"Wh...what?" Roll gasped, gently laying Rock on the ground. "Rock? ROCK!"
No answer.
"Rock? Can you hear me?"
"..ock? C...yo...h..ar..me?"
Rock was drifting somewhere between conciousness and unconciousness...aware, but not knowing exactly what he was hearing. He tried to figure out what was going on...what had just happened?
"Roll-chan...?
"Rock!"
As he tried to sit up, a wave of pain slashed through his limbs and chest. "Aaaa....aagh...." He moaned, dropping back down to the floor. "It hurts..." he gasped.
Roll had seen the same look on Netto's face only an hour before.
"Rock..." She whispered, trying to find words of encouragement.
Netto, his limbs weary, could not bring himself to struggle any longer. On the table, the ex-Navi was putting up twice the fight he had before. Whether it was because hope had arrived in the form of Blues or the fact that his brother was in Forte's clutches, Netto did not know. But Rockman valiantly pulled at the metal bands with renewed vigor, shouting at Blues to assist Netto.
Blues had three choices. One, go and save the captive Rockman. Two, save the kid that Rockman is screaming about. Three, go and look for his Rockman.
After weighing the choices for a moment, Blues fired a perfectly aimed Super-Shot at Forte.
Of course, it was no longer perfectly aimed when Forte decided to throw his hostage's back in the way.
"Well SHIT!" Blues shouted, as both the boy and Rockman screamed in agony.
Netto wasn't sure if he was lucky or not. Forte dropped him and moved to avoid Blues' next angered blast, but his body was paralyzed with agony thanks to the misfired shot. He reached for his PET. "Rockman..."
Roll's face was the one that appeared. "Netto?"
"Where's Rock?"
Roll didn't meet his eyes. Netto knew something was amiss. "Roll....?"
On the table, the ex-Navi howled with pain. The girl's head snapped up. "Is he...?"
"The program!" Netto insisted. "I have to get Rock out of here. Destroy the program!"
"Right...right! I'm on it!" She shook her head and ran out of Netto's view.
Blues had given up on his arm cannon a few moments before and was now wrestling Forte on the ground. He used all the strength he had to keep the raven-armored robot to the ground and away from everything else.
Inside the computer system, Glyde aimed his cannon and fired. "Roll Flash!" Roll hit the lock program directly as well, their combined strength easily destroying it. On the table, the bonds snapped free, allowing Rockman to roll off the table and land heavily on the floor on his hands and knees.
"Rock!" Blues exclaimed, kicking Forte in the stomach and rushing over to the ex-navi, only momentarily forgetting that he wasn't his brother. Shivering a bit from pain, Rock aimed his cannon over at an important-looking computer. "R...rockbuster!" He gasped, sending out a plasma shot across the room, hitting the keyboard and all the hardware behind it.
"Shit!" the other-world Wily swore, stepping back. "He got loose."
"We'll see." his doppelganger smiled secretively. "I left a few surprises in the computer."
As the scientist finished the sentence, though, Rockman strugged to his feet and stood protectively in front of his twin. "This ends here. I'm going to get rid of both of you at once, right now."
Neither Wily looked particularly intimidated, but the Original found himself with a buster aimed at his face half a second later. Blues had gotten across the room and held the old man right in his sights. "Tell your robots to back off, or you get a faceful of plasma."
After a brief moment, he finally called to the Robot Masters. "Release your hostages."
The robots obliged.
Meiru immediately rushed to Netto's side, where Rockman was trying to hoist his brother to his feet one-handed. His right arm was aimed a little unsteadily at Forte. Blues did not move an inch.
"Got it." Rockman lowered his buster and dizzily dragged his twin out of the room, keeping an eye on Forte as he backed out the door. Dekao moved to help but Rockman shook his head, forcing himself to carry the half-consious boy. After all, Netto had been hurt because of him.
"Roll, what's going on in there?" Meiru sounded distressed.
"Something's happened to Rock..." she replied hesitantly. "I think.... I think it might be that virus..."
end chapter 5
AUTHOR'S NOTES:
Marisa: No comment.
Shi-chan: Agreed.