Metal Dolls: Mercenary Loyalties
Disclaimer: Mega Man and all related characters are Trademarks of CAPCOM Co. , Ltd. and are used without permission. Any other characters that don't appear in the Mega Man games belong to me.
Note: This story is supposed to be part of a trilogy called 'Metal Dolls' that introduces my three original Mega Man characters one by one, but it may take a long time to complete it. The reason being because I'm one of those people who has a lot of good ideas for different things jumbled around in their brains at the same time and NO WAY to organize them effectively and I'm always getting new ones. Anyway I'll do the best I can. This first part focuses on Proto Man more than Mega Man in honor of the fact that Proto's one of my favorite characters from the series. I never played any of the games and only got interested in them at all thanks to a chance encounter with Anthony
Bault's 'Heros of Arcadia' so all my information comes from the internet, especially fanfiction. Anyway I talk too much, let's get this story going shall we?
Chapter 1: The Black Bandit
Powell Technologies was one of the two leading suppliers of weapons and other advanced technology to the government. It was this reason that when CEO and owner Alexander Powell noticed a rash of thefts occurring in his major facilities he suspected his rival company Xavier corp.
Of course he couldn't prove it unless he had evidence. Since the facilities in question were operated for the Federal Government, Alexander knew that if he went through official channels the investigation of the thefts would be bogged down for months in governmental red tape, so he decided to get outside help.
For a small fee of course.
Two dark figures dashed silently across the shadowed roof tops of the down town district toward the Powell Tech. weapons research center at the edge of the city. One, a black and storm grey robot, jumped down from the roof top of one building to the lower roof top of another, ran to the other side of the building and stopped at the edge with a dark blue and silver robo-dog not too far behind. Together the two stared at the tall office building for a couple of seconds.
"This must be the place." The robot said in a low feminine voice.
"According to what we've found so far all the security breaches preceding the thefts can be traced back to this location." Another voice answered over the communicator in the robot's helmet. "If you can catch the culprits in the act, we can find out who's been causing all the trouble."
"Doesn't it seem strange to you that– wait a minute!" The robot cut herself off mid-reply as her enhanced optic sensors picked up a suspicious image. The flashing and sparking of damaged computer equipment could be seen through a window. "It seems that someone's decided to celebrate July fourth a little early . . . inside their office. Lets go." She added to her four-legged companion.
She raised her right arm and a black grappling-cable shot out of the cuff around her wrist. It wrapped around a flag pole sticking out of the side of a near by building. She grabbed the end of the cable and tugged to make sure it was secure and would hold her weight.
Meanwhile, a pair of glider wings extended from the robo-dog's back.
After looking to make sure her partner was ready to follow, the robot launched herself of the roof and swung toward the research center. The robo-dog also jumped off the roof, activated rockets in the pads of her feet and flew after her mistress.
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"Hey Bass, how many more times do we have to do this?" a big hulking brown and black Robot Master known as Heavy Man asked as he smashed a control panel with his tremendous strength.
"Yeah this is getting tiresome." Hydro Girl, a slim Sea-green and yellow Robot Master added as she sat on a desk watching him.
(Note: For those who want to know I like to think that Hydro Girl sounds like Ranamon from Digimon 04)
"We'll keep searching until we find all the parts Dr. Wily want's." The mad scientist's second in command answered, arms folded across his chest.
"But why do we also have to destroy things while we're searching?" The royal blue and purple Strata Girl asked, tossing her head in irritation, which caused her lavender curls to shimmer in the dim moon light coming through the window. "Seems rather pointless and self-destructive to me."(Note: Strata Girl is supposed to sound like Gatomon from Digimon 01 back when she was working for Myotismon hopefully I'm not the only Digimon nut who also likes Megaman out there)
Bass's head snapped around to glare at her. What had possessed Wily to build female Robot Masters? He thought angrily as Strata Girl smirked back, knowing her tone had let him know exactly what she was implying and that this fact thoroughly annoyed him. She had been questioning his authority ever since she had been activated and somehow he had never been able to put her in her place. "Don't ask me Strata Girl, it might be because he doesn't like Mr. Powell, we're just following orders." He answered coldly.
"Humph." Was her only reply as she walked past him, her nose turned up in the air and one hand on her hip as her other hand swung casually at her side. Bass could see she was still smirking as she walked by.
Techno Man meanwhile typed furiously at the key board of another control Panel. The grey and silver robot seemed oblivious to everything and everyone else as he worked.
Finally he seemed to achieve what he set out to do as with one final key stroke he gave a triumphant "Ah-ha!" (Note: I like to think that Techno Man sounds like Izzy from Digimon 01)
Bass stopped glaring at Strata Girl and went over to check on Techno Man. The other Robot Masters also stopped what they were doing to watch.
"Progress report, Techno Man."
"I've hacked into the main data base. I'm searching for our target now."
"Good, tell me when you find it."
"Yes sir."
"You know," Hydro Girl said as she walked up next to Heavy Man, she lowered her voice so Bass wouldn't hear her next words. "Strata Girl does make a good point. You probably shouldn't have destroyed that control panel."
Heavy Man looked confused. "But Bass said. . . ."
". . .That it was okay if you wanted to, I know. And I know you like smashing things but you should try using your head once in a while since that's what it's there for . . . "
"Excuse me, did I say it was okay for everyone to start chattering endlessly?" Bass interrupted without taking his eyes of the computer screen.
"No." Hydro Girl answered.
"Then can you can you please be silent so Techno Man can concentrate and we can this done tonight and not next Millennium."
At this Strata Girl scoffed. "Techno Man could concentrate through Mt. Vesuvius for god's sake. I very much doubt that those two whispering too each other's going to bother him in the least."
Bass turned to glare at her again and was about to reply when Techno Man interrupted.
"Eureka!! I found it!" he exclaimed.
"And about time too!" Hydro Girl answered. "The last thing we needed right now is another lover's spat."
"What did you just say!?" If looks could kill the one Bass and Strata Girl gave Hydro Girl at these words would have made her a smoking hole in the floor.
"Nothing!" Hydro Girl said quickly, drawing back and holding her hands up defensively.
Heavy Man snickered.
Techno Man a.k.a. 'The ultimate computer nerd' turned and arched an eye brow questioningly.
"Sir?" the latter asked.
"Right. Where is it Techno Man?" Bass said, taking Techno Man's hint and getting back to the business at hand.
"At the center of the complex. We can reach it through this level but the security's tight and as you already know we can't let anyone see us or we'll blow our cover." Techno Man answered matter-of-factly.
"Well how are we supposed to get it without being noticed? It's not as if we can just turn invisible." Hydro Girl asked, rolling her eyes in exasperation.
"Easy. I've already planted a computer virus in their security system so they won't be able to see us and none of the alarms will work. All we have to do is take the least guarded corridor."
"Good. But there might still be security guards to worry about. We'll take them out without them seeing us so they can't identify us later." Bass cautioned. Dr. Wily had told them how important it was to his plans that Powell Technologies continued to believe they were dealing with humans working for their rival company.
"Don't cause too much damage though. That would cause just as much trouble in the long run." He added. It wouldn't do at all for security to tighten at the last target location because a guard turned up dead or sufficiently damaged enough for the humans to decide that the thieves were dangerous enough to warrant extra attention.
"We don't need to be told that, unless that little warning was specifically pointed at a certain over sized metallic ox who I suppose should remain nameless at this time." Strata Girl answered with a pointed look at Heavy Man.
"Any further questions?" Bass asked.
"...."
"Okay, then lets get this over with."
The others nodded and they all started to leave the room. As they left none of them realized, their conversation had been overheard.
Well now. . . .The Black and Grey robot thought as she watched them go from her place in a shadowed corner of the room. This is something new, since when did Wily's precious Robot Masters go around stealing things?
She jumped up, opened a near by ventilation shaft and climbed in, her metallic canine companion (Who had been hiding in the shadows with her mistress) not too far behind. We'll just have to see about this. . . .
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The Robot Masters got to their destination without too much trouble thanks to Techno Man's system virus and Strata Girl's stealth abilities. The security alarm triggers were all connected in such a way that the virus effectively rendered them useless and (Foolishly enough) so were the cameras.
Meanwhile Strata Girl went ahead of everyone else and knocked out any guards she ran into with blunt arrows from her Strata Bow when they weren't looking.
"Now what?" An impatient Hydro Girl asked when they finally reached the large door that lead to where Techno Man said the target was located.
Techno Man went over to a small panel on the wall and examined it briefly. "It looks like a standard lock, you'd think they'd have better defenses . . . well anyway give me a minute and I'll crack the code." He pulled a cord out of a compartment in his wrist and plugged it into the panel then opened a small panel in his lower arm and started issuing commands.
"Got it." He said several seconds later as the door slid opened with a hiss to reveal a big mostly empty room with a raised platform in the center.
"Finally." Heavy Man said as they stepped into the room. "Now we can get out of here, I hate all this sneaking around."
"Really? No wonder it was so easy to find you." An unfamiliar voice answered seemingly from out of nowhere.
A tether flew out from behind them binding a surprised Heavy Man's arms to his sides as two heavy steel balls attached to each end of the rope spun around and around, faster and faster, tightly securing the large robot.
The other robots spun around to face at their opponent.
Standing behind them, arms akimbo, was a black and gray robot! Her design was obviously based off that of Mega Man, but her helmet had a silver visor (Like the black one in Proto Man's helmet) that hid the top half of her face. A bushy black ponytail stuck out near the top of the helmet. Standing next to her, growling menacingly, was a blue and silver robo-dog that looked a little bit like Bass's dog Treble.
"Should've stayed in your little Skull Fortress." She added.
"What the– Who are you?!" Bass demanded.
The robot grinned as she slid into a fighting stance. "The name's Disco, The Black Bandit, and your worst nightmare."
"Get her!" Bass shouted to his subordinates as he fired a super-shot at her.
Disco jumped over the blast and lunged forward in an attempt to tackle Strata Girl. Strata Girl side stepped out of the way, but The Black Bandit wasn't finished yet. Having predicted the dodge, Disco came to a halt and spun on her heel in a perfect round house kick that caught Strata Girl in the back with enough force to send the robot master tumbling forward a couple of feet.
" Upstart!" Strata Girl, outraged, jumped to her feet and whipped out her bow in one smooth motion before firing a volley of Strata Arrows at the other robot.
Disco dodged them all and jumped over Hydro Girl's Hydro Cannon before the robo-dog joined the battle, tackling Bass who dared to try and hit her mistress with another super-shot while she was still in mid-jump.
Bass and the robo-dog hit the ground and the shot went wild, nearly hitting Heavy Man who was still struggling to free himself.
"Thanks Jazz!" Disco called as she dodged right to avoid another Hydro Cannon.
Heavy Man finally got over the initial shock and confusion enough to rip the tether off with his enhanced strength. He climbed to his feet and proceeded to charge at Disco from behind but she heard him coming.
Pulling a backward somersault, Disco jumped over Heavy Man's lunge and landed behind him in a crouch before executing an abrupt trip-kick that effectively knocked Heavy Man's legs out from under him. He hit the floor with a ground shaking crash.
"The bigger they are," She said as she stood up. That's when she noticed Techno Man at the raised platform. There was a Plas-steel tube protecting the component on the platform form just being snatched off and Techno Man was trying to break the code to remove it. He looked like he almost had it too.
We can't have that now can we? Disco thought as she dashed over. In spite of all this she hadn't completely forgotten Strata Girl and Hydro Girl which is why she managed to dodge, though only just barely, when both of them chose this moment to attack at the same time.
Techno Man worked as quickly as possible while the others kept Disco busy, until finally: "Ah-ha! Got it!" the tube lifted enough for him to grab the disc inside.
Bass meanwhile finally managed to knock Jazz off with super-shot at point-blank and jump to his feet.
"Sir!" Techno Man shouted, waving the disc over his head.
Upon seeing this, Bass's understandably bad mood faded a little.
"Fall Back! We have what we came for!" He barked to the others as he ran for the platform.
"Ooh no ya don't!" Disco said as she started after him.
Strata Girl shot another arrow at Disco, this time the shaft exploded and a net flew out, snaring Disco before she could dodge.
"Ooh yes we do!" Strata Girl shot back mockingly as she and Hydro Girl followed Bass.
Heavy Man was closest to the platform and got there first, he was followed by Bass then Strata Girl and Hydro Girl.
When Strata Girl reached the platform, she turned back to look at Disco who was still struggling with the net. She smirked, held out a fist, extended her thumb and forefinger, pointed at the Black Bandit, and jerked her hand up as if from the kickback of firing a gun. Then just for added malice she blew at the tip off her forefinger as if she were blowing smoke off the end of a gun just before Bass activated his teleporter and they all disappeared in a flash of black light.
Disco cursed vehemently as she finally threw the net off. " I can't believe they got away!!!" But when she stood she immediately went to check on Jazz.
The robo-dog was still recovering from Bass's super-shot.
Disco knelt next to Jazz. "Aw poor thing, did that jerk hurt you?" She asked as she scratched her between the ears.
Jazz whimper then barked.
"Don't worry girl Dr. Dark can take care of it. Speaking of which." Disco pressed a button on the side of her helmet. "Hey Julia. Ya there?"
"Yes, how did it go?" Dr. Dark asked on the other.
"Bad, I almost had them but they got away at the last minute."
"But do you know who it was."
"Well it sure as he** wasn't Xavier Corp. Unless Mr. Xavier managed to somehow talk ol' Doc Wily into letting him barrow Bass and the Robot Masters ."
"Bass and the Robot Masters? Strange. . . . You'd better return the lab and tell me exactly what happened."
"Okay but you'd better have a table ready 'cause Jazz is hurt again."
"Fine just get back here."
Disco, after one last quick glance a round, activated the teleporter in Jazz's collar.
I wonder why the doc sounded so worried. . . .Disco thought as She and Jazz disappeared in their own flash of black light.
********************************************************************** So how'd you like it? Please R+R and tell me. Hopefully I might be able to get the next chapter up in the next couple of months but I have other stories I'm working on so it might take a while. As you can tell this chapter was meant to introduce some of my original characters. I know I said that there were only three but I Don't know enough about the Robot Masters from the games to include them and I thought it would be good to have some female robot masters since I pretty sure there were only male RM's in the games. Catch ya on da flip side! ^_~