A/N: This is also pre-EC. I still kind of like it though.
Tiny flecks of dust danced through the stale, stagnant air, floating along on the faintest of air currents before settling on the floor or shelves. Computers were covered in a thick blanket of dust, having not been touched in decades. Dust clogged the keyboards and covered the monitors. The entire area was ghostly silent, eerie, the dust barely stirred. Nothing had disturbed the silence for quite some time.
Sparks flew everywhere, accompanied by the sound of a torch cutting through metal. The darkness was cut, illuminated by the sparks and a bright orange light. The fire quickly cut through the metal wall, sliding up nearly to the ceiling before curving to the right a few feet, curving back down to the floor, and swerving to the left to connect with the beginning of the cut where the fire disappeared, sparks vanishing with it. With a sickening groan, the panel of metal fell away from the wall, crashing to the floor and disarraying the blanket of dust. Moonlight shimmered through the opening, cutting through the darkness and illuminating the dust.
A large, blue-violet boot stepped through the hole, sending up a small cloud of disturbed dust as it rested on the floor. The owner of the boot slipped through the hole in the wall easily, glancing around through the partially illuminated area. Blue-violet boots led up to large, blue-violet shin guards decorated with red slashes. Thin plates of blue metal protected the newcomer's thighs, the metal disappearing into the violet codpiece and blue body padding and violet chestplate protecting his torso. A bucket-like helmet with a T-shaped opening for him to see out of protected his head, his face shadowed.
"How does it look, sir Vile?" came a voice from behind him.
"Like a tomb," Vile answered, placing his hands on his hips as he stepped further into the darkness, "Get in here. Let's get this over with." Behind him, three forms emerged through the opening into the darkness. One wore violet and blue armor with gold trimming, blue and lilac wings flapping slowly behind him. The second walked hunched over, glancing around with a bulging, bright red eye, green armor lost in the darkness as his prehensile tail lashed behind him. The third was enormous, barely able to fit through the opening, wearing grey, red, and orange armor, his large ears flapping subconsciously.
"So...this was the final Fortress of Dr. Wily..." Vile muttered as he and his companions slowly made their way through the dark corridors, flashlights illuminating the dust-covered floor and walls, "Where he made his last stand against Rockman..."
"That's what Sigma said..." Storm Eagle replied.
"Where do you think that energy anomaly is?" Sting Chameleon asked, dropping down to all-fours for a brief moment before regretting the decision and pushing himself back to his feet again, sneezing out a cloud of dust.
"Sigma said it was one floor down, underground," Vile answered, glancing over his shoulder, "Flame Mammoth. Are you tracking it?" The large Maverick nodded.
"It's almost right below us," Flame Mammoth stated, glancing down at the small tracker in his large hand, "We need to find a ladder or something to get down there--" An explosion of bright green light blinded the Mavericks, the sound nearly deafening after the choking silence, dust and smoke clouding the corridor. As it settled, a large hole in the floor slowly became visible, and Sting Chameleon grinned.
"Done," he snickered.
"You idiot!" Storm Eagle screeched, slapping his reptilian comrade with one of his wings, "What if he hears!"
Sting Chameleon snorted in response, "Oh, please. It's not like we can't handle one robot."
"Quiet. Both of you," Vile commanded, "Sting, you stay up here and keep an eye out. I'll contact you on the communicator when we find the room so you can tell the others to get ready. Mammoth and Storm, come with me." Sting Chameleon nodded, and Vile dropped down to the next floor, Storm Eagle and Flame Mammoth close behind him, Flame Mammoth's bulk just barely fitting through the hole in the floor.
There was even more dust on this floor, the corridor soon becoming filled with a fog-like atmosphere. Vile held his flashlight at arm's length in front of him as he lead the way down the dust-filled hall. Storm Eagle gave up on trying to blow the dust away with his wings, realizing that flapping only made it worse.
"Here," Flame Mammoth spoke after a moment, the trio stopping in front of a large door. Vile tilted his head to one side. The half-open door certainly did not look special, but the lack of dust on the catch and the control panel beside it told him that the door was used fairly often, handprints of dried blood decorating the edges and catch of the door. "The signal's strongest in there," Flame Mammoth clarified. Vile nodded and pushed the door open the rest of the way.
Capsules lined the walls, some larger than others, one right beside the other, covering three walls with just enough space between each capsule to fit the small computer which controlled each individual capsule. The room was probably two hundred square meters in size -- it had to be in order to hold all seventy-plus capsules and their contents.
The trio of Mavericks split up to investigate all of the capsules, each contraption marked with a single, three-digit number to denote who slept inside.
"Shit, it's cold in here..." Flame Mammoth grumbled, snorting, his breath fogging the air in front of him.
"We'll have to do this one at a time," Storm Eagle stated, "The capsules are too big for us to get more than that outside." Vile nodded, contacting Sting Chameleon and signalling him to ready himself and the remaining Mavericks awaiting outside the Fortress.
"This one," Flame Mammoth spoke, drawing Vile and Storm Eagle over to him, "This one's giving off a really odd signal. The strongest here, too." Vile squeezed in between the capsule in question and its neighbor and reached up to wipe the layer of dust and half-crystalized, stagnant water from the capsule's window, putting his flashlight to the glass so he could see inside.
The light revealed hair the color of blood, alabaster skin set on a boyish face, eyes closed as he slept soundly turned slightly on his side, left hand resting by his head while his right arm was draped over his stomach. A red chestplate set with a green gem in the center rose and fell slowly in time with his breathing, the skin tight black and red jumpsuit underneath covering his arms, torso, and legs to keep him warm, the legs of the jumpsuit disappearing into large, yellow boots. Sawblades decorated his armor around the shoulders of his chestplate and around the wrists of his red gauntlets. A red helmet and facemask with a sawblade on the forehead rested beside his head.
Vile's eyes narrowed and he leaned back, looking down the capsule to the number at the bottom. "009..." he muttered, "Metal Man..." He stepped back from the capsule and nodded to his companions. Storm Eagle took the position vacated by his commander and bent down to begin unhooking the anchors keeping the capsule in place. Cables were detatched from the capsule quietly and carefully, Storm Eagle checking the cables before detaching them while Flame Mammoth continued to sweep the room and check the other capsules.
When Storm Eagle reached for the final cable, he paused, blinked, and called over his shoulder, "Sir Vile, what about the life support? Lord Sigma wants them alive."
Vile stepped over as he replied, "They're robots. They're not alive!"
"Then why give them life support in the first place?" Storm Eagle pointed out. Vile paused.
"...exactly what is it doing?" Storm Eagle checked before answering.
"Monitoring their heart rate--" At Vile's admonishing gaze, he corrected himself. "--fluid pump speed and filling the capsule with oxygen."
"How long do you think it will take to get the capsule out of here and to Sting, and for him to take it outside and back to the HQ to be hooked up to our computers?" the violet robot asked.
Storm Eagle tapped his beak, thinking for a moment before answering, "About half an hour for transportation. Maybe an hour to get him hooked up and logged into our computers and for the life support to be hooked up...so about an hour and a half in total."
"So fill the capsule with two hours worth of oxygen and get it to Sting," Vile commanded, then turned and walked away without waiting for a reply. Storm Eagle blinked, but shook his head and stood up, tapping his claws across the dust-clogged keyboard of the miniature computer powering the life support system to the capsule.
Flame Mammoth plodded back over to Vile and reported, "I found out which ones are giving off the signals. They're all in numerical order -- Cut Man first, Aqua Man last -- and the numbers are 008, 009, 012, 018, 028, and 042."
"Six?" Vile questioned, blinking, "Sigma said there were seven." Flame Mammoth nodded.
"Yes sir, but the seventh isn't here," the massive Maverick stated, glancing down at his tracker, "It's awake somewhere in the Fortress." Vile blinked again, but shook his head.
"Take 009 to Sting and tell him to instruct the others to transport the capsule to HQ immediately," the Maverick Commander instructed, "And they are to instruct whoever's responsible to hook up the capsules to life support as soon as possible and not to question me about it." Flame Mammoth nodded, handing the tracker to Storm Eagle before heaving the capsule into his massive arms and carrying it out. Vile watched him until the fire Maverick had left before turning back to Storm Eagle. "008 next." Storm Eagle nodded and unhooked 008's capsule.
Flame Mammoth carried each capsule to Sting Chameleon one at a time as they were filled with oxygen and unhooked from their life support units, 008 following 009, then 018 and 042. Vile and Storm Eagle walked down the long line of capsules quietly, hoping to find 012 and 028 and get them back to HQ soon. They had spent too much time at the Fortress already, and Storm Eagle's wings were starting to ache from a feeling of dread that refused to be ignored.
A horrific bellow sounded far off down the hallway outside the room, a bellow of agony that could have only come from Flame Mammoth.