front of him and his legs behind him were contracting into little midget feet.

A second that lasted an eternity passed before Grav tumbled out of the other end of the wormhole, his head shaken by the weird things he had seen. Suddenly he remembered his enemy, still trapped inside his gravity shield. Doc Robot pounded on the shield as Grav dusted himself off. Grav placed his hands against the shield and began charging it up. He infused it with as much energy as he could, forcing his powers beyond their limits and holding them there. His will nearly failed as the shield drained his power, but he stopped it before he passed out. The shield glowed black - a paradoxical sight that rivaled what Grav had seen in the wormhole. The gravity field was so strong, he could see the light rays bending around the spherical shield before they came to his eye. Grav smiled and began contracting the shield again.

"You know what happens when a massive gravity field collapses in on itself, Doc Robot? It becomes a black hole. The ultimate, inescapable trap - a gravity field so strong that not even light can escape from it. That's what you're going to be caught in the middle of, buddy. Enjoy." The shield contracted until it became a prison cell for the enraged Doc Robot. Grav muttered a mantra that offered this soul up to whatever force wished to collect it - then collapsed the shield.

Air rushed around him as the shield became a miniature black hole. Doc Robot began falling into the hole, his body stretching out as he was trapped by the field. The light rays bouncing off his body were traveling slower than normal, so his entire body took on a red tint as he fell further and further.

Doc Robot felt himself being ripped apart at the seams. His atoms seemed to each wish to go their separate ways, and it was all he could do to hold on to them. His armor began to rip away in chunks, disappearing in a red glow as they fell beyond the tiny event horizon. Doc Robot struggled to reach for Grav, but Grav stood just barely out of reach, completely unaffected by the colossal forces of gravity. Doc Robot spun away into the black hole, the last rays of light bouncing off his body and falling back into the hole as he passed the event horizon. His body took on a reddish glow, and the light from his body died as the light was captured by the hole. Grav cupped the tiny instrument of death in his large hands and sent it rocketing out of the solar system at the speed of light. He blew it a kiss as the prison containing Doc Robot disappeared from his life.

As he did, he examined the wreckage of the parking lot. A huge crater lay in the center, and the remains of Doc Robot's weapons lay all over. Discarded Metal Blades, unexploded Crash Bombs, an ice cube every couple of feet. He pulled in a mound of dirt from a hill nearby and formed a hill over the battleground, and he engraved the names of the dead Robot Masters on it - and, near the top, Star Man's name - his friend, his nemesis, his brother.

He said a prayer to whatever deity watched over his friends souls - and wondered if they even had souls. He decided to leave that for another day, however; his girl was waiting for him at home.

Epilogue

Morgan awoke slowly, feeling rested, but cramped from being locked in a suitcase all day. As she arose, she noticed an odd weight on her chest. She opened one eye slowly, and saw a huge eye staring at her. She shrieked and sat up. The eye moved back and became part of a small child's head, a child who was sitting on Morgan's lap and staring at her.

"Um... hi, little girl," Morgan said.

"Who are you?" Asked the girl, who couldn't have been more than, say, five.

"I'm... um... well, I'm a friend of Gravity Man's. What's your name?"

"I'm Chime."

"No you're not! I'm Chime! Quit confusing her!" Cried out a similar voice from the floor. Another five-year-old lay playing with her blocks, an indignant look on her face.

"Fine, fine. I'm Emily. Are you gonna marry Uncle Grav?"

"Well, I hope so. But don't tell him I said so," she said, putting her finger to her lips. The girls mimicked her and giggled.

As she pondered the question on a serious level, she heard a door slam and a figure walk into the room. She tried to raise herself up to see Grav, hoping he could help her with these children - but it wasn't Grav. It was a small, skinny man, with a wiry musculature. He looked like he could have been an Olympic sprinter on his off days.

"Hey, uh, are these yours?" She asked. The man jumped at the sound of her voice.

"Oh. Hi. Who are you?" Asked the man, a confused look on his face. He picked the two children up in his arms, tickling them a little, then sent them off down the hall. They both hugged Morgan before they left.

"I'm Morgan. Grav, um..."

"Oh, I see. I'm very happy for both of you - I heard what happened with Kalinka and everything. I'm glad he found an attractive woman to bring home. His room is the third on the right - you can't miss it, it's the one with porn on the walls."

Morgan's eyes widened. The man laughed at the look on her face.

"Just kidding. Actually, he's covered his wall in weird armor schematics. I swear, he spends more time on that armor than he does eating. Which is saying something." The man winked. "By the way, my name is Quick. I'm one of Grav's housemates."

"Oh, he mentioned you. So those are your children?" Morgan asked.

"Oh, yes. My pride and joy."

"They're very cute."

"I'm glad you think so. I think I saw Grav on the way home, he should be here soon." Quick picked up his children and walked down the hallway to his room.

"...I think it's probably going to be pretty interesting around here for a while," she said, and curled up on the couch again with a smile on her face to wait for Grav.

FIN