Velvet Rain
Chapter Four: Stupid Mistakes
By: Bibly

Tenguman brushed his shaggy brown hair out of his face as he placed on his mask, listening to the light click that confirmed his mask had been placed on securely. He scowled as he raced down one of the thin dark hallways of the Skull Fortress. Why did the Doc have to make this a no-teleporting fortress? Shesh, it'd be so much easier if we could teleport around here. Wouldn't have to run around like maniacs all the time. His boots screeched on the cold gray floor as he turned to run down another hallway. "Man, it's like a big friggin' maze!" he mumbled to himself. He soon came to a halt before the laboratory door.

Without even a moment's silence, Wily shouted, "Come in, Tenguman!"

Tenguman shuttered. How Wily knew who was behind the door without even having to check seemed eerie to him. And considering he was only human, the thought itself almost scared him.

As the door slid open, Tenguman walked inside, then bowed politely. "There's something you wanted to ask of me, Dr. Wily?" he asked. He glanced up at him, still bowed. Wily had his back turned to him as he typed. Tenguman waited patiently for Wily to answer.

"Ah, yes. Tenguman." Wily turned to face him, watching as one of his newest Robot Masters straightened before him. He had failed him once, yes, but once was much better than the numerous times that failure had tried and lost. "I have a mission for you. A rather simple one, really." He glared at him. "Do you think you'll be able to kill Mega Man without a problem?"

Tenguman smirked behind his mask. "Of course. I was overconfident during our first battle, but now I'm aware of his strength. Shouldn't be a problem."

"Good, good," Wily stated with a nod of his head. "Come here."

The soft click of Tenguman's boots echoed into the air as they slammed against the ground. As soon as he reached his creator, the doctor grabbed his left cufflink and pulled open his transporter. Tenguman didn't make a single peep as Wily pulled out a cord from the nearest computer and connected it to him. With the press of a bottom, information raced across the screen, and the next thing Tenguman knew, he knew the exact location of the Light compound. He smirked.

"Now, I want you to go to that good for nothing Light's house and kill him and his 'family'," Wily commanded.

Tenguman nodded. "Right. I'll be sure to succeed, Dr. Wily!" With that, he turned and raced out the lab.

"And don't you dare fail me!"

~ * - - - - - - - - - - * ~

Rock laughed loudly as Bass carried him on his back through the forest. "Bass, haha, slow down!"

"What's that? You want me to go faster? All righty!" Bass' pace quickened as he bolted past trees, leaped over fallen branched and swayed from side to side to avoid any bushes that stood in his way. "How's that?"

Rock's arms wrapped around his neck even tighter, hugging the two closer together. "Bass, I didn't think you'd still have enough energy to run this fast after all 'a that!"

Bass stopped, peeling Rock off of his back and listening to the older bioroid's smaller feet touch the ground. He turned and faced him, a soft smile on his face. "I can do lots of things, Rock." He grinned, placing a hand on his hip and drawing him closer to him. "Lots of things."

A soft pink hue covered Rock's cheeks as he peered up at him. His mouth opened slightly. Those red irises were so unbelievable, so hypnotic… His eyes wandered down to his lips. So rough in appearance, and yet, so soft to the touch. Rock raised a hand and ran a finger over the lips he had kissed so many times within their time together. Just weeks earlier, he could only dream of kissing them, of having his own lips pressed against them. But now he was actually able to do what he had dreamed making everything they had done together was like it came straight from his dreams. Maybe they did, but whether or not all of it was just a big dream didn't matter as long as he didn't wake up anytime soon.

Rock watched as Bass did the same to him, pressing his ruff fingers against his own lips, caressing them lovingly. Rock's gaze returned to Bass' eyes. He gasped. The soft, loving gaze he had seen earlier was gone. He was now staring into painful, hate-filled eyes. His pupils had shrunken severely, sending old memories of their numerous battles surging through Rock's mind. What's going on? Why's he staring at me like that? Rock continued to look at him, fear and confusion appearing with such veracity that he didn't know what to think. He suddenly felt his hips pressed against Bass' tightly, and just as he was about to ask what he was doing, the younger bioroid's lips were pressed hard against his own. Rock squirmed but couldn't get out of his tight grip.

Within moments he was down, squished between Bass and the cold night grass. Rock tried to push him away and call out, he tried everything he possibly could, but he couldn't even manage to move an inch or mutter a single peep. He gasped when Bass' tongue pushed its way into his mouth, accompanied by his hand slipping into his pants. What is he doing?! He's never done this before! Despite his usual aggressive nature, when it came to being cuddly with Rock, Bass was more like a puppy then anything else. He never pushed Rock to do something he didn't want to do. This was something he defiantly didn't want to do – not since he was still somewhat weary from their previous make out session – and Bass wasn't listening to him at all.

Rock tried even harder, attempting to kick and squirm about until he finally managed to loosen Bass' grip. He pushed him off of him as soon as he found an opening and scrambled to his feet. He gasped for air as he watched his love hit his head against a nearby rock.

"Bass…Bass, what were you doing…?" he whispered, his eyes wide and full of fright.

Bass shook his head, his eyes closed tightly. "Ugh…uh…" He opened an eye and peered up at him. Slowly the other eye opened. "Rock…" Bass stood up, his arms hanging limply at his sides. "Rock…I'm sorry…I don't know what came over me…"

Rock shook his head. "Something's wrong and you're not telling me what." He shuttered. "Bass, please tell me what's going on… There've been times when you look like you're a million miles away, and as soon as I start talking to you, you come back… Please… I need to know…" Strong arms wrapped around Rock slowly. "Please…"

"If you really want to know…," Bass whispered. He took a deep breath. "This probably won't come as a surprise to you, since you're a bioroid yourself, but, well…my programming…it's been nagging me…to, well…finish what I was made to do…"

Rock tightly closed his eyes as he snuggled up to him even more. I knew this was too good to be true… Shouldn't have thought that no strings would be attached to loving the one whose whole purpose in life was to kill me… But – "Bass, why don't you ask Dr. Light to reprogram you? Why didn't you ask him to begin with?"

Bass pressed his forehead against Rock's. "As soon as I realized we felt the same way about each other, my programming seemed to disappear, so I didn't think it was needed. It reappeared today, stronger than before, and now I realize my stupid, stupid mistake." He placed his hands on Rock's face and forced him to look up at him. "As soon as we got home, I was planning to ask him to reprogram me. I don't want to do what I just did again." He closed his eyes. "I came so close to doing something you didn't want to do. I don't want to force anything on you… And who knows what might have happened if my programming got full control over my actions…"

Rock grabbed his hands. "Well, let's hurry up!" he shouted quickly. "We need to do this as soon as possible!"

"Right!" Bass agreed, following behind Rock with their fingers interlocked.