Chapter 14: Break Down

"Oy... not again." Dr. Wily groaned as the sound of knocking on the door reverberated through the warehouse. "No rest for the wicked, I guess..."

"I think I figured that out when they were still coming around at midnight." Dr. Light wearily reminded his partner. "Blasted newsies, can't they wait six freaking hours?!"

"Apparently not." Wily rose and walked towards the door. "I'll run 'em off again." Silently stepping next to it and placing his hand on the doorknob, the doctor suddenly whisked it open and stuck his head out with a maniacal grin. "BLEAH!!! I'M THE EVIL DOCTOR WILY!!! RUN, BEFORE MY ROBOTS EAT YOU!!!"

"..." Roll just stared at him. "...If it wasn't for the first law, I'd hit you over the head." Wily sheepishly scratched his head.

"Hey, it's been nonstop newsies for hours. Can you blame me?"

"Yes." Roll said blandly as she entered. "How's it coming?"

"Almost... there." Dr. Light grunted. "Done! The core's finished!" He got to his feet and dusted off his labcoat. "Now, we've got six hours to complete the head and get Gamma over to the stadium."

"But first, we gotta actually install it." Wily reminded him. Sitting behind the controls of a crane, he used it to pick up the core, which was about the size of a car. "Stinkin' Energen Crystals... sure, they're wonders of science and technology, but they're freakin' hard to install. You have to get 'em exactly right, or BOOM. Remember that, Roll."

"Oh, I will." Roll snorted. "That'll come in handy the next time I decide to build a gigantic weapon of mass destruction."

"Watch your mouth, young miss." Wily told her. "You may not be able to lay a finger on me, but the converse is not true. Don't tempt me to drop this thing on your head."

"Yeah, yeah." Roll muttered as she watched the crane slowly lower the core into Gamma's chest cavity. Once it was in, Wily turned the crane off and ran over to the huge robot, and he and Light immediately began connecting wires. "So, how long will this take?"

"Not long. About ten minutes." Dr. Light told his daughter without looking up. "Be faster if you help us out." Roll shrugged and joined the two doctors.

"Why not. It's not like just sitting here and commenting is doing anything useful." She bent over and started working.

"So, why'd you come down here?" Dr. Wily asked. Roll shrugged.

"Boredom, I guess. All the paperwork for the unveiling was done. And Rock's not back yet."

"He hasn't returned?" Light frowned, worried. "That's not good. He should have been able to deal with that psycho by now... do you think he's in trouble?"

"Rock? Naah." Wily shook his head. "He took me on twice and won both times, against all odds. There's no way he'd lose to a nutjob like Doc Man. He probably just decided to conk out after he toasted the psycho."

"Hope so." Roll sighed. The work continued in silence for several minutes, until they finished the wiring. "All right. Now what?"

"Now, we put on the chestplate. Step back." Dr. Light walked over to the wall and pressed a button. From the ceiling, a gigantic sheet of armor was slowly lowered down on pulleys until it covered the chest of the gigantic Gamma. "Now, we have to weld it on. Welding torches and masks are over there, Roll." Dr. Light pointed as he picked up his own equipment, and Dr. Wily did the same. "Let's get to work."

"By the way..." Roll spoke after a while. "The major guests will be coming by in a short while to accompany us."

"Major guests?" Wily frowned.

"Yeah. Corbun, Xanthos-sorry, I meant Mr. X-and, unfortunately, Vinkus." She said something uncomplimentary under her breath. "Couldn't keep him away, or he'd claim we were hiding an evil plot or something. You know what Vinkus is like."

"Oh, we do indeed." Light laughed. "Some of my favorite memories of him are his reactions every time we came up with a new robot design for the Second Rainbow... particularly when we came up with Blues. I thought he was going to have a stroke."

"World would have been better off." Wily grunted. "What do you suppose are the chances that he'll get run over by a car on the way here?"

"About a billion to one." Roll told him.

"Rats. Maybe seeing Gamma activated will cause his head to explode?"

"Ten billion to one."

"Double rats."

"Do you suppose we could concentrate on the job at hand instead of chattering about the unlikely prospects of our enemy's untimely death?" Dr. Light asked sarcastically.

"Yeah, yeah, keep your labcoat on." Wily shot back. "Welding is boring work, Tom. A little talk helps keep away the tedium."

"It also slows you down. And we don't have time to spare." Light said. Wily glared at him.

"Fine." A few minutes of silence later, the three turned off their torches and raised the protective masks. "There. We're done. Now, all we need is the head."

"Mind if I look at the plans for that?" Roll asked, curious. Light shook his head.

"Not at all. By all means, go ahead." The doctor grabbed a roll of blueprints and tossed them to his daughter. Uncurling them, she began scanning.

"Hmm... giving him a lantern jaw, I see. Like Heracles. You're putting a plasma launcher here?"

"Yeah." Wily nodded. "In case some bright boy somehow gets in close to the head to try and take it out, Gamma will be able to use plasma fire to blast 'em away without risking hitting its own head with the greater weapons."

"Makes sense." Roll agreed, tossing the blueprints aside. "So, shall we get to work?"

"Let's, indeed." Dr. Light and his daughter began walking towards the pile of materials in one corner. "We've got a lot of work, and not much time in which to do it."

"Yeah." Wily followed. "Even though Gamma won't have Robot-Master-level intelligence, constructing the brain will still be tricky. Roll, can you make some coffee? We've been working all night, and I'm starting to feel the effects. And Tom's older than me, so he must be even worse."

"I may be older than you, but I'm still the better at making the brains, Al. You're right about the coffee, though; some espresso would be definately appreciated, Roll."

"Coming right up." The robot girl smiled and began preparing the drinks. Light grinned.

"Excellent. You know, I still can't believe Gamma is almost complete. It just doesn't seem real, you know?"

"Yeah." Wily nodded. "Rock, Roll and Blues may be our greatest triumphs in the realm of minds, but when it comes to the physical scale... Gamma is simply beyond anything this world has ever seen."

"Not without his head, he's not!" Light remarked cheerfully as he picked up some materials. "Let's go! This is going to be a day to remember!"

"It will indeed..." Dr. Wily murmured, a smile coming to his face as he picked up a wrench and walked after his colleague. "It will indeed...

***

"So, you did it." The first Rock smiled. "You killed me."

"That's right." The second Rock nodded grimly. "I did. You're dead. And this is just a dream, a figment of my imagination. If you don't mind, I'd prefer dreaming about people who are still alive. So, would you mind going away?"

"Now that's just downright rude." The first Rock frowned. "I come all this way from the afterlife to give you a warning, and this is how you treat me?"

"Wha-are you trying to tell me you're really-"

"Really Doc Man, and not just your dream?" The first Rock grinned. "You got it. And believe me, being dead is no picnic. I think I preferred insanity."

"Well, you deserved it." The second Rock said sharply. His opposite nodded.

"Yeah, I probably do. I'm gonna be doing time for a long while, but they say maybe I can get up to the good part if I behave for a decade or so, since I'm back in my right mind now." The first Rock frowned, then dissolved into his true form. Doc Man looked very different now that his face was no longer twisted into that permanent, mad grin. "Anyways, I've got a message for you."

"A message?" Rock smirked skeptically. "From who?"

"Can't tell you that." Doc shrugged. "Sorry. Maybe message isn't the right word. Call it a premonition. Or maybe a prophecy. Hell, even a hallucination. Doesn't matter; once you wake up, you won't believe a word of this was real. For a short time, anyways."

"Whatever." Rock sighed. "Just give me the prophecy already."

"The message is this." Doc Man stared his enemy in the eyes. "Your task is not done. One more labor awaits you, and it shall be your most difficult thus far."

"What the hell does that mean?"

"You'll know soon enough." Doc shrugged. "I gotta be going; there's a boiling oil bath with my name on it. Yugh. See you in about fifteen years!" Everything went white...

"Ugh..." Rock slowly rose out of the stasis capsule. "That was one wierd dream. I gotta stop sleeping in other people's stasis capsules. Especially insane people." Deliberately avoiding looking at the remains of Doc Man, he began walking back up to the front door. He could have just teleported away, but after the ordeal, he somehow needed to look at the sunrise before doing anything else.

"Man... that fight must have had more of an effect than I thought on my psyche." Rock mumbled to himself. "The ghosts of dead enemies? Robots having an afterlife? This damned Rebellion still going on?" He smirked. "Yeah, right. I need to get more sun. Ah, here we go..." Opening the front door, he walked outside and winced as the sunlight hit his eyes. "Aich, that's bright..." Slowly, the optics adjusted. "That's better... huh?!" Outside, the lawn in front of Froid Manor had been transformed. A small plateau rose up, and the ground around it was completely flat. Rock ran over and began examining it. "This is odd... I wonder who did this. Nobody's around..." Shrugging, he hopped up and sat on the edge. "It's probably not my problem."

"Oh, but it is." A familiar voice was heard, followed by a whistle. Mega didn't turn around.

"Oh, hey Break Man. You did this?"

"That's right." The red robot agreed. Mega frowned. Something in his voice seemed strange... flat, emotionless.

"Any reason?"

"..." Suddenly, Mega felt the business end of an arm cannon against the back of his head. "...You could say that. Get up." Mega stood up, and the arm cannon moved back. The blue hero turned to see his rival staring at him with his arms crossed, yellow scarf blowing in the wind.

"All right. What's going on?" Mega growled. "Last time we met, we were on good terms. And I didn't see anything happen to change that."

"You fool." Break Man snapped. "The world changes on its own, whether we want it to or not. Sometimes things happen that we can't fix, no matter how hard we try. This... is one of those things." He lowered his head. "You forget that the first time we met, I was trying to kill you. Since then, we've reached agreements. But things have changed now." He raised his head again and glared. "The rules have changed. And we're back to square one. We fight. For one last time, to decide it all. And to see if you really can live up to your reputation."

"Do we have to?" Mega Man sighed. "I'd really prefer not-"

"Your preferences mean nothing." The cyclops cut him off. "This meeting, and this duel, were fated to happen. In the great game of chess, we're just pawns."

"I'd prefer to be a Knight, thanks." Mega wisecracked. "And I see you as more of a Bishop... never coming straight out. Just who are you, anyways? And why the hell do you want to fight me, anyways?"

"That is irrelevant." Break Man answered. "For now, all that matters is the duel. It has to happen. However, if you live, I shall tell you all. Not right away, but soon after. Even if you defeat me here, you shall have one more task to complete... the most difficult task of all."

"I had a dream telling me the same thing." Mega Man frowned. "What does it mean?"

"That... will answer itself very soon. If you survive." Break Man told Mega. "Now, prepare yourself."

"Oh, I will." Mega grinned. "You forget very quickly. I still have two major advantages over you. The Slide, and my Master Weapons."

"The terrain is constructed to make your slide useless." Break Man smirked. "The central plateau is too small for it to be safe. And if you stay on the flat land below, you'll be a sitting duck for a guy on high ground. Namely, me. As for your Master Weapons... I'd say it's not me who forgets quickly." Before Mega's stunned eyes, the red robot rapidly shifted colors, one after another. First, a darker red and grey. Then grey and pink. Purple and lavender. Orange and white. Blue and grey. Brown and white. Green and white. Blue and white. Mega Man's jaw dropped.

"Holy... I knew you had a few, but..." Break Man returned to his original colors and laughed.

"That's right, you little fool. I have all your precious Master Weapons, just like you do. Every single one of them. Even that defunct Top Spin, although I hope neither of us is so desperate as to actually use that. The playing field, to use a metaphor, is completely even between us. Skill shall be the deciding factor here, and nothing more." He bowed once. "As they say in France... EN GUARDE!" And then he charged.

***

"About time you got here." Darwin Vinkus snapped as the car pulled up in front of his house. "Do you know how long I've been waiting?"

"No, I don't." Dr. Trent Corbun, former head of Sennet Robotics, answered pleasently. "A far more important question would be, do you know if we care? Me and Xanthos-"

"Mr. X, please, my dear doctor." The other occupant of the car, Mr. X, corrected his friend.

"Ahem. Yes. Me and Mr. X flew all the way down here from the other side of the world, so your waiting a few minutes doesn't mean that much to us right now. Just get in, will you? We should get going." Muttering to himself, Vinkus climbed into the back seat of the car, and the odd trio drove away towards the warehouse where Gamma was being completed.

"...So how was the flight?" Vinkus asked after severl minutes, more out of a need to fill his boredom with some conversation than of any real curiosity. Trent rolled his eyes.

"Ghastly. The airplane food looked like it was made out of a ground-up Smashbody model, and it tasted worse. We were up in a holding pattern for an hour, and I'm pretty sure the pilot was drunk. All in all, I can't recommend Union Airlines if you need to fly somewhere, even though I dislike you. X, you've been here for longer than me. How have you been doing?"

"Quite good." The billionaire smiled. "The hotel I've been staying at is excellent, and I've enjoyed the cuisine... all except the wasabi." He turned his head to look at Vinkus. "I'm sorry, but I can't understand how you people can eat that stuff. I honestly thought I was going to die, and my choice of vocabulary almost took the entire restaraunt with me."

"I'm not too fond of it either." Vinkus admitted, dusting off his spectacles. "It causes my ulcer to flare up." The British Trent chuckled.

"I'll have to try some... I wonder if it's any good on a scone?" Vinkus immediately turned green and covered his mouth at this suggestion, making a gagging noise. Mr. X, noticing his reaction, leaned over to Trent as the politician in the back leaned out a window.

"You shouldn't bait him like that."

"Vinkus? He'll be fine." The doctor shrugged. "It's not really hurting him. You're okay, right Vinkus?" He called back. Vinkus pulled his head back in and glared at him.

"I'm fine, no thanks to you; although you probably took a few years of my heart's lifespan with that revolting idea."

"Gee, what a shame."

"Gentlemen, please." Mr. X held up his hands. "Let us not fight now, when Gamma's unveiling is so close."

"Oh, all right." Trent sighed, and Vinkus grunted his assent. The billionaire smiled.

"Good. Now then, let's talk about something else. Are you both looking forward to the unveiling?"

"I know I am." Trent nodded. "And I'm looking forward to seeing Mega Man too... I really need to talk with him."

"About what?" Vinkus inquired. Trent's fingers tightened on the steering wheel.

"Mega's recaptured all of the mines. That's good. But we still don't have a mastermind... the brains behind the operation, the one who was truly responsible for the deaths of all my men at those mines. Until he's found and the ones he killed are avenged..."

"Patience, doctor." Mr. X told him. "The culprit will be found in due course. For now, just relax and enjoy the show."

"I'm not going to enjoy this much, I'm afraid." Vinkus said darkly. "I still have many apprehensions about this. Do you remember the invention of nuclear weapons? Back then, people only saw the glory and power of such things. They never considered that perhaps man was not meant to control such potential for annihilation. And I see that happening again here."

"You're a worrywart, Vinkus." Trent snorted. "Tom and Al are very aware of that danger, and they're taking steps to protect against it." Vinkus' eyes narrowed.

"I suppose so... but no safeguards are completely foolproof. Your own Robot Masters demonstrated that. And besides, I don't entirely trust Wily either. I'm sorry, but the man nearly conquered the world and killed hundreds. Even with his sanity apparently returned, I'm very leery. And don't call me anything, because he seems to feel the same way himself."

"That's hardly an excuse, Darwin." Mr. X chided. "But I do reluctantly admit that I can understand your point of view. I hope that you will be able to trust him more once Gamma is unveiled without a hitch."

"Maybe." Vinkus grunted. "Speaking of untrustworthy people, where is Richolds? And Froid, for that matter? Until a few days ago, they were up front with us. Now they've both mysteriously disappeared." Trent frowned.

"I hate to say it, but I agree with you there. That is very strange. Where could they have gone? I can understand one of them being called off somewhere on some urgent family matter or something, but both of them at once? Not likely. Something's going on here... do you suppose it might have something to do with the Rebellion?"

"Normally I'd say you were being paranoid, but in this case, you might be on to something." Vinkus nodded. "There's no telling what whatever maniac is behind this could do. But I would think he'd go after the Lights themselves first, not that pair of second-rate hacks."

"Perhaps the doctors will know something about it." Mr. X suggested. "We shall have to ask them when we get there."

"I'm not holding my breath." Vinkus muttered. The conversation stopped after that, and the three drove in silence for the remaining several minutes before Trent parked the car in front of an old warehouse.

"We're here." He announced, smirking. "Passengers, please remain seated until the car has come to a complete stop. At that point, you may unfasten your safety belts and exit through the nearest doorway. Or, if you prefer, passengers in coach may exit through the window. Thank you for flying Sennet Airlines, and we hope that you fly with us again soon! Enjoy your show!"

"Wiseass." Vinkus muttered as he exited the vehicle. The other two also climbed out, and together, the three men stepped up to the door of the warehouse.

"Hello! Tom, Al, we're here!" Trent knocked on the door. No response. "Hello? Anybody there?" He knocked again, several times, without an answer. "Huh! Do you suppose they went out for breakfast?"

"At a time like this? I doubt it." Vinkus snorted. "Hold on, this is unlocked..." The door swung open, and the three men looked inside. At the sight of what was waiting there, their eyes bugged out, and their jaws fell upon in unison as their skin went instantly dead white all over. After several moments of silent staring, each of them croaked out a single word.

"What..."

"The..."

Vinkus' word was unsuitable for print.

***

"You want a fight?! I'll give you one!" Enraged by what he considered a meaningless battle, especially at this time, Mega Man fired off a blistering salvo of Magnet Missiles. Break Man didn't falter for a second, blasting them out of the air with his arm cannon before switching to his own Magnet Missiles and responding in kind. Mega Man just smirked; as they grew near, so did Break Man. Suddenly, he slid under the enemy, falling off the plateau. Smiling at the sounds of the explosions above, he looked up, then groaned; the wily red robot had held his shield overhead and blocked most of the damage.

"Nice try. Here!" Switching to the Shadow Blade, Break Man deftly hit Mega Man in the arm with it. The hero snorted and changed his weapon to match his adversary, jumping away as he threw it. Break Man leaped over it, throwing more of his own, which Mega sidestepped.

"You need to work on your aim, pal!" Mega Man taunted as he threw a pair, one at Break Man's left arm, the other at his right leg. It seemed there would be no way for him to dodge both... until the cyclops switched back to his buster and blew one out of the air while dodging the other.

"Heh. Close, but no cigARGH!" He yelled as the third blade which had been flying horizontally across the ground slammed into his foot. Mega snickered.

"Your vision's lacking, one-eye."

"Well, maybe I'll have more luck with this!" Break Man's color scheme went to orange and white, and he shot off a chain of Spark Shots. Mega harrumphed.

"Two can play at that game." Changing to the Spark Shot himself, the hero responded with his own salvo. Break Man's eye widened.

"IDIOT!" As he jerked his shield up, the bursts collided, and the whole thing exploded in a massive spray of electrical energy. Despite his shield, Break Man was blown across by the force, off the other side of the plateau. When the noise had ceased, he slowly lowered his shield to see his adversary standing on the plateau, covered in scorch marks and looking rather sheepish.

"Okay, that was pretty stupid."

"Amen to THAT." Break Man rolled his eye. "News flash, blue boy; you don't fight electricity with MORE electricity! Sheesh! I mean, gimme a break here!"

"Arm or leg?"

"Ha, ha." They grinned at each other, and for a moment, their old camaderie was back. Then, they simultaneously turned grim again as Break Man leaped back onto the plateau. "Don't do that again. If you want an explosion, just use this!" He turned dark blue, and fired off the heavy explosive called the Hard Knuckle. "One knuckle sandwich, hold the mustard!"

"Robots don't eat, you one-eyed loon." Mega countered as he jumped forward, over it, and used his own Hard Knuckle. Break Man jumped to the left and tried another. Again, Mega Man leaped forward before firing his second. This time, Break Man jumped right.

"This obviously isn't working." Break Man informed his enemy as he fired his third. "We're both too fast to get caught by this slow clod. What say we try something else?"

"Oh, I don't know..." Mega grinned as he jumped forward a third time and landed right in front of his shocked opponent. "It has its uses." The point-blank Hard Knuckle blasted Break Man off the plateau again, and he landed on his rear.

"Yeowch..." The red robot moaned as he got back up. "Nice trick, but it won't work on me twice."

"Yeah, I figured as much." Mega admitted as he switched back to his arm cannon. "I've got 50% energy left... you?"

"Same... 50%." Break Man said after a moment. "We've tried the slowest weapon... now, let's see how you can handle the fastest!" As he became brown and white, the cyclops unleashed a salvo of the Needle Cannon. Yowling, Mega Man danced to try and avoid them, but he only succeeded in missing about half, which slammed into the wall of Froid's house behind him. The other half punctured his body at various points. Break Man grinned. "Well, it seems I've finally found something that works against you."

"Don't count on it yet!" Mega told him. As Break Man blasted him with more, the hero dived off the plateau, and they completely missed. He poked his head over the edge and fired some of his own, but Break Man copied his tactic, diving over the other side.

"Come out, come out, wherever you are..." Break Man slowly walked around the plateau, searching for his target. "You can't hide forever, you know..."

"I agree!" The cheerful voice came from above, and the surprised cyclops looked up to see Mega Man back on the plateau, pointing his arm cannon down at his foe. The Needle Cannon barrage slammed Break Man to the ground. "Give up yet?"

"Not even close." Break Man snorted derisively as he switched to the Search Snake and launched three. They slithered across the ground towards Mega.

"Too bad for your boys I'm up here..." Mega yawned. "Guess they can't... HUH?!" The Search Snakes had somehow crawled up the sheer side of the plateau, and now chewed on his leg angrily. Cursing, the hero ripped their bodies off, but Break Man was already unleashing more.

"What's wrong? Don't like pets?" He laughed. Mega grinned coldly.

"Actually..." He leaped forward, over Break Man's head, and landed on the Needle Cannon shots that were stuck in the wall, which barely managed to hold him up. And put him right above Break Man's head. "I love snakes." The hero's first Search Snake went for his enemy's eye, and the second and third each attacked an arm. Howling, Break Man shook his arms to throw the tiny 'bots off.

"That's it! No more Mr. Nice Break Man!" His colors changed to a pale blue and white, and he fired the Gemini Beam... straight ahead. Mega, still on the needles, laughed.

"Can't see straight, Breaky boy?" However, his glee quickly changed to horror as the Beam hit the side of the plateau, then rebounded straight at him! The deadly laser knocked him off and left a scorched hole through his lower right abdomen, missing his microfusion tank by inches. "Hey! That could have killed me!"

"I TOLD you I wasn't playing around." Break Man reminded him. "If I don't give it my all, any judgement gained from you beating me is flawed. You have to prove you can truly beat me, or you shall never surmount what is ahead. The final te-"

"SHUT UP!" Mega screamed, enraged once again in seconds. "YOU try it!" Before Break Man could blink, the blue robot was right in his face. The first Gemini Beam punctured his right arm. The second put a hole through his left arm. Staggering back, Break Man stared at his appendages as the grim hero advanced.

"I have had it up to HERE with your crap!" Mega Man yelled, punching Break Man in the face. "In case you hadn't noticed, there is NO meaning to this stupid duel! NONE!" He grabbed Break Man's throat and held him aloft with one hand while repeatedly smashing his face with the other. "Doc Man is DEAD! You hear me?! The Rebellion is over, and the doctors already have all the Energen Crystals!" Throwing his foe to the ground, he kicked him in the head, sending the cyclops flying. "You're the only loose end left, you red idiot! The only thing that's keeping me from my peace again is YOU! Why can't you just leave me alone, huh?! I don't know who you are, and I don't CARE!" Jumping into the air, he came down on Break Man's chest. "Just give up your stupid games, alreadyg! I'm SICK of fighting, especially with YOU!" He jumped off Break Man and turned back to face him. Slowly, the red robot sat up.

"All right. That's enough. You've made your point... you won. I can't beat you... I can admit that." Break Man groaned. "You've got one hell of a way of making a point, too. You're ready... and I've kept you occupied long enough."

"Occupied?" Mega's eyes narrowed dangerously. "What do you mean by that?"

"You'll see for yourself soon." The cyclops told him wearily. "More soon than you know. I was speaking the truth, by the way... you'll never fight Break Man again. However, I will see you one more time... very soon. And when that happens, we'll be buddies again." He chuckled. "What can I say? I like you, kid. And I'll be helping you out. Until then..." He teleported away. Mega stared up after him.

"...Forget it. I'm not biting. Enough of his dumb mind games... I'm going home." He teleported as well, back to Dr. Light's Lab, ready for peace again at last.

***

The first thing Rock saw upon appearing in Dr. Light's lab was the last thing he had expected to see.

"Vinkus? What are YOU doing here?" The robot asked bluntly. The politician turned around to face him, and Rock was shocked to see that his face held none of the customary arrogance and oiliness, but fear.

"Mega Man. I never thought that I would be so sorry that I was right... that I would wish my predictions had come true."

"What ARE you babbling about?" Rock barked. Vinkus' face twitched.

"You should hear it from Dr. Light... he's downstairs with the others." Curiousity overcoming his anger, Rock followed Vinkus down. Sitting around the table were Dr. Light, Roll, Mr. X and Dr. Corbun. However, Dr. Wily was not there. More important to Rock, though, was the huge welt on the back of his father's head.

"What happened?! Are you okay?" Rock ran over to the robotocist's side. Light looked up, his eyes filled with grief.

"Rock... I'm fine. Sit down..." The robot did so, looking at the others as he did. Mr. X's face mirrored Light's, sad. Roll and Trent had sorrow on their faces as well, but stronger was anger. Roll in particular looked like one who had been greatly offended.

"All right." Rock looked at all of them. "Now, what's going on? Where's Al, and why aren't you finishing up Gamma?"

"A short while ago, Rock, we were." Dr. Light told him. "We had just finished putting in the last Energen Crystal, and had installed the core. We were just about to start work on the head, when... when Wily bashed me over the head with a wrench."

"WHAT?!" Rock yelled. Roll picked up the story.

"I was there... I turned around at the noise to see him drop to the floor like a sack of potatoes. Wily just laughed and ran towards Gamma. I tried to stop him, but the First Law kicked in. He somehow activated Gamma's teleporter, and they both vanished."

"But... why...?" Rock mumbled. Mr. X coughed.

"Me, Trent and Darwin arrived shortly therafter to find Gamma and Wily gone, and Roll here attempting to raise the good doctor. After we realized what had happened, we put a trace on the teleport. It led to Death Valley in America... to a Skull Fortress. I'm afraid... that the suspicions were true... Dr. Wily was behind the Rebellion after all."

"No..." Rock muttered, eyes glazed in incomprehension. "No, Dr. Froid's treatments cured him... they-"

"I posed as Dr. Cedric Froid... I faked the results of the treatments to release my father... all for revenge..." Doc Man gasped as he lay there, dying.

"Doc Man... he faked... he wasn't really..."

"Pardon?" Trent asked. Rock ignored him, continuing his low rambling.

"No... no, it can't be... he was cured, he was sane again, he wasn't ever gonna..."

"ROCK, SNAP OUT OF IT!" Roll's patience snapped. "He faked it all, do you understand?! All of it! He was playing us all like flutes the whole time to get at Gamma! He's still insane, he's still trying to conquer the world, and now he has GAMMA! The whole time, Rock, he was-"

"Wily..." Rock said slowly, his fist shaking.

Rock slowly walked over to Wily, and his eyes held no hatred or disgust or battle... but apology. "Wi-no. ...Albert. Uncle Al, I'm sorry I thought you were behind the Rebellion. Can you forgive me?" Wily looked at him for a long moment, then embraced him.

"Wily..."

"Yes... my nephew." Roll sniffed; for a moment, she almost forgot that robots can't cry as she watched the final vestiges of the hatred disintegrate, and the two were finally, fully reunited. Neither Rock nor Wily moved for many moments; then, as one, they pulled apart and looked into each others' eyes.

"Wily..."

"Rock." The old doctor said, tears running down his face. "Please... Doc Man is the last remnant of my insanity left on this earth. My poor, damned, insane son... your cousin. Lay him to rest, Rock. End his suffering."

"Wily..."

"I will. I swear it."

"Wily..."

"Rock?" Dr. Light asked hesitantly. For a moment, Rock didn't move... then he raised his head. Everybody in the room took a step back, some of them gasped. Every single line of the robot's face was etched in hatred, and his eyes... Vinkus would later describe it like looking into the eyes of the King of Hell himself... "WILY..."

"...God..." Vinkus choked, continuing to back off until his back was to the wall. "What... what is he..." Mega Man turned towards the stairs, and walked back up to the lab, talking without looking back.

"Roll, dad, patch me up." Rock said emotionlessly. "As fast as possible. As soon as you're done... I'm going there. And I'm settling this once and for all."

"What do you mean?" Vinkus yelped. "What will you do?" Rock's head swiveled to stare at him.

"I will destroy that Skull Fortress. I will remove Gamma from the face of the earth. And I will make it so that Wily shall never betray this world... and everybody on it... again."

***

On the other side of the world, in a desert known as Death Valley, in a massive fortress of steel that had taken thousands of robot slaves to build, in the very deepest section under the earth... a gigantic, multistory humanoid robot sat, nearly complete. Covered entirely with multiple thick layers of the strongest alloys known, loaded with every conceivable weapons system, able to run for an endless period without any need of recharge. It was only missing the head. Once that was completed... it would be invincible.

"Soon, my Gamma..." Dr. Albert Wily cackled. "Soon..."

And in the depths of the fortress, a madman laughed.