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Chapter 4: Deceit and Lies
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X's feet shuffled quietly in the stillness, as he moved through the silent and empty corridors that twisted and turned like an endless maze. He had never been in a place so quiet before, and curiosity drove him like a steam train through the area, but he noted to himself he didn't like the silence very much. He was also confused on why it was so empty – he'd never actually been alone before.

"Hello?" he called, the word echoing off the walls. In hearing an 'answer', he replied, "Is someone there? Where are you? …No, where are you?"

By this point his vast archive of intelligence finally realized the 'answers' he was hearing was only his own words being reflected off the walls, and now felt rather disappointed in his irrational behavior. Or, 'feeling silly', as Cain said once.

Nonetheless he moved on, becoming more lost as he moved along, but he was finally happy he finally found someone lying on the floor inside a maintenance room. He knelt down and smiled, "Hello."

Oddly enough, he received no answer this time.

"Hello?" he asked, before wondering if this human was sleeping. He gave the person an experimental poke with his finger, but the human didn't move.

Sniffing the air, X gave a reflexive frown, as he smelt a bittersweet smell, somehow connected with a small ball emitting green smoke. X picked it up and poked at it, until the smoke eventually went away. The robot fiddled with it a little, found it only to be a black ball with small holes in it, and placed it back on the floor.

He tried talking to the human again, "Excuse me, but can you help me find Doctor Cain? …Is something wrong?"

The human only twitched. X just blinked in confusion.

"X?"

X's head perked up, his hearing picking up the quiet call down the corridor.

"X? Where are you, m'boy?"

"Cain!" X exclaimed, springing to his feet and rushing towards the door, almost bowling the old man over when he finally ran into him literally.
"Wah! Careful, X, you could take out an eye like that."
"Sorry."
"Are you alright?" Cain asked quickly.
An unsettled look appeared on X's face, "I'm fine, but some scientists put me on an table and tried to cut me with a laser."
Cain frowned darkly, "Well, worry not, because we're getting out of this stink-hole and some where safe where there are no crazy people with lasers."
"How true," remarked an operative dryly, as she moved into the room, "I'm afraid we simply can't take you back to the lab, X; we're to take you to a more secure facility. Shall we?"
"Wait a minute," Cain said, turning around, "What do you mean, 'secure facility'?"
"Light Industries has access to certain top-secret labs where we may safely carry on our more…important projects." The operative explained.
"X was only a observational study, not a development project." Cain reminded the operative.
X frowned, "Can we go back to the lab? I don't like it here."
"See? X is tired and upset, so let's – "
"Doctor Cain," the operative interrupted sharply, "Are you not aware on what's just happened? Ogani Tech has stolen X from under your nose – this is one of their facilities. Thanks to a mole in our personnel, our business rival managed to steal him away from us. He is simply too valuable to allow to escape."
While X just looked confused, a look of horror was slowly growing on Cain's face, "What do you mean, 'we'?" he asked, the interrogation still fresh in his mind, "What are you planning to do with X?"
The operative cocked his head in mock curiosity, "Are you telling me that you only planned to study X, a robotic revolution, and simply leave it at that? A robot that could change the world as we know it?"
"Dear Primus, that man was right," Cain gaped, "You are planning on copying his design and selling it, aren't you?"
"What do you expect?"
"L…leave me alone." X said, suddenly becoming concerned about these 'plans' for him.
"You, X, be quiet."
"No!" X replied, "Cain said – "
"In a moment what Cain says won't matter," said the operative sighed, pulling out a dart gun.
"And what's in that? Poison?" Cain snapped.
"Oxygen actually."
Cain gave a cock-eyed look.
The operative sighed, "When a dart of oxygen is pumped into the blood-stream, the air-bubbles disrupt the blood-flow within the heart, causing a sudden heart attack. And, when the police research your files, they'll suddenly discover your family has a history of a genetic heart disease. The oxygen is absorbed into the body, leaving no trace."
Cain lanced the operative with a furious glare, "Next I see Miss Maquin, I'll – "
"You'll what?" the operative said, reaching up and pulling off her mask.
"Miss Maquin!" X gasped.
"Indeed!" she smiled smugly, "I'd never let Ogani Tech steal a Light invention while I'm still in charge. Understand this, Cain – X is a legacy of Doctor Light, and by rights he belongs to this company! If you wish to play along, I don't mind at all…but if you refuse, you won't live to regret it. Your choice. Stay with X, or fail in the pitiful attempt to do otherwise."
"You…!"
"Do what's best for X, Cain. If things, go well, we won't have to erase his memory."
X's eyes flew open in, terrified for his life for the first time, knowing full well what a memory wipe was.
"Well?"
"…I…" Cain fumbled numbly, desperately trying to figure out a way out of this situation, instincts screaming at him to protect X at all costs, but his mind curtly reminded him of that dart now pointed ominously at his chest. Finally, a nasty little voice in the back of his mind sneered at him for being a naïve idiot.

Meanwhile, X suddenly blinked, looking upwards as he noticed an odd shiny red dot hovering above Miss Maquin's head, seeming to be centering on a joint in the piping above them. Miss Maquin, growing annoyed at Cain indecision, noticed X and followed his line of sight above her.

She only had one moment to realize what it was before the gun went off, puncturing the pipeline and dousing her with a steady flood of pressured hot steam. She gave a long shriek of shock and pain, desperately trying to cover her head as she crumpled to the ground. Thick steam rapidly rolled through the room.

Tryne bolted in from the doorway, wincing through the steam, "X! Cain! C'mon, hurry up! We gotta get outta here!"
"No arguments here! C'mon, X!" Cain replied, bringing X along with him as they left the room.
"You … you get back here!!" Miss Maquin screeched, trying to pick her dart gun back off the ground.
"No." X replied firmly, and quickly followed out the door.
Tryne reached into his pocket and got out a red keycard, shutting the door and neatly sliding the keycard through a slot. Panel by the door glowed red as it gave a loud click, locking the door.
"That'll hold her for a while." Tryne exhaled.
"Tryne, I wondered what happened to you!" Cain said.
"Same here," Tryne replied, "You okay, X?"
"Yeah!"
"Good. I think we should go – she'll be sending operatives after us any moment now," Tryne said, pulling out his palm computer, "I'd never believe that she'd try to kill you Cain. I never thought…she'd go that far."
"Neither did I." Cain agreed darkly.
"What do we do now?" X asked.
Tryne paused for a long moment, "Well…get you out of here, I guess. Miss Maquin has used her security to take over this facility and it's a matter of time until she radios her operatives to hunt us down. We could go to the cargo bay – most of the security is automated there and the security center is shut down for now. It should be easy enough to steal a van and escape."
"How do you know all that?" X asked.
Tryne looked sharply down at his computer, "This thing I stole from a guard has the layout of this facility in it."
"But how do you know the security is automated and the security is shut down?"
"Because most cargo bays are automated and the fact there aren't a million sirens going off implies that the security center is either captured or disabled," Tryne snapped, "Now come on, we don't have much time."

He began running at a curt jog down the corridor, and after sharing a confused glance his companions followed after him, moving through the wing of the facility towards the cargo bays. Tryne lead them through the maze at a fast pace, left through to the end, then right, second left, and then another right. The security lights were still on, the complex silent as it gave them no opposition as they moved towards their destination that seemed to be the cargo and storage areas.

X was still scared and confused about what was happening – even with his impressive intelligence, he was simply too naïve to fully understand what was going on. His hand lightly gripped the crook of Cain's elbow, looking warily around. Cain however, was focusing accusing eyes on the back on Tryne's head, a feeling of distrust slowly bringing ideas to light.

"Tryne…where exactly were you all this time?" Cain asked, eyes narrowing slightly.
"Um…in interrogation. They wanted me to tell them what I knew about the project back at Light Industries, and wanted to force me into helping them." Tryne replied distantly, trying to lead them through the complex.
"How did you escape?"
"…I've got a gun and a stunner on me. You know – never hurts to be careful."
"Of what?" X asked.
"Of things that might happen."
"You keep them on you all the time?"
"Yes, it's quite odd that security never thought to search you, isn't it?" Cain asked slyly, "You know, Miss Maquin did inform me that a mole in their personnel leaked information to this facility, certain information only people working on X's project would know. After all, these people would only be interested in someone who knew all about X, the scanning data, entry codes, even where X so happened to be at the time, and place a means to knock X out…"
Tryne slowly came to a stop. There was a long moment of silence before he quietly turned around, switching his gaze between the accusing and inquiring gaze of his company. He gave a sigh of defeat.
"…I didn't know." He admitted quietly.
"Know what?" X interjected, cutting off what Cain was about to remark.
"That Miss Maquin would kill you. I knew that she was ruthless about competitors but I never dreamed she would try to kill you…Cain…I'm sorr – ack!" Tryne yelped, as Cain whipped his cane in a fine arc and cracked it over his head.
"Let me get this straight," Cain growled, squinting accusing eyes, "You betrayed your employers, lied to us, gave them the means to kidnap us, and pass X over to them like he's nothing but a toy, using the both of us as pawns in some rivalry…and you're surprised after all that someone would whip out a gun? Egad, man, I never thought you were that outright stupid!"
"I didn't think she'd kill you! You're a civilian! I knew she terminated competitors and her own scientists but not you. Either of you. I just…" Tryne trailed off.
"Who did she… 'terminate'?" Cain asked.
"You know that Vice-CEO of Argan Technologies, who died in that car accident? That was no accident. She's so frustrated about the restrictions on robotics she even makes illegal robotics for people's wars. She bribed, sabotaged, ruined, or killed any one who got in her way. Anyone. Even her own scientists…" Tryne gave a heavy sigh, "My friend died because he had ethical problems in a project. Ever since then, I started collecting and leaking information."
"For revenge?" Cain asked.
"Yeah, so she couldn't get the profit of it. But then I started major ties with this group, and I agreed to join their company if I…"
"Gave them a dowry of sorts?"
"Dowry??" X echoed.
"An exchange, yeah. But when X came along, I knew Miss Maquin would do anything to get her hands on X and use him however she wanted. I could never let her get that sort of opportunity after everything she's done."
"But, Tryne…" X said, "These people are bad too. The scientists at Light Industries were really nice to me, but here they tied me to a table and tried to hurt me. And they 'kidnapped' us all. Not all laboratories are like this, are they?"
Tryne sighed, "Pretty much. The robotics industry is in a rut – with the restrictions in place, no one can make much of anything. Before the Wily Wars, people were reaching for the stars in new robotic technology, but then the Wily Wars happened. So now we have a huge potential market in robotics, but no legal way to use them. And…X, I'm sorry they tried to hurt you. I honestly didn't think they'd try to analyze you so soon; I was going to be the overseer of the project. But I thought Miss Maquin was worse," he paused, "I understand if you both hate me. That's fine because I deserve it."
"Well, when those bad scientists tried to hurt me, I ran away," X reasoned, "You did that too."
Tryne looked at X for a long moment, speechless.
"You should have told the police, though. They stop bad people."
"…Yeah. I should have. I didn't…" Tryne looked away for a moment, "No you're right, I shouldn't have run away – I should've done something. Oh dammit, I've screwed everything."
"No, you made some bad choices. X's right, I can understand your reasoning. We can sort out everything else later." Cain dismissed, but his tone was lighter than before.
Tryne offered a weak smile, "Okay. Well, come on…we've wasted time. Miss Maquin might be mobilizing operatives this way right now."
"We're almost there though, right?" X asked.
"Yeah," Tryne replied, leaning them down the corridor again, "Just down here. It's the cargo hold, like I said, so we just grab a van and go."
"Sounds good," Cain smiled, "It'll take her a good while to find us.",br Tryne went up to a large security door and used the manual opening latch, "Well actually – "

Alert. Intruders found. Present ID or be forcefully removed.

"What's that?" X asked.

Wobbly hovering in the middle of the large cargo warehouse was a tall, wiry robot, giving small shudders as it sprayed small bursts of sparks. Mounted on an upturned half-dome, a long triangular torso stretched up, capped with a small cylinder head. Curving arms like scythes were perched in from of it, armed at each end with lasers and gravitational pulsars. It was charred black in places, and a strew of wires hung lazily from holes in the torso and arms. The warning it voiced was slurred and hoarse.
"Don't make any sudden moments." Tryne hissed quietly, rooted to the floor in horror.
"Hmm. Not good." Cain remarked.
"It looks broken." X noted.
"Maybe the operatives damaged it and took it out." Cain whispered out.
Tryne gritted his teeth, "She's probably re-activated it through the security grid to stop us."
"Is that robot going to hurt us?" X asked.
"Probably not you, X. Miss Maquin wants you intact. Me and Cain aren't so lucky."
"Think those lasers are functioning?"
"You want to find out??"

Repeat: present ID or be forcefully removed.

Tryne sharply looked around the area. Large crates full of robotic parts were slotted in the walls right up to the ceiling, the retrieving crane resting off in a far-off corner. Large crates were still loaded onto hover-transports, lined up neatly near the crane. The door, and the garage beyond it, was on the opposite site of room, directly behind the robot.
"Alright gentlemen, when I say so, we run towards those hover-transports over on the left there, and use them as cover. The hover-generator on this thing looks damaged, so maybe it won't be able to move very quickly. Then we can make a break for the exit." Tryne said.
"Sadly, I have no better ideas. Guess we have no choice."
"Ready X?"
"I run over there?"
"Yeah. Just pretend you're on the treadmill at level 9."
"Oh, okay."

Final warning.

Tryne gritted his teeth, "Ready guys?"
"Yup!"
"As I'll ever be."

Removing intruders.

"Run for it!" Tryne cried, and the three bolted from their position just as a laser scotched the area they were moments before. The robot's scanners tracked them as they moved across the room, turning at an excruciating pace before slowly moving after them, trying to get into range. The trio hid behind the sparse amount of room behind the hover-transports and the wall, the robot hovering outside like a malevolent hornet, trying to find a way to get a clear shot without damaging property.

"Tryne, would you so happen to have a gun?" Cain hissed.
"That would do any good against that? I wish." Tryne bleakly replied.
X peered at the robot as it swarmed past, "What's it doing?"
"Trying to get a clear shot at us, I thi – "

The robot let off a peppering of shots down the small space between the transports, pink lasers slicing the air around them, hissing black marks into the wall. A small pause, before the shots were peppered off again.

"Well, damn it!" Tryne cried.
"I guess it figures that if it can't hit us, it can still pin us down." Cain reasoned grimly.
Tryne snorted, "Buying time for Miss Maquin to get us. Yay."
"Cain?"
"Yes, X?" Cain replied, flinching away from a shot.
"I have a buster in my arm, don't I?"
The two scientists looked at each other in surprise, never realizing that possibility.
X frowned hard in concentration, before a sudden long click came from his arm, his hand vanishing into his forearm. Replacing it was the short muzzle of a buster, settling in with a click. X peered at it with honest astonishment, "Wow."
"Well that's good and all, but what now? You can't shoot at it right now!" Tryne said.
"Naw, we need to draw its attention away, that's all. Particularly someone with good running legs." Cain said, before giving Tryne a long sideways look.
"You have good running legs, Tryne? Wow." X remarked.
"Me??" Tryne balked, "Why me?"
"Long running legs, whipper-snapper," Cain grinned, "Besides, that thing can't turn if its life depended on it. You just need to draw its fire so X can shoot it."
Tryne gave a long hesitant grimace before rolling his eyes in defeat, "Fine. I got us into this so it's my turn to get us out of it. I can make it."
"Good. X? Ready to get out of here?"
X nodded firmly.
"I don't believe I'm doing this…"

Target sighted. Removing.

"Yeah, right…!" Tryne squeaked, running a solid pace along the wall, as the robot slowly moved towards him. X moved over to the edge of the transport units, his palm supporting his buster, tongue poking out in effort as he tried to aim at the robot. The robot was beginning to turn at an excruciating pace, long arms moving in a wide arc as it tried to lock them onto the moving target.
Cain shuffled up quietly behind X, "Okay, X, remember those basketball lessons? What's the first rule?"
"Aim carefully for the hoop." X replied.
"Yup, it's just like that – just aim for his big ol' chest there."
"Okay I got it." X nodded.

Unfortunately, basketball hoops don't move, and X was having some trouble aiming at the weaving and thin robot, buster bobbing side-to-side Tryne ducked his head as the first laser shot above his head, a wild spray of pink lights showering over him as he ran desperately along the wall. He was only meters away from the crane as the robot finally finished it's full turn and began locking onto him. Tryne hit the floor, covering his head as the laser hissed the wall where his head was moments before. The robot held still for only a moment as it began to fire --

X let off the shot with lightning fast robot reflexes, recognizing the perfect moment where the robot held still just long enough for him to shoot it. The robot snapped back sharply, as the white-hot plasma easily ate through the already scorched armor plating, creating a large gaping hole as it shot right through the other side. The robot shrieked and sparked as it collapsed in a mangled heap on the ground, mere feet away from where Tryne was lying.

There was a long moment as the two humans craned their heads in morbid curiosity at the mangled robot, jaws slightly open at the amount of damage X somehow managed to pull off with utmost ease. Not even a high-powered plasma shotgun could cause that much damage.
X broke the silence by asking, "Did I break it?"
"Yeah…you did." Tryne nodded slowly, struggling to his feet.

Cain cleared his throat, "Well, now, I think we'd better get going and quick."
"Right," Tryne agreed, pulling out another keycard, "Just beyond here is the vehicle depot."
"Did I do something again?" X asked.
Cain blinked, "Do something?"
"You and the scientists looked at me funny like that before." X said.
"Well, uh, you just did something…amazing!" Cain said, gesturing to the robot, "That's something very impressive!"
"Really?" X said, a note of pride flowing into his voice.
"Um, guys?" Tryne called, "We have a problem – the door is locked down."
"But you have the keycard right there." Cain noted.
"I know, but it's under a special security lock that you use to lock down the whole wing of the facility. If they did that, then they couldn't get in to get us."

"Oh, but I was here for a while."

The trio sharply turned around and gaped in horror at the woman who was standing against the opposite door, holding a gun in her hand, with her dart gun in the other. Her hair was a mess of twisted wet hair sticking to her face, which was red and raw from the hot steam, water dripping off her body. Her expression was contorted into a malicious sneer, "Look what you did, you insubordinate bastard!"
With that she fired off a shot, Tryne letting out a shriek of pain as it connected with his leg and collapsed to the floor.
"Tryne!" Cain called in horror.
"Oh there you are, Doctor Cain," Miss Maquin smiled mockingly, walking over somewhat stiffly, "Do try not running away again."
"How did you know we where here?" X asked, arm still in buster mode.
Miss Maquin replied with a small barking laugh, "Operation B. When I realized the full extent of your abilities, X, I knew you were too precious to allow escaping, especially with your growing wishes to be let outside. Therefore I had a little tracker installed into you that's tracked by a satellite in orbit. There's literally nowhere you can hide from me. When you were kidnapped, it was a simple matter of following you here with our tracking systems."
"Thank you for your trust, ma'am." Cain snorted.
"Trust? Trust an old archeologist with a technological marvel like X? You must be kidding."
X frowned, "I…I'm not …"
"Shut up, X. You won't remember any of this, anyway when I get you back in my possession. Cain, my old acquaintance, you should be glad I'm giving you one last chance to save your miserable life," she readied her dart gun again, "You sign on with me, or they'll never find a hair of you again."
"Sign X over to you!? After everything you've done!?" Cain roared back, "After bugging X and shooting people!? Are you mad?"
"Merely business-driven, my friend. Light Industries was founded by a genius and was the best in robot technology, and it'll stay that way. I'll personally see to it that it stays that way, and my great-uncle has given me the means to change society. Now Cain…" she started to squeeze the trigger.

But she balked slightly when X quietly stood in front of Cain, blocking her line of fire, his face surprisingly neutral.

She frowned, "X, move."
"No."
"X, enough of being stubborn."
"No."
Miss Maquin slowly shut her mouth, rather surprised how unnaturally firm X sounded, unlike the childish way he said it before.
"Doctor Light said that I could make my own decisions and determine my own actions. And I did everything I was told because I wanted to be helpful – but you only lied," X said, stressing the last word as if it was an abomination, "Lots of people have lied. And it only hurt everyone else. I don't know why you did everything, but I'm not a…a marvel or technological advance. I'm X."
Cain stared in surprise at X's behavior. He never seemed to be so determined about his own existence before, or truly stood up to anyone like this, not even threatened with memory-wipe. But now this, when his friend was being threatened? When he was lied to? Was that so important?
Miss Maquin seemed to be thinking along the same lines, narrowing her eyes thoughtfully, "So what are you going to do, X?"
X blinked. After a long moment of contemplation, he mimicked his actions before and aimed his buster, solidly, at her chest. Her eyes flew open in surprise, never been threatened by a robot before.
"You can't do that." She said quickly.
"Yes I can. I make my own decisions." X replied frankly.
"X, they'll wipe your mind if you break First Law, you know that, right?" Cain reminded.
"But how is that any different to getting my mind wiped any way if I don't stop her? If I don't, then we'll both get hurt," X turned slightly to look at Cain, "But you can't be reactivated like me."
Cain looked at X for a long moment, "That's true," he turned to Miss Maquin, "Had a change of heart?"
She slowly took a step backwards, "Put down the buster, X."
"No." he replied simply.
"Damn you, you stupid machine!" she hissed, "You're a Megaman, a robot, a damned machine!"
X nodded, "I know. But Megaman did the right thing."

Miss Maquin shut up. Having a machine rather determinedly refuse her will was absolutely unfathomable, and Tryne's echoed around in her mind ominously. For the first time in years, she felt a long creeping sense of dread to realize the situation she had just locked herself into from the beginning.

"He could break the First Law." Miss Maquin gasped. "Well, if he ever did, I think it'd be because he didn't know better. Right now, he doesn't have enough experience to know what the emotion 'hate' is. He's got no valid reason to hurt anyone." "That will change, you know that." "True, but, well…humans aren't programmed. All of us could hurt another if we wanted. But not all of us do – why? Because we've taught it's wrong to do that. So along with teaching X about stuff like history and social sciences, we must teach him ethics and morals. And the laws of society. To do the right thing, really."

In the next moment a shot went off, slamming into her chest with a crackle of sudden electrical energy, her muscles writhing in agony as she crumpled to her ground. She slumped on the floor, unconscious, dart gun falling uselessly to the floor. There was a long moment of stunned silence as the group stared at her limp form.

Cain stared open mouthed, before he finally murmured, "X….you didn't…"
X blinked, and then lowered his buster, "No that wasn't me. Are you alright, Tryne?"
Tryne let out a wheeze, letting his taser gun slip through his fingers and clatter upon the floor, before giving a proud smile, "I think…we're even now."
"Oh leave it to the last second, would you?" Cain snapped, before throwing his hands into the air, "That's it, heck with this. Let's get outta here. X, can you carry him out until we nab a van?"
"Sure I can," X replied, and gently picked Tryne off the floor, "Where will we go?"
Cain laid a hand on X's shoulder, "X, my boy…any where but here."