Thunder Child
Second: Abduction
by Lady Virgo
"Do not fade
child, be strong
Whispers the song
'Come on, Thunder Child'"
///
"Well...." Elec said after a long pause. "We've finally finished."
The other four bioroids could only beam with pride on their work. It took them three months. Three months to complete such a grandiose building that would have taken a regular contractor over two years to do. In fact, it had long since passed the point of being called a building. Now it was more like a mansion or a castle.
Or a fortress.
They had found it odd when Wily had gone up to them three months prior, telling them that they were to build something several miles on the outskirts of town. They didn't understand why, so far away, even looking at the size on the blueprints, it seemed a bit out of the way. But, as they transferred it into a real, three-dimensional thing, they finally understood. It spread over a good 40-acres and rose over two miles up. It impressed even them to have it up and running in such a short amount of time.
Though, probably, the oddest of all, was the fact that Wily told them not to let Light know just what they were doing and if he or Rock or Roll asked- to lie. Not that it really meant anything. After their activation and a short period of time afterwards, Light never really even looked at the six bioroids, asides from the work he put into Fire.
After a while of speculation, the five that had worked on the building finally decided that, given the structure and the rooms they had to construct, it must have been something for the military. Light never enjoyed actual, /real/ violence and didn't want anything to do with any sort of fighting force.
"Well, boy-os," Elec said, dusting off his hands, "let's tell the doc we're finished."
~*~*~*~
Something was wrong, his internal clock told him. He'd been suspended for far too long, even for a minor systems overhaul.
It was a... room, that was much was certain. A rather barren, small thing. He sat up, realizing that he was laid out on a stripped bed. Elec looked around briefly. He had remembered being put into his containment capsule when Dr. Wily had said that he was going to upgrade his system, to give him a little extra boost.
"And then I wind up here." He said to himself. "Where ever 'here' is."
He heard something faint from the other side of the door. Curious, yet cautious, Elec slid over to the metal slab, listening intently. It sounded like something was calling for something else. Preparing for anything, he waited until it sounded like the thing had passed before he-
*WHOOSH!*
*WHUMP!*
-Or he could just touch the door, have it slide open on him, making fall into whatever it was on the other side. That works, too.
"Ow." With that intelligent remark made, Elec pushed himself up to see what exactly it was that he had accosted.
Cut looked up at him, eyes wide, slowly softening from surprise to relief.
"Elec... I-I thought everyone left me..." he sniffed. "I thought you were all gone!" And promptly latched onto Elec, bawling into his chest.
Well, he may look like a child, and he may act like a child, so Elec only supposed he would react like one, too. Out of conditioned response, Elec patted Cut's back.
"C'mon, Cut." He said. "Maybe the others are here, too."
"You sure?"
"It wouldn't hurt to take a look, now would it? Do us more good than just sitting around here, anyway."
With a nod, Cut stood up. Then stopped.
"What? What's wrong?"
The shorter bioroid pointed speechlessly to the door that Elec had fallen out of. Beside it was a small plaque in which was engraved three letters and three numbers that simply read: DWN 008.
Elec blinked, looked again, leaned in close, and blinked again to see if it was a trick of the light. "What is this? That's not right. I'm DRN 008, not DWN."
"E-Elec..."
"What?" He looked around. The doors that lined the walls nearby each had similar plaques, their numbers decreasing.
"Elec..."
"What is it, Cut?" Elec snapped. He hadn't meant to, but this... /place/ was starting to weird him out.
"Y-Your shoulder..."
"What about it?" He craned his neck to look at them. On his right shoulder, barely visible from under the sleeveless white shirt and black vest, he could just glimpse some sort of mark. "What the hell?" He tried to get a better look and was forced to resort going back into that room to find a mirror. There he tore out of his clothes and turned around, glancing at the reflection out of the corner of his eyes.
It took a moment for him to make it out in the dim lighting of the room, but there, tattooed on his shoulder blade: DWN 008
"What... is this?" Suddenly he turned to Cut. "Take off your shirt." He commanded.
"What?"
"Just do it!"
Elec was beginning to lose it, his lightening colored eyes shimmering. It was more fear that made Cut obey him than anything else. He pulled his shirt over his head and turned around before he was instructed to. There, in the same spot as his own, was DWN 003.
"Elec?" Cut asked cautiously, daring only to move his head.
The other was in shock, not even noticing him. "What the hell is going on?" He jerked his head around, as if hearing something Cut couldn't. "Come on!"
"What? Where are we going?" Cut paused to pull his shirt back on before stumbling after his half-dressed brother. "Elec, wait!"
He seemed to know exactly where he was going, Cut thought. How did he know? Where were they going? Where were they, period?
They ran through countless corridors, all with the same dull, metallic gleam. Elec's legs moved like pistons, effortless, tireless, and Cut had to struggle to keep his pace. By the time he had finally caught up, puffing slightly from the effort, Elec had come to a stop inside a large open spaced lab.
Eight tables were set up; various instruments, computers and read-outs hooked up to each. On three of the tables lay a body: Guts, Bomb and Ice. On two more were piles of metal, one that shone polished black and bolt gold, the other the color of gleaming red-orange. The walls were lined with computers and monitors that spilled a glowing shadow on the floor. Manning one of the stations was a tall, lanky form in hard, steel gray armor, a small fire crackling out of the helmet, cut like a compensator. The form turned at their entrance, voice filtering clearly out of a metal mouthpiece.
"Oh. You're here."
The two looked uncertain before Cut ventured: "F-Fire? Is that... you?"
"What are you doing to them?" Demanded Elec, more than ready to drop all formalities and familiarity should Fire decide to turn against them.
"I'm doing just as I was told."
"Who told you to do this? What's going on?"
Fire swept a hand towards the two tables currently occupied by the piles of armor, the power around the metal flickered on. "Get on."
"No."
"Get on." His tone didn't change, but the intensity increased.
"No. Not until you tell us what's going on."
"All I know," Fire said, "is what I was told. And all I was told was to bring you to the fortress and to prepare you."
"Prepare us? For what?"
"What is none of your concern. Nor is it my place to question."
The perfect soldier: To do what one is told to the best of their abilities, without question, without hesitation, no matter the dangers, and without loyalty to anything other than the one who orders and the mission at hand.
The perfect soldier is /not/ what Fire was. He questioned, he wanted to understand, he did only what he felt was right, what should be done.
Unless it dealt with Wily. He asked no questions, he gave no pause. He did as he was told, when he was told to do it.
Elec's blood ran cold. "D-Dr. Wily... was he-did he..."
Fire's eyes flashed and he growled in a way neither Elec or Cut thought he could. "Get on the tables!"
"Fire!" Cut pleaded. "What's wrong with you?"
"Just do as you're told and everything will become clear!" He approached them, stance aggressive and dangerous, causing the two to move back in fear. "It would have been easier if you two just stayed in suspension until I got to you. But that can be taken care of."
"Fire... Fire, don't-don't! WAIT!"
~*~*~*~
"Light-otosan," Rock whined from somewhere amidst the tackle of luggage. It wasn't so much the weight of it that made his movements awkward as it was the instability of the pile. "Where are we going?"
"We're going to our new home."
"New home? But I like /our/ home now!"
"But this is a nice place. Quiet, beautiful, where no one will bother us. Wide open sky, lots of trees, a huge yard for you to play in..."
"How come Elec and the others can't come with us? How come we didn't invite Dr. Wily?"
"Now, Rock," Light said gently, patting his thin shoulder, "Alfred is a busy man. He has enough to deal with with the others around. Do you really want to bother him?"
He hesitated. "...W-Well..."
Light smiled. "It'll be fun, Rock. I'll even help you build a tree house, okay?"
The robot beamed. "Promise?"
"First thing."
"Hurray! Come on, Roll! Hurry, hurry!" In a whirl of energy, 'extended family' forgotten, Rock bounced off.
Roll, however, walked up to her father. She, being programmed with many feminine instincts, could see that Light was hiding something.
"Why did we leave so suddenly?" She asked. "We didn't even have time to get everything out of our old home."
Light turned serious eyes on her. "I already had everything important moved out of the lab. And I have you two. That is all that matters."
~*~*~*~
Wily cackled and rubbed his hands together in delight, almost bouncing in his glee. "Beautiful." He said. "Simply beautiful."
Behind him four figures flanked him, their bodies encased in armor, eyes dark and merciless as they waited for the final two.
From the lab came a sharp crackle of electricity and the harsh gleam of a blade's pure edge. Wily couldn't help but to grin as they walked closer to him.
"Welcome to the Robot Masters. Elec. Cut."
And they just watched him with loyal, heartless eyes.
Second: Abduction
by Lady Virgo
"Do not fade
child, be strong
Whispers the song
'Come on, Thunder Child'"
///
"Well...." Elec said after a long pause. "We've finally finished."
The other four bioroids could only beam with pride on their work. It took them three months. Three months to complete such a grandiose building that would have taken a regular contractor over two years to do. In fact, it had long since passed the point of being called a building. Now it was more like a mansion or a castle.
Or a fortress.
They had found it odd when Wily had gone up to them three months prior, telling them that they were to build something several miles on the outskirts of town. They didn't understand why, so far away, even looking at the size on the blueprints, it seemed a bit out of the way. But, as they transferred it into a real, three-dimensional thing, they finally understood. It spread over a good 40-acres and rose over two miles up. It impressed even them to have it up and running in such a short amount of time.
Though, probably, the oddest of all, was the fact that Wily told them not to let Light know just what they were doing and if he or Rock or Roll asked- to lie. Not that it really meant anything. After their activation and a short period of time afterwards, Light never really even looked at the six bioroids, asides from the work he put into Fire.
After a while of speculation, the five that had worked on the building finally decided that, given the structure and the rooms they had to construct, it must have been something for the military. Light never enjoyed actual, /real/ violence and didn't want anything to do with any sort of fighting force.
"Well, boy-os," Elec said, dusting off his hands, "let's tell the doc we're finished."
~*~*~*~
Something was wrong, his internal clock told him. He'd been suspended for far too long, even for a minor systems overhaul.
It was a... room, that was much was certain. A rather barren, small thing. He sat up, realizing that he was laid out on a stripped bed. Elec looked around briefly. He had remembered being put into his containment capsule when Dr. Wily had said that he was going to upgrade his system, to give him a little extra boost.
"And then I wind up here." He said to himself. "Where ever 'here' is."
He heard something faint from the other side of the door. Curious, yet cautious, Elec slid over to the metal slab, listening intently. It sounded like something was calling for something else. Preparing for anything, he waited until it sounded like the thing had passed before he-
*WHOOSH!*
*WHUMP!*
-Or he could just touch the door, have it slide open on him, making fall into whatever it was on the other side. That works, too.
"Ow." With that intelligent remark made, Elec pushed himself up to see what exactly it was that he had accosted.
Cut looked up at him, eyes wide, slowly softening from surprise to relief.
"Elec... I-I thought everyone left me..." he sniffed. "I thought you were all gone!" And promptly latched onto Elec, bawling into his chest.
Well, he may look like a child, and he may act like a child, so Elec only supposed he would react like one, too. Out of conditioned response, Elec patted Cut's back.
"C'mon, Cut." He said. "Maybe the others are here, too."
"You sure?"
"It wouldn't hurt to take a look, now would it? Do us more good than just sitting around here, anyway."
With a nod, Cut stood up. Then stopped.
"What? What's wrong?"
The shorter bioroid pointed speechlessly to the door that Elec had fallen out of. Beside it was a small plaque in which was engraved three letters and three numbers that simply read: DWN 008.
Elec blinked, looked again, leaned in close, and blinked again to see if it was a trick of the light. "What is this? That's not right. I'm DRN 008, not DWN."
"E-Elec..."
"What?" He looked around. The doors that lined the walls nearby each had similar plaques, their numbers decreasing.
"Elec..."
"What is it, Cut?" Elec snapped. He hadn't meant to, but this... /place/ was starting to weird him out.
"Y-Your shoulder..."
"What about it?" He craned his neck to look at them. On his right shoulder, barely visible from under the sleeveless white shirt and black vest, he could just glimpse some sort of mark. "What the hell?" He tried to get a better look and was forced to resort going back into that room to find a mirror. There he tore out of his clothes and turned around, glancing at the reflection out of the corner of his eyes.
It took a moment for him to make it out in the dim lighting of the room, but there, tattooed on his shoulder blade: DWN 008
"What... is this?" Suddenly he turned to Cut. "Take off your shirt." He commanded.
"What?"
"Just do it!"
Elec was beginning to lose it, his lightening colored eyes shimmering. It was more fear that made Cut obey him than anything else. He pulled his shirt over his head and turned around before he was instructed to. There, in the same spot as his own, was DWN 003.
"Elec?" Cut asked cautiously, daring only to move his head.
The other was in shock, not even noticing him. "What the hell is going on?" He jerked his head around, as if hearing something Cut couldn't. "Come on!"
"What? Where are we going?" Cut paused to pull his shirt back on before stumbling after his half-dressed brother. "Elec, wait!"
He seemed to know exactly where he was going, Cut thought. How did he know? Where were they going? Where were they, period?
They ran through countless corridors, all with the same dull, metallic gleam. Elec's legs moved like pistons, effortless, tireless, and Cut had to struggle to keep his pace. By the time he had finally caught up, puffing slightly from the effort, Elec had come to a stop inside a large open spaced lab.
Eight tables were set up; various instruments, computers and read-outs hooked up to each. On three of the tables lay a body: Guts, Bomb and Ice. On two more were piles of metal, one that shone polished black and bolt gold, the other the color of gleaming red-orange. The walls were lined with computers and monitors that spilled a glowing shadow on the floor. Manning one of the stations was a tall, lanky form in hard, steel gray armor, a small fire crackling out of the helmet, cut like a compensator. The form turned at their entrance, voice filtering clearly out of a metal mouthpiece.
"Oh. You're here."
The two looked uncertain before Cut ventured: "F-Fire? Is that... you?"
"What are you doing to them?" Demanded Elec, more than ready to drop all formalities and familiarity should Fire decide to turn against them.
"I'm doing just as I was told."
"Who told you to do this? What's going on?"
Fire swept a hand towards the two tables currently occupied by the piles of armor, the power around the metal flickered on. "Get on."
"No."
"Get on." His tone didn't change, but the intensity increased.
"No. Not until you tell us what's going on."
"All I know," Fire said, "is what I was told. And all I was told was to bring you to the fortress and to prepare you."
"Prepare us? For what?"
"What is none of your concern. Nor is it my place to question."
The perfect soldier: To do what one is told to the best of their abilities, without question, without hesitation, no matter the dangers, and without loyalty to anything other than the one who orders and the mission at hand.
The perfect soldier is /not/ what Fire was. He questioned, he wanted to understand, he did only what he felt was right, what should be done.
Unless it dealt with Wily. He asked no questions, he gave no pause. He did as he was told, when he was told to do it.
Elec's blood ran cold. "D-Dr. Wily... was he-did he..."
Fire's eyes flashed and he growled in a way neither Elec or Cut thought he could. "Get on the tables!"
"Fire!" Cut pleaded. "What's wrong with you?"
"Just do as you're told and everything will become clear!" He approached them, stance aggressive and dangerous, causing the two to move back in fear. "It would have been easier if you two just stayed in suspension until I got to you. But that can be taken care of."
"Fire... Fire, don't-don't! WAIT!"
~*~*~*~
"Light-otosan," Rock whined from somewhere amidst the tackle of luggage. It wasn't so much the weight of it that made his movements awkward as it was the instability of the pile. "Where are we going?"
"We're going to our new home."
"New home? But I like /our/ home now!"
"But this is a nice place. Quiet, beautiful, where no one will bother us. Wide open sky, lots of trees, a huge yard for you to play in..."
"How come Elec and the others can't come with us? How come we didn't invite Dr. Wily?"
"Now, Rock," Light said gently, patting his thin shoulder, "Alfred is a busy man. He has enough to deal with with the others around. Do you really want to bother him?"
He hesitated. "...W-Well..."
Light smiled. "It'll be fun, Rock. I'll even help you build a tree house, okay?"
The robot beamed. "Promise?"
"First thing."
"Hurray! Come on, Roll! Hurry, hurry!" In a whirl of energy, 'extended family' forgotten, Rock bounced off.
Roll, however, walked up to her father. She, being programmed with many feminine instincts, could see that Light was hiding something.
"Why did we leave so suddenly?" She asked. "We didn't even have time to get everything out of our old home."
Light turned serious eyes on her. "I already had everything important moved out of the lab. And I have you two. That is all that matters."
~*~*~*~
Wily cackled and rubbed his hands together in delight, almost bouncing in his glee. "Beautiful." He said. "Simply beautiful."
Behind him four figures flanked him, their bodies encased in armor, eyes dark and merciless as they waited for the final two.
From the lab came a sharp crackle of electricity and the harsh gleam of a blade's pure edge. Wily couldn't help but to grin as they walked closer to him.
"Welcome to the Robot Masters. Elec. Cut."
And they just watched him with loyal, heartless eyes.