Chapter 2: Nothing Lasts Forever
"However, such things cannot be said to truly 'end.' There is no end to conflict; there is only a short time in which we regroup before the next battle begins." -Dr. James Cain, Reploids And Their Place In Society
"Come on... come on... YES!" Blues yelled as his car blasted across the finish line in first place. His siblings fell back and groaned.
"Aw, man... that had to have been luck!"
"Or cheating..." Rock muttered. "After some of the things I saw 'Break Man' do in the Third Robot Rebellion, I wouldn't be surprised one bit." Blues grinned and gave his brother a noogie.
"Yeah, right little bro! Face facts; Johnny Turbo with me at the controls is unbeatable! Now, what were we betting again?"
"Betting? What betting?" Roll asked innocently, a little too quick. Blues just gave her a look.
"Oh, no you don't, sis. Don't even TRY any of that stuff. Rock, do you remember what we bet?"
"Yeah..." The younger boy sighed. "We have to do your household chores for a week."
"That's it?" Blues blinked. "Man, I KNEW I shoulda pushed for money. Ah well, at least there's no more dusting or sweeping for me until next friday. Wonder when dad's gonna..." He stopped and looked out the window. "Nevermind, there he is... hey, dad. How'd it go?"
"Hello, Blues. Rock, Roll." Dr. Light greeted them as he walked into the house. "It went fine; it was good to see Dr. Corbun and Mr. X again, and Vinkus was better behaved than usual."
"Will wonders never cease." Roll... well... rolled her eyes heavenward. Dr. Light just shrugged.
"I've given up trying to justify that man's attitude a long time ago, Roll. As long as he's civil, I consider it a good meeting. How has your afternoon been? The front yard looked suitably chaotic, so I assume your snow games were a success?" Rock frowned, remembering how it had ended.
"Yeah, I suppose so. About that... there's something we need to talk to you about." His siblings nodded. "Either of you know where Eddie is?" On cue, the little suitcase robot trotted down the stairs. Dr. Light blinked.
"Is something wrong with Eddie?"
"You could say that..." Roll thought for a moment. "The problem is... well, at the end of the snow war, Eddie spontaneously made the decision to join in. Creamed us all really good, as a matter of fact. But that's not the point here. The point is, HOW? Eddie's just a robot... isn't he?"
"Yes... yes, this is troubling." Dr. Light frowned, eyes widening as he looked down at the brown robot. Eddie beeped innocently. "Give me a moment to think about this..." The doctor sat down in a chair. After a few seconds, he turned to Roll. "Could you please get me all the files from Eddie's schematics folder, as well as those of his yearly checkups?" Roll nodded.
"No problem." Within a few minutes, she had returned with the files. Dr. Light perused them, then smiled.
"Hmmm... interesting. I thought it might have been something like this..."
"What? What is it?" Rock demanded. Dr. Light shifted his gaze to him.
"Well, Rock... do you remember what you and Roll were like when you were first activated? Not nearly as bright as you are now. Rather dull... structured. In a word... robotic. However, you grew out of it in time... you learned more eventually, as Blues did." The senior robot nodded.
"Yo."
"It didn't stop there, though..." The doctor continued. "You kept on growing... slightly, but you did. Up until the point where you began to defy the Third Law of Robotics on occasion... and the second..."
"Yeah..." Rock looked down. "If you don't mind... could we not dwell on that too much?"
"No problem. Back to Eddie..." Dr. Light looked back at the papers. "What Eddie has been doing... at a much slower, greatly decreased rate for the past several years... is much the same. These charts indicate a miniscule increase in his mind... eventually culminating in what happened today."
"But... how?" Roll shook her head. "He's just a robot... a very advanced one, yes. But no Robot Master."
"Well..." Dr. Light picked a few papers out. "There's a pattern in the increase. Although Eddie was built and activated years before, the increase didn't begin until Blues was created... and it stopped after he disappeared, not recurring until Rock and Roll's creation. It went on from there, at a slightly increased rate... which got even greater after Blues rejoined us."
"So what you're saying is..." Blues whistled in realization. "That this has to do with us?" Dr. Light nodded.
"Yes. It seems the presence of Advanced Robot Masters has a highly stimulating effect upon the more advanced ordinary robots. I wouldn't be surprised at all to see Rush teaching himself new tricks one of these days." Rush, the robotic dog of the Lights, was a bright red mutt with an overenthusiastic personality, a great eagerness to please and a fondness for greetings at high velocity. He had also helped Rock in the Third (and last) Robot Rebellion with his abilities to transform into a springboard, a jetboard or a mini-submarine. Hearing his name, the robo-dog raised his head from where he was curled up in a corner and barked. "Anyways, Eddie spent a great deal of time observing you three, so it's natural that he'd try to pick up on some of your behavior with his new thought processes."
"Well, we don't want to go TOO far with that line of thinking." Roll said, casting a sly glance at her eldest brother. "If he hangs out with Blues too much, he might start wearing shades and whistling all the time. Having one robot in the house doing that is more than enough."
"You should talk, sis." Blues shot back. "Imagine the poor guy in drag and a blond wig, with a tongue sharper than Vinkus'!" Roll calmly reached over and grabbed her brother by the hair.
"I'm sorry, dear brother. I don't believe that I heard you correctly. What was that last comment?"
"I refuse to answer that question by reason of wanting to avoid having to buy a toupee."
"Children, please." Dr. Light sighed, rubbing his eyes. "Not now. I've answered your question for you; actually, it should be very interesting to see how far this progress. It's pretty much impossible that Eddie will ever rise up to your level, or that of any Robot Master, but it will still be worth observing, methinks. Not now, though. Right now, I feel like taking a nap."
"Go ahead, dad." Rock shrugged. "Not like there's anything world-threatening going on any more."
"Thank god for small favors..." Dr. Light commented wryly as he turned and walked up the stairs.
"Third Ring, this is Dr. Cossack. Report." Dr. Sergei Cossack ordered into the computer's microphone, opening a voice connection. A moment passed, and a robotic voice responded to the call.
"Dr. Cossack. Unit SKD-38 ID#90 reporting as ordered. The setup of defenses here is nearly completed; as planned, the Third Ring of the Citadel should be fully operational by 2000 hours GMT tonight, barring any unforseen major mechanical errors." Dr. Cossack sighed and leaned back in his chair. Dr. Cossack was a tall, relatively slim man in his mid-thirties, with orange hair and beard that had not yet begun to grey around the edges. He lifted his glasses and sat back up, nodding.
"Good, #90. My Citadel must be completely reinforced by midnight. That is when we shall launch our attack; at the zero hour. In the middle of the night, nobody will be on guard. Why should they be? They expect no more of these... but they are wrong. Tonight, we shall change the minds of many people... in more ways than one. There are many ways to look at what we will do tonight... a long-needed lesson, perhaps even a wake-up call to the world..."
"Sir?" The robot on the other end of the line asked mildly, not designed to understand such talk. Dr. Cossack realized that he was mostly just talking to himself and spoke to the robot again.
"Forget it, #90. Never mind; it's not that important. Return to your duties now. I expect you and the rest in your section to have the Third Ring completely up and running by midnight GMT at the very latest; when we launch our attack, the Citadel HAS to be impregnable. No room for error, do you understand me?"
"Yes, Dr. Cossack. It shall be done." The connection died. Dr. Cossack pulled up a map of his citadel and began inspecting it.
"Good... First, Second and Fourth Rings are running smoothly, with no problems. That just leaves the Third Ring, and my citadel will be impenetrable, as it needs to be... as it must be, in order for what I have labored for to work successfully." The young doctor bowed his head, eyes closed in sorrow; when he opened them again, they were filled with tears. "Everything I have done... I had no other choice, no options. There was only this. Kalinka, please forgive me...there was no other way." His face stiffened, became resolute. "I had to do this... even though I damn myself, and damn all of my labors in robotics, by doing so." Dr. Cossack closed the map and opened some more communications links. Eight of them, to be precise. "All Robot Masters, this is Dr. Cossack. Report the status of your respective forces. Over." Once again, the room was silent for a short time; and then, eight different voices began to respond at once.
"Unit eight here... everything is going fine, for once."
"Unit seven. No problems."
"This is Unit six. We're ready to launch at any time, doctor."
"Unit five reporting. The attack can commence at your command."
"Unit four is at 100% of our capabilities."
"Unit three is okay to go."
"Unit two coming in... we've got everything handled here."
"I guess that just leaves us... unit one. Like the others, we're all just waiting on your call, doctor."
"Good, good." Dr. Cossack nodded in approval. On the other side of each of those connections was a Robot Master... one of his own personal design, completely unique. "You all know your orders?"
"Of course, Doctor." The commander of unit four replied. "We are robots, after all. We are designed to follow and execute orders by our very nature, are we not? We know what we're doing."
"Good... and I don't know about that question any more, really... definitions almost always change over time, after all, and robots in particular..." Dr. Cossack passed a weary hand across his brow. "But now is not the time to think about such things. Now is the time to prepare for what we shall have to do soon. Next question. Do you all know your targets and goals?"
"I see no reason why not." The commander of unit two spoke again. "None of us are stupid, are we? You should know, doctor; you built us, after all. Once we are given important information, we remember it, and you have supplied us with everything we need to know in both of those fields."
"Humor me." Dr. Cossack replied tersely. "Repeat them." The voice of unit eight's leader sighed.
"Very well, doctor... our targets are eight specific and highly valuable locations the world over. My unit, for example, shall depart for the World Garbage Processing Plant, in Los Angeles, California, in the United States. The other seven shall do much the same in different places. Once we arrive, we shall seize our locations, garrison the units there, and imprison all the humans as hostages. We are not to harm any of them, simply to hold them prisoner. Then, when the target arrives, we are to devote all of our unit's forces to his complete destruction."
"Excellent. That's it exactly." Dr. Cossack congratulated him. "Now, then. You are the who, you know the what, where and why, and as for the how..." He smiled briefly. "Well, I should hope that requires no explanation."
"From anybody other than you, it would be an insult to even suggest otherwise, doctor." Unit five's leader growled.
"Patience, brother." The third reprimended him. "Anyways, doctor. That leaves only one factor for you to enlighten us on. When."
"Indeed. That is why I called you all." Dr. Cossack agreed. "The when... very well. We will make our move... tonight, at midnight exactly, Greenwich Mean Time."
"A good time for it... I always do prefer the night." The seventh commander agreed. "And if I'm not mistaken... will tomorrow not be three years to the day since the destruction of the third Skull Fortress?" Dr. Cossack nodded grimly.
"Indeed it shall be."
"Trust you to know about skull-related things, brother..." The sixth unit's leader rumbled in a deep bass voice. "Thank you for sharing that... I doubt I would have figured it out on my own. An auspicious date indeed... when the so-called 'Ultimate War Machine' was destroyed, and Dr. Albert Wily-"
"I have asked you before not to mention that name." Dr. Cossack interrupted him curtly. "Please, try to show some memory retention for once. Do not do it again, understood?" There was an awkward silence before the apologetic robot master spoke up again.
"I am sorry, doctor. It shall be as you command."
"Good." Dr. Cossack nodded. "You all have your orders, and you all know what to do. At midnight, carry them out. You are dismissed." Seven of the connections were cut off; however, one remained open.
"Doctor, are you absolutely sure about what we are going to do?" The commander of the first unit asked him, worried. "I did not want to say this in front of the others, but... I have some... misgivings about this... about the whole thing."
"You are not the only one, Pharaoh Man." Dr. Cossack addressed the Robot Master by name for the first time.
"It is still not too late, doctor. We can change the plan, call it off before midnight, stop it..." Dr. Cossack's eyes flashed.
"No, Pharaoh Man. You're wrong; we cannot do that. It's too late... things have progressed far too much for us to turn back now, even if we wanted to. The attack shall go forth, as planned... I order it." Pharaoh Man fell silent, then sighed.
"As you command, Doctor. Pharaoh Man out."
"This meeting of the head council of the United Nations will now resume. Counciller Martel presiding." The white-haired man announced. The meeting appeared to be a simple congregation; men and women from all over the world gathered in a large chamber, each sitting in their respective places to represent their homelands. However, this was not as it looked; thanks to modern technology, each counciller was actually in a similar room in their own country, facing realtime holographic representations of the other members. Even those who disliked overly relying on technology, such as Darwin Vinkus from Japan, had to agree that this was an excellent and effective usage of holographics. Counciller Martel from the United States shuffled through some papers, then cleared his throat. "Our last order of business for today... the authorization for the creation of Robot Masters by individual members of society." A shocked murmur ran through the congregation. Before, Robot Masters had only legally been produced by the big-name corporations in Robotics; Lighttech, the first, with their Achilles, Heracles, Orpheus, Hephaestus, Helios and Icarus models; the now-defunct Sennet Robotics, which had created the Magnus, Spinstrike, Ripwood, Zapplug, Smashbody, Pinhead, Serpos and Gemini models; and the simply named US Robotics, who while not having any on the market currently, had announced that they would be changing that very shortly with such models as "Starshine" and "Tsunami." The only evidence of individual, non-corporation creation of Robot Masters aside from the initial "births" of Blues, Rock and Roll was when eight other Robot Masters had been produced illegally by Dr. Albert Wily for the second Robot Rebellion. Darwin Vinkus was the first to recover from the shock. He raised his hand, and Martel nodded. "You have the floor, Counciller Vinkus."
"With all due respect to you, and to the other councillers, I must protest this in the strongest terms possible!" Vinkus spluttered. "Allowing construction of Robot Masters by private citizens? Unthinkable!"
"What is so unthinkable about it, Counciller Vinkus?" Louis Arcian from France countered. "Robot Masters have been in production for five years now for years with no problem... in fact, with a great deal of success. Both Lighttech and Sennet's models were great successes-in their time-and US Robotics shows to be continuing that soon. Allowing this will only further the success, and the benefit to humanity!"
"Need I remind you of the eventual fate of both Lighttech's and Sennet's Robot Masters, Counciller Arcian?" Vinkus growled sourly. "Fodder for the Robot Rebellions, all of them, pitted in a war against humanity itself! We should consider ourselves lucky to have survived ONE of those, let alone THREE! And here, you want to create the potential-nay, the probability-for yet another Robot Rebellion? How many times will you throw humanity to the mechanical sharks before you realize what a threat Robot Masters are to all of us, Counciller Arcian? How many times?"
"Your argument leaves out a pair of very crucial points, Counciller Vinkus." This time, the speaker was Elizabeth Coombe of England. "In fact, the two most key points-and people-of the Rebellions. Firstly, there is the fact that all three of the Rebellions were the fault of one man... one HUMAN man. Dr. Albert Wily was the true cause of the Robot Rebellions, and all of the Robot Masters, whether Lighttech, Sennet or his own design, were simply his tools." The UN representatives, like the rest of the world, believed that the entirety of the Third Robot Rebellion had been Wily's fault as well; a subterfuge designed by the Lights to conceal the involvement of the maniacal Doc Man in order to prevent Vinkus' mindset from becoming dominant. "Secondly, there is the sole reason that we DID survive those Robot Rebellions. It was not luck, Counciller Vinkus. It was because of one boy... a ROBOTIC boy. Rock Light, or Mega Man if you prefer, stepped forward not once, not twice, but thrice to put his own life on the line for the preservation of humanity. That, more than anything else, speaks for the Robot Masters."
"Rock Light... Mega Man..." Vinkus muttered. That name-those names-brought back memories, memories which he would prefer to forget... of the night when Mega Man departed to assult the Third Skull Fortress, and the look on his face... Darwin Vinkus had his own reasons for doubting Mega Man, but they were reasons which none of the other UN members would believe. "It is true that Mega Man singlehandedly saved us from Dr. Wily, Counciller Coombe. However, this is not neccessarily a completely good thing. Do we really want to place the safety of the entire world on the shoulders of one robot? Such a course of action seems foolhardy to me, to say the least. What if something should happen to him? Mighty as he is, Mega Man is still made of mortal metal and wiring like any other robot. If he was destroyed, or worse, and another Rebellion occured..."
"What do you mean, 'or worse,' Counciller Vinkus?" Arcian frowned. "What could be worse than destruction for young Rock?"
"Well..." Vinkus looked downward. "For all his strong points, we must remember that Rock is, after all, not human. He is still a Robot Master. Can he truly understand the same way of life as us? What if he were to change... to decide that perhaps humans aren't so great after all?"
"Counciller Vinkus, with all due respect, I think you should cease that line of thinking immediately." Martel growled. "There are some things which we do not say, some lines we do not cross, out of decency if nothing else... and you are coming very close to one of them. We owe that boy a tremendous debt of gratitude, and we will not listen to you sullying his name here." Vinkus smirked.
"Very well. I simply wish to remind all of you of the threat implicit in any powerful technology, robotics included. Any kind of power must be used carefully, lest it turn and destroy those who use it; this is a basic rule known by all humanity. Do you remember the Third World War, gentlemen? I know that I do... there, humanity came within a hair of ending it all by using the most deadly technology to date; nuclear weapons."
"But the Second Rainbow countered that... healed the world, using technology as well." Coombe argued. Vinkus glared at her frostily.
"Counciler Coombe, do you think I am an amnesiac, perhaps? I myself was one of the members of the Second Rainbow before I came to this position. And I can tell you, it was not all heroism and world-saving, especially to a boy of sixteen, which I was when I was summoned there."
"Precocious." Arcian muttered. Vinkus continued on as if he hadn't heard.
"Yes, we created marvelous new technology. Yes, we preserved our existence with it. But we did so knowing the threat it could all become; and some of it was turned to evil in the Rebellions. Any marvel can be perverted, councillers; especially that of technology. As I've said before..."
"Excuse me, Counciller Vinkus, but I believe you are starting to repeat yourself." Martel stopped the technophobe in his tracks. "You seem to have finished all that there is to be said on this issue. I now call for a vote on the issue. Should construction of Robot Masters be allowed for private individuals? Remember, this is an anonymous vote, so don't worry about showing your views." Each of the councillers made a decision on their computer screens. Some chose almost instantly, like Vinkus and Arcian, and some took longer. Eventually, the last of the representatives from Switzerland made her choice, and all of the computer screens showed the results; the authorization was passed. Vinkus growled some unprintable words in several assorted languages, but raised no further open resistance. Martel smiled.
"Excellent. It shall take effect at exactly midnight tonight, Greenwich Mean Time. Now, unless anybody has something of drastic importance that simply cannot wait, we shall adjourn for the night. Or day, for some of you." The councillers shook their heads.
"There was something I wished to bring up, considering a certain robotocist, but it can wait until tomorrow." The Russian representative shrugged. Martel nodded.
"In that case... meeting adjourned."
"Yawn... good evening, Rock. Roll, Blues." Dr. Light greeted the Light children as he walked down the stairs. "Did anything of earth-shaking importance happen while I was napping?"
"Oh, not much." Blues deadpanned. "Old Doc Wily rose from the grave and came barreling down the street in a tank is all. We pelted him with potatoes and peaches until he headed for the hills." Roll whacked him over the head. "OW! What the heck was THAT for?"
"For being an idiot." Roll answered calmly. "Ignoring Blues' warped view on reality, no, nothing important happened, dad." Blues glared at her and muttered something about the full moon. Dr. Light nodded.
"Ah, good. I didn't want to miss any tank attacks. They usually come in around this time of the day, after all." That comment earned him a couch pillow to the face courtesy of his oldest son. Rock sighed and covered his face.
"Clowns... all of you..."
"What was that?" Roll blinked. Rock just sighed.
"I'm surrounded by clowns in this family. You three are causing more trouble with each other than Rush did when he suddenly got the bright notion that it would be a good idea to chase Eddie around the house at top speed." The robotic dog barked happily, while Eddie emitted a few low, dismayed beeps.
"Aw, cheer up, bro-bot!" Blues seized Rock in a fierce noogie again.
"Will you stop doing that?!" The younger robot yelled. Blues shook his head, smile unwavering.
"See, there you go again. Remember what I kept telling you back when I was Break Man? Don't be so gloomy all the time! Relax a bit, take it easy, enjoy life! And it looks like you didn't listen too well, which is why we're giving you a refresher course! Trust me, it'll increase your life expectancy, if nothing else."
"Robots don't acquire physical health problems due to their anger and/or depression, Blues. That's humans." Rock smiled anyways. "Anyways, I'm not the serious one by choice, you know."
"Oh?" Roll raised an eyebrow. Rock nodded firmly.
"Yeah. You're a wisemouth, dad can be a bit of a doofus, and Blues is just plain wierd."
"I'll take that as a compliment, bro." The elder robot whistled his favorite tune nonchalantly. Rock shot him a glare.
"As I was saying... Rush is hard to control, and Eddie... has been acting odd as of late."
"Oh, I get it." Dr. Light suddenly realized. "Eddie was the anchor of normalcy up until recently... and now that he's been acting up, you're feeling more like that position yourself." Rock shrugged.
"SOMEBODY's gotta do it... if for no other reason than keeping the rest of you from blowing up the house or something."
"Why?" Blues asked him. "Why does somebody have to be 'normal?' Face facts, bro; our little family is about as UN-normal as possible. Show me one other family in the world that contains both humans and Robot Masters on equal-well, nearly equal-terms, and I'll show you a great steaming pile of horse-"
"We get the picture." Roll interrupted hastily. Rock's smile grew a bit wider.
"Heh... point. But still... I don't know why, but for some reason... there just needs to be something holding things down to earth, keeping them from getting TOO out of whack. It's strange, really..." Blues blinked, and his eyes narrowed. Once again, he mentally thanked himself for always wearing the oversized shades; the others couldn't see what was going on in his eyes, which came in handy a lot of the time. Such as now.
"Even so, bro... nobody said you had to be gloom and doom to be stable. Come on, I know you're really a happier guy than this. You were fine this morning. Crack a joke or something!"
"What'll you do if I do?" Rock challenged. Blues thought.
"Hmmm... well, it can't just be anything. Tell you what. Remember that bet we made on the racing game? If you get Miss Cynical Roll to laugh, I'll reverse it and do YOUR chores for a week." Rock grinned and snatched something off the table.
"Done and done!" He splashed the contents of the bottle on Blues. The elder robot let out a mild oath and frowned, examining his clothes.
"What the-thanks a lot, bro. What THAT was supposed to be, I'll never know. Hmph... this stuff should wash out. What is it?" Rock grinned even wider, showing him the bottle.
"A-1 steak sauce. And now... oh, Rush!" The robotic dog's ears perked up, and he immediately came to attention, sniffing at the air. Blues' eyes widened as he realized what would happen.
"Aw, no... I'll get you for this, Rock!" Swearing, he bolted for the front door with Rush in hot pursuit, barking happily. Roll nearly fell over laughing.
"HAHAHAHAHA! He'll be running for hours! That's one for your side, Rock, no question about that!"
"I rather liked it." Rock smirked. Dr. Light shook his head wearily.
"Children... sometimes you amaze me, and sometimes the opposite. I'm going to go make myself dinner. Please, try not to destroy the house." Muttering to himself, the robotocist walked away.
"I'm gonna go up and use the computer for a bit." Rock told his sister. "Care to place a bet on how long Blues is gone?"
"With your luck tonight, no way, bro." Roll declined. Rock left up the stairs, saying only one more word.
"Spoilsport!"
"Ugh..." Roll's attention was drawn to the front door, where Blues was walking back inside. She blinked.
"Now, I'm really glad I didn't place any bets... where's Rush? How'd you get him off ya?"
"Ever seen a DOG stuck up a tree?" Blues replied tersely. Roll winced.
"No... can't say I have."
"Look out front." The elder robot looked around. "Both dad and Rock gone?"
"Yeah... other things to do." Roll nodded. Blues sat down in a large armchair and motioned for her to take a place on the nearby couch.
"Good... we need to talk. I figured out what Rock meant with all that about anchorage to reality..." Roll sat, curious.
"Oh? What?"
"Quite simply... it's an effect of the Rebellions. Particularly his enemies... Wily and Doc Man were both stark raving bonkers. Poor Rock had to deal with nutjobs, fight them, a lot more than any kid should have. Remember what he was like near the end of the Third Rebellion? I wasn't in this house with him, but I still saw him a lot, so I know. That still hasn't completely gone away, even after three years... it probably never will." Roll nodded, slightly amazed by the perception of her goofy-seeming brother. She had to keep reminding herself that there was a lot more to Blues than what he chose to show outwardly most of the time.
"So what can we do to help him?"
"To help?" Blues shrugged. "There's not much... he's the only one who knows how his thoughts really work. All we can do is try to keep him happy and cheery... and hope that there aren't any more Rebellions."
Dr. Cossack had not spoken in the last hour. Ever since the Third Ring had been completed, finishing his Citadel, the russian doctor had stayed motionless and silent, contemplating what he was about to do... what he was about to unleash upon the world once more. None of his robots had disturbed him, as per his orders. But now, it was nearly time. With one last silent apology, Dr. Sergei Cossack opened his eyes.
"The time has come." Watching the clock set to Greenwich Mean Time out of the corner of his eyes, he sent out eight communications links once again, to the eight seperate forces massed outside his Citadel.
"Doctor, everything is ready. We await your command." Pharaoh Man, commander of the first unit of the robot army, spoke for all of them. Dr. Cossack nodded briefly, not turning away from the clock.
"It shall come, Pharaoh Man. This has been so long in coming; a few more seconds will not make a difference, and the time is not yet midnight yet."
"This hardly seems the time for melodrama, all things considered, doctor." Pharaoh Man observed. "You humans can be very strange at times... as if you see rationality different from us Robot Masters." Dr. Cossack chuckled sadly.
"I suppose we do, Pharaoh Man... I suppose we do..." The clock hit Midnight, and announced it with the noise of bells far too large to fit inside a tiny electronic timepiece. But Dr. Cossack did not care; he had his mind on other things as he straightened his back and raised his voice. "There... the time is now! All units, teleport to your locations! Let the Fourth Robot Rebellion... BEGIN!"
