AN: I just realised I forgot to put the disclaimer in the prologue, so I'll put it here – I do not own Rockman EXE. or any related characters.

Chapter 1 – Strange Happenings

Netto yawned, waking from his nap as the musical notes of Chopin drifted through his window. Blinking sleepily, he staggered to the glass pane and opened it.

Next door, Meiru was practicing on her piano. She was clearly concentrating hard – brows furrowed, eyes sharp and focused, fingers waltzing across the keys. Her music swelled and grew, the notes louder, clearer, more confident. A smile broke out on the redhead's face, obviously pleased with how well she was playing.

Netto rested his elbows on the sill, watching and listening to the music drifting on the air. His fingers fiddled idly with the corner of his Math textbook while he stood there, contemplating the scene below him. He saw Meiru smile, and couldn't help but smile himself at her elation. She had been practicing this piece for weeks, and today was the first time she had played it the whole way through, no pauses or mistakes.

When she shut the piano lid, Netto called out to her.

"Hey, Meiru!"

She looked up and her smile grew wider, sending a nice, glowing warmth through his body.

"Hey, Netto!" Her voice rang through the air, her tone filled with joy.

"Meiru, can you…uh…can you give me a hand?"

She laughed; she knew that line only too well.

"Which subjects?"

"Math," Netto explained ruefully. "And History, and that poem we got for English."

"I'll be right over."

"It's closed!" Iceman wailed, gesturing at the battle chip shop.

"That is kinda funny," Roll muttered. "I mean, it's Friday afternoon, it should be open."

"Yeah, but by the same token, this place should be crowded." Rockman reminded her.

"It is rather quiet," Glyde pondered. "Did we miss an evacuation notice?"

"But if they evacuated Internet City, there'd be a reason for the evacuation. A virus or a rogue navi or something like that." Rockman shook his head. "It just seems to be…deserted."

"Definitely weird," Roll agreed, before shrugging affably. "But I'm sure it's nothing. Now come on guys, since the shop is closed, let's go check out the Mermaid Fountain they installed yesterday!"

She grabbed Rockman's hand and tugged, pulling him along the street.

"Alright, we're coming!" he chuckled.

"I still don't get it," Netto whined, gazing sadly down at the incomprehensible spread of numbers and symbols before him.

"Don't worry, it is kind of tricky at first," Meiru reassured him. "But all you have to remember is the FOIL rule."

"The what?"

"The FOIL rule. You use it to multiply brackets in algebra."

Meiru gestured to the first question, (2a – 4) (a + 2).

"The idea is to multiply each component in the FOIL order. First, Outside, Inside and Last. Eventually," here she scribbled on the page, carrying and multiplying numbers and letters. "You should get this."

Netto blinked at the paper. Next to the question, in neat precise handwriting, was the answer. 2a2 – 8.

He stared, he blinked, then he stared again. "How did you get that?"

Meiru smiled. Lan looked absolutely adorable when he was bewildered. "I'll show you again…"

Ten minutes later, Netto had finally got the concept down.

"You got it!" Meiru grinned happily.

"Thanks Meiru," Netto said, reaching out to sling an arm across her shoulders and pull her to him. "Thanks heaps!"

Suddenly realising their close proximity, Netto dropped his arm as casually as he could, trying not to blush. He swallowed, and pushed that annoying voice in his head away. The one that was currently reminding him how nice it had felt to have Meiru in his arms.

"A-Anyway," he gulped out, "This other question I didn't get at all."

Smiling bravely – and trying to forget how warm she had felt when Netto hugged her – Meiru prepared to demonstrate the correct way to divide with algebra.

Glyde and Iceman forged on ahead, taking animatedly about the Mermaid Fountain and how it was supposed to be a triumph of navi construction and what it might look like. A few paces behind were Rockman and Roll. Rockman was behind because he was still looking at all the empty buildings and puzzling over them, Roll because…she wanted to be with him.

"I still don't get it," Rockman said, unconsciously echoing the words of his NetOp.

"Oh, will you quit worrying!" Roll scolded, "I'm sure nothing's wrong."

"Maybe so. But-" his words were cut off when he suddenly yelped as though in pain.

"Rockman, what's wrong?" Roll said, turning to him.

His body jerked, and he shuddered violently. Rockman bent double, and began making strange sounds as though he were choking. Roll was about to call for Iceman and Glyde when he stilled and abruptly stood again.

"What was that?" Roll asked. "You looked like you were…"

Her words died in her throat. As Rockman stood, Roll was given a glimpse of his face. And it was not the face of the Rockman she knew. It was devoid of expression, save for a maniacal glimmer in his eyes.

Roll automatically started to take a step back but, faster than her eyes could follow, Rockman's hand shot out and grabbed her wrist, gripping it painfully tight.

"Rockman," she began uncertainly, trying to pull away.

She raised her eyes beseechingly to his. Cold emerald orbs stared back at her, blank and uncomprehending.

'He has no idea what he's doing.' The thought flashed through her mind. 'It's like he's not really there anymore.'

Fear beginning to coil in her stomach, Roll tried again to tug out of Rockman's grip. She grabbed his forearm with her free hand and tried to yank his hand away. He didn't release her; in fact, she felt his fingers tighten on her wrist.

Biting back a wince at the strength of his grip, Roll attempted to alert the others.

"Uh, guys?" Roll called, keeping her eyes on Rockman's face.

Ahead, Glyde and Iceman turned, and then froze – staring slack-jawed at the scene before them. Rockman was staring straight at Roll, darkly intent as he held her in place, fingers digging brutally into her flesh.

"Something's wrong," she began. "He just-"

But Roll never finished her sentence. In that instant, Rockman yanked harshly on her wrist. Caught off-guard, Roll stumbled forward, gasping as she collided with his chest.

Before she could blink – let alone try to pull away – he had relinquished her wrist only to snake an arm around her waist, keeping her pinned to him as tightly as a bug on a card. Roll squirmed uncomfortably and couldn't hold in a small whimper of pain, his new grip wasn't any gentler than his previous one had been.

With cries of alarm, Iceman and Glyde stepped forward, only to freeze again when Rockman's free hand, already transformed into a Rockbuster, was casually levelled at them. The blue navi turned his head and seemed to be taking aim.

"No!" Roll gasped, pushing against his chest. "Rock, they're your friends. Your friends!"

The intensity of her struggles died, and she finished in a whisper, "Don't you remember?"

Rockman didn't lower his weapon, but he did turn to look at her.

Roll swallowed hard as she stared right into Rockman's eyes, searching them desperately for some sign that he was still in there.

But there was nothing. Green orbs stared blankly back at her, flat and cold and calculating. Roll soon dropped her gaze, unable to bear looking into Rockman's eyes and seeing no recognition.

'No,' she thought in despair. 'How did this happen? We were just talking – nothing seemed wrong – and now…'

She became aware that Rockman still hadn't looked away from her. Slowly she lifted her eyes once more. His gaze seemed to bore into her, intense and piercing. His eyes travelled over her, studying her as though committing every inch of her body to memory. Roll could feel her cheeks begin to flush at such undivided scrutiny.

Yet she couldn't help but wonder; was she was blushing because she was being stared at so avidly, or because it was Rockman who was staring at her? Roll blinked harshly. She couldn't think about this now. Not when Rockman was acting as though he'd been possessed, like one of those characters in Meiru's ghost stories. And definitely not when they were pressed so intimately together, their faces barely an inch apart. She had to concentrate! She had to figure out what was going on!

Rockman's focus on her had not gone unnoticed. Out of the corner of her eye, Roll could see Glyde moving stealthily forward, trying to take advantage of Rockman's distraction.

Unfortunately, Rockman spotted him a few moments after Roll did. His head snapped to the side and he fired two blasts in the space of a second. Glyde and Iceman threw themselves to opposite sides, and it was more out of luck than skill that they managed to escape unharmed.

"Rock, stop!" Roll cried, wriggling desperately. "Please, stop!"

She arched her back and fought to pull away. Rockman's arm tightened around her in response to her struggles, holding her to him as easily as one might hold a moth in their hand. Grimacing in pain, Roll let her hands fall to her side.

She had never realised just how much stronger Rockman was compared to her. But then, she supposed she'd never had much cause to notice. She'd seen him fight, but he had never actually fought her himself. Well, she knew how strong he was now. The arm around her waist felt like a band of steel, hard and unyielding. She wasn't moving until he was ready to let her go.

"Please let me go," she whispered softly. His grip didn't loosen at all.

Seeing the distress on her face, Glyde tried to persuade Rockman to release her. He spoke in a low even voice, trying not to startle him. He had to make certain Rockman didn't regard him as a threat, or he risked being fired on again.

"Rockman," he stated. "Release Miss Roll, your grip is hurting her."

Rockman looked as though the words had never even registered. Before Glyde could react, a blast from the Rockbuster hit him with perfect accuracy straight in the chest. He was sent flying backwards to slam harshly into the ground.

"Glyde!" Roll shrieked, "Are you-"

Her words were cut off when Rockman whipped around, her feet lifting off the floor with the speed at which he turned. And they never had the chance to contact the ground again as he leapt into the air and away, still clutching her to his body.

When he landed, Roll tried with renewed desperation to writhe out of his grip. But again, said grip tightened until Roll felt like she was caught in a vice, and she soon gave up. Her struggles were about as effective as a leaf batting against a brick wall, so she simply remained passive in his grip, completely spent. Maybe if she stopped fighting him, he would simply let her go of his own accord…

But when she relaxed, Roll realised that while she could feel solid ground beneath her toes again, she couldn't feel anything beneath her heels. She chanced a glance down. And finally realised where Rockman had jumped to.

They were both balancing on the edge of a tall building. A very tall building. A motionless Glyde and a frantic Iceman looked tiny from their height, and Roll had a moment to wonder how Rockman had jumped this high – holding her, no less. Then her mind registered that, with her tenuous foothold, she shouldn't actually be able to keep her balance. She was teetering on the very edge, entirely dependent on Rockman for support. If she tried to pull backwards…she'd fall. As soon as her brain had processed that fact, she yelped, wrapped her arms around Megaman's neck and clung for dear life.

"I've, uh, changed my mind," Roll stammered nervously, "Don't let go."

But she had the feeling Rockman wasn't paying attention, he was staring unwaveringly at Glyde. He still hadn't moved, and Roll hoped desperately that he was okay. To her relief, she could see him begin to stand; it looked like he hadn't been damaged too badly but from her height it was hard to tell for sure.

Roll had only a second to see Glyde glance up towards them, before Rockman turned, and ran across the rooftop at breakneck speed. Reaching the edge, Roll felt him gather himself before leaping to another building, landing, and continuing to run without breaking a stride.

Roll tightened her grip on Rockman's neck as his speed increased, squeezing her eyes shut and burying her face in his chest. 'Now I wouldn't get away even if I could,' she thought, 'I'll just end up going 'splat' on the ground. But where's he going? And why is he taking me with him?'

She had dozens of questions and it didn't look like they were going to be answered anytime soon. She might as well just hold on and hope Rockman wasn't going to drop her.

"Where are you taking me?" she dared to ask, but a stony silence greeted her question.

Wherever he was going, he was definitely in a hurry. Roll wiggled slightly in an attempt make herself more comfortable and tried to relax in his arms. As she did, his arm loosened around her.

'What?' she thought, glancing down at the blue limb that encircled her waist. 'He…loosened his grip? Because he knows I can't get away or because I stopped trying to escape?'

Deciding to put her theory to the test, Roll placed pink-gloved hands against his chest and pushed slightly. Not enough to throw his balance off and make them both fall, but enough to show she was trying to get away.

The response was instantaneous. She was again being held in a grasp that seemed determined to crush the life out of her. When she relaxed again, so did his arm. He continued to dash from roof to roof, yet now that she wasn't fighting him, his grip was firm but gentle, no longer painful. That settled it. Rockman wasn't trying to hurt her, just trying to prevent her from escaping. With that thought, Roll felt some of her fear ebb away.

"You're not trying to hurt me," she whispered to him, as well as confirming it to herself. "You're just trying to keep me with you."

There was no response, but she hadn't really been expecting one. Ever since he had grabbed her wrist, Rockman hadn't said a word. She twisted her head slightly to look up at him.

"Alright, I'll play along. I'm sticking with you – wherever it is that we're going."