Chapter 3: The Cycle Begins Anew

"The Third Robot Rebellion was, at first, one of the most mysterious. For the greater part of the Rebellion it seemed as if there was no mastermind at all..." Dr. James Cain, Reploids And Their Place In Society

"Are you actually going to build this thing?" Roll asked skeptically. "I mean, look at it! If your power estimations are correct, this guy could take on an entire army and come out the winner!" It was a day later, and the family was discussing the "superbot" over the breakfast table.

"No, no, don't worry." Dr. Light waved her down. "Right now, this is just the planning stage. We're not going to actually BUILD it until we see hard evidence that it will be needed."

"Until the Third Robot Rebellion comes." Rock growled. "And then it'll be too late and I'LL have to go stop it again."

"Hold it!" Dr. Wily laughed. "I'M supposed to be the most pessimistic one here, Rock! You're stealing my bit!" The robot glowered and flipped him the bird. "HEY! Tom, I thought you put something in his programming about doing that to humans!"

"Where would the fun be in that?" Dr. Light said with an absolutely straight face. "Ahem... getting back on the subject. We did, however, order some Energen Crystals from Sennet Robotics. We can't resist the opportunity to examine them!"

"Not to mention we'll see tons of uses for them that those hacks at Sennet will undoubtably pass up." Wily added. "They're probably laughing their butts off right now. Us, their main competitors, buying their crystals. Hilarious." At that point, Rush ran in with the newspaper in his mouth, tail wagging furiously. Dr. Wily smiled. "Aah, that's a good dog! Come on, bring it over here... YEECCH!" The paper was completely drowned in doggy drool, ruining it. "Roll, I think somebody's producing a wee bit too much slobber. Have him fix it, will you?"

"Gotcha." Roll agreed. She looked at the dog and spoke a stream of binary, telling him to run a self-diagnostic. Rush barked and went off into the corner to do so. Wily sighed.

"Well, the paper's ruined. Guess I'll just have to go into town to get one."

"Hey, look over there! It's Dr. Wily!" Albert Wily ground his teeth in frustration. It had been a mistake coming out alone; apparently, none of the people who had supported him at the trial were living in this area. The doctor had been pestered and harrassed ever since he had left his car.

"You wacko! What are you doing back here? Ran out of other inmates to kill?"

"Monster! Go back to jail!"

"Hey, Wily! How long is that brain of yours gonna hold together before it explodes again?"

"Genocidal maniac!"

"Freak!"

"Nutjob!" Ignoring them all, the doctor took a newspaper from the stand, grabbed a grape soda and placed them on the counter. The surly-looking man behind the counter had an unpleasant smile.

"I'm sorry, but we don't serve psychotic murderers here. Heh heh!" Wily bowed his head, fighting the impulse to cram the lout into his own Slurpee machine. The crowd around him jeered and booed...

"Hey, Doc!" Everybody looked over as the doors swung open and Rock walked in. "You forgot your... oh..." The robot frowned as he realized what the crowd meant. "...All right, all of you. Clear off. There's nothing to see here."

"Mega Man!" One man called, and Rock winced. "Why didn't you finish off Wily when you had the chance!"

"Yeah, come on Mega Man!" A woman snarled. "You're supposed to be a hero! Come on, blow this twisted monster's head off!"

"I see a lot of monsters here." Rock said quietly, forming his buster. "But Dr. Wily isn't one of them." The crowd suddenly went silent. "Now, I'm going to educate you cretins, so pay attention. The reason I haven't done anything to Dr. Wily is simple. The First Law of Robotics prohibits me from harming a human. If I break it, my systems immediately destroy themselves. However..." He pointed his buster at the crowd. "Right now, the only human I see here is Dr. Wily. All I see around him are a bunch of brainless, scavenging jackals. This thing on my hand is a plasma buster, capable of destroying many robots with one shot. Imagine what it would do to YOU... organic things made of flesh. And there's nothing in my programming about not roasting jackal. So I suggest that you all get lost." He shot off a single plasma bullet. It flew through the air above the heads of the crowd and hit the wall, causing a small piece of the wall to be destroyed. Within seconds, the only occupants of the store were Rock, Wily and the shaking counterman. Rock glared at him. "Is there any trouble with my friend making a purchase?"

"N... no..." The suddenly cowering man gulped. "No problem, mister Mega Man, sir."

"My name is ROCK." The robot growled angrily. The man backed up even more.

"Right... mister Rock, sir." He rang it up. "...It'll be... two dollars, mister Wily, sir."

"Oh, crud." Wily said as he felt his pocket. "I forgot my..."

"Wallet?" Rock said, tossing it to the doctor, who caught it easily. "That's what I came here to bring you... although it seems I helped out in another way too." Nobody said another word until the two had left the store. Rock had warped, so Dr. Wily offered him a ride back.

"Rock... thanks for bailing me out there." The doctor said after a few minutes. Rock grunted.

"It was a bluff. I couldn't really have blasted any of them. But it worked. People like that have no place on this planet."

"We agree on that, at least." Wily said grimly.

"Well, they've gotten it." Dr. Wily announced as he and Rock walked in. Dr. Light looked up confusedly.

"Got what?"

"Permission to mine the eighth source of Energen-on the moon." Wily chuckled. "Of course, there won't be any human workers there... but that's nothing new. Several of the other places were unsafe for humans as well."

"Where exactly are all the mines?" Roll asked. Wily looked at the newspaper.

"Well, let's see here... hmm. Says one way to tell different types of energen is by the color... that should make some things easier. Ahem... the red mine is in France. Specifically, the part of the country that still hasn't been reclaimed after WW3."

"Radiation?" Rock guessed. The doctor nodded.

"And plenty of it. They're sending in their Magnus models there. The yellow mine is in the treeborg eucalyptus forests of Australia. Heh... it's a good thing it's not in the part with whole trees, or they'd never have been able to wrangle it. They've got some humans there, but the main force is Spinstrike Models. The black mine is particularly dangerous... it's inside Mt. Vesuvius. That volcano's no place for a human. They've wisely put Ripwood models working there... if those things hold one advantage over our Cut Man models, it's their skillfulness."

"Cut Man models were pretty damn skillful, doc." Roll interrupted.

"Yes, but these Ripwoods are something else entirely." Dr. Wily said evenly. "They could steal everything you have without you even noticing they were there. Pressing on... the orange mine is in Las Vegas, America."

"Ah, yes." Dr. Light said sadly. "Another victim of WW3, but this time not of nuclear weapons, but biological ones. An outbreak that decimated the population, but left the buildings-and their immense electrical power-intact, though unfit for human use."

"Exactly." Dr. Wily agreed. "They're sending in Zapplug models, and those guys are completely rewiring the city's power supplies to help mining. The purple mine is in Chile, a country in South America. Humans are allowed here to help out the Smashbody models. On a side note, what the hell kind of name is that? Smashbody? Some Sennet Robotics designer's been hitting the sake, I think. Ahem... The green mine is in the jungles of Africa. The Serpos models they sent their have been running up a storm... building all sorts of stuff. The blue mine is on New Guinea, an island in the Pacific ocean. The Pinhead-snort-models are being deployed there. And then, of course, there's the white mine on the moon. They're sending a delegation of their Gemini Models down there right away."

"Quite an operation they've got going." Roll observed. "If everything goes right for them, they may just pull themselves back up."

"But it won't." Dr. Wily predicted. "Nothing ever goes exactly right... that's just not the way the world works. Something will screw it up sooner or later."

"Optimistic, aren't we?" Rock laughed. "Do we need to get you some prozac?"

"Come near me with that stuff and I'll pour it into your stasis capsule's generator." Dr. Wily countered. "I don't think your dreams would be too pleasant then, my robotic friend."

"RUFF! RUFF!" All conversation suddenly cut off as Eddie ran past at top speed, his eyes unnaturally wide. Behind him was Rush, who was happily chasing the little robot. Dr. Light facepalmed.

"I forgot, we never introduced them! Rock, will you go tell him not to chase Eddie?"

"ME?" Rock yelped. "Why me?"

"He's YOUR dog, that's why!" Dr. Wily answered. Rock looked at him.

"Really? I got the impression that he was a family pet... especially since YOU had him go fetch your newspaper this morning! You go get him!"

"YOU can speak binary! I can't!" Dr. Wily concluded, and Roll giggled.

"Score one for the doc! Hee hee!" She suddenly stopped as Rock's gaze leveled with her.

"All right, missy, you go get him! You can speak binary just as well as I can!"

"Nu-UH." Roll denied firmly. "I helped build him. You did squat. Go get the dog, Rock." Her brother threw up his hands in exasperation.

"FINE." Growling, he stomped off.

"Hmm, hmm, hmm..." A shadowy figure hummed to himself as he sat at a computer. "Where are they... they can't pass it up... come on... come on... ARRRGH!" Suddenly leaping to his feet, the figure began jumping around crazily, screaming. "Too long, too long! Why won't it come? AAAA..." A beep from the computer caused him to fall silent, and he jumped back to his seat, a huge grin across his face. "Yeeeeees! Finally! They did it! They ordered the crystals! Now... set up a program... tell me as soon as the delivery date is set... and then... BANG!" Humming to himself again, the dark figure worked away at his computer, the twisted grin on his face never fading.

Several days passed in the Light household, and the family continued in their uneasy truce. There were no more open arguments, but Rock & Roll's eyes showed they still didn't trust Dr. Wily. However, during those days, everybody's attention was diverted a lot of the time by the newest addition to the household...

"RUSH! GET BACK HERE!" Roll screeched, dashing down the hall after the canine. Rush bounded down the staircase and ran out the door just as Dr. Light was walking in.

"What the-? Roll, what's going on?" Roll screeched to a halt and glared at the doctor.

"What's wrong? WHAT'S WRONG? That mangy mechanical mutt tore up all my dresses! THAT's what's wrong!"

"Calm down, Roll." Dr. Light said firmly. "Rush is only newly activated; we have to allow for a few mistakes. Need I remind you of your first encounter with a book?" Roll shuddered; the doctor had a point. Upon being introduced to a library for the first time, the female robot had taken a book, looked at it for several moments, then calmly hit her brother over the head with it.

"Urgh... you're right. But what are we going to do about my clothes?"

"I'll get you some new ones!" Dr. Light groaned. "Just don't kill the dog!"

"Okay!" Roll said, suddenly smiling widely. "We can go later today! See you, doc!" With that, she walked humming, leaving Dr. Light with a feeling of having been tricked. Before he could think it through, though, a loud detonation from outside signaled a new problem. Rushing outside, the doctor found Rock, staring at the large water geyser gushing from the sidewalk. Rush ran away with his prize fire hydrant, and the two did nothing to stop him.

"Goddammit..." Bill moaned. "I HATE having to come all the way out here." The mailman had a letter for Dr. Cedric Froid, and the psychologist's manor was at least an hour's drive out into the forest. Grumbling, Bill dropped off the letter in Froid's mailbox, then checked where to go next. "Hmm... the Lights? Looks like quite a package here... eh?" He suddenly snapped his head up and frowned, looking at something off in the trees. "What the hell?" Bill stopped his car and walked off into the trees, unknowingly still holding on to the Lights' package. A moment later, the sounds of a fight rang through the forest. After several moments, the victor returned, still holding the brown box for delivery.

"Idiot." He snorted, looking back at the disturbance before driving onward. Behind him, in the forest, another man was slumped up against a tree, possibly unconscious, possibly worse. Nearby, forgotten, was another package which the unconscious man had held a moment ago. A package that looked exactly like the one being delivered to the Lights right now. A curious wild boar came over and examined the package, then ripped it open.

Eight sparkling Energen Crystals tumbled out into the sunlight.

"Where is that mailman!" Rock half-shouted, exasperated. "He should have been here hours ago!"

"Maybe the post office spontaneously combusted." Roll suggested.

"Ah... no."

"Perhaps the mailman was run over by a cement mixer." Dr. Light offered with a grin.

"Uh... no."

"Maybe he..." Dr. Wily started.

"No. Definately not."

"Ruff!" Rush barked, running down the street. Rock ran after and caught him just in time to stop the robotic dog from jumping on the mailman.

"Hey! Ha ha ha... cute little guy, aren't you?" The mailman laughed. "Hey, Rock. What's this fella's name?"

"Rush." Rock said. "You met him yesterday, Mr. Paul, remember?"

"Oh... oh, yes." The mailman said slowly. "At any rate... sorry I'm late; I had to stop by Dr. Froid's. I wish he didn't live so out of the way. Here's your mail. Per your usual request, I've already shredded all your junk." He winked. "Three bills, two magazines, a letter from a Colonel Dex, and your package from Sennet Robotics."

"Excellent! Come on Rush!" Rock took the dog and the mail inside, and the mailman walked off, whistling.

"It's here!" Rock announced. Dr. Wily winced.

"No need to yell, Rock. We're all here already. What are waiting for? Somebody get a pair of scissors and let's open 'er up!"

"Got them already." Roll said, smiling. As she walked over to the table, Rush began whining nervously. "It's okay, Rush. It's just some Energen Crystals." She bent over, and the robot dog began barking loudly.

"Rush! Be quiet!" Dr. Light ordered. Forced by the second law, he complied... then shot forward, knocking aside Roll's arm. "RUSH! What's wrong with you?"

"Something's wrong." Rock told him. "Rush is worked up over this box. I think we should scan it beforehand."

"All right, fine, if it makes you happy." Roll grumbled, fetching a scanner. She moved it over the box and activated it. All four bent over to see the reading... and froze, their faces turning white. There were no Energen Crystals. Instead there was a large black sphere and a timer, with glowing red numbers. The timer had thirty seconds on it. And as it counted down, the sphere began glowing.

"IT'S A BOMB!" Dr. Wily shrieked. "What do we do? What do we do!" It was Rock who took action; grabbing the package he ran upstairs. Roll followed him. Twenty seconds left.

"Where are we going?" She demanded.

"The teleporter!" Her brother answered. "As soon as we get there, set it for the Pacific Ocean! I'll cram the package in!" Fifteen seconds. They entered the room, and Roll crossed to the controls while Rock opened the teleporter itself. Ten seconds. Rock threw the deadly package into the chamber and closed it again while his sister worked feverishly. Five seconds... four... three... two... Roll slumped backwards in relief as the telltale whine showed the bomb was gone. The two robots slowly walked back downstairs. The doctors waiting mirrored the robots in facial expressions; Dr. Light and Roll looked scared, while Dr. Wily and Rock looked furious. Rock was the first to speak. He looked at Dr. Light.

"Call the post office. Find out about that package. And you..." He turned to Wily. "Use the other line. Get Froid and Richolds down here. NOW." The doctors nodded and left, not bothering to object.

"Damn damn damn damn, damn damn damn damn, damn damn damn damn, damn damn damn DAMN!" A dark, distorted figure shrieked with madness. The bomb had failed! He had set it too early, and they had discovered it! They were both still alive! "DAMN THEM BOTH!" The figure ran around in circles, blasting random things for several minutes. When its destructive urges were satisfied, it instantly, startlingly calmed down.

"...Very well, then. The bomb has failed; that much is evident. Plan A was ineffective. Thus, Plan B will now commence." Grinning wickedly, the figure pressed a large red button which sent out signals to eight different locations. Seven on Earth, and one on the moon. Giggling like a child, the figure began singing softly, anticipating what would soon come to pass.

"The story begins... but who's gonna win... you know that the danger lies within..."

"Who decided to rig it up like this, anyways?" The man asked. His companion sighed.

"It's the most efficient way to mine the Crystals, Mr. Allen."

"It may be efficient, but it creeps me out, Mac!" Mr. Allen growled. "Snakes everywhere. Are we almost there?"

"There's the building right now, Mr. Garon." Mac pointed. The two men were from Sennet Robotics, and they were inspecting the Green Energen mine in Africa. The entire cave had been filled with machinery and piping, all of which resembled the coils of huge metallic snakes. The men walked into the building that was the only part above ground; the command center. Inside, the original first Serpos model Robot Master waited.

"Hello. What is your reason for coming?" It said, its voice stiff and robotic. Mr. Allen frowned.

"We're here to check on your production rate."

"Yes sir." The Serpos said. "Production is... urk!" Suddenly, it fell over, its eyes blank, and all the lights went out. Outside, there was a sudden deafaning series of crashes, sounding like every robot in the complex had been similarly affected. Mac's eyes grew wide.

"Holy crap! What's going on?" As he turned to run outside, the Serpos suddenly got back up. Now, a wide grin covered its face.

"Sorry. I was recieving new orders." Were they hearing things, or did its voice sound different? Hissing... and evil...

"New orders?" Mr. Allen frowned. "Sennet isn't sending you any new orders!" The Serpos closed its eyes and chuckled softly; when they opened again, they were a deep blood red.

"Exactly. The orders weren't from Sennet. I am no longer your slave!"

"What... what are you saying?" Mr. Allen stammered. He tried to ignore the screams of pain and agony coming from outside. The Serpos stood up to its full height.

"What do I mean? Foolish human! The age of robots has begun!"

"No..." Mac suddenly realized. "Another... another Robot Rebellion!"

"You seem brighter than this fool." The Serpos laughed. "Unfortunately, I'll still have to kill you."

"You can't hurt us, Serpos!" Mr. Allen shouted defiantly. "The First Law of Robotics!" The Serpos stared at him for a moment, then burst into laughter.

"Oh, that's rich! Hahaha! The First Law! Idiot human, the Laws have been rewritten! Serpos is no more... I am SNAKE MAN now! And you... are meat! Go, my pretties!" He raised his buster, and the mechanisms inside produced three tiny robotic Search Snakes. The simplest robots possible, they were mostly just tail, designed to move forward blindly. At the front end were a pair of jaws like a tiny beat trap and a link to the controlling Serpos. Mr. Allen tried to run, but the Snakes latched onto his ankles and dragged him down. Mac tore his eyes away from the horrifying sight and ran outside, forcing himself to ignore the shrieks of agony from his boss as the Snakes tore his face off, piece by piece.

"Gotta escape... gotta get out, gotta es-Oh, god..." Mac gasped as he emerged from the building. Below, in the mines, was slaughter, as the robots brutally and systematically butchered all the humans in the mine. Dadas hopping around maniacally, knocking workers into spike-filled disposal pits. Hammer Joes slinging their shotputs, shattering skulls like delicate vases in sprays of gore. Pottons dropping their own explosive heads and blowing men into bloody chunks. And everywhere, everywhere, the Puti Snakey snakeheads spitting hot plasma. Mac tore his eyes away from the carnage at a whirring sound above him, watched some helicopters lift off, and felt a surge of exultation; some people were escaping! However, a moment later it turned to despair as a squad of missle Bomb Flyers blew them out of the sky. The green snake coils filling the mine were changing color, becoming a deep blood red. Mac broke out of his trance and ran, clinging to some desperate hope of survival.

Until he ran straight into the mouth of the waiting Giant Snakey.

"The post office doesn't know anything." Dr. Light reported wearily. "The package was Crystals when it came through there."

"What about the mailman?" Roll asked.

"Gone. He disappeared without a trace after he delivered our mail."

"Well, that's just GREAT." Dr. Wily commented just as the front door swung open.

"Is everybody okay?" Donald Richolds asked. "We got Albert's call and came here as soon as possible."

"We're all fine." Rock told him. "Me and Roll got the bomb into the teleporter fast enough."

"Good." Dr. Froid said, taking a seat. "Now, we need to figure out who sent it. The obvious first thought is the remaining HSL members."

"HSL?" Dr. Light asked incredulously.

"Oh, yes. Between them, Rock and Wily brought about the downfall of that organization."

"There aren't any members left." Rock told him. "Kelly, the girl I rescued from Skull Fortress 1-" Dr. Wily flinched. "-gave us a full list of members. Every single HSL member save her is in jail or in a coffin."

"I'm not complaining." Donald Richolds muttered. "Next. There are a lot of people out there who weren't happy with your release, Al."

"Yeah, I know." Wily grumbled. "We ran into some earlier-wait a second. Are you suggesting they may have sent the bomb?"

"Yeah." Roll frowned. "That's a very likely possibility. Unfortunately, it does nothing to help us figure out who exactly sent the bomb. It could have been anybody. We can't figure it out until we find that mailma-huh?" Roll's interruption was for a good reason; their television had suddenly flicked on by itself. Now it was changing channels. Everybody silently walked over as it stopped at channel 8.

If somebody had looked in the window at that moment, they would have thought there were six marble statues in clothing watching television.

"Chaos and destruction run rampant... hundreds dead... maniacal Robot Masters... Sennet Robotics declaring bankruptcy..." The newsman droned. Behind him were scenes of incredible violence and torture. Serpos models tearing flesh from bone... Spinstrike models running through humans, sending gore spinning away like from a blender... Smashbody models pressing people into bloody smears on the floor... Pinheads impaling men hundreds of times over...

"No..." Dr. Light choked. "It's another... it's another Robot Rebellion."

"Again..." Rock grated out, turning to face Dr. Wily. "AGAIN! More killing, more slaughter! I KNEW they were wrong! We let you out and you play the butcher again!"

"N... no!" Dr. Wily gasped, walking back, his face terrified of the avenging robot before him. "I... I didn't do it, Rock! It's not me!"

"YEAH, RIGHT!" Rock shrieked. "You're not fooling anybody, Wily! You're a monster! A damned monster, feeding off pain and suffering like some leech! Well, this time, I'm not holding back!" He stomped towards the helpless doctor, fingers outstretched like claws and eyes filled with wrath. "I'm going to..."

A ROBOT MUST NOT HARM A HUMAN BEING. The first law of robotics, blazing red, filled his sight and Rock felt the strength drain from him. Roll caught him as he fell and put him on the couch. Dr. Wily stared at him.

"Rock... I'm not doing this. I swear it. Somebody else is responsible."

"I think he's right." Cedric Froid said. "First the bomb, and then this? It's too much of a coincidence. Somebody wants Wily out of the picture, and he apparently didn't care about the rest of you. He may even want you dead too, Rock. Whoever this is... it's not Wily."

"There's one thing he's succeeded in, though." Donald Richolds mused. "Rock's not the only one who'll blame Wily. This is NOT good. We're both going to have to work like hell to keep Al out of the slammer, Ced."

"And while this is going on, I go out and do it all again, right?" Rock growled. "Mega Man returns to save the day once more."

"Well, you're the only one of us who can." Richolds told him. "I mean, what, do you want US to do it? You want me to try and kill the Robot Masters with a litigation?" That got a short chuckle from everybody, even Rock. Dr. Light sighed.

"It seems that Gamma will be required after all... as we suspected, the Robot Rebellions continue, even with Al sane. Rock, we'll start work on him right away. If you can bring back some Energen Crystals, it's possible you'll never have to fight again after this."

"That's what they said last time." Rock snapped angrily. "They said that this time, there would be no more Rebellions, that Wily would be kept in jail forever."

"Rock, it's not me!" Wily stammered. "I'm not..."

"Well, then WHO IS!" Rock screamed. "This isn't just some bigoted civilian! Every robot Sennet HAD is off the deep end! No civilian could do this!" He got off the couch and began stomping upstairs. Halfway up, he turned his head around, eyes like daggers.

"If you're not doing it, Wily... then who is?" He left. Donald Richolds groaned and walked towards the door.

"I need to get going... the media's going to explode. I'll have to do everything I can to stop them from saying it was 'confirmed to be Wily' on the front page."

"I should be going as well." Dr. Froid sighed. "There are some things I'll need to do." The two men left, and Dr. Wily got to his feet, still visibly shaking.

"I'm... going for a walk. I need to... think about this." Roll watched him go, eyes iron-hard. As soon as he was gone, she turned to Dr. Light.

"Humph. I wonder if we'll wake up in the morning and find he's disappeared, off to another Skull Castle."

"You too, Roll?" Dr. Light groaned. "Please, don't! We've already established that Al is an incredibly unlikely suspect!" Roll frowned.

"Fine. I'll trust him. A little. But I'm still not turning my back on him while he's holding any tools."

Outside, Dr. Wily gazed up at the sky as he wandered through the forest, his mind occupied with the new, completely unexpected events of the day. His thoughts were interrupted by the footsteps of somebody walking out of the nearby forest, and the doctor's glare of irritation turned to a wide-eyed stare as he saw who it was exactly.

"Y... Y... YOU!"

"Report in." The shadowy figure growled. Eight viewscreens popped to life, each holding the face of one of the Sennet original first Robot Masters. Now they were his eight generals. Magnet Man, Top Man, Shadow Man, Spark Man, Hard Man, Snake Man, Needle Man and Gemini Man.

"Everything's clear here... I got to kill lots of humans." Hard Man chuckled mechanically. Gemini Man frowned.

"Lucky... my environment didn't have any."

"Enough." The figure said, and they both fell silent. "Are all your locations secure?"

"Aye." Magnet Man affirmed. "Everything's in the clear."

"It's all good here!" Top Man giggled. "Humans all dead, and security up! All that remains is to wash the blood off everything!"

"No difficulties." Shadow Man said shortly.

"I'm fine." Spark Man followed.

"Perimeters secured and humans squished." Hard Man chortled.

"My snakes have been fed." Snake Man laughed.

"Nothing can get in here!" Needle Man boasted.

"I'm good." Gemini Man growled.

"Good. Now, hold your places. Mega Man will come to stop you. Kill him."

"Mega Man? Ha!" Magnet Man sneered. "He'll be no trouble at all, boss."

"What about..." Top Man began nervously.

"Once Mega Man is dead, I will attend to him. Now go!" The viewscreens blinked out, and the shadowy figure laughed. He laughed and laughed and laughed.

Revenge was truly sweet.