Lui ran over the walkway as if she were flying. Her heart gave a small jump as the gun fired next to her, but she stooped down low, gathered mud in her hands, and flung it at Yamagatchi's soldiers. A bullet came close to her ear- nicking the tip of it, but she charged on. Eventually, she found herself hiding in the hallway. As she looked around for an escape, her eyes caught a small panel in the back of Joe's butcher shop. She flung herself through it and waited.
The soldiers ran down the alley, but she had already closed the seal back up. In the darkness she would be hidden. The mud covered her clothes and stained and dried on her face, but she paid it no mind. The shaft seemed to go downhill. Her eyes peered outside. Boots walked around, with a voice behind them. It was sharp, curt, and cold. Lui gave a snarl as she heard it.
"That was the leader, you understand? She got away this time from you morons… but not from me." Somebody gave a groan as they died.
Trinity. Lui slowly and carefully slid her way back, releasing the bread package so it wouldn't make a sound. She did not breathe. Trinity was Yamagatchi's creation. She was beautiful- and very obedient. She was loyal, and she was never swayed. Joe had learned that. Trinity was one of the few robots left. Robots. That's a word that wasn't around anymore.
It was rumored that Wily's old creations, like Forte, or Dr. Light's ancient ones, like Protoman, were left and around, but no one had proved the rumor.
Not Megaman. The world had seen Yamagatchi demand a new world order. They had seen Megaman burned- or at least, his outfit. They had seen Dr. Light killed and Wily slaughtered. Millions tried to resist, but only one organization was left, and it was run by kids. The times were like medieval times without Megaman; the king took everything for himself.
Trinity looked around. Lui knew her heat sensors were working on overtime, which is why she had worn no insulation, and was controlling every muscle in her body not to even dream of shivering. Her breathing became more controlled. Trinity gave a small growl. Finally, she spoke.
"She's gone. She left a long time ago, through that duct. Morons." She snapped someone's neck in half and he fell to the ground, staring in at Lui, dead. Lui tried hard not to flinch. Footsteps walked off, and Trinity spoke. "You will be mine, damn you."
Yeah, eat my shit, bitch¸ Lui thought, still not daring to pick up the bread. Trinity was still waiting around, and probably able to gas out Lui if she showed any reason to gas her out. Such was the way of life now. Trinity's comlink beeped.
"What?" She demanded curtly.
"Something's happened. Something's wrong. Where are you?"
"Butcher shop, number 211."
"Good. Go to Al's Butcher shop, I don't know where. The 'package' should be there."
"We destroyed that," her voice responded, somewhat inquizzical. "He's still alive, then?"
"Not unless awakened, no. Damn him. Damn him! Get back to base. Now."
Trinity spread her wings and flew off, leaving Lui to grab the bread and slip back down the isle. Trinity spotted this and began to fire. Lui fell back….
And landed into an old butcher shop basement. Meat was hanging everywhere, rotting with its meat falling off the bones. Lui gagged before looking around.
In front of her stood a door. She knocked on it, and then listened. Joe was working down the shop, not talking to anyone. She dared not knock again. She looked through the tiny crack in the floor. Two pairs of feet were there. She waited until one walked off, and Joe came over, looking at the small door. "This thing has been broken for centuries, I swear. There's no way to get it open."
"Yeah, well," she replied, relieved that he heard her, "It opens if you push. It has for years."
"No, if you do," he responded. "Wait. Let's both try pushing." As they did so, the door spun around like a lazy Suzan. Joe's grin turned sour.
"Uck," Joe responded, staring at the meat. "That's going to ruin my meat. Stand back. I'm going to freeze it all. He tossed in a small ice grenade and the rotting meat froze, nothing else. "Gotta love these."
Lui nodded. "Yamagatchi's bothered by someone he was supposed to kill years a-" she looked down the steps.
"Joe… is that what I think it is?"
He looked down. "A human? Almost impossible!" The two stared at the figure sleeping before them. He looked like almost lifeless but spare a few controlled deep breaths. Not to mention he was almost naked, save a pair of shorts. Lui clapped her hands together. "I've used this room for years…"
"It's a robot! I'll bet anything!" She tapped his head, and a dull metallic sound poinged across the room. She gave a huge smile.
"Weren't they wiped out?" Joe asked, equally exited, but much more cautious. He took a step back as a rat crossed the path between Lui and the sleeping robot. Lui seemed to pay it no mind. She took a step closer, and sat on the dirty steps.
Joe looked up as the costumer service rang. "You'll see the light come on if it's trouble," he told her. "Otherwise, use the exit." He walked up the stairs, leaving Lui with the sleeping robot. Lui quickly gave a small electric charge, which usually woke robots out of sleep. Of course, this was obviously more advanced than the robots she knew, but there was no harm in trying, right?
"Hey, kid," she said softly. "Kid." She shook his shoulder.
His eyes slowly opened. "Wh…." He looked around. "Where am I?" he demanded, rather loudly. He attempted to get up, but couldn't. Lui nodded. "Shh. Listen. I'm Lui of the resistance. Who are you?"
The robot seemed to think, but sighed. "I ….can't remember. I just see a …silhouette of ….two figures and. …getting shut down, …meaningless programs flashing through my find… too fast for me now… but my name's Rock."
"Yamagatchi?"
Rock thought for a bit. "I don't know," he said finally. "What's going on?"
"Yamagatchi has taken over the world, Rock. Only the children remain untouched, unmoved. We're trying to resist, but Yamagatchi is destroying us. We're trying to stop him- but I'll let you see for yourself." She was quiet, then asked, finally, "Do you want my coat?" He nodded, looking at himself. He was wearing shorts, but nothing else, not even shoes. The raggedy, mud-stained jacket looked warm.
She took it off and gave it to him. Her beau, matched the green plaid of the jacket, but under it there was a white t-shirt. Her jeans weren't any better, nor were her shoes, and her hair was cut almost like a guy's. Only three tiny bangs were on her face, the longer two on the side, no longer than her ear, and the other in the middle, no longer than her forehead. Her eyes were a greenish-blue, seeming to switch colors with every breath she took. Her biker's gloves were black and raggedy, but finished off her tough "gangster" look.
She looked at his head. "Nice locks there, kid," she told him and handed him a hair tie. He felt the length of the hair. His expression was puzzled. The length didn't seem right. Even so, the hair was dirty, grimy, but enough to put into a ponytail- save the huge lock that covered a quarter of his face. He opened his mouth to say something, but she silenced him with a finger.
"Shh," she whispered, listening. Two voices echoed ahead. A light glowed blue, but then red suddenly. Lui acted quickly, and motioned for Rock to follow her through the air duct. The two crawled into it, Rock following Lui, and stopped to listen.
"See? I was just able to open this, Trinity. There was no robot. I swear." Joe's voice was calm. Trinity's footsteps came down.
She looked around, and Rock's heart lurched as Trinity's voice struck a memory. But the memory soon faded, forgotten, and Rock picked up on the speech. Trinity had Joe in a death-like grip, angry. Rock's hand seemed burn as he saw the sight, sickened. He covered it up, trying not to make a sound.
Lui saw it, and motioned for them to move quickly into the vent. Joe chocked for a reply. "Trinity…. There…. was…. no…one…. there…"
Trinity dropped him, and then struck. Joe's face was bleeding. He glared at her, and she teleported out. Rock's hand stopped burning, and he, too, crawled out of the space, leaving the meat behind.
"Welcome to the big city," Lui told him, walking around. "Quickly, now. You're liable to get lost in a crowd surge. It'll happen soon, so…." She walked quickly, and Rock could barely keep up. He was weakened, but still tried to walk. Lui stopped several times to wait for him. Her ears picked up something as she looked around, and then motioned for Rock to follow. The two made their way to the front of a huge crowd. A band was playing in the middle of the walkway, ignoring the heat from the sun. Rock's eyes grew big as the singer moved around; she moving so fast but never letting it affect her voice.
"All I want… is a little money, man. In this huge town, nothing's perfect, man." Lui danced as well. Rock looked above, seeing a bird in the air.
Soon, the bird attacked the crowd. As it dove in for the kill, Rock realized that it wasn't a bird at all, but a pink crystallized and less pointy version of Trinity. It wasn't a hologram, but it wasn't a computer.
Lui moved the singer out of the way of a laser, which hit the mic. "Hawk!" Someone cried, "Go haunt the skies!"
Hawk gave a cry, and suddenly two more Hawks joined it. The first Hawk shot the person in the crowd, leaving blood on the ground. Rock's head spun around at the sight and he grew dizzy. As the others shot another person each, he felt his hand burn and his heart starting to pound. The crowd scattered instantly, and so did the band and Lui. The three Hawks with Rock were all alone in the street.
Rock looked up at the first one. The hawk gave no sign of emotion. "No more concerts for you kid- ever."
Rock's eyes took in the sight of the gun, still hot and smoking from the pervious kill. His hand continued burning until the burn became visible.
"Hey, man, leave the freak alone," one said, taking a step back. "We don't have that authority."
"This kid's going down-" The first replied, and squeezed the trigger.
A flash of gold and black swept down and Rock saw the Hawk helmetless, his neck broken and his mouth spilling blood. The heart still hadn't gotten the message that he was dead, and the flow didn't end. The savior's hand transformed into a triggerless gun and he fired from sheer will. The head of the Hawk was no longer attached. Rock's hand stopped burning, and Rock cradled it, scooting up to the black-and-gold flash slowly. The other two had their weapons drawn, but the savior fired with an even bigger blow. Their arms, along with half their bodies, were insintagrated from the impact and they were thrown back, dead.
Forte grinned as he comically raised his gun and blew the smoke off it. Taken by surprise, he looked down. "Cut that out," he said, staring at Rock hugging his boot. His Forte buster turned back into a hand as he attempted to shake the kid from his feet. Rock wouldn't give.
"Kid, you're okay," he told him. "Jesus Christ, Megaman," he said, finally getting him off, "You certainly haven't fought in a long time."
"I'm Rock," the kid said quietly, refusing the name.
"Right. And I'm Santa." Forte made a holly, jolly Santa laugh, which was quite disturbing. He glared at Rock, who had stood.
"Thanks," he said finally. "Who are you?"
Forte's jaw almost dropped. "My name is Forte, imbecile," he growled. "Can't you remember that? I'm your biggest rival, I blow things up, I destroyed Light's lab, I have the annoying little wolf…." Rock shook his head. "None of that gets to you?"
"Nope," Rock replied. "I'm sorry. I woke up a small time ago. I'll try to remember." His voice was genuinely sorry.
Forte rolled his eyes. "Don't bother. Damn. Even when it stares me in the face, I just can't get a good fight these days." He teleported out, leaving Rock alone.
Rock looked around. The band's drumset was still there, so he started with the cymbals and carried them into the alleyway he had seen Lui leave through. As he did, the drummer came out to get his stuff. He saluted Rock and continued on is way. Rock shrugged, but continued walking. As he entered the alleyway, Lui and the singer stared at him.
"Nice, kid," Lui said. "Who's the guardian angel?" she took the cymbals and led him through a hologram of a brick ending to the alleyway. The singer took the cymbals and Rock went back for the snare and seat. Lui followed to help with the tom-toms (or whatever they're called). As the drum went back in pieces, Rock saw a pair of eyes watching him from above, a bluish color. He couldn't see anything else, so he let it slide. "No idea," he told her, setting the drum part in an apartment.
She nodded. "We all aren't that lucky. What do you say, Charity?"
"Yamagatchi will die slowly by my hand," The singer replied, putting on an old coat and scarf, along with her baggy pants. "You, newbie. Have you been shown the base?"
"Base? The place with meat?"
"No, that's the butcher-shop. I hope Joe is all right." Lui looked in the direction.
"Naw, that ain't no place for a base!" The drummer said. "See ya tomorrow, Charity," he said, shutting his door.
"Bye Cory," Charity replied. She looked Rock over. "You got parents?"
"I don't know," he replied.
Lui shook her head. "He doesn't have parents, Charity. He's also got amnesia. Give him a little slack."
"Then he turns out to be Yamagatchi's kid." She snarled. "And with him alone with the Hawks…."
"Forte," he responded, turning to Lui.
"Hmm?" She asked, blinking. Charity gave a small stare, then growled and walked off.
"His name's Forte. He's a robot. With a gun on his arm." Rock motioned to the area that showed his arm cannon. Lui nodded, then looked at him with narrowed eyes. "What did Forte want?" She asked.
"To fight, I think. I didn't know I could fight him. He's too powerful."
"Trust me, Yamagatchi's more. I've heard stories, and Forte has all too often gotten in fights with Trinity. One of them ends up a victor, and the one who is hidden shows it." Lui started walking. "Nice stroke of luck, though. Seems like a trait to have these days."
Rock looked at his arm quietly, giving a slight smile.