Chapter 15
"Excellent work my clone." Sigma said as he examined the unconscious X. "Though I can't say the same for you, you waste of scrap." He said turning to Vile. The purple robot had gone through a bit of hell. Not being able to deactivate his rocket pack, it had taken him through numerous traps. His left leg was severed below the knee and his right arm hung limply from his body.
"Sigma please. I need to enter the repair cycle." Vile pleaded, his body under massive damage.
"No. You have disappointed me for the last time. Destroy him my clone." The gray zero clone stepped forward bringing out his light saber. Vile backed away as best his battered body would allow. When he reached a wall, his hand groped for a hidden switch and opened a section of the wall. He fell backwards into the darkness as the wall closed behind him. The Zero clone looked to Sigma for orders, but Sigma shook his head.
"Do not pursue him. Soon his damage will cause him to self-destruct. Mega man and his friend draw near. I will allow you the pleasure of destroying them." Sigma said, his laughter echoing down the hall.
* * *
Mega man came to a halt. He could hear the laughter and it shook him to his soul.
"What's up bro?" Break man said looking back.
"Something's not right. We haven't come across any traps lately, and it's too quiet."
"Hey don't knock our good fortune. This guy definitely isn't Wily when it comes to fortresses." Break man said laughing. Though inside his guard was going up as well. They walked forward a while more when suddenly a gate slammed shut behind them. "I told you not to wish for bad luck." Break man said raising his cannon and shield. Nothing appeared to happen until Mega man caught a flash of red to his left. A spray of three shots came in their direction.
"Break man, move it!" Mega man said dodging. Break man was in the air before Mega man had said anything. The red orb winked out as a green one replaced it. This one moved as it shot single shots. Both brothers opened fire on it, and after a few hits, it retreated into its alcove. Then a pit of spikes opened in the middle of the room and the walls started to move in.
"Oh great now what?" Break man said, pushing against the wall. Mega man looked at the weapons X had given him. He armed the shotgun ice and started pumping the walls. The shards of the blast went everywhere but the wall wasn't even slowed by the freezing power. The sphere reappeared this time, only it was blue. It tried to knock the brothers into the pit of spikes. Mega man dodged it only to be struck in the back by another one.
"Two of them? One was bad enough. How you holding up bro?" Mega man said, returning fire to a blue orb.
"Well a little help would be appreciated." Break man said, his hands holding the side of the pit. The blue orb would ricochet of the wall where Break man had been only seconds before, each strike getting closer. One hit would send him to his doom.
"Got it covered." Mega man said firing at the blue orb attacking Break man. It shattered like glass and Break man crawled back up to the floor. They quickly finished off the remaining orb as the walls continued to get closer.
"We've got to get out of here!" Break man said, being pushed towards the spikes. There was a crash as a ceiling grate came falling to the ground, a purple figure right behind it. Vile didn't move right away, his body in even worse shape than before.
"VILE! Oh this I don't need." Mega man said looking at the walls, then back at Vile.
"Oh no not the Face... Get me outta here!" Vile said, taking in his surroundings.
"The face?" Break man said. For the first time he looked around and indeed, implanted on the wall, was a machine that basically looked like a face. The orbs had been its "eyes".
"Okay so it's a face. How do we stop these walls?" Mega man said, noticing his shotgun ice was half gone.
"Why would I help you? Maybe once you're gone Sigma will appreciate me." Vile said with a sneer.
"Well from the looks of you, You've got as good a chance of getting out of here as we do if we don't stop this thing." Break man said, firing at the wall with his chameleon sting. Vile looked around and then at his tattered body. He knew that he had no chance of escape even if the walls did stop.
"DAMN. Alright you gotta totally destroy the face." Vile said.
"We took out the eyes, what's left?" Break man said, looking around. It stuck out like a sore thumb. An odd contraption that had to be the "nose". All three opened fire, Vile getting off a shot to every five of the brothers. Finally the nose shattered, but the walls didn't stop.
"It's not possible. The machine is toast. Why won't it stop?" Vile wailed, fearing his destruction. Mega man looked around for anything they could have missed. Though his eyes kept going back to the spikes getting closer. The spikes?
"We forgot something. The teeth!" Mega man said arming his arm cannon and letting off a constant pulse of shots into the spikes. Break man followed suit and soon enough of the spikes were destroyed that the walls came to a shuddering halt. Even if the walls had continued moving they could have landed safely in the pit. Mega man turned back to where Vile had been... but he was no longer there.
"We shoulda finished him off." Break man said frustrated.
"Hey we couldn't have figured that out by ourselves. Just think of it as even." Mega man said as the walls started to retract. They left the room through the newly opened gate and headed down the hallway.
"Not after what he did to Zero we're not." Break man said with a growl. Mega man eyed him but gave it no more thought as they heard familiar laughter echo throughout the halls.
* * *
"So the face fell. It doesn't concern me." Sigma said as he got the report from his computer. They had somehow avoided his spider, but that too didn't bother him. X was restrained on a table, still unconscious. He would need a decent dose of energy to revive him. Sigma heard a growl behind him and his loyal wolf pet came up beside him. He sat watching the pit from which the warriors would have to arrive.
"Soon they shall come. Then you may destroy them." Sigma said sitting in his command chair. The wolf just sat and stared. Sigma looked over at a view screen to see Mega man and Break man advancing on his position. They were at a half run, occasionally slowing when a few of his robot minions came around. He had great pleasure watching them battle his tank, but great displeasure when he saw how easily they finished it off. Maybe these two were going to give him more trouble than he thought. He heard a figure warp in and turned to see his Zero clone staring at him.
"You promised they would be mine to destroy!" He said calmly. He looked at Sigma's pet wolf.
"I promised nothing. I said you COULD destroy them, that is if you're lucky enough to finish them before they do you in." Sigma said coldly. The clone shifted from his shades of gray to red.
"I'll destroy them both before they realize that I'm not their friend." He said jumping down the pit.
"Aggressive isn't he my pet? It will be his downfall." Sigma said looking after the clone.
Chapter 16
"What do you mean he went after Mega man?" Dr. Light said as Dr. Cossack sat near his old friend.
"We had just discovered the device when he grabbed it and took off. The warp closed as soon as he went in so I couldn't even send Pharaoh man to back him up." Dr. Cossack said stroking his beard.
"What could he have been thinking? I need him to defend the lab. Wily is marching as we speak." Dr. Light said growing frantic. Pharaoh man, Ring man, Bright man and Skull man then entered the room.
"We heard Wily is on the way. We want to back up the base." Bright man said. The others nodded. "We owe him for what he made us do back then."
"I thank you for your aid, but what about Dr. Cossacks lab?" Dr. Light said.
"Wily has shown no interest in my lab before. At least not since he's been able to copy my designs anyway." Dr. Cossack said. Roll entered with Rush, Beat and Eddie right behind.
"They insist they help out as well Dr. Light." Roll said, motioning towards the robotic allies. Rush barked and growled, and then sat beside Dr. Light.
"Well let's get the base set up then. There's no doubt that he'll try to destroy all of us once and for all with Mega man out of the way."
* * *
"Hold up bro." Break man said. "Do you hear that?" Mega man looked around and nodded there was the sound of metallic footsteps heading in their direction. A shadowed form could soon be seen walking towards them, which soon came into view.
"ZERO!" Mega man said running forward. "You're okay!"
"Yeah I'm fine. Where's X?" Zero said looking at the brothers.
"Sounds like Sigma's got him. We lost contact roughly 3 hours ago." Mega man said looking worried.
"We're getting close. He's just up ahead. I heard him talking to his pet and someone else. Looks like they're waiting for us with open arms... or should I say armed weapons." He walked towards them when he suddenly stopped.
"What's wrong Zero?" Break man said as he looked behind him to where Zero was looking. He did a double take. There were two Zero's? One on either side of them.
"Uh, bro, I think something's wrong with my optic sensors. I could swear there are two of them." Break man said. Mega man looked between the two as they leaped into the air. They started a fierce battle exchange blow for blow, and light saber attack for light saber attack.
"Which one's the real Zero?" Mega man said not sure what to do. Then he thought of something.
"So what do we do bro? They'll kill each other at this rate." Break man said, forming his arm cannon.
"Nothing yet. Just charge up and wait." Mega man said. Break man looked at him almost stunned. Did he want Zero to get destroyed? Why wasn't he acting? Then after a decent hit by both Zero's, Mega man noticed the forehead beacons start to flash. Though both of them were flashing. Whichever was the fake had been built really well.
"We can't wait any longer bro. Zero's hurt bad." Break man said, though still not sure which to shoot. One of the Zero's looked over at them.
"I'm fine. It's nothing more than a scratch." The one Zero said.
"BINGO!" Mega man said, letting off his fully charged shot at the other Zero. Break man followed suit, not sure how his brother knew the difference, but he was usually right. With two warriors and Zero attacking, the other Zero turned gray and soon exploded in a burst of fire. As Zero went to a knee to recover his breath, he looked over at the brothers.
"Took you long enough. Dr. Cain figured the lockdown, but I'm not at full power you know." Zero said, placing his light saber on his back.
"What I wanna know," Break man said, "Was how you figured out the real one." Mega man grinned as he looked at his brother.
"Cuz he's got the same problem you do brother. He just won't admit that he's being hammered. Not to mention refusing to back down." Mega man responded. He dodged a playful attack from Break man and Zero had to chuckle, though wasn't quite sure if it was meant as a compliment.
"Alright you two. Let's go get X back." Zero said. The brothers nodded as they started heading down the corridor.
* * *
"IMPOSSIBLE!" Vile roared as the three warriors walked down the hall. "Zero should have been destroyed, never mind at least deactivated. And he's fine? I'll get my revenge..." Vile hoisted his body back into the air duct. He had slowly found tools to do enough repairs to keep himself from self-destructing, but he was far from battle-ready. His left leg was still missing, but he managed to build a makeshift arm. It was a simple lever, but it served its purpose in aiding him through the air ducts. He exited Sigma's Lair, and made his way to the surrounding forest. He knew he would have to get to a city for the necessary materials for full repairs. Though the nearest city wasn't exactly fond of Vile. It was the same one he had been attacking when Zero and X had thwarted his attack. He limped towards flame mammoths' old base, knowing there would still be a bunch of machinery and tools there. He might be able to repair himself there. Or so he hoped.