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Disclaimer: All copyrighted characters in Rockman.EXE and its American version, Mega Man Battle Network, are owned by Capcom, the original creators and their distributors. No infringement of any of the rights of the aforementioned creators or distributors is intended. This is a fan-created story for the enjoyment of other fans only, and it may not be distributed for profit in any way. No money is being made by me in any form from this fanfic or any others I have written.

Author's Note: This might best be considered an AU, as I'm probably going to end up taking bits of manga, anime, and game continuity and squishing them together messily. Not to mention that I actually haven't played the games. ^^;; So mails/reviews telling me I messed up the continuity probably won't help, as I already know. ;) Oh yes, and I use the Japanese names for everyone, and the matching honorifics.

Pushing the Limits

a Rockman.EXE fanfic

by Hoshikage

Chapter 3

Rockman was frozen with shock an instant too long. Even as he opened his mouth to speak, he felt his body shifting into a more defensive stance against his will, the hand that wasn't holding the data cube forming into a buster. And the words that came out of his mouth weren't at all what he wanted to say.
"Well, looks like you found me. What a pain," he heard his own voice say casually, as he himself could only listen in horrified dismay.
No! Not this! Let me go!
"Rock! How could you!" Roll cried.
"Put that back at once," Glyde demanded, more directly.
"Nope, don't think so," Rock heard his own voice answer, and he struggled frantically to regain control.
Let me go! Don't make me do this!
"Rock..." Netto said faintly. Rockman expected him to get angry, shout, call him names... anything but sound so confused, so shattered...
"Sorry, Netto-kun, but I'm not following you anymore." Rockman hardly recognized his own voice this time, as the words that came out were said in such a cruel, sneering tone.
Netto-kun, that's not me, don't listen! Rock cried helplessly.
"Rock..." Netto gasped, his voice hardly more than a whisper. "It can't be..."
"Well, this has been fun, but I've got to be going - bye, all," Rockman heard his own voice say, and then the room swirled away as he felt himself logging out.
Netto-kun! I'm sorry - I'm sorry...! he sobbed silently as he dropped back into the Net, pulled unwillingly back toward the system of his new master.

-----------

Meiru looked at Netto in worry. He was still staring at the screen of the PET, even though Rockman had disappeared. His expression was blank, his eyes glassy with shock. "Netto-kun..." she said softly, realizing how awful he had to feel.
"I heard him," Netto muttered. "I heard him, but he didn't hear me..."
"What?" Meiru asked.
Netto shook his head. "I heard Rock! That wasn't him!" Before she could ask him what he meant, he demanded, "Glyde, can you follow him?"
"I think so," Glyde said. "But we have to hurry or I'll lose track of him."
Netto turned to Yaito appealingly. "Yaito-chan, please?"
Yaito blinked, then nodded, stammering, "Of - of course! I can't let him get away with stealing data from Daddy! Glyde, go after him and tell us where he goes!"
"I understand!" Roll said abruptly, and disappeared into the Net, Glyde and Gutsman following in the next moment.
Netto sat down heavily on the couch again, burying his face in his hands.
"Netto-kun..." Meiru said worriedly, leaning close.
He didn't even seem to realize she was there. "What happened to you, Rock... why can't you hear me?" he whispered.

-----------

Blues watched from his high perch as a blue Navi flew toward the system he was watching.
"Enzan-sama," he said softly, notifying his Operator of the activity.
There was silence for a moment, and then he heard Enzan mutter, "What on earth is Rockman doing there?"
"Should I ask him?" Blues inquired dryly.
"No, stay there, let's just watch for now," Enzan replied, which was the order Blues had anticipated. He remained still and hidden on his chosen ledge, watching as Rockman stopped not far from the barrier into the system.
He raised an eyebrow as Rockman abruptly dropped the data cube he was holding, crumpling to his hands and knees without warning. He shuddered violently, breathing in quick, ragged gasps, and then he gave a sobbing whimper, a sound of such pure anguish that Blues found himself involuntarily shuddering in response.
Even Enzan was silent for a moment, and when he spoke, his voice was flat and taut. "Well. It seems that something unusual is definitely going on here."
He still seemed undecided on what to have Blues do, so Blues waited, watching silently. Rockman didn't stay down for long; he fumblingly picked up the data cube again, walking unevenly toward the barrier into the system as if he was ready to collapse again at any moment.
The barrier opened a portal for him.
"Blues," Enzan said, and Blues had anticipated the command, as usual. He was moving before Enzan had finished saying his name, leaping down to land between Rockman and the portal into the system.
Rockman drew back with a gasp of shock. His face lit up with what looked like intense relief as he recognized Blues, and he opened his mouth. "Blues!" he cried, and that was all he got out before he underwent a transformation so swift and so complete that Blues wasn't entirely sure what it was he was seeing.
Rockman's expression closed into a glaring mask, the green eyes hardening into chips of glass. They seemed to glow faintly with anger. His body tensed, straightened, the defeated slump vanishing completely, his hand clenching on the data cube he held. "You're in my way," he said flatly, his voice carrying a dangerous edge that Blues had never heard from him before. "Move."
"Not likely," Blues replied. "Care to tell me what that is?" He pointed at the data cube.
"None of your business!" Rockman hissed, and fired at him.
Blues had been somewhat prepared for that, so he quickly dodged the shot and darted to the side to avoid the ones that followed. He lunged in with his sword outstretched, instinctively aiming for the hand that held the cube, since it was obviously important.
Rockman dodged the slash, twisting around and firing more shots. Blues ducked to the side, and Rockman turned the other way, circling around to come at Blues from the other side.
Blues realized that Rockman was trying to get around him to the portal, and he quickly moved to block the attempt, slashing his sword across Rockman's arm, tearing a gash that sparked and fizzled, pixels bleeding from the edges of the wound.
Rockman didn't drop the cube. More than that, he didn't even flinch. He just fired again.
Blues dodged those shots too, though with less room to spare. This was getting stranger and stranger. He kept himself between Rockman and the portal, dodging or deflecting Rockman's shots and occasionally getting in grazing blows with his own sword. "Give up yet? This is getting you nowhere."
"Blues, behind you!" Enzan suddenly shouted.
"Bone Fist!"
Blues flung himself to the side just as an enormous fist rocketed past him closely enough to sear his side with the heat from its jets. He twisted like a cat and landed on his feet, looking at the new Navi that had emerged from the portal behind him while he was occupied with Rockman.
The large, white-armored Navi pulled its arm back on a cord, whipping it around on the way so that Blues had to jump to avoid it. As the other Navi covered for him, Rockman darted through the portal, and Blues growled to himself and lunged forward, sword outstretched to slice into the Navi's white armor.
The glowing green eyes watched him impassively as he swung, and the sword shattered on a heavy white shoulderplate.
Blues gasped. "What?!"
The Navi swung at him in the instant while he was distracted, hurling him backwards. Blues tumbled to a halt and picked himself up, turning back to the barrier just in time to see the white-armored Navi pass back through it, the barrier's portal swirling shut again behind him.
"Damn it," Enzan muttered. "Now we're back at square one."
"I'm sorry, Enzan-sama," Blues replied.
"Never mind, just come back," Enzan said. Blues was about to obey when he heard a voice he didn't expect.
"Blues!" Hikari Netto was yelling. "Wait!"
Blues turned around, and saw Rockman's friends approaching. "Enzan-sama?" he asked his Operator for orders.
"Where is he, Blues?" Netto's voice demanded before Enzan could respond, transmitted through the PETs of his friends. "Where's Rockman? I know you saw him!"
Blues wondered for a moment how exactly he knew that, but there didn't seem to be any point in trying to deny it. "He's in there," Enzan replied for him, and Blues pointed at the glowing barrier.
"What're you doing here anyway, Enzan?" Yaito demanded.
Enzan sniffed slightly. "Not that it's any of your business, but we're on an investigation of a suspected data thief."
"Suspected?" Yaito cried. "What do you mean suspected! We saw him steal data from my Daddy's computer!"
"Oh," Enzan replied, "I suppose you mean the data that Rockman was carrying."
Everyone fell silent.
"And I suppose, since Rockman is Hikari's Navi, that constitutes proof enough?"
"All right, all right," Netto said wearily. "I get the point."
Blues raised an eyebrow when Netto didn't erupt into insults. Apparently Rockman wasn't the only one acting strange today.
"But what do we do now?" Roll asked. "We can't get in there..."
"Glyde," Netto said slowly, "Could you find this system again?"
"Certainly," Glyde responded.
"Just what are you planning, Hikari?" Enzan asked.
Netto said flatly, "I'm going to go talk to Papa. He'll think of something. I've got to get Rockman back."
"Well, whatever. Just don't get in our way," Enzan replied.
"No," Netto's voice muttered lowly. "You'd better not get in my way."
Blues prudently disappeared before that could turn into an escalating argument, although he didn't quite leave; instead he dissolved into pixels but reformed close by, finding himself another ledge from which he could watch the proceedings without being seen.
"So, somebody managed to steal Rockman out from under Hikari's nose? That explains a few things," Enzan observed quietly.
Blues nodded. It did explain why the system had recognized him. And the stealing of the data cube. The only thing Blues was still puzzled about was that sudden, complete personality shift. For a moment, Blues would have been willing to swear that he was dealing with two totally different people. That was something that just couldn't happen with Navis, as far as he knew.
"Do you want me to try and do something about him if he comes out?" Blues asked finally.
Enzan was silent for a few moments more, watching as the other Navis disappeared, returning to their PETs. "I'll think about it while you watch," he said finally. "At the moment... I don't know."

-----------

Netto sat in the back of the car Yaito had generously provided to give him a ride home, his chin propped on his hand as he stared unseeingly out the window. His PET lay in his lap, its empty screen a match for the silence inside his head.
The link he'd only just gotten used to had become an unstable, flickering thing, bursts of emotion or snatches of thought unexpectedly fading into emptiness. He missed the tingling feeling of Rock's laughter inside his head. He wondered now if he'd ever feel that again, even if he got Rockman back.
He tried not to remember the last thing he'd heard from Rock, before he faded into silence again. He'd tried desperately to respond when he'd heard Rock calling to him inside the Ayano-Kouji system, when he'd first realized that Rock was somehow trapped, able to see and hear but not respond. He'd tried to reassure him over the link, to let him know he was being heard, that someone knew it wasn't him doing these awful things... but Rock couldn't feel him.
It was a horrible, helpless feeling, that he couldn't do a thing to help his best friend... no, worse, his brother....
No matter how he tried to push them out, the terrible thoughts kept replaying in the back of his mind, echoing cries of anguish and despair.
Blues! Delete me! Please! I can't bear it--
Netto closed his eyes, resting his forehead against the glass.
Blues, stop me, kill me, please--
Tears welled up in his eyes again, and Netto let them fall, let himself cry for his brother who wasn't capable of it.

-----------

When Netto appeared in the lab, Doctor Hikari Yuuichirou immediately thought the worst.
Netto's eyes were red, his face still streaked with drying tears. He clutched an empty PET in his hand as though it was the only thing keeping him sane. "Papa," he croaked. "Rockman's..."
He paused, as though unable to continue. Yuuichirou tentatively asked. "Was he... deleted?"
Netto shook his head. "No - no, not yet anyway--" He looked up, for a moment anger burning through the misery in his eyes. "He got stolen, Papa. Somebody took him when he tried to come back to school. I think... I think they reprogrammed him." His face was twisted, as though the word wasn't quite awful enough for what he wanted to say.
Considering that Rockman was not exactly a normal Navi, there probably was no word that was awful enough.
Yuuichirou grimaced. "I see..."
Netto shook his head wildly. "No you don't! He's still in there, Papa, he knows everything he's doing, he just can't stop it! He can't hear me, but I could hear him, he's--"
Netto broke off, scrubbing at fresh tears with the back of his hand. Yuuichirou reached down and pulled Netto onto his lap, and Netto didn't resist. In fact he even let go of the PET and flung his arms around his father's neck.
"He's scared, Papa," he whispered. "I could feel it, all of it. We've got to get him back. We've got to help him..."
Netto sniffled, but then slowly started to pull away, and Yuuichirou knew that his son was ready to get to the actual business of making a plan work. Yuuichirou let him go and sighed as Netto rubbed his nose on his sleeve.
"Netto, must you? Your mother would never forgive me," he said, and handed over a packet of tissues.
Netto smiled, a little more like his old self, and settled for blowing his nose exceptionally noisily.
Yuuichirou used the few seconds' respite to think. When Netto asked the inevitable, "What are we going to do, Papa?" he had at least a start of an answer ready.
"If we can get Rockman's data here, I can undo whatever was done," he said, certain that he wasn't making an idle boast. "The trouble is getting him here in the first place. I assume he's in a defended system."
Netto nodded. "We know which one," he said.
Yuuichirou nodded. "Well, that's definitely a step in the right direction. The problem is that I don't feel right about sending more Navis in... because there's the risk of the same thing happening to them."
Netto grimaced. "Then what do we do?"
Yuuichirou looked at his son soberly. "I have an idea," he said. "But it might be dangerous for you."
Netto shook his head. "I don't care. I'll try anything to get Rockman back!"
Yuuichirou nodded. "I thought you might say that." He turned to the computer. "Then, as soon as I've made a transfer device to carry his data back here, what we're going to do is put you into the Net."
Netto stared. "You can do that?" he asked. "You can put a person into the Net?"
Yuuichirou nodded. "Essentially, you'll temporarily exist as a Navi." He raised an eyebrow at Netto, who was still looking stunned. "You forget," he said dryly, "I have done this before. It's much more difficult to make a cyber version of a human consciousness that's permanent than one that's temporary."
Slowly, Netto started to smile, hope returning to his eyes.

-----------

Rockman curled into a ball, clutching at his injured arm. The wound burned fiercely, but that pain was nothing compared to the pain of his broken heart.
He'd never see Netto smile at him again; he was certain of that, now.
Honemura was talking, but Rockman barely listened. He'd heard enough to know that Honemura wasn't exactly pleased with his performance, but thought he might still be useful. He knew Honemura was planning to try wiping out whatever was left of his mind, so he'd end up with another willing slave like Boneman. Boneman himself just stood there, watching Rockman as he tried to block out the sound of the gloating operator's voice.
"Well, I suppose I'll give you a little time off," Honemura chuckled. "I need to work on this anyway. But don't try running away - you won't get far."
"I know," Rockman mumbled dully.
Honemura laughed. "Good! Finally starting to learn your place. Boneman, make sure he doesn't try to get through the barrier."
"Yes, Master," Boneman said, and the screen showing Honemura's face went dark.
Rockman remained curled up where he was for a moment longer, trying to muster up the energy to move. Finally he sat up, still holding his arm where Blues had slashed him. He looked up at Boneman's expressionless face tiredly. "So, did he steal you too?" he asked suddenly.
Boneman was silent for a moment. "No," he said finally. "I am my Master's first Navi. He customized me himself."
"Figures," Rockman muttered sourly, rubbing at the burning wound and watching pixels sloughing away at the edges.
Boneman paused. "You could recharge yourself there," he said finally, pointing to a boxy metal formation with circular plates protruding from its surface.
Rockman looked at him for a moment. "Thanks," he said finally, awkwardly. He sighed, looking down again. "But I don't need it. I just want to go home."
"I cannot allow you to," Boneman replied.
Rockman glared at him. "I know that. I suppose you couldn't help me even if you wanted to, which I assume you don't."
Boneman's glowing green eyes blinked, but he didn't answer, which really was answer enough.
Rockman dropped his head into his hands. "Just leave me alone," he mumbled. "You can do that, can't you?"
Boneman seemed to be considering that for a long time. Finally he said, "Don't try to get through the barrier. I will stop you." And then he turned and he walked away.
Rockman watched him go. "I won't," he said, and meant it.

-----------

"Is it ready yet?" Netto asked, fidgeting in impatience.
"Almost," his father replied. "I've got to make it something you can carry easily, but can hold all of Rockman's data without damaging it. As it is, it'll have to be compressed..."
"Is that okay?" Netto asked, stopping his pacing of the lab to look at his father in surprise. He really hadn't thought that it might be difficult to get Rockman back home once he'd gotten through the barrier, and they'd already taken care of that problem...
Yuuichirou nodded. "He'll be all right, though we shouldn't leave it too long." He left the computer running something and got up, moving toward another piece of equipment. "Well, time to get you ready..."
Netto almost leaped forward. Finally, something he could do! He was almost going crazy with impatience to get this over with and bring Rockman home.
But his father turned to look at him seriously, and Netto gulped at the expression on his face, afraid he was going to say that he'd changed his mind, it was too dangerous...
"Netto, I won't ask you not to do this," his father said, surprising him. "But it's true that it might be dangerous. So I want you to be careful - very careful. Don't stay any longer than you have to, and don't get hurt. Run away if it looks like you might be in danger. I can repair data, to a certain extent... I can't fix brain damage. Do you understand?"
Netto gulped again, but nodded. "Nothing's gonna happen to me," he said firmly, and seeing that his father didn't look satisfied by that, he added, "I'll be careful, I promise."
"All right then." His father patted the strange-looking chair he'd uncovered. "Sit down, and we'll get started."

-----------

Rockman sat alone for what seemed like a very long time. His thoughts chased themselves around in circles, never coming closer to finding a way out of this horrible mess.
Honemura would be back, there was no doubt of that; he'd already said he wasn't going to let his new Navi go, ever. Rockman couldn't stand the thought of just sitting and waiting until Honemura wiped out whatever was left of him that could resist. Just waiting to be utterly destroyed like that, and then worse yet, used against his friends...
He slowly got up, moving toward the recharging station Boneman had pointed out.
He wished he could share his feelings with Netto just once more. He hadn't realized how much he'd miss the link until it was gone - the current of emotion that flowed between them like electricity, power they both drew strength from, without words or images, but full of understanding, trust and friendship. But whatever Honemura had done had taken that from him, too, and he felt no hint of the reassuring presence of Netto's thoughts outside his own.
He stared at the recharging station for a moment, and then he set to work prying its outer shell off.
He hoped everyone would forgive him... that they wouldn't think too badly of him for what he'd done, and what he was about to do.
Underneath the gray metal, energy crackled wild and uncontrollable as it flowed from the power stream and to the safe access ports that he'd ignored.
He stood there a moment longer, glancing around to make sure Boneman was nowhere in sight. But the other Navi had apparently respected his wish to be left alone, for a wonder.
He turned back to the crackling power lines resolutely. I'm sorry, everyone... Netto-kun... He closed his eyes for a moment, choking down a sob.
Then he opened his eyes again and determinedly plunged his hands into the crackling power.
It raced up his arms and over his body in bolts of twisting current, crawling over his skin and making pixels explode off his body with every glancing touch. He fell to his knees, biting back a cry of pain as he struggled against the instinctive urge to pull away and forced himself to keep his hands buried in the current. Only a little more - and it would all be over--
"Rock, stop it!" Netto's voice screamed.
Rockman yanked his hands back instantly, without thought. As the lightning subsided, he knelt on the ground and stared into the darkness at the edge of the system, in so much shock that he hardly felt the pain of his burns where they bled pixels sluggishly into the air.
Netto was running toward him.
"Netto...kun?" Rock whispered. "It can't be... I'm dreaming..."
"You idiot!" Netto yelled as he ran closer, holding some kind of strange silver device that looked like some odd scepter, with a round blue gem on the top and tapering to a sharp point at the bottom. "What did you think you were doing?!"
Rock stared. Netto looked the same as always... well, mostly. He seemed pale, washed-out, and his body was formed of suggestions of color and light, all the details of his clothing missing so that he looked like an unfinished, roughly-drawn image. And the things he was saying certainly sounded like him...
But how was he here?
"Netto-kun..." he murmured, still disbelieving.
Then he gasped as the screen lit up again, revealing Honemura's angry face.
"How'd you get in here?" Honemura roared.
"Run!" Rockman cried desperately to Netto.
Netto's face hardened into a stubborn expression, and he just kept running forward. Rockman drew breath to plead with Netto to run away, but before he could get the words out, his body froze in place, exactly as he'd been fearing, and then started to pull itself up. Rockman took perverse pleasure in how he staggered as he tried to rise - apparently he'd managed to do enough damage to himself to keep Honemura from being able to use his full fighting potential.
"I don't know how you got in here," Honemura roared, "but you won't be leaving!" He punched buttons on his controller in fury, and Rockman's hand lifted, changing into the shape of a gleaming sword.
Rock struggled more desperately than ever before, his thoughts spiraling into blind panic. No! he screamed. Netto-kun! Run! Please!
Netto stopped just out of sword reach. "It's okay," he said, giving a lopsided smile. "I hear you, Rock. Trust me."
Rockman gasped mentally, stunned. Netto could hear him?
As though his moment of surprise released his body, it suddenly lunged forward without his direction, sword raised. Before Rockman could feel more than a flash of panic, Netto was twisting, diving out of the way of the sword slashing down at him as he thrust the scepter up--
--point-first, through Rock's chest.

--To Be Continued--