Walking Ghosts
Final: Over
by Lady Virgo
"Your last wasted
breath falls
useless on the ground.
Zero hour."
///
Being a doctor never could be easy. All that had taken that oath knew it, knew it in the long, sleepless nights of studying, the stress of trying to remember each body part and ailment, the pain and sickness of watching the first patient with exposed bones and guts quivering in the air. And most of all, watching as that first person that couldn't be saved, watching them die, watching as the trust they had put into modern medicine and those that practiced it was shattered and the light in their wretched eyes cracked and their souls escaped from their steaming wounds.
Being a doctor tended to have more worse moments than better. And no matter how disciplined and trusted those that worked there were, some how information will always get out whenever someone of importance was hospitalized. And it always got worse when it was someone that had put the world in fear countless times.
Every day for the passed two weeks there were mobs outside the hospital since someone had leaked that Dr. Albert Wily was being cared for, deep in critical condition. The doctors, nurses and aids were all verbally attacked and criticized for helping him, and all they had to defend themselves was the Hippocratic oath, as old as time and as flimsy a shield as any tablet that had long since crumbled to dust.
The Japanese Self Defense Force was called, ground troops stationed around the hospital all hours of the day and around the outlying area, helicopters in the air, prepared to gas the crowds should they become too rowdy. What was left of the UN tried to get in Dr. Wily's so called captured, but the Japanese government wasn't having it.
Why should we allow you to judge this man, they had argued, when he had killed only Japanese citizens? When no other country would come to our defense? When not even Russia would take any sort of responsibility when we were attacked by bioroids created by one of her own citizens and materials from her own harsh resources?
This, they had declared, is a Japanese concern. And it shall be judged as such.
Yet other nations still tried to gain some historical glory by flexing their muscle of 'good will'. South Africa, their medical expertise having grown into a vast array of fields over recent years, offered their skills. America, the last actual powerhouse, had deployed some of their Special Forces to help keep order in the country though, after the previous wars had drained her of her strength and vitality, her forces were no better than many second-rate countries. Some countries, those especially well supplied with raw resources, offered trades with Japan for a chance to vulture the old scientist's plans. The Defense Ministry thought it would be prudent to set guards and check points up around Skull Fortress. But after reports that Dr. Wily's Robot Masters and most, if not all, of his defenses were still running, they had decided that if any country wanted to attempt to sneak in to steal the data, they were more than welcome to try.
There were cameras set up all along the old man's room, isolated from any of the other patients and all along the hall outside as well on the outside of the building. Two guards set up posts outside the door as well as on opposite entrances of the hall and patrolled extra heavily in a 50- meter radius of the room. Every precaution was set for protection. To protect the scientist, protect the doctors and nurses and to protect the world from what other madness Dr. Wily may have planned for them.
///
"You do understand why we must do this?" It wasn't a question.
"Yes."
The man on the view screen nodded. "Then we shall be over shortly to take your robots."
"Of course." Thomas Light sighed. Albert, he thought bitterly, you never wanted our creations to cause these problems, to be mindless killers. Why did your morals twist so suddenly? You wanted your bioroids to create a better world. But what good was to come from this?
And so now he was being forced to destroy his own hard-earned data and to give up his beautiful creations to be dismantled. His long-labored work, each one a precious piece of his life that he loved more than anything. It made his empty house a home. He didn't know what he'd do without them.
The government would be over within a day to take his life away from him. And yet he was still sitting, delaying the preparations he had to make. As if he were waiting for a sign.
His computer beeped at him and automatically opened the e-mail, displaying a message for him. Slowly he lumbered to it, curious when something began to upload onto his screen. Only one person would ever disregard putting up a download warning on their e-mails. And he only contacted the human under extreme duress.
Scrolling through the information, Dr. Light picked up the phone wired throughout the house. "Rock. Roll. I need you two to meet me in my lab in an hour."
If this wasn't a sign, he didn't know what was.
///
He'd been slipping in and out of consciousness for.. he didn't know how long now. He barely remembered anything when he was awake and only knew terror when he slept.
He could feel time creeping on him, could see the bleached and polished grin as Death tapped his hourglass, fine green grains of sand running their tireless race. The grace of that colorless blade echoed everywhere, in every bend of light, in every slight curve, and he could see his strained face reflecting in it, growing older and more decayed the closer it came.
Looking around the hospital room, his fevered mind fought against the thick cotton in his head. One final defense, that's all he had.
Near his bed was a monitor. The fools should have known better than to leave a computer of any sort within his grasp. It was all he needed for this, his last desperate measure. Shoving away the dizziness as he clamored for the keyboard, he was determined not to go down so easily. He would not go quietly into the darkness of the forgotten. The world would have to force him into its endless winding catacombs of hell.
When he died, every creature in the world would know. Because every creature will bow down to his greatness.
Just as they were created to do...
///
It had to be a dream. There was no way it could be anything else. It just seemed too surreal, too perfect. Quick barely remembered why he was here. He /had/ been going down to the kitchen. To get a couple of drinks for some of the guys in the recroom, he vaguely recalled. In fact, the bottles were still cool under his palms.
But, for some reason, he was called out here. 'Here' being the long corridor in Dr. Wily's uber secret and uber hidden underground laboratory. And, oddly enough, he wasn't the only one here. Every Robot Master was here with him, each one with the same empty curiosity on their face. Quick attempted to talk to the nearest one- Yamato -but all he could seem to do was open his mouth slightly.
Scanning over the familiar faces, something whispered in the back of his mind. He twitched his head a little, but otherwise ignored the tickling. He ticked off the names of the robots in his head. It seemed an odd thing to do at that particular moment because something told him everyone was there. Yet, he did, nonetheless.
There's Cut, and Tengu. Shade, Burner, Elec, Frog. Sword, Charge, Napalm, Fire, Heat, Ice-
The doors at the end of the hall slammed shut. No one jumped.
-Bright, Cloud, Ring, Wood-
The lights dimmed, flickered, then cut. Almost immediately the back- up lights came on. Their silhouettes were outlined in a washed out green light.
-Hard, Junk, Dive, Guts, Stone-
The large double doors to the lab whisked open with the silence of an oppressive breeze. As one, the Robot Masters turned to it.
The light here, Quick found himself idly thinking, is brighter. Part of his mind was still cataloguing his brethren, another part was still itching from something that wanted his attention.
-Bubble, Slash, Plant-
The world was washed semi-monochromatic. The smooth planes were painted a soft white, overlaying the tapered green. But the light still couldn't wash out the dark of the shadows.
The Robot Masters started marching in their uniform silence into the room.
-Turbo, Knight, Centaur-
Couldn't wash out..
They were positioning themselves in precise intervals. As if they had been waiting their entire lives to do this.
-Gyro, Tomahawk-
..the shadows..
Shadows...
Every face looked up expectantly, a monstrosity of a device descending from the ceiling.
Shadow isn't here.
Quick's eyes snapped wide. And the prodding in the back of his mind exploded into a scene he could almost touch.
/we are all in great danger in the fortress/
He forced his feet to keep from moving. The echoed memory of 'danger' thrummed in his head, prodding his sluggish instincts back into gear.
/you are not safe, no one is/
Bodies pushed against him, shoving as they patiently moved into position.
/leave the fortress/
"Leave.." He said quietly, remembering the gleam of chips resting on the off-white of paper. No, they shouldn't be doing this.. It was a struggle to keep his body planted.
He tried to say something as the last bioroid found their place, ranks perfect. There were gaps, glaringly visible even with larger, bulkier frames trying to cover them up. Quick's body was trembling from exertion, mind a two way battle between what he knew he had to do and what he couldn't do.
For a long moment there was no movement, no sound. The world had stood still, balancing on the end of a wavering pin. And then, in perfect unison, all heads turned to him. And the pin stilled.
Quick's eyes, glowing eerily in the light, roved over the other robots. And then lifted to the machine that hung from the ceiling, lacing tubes suspended around it like a gleaming spider upon its web of bones. And yet, when he looked at it, he found it.. beautiful...
His mind didn't notice as he approached closer, taking up the empty spot that seemed to complete a loneliness that had never before existed.
Along with the other Robot Masters, he watched the tendrils of the web quiver and detach. They all looked upon it like a Messiah they had long awaited, anxious to follow its every order.
They dropped from the ceiling in groups, long needles in each that invaded every upturned eye, wide and unblinking. The sharp ends dug through the soft gel of the pupils, fluids spilling down faces and sloshing messily to the floor. The needles bypassed the mechanics, piercing into the frontal lobe and injecting its command into it and their minds clung to it greedily. Not a body moved, not a sound made.
As the poison continued to feed, the doors slammed closed. And not a soul noticed.
///
"What's the situation with the doctor?"
"Sir," the young officer saluted smartly, snapping back to attention as he was acknowledged, "he's been restrained, sir."
"Good. Have you tracked down what he was doing?"
"No, sir. We haven't, yet."
"If you don't mind me asking, sir." The officer said, "But why are we taking such precautions? I mean, he's just an old man, after all."
With a steady gaze that knew more wisdom than the young man ever would, the gruff reply came: "Because he is a genius. Any bit of technology that he can utilize is our enemy. Who knows what sort of damage he may have caused, even from a hospital monitoring unit." He shook his head. "No, we have to find out what he was doing, or attempting to do. If it would cause any danger to our citizens, we have to know how we can protect them."
Down the hall, an old man woke into a dream. Bound to his bed, he had no choice but to allow their drugs to drown his mind in petty fog. Somewhere inside he was giggling, but he wasn't sure how, or if it somehow reached the world outside.
It is done, his self said. You have won, there is no way the world can defeat you, now. All they need is time. You deserved all the time the universe could have offered, you deserved to slip into the stream of eternity, but they can do that for you. They who do not age, who cannot die.
Let the world feel the rage that you have contained for years too numerous to count. Let the lambs be slaughtered before their true masters.
He cackled, lashed to the blankets, and the shadows around him cackled with him. The world was in his hands now. Let it darken and die and turn to ash in his thick knuckled fingers.
The cameras, however, merely captured the sunken visage falling gently to one side, saliva dripping off the edge of an upturned lip as he sighed blissfully.
///
"-so be expecting more heavy rains with the upcoming weekend. Highs and lows will remain steady through Saturday and Sunday, but next Mondays temperatures are expected to drop. That's the weather, back to the news."
"Hm, seems we're getting more rain so far this year than last. Be sure to keep an eye on your children over the weekend, you know how they love to play in the rain.
"Police today had captured the arsonist threatening the markets in the Kanagawa district. They have the suspect in custody but are not releasing his name to the press and- hold on a moment, we seem to be getting an important bulletin. ...I-I, oh my God. E-Everyone, please listen carefully. I have just bee informed that Japan is in the highest stage of alert. Skull Fortress, hideout of Dr. Albert Wily and his Robot Masters, had been reported to have very little activity in the passed two days. However, no more than twenty minutes ago, the Robot Masters had overrun the barricades. They've spread out, all outlying regions are being evacuated. The Japanese Self Defense Force is doing what they can to hold back the attack, but... Everyone is advised to stay indoors. They are all extremely dangerous. We shall being reporting the details as they come." Hands shuffled papers and shook. "Everyone, please be careful.."
///
Disgusting.
It was the only fitting word to come to mind as he surveyed the ruins of Skull Fortress. He had hacked into the hospital monitoring station, tracing the flow of activity. He was far better at guessing the crippled mad man's movements, he knew exactly what he was after. Because he had read up on Wily's most secret files.
After Wily inputted the virus into all the Robot Masters, they went insane. Most went into a mindless blood rage, attacking and killing each other. The weak didn't stand a chance, blood and parts were strewn across the wreckage that once were corridors. Still the Robot Masters' thirst wasn't sated and they began to terrorize and kill humans. A few had already been taken down by the military, frightened mobs picking off the weaker ones as they wandered alone.
It was Wily's final, desperate stab at the world that had forsaken him. And it disgusted Blues to no end.
Blues and Shadow had separated when the unsuspected attack blew out from the fortress a week earlier. They had helped to stop some of the more dangerous Robot Masters, though their attempts were more to slow them down than to kill them. The younger robot wasn't too sure about that idea, but Blues had explained that they are still who they are. Wily's virus just overrode their senses and it was their duty to keep them from harming others and keeping them from harm's way until a cure was found.
Which was what caused the split. Blues had opted to head back to what was left of Wily's lab and try to find a counter agent to the virus while Shadow tried to coordinate a containment unit from behind the scenes. He chose as his unit the only approved source they could get: Dr. Light.
But that new creation of Wily's still bothered him. It hadn't appeared anywhere and he knew the power of it could easily wipe out any thing in it's path, be it human or bioroid.
"I know you're still around here, somewhere." He muttered, picking through the rubble of the once impressively constructed lab. "I know you won't go down so easily." Under his helmet, Blues wrinkled his nose, stepping over one of Pharaoh's cracked and burnt hands, blown off from his arm by the strength of his attack. He had found his body earlier and buried it, along with the bits of Skull.
He really had no idea what he'd do once he found this reploid. All he knew was he needed to stop him somehow from hurting anyone else.
The collapsed ceiling proved to be an unreliable carpet as Blues uneasily wobbled on it for the umpteenth time. He scanned the area coolly, as if it were a clearing he was checking for traps. Standing on the highest mound, he glared at his feet- or rather, at the creature he knew resting under his feet.
He knew how this monster worked, he knew what mind it ran off of and remembering that fact set his blood on fire. He wanted to beat it, he wanted to kill it. He wanted to take back the precious memories he knew were laying dormant, somewhere inside and keep them for his own.
But they were no longer Forte's, he knew. Everything that made up the light-haired bioroid was gone. His mind was chopped up and bits of it discarded, others modified and all of it bastardized until it was no longer the one he had come to love.
Like a buffet, Blues thought ironically. Expect he's destroying things that have the ability to think and feel. Though we're not organic, we're more alive than some of the humans...
For a long while the prototype wasn't sure what he should do. He knew Forte's body was just carelessly discarded somewhere, but had still not been found. Though he desperately wanted to 'put it to rest', so to speak, he didn't think this reploid would stay unconscious for too much longer.
A random thought fell into his head and he dwelled on it for a moment. The more he turned it over in his head, the more problems he saw in it. But the more he was becoming to be attached to the thought. It was foolish, it was dangerous. And he'd get an earful when Shadow found out. The thought made him grin.
Working quickly, he was mildly surprised to find the equipment was still in rather decent shape, given the cave in and the rampant wanderings of unsupervised Robot Masters. He was cautious as he unearthed the blond reploid, shutting him down for the time being. As Blues dragged the reploid to the lab table and hooked him up to the machines, he couldn't help but wonder how it would look to see Forte watching him through that face. In a way, he supposed, they did resemble each other. The sharp face and slim eyes. This new creation wasn't as pale as Forte, but his fingers were still slender and powerful and when his blonde bangs fell messily over his forehead, it seemed Blues could actually pretend that this was the cobra-crested bioroid he had missed for so long.
He smiled bittersweet as he finished plugging the in the cords into the both of them. Reaching up, he pulled off his visored helmet, holding the final headpiece in his hands.
"It must be frightening." Blues murmured to himself. "Trapped in a strange body and knowing only destruction and violence." A gloved hand gave into temptation, running through the cascading hair. "You won't be alone. I'll protect you from the world." For once, he didn't care that his hands were trembling and emotion fell from his eyes and dripped down his cheeks. For once, he truly felt that he was doing the right thing. And he never felt freedom as wonderful as he did that moment. "Just like I had always wanted to."
He slipped the headpiece on and, with only a moment of groping, found the switch to transfer his mind into Zero's. To rejoin his forgotten lover beyond this life.
///
The shadows crawled over him, flooding over the pristine white of the sheets and wriggled over the writhing length of his body. They slide over his skin and in through his ears, dancing over his brain and he could feel them pulling at him, laughing and cackling and snipping away at his head.
He couldn't stay here. He couldn't be here. The narcotics that doctors had given him only furthered his silent hysteria, the straps on his limbs seemed to tighten and their beady holes glared at him, mocking him, daring him to another of his technomancy spells again.
But he couldn't move, he could barely breath and he feared. He feared for his life and his future, he feared the creature he knew buried somewhere under his crushed fortress. And he feared that, even in his most desperate stab at the heart of the world, his creatures still wouldn't be able to fulfill his destiny.
Bathed in a cold sweat, he felt his heart thumping through every artery in his body, eyes wild and wide and searching every crevice in this shadow infested room. They were here, he knew it. He could feel their false hearts thrumming with his, he could taste their metallic scent and heard the rasp of their manmade lungs.
Wherewherewherewherewherewhe-
There was a glint in the corner, one that was never there before, near the ceiling. Fearfully he gazed at it, trying to make out the harsh curves and layered spikes of the armor. The robot smiled maliciously at him, teeth all fangs before, it seemed so unnaturally slow, he let his claws dig out of the wall, falling onto the old man.
There were no screams that infested the midnight halls and somehow no one seemed to notice the blood that leaked slowly out from under the door until it had dried on the floor and the walls. The human's remains were locked in an iron box and the news across the world would never know the full extent of the murder, just that his mad genius was finally put to rest.
by Lady Virgo
"Your last wasted
breath falls
useless on the ground.
Zero hour."
///
Being a doctor never could be easy. All that had taken that oath knew it, knew it in the long, sleepless nights of studying, the stress of trying to remember each body part and ailment, the pain and sickness of watching the first patient with exposed bones and guts quivering in the air. And most of all, watching as that first person that couldn't be saved, watching them die, watching as the trust they had put into modern medicine and those that practiced it was shattered and the light in their wretched eyes cracked and their souls escaped from their steaming wounds.
Being a doctor tended to have more worse moments than better. And no matter how disciplined and trusted those that worked there were, some how information will always get out whenever someone of importance was hospitalized. And it always got worse when it was someone that had put the world in fear countless times.
Every day for the passed two weeks there were mobs outside the hospital since someone had leaked that Dr. Albert Wily was being cared for, deep in critical condition. The doctors, nurses and aids were all verbally attacked and criticized for helping him, and all they had to defend themselves was the Hippocratic oath, as old as time and as flimsy a shield as any tablet that had long since crumbled to dust.
The Japanese Self Defense Force was called, ground troops stationed around the hospital all hours of the day and around the outlying area, helicopters in the air, prepared to gas the crowds should they become too rowdy. What was left of the UN tried to get in Dr. Wily's so called captured, but the Japanese government wasn't having it.
Why should we allow you to judge this man, they had argued, when he had killed only Japanese citizens? When no other country would come to our defense? When not even Russia would take any sort of responsibility when we were attacked by bioroids created by one of her own citizens and materials from her own harsh resources?
This, they had declared, is a Japanese concern. And it shall be judged as such.
Yet other nations still tried to gain some historical glory by flexing their muscle of 'good will'. South Africa, their medical expertise having grown into a vast array of fields over recent years, offered their skills. America, the last actual powerhouse, had deployed some of their Special Forces to help keep order in the country though, after the previous wars had drained her of her strength and vitality, her forces were no better than many second-rate countries. Some countries, those especially well supplied with raw resources, offered trades with Japan for a chance to vulture the old scientist's plans. The Defense Ministry thought it would be prudent to set guards and check points up around Skull Fortress. But after reports that Dr. Wily's Robot Masters and most, if not all, of his defenses were still running, they had decided that if any country wanted to attempt to sneak in to steal the data, they were more than welcome to try.
There were cameras set up all along the old man's room, isolated from any of the other patients and all along the hall outside as well on the outside of the building. Two guards set up posts outside the door as well as on opposite entrances of the hall and patrolled extra heavily in a 50- meter radius of the room. Every precaution was set for protection. To protect the scientist, protect the doctors and nurses and to protect the world from what other madness Dr. Wily may have planned for them.
///
"You do understand why we must do this?" It wasn't a question.
"Yes."
The man on the view screen nodded. "Then we shall be over shortly to take your robots."
"Of course." Thomas Light sighed. Albert, he thought bitterly, you never wanted our creations to cause these problems, to be mindless killers. Why did your morals twist so suddenly? You wanted your bioroids to create a better world. But what good was to come from this?
And so now he was being forced to destroy his own hard-earned data and to give up his beautiful creations to be dismantled. His long-labored work, each one a precious piece of his life that he loved more than anything. It made his empty house a home. He didn't know what he'd do without them.
The government would be over within a day to take his life away from him. And yet he was still sitting, delaying the preparations he had to make. As if he were waiting for a sign.
His computer beeped at him and automatically opened the e-mail, displaying a message for him. Slowly he lumbered to it, curious when something began to upload onto his screen. Only one person would ever disregard putting up a download warning on their e-mails. And he only contacted the human under extreme duress.
Scrolling through the information, Dr. Light picked up the phone wired throughout the house. "Rock. Roll. I need you two to meet me in my lab in an hour."
If this wasn't a sign, he didn't know what was.
///
He'd been slipping in and out of consciousness for.. he didn't know how long now. He barely remembered anything when he was awake and only knew terror when he slept.
He could feel time creeping on him, could see the bleached and polished grin as Death tapped his hourglass, fine green grains of sand running their tireless race. The grace of that colorless blade echoed everywhere, in every bend of light, in every slight curve, and he could see his strained face reflecting in it, growing older and more decayed the closer it came.
Looking around the hospital room, his fevered mind fought against the thick cotton in his head. One final defense, that's all he had.
Near his bed was a monitor. The fools should have known better than to leave a computer of any sort within his grasp. It was all he needed for this, his last desperate measure. Shoving away the dizziness as he clamored for the keyboard, he was determined not to go down so easily. He would not go quietly into the darkness of the forgotten. The world would have to force him into its endless winding catacombs of hell.
When he died, every creature in the world would know. Because every creature will bow down to his greatness.
Just as they were created to do...
///
It had to be a dream. There was no way it could be anything else. It just seemed too surreal, too perfect. Quick barely remembered why he was here. He /had/ been going down to the kitchen. To get a couple of drinks for some of the guys in the recroom, he vaguely recalled. In fact, the bottles were still cool under his palms.
But, for some reason, he was called out here. 'Here' being the long corridor in Dr. Wily's uber secret and uber hidden underground laboratory. And, oddly enough, he wasn't the only one here. Every Robot Master was here with him, each one with the same empty curiosity on their face. Quick attempted to talk to the nearest one- Yamato -but all he could seem to do was open his mouth slightly.
Scanning over the familiar faces, something whispered in the back of his mind. He twitched his head a little, but otherwise ignored the tickling. He ticked off the names of the robots in his head. It seemed an odd thing to do at that particular moment because something told him everyone was there. Yet, he did, nonetheless.
There's Cut, and Tengu. Shade, Burner, Elec, Frog. Sword, Charge, Napalm, Fire, Heat, Ice-
The doors at the end of the hall slammed shut. No one jumped.
-Bright, Cloud, Ring, Wood-
The lights dimmed, flickered, then cut. Almost immediately the back- up lights came on. Their silhouettes were outlined in a washed out green light.
-Hard, Junk, Dive, Guts, Stone-
The large double doors to the lab whisked open with the silence of an oppressive breeze. As one, the Robot Masters turned to it.
The light here, Quick found himself idly thinking, is brighter. Part of his mind was still cataloguing his brethren, another part was still itching from something that wanted his attention.
-Bubble, Slash, Plant-
The world was washed semi-monochromatic. The smooth planes were painted a soft white, overlaying the tapered green. But the light still couldn't wash out the dark of the shadows.
The Robot Masters started marching in their uniform silence into the room.
-Turbo, Knight, Centaur-
Couldn't wash out..
They were positioning themselves in precise intervals. As if they had been waiting their entire lives to do this.
-Gyro, Tomahawk-
..the shadows..
Shadows...
Every face looked up expectantly, a monstrosity of a device descending from the ceiling.
Shadow isn't here.
Quick's eyes snapped wide. And the prodding in the back of his mind exploded into a scene he could almost touch.
/we are all in great danger in the fortress/
He forced his feet to keep from moving. The echoed memory of 'danger' thrummed in his head, prodding his sluggish instincts back into gear.
/you are not safe, no one is/
Bodies pushed against him, shoving as they patiently moved into position.
/leave the fortress/
"Leave.." He said quietly, remembering the gleam of chips resting on the off-white of paper. No, they shouldn't be doing this.. It was a struggle to keep his body planted.
He tried to say something as the last bioroid found their place, ranks perfect. There were gaps, glaringly visible even with larger, bulkier frames trying to cover them up. Quick's body was trembling from exertion, mind a two way battle between what he knew he had to do and what he couldn't do.
For a long moment there was no movement, no sound. The world had stood still, balancing on the end of a wavering pin. And then, in perfect unison, all heads turned to him. And the pin stilled.
Quick's eyes, glowing eerily in the light, roved over the other robots. And then lifted to the machine that hung from the ceiling, lacing tubes suspended around it like a gleaming spider upon its web of bones. And yet, when he looked at it, he found it.. beautiful...
His mind didn't notice as he approached closer, taking up the empty spot that seemed to complete a loneliness that had never before existed.
Along with the other Robot Masters, he watched the tendrils of the web quiver and detach. They all looked upon it like a Messiah they had long awaited, anxious to follow its every order.
They dropped from the ceiling in groups, long needles in each that invaded every upturned eye, wide and unblinking. The sharp ends dug through the soft gel of the pupils, fluids spilling down faces and sloshing messily to the floor. The needles bypassed the mechanics, piercing into the frontal lobe and injecting its command into it and their minds clung to it greedily. Not a body moved, not a sound made.
As the poison continued to feed, the doors slammed closed. And not a soul noticed.
///
"What's the situation with the doctor?"
"Sir," the young officer saluted smartly, snapping back to attention as he was acknowledged, "he's been restrained, sir."
"Good. Have you tracked down what he was doing?"
"No, sir. We haven't, yet."
"If you don't mind me asking, sir." The officer said, "But why are we taking such precautions? I mean, he's just an old man, after all."
With a steady gaze that knew more wisdom than the young man ever would, the gruff reply came: "Because he is a genius. Any bit of technology that he can utilize is our enemy. Who knows what sort of damage he may have caused, even from a hospital monitoring unit." He shook his head. "No, we have to find out what he was doing, or attempting to do. If it would cause any danger to our citizens, we have to know how we can protect them."
Down the hall, an old man woke into a dream. Bound to his bed, he had no choice but to allow their drugs to drown his mind in petty fog. Somewhere inside he was giggling, but he wasn't sure how, or if it somehow reached the world outside.
It is done, his self said. You have won, there is no way the world can defeat you, now. All they need is time. You deserved all the time the universe could have offered, you deserved to slip into the stream of eternity, but they can do that for you. They who do not age, who cannot die.
Let the world feel the rage that you have contained for years too numerous to count. Let the lambs be slaughtered before their true masters.
He cackled, lashed to the blankets, and the shadows around him cackled with him. The world was in his hands now. Let it darken and die and turn to ash in his thick knuckled fingers.
The cameras, however, merely captured the sunken visage falling gently to one side, saliva dripping off the edge of an upturned lip as he sighed blissfully.
///
"-so be expecting more heavy rains with the upcoming weekend. Highs and lows will remain steady through Saturday and Sunday, but next Mondays temperatures are expected to drop. That's the weather, back to the news."
"Hm, seems we're getting more rain so far this year than last. Be sure to keep an eye on your children over the weekend, you know how they love to play in the rain.
"Police today had captured the arsonist threatening the markets in the Kanagawa district. They have the suspect in custody but are not releasing his name to the press and- hold on a moment, we seem to be getting an important bulletin. ...I-I, oh my God. E-Everyone, please listen carefully. I have just bee informed that Japan is in the highest stage of alert. Skull Fortress, hideout of Dr. Albert Wily and his Robot Masters, had been reported to have very little activity in the passed two days. However, no more than twenty minutes ago, the Robot Masters had overrun the barricades. They've spread out, all outlying regions are being evacuated. The Japanese Self Defense Force is doing what they can to hold back the attack, but... Everyone is advised to stay indoors. They are all extremely dangerous. We shall being reporting the details as they come." Hands shuffled papers and shook. "Everyone, please be careful.."
///
Disgusting.
It was the only fitting word to come to mind as he surveyed the ruins of Skull Fortress. He had hacked into the hospital monitoring station, tracing the flow of activity. He was far better at guessing the crippled mad man's movements, he knew exactly what he was after. Because he had read up on Wily's most secret files.
After Wily inputted the virus into all the Robot Masters, they went insane. Most went into a mindless blood rage, attacking and killing each other. The weak didn't stand a chance, blood and parts were strewn across the wreckage that once were corridors. Still the Robot Masters' thirst wasn't sated and they began to terrorize and kill humans. A few had already been taken down by the military, frightened mobs picking off the weaker ones as they wandered alone.
It was Wily's final, desperate stab at the world that had forsaken him. And it disgusted Blues to no end.
Blues and Shadow had separated when the unsuspected attack blew out from the fortress a week earlier. They had helped to stop some of the more dangerous Robot Masters, though their attempts were more to slow them down than to kill them. The younger robot wasn't too sure about that idea, but Blues had explained that they are still who they are. Wily's virus just overrode their senses and it was their duty to keep them from harming others and keeping them from harm's way until a cure was found.
Which was what caused the split. Blues had opted to head back to what was left of Wily's lab and try to find a counter agent to the virus while Shadow tried to coordinate a containment unit from behind the scenes. He chose as his unit the only approved source they could get: Dr. Light.
But that new creation of Wily's still bothered him. It hadn't appeared anywhere and he knew the power of it could easily wipe out any thing in it's path, be it human or bioroid.
"I know you're still around here, somewhere." He muttered, picking through the rubble of the once impressively constructed lab. "I know you won't go down so easily." Under his helmet, Blues wrinkled his nose, stepping over one of Pharaoh's cracked and burnt hands, blown off from his arm by the strength of his attack. He had found his body earlier and buried it, along with the bits of Skull.
He really had no idea what he'd do once he found this reploid. All he knew was he needed to stop him somehow from hurting anyone else.
The collapsed ceiling proved to be an unreliable carpet as Blues uneasily wobbled on it for the umpteenth time. He scanned the area coolly, as if it were a clearing he was checking for traps. Standing on the highest mound, he glared at his feet- or rather, at the creature he knew resting under his feet.
He knew how this monster worked, he knew what mind it ran off of and remembering that fact set his blood on fire. He wanted to beat it, he wanted to kill it. He wanted to take back the precious memories he knew were laying dormant, somewhere inside and keep them for his own.
But they were no longer Forte's, he knew. Everything that made up the light-haired bioroid was gone. His mind was chopped up and bits of it discarded, others modified and all of it bastardized until it was no longer the one he had come to love.
Like a buffet, Blues thought ironically. Expect he's destroying things that have the ability to think and feel. Though we're not organic, we're more alive than some of the humans...
For a long while the prototype wasn't sure what he should do. He knew Forte's body was just carelessly discarded somewhere, but had still not been found. Though he desperately wanted to 'put it to rest', so to speak, he didn't think this reploid would stay unconscious for too much longer.
A random thought fell into his head and he dwelled on it for a moment. The more he turned it over in his head, the more problems he saw in it. But the more he was becoming to be attached to the thought. It was foolish, it was dangerous. And he'd get an earful when Shadow found out. The thought made him grin.
Working quickly, he was mildly surprised to find the equipment was still in rather decent shape, given the cave in and the rampant wanderings of unsupervised Robot Masters. He was cautious as he unearthed the blond reploid, shutting him down for the time being. As Blues dragged the reploid to the lab table and hooked him up to the machines, he couldn't help but wonder how it would look to see Forte watching him through that face. In a way, he supposed, they did resemble each other. The sharp face and slim eyes. This new creation wasn't as pale as Forte, but his fingers were still slender and powerful and when his blonde bangs fell messily over his forehead, it seemed Blues could actually pretend that this was the cobra-crested bioroid he had missed for so long.
He smiled bittersweet as he finished plugging the in the cords into the both of them. Reaching up, he pulled off his visored helmet, holding the final headpiece in his hands.
"It must be frightening." Blues murmured to himself. "Trapped in a strange body and knowing only destruction and violence." A gloved hand gave into temptation, running through the cascading hair. "You won't be alone. I'll protect you from the world." For once, he didn't care that his hands were trembling and emotion fell from his eyes and dripped down his cheeks. For once, he truly felt that he was doing the right thing. And he never felt freedom as wonderful as he did that moment. "Just like I had always wanted to."
He slipped the headpiece on and, with only a moment of groping, found the switch to transfer his mind into Zero's. To rejoin his forgotten lover beyond this life.
///
The shadows crawled over him, flooding over the pristine white of the sheets and wriggled over the writhing length of his body. They slide over his skin and in through his ears, dancing over his brain and he could feel them pulling at him, laughing and cackling and snipping away at his head.
He couldn't stay here. He couldn't be here. The narcotics that doctors had given him only furthered his silent hysteria, the straps on his limbs seemed to tighten and their beady holes glared at him, mocking him, daring him to another of his technomancy spells again.
But he couldn't move, he could barely breath and he feared. He feared for his life and his future, he feared the creature he knew buried somewhere under his crushed fortress. And he feared that, even in his most desperate stab at the heart of the world, his creatures still wouldn't be able to fulfill his destiny.
Bathed in a cold sweat, he felt his heart thumping through every artery in his body, eyes wild and wide and searching every crevice in this shadow infested room. They were here, he knew it. He could feel their false hearts thrumming with his, he could taste their metallic scent and heard the rasp of their manmade lungs.
Wherewherewherewherewherewhe-
There was a glint in the corner, one that was never there before, near the ceiling. Fearfully he gazed at it, trying to make out the harsh curves and layered spikes of the armor. The robot smiled maliciously at him, teeth all fangs before, it seemed so unnaturally slow, he let his claws dig out of the wall, falling onto the old man.
There were no screams that infested the midnight halls and somehow no one seemed to notice the blood that leaked slowly out from under the door until it had dried on the floor and the walls. The human's remains were locked in an iron box and the news across the world would never know the full extent of the murder, just that his mad genius was finally put to rest.