Virus

By: Fier Child

Disclaimer: I do not, nor will I ever own any version of the Rockman series. Please excuse any out of character actions, each personality is required to be as it is to fit the story. I want to thank celadonserpent for pointing out a few things I misjudged. I had rushed this. The sevens indicate scene changes since this thing does not seem to like little symbols. Hopefully this version is better, but I won't know unless I get a proper complaint.

Chapter One: Dart

The sun was beginning it's descent over the city. While school had let out hours ago, one student was still hard at work. It just wasn't schoolwork he was doing. The grinding of rollerblades cut through the peace of the park, following the sounds of fleeing feet. Brown hairs whipped in the wind behind the bandanna that held them.

"That's it!" A young voice snapped. "How can be he be ahead of me?!" Young Hikari Netto, undercover officer of the Net Saviors, tore after the escaping suspect. Not a navi this time; no, Hikari was chasing what should have been a simple human. But he was managing to escape him even with Netto on roller blades. With a small growl, Netto began to go faster, ignoring the pleas of his navi, who had been shouting at him to slow down.

"Netto-kun! You must slow down, what if you are being led into a trap!" Rockman yelled. He knew his operator would ignore him, but he couldn't help but caution him.

Netto shuddered abruptly and slowed. "I guess I should wait for someone else." He mumbled.

Rockman frowned and glanced up at his operator. As much as it pleased him Netto had listened, that had not quite sounded like something Netto would say. His frown deepened as he noticed Netto scanning the area hurriedly. "What is it?"

Netto shook his head in confusion. He hadn't given a thought to Rockman's orders to slow until a sudden chill caught him off-guard. Now he wanted nothing more then to leave the area. He turned to go back to his partner, Enzan.

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"He's off-guard! Fire!"

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Netto frowned as he realized how far he'd left everyone behind. "Perhaps I can be a little too reckless sometimes." Rockman snorted and Netto chose to ignore him. He turned back in the direction of his quarry, determined to pick up the chase, when a sharp prick caused him to jolt. Frowning, he pulled a small dart from his neck and stared at it.

Rockman was also looking at it. "We should take that in for analysis." Netto snorted and went to toss it aside. "Netto-kun!" Rockman snapped.

Netto winced. "Okay, okay." He grumbled.

Enzan arrived at this point and saw the dart in Netto's hand. He eyed it with caution. "What is that?"

"A dart." Netto said smartly. Enzan glowered at him.

Rockman sighed. "We're not sure what it is." He told Enzan. "Netto-kun was struck with it just moments ago."

Enzan frowned and looked around the area. "You didn't see anyone."

"I wasn't looking for anyone but the guy I was chasing." Netto shrugged. Enzan rolled his eyes as Netto frowned. "You know, it's kinda weird that guy was able to get away lik that. I mean it's not like I was simply running."

Enzan nodded, frowning. "We'll look into it. In the mean time," He said, eyeing Netto. "You should get down to the lab for an examination."

"It's not important." Netto growled. "I have to catch that guy." Enzan raised an eyebrow.

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An hour later, Netto was sitting there on the bed frowning at the wall before him. "This is very boring. You know that, right." He said to Rockman blandly.

Rockman shrugged. "At least there's no way you can be in any danger. Any poison in your system will be quickly dealt with in here." Netto nodded resignedly.

Both navi and human looked up as the doctor walked in, a very, very pale doctor. He put down the papers in his hand and turned to Netto. "I'm going to have you transferred to the hospital in the south quadrant." He said. Alarm bells started to ring for the duo.

"Why?" Netto asked, his voice quavering slightly. "I mean, you can deal with anything here, right?"

The doctor frowned as he nodded. "We can deal with any type of poison here, but this wasn't a poison."

Rockman looked at the doctor blankly as Netto frowned. "What is it, then?" He asked.

The doctor looked away as he began to ready the papers for Netto's transfer. "It is a form of virus I have never seen before, but it comes from a type of disease that I have worked with before. It shouldn't be much of a problem if we can isolate it—"

"What kind of virus, doc?" Netto's usual level of patience had shrunk, leaving him even more short-tempered. The doctor was scaring him.

Not an easy thing to do.

The doctor sighed painfully and reluctantly began to tell him. "Like I said, it is an unknown form of a disease that I have worked with before; unfortunately, none of the patients have survived it." He sighed again, looking supremely troubled. "Whoever attacked you has somehow managed to isolate a virus that will give someone who is injected with it a form of HBD. Unfortunately, the medicine used in treated that disease hasn't advanced much in the last decade, so we may have some trouble helping you."

Netto had gone silent and pale. Rockman's expression was void of anything. "You have to be lying." Rockman's tone matched the emptiness in his expression. Netto reached down and lifted the PET up, cradling his Navi brother in his lap.

The doctor shook his head with a small amount of pity in his eyes. "I am sorry, but there is no joke here, not even a sick one."

Rockman's mind spun with screaming denial even as his face continued to show no expression at all. The only sign of his inner turmoil was the slight shaking in his hands.

Netto was very quiet, a first for him, but he knew what was bothering his friend, or rather, his twin. Rockman had been his twin brother before he died of HBD, and now, it looked as though Netto might share the same fate. He threw himself back on the pillows as the doctor left the room. "I wonder what kind of navi I'd be."

Rockman spun on his brother, furious and ready to start shouting; until he saw the same fear he felt echoed in Netto's eyes. Netto was staring blankly at the ceiling, his thoughts every bit as chaotic as Rockman's. Netto looked at his PET with an empty smile. "Ne, onii-san, what do you think?"

Rockman gave a helpless shrug. He had no answer; not to the question, nor to the problem. Netto sat up with a wavering grin. "I don't think we'll have to worry. I mean, Papa will be helping them, and he can do anything." He nodded to himself and lay back down. His voice sounded as though he were trying to convince himself. The day had turned very bleak indeed. Netto watched the sun fade through the window of his room. Night surround them, moonless and cloudy. But even it held more light then their thoughts.

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Morning came and went as two friends waited for the doctor to return. Netto watched as Rockman continued to rock gently back and forth with his knees curled up against his chest. They were waiting for the test results on Netto's blood. Netto already knew the answer, though he wasn't going to say anything. He also knew the doctor would return soon with those results and he wanted Rockman out of the room.

"Ne, Rockman?"

Rock ceased his movements and looked up at his brother. Netto had been so quiet for so long, Rockman had assumed he was sleeping. "What?"

Netto smiled. "Do you want to bring Roll here? I know I wouldn't mind if Meiru came over after school, but there's no reason why you can't bring Roll here now."

Rockman frowned a little, correctly assuming that Netto was trying to get him out of the room, but he also knew his operator would want Meiru around once he heard the news. He nodded, his frown fading. "I'll go see if she can make it." Netto watched as Rockman disappeared over the net, and only a few moments later, the nurse walked in with the preliminary results to his testing.

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Rockman sighed. Getting through security properly was hard. He was far too used to using his own methods of getting in, but this time he had decided to do things the right way. He looked up as running feet caught his attention. Roll had arrived. Before she could say anything though, another e-mail came through.

It was for Rockman.

Rockman –

Return to the hospital immediately. I am picking up Meiru and Roll myself and we will get there as soon as we can. Netto has taken a turn for the worse.

– Papa

Rockman paled as he finished the e-mail. Roll gave him a slight shove in the direction of the hospital and raced back the way she had come. She was going to tell Meiru what had happened. Rockman watched her leave, then turned on his heel and ran, all the while praying for their luck to change for the better.

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Meiru glanced up at the clock impatiently, over half an hour had past since Roll had delivered some frightening news. All they knew was that Netto was in the hospital and whatever was wrong had gotten worse. Meiru was afraid for her friend. She did not wish to lose him. The sound of the classroom doors opening jolted her from her thoughts and she turned her head. Mariko-sensei glanced up as Hikari-hakase walked in through the doors. He handed her two notes. The first one said he had permission to remove Meiru from the school. She turned to Meiru. "Meiru-san, you should go with Hikari-hakase."

Meiru stood up confused, but gathered her things. "Hai." She responded. Once everything was packed, she turned and followed a very solomn Hikari-hakase from the classroom. Mariko-sensei watched as they left, then turned to the final note in her hand to determine the cause.

She paled at what she read. She sat down heavily at her desk and read the paper one last time before lowering it. "Class, this letter is from the hospital. Netto-kun will not be joining us today. He was rushed to the hospital yesterday afternoon after an attack. It was not released as to why, or by whom, he was attacked." She shakily reached for the roll sheet. "If you live close to the hospital, please come and see me after class. You can take Netto-kun his homework."