Chapter 4: Cleanup Job

"You know something, Crys? Screw Serges. Screw all of 'em. So I'm a moth. So I work in junk. When you look at my specialty, you just see worthless garbage. A fatal mistake... because I know how to make the slag work for me. Anybody who underestimates the scrap is gonna get a hard lesson in the art of junkyard wars."-Maverick General Morph Moth under the X-Hunter Triumverate, during the Second Maverick Uprising

"All systems check out. We're ready to go." Roll announced. She, Dr. Light and Blues were all wearing protective gear. Rock, however, was inside the upgrade capsule. The old piece of machinery had been used since the First Rebellion to modify Rock, from installing the armor and arm cannon to putting in Robot Master Weapons Chips. The younger male robot was stripped down to his shorts.

"Any time you're ready." He called to them. Dr. Light nodded.

"It's a good thing Blues still has his armor... without it to use as a model, it would have taken a lot longer to reconstruct yours." Rock's previous set of armor, which he had used for the past three Rebellions, had been completely destroyed at the end of the Third when he had launched himself in a suicidal Top Spin energy overload to destroy Gamma, the Ultimate War Machine... an act that had almost claimed Rock's life along with the slagged armor.

"If you blow up this armor, brother, we're going to melt down your video game collection for the next one, so watch it!" Roll joked, checking a monitor. "All right... the Mega Buster seems to be integrating perfectly with the suit... wait a second." She looked up, frowning. "What's this 'Variable Weapons System 2.0'?"

"Ah yes, I had almost forgotten about that..." Dr. Light smiled. "Another upgrade for you, Rock... in the past, you always had to bring the Weapons Chips back here to get them installed. No more... with this, you'll be able to acquire the weapons in the field from a defeated enemy. It's not much, but..."

"Helpful, nonetheless." Rock nodded. "It's great, dad, but could we hurry up, please? It's already been a day... and I don't want to think about what Cossack will do if he gets impatient."

"Point made." Dr. Light agreed. "All systems go! Three... two... one... NOW!" He flipped a switch, and Rock's world was suddenly nothing but bright, flashing light. Dimly, as if only watching somebody else going through it from far away, he felt burning pain envelop his body... lighter at some points, worse at others... gradually, though, the pain faded, leaving only the light. With the exception of his hands... they kept burning, the pain growing more and more, until it was no longer dim and far away, until he was screaming from it. Somehow, he realized that the pain would lessen if he willed it all into just one hand. And it worked; his left hand was suddenly fine, as if nothing had ever happened. His right hand, however... it screamed for release, for some way to get rid of the fire-

"WHOA!" Blues yelled, diving out of the way as a giant blue supershot of plasma came tearing through the upgrade capsule and across the room before slamming into a wall, leaving a smoking crater. All three of the Lights stared as Rock slowly pried himself out of the ruined capsule.

"The Mega Buster works." He told them sheepishly. Blues gave him a look.

"Yeeeeaaaaah, we kinda gathered as much, Rock. I should certainly hope so; if that WASN'T the Mega Buster working, I don't think I'd like to see what IS. Why the hell'd you do that, anyways?"

"It wasn't like I did it intentionally." Rock explained. "I just felt it building up in my hands, and I had to get rid of it."

"Wait. BOTH HANDS?" Roll exploded. "You IDIOT! That could have been Double Buster Overload! You almost killed yourself!"

"Saving Cossack the trouble, huh..." Rock muttered. "At any rate... it worked. Mega Man is back." The armor he wore was a icy blue undersuit, with darker blue thicker armored gloves, boots, helmet and (much to his embarrassment) tights. He made his hands into busters, one at a time, and nodded. "Everything seems a-okay."

"Don't go testing those things out here any more, okay?" Blues sighed, running a hand over the crater and wincing at the extent of the damage. "You've already killed our property value. And the Upgrade capsule."

"!!!" There was a frenzied beeping from low to the floor at this announcement, and the Lights all looked down at Eddie. Roll frowned.

"What is it, Ed?" The little suitcase robot responded with a stream of binary, and all three of the Light children's eyes widened. "WHAT?"

"What did he say?" Dr. Light asked, worried. Rock was staring at Eddie.

"He said... he said you need to fix the upgrade capsule... so he can use it..." He frowned. "Ed, what do you need it FOR?" Another stream of binary.

"You want a teleporter?" Blues looked confused. "Why do you want THAT?" Eddie rolled his eyes, then in a tone that even Dr. Light understood, told them something to the effect of "Shut up and let me explain." Then, he went on to do so; basically, he would use the teleporter to assist Mega Man by bringing him support items to refill his energy stores. An armor upgrade would be helpful as well, once they could do so, so that he wouldn't be completely vaporized by a stray bomb or anything. Dr. Light sat back, obviously disturbed by this.

"Eddie... WHY?" In order to help uphold the First Law of Robotics, the little suitcase robot went on. All the others were helping Rock, and Rock was saving human lives. Only Eddie hadn't been able to assist in the effort thus far... and now he could. By doing so, he would help minimize loss of human lives. It was a sound extension... but original thought on THIS level, coming from Eddie...

"...All right, Ed." Blues grunted. "You're right. Dad, how bad is that capsule?" Dr. Light examined it.

"Not that bad, really... we could probably actually stick that teleporter in you right now, Ed. It's not that complicated an upgrade, and the damage is to the upper part of the capsule. Additional defense, though... that'll need me to fix the whole thing first. Are you sure you want to get the teleporter put in now?" He was, Eddie confirmed. The Second Law of Robotics, that dealing with self-preservation, was, well, secondary next to the First Law protecting human life. Dr. Light shrugged. "All right..."

"How long will it take you to repair it, though?" Blues asked, strangely intent. Dr. Light thought for a moment.

"About a day. Why?"

"Oh, no reason." The elder robot shrugged. Mega glared at him.

"No reason? Yeah, right, bro."

"Fine, it's a secret." Blues smirked. "Tell you what, I'll let you in on it when you come back from your first rescue mission, okay? There, some extra incentive to come back alive!"

"It'll have to do..." Mega nodded. "Let's see here... eight locations. I'll head to LA first... get that out of the way."

"You got something against Californians?" Roll blinked. Her brother shook his head.

"No... but the attack site's the World Garbage Processing Plant. That promises to be even more unpleasant than the New York Sewer System... Cossack can really pick 'em in the US, can't he?"

"Nobody said he was gonna make it easy on you." Blues reminded him. Mega grinned weakly.

"Maybe I don't like easy. At any rate... I'm heading off now. I'll see you all tomorrow or so." With that, he disappeared in a blue beam of light. Dr. Light looked up after him sadly for a moment, then clapped his hands together.

"Well! Let's get to work, then. First Eddie, then repairing the capsule... we'll be busy, at least!"

"He's certainly taking his time with this..." Dr. Sergei Cossack muttered. The doctor was sitting in his control center; the giant main monitor was displaying a map of the world and constantly scanning for warp signatures. So far, nothing. "It's been an entire day since I made that transmission... and he hasn't made a move. What the hell is he doing?" There were several possibilities, none of them pleasant. One, he hadn't recieved the message. Highly unlikely, after all the trouble he had taken to make sure he DID. Second, he had recieved it and wasn't doing anything to stop it. More likely than the first, but still, doubtful. From what he had researched on Mega Man (and he had done a lot of research), the blue robot would sooner blow off his own head than let something like this go unhalted. That left the third possibility; that the delay was to prepare something for the effort. Some new weapon or something... a decidedly unattractive thing to think about. Dr. Cossack shuddered, then sighed. Not that all his worrying mattered, anyways. The Rebellion had been started; he had done it. Now, it was Mega Man's hand, and the russian doctor could only wait to see what his adversary played.

"Warp signature detected." The computer beeped at him, and Dr. Cossack smiled in relief.

"Finally... there he goes." The hand had been played, and it would reveal itself shortly. Cossack would be ready when that happened; he had already done too much, sacrificed too much for this Rebellion not to give every ounce of his being over to seeing it through. He HAD to... failure was inconcievable. The doctor shut his eyes, deep in sad thought for a moment... then opened them, once more fierce and determined. "Computer, what is the destination of the warp signature, and are we sure it is Mega Man?"

"Analyzing warp signature... please wait..." The computer responded pleasantly, before starting to hum. A short while later, it beeped again and brought up a map of the globe. Ten locations were marked there; his castle, the eight attack points being held by his Robot Masters, and Dr. Light's house in Tokyo, Japan. Above and below the map were pictures of the Robot Masters. Two of the points on the map were flashing. "Analysis complete. Warp signature belongs to Advanced Robot Master DLN001 Rock/Mega Man Light. Departure Point: Dr. Thomas Light's house, Tokyo, Japan. Destination Point: The Los Angeles World Garbage Processing Plant, California, The United States. This departure point is the exact same location as-"

"As Dust Man and his armies, yes I know, computer." Dr. Cossack nodded. "So he's going after Dust Man first, eh..." The doctor smiled. "I wonder why... possibly because he thinks Dust Man's weak.. easy to take out. If that's the case, he'll regret that mistaken decision before he's done... despite the questionable morality of their purpose, my Robot Masters are all mighty warriors. If Mega Man is going to underestimate them, that is his mistake... and his folly." Cossack frowned. "On the other hand, perhaps I am the one underestimating my opponent... Mega Man is a very powerful adversary. He DID conquer three Rebellions, even if he has not yet achieved his goal of stopping them forever. No, he would not underestimate Dust Man; he must have learned never to underestimate an enemy by now, or he would not have survived this long. And that day they took before he made any sort of response... I don't like it. I don't like it at all. Mega Man's up to something... he has to be." He chewed on his lip for a moment, deep in thought, then nodded as he came to a decision. "Right. Computer, open a communication to Dust Man at the WGPP in Los Angeles."

"Acknowledged." The computer replied before settling back into humming. Dr. Cossack sighed.

"Even today, it takes forever for a computer to establish a connection... oy. I suppose there's some deep, meaningful moral lesson in that... but for the life of me, I don't know what it is." He shrugged. "Don't really care, either. I have more important things to think about than ten-cent moral lessons like you can get out of a fortune cookie right now..." He fell silent and let the computer do its work. A few minutes later, the world map was replaced by a video connection. In the window, looking dully back at his creator, was the Robot Master named Dust Man.

"Good evening, Dr. Cossack." Dust Man greeted him in a monotone drone. The Robot Master's head was dominated by a huge, grey square opening that curled back into a huge, short length of tubing connected to his back. This apparatus was Dust Man's weapons system; it could create a suction force powerful enough to rip walls off, or expel his signature weapon, the Dust Crusher. Below the opening, all Dust Man really had for a head was a pair of eyes above the rest of his sky-blue-armored body. He blinked a few times before continuing with his speech. "If you do not mind my inquiry... what is the meaning of this call?"

"Of course I don't mind, Dust Man. Don't be silly." Dr. Cossack laughed. "If I minded, then why would I have made this call to you in the first place?" Dust Man blinked again.

"I suppose that makes sense... please explain then, doctor."

"I'm calling to give you a warning. Be prepared." Dr. Cossack explained seriously, all traces of humor now gone. "Mega Man has chosen you as his first target. Even now, he is en route to the WGPP. I would expect him to arrive there and come for you in only a short time."

"I see." Dust Man thought for a moment, looking slightly confused. "And... excuse me for asking, but... is that all you called me for?" Now Dr. Cossack was the one who was confused.

"Well... yes. Don't you think that's a sound reason to contact you? You need to know, after all..."

"And why is that?" Dust Man responded. "The knowledge that Mega Man is coming makes no difference at all. My robots are already at their most effective patrol patterns, and the plant is set up to repel him. If he makes it past, then we will fight, and the better Robot Master shall triumph. What does knowledge about his coming here soon change? I do not understand."

"...Dust Man." Dr. Cossack covered his eyes. "I... nevermind. Sometimes I wonder if you Robot Masters are really as advanced as you're supposed to be."

"Doubtful." Dust Man shook his head, uninsulted. "Human nature is such that it often exaggerates the greatness of its achievements. There is no reason that Robot Masters should be exempt."

"Yes, I suppose so." Dr. Cossack rolled his eyes. "However, believe me... I am not exaggerating about this. You are the most depressing robot I have ever met." Dust Man's eyes twitched in what almost looked like a kind of smile.

"You are the one who created me." The Robot Master reminded him. Dr. Cossack nodded.

"True, true. At any rate... I have to go now, Dust Man. Just remember... be on your guard."

"If you say so, Doctor." Dust Man sighed and nodded.

The first thing Mega Man saw was garbage. Lots of garbage. He wrinkled his nose. "I'm in the right place, all right." Created after the Third World War, the LAWGPP was part of a global reform towards safer and more efficient disposal. Trash was brought in from all over the world, the recyclables to be reprocessed into raw materials and the rest to be efficiently destroyed here. Above, Mega saw a line of inactive crushers that would normally be working to compress the waste he was standing on. "Good thing they're not on now..." He muttered as he started forward. And was promptly mowed down by a flying robot. Sputtering, the blue hero got back up and observed his foe. It appeared to be mostly just a mask made of plasma-deflective metal on jets. A single charged shot in the unprotected back, however, destroyed it. "That's a hell of a way to bring ya back to reality." Mega grumbled as he went on, absentmindedly blasting a nearby "hard-hat" Metool as he went. As he was about to jump over a disposal pit, something made him stop and wait. A moment later, a small, jet-propelled robot shot up out of the pit and began floating down. Mega smiled as he destroyed it.

"Looks like my instincts aren't as dull as I thought after all..." He made his way forward, past more pits and robots, until the trash cleared, revealing a hole in the floor that dropped down into an underground metallic hall. A rather grumpy-looking giant roadpaving robot made an efficient roadblock. Mega stopped in his tracks. "Shit." Unfortunately, the paver didn't feel inclined to follow his example; it lumbered towards him, hopping on its one crushing foot. A supershot to the face failed to destroy it; Mega tried twice more before cursing and sliding under it when it jumped to smash him. Turning, he blasted it again, and the huge robot finally gave out. Sighing, the blue hero turned back away and looked ahead. A huge gap stretched out ahead. At first, it looked uncrossable... then something rose from the pit. It was a metal block that assembled itself piece by piece. Shrugging, Mega jumped onto it, and another came together ahead of him. The pit didn't last long, but what was on the other side wasn't much better; the floor was covered with electrified spikes. One touch, and it would be instant death. And to make things worse, the metal boxes didn't stay up for long before disassembling again. Nevertheless, Mega made it across to a ladder leading back upwards. A pleasant surprise was waiting for him.

"Beep beep!" Eddie said cheerfully as he walked down the stairs to greet his friend. Mega smiled.

"Hey, Ed! Teleporter works, I see!" He patted the little suitcase robot on the head. "So, what've you got for me?" Eddie's top flipped up revealing a large energy capsule. "Excellent!" I.O.E., or Internal Operations Energy, was what powered Mega. Each time he was damaged, some of his energy was lost. If it went empty... kaboom. However, capsules of energy (in two sizes) used to power lesser robots could be used to replenish it. The one Eddie had would bring him back up to full from the masked crasher and some spinning ladybugs that had gone after him on the metal blocks. Grabbing the energy, he felt it sink in. "I owe ya one, Ed!"

"Beep!" Eddie teleported away, leaving Mega to continue his journey. Shrugging, he discarded the now-empty pod.

"I'm already surrounded by junk... one more piece won't make much of a difference." Mega rationalized as he climbed the stairs up to the next floor. He winced. "This is going to be fun..." Like at the point where he had warped in, large crushers lurked above, covering the entire ceiling. The difference was, THESE crushers were active. Fortunately, they didn't come down all the way, stopping only a couple feet above Mega Man's head before going back up and coming down again. Up ahead, a blockade of cubed slag filled the path, holding the crushers above it up. It was but the work of a moment to blast it away and continue. The second and third blockades posed no particular difficulty either, interspersed with "hard-hat" plasma-spitting Metool robots. After the third, however, the crushers were set lower; they would flatten Mega if he was under them at the wrong time. Destroying the fourth and last junk blockade from a distance, Mega waited until the crushers started upwards, then quickly slid under and past them. The Slide Technique had originally been designed for Sennet Robotics' Ripwood Model (later known as Shadow Man), but Mega had incorporated it into his own repertroire. Once he moved past the final crusher, the entire assembly suddenly ground to a halt and shut down.

"Looks like the Robot Master's watching me..." Mega realized as he looked ahead. "And it looks like I'm almost done here... this seems to be the end of the line for the whole process." Several huge incinerators were standing in the wall, filled with cubed slag to be disposed of, although they were not active. After a brief altercation with a particularly unusual large enemy robot resembling nothing more than a gigantic evil lottery ball machine, Mega climbed a ladder up to another floor. A single Metool awaited him over the spike pit seperating him from the ladder going further up. Unfortunately, he could not take it down from far away; Metool helmets were plasma deflective. As he jumped over to his enemy, the Metool raised it head to attack; but surprisingly, it began spinning in place while spitting a machine-gun-like stream of plasma. The surprised Mega Man took several hits before killing it.

"Seems Cossack's been tinkering with the design... I should've figured. Top floor! Pyromania, Robot Masters and hapless human hostages!" Up here, the incinerators were working, cheerily burning the large piles of slag. Mega made a note not to get too near them. Down at the end of the hallway, another huge road paver began stomping towards him. This time, however, the blue hero was able to take it out from a safe distance before it got near enough to pose a threat. Beyond it was a simple, familiar looking metal shutter. "I guess Cossack isn't too big on originality... the Robot Master's gotta be in there. And with luck, so are the hostages. Here goes nothing..." He walked in.

"So, here you are, Mega Man." Dust Man greeted his adversary. "I was wondering how long it would take you to bypass my defenses and arrive here." The blue-and-grey robot was calmly standing in front of a plain, unlocked door. Mega frowned.

"You were banking on me making it here?"

"Of course. You have successfully stopped three Robot Rebellions; it would be a waste of time to hope that you would be taken out by normal robots. I am not particularly interested in wasting time. Thus, let me get straight to the point. The hostages that you are here to rescue are through the door behind me. However, I strongly advise against trying to get to them without defeating me."

"Wouldn't dream of it." Mega chuckled dryly, raising his Mega Buster. "Aren't you going to make a cheap boast or something?"

"What would be the point of such a thing? You are not the type to be impressed by it." Dust Man stated. "We both know what will happen here. The two of us will do battle, and the superior Robot Master will emerge victorious. Live or die, my task shall be completed. I have no regrets."

"How honest you are." Mega muttered. "Well, let's get started then, shall we?" And on that note, the blue hero released the supershot he had been charging since he had first walked in. To say that Dust Man was surprised would be a gross understatement; his eyes widened to more than twice their normal size as the massive blast of plasma slammed into him like a mack truck.

"UNGH!" The Robot Master stumbled back. "What... what WAS that? We had no data that such a power even existed, let alone that it was yours!"

"Your creator's not the only one who's been busy for the past few years." Mega smirked, charging up another shot. "Care to give up now?"

"I think not."

"Worth a shot..." Mega sighed as he fired off the second supershot. Dust Man waited until the last moment, then leaped a good ten feet into the air over it! Mega stared up, then dived out of the way as his enemy landed where he had been a moment before. "Carumba! Cossack made you a freakin' kangaroo!"

"Something along those lines..." Dust Man said dryly as the large apparatus on his head hummed to life, creating a powerful suction force. Mega fired another supershot, but was dragged right up to his enemy, who delivered a powerful headbutt.

"Ow... that's a cute trick..." Mega slid away and fired again. Dust Man took the hit as his headgear sprung to life again, this time ejecting something instead of inhaling. It was a lump of slag. Mega easily jumped it and returned fire... and was hit in the back in three places. "ARGH!"

"Don't underestimate me, Mega Man." Dust Man told his adversary. "My Dust Crusher attack is more than it seems!" He fired again. This time, Mega jumped the attack and turned to watch what happened. When the lump of slag hit the wall, it broke apart into several fragments that ricocheted back. Mega easily dodged them, then on instinct, slid out from under Dust Man's attempt to crush him. The russian Robot Master turned to him with a look of surprise.

"How-?"

"You pick up a certain edge about these things after a while." Mega replied easily as he blasted Dust Man once more. Growling, Dust Man activated his vacuum attack again. "Bad move." Mega slid away from it to counter the pull, turned, fired straight into the opening on the headgear, and repeated. After the second hit, Dust Man decided to counter with a Dust Crusher. As it turned out, this was a worse move. Mega shielded his face with his arms as the headgear exploded, spraying shrapnel everywhere. Once the noise had stopped, he walked over to Dust Man, who was lying on the floor.

"Ugh... this was not... an entirely unforseeable outcome... ever since I saw you had charging, I knew..."

"Than why'd you fight me anyways?" Mega Man asked the dying Robot Master. Dust Man managed a sort of smile with his eyes.

"I... had to. Laws of Robotics... even though I knew. Pharaoh Man was... always best..." Mega blinked at this.

"Huh? What's this about Pharaoh Man?" But it was too late; Dust Man's eyes closed, and he was still. "Rats... I suppose I'll find out eventually. For now, I'll just test out the new Weapons Copy..." Cringing slightly, he reached into the mess of coolant that was Dust Man's head, and after a short time, found the Weapons Chip. There was a hum from his systems, and a new ability popped up; the Dust Crusher. Switching to it, Mega tested it out and found that it worked perfectly. "Looks like dad knew what he was doing... although I can't say I like the grey-on-white color scheme. Oh well..." Walking through the door in the back, he soon found the hostages. One of them stepped forward.

"Mega Man! Does this mean-?"

"Yes. I've destroyed Dust Man... you're all free. The other robots here will go running back to Cossack now." The man sighed with relief.

"Thank you... we are eternally in your debt for this."

"It's what I do." Mega smiled. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'd like to go back home. Everybody, stand clear..." They all did, and with a wave of farewell, the hero disappeared in a flash of blue light.

"Hey, everybody." Mega greeted his family as he teleported back into the lab. "What's going on?"

"Oh, shit! Rock, cover your eyes, NOW!" Roll yelled. Mega blinked; this was not the welcome he had expected, but he did so. A few moments passed. "All right. It's okay now." Looking up, the robot boy saw that his sister and father were both wearing protective eyegear. Blues was nowhere to be found.

"Mind explaining what that was all about?"

"Blues is in the upgrade capsule." Roll pointed at the device, which Mega noticed was repaired. "You came in about three seconds before it activated. The power output would've fried your optics."

"See, that's why you need shades like mine." Blues picked up the conversation as he exited the capsule. The elder robot was back in his own armor, very similar to Mega's save for the coloring, which was brick red and iron grey. He still wore his shades with his helmet, and his favorite yellow scarf was wrapped around his neck. "They serve all sorts of useful functions, and dimming blinding light is only one of them."

"So, I assume you got the Mega Buster too?" Mega asked him. Blues nodded and shifted his hand into a buster.

"Yuuup. And the upgraded Variable Weapons System. Just a second while I test this out." He walked over to a window and leaned out it. "I think you've already done enough property damage to this old house for a while..." The elder robot fired a charged shot and watched it streak out into the sky. "Looks like it's working fine to me. Anybody see any problems?"

"Nope."

"Nuh-uh."

"None."

"Woof!"

"Beep!"

"Okay, then." Blues closed the window. "Now for the Variable Weapons System..." He frowned. "Rats. I had forgotten... there's no Robot Master around for that. Looks like that test'll have to wait..."

"Way ahead of you, bro." Mega smiled. "I figured you might be needing this soon, so I brought back Dust Man's weapons chip. Catch." He lobbed the small black chip at Blues, who caught it. Glowing for a moment, the elder robot's colors changed to grey and white. He made a face.

"This is a bit drab... but eh, whaddaya expect from dust? The point is, it looks like it works." He leaned out the window again. Or, at least he tried to. Rubbing his head, Blues ignored the snickers from his family and opened the window before successfully leaning out and firing a clod of the Dust Crusher, which landed on the front lawn down below. "Yup. Works fine."

"You're cleaning that up." Roll told him. Blues pretended not to hear her as he walked over and picked up the last part of his battle gear, the Proto Shield, from where it was leaning against the wall. An ovaloid piece of metalloy with a slit near the top for seeing through, plasma-deflective shields were commonly used by the Lighttech 12-KIF "Sniper Joe" robots. This particular piece, however, had been specially made for Blues by Dr. Wily during the Third Robot Rebellion, when he had been tricked into fighting for the mad doctor under the moniker "Break Man." The Proto Shield was, to all intents and purposes, indestructible by common weaponry. Now, Blues picked it up and strapped it across his back. Mega smiled; all he needed now was the disguising cycloptic facemask.

"Ready to come help me save the day again now, 'Break Man?'"

"Drop that name." Blues told him. "Break Man was Wily's guy. He's gone now. When I'm out doing the warrior thing, you can call me Proto Man from now on."

"Proto Man, since you're the prototype Robot Master?" Roll guessed. Her brother nodded.

"Got it in one, sis. And as for your question, Rock... no. No, that's not what I'm doing." This set Mega back.

"Huh? Then, what...?" Blues looked away.

"Suppose it'll have to come out now... well, everybody, to put it bluntly... I'm leaving again."

"WHAT?!!" A shocked silence followed the simultaneous expression of shock from all the other Lights. Blues... Proto Man... sighed.

"Don't get me wrong... it's not like I don't like it here. On the contrary, these past three years have been the best time of my life. But that's over now... the time for war is back, and we each have to deal with it in our own way. Me... I work best alone. When it comes to things like this, that's just the way I am, I'm afraid..."

"But Blues... what if something happens?" Roll asked him. "What if you get hurt badly, or... or worse..." Blues laughed.

"Oh, don't worry about that, little sis. I'm not THAT much of a loner; if I really need repairs, I'll come back here. But unless that happens, I'm afraid you won't be seeing much of me around here for a while."

"So... what? Are you going to do the same routine as the Third? Lurk around in the shadows and drop in to be a pest when I least expect you?" Mega asked his brother, half-joking.

"No, not this time..." Proto responded seriously. "I don't know if any of you agree with me, but... something's fishy here. The Rebellion... everything. There's just something wrong about all of it... I don't know what, or anything about it. But there's definately something rotten in the state of Denmark, to use an ancient seventeenth-century phrase. Take it from a guy who's an expert in the more shadowy side of these affairs."

"So you're going to sneak around and try to figure out what exactly this hidden piece of the puzzle is?" Dr. Light realized. Proto smiled and gave him a thumbs-up.

"Correct-a-mundo, dad. I figure I'll start at Cossack's... no, don't worry, bro. I'm not going to try and get inside. Please, give me some credit."

"What? I didn't even say anything yet!" Mega protested. Proto gave him a look.

"Yeah, but you were thinking it. Anyways... even if I don't go inside, I might be able to find something out by examing the area around the place. You never know until you try, right?"

"True." Roll agreed.

"Okay. I'll be off, then... we're not getting any younger by chit-chatting around here, I believe the saying goes." He embraced his father, sister and brother in turn, then patted Rush and Eddie on their heads. And then, with one last whistle of his favorite, familiar tune, the eldest son of Light was gone. None of the others spoke for several moments following his departure. Eventually, though, Roll broke the silence.

"He had a point, you know... we're not accomplishing much just standing around here. You should go into stasis now, Rock; we need to fix up whatever damage you took so you can go after the next Robot Master."

"She's right, Rock." Dr. Light agreed.

"Yeah, yeah, I know. Stasis sounds pretty good, actually..." The three Lights smiled at each other, all of them feigning lightheartedness on purpose in order to try and avoid the depressing gloom they all knew was settling over them all. The house seemed emptier already with Blues' departure... and Roll and Dr. Light knew it would only get moreso every time Mega went out to risk his life.