Chapter 9

Rules of Engagement

The capsule stood about ten feet tall; a glowing blue-green glass-like cylinder between two plates of monitoring equipment. The glow from the capsule cast an eerie light on the cavern in which it rested. And, on either side of the only entrance to the cavern, a pair of robots waited.

"I tell ya, X, I never thought I'd see the day," Mega Man commented as he double checked his systems in preparation for the upcoming battle. "I mean, Hadrian's taken part in my battles, sure, but he's always, always, just stayed in the background, showing up only when he felt I needed help. He's never taken charge like this before."

X nodded. "Yeah, I know, but these are not normal times. Desperate times and desperate measures and all that. And, in any case, he's right. These hit-'n-run battles are more his specialty than ours, and that's exactly what this fight'll call for."

"Oh, I know," Mega Man replied. "But it still kinda weirds me out is all."

"Like the idea of Bass as one of the good guys?" X asked wryly.

Mega Man grinned. "Point taken, point taken." Mega Man tapped the side of his helmet and opened a patch to Protoman. "Hey, bro. X and I are in position. Any changes out there?"

"None yet," Protoman responded from his perch on one of the valley walls outside, where he was scanning the area with a pair of binoculars. "The Robot Masters are a no-show here. Anything on your end, Iris?"

"None, here," Iris responded from a similar perch across the valley. "All this waiting is starting to get to me, though."

Protoman grinned. "I agree with you 100. At least we know that they can't just teleport right into the cavern and take the prize. Ole' Al's paranoia's good for something at least. Thanks to him, we only had some minor renovations to make. Oh, and thanks for sniffing out all the traps for us by the way, Bass."

"No problem," Bass replied from his hiding spot. "But I'd be more concerned about the extra junk you got from that lard-butt Auto."

"Hey," a deep voice replied over the comm line. "Big Eddie's stands by all the weapons of mass destruction we sell!"

Protoman grinned. "Guess the line to home base still works. And by the way, Auto, if that was you making funny, don't quit the day job."

Back at Dr. Light's lab, the rotund green robot named Auto grinned--or he would have if his somewhat primitive design allowed for it. "Aw, c'mon Bluesy. You just don't get the finer points of humor."

Roll placed a hand on Auto's shoulder and said, "No, Auto, he's right. That stank." The little red Flip-Top suitcase unit known as Eddie beeped his agreement.

Auto feigned deep hurt. "Et tu, Eddie?" he asked overdramatically.

Roll shook her head and rolled her eyes. "Just when I think that the day couldn't get any weirder, Auto goes and paraphrases Shakespear. I really need to sit down, I think."

"All right, all right," Dr. Light said, a mix of amusement and annoyance in his voice. "Let's all concentrate on the battle."

Protoman broke in over the comm unit at that point. "Incoming. Robot Masters at 5 o'clock! Though it looks more like quarter past four t'me."

"And you say I need help," Auto muttered.

"Same over here," Iris reported. "Lots of 'em, complete with Sniper Joes, Mettools, and some drone 'bots I'm not familiar with."

Protoman whistled. "Siggy's smart, I'll give him credit. I think every R.M. from the first seven wars are out there, but they're not just swarming in, either. They're forming ranks and taking up lookout positions." Protoman fell silent for a moment as he observed what was happening below. "Rock, X, heads up. Looks like they're sending a squad of eight Robot Masters to pick up the payload. They aren't taking any Joes or other such units with them, either."

"Roger that," Mega Man responded. "With any luck, some of the traps in here will take out at least one of 'em, but we know what to do in any case."

"Good boy," Protoman responded with a grin. He waited for a moment for the primary excavation crew to enter the cave system. "Yo, Bass, you fused with Treble over there?"

"You know it."

"All right. Now might be a good time to disrupt them for a bit."

"I've been waiting to hear you say that..." Bass said before shutting off his connection. A moment later a purple and grey streak shot out of a gap in the canyon wall and shot right to a group of robots. Bass slowed down enough to pepper them with a good dose of plasma, but when they returned fire, he was already gone, pestering another group. "All right, Iris," Protoman said with a grin. "Now it's time we showed 'em just how deadly a weapon stealth really is."

Sigma couldn't believe it. He simply couldn't believe it. It wasn't the fact that Mega Man and his infernal family were there to battle his army. That was something he had prepared for. It was the tactics used. Hidden bombs taking out large groups of drones. Bass doing strafing runs, then retreating. Plasma raining down from the plateaus. This was guerilla warfare at its finest. Not the kind of tactics Light-bots were known to use. In fact, the Hunter organization being primarily a reactionary force and all, Sigma himself rarely relied on such tactics until after he became leader of the Mavericks. There was something wrong about the entire setup, and he couldn't be sure what it was. And there was another thing bothering him. It wasn't something he could prove, not something he could see, but he knew. X and Zero were here. Of course they were here. They'd follow him to the end of the world itself. Destiny was funny that way. It was time to bring out his trump card for when the inevitable raid on the Node would come. At his mental command, a large sliding trap door opened in the floor, and the platform below it rose to floor level. Resting on the platform was a large object covered with a white sheet, just to keep it nice and shiny for its trial run. Sigma had the feeling that trial run would be soon.

The Robot Masters didn't know what hit them. Snake Man was leading the small group deeper into the cavern that held Zero's capsule. All of them were on guard, since they'd encountered several traps within the twisting stone corridor that hadn't been in the briefing. Even so, with the glow of the capsule illuminating everything and the Robot Masters on full alert, they were taken by surprise. They were ripped into immediately by rapid fire plasma blasts. The Robot Masters scattered and returned fire, which X and Mega Man were easily able to dodge. Mega Man blew the group a raspberry and he and X vanished back down the corridor. Snake Man scowled. "Gutsssss Man, Elec Man. Ssssstay here with me. The resssst of you. After them!"

As the other Robot Masters–Metal Man, Napalm Man, Pharaoh Man, Wood Man, and Needle Man–charged after their query, the other three Robot Masters turned their attention on the capsule. Snake Man stepped ahead of the other two, and entered the code to release Zero. Nothing happened. "Uh, I thought the capsule-thing was supposed to open," Guts Man said, confused.

"It wassss," Snake Man responded before reaching for the keypad again. Before he could hit a single button, the capsule clicked as blue-green smoke emerged from the resultant crack at the bottom. The glass tube instantly flew back into the upper plate, bathing the area in the smoke. "Uh, Snake?" Elec Man asked.

One moment later, Snake Man's head bounced out of the smoke and stopped his feet. "Oh, sh..." Elec Man cried out a split second before being bisected. Guts Man tried to run, but lost a leg, and fell flat on his face. Then he lost his head. The smoke cleared, and Zero–the future Zero–was standing over the remains, sheathing his beam sabre.

"This is Z, reporting in," he said over the comm system, turning off the holo-projector which hid the true capsule. "The capsule's secure. Over."

"X, here. We've got the 'A-Route.' Over,"

"Then I'll secure the 'B-Route.' Over 'n out." Zero spent one more second gazing up at the capsule, then turned to leave. He stopped for a moment at the husks that were once the Robot Masters and thought for a second. Then he bent down and got to work.

"Speaking of securing the route..." Mega Man said with a grin, his back to a cavern wall. "Care to do the honors?"

"One more second..." X responded, as he ducked a Metal Blade. "NOW!" X hit a hidden button in the wall, causing a large chunk of the ceiling to drop down, crushing all five of the Robot Masters.

"Y'know something?" Mega Man asked, his grin spreading. "I think I could grow to like playing by Hadrian's rules."

"Yeah, it has its place," X replied with a grin, deactivating the holo-projector that hid the narrow escape route. "C'mon let's...what're you doing?"

Mega Man stood up from where he was leaning over the remains of Metal Man. "Just copying me some weapons. Want some?"

"I dunno," X said. "My Variable Weapons System is a newer model than yours. I dunno if it's compatible with weapons systems as old as these."

Mega Man offered X a forearm. "Well, you never know until you try."

Iris hid behind a large rock outcropping, charging the temporary arm cannon attatchment that Dr. Light put together for her. When the Joes got in her line of sight, she let loose with a super shot and several rapid fire shots, taking out several of the Joes. When they returned fire, she was already gone. When she and Protoman met near the exit to the cavern minutes later, Protoman had to grin. "Hey, you're pretty good at this. So, what was up with the whole 'damsel in distress' routine in the last Maverick War?"

"How'd you know about that?"

"You don't become a mysterious semi-hero without studying your friends as well as enemies."

Iris shook her head and grinned. "It basically came down to the fact that I couldn't decide which side to fight on. That, and martial arts don't work well against a giant mecha-dragon..."

Mega Man poked his head out of the cavern entrance. "Are we interrupting anything?"

"Not much, just talkin' 'bout origins 'n stuff," Protoman said with a grin.

"Heads up!" Iris said.

A red blur leaped from one of the surrounding canyon walls, sending Robot Masters scattering in every direction when it landed. Protoman slapped his forehead. "Zero, what did I say about the blasting...?"

"Blasting? Who's blasting? I'm not blasting?" Zero said over the comm system. Protoman muttered something unintelligible as X tried really hard not to laugh outright. "Hang on a sec, be right there," Zero said. A couple of seconds later, the carnage ceased and Zero was reunited with the others. "Here," he said, tossing something in Mega Man's direction. "Merry Christmas."

Mega Man studied the small objects momentarily. "Weapons chips," he muttered. Then grinned. "Aw, you shouldn't have."

"Okay, Bass," Protoman said into the communicator. "We're ready to move. We just need you here."

"Yeah, yeah, I heard you already." Bass said from directly behind Protoman, causing him to start. "You think you 'n Iris can handle the rest of the R.M.'s."

Protoman had regained his composure. "Easily enough. You sure you won't need some extra help with Sigma."

Bass grinned as he, Rock, X, and Zero linked hands. "Please. Siggy's been there less than a week. What could he possibly have to throw at us?" That said, Bass concentrated the Alien Energy and in a blue flash, the four robots were gone.

Protoman rubbed the back of his head. "Y'know, it's probably a good thing I don't believe in Karma..."

No sooner had they landed did Mega Man get bowled over by something hitting him square in the back. "What the...?" he muttered as he watched a yellow blob of mudlike material splatter against the wall. He looked to the opposite wall to see that it was comparable to swiss cheese. "Great, LOOK OUT!" he cried as more and more blobs shot from the holes. Moments that seemed like hours later, the mud collected itself into a round blob, which sprouted arms and legs. Finally, in the center of the blob, a red eye the white of which was black, opened in the approximate center of it's round torso. Mega Man groaned. "Bass, I think your aim needs a little work..."