Chapter 9

Dr. Cain worked away at his computers, but with history changing, so did the files he was trying to look at. Towns and cities had been destroyed when they had been fine just seconds ago. Wily's rule was clear across all of Megaland and parts of other worlds. Mega man, X and Zero had been trying to keep each other busy. They were having a fake battle when Zero was forced to one knee because of weakness from the changes in history.

"You okay Zero?" X asked, walking over. Zero held up a hand to stop him.

"Yeah I'm fine. I hate this. When it was Sigma, we could easily fight. But this is something we can't battle. I feel weak and vulnerable." Zero said, disgust ringing in his voice.

"Don't worry Zero. I know you're not weak. This is something we'll have to overcome together." X said. He looked over at Mega man. "What's on your mind?" Mega man looked up.

"Nothing." He said, shaking his head. "But Zero's right. We can't fight what's happening. If I hadn't jumped through that warp, this never would have happened. I'm smarter than that."

"Look Mega man. You were just doing your job. There was nothing you could…" X started.

"But there was something I could have done. I could have listened to Break man. He said there was something wrong. But I didn't listen. And now because of me, Wily's won." Mega man walked towards the gate and paused just long enough to let it rise, then he walked through.

"He's taking this pretty hard. It was bad enough he lost everyone, now he's going to live in his worst nightmare. A world where Wily ruled." Zero said as he watched the gate close.

*                                  *                                  *

"Break man? Where'd you come from? And what happened, you look terrible!" Dr. Light said as the red warrior appeared in his lab.

"From Dr. Wily's. He captured me and was holding me captive. I managed to escape with a little info. He definitely had something to do with Mega man's disappearance. He kept referring to Mega man's time being up." Dr. Light nodded.

"We pretty much figured that part out. There's a tear in the fabric of time where Wily got rid of Mega man. Dr. Cossack discovered it while you were gone."
            "Can you reopen the tear?" Break man asked, his hopes rising. Dr. Light shook his head with a sad look.

"Even if I could, there's no way you could get back. We'd have to find out how Wily created to warp so that you could duplicate the process wherever Mega man went." He explained. Break man formed an arm cannon.

"Dr. Light. I'm going back in."

"You're what?  I don't think so. Wily will have that place crawling with robots by now. There's no way I'll lose you too." Dr. Light's voice caught and Break man eased up.

"Don't worry Dr. Light. I'll get the info and be back before Wily knew I was there." Break man said. Dr. Light looked worried and sighed.

"Very well. But if your detected, get out before it's too late. At the slightest buzzer, I want you out of there." Dr. Light said sternly.

"Okay, okay. I'll be careful." Break man said chuckling. He used his teleporter to return him to the last position he had been. The prison room inside Wily's fortress. No one was around thankfully. Break man exited the prison room and walked down a long hallway. He came to a T intersection and was about to walk around the corner when he heard voices and stopped short. He peered around the corner. Dr. Wily wasn't there as he had hoped, but he did find a small surprise. Dr. Cossack and Pharaoh man were standing down the hall. Dr. Cossack was studying a computer terminal and Pharaoh man was standing guard. Break man was just coming around the corner as a charged up Pharaoh shot screamed by him.

"Who's there? Reveal yourself or I'll destroy you!" came Pharaoh man's voice.

"Whoa chill. It's me!" Break man said, walking out slowly his arms in front of him.

"Break man? What in the world are you doing here?" Dr. Cossack asked, looking only half surprised.

"Probably the same thing as you doc. Trying to figure out how to get Mega man back." The red robot said, joining the two.

"Hmm. Well from what I've found out from Wily's computers, is he's somewhere in the future. Distant future I might add." Dr. Cossack said.

"Out of Wily's hair no doubt. Dr. Light said there must have been a special device to open the portal. If we can find it, we can get him back." Break man said.

"Assuming he hasn't already destroyed the device." Pharaoh man said.

"Dr. Wily wouldn't do that. He puts too much work into his inventions to do such a thing. Besides maybe he figured he'd need it in case I got too troublesome." Break man said, a grin on his face.

"It is possible. Come. We must find the device." Dr. Cossack said, turning.

"Oh you won't be finding anything while I'm around." Came Slash man's voice from behind.

"Oh this I really don't need." Break man said, charging up his arm cannon.

Chapter 10

The robot master charged, his blades flying at amazing speeds. Break man dodged and parried, being pushed farther and farther back. Something was too familiar. Break man knew what was happening. He didn't even need Dr. Cossack's warning, though he was too busy to even hear it anyway. He whirled and sent off his super shot, which hit Shade man square in the chest, knocking the robot to the ground.

"You can't catch me the same way twice in one day, Slash man." Break man said in a mocking tone. Slash man growled and leaped at Break man. Break man continued to dodge and shoot as he looked for a room where the device could be hidden. He rounded a corner a saw a gate. He gave up on Slash man and ran his hardest to get through the gate. The gate went up as he approached and Break man dived, turned and fired. The shot knocked Slash man back, which was just enough time for the gate to shut. Break man quickly pumped the gate mechanism full of plasma. It wouldn't hold long, but it would be a temporary seal on the gate. No one was entering or leaving for the time being. Break man turned and looked for the first time at the room he was in. His eyes widened as he took in his surroundings. This must have been Wily's main control room. There were computers everywhere, as well as viewscreens, devices and, of course, three guard Joe's. They hadn't seen Break man come in, so he was able to take them out without too much difficulty. He started working on the computers to find out what he could on time travel and Dr. Wily's knowledge in the field when a familiar voice came from outside the gate.

"Get that gate open you fool. And hurry. Who knows what he's doing in there!" Came the voice of Dr. Wily. Slash man's claw went right through the gate and started cutting a huge hole in it. Break man worked as fast as he could. Time was running out. There was a loud clang as the gate fell, but before Break man could reach his shield to activate his teleporter, Wily's common cry as he fled for his life could be heard. Break man chanced a look around the gate and saw Pharaoh man's smoking cannon and Dr. Cossack picking up the Slash Claw.

"Dr. Cossack! Where'd you get too?" Break man asked, shocked the scientist hadn't been discovered.

"Well when I saw Slash man, I had Pharaoh man and myself hide in a small alcove. We would've helped, but you seemed to be doing fine on your own. Oh, can you make use of this?" The scientist said, holding out the Slash Claw adapter.

"Sure can." Break man said, taking the weapon and placing it in his belt. "Wily won't be long. He'll just get some reinforcements and be back."

"I agree. We must act quickly." Dr. Cossack said, starting to look around the room. "You sure picked a hell of a room to hide in."

"Tell me about it." Break man said with a laugh. He let Dr. Cossack take over on the computer as Break man and Pharaoh man looked for anything important in the room. Break man found a small rectangular box with what looked like a camera lens on the end. He held it up and looked it over. There was a button on top, but when he pushed it, it wasn't a portal. Instead it was a hologram of Dr. Wily with 6 robots by his side. They went into a previous programmed maneuver, but since they knew it was a hologram, no one reacted to it. Break man destroyed the device thinking it was part of a plan of Wily's. Pharaoh man wasn't being quite so specific. He was just dumping device after device into a sack to be checked out later. Break man joined in on the idea and dumped a handful of items into the sack as Wily's voice came from the gate.

"Put it all back, Proto man. Or I'll blow you and your friends into oblivion!" Wily said, anger shaking on his voice.
            "Sorry doc, but I don't think so." Break man said as he pulled his shield off his back while simultaneously using the Slash Claw to destroy the main computer. "Time to go Dr. Cossack." Pharaoh man was already reaching for his creator and teleporting out with the sack of devices. Break man followed suit. Normally he couldn't have teleported out, but with the main computer gone, the fortresses defenses and the barriers around Wily's fortress were down, not to mention all the weapons.

"Find out what they took!" Wily barked to his robots. The robot masters started searching around, when Guts man walked up to him.

"Uh boss. The time-teleporter is gone." Said the hulking robot.

"What?!? After them you fools. Find them and destroy them. Get that device back. If they find out they have it, they can rescue the blue pest." He yelled as his robots took off out the gate.