Chapter 6: The New West
In the depths of a hidden underground lair, a single human stirred. The only number of his species to inhabit the building, among the hundreds of robot guardians that surrounded him, he made no efforts to protect his aged, frail body from the cold that permeated his metal surroundings. Shivering slightly, his eyes snapped open, still hidden behind the sunglasses he always wore, even when sleeping.
"I wonder why I insist on that…" Mr. X muttered to himself, yawning. "It is hardly necessary now, surrounded as I am by no beings other than my mechanical minions… and yet I continue to do so at all times. I suppose after all this time… all those failures, and hidden truths uncovered… I still wish to keep the air of mystery around me, even when there are none to benefit from it." He shook his head. "Foolishness… but then, I am an old man. I can permit myself a few quirks and idiosyncrasies." Rising, he dressed himself in the black robes he always wore now, then took his cane and began walking slowly down the corridors. "At least it's quieter down here now that the Robot Masters have all departed… although it is more boring as well." He frowned. "A bit of loneliness there, old man? Be more careful… remember, they are just robots like an others, and in the end robots are but tools… instruments of war, to be used as needed. What's truly important is the men behind them." Thinking of the robots brought on the urge to see them… to see the ones who commanded under him, anyways. His latest eight Robot Masters. They weren't the most dangerous set of any Rebellion, but they were interesting enough to pose a threat. If one of them turned out to be the one that would finally accomplish his mission, well and good, and if they didn't… Mr. X shrugged. Another contingency he had already accounted for. Sitting down in front of his desk, he called up the communications channel he and all the Robot Masters used for communicating. The billionaire frowned as he connected; it was already in use.
"-And the horse you rode in on, too!" Tomahawk Man, the volatile US Robotics model, was taunting his British counterpart. "Yeah, the HORSE! Ooh, looks like you didn't like that one! Are you finally going to come down here and do something about it, Captain Chivalry?"
"You have no idea how much I so dearly wish to, scoundrel!" The heavily armored Knight Man growled back, temper obviously rising. "Were I not ordered to maintain my position by our master, I would be only too happy to journey to locale and obliterate that loathsome smirk from thy features!"
"Yap yap yap, cut the crap." Tomahawk Man yawned. "Orders this and honor that. I still say you're really just an armored chicken. You're all talk, Sir Gala-hack. I don't even know why I'm on this channel wasting my time talking to you… it's obvious you'll never have enough guts to actually do something about it, even after we finish our job."
"Perhaps it is because you are a troublemaking loudmouth, Tomahawk Man?" Mr. X interrupted before the furious Knight Man could respond, which was probably a good thing considering the steam that had started rising from under the British Robot Master's armor.
"Ah! Uh… hiya, boss." Tomahawk Man chuckled weakly. "I… didn't know you were there. You, uh, been on this channel for a while, have you? Listening in on us? Ah heh heh… please say no."
"I only signed on a moment ago." Mr. X explained, smirking at the obvious look of relief that passed on the normally confident warrior's face. Despite the vast differences in their simulated personalities, all of the Robot Masters shared a deep fear of their human master. "However, that doesn't mean I can't just look up the recording of this channel… or ask Knight Man." Tomahawk Man blanched. "Was he bothering you unduly, Knight?" Knight Man was silent for a moment, obviously torn between anger at the interloper and loyalty to a comrade.
"…Not unduly, no." He stated finally. "It was merely 'goofing around' as I believe it is put. I was not too concerned… by this time, I am used to Tomahawk Man's behavior towards me."
"Fair enough… I suppose you would have to be." Mr. X conceded, smiling wider. Both Robot Masters knew full well that he wasn't fooled, but he decided to be merciful for once and let it drop. "Have you had much contact with the others?"
"Er… yeah." Tomahawk Man nodded, frowning suspiciously after Knight Man had bailed him out. "Flame Man was on earlier… about five minutes before you came on, he, well… he kinda threw up his hands and said he was sick of refereeing our arguments all the time."
"I see." Mr. X nodded. "And the others?"
"Centaur Man checks with us all on occasion to see how we are doing, but does not contribute much conversation." Knight Man continued. "Wind Man says hello occasionally, but I don't believe I've heard from Yamato Man… and, of course, Plant Man and Blizzard Man…"
"Yeah… pretty much the same here." Tomahawk Man agreed.
"Hm… very well." Mr. X conceded. "Still, enough tomfoolery. Concentrate on the tasks at hand, and be prepared if Mega Man chooses to come for either of you… you especially, Tomahawk Man."
"Ha… I'll be ready for him, all right." The hotheaded Robot Master grinned cockily. "There's still somebody else I'd rather fight, but I'll be happy to prove myself on blueboy's body too!"
"Yes, you do that, Tomahawk Man. Mr. X, out." The billionaire cut the channel and shook his head; the idiot probably wasn't even aware that the enemy could now exploit his structural flaw. Smiling grimly, he thought back again to the moment he had realized that all eight of the Robot Masters, once again, had flaws that corresponded perfectly to each others' weapons; a weakness he had thought to avoid by selecting the cream of the crop from individual designers. At the time, he had ranted and raged, but now he could view it simply as fate once again going out of its way to stymie his goals. In the end, however, he would have the last laugh. Yes, that was what he should focus on now; his secret project, the contingency in case THIS Rebellion failed like all the others. Always have a contingency; that was one of the lessons he had struggled to spread to all of his subordinates, Rebellion after Rebellion, and one that he still maintained an ironclad devotion to. Walking down to a lower level of the fortress, Mr. X entered a robotics workshop full of mess and clutter, tools left out and spare parts thrown everywhere. Lying on one workbench, however, was the main focus of his current activities; a robot shaped like a human. Chuckling, Mr. X bent over it.
"It's been a while since I've done this… hope I haven't lost the touch."
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"Hm… looks more barren out here than I'd thought it would be." Mega Man noted, ignoring Mr. X's obnoxious blather and looking around the location where Disney World, a massive tribute to one of the country's most successful entertainment companies, had once stood. That was before the Third World War, however; though it had no strategic value, the amusement park had apparently been targeted by an enemy country as a flip of the bird to the States, as had many parts of the world during the final, frenzied days. "Figured it would be abandoned ruins like Vegas… although they used biological weapons there… well, whatever. Looks like Tomahawk's made some effort to fix it up, anyways. Whoops, here comes the posse…" Four green humanoids in ludicrous cowboy hats were advancing on him; spreading out, they pulled out what looked like antique six-shooters but were almost certainly more modern weapons. Mega frowned; a bullet didn't pose as much of a threat to his robotic body as the more common plasma weapons such robots usually used, but it would still hurt. Fortunately, he was able to dispose of all four robots only taking one clip to his arm. Following an irritatingly patronizing arrow sign, he walked into a tunnel that had been done up to resemble a mine shaft; however, what he found down its lengths could not be said to resemble mining equipment by ANY stretch of the imagination.
"What the heck is THIS supposed to be?" The Blue Bomber glared up at the huge mechanical sphere hanging from the ceiling, attached to it by many long, twisting pipes and circuits. The lower half of the sphere was covered in metal and had what looked like a spigot on the bottom. The upper half, however, looked like glass but was probably some much tougher, transparent metalloy that showed the sphere's interior as being packed, completely full, of Metools. The small, hard-hat wearing robots were Mega's most common foe, modified for war against him in every Rebellion since the first. The spigot dropped one of them to the ground in front of him and it charged, firing, only to be blown away easily. A moment later, a new Met shot into the machine out of one of the pipes, filling it again. "So… it's a Metool dispenser. That's fantastic. What's next, a vending machine?" Growling, the hero began searching for a vulnerable point. Most of the sphere turned out to be plasma-deflective, but eventually he discovered that the spigot did not share the capacity. Reducing it to wreckage left the dispenser with no way to release its contents, but new Mets kept pouring in, seemingly unable to stop. Before long, the obvious happened and the entire construct exploded violently, leaving the way forward open for Mega, who had thoughtfully covered up with the Plant Shield. The tunnels beyond there threw a few spiked miniature tanks at him that he destroyed before they got anywhere near him; a good thing, as it turned out, since they had been stuffed with explosives. Shaking his head, Mega continued on.
"Beep!" Dropping down from the ceiling, Eddie greeted him again.
"Hey, Ed." The Blue Bomber greeted his suitcase-bot friend happily. "Didn't see you at Blizzard Man's. What happen? Did you teleport into the water around that crazy sub?" Eddie narrowed his eyes and released a stream of binary best left untranslated. "I'll take that as a yes. So, what have you got for me?" In response, the 'bot flipped open his lid to reveal a metal canister, blue and slightly glowing. "An E-Tank? Awesome!" Portable recharges for a robot's internal operations energy, E-Tanks were a rarity, one that not even a prosperous family such as the Lights could maintain a constant supply of. Most of the ones Mega acquired were scavenged from the enemy; none of the Lights had ever asked where Eddie got his supply, deciding that they were better of not knowing. "Thanks, Ed… this'll come in handy!"
"Beep beep!" Smiling, Eddie teleported away, and Mega continued on, emerging back above ground. Now the sun was setting , making the western look around him even moreso. The long stretch of ground in front of him before the next "mine" entrance was swarming with enemy robots, a sight that made the Blue Bomber frown until he saw the scaffolding hanging overhead, an easy way across with somebody who could get up there… that was to say, somebody with more jumping ability than his own. Fortunately, his new Jet Armor offered him an alternative to improving his vertical leap, and once up there, he was able to make it across to drop down into the next tunnel easily. A second Metool Dispenser stood in his way, and it was disposed of just like the first. Beyond it stood something more troubling, however; a fork in the road, two tunnels leading up and down. "I must be almost to the Robot Master… looks like this choice won't be as simple as the previous ones. I hate complications."
"Things are only complicated when you want them to be." Another voice reprimanded him. "You should know that by now." Whistling his favorite tune, Proto Man dropped down from the ceiling to land next to his younger brother, a strange apparatus held under one arm and his familiar plasma-deflective shield in the other.
"Hey, bro." Mega greeted him. "What's that thingy?"
"Dr. Corbun's energy balancer." Proto Man grinned.
"You got it back already? Awesome." Mega congratulated him. "So does this mean you know where X is hiding out… anything on him?"
"Afraid not…" The red-armored Robot Master shook his head. "Believe it or not, I actually found this thing in the stadium the tourney took place in… it was hidden down in the basement. As for X himself, I've got nothing so far… I found a new Skull Fortress, but before you jump, it was completely inactive… nothing there had been in use for months. Could have just been a backup for redundancy… sounds like what Wily would do."
"Yeah, I think I heard him rambling about something like that one of the times we fought." Mega nodded in agreement. "Well, I'm sure you'll find something eventually… you're good at stuff like that."
"Yeah… here, you might as well take this. You'll use it more than I would." Proto handed him the Energy Balancer. "Dad and Cossack will be able to install it. For now, though, what say you take the high road and I'll take the low road, and we hope you're right like the previous two times?"
"Sounds like a plan to me." Mega smiled. "I assume you went by and nabbed the weapons chips from the two fakes after they were shut down?"
"Does Beat like to chew on power lines?" His brother replied sardonically, quickly shifting his colors to the Plant Barrier's pink and the Blizzard Attack's light blue, both with white. "Good luck. See you when I've got more info."
"Right." Nodding, Mega headed down the upper tunnel. Before long he came to a metal shutter, as he expected, and walked through it into a plain, undecorated green square room. The moment he entered, Mr. X's voice came in as usual, gloating for the cameras that were surely recording it.
"And here we are for Round 3's final fight, ladies and gentlemen! Perhaps the most audacious of our challengers, it's the Bladed Barbarian Vs. the Blue Bomber! Can US Robotics, the company who designed the maniacs who terrorized you all in the Fifth, produce a contestant to bring down the champion? Let's find out!" Mega winced momentarily at the slander, but there were more important things to worry about as the enemy jumped down from a hole in the ceiling.
"Hey, blue boy." Tomahawk Man grinned, rubbing a finger across his decorative face paint. "Ready to rumble?"
"More than." Mega fired a charged shot off without warning, but Tomahawk Man jumped it just as easily, and the Blue Bomber had to slide away from him.
"Good, good!" Tomahawk Man yelled, turning and throwing a spinning blade. "You're not Knight Man, but maybe this'll be almost as good!" Mega was about to call out a retort to that, but something else made him think.
"We all gotta make sacrifices sometimes." He answered shortly instead, mind racing. If he's still got that going on in his head, maybe I can nail him with it at the right time-WHOA! The blade was faster than he thought, and what he had figured to be a complete dodge nicked him slightly. Have to be more careful… Rising, he saw the enemy robot charging, bellowing a war cry as he brought another tomahawk down like a battleaxe. This attack was easily dodged by Mega, who fired a charged shot into Tomahawk Man's face that sent him flying. Another one hit before he could rise and jump away.
"Impressive… you ARE good!" Tomahawk Man crowed. "Pity I can only use my one arm. Why don't you stop fooling around and use both?"
"You really think you can trick me into overloading that easily?" Mega snarled. "You're not too bright."
"Hey, anything's worth a shot." Tomahawk Man shrugged, hurling a succession of flying tomahawks that Mega struggled to dodge, unable to avoid several more nicks and one larger cut on his shoulder. "As long as you win in the end, you're stronger. Doesn't matter how you do it!"
"Is that why Knight Man ticks you off?" Mega Man smirked, not returning fire. "Don't try to kid me… Mr. X can't have failed at removing that directive towards animosity US Robotics built into you. Which means your current grudge against him most have grown naturally in that personality simulation of yours… it's a personal foolishness. You want to beat him now because you don't like him, not because of the way you were designed."
"Hey, shut up!" Tomahawk Man yelled, charging angrily. Calmly, Mega Man blasted him away.
"As a matter of fact… you should be grateful you never actually fought him. The way you are now… you'd have no chance at all against that guy." The Blue Bomber fired another charged shot, but Tomahawk Man jumped to his feet and spun around it to face him.
"Is that so…" The bladed barbarian growled. "Well then… what if I start doing THIS?" His head shot forward, but the rest of his body remained stationary; with his cranium, however, the massive mane of feathers he wore on his head also shot out, and three of them detached, flying forward to slam into Mega Man's legs and left arm. They were really metal darts… painful ones, Mega noted as he fell to his knees. "HA! Still think I'd have no chance?" Tomahawk Man jibed.
"I never… saw THAT one in the Tournament." Mega grunted.
"Of course! Even back then, I was saving it for Knight!" Tomahawk Man launched another flying tomahawk the Mega was able to barely avoid.
"Is that so…" The Blue Bomber frowned. Crud… getting too risky for me to try finishing him with just my Buster. I've still got that E-Tank if I really need it, but I'd prefer to hold onto that. If he's been watching previous fights, he'll expect me to test out the Blizzard Attack… so… Rising painfully, Mega changed to the Plant Barrier and brought it up.
"Didn't Blizzard Man already show you that thing was worthless?" Tomahawk Man jeered. "Plant Man didn't belong with the rest of us… he was a chump!"
"Is that so." Mega Man smiled confidently. "Why don't you destroy this thing yourself, then?"
"If you insist, fool!" Tomahawk Man thrust his head forward, launching the feather darts again. Mega stood his ground and smile as all three fell off of the force field harmlessly. "What? But…"
"As you see, it's not that easy." Mega Man shook his head disdainfully. "My turn." He charged, running at his enemy. A desperate tomahawk bounced off as well, and Tomahawk Man jumped away over his foe's head. "Knew you'd do that…" Turning and dropping, Mega slid under him. Landing hard on the force field, Tomahawk Man grunted in pain and bounced off, sprawling on the ground face down. The Barrier was dissipated by the hit, but Mega Man simply brought it back up as he leaped onto Tomahawk Man's back. Again it broke as it smashed him down into the ground, and again he repeated it, pounding with the sphere of energy again and again until Tomahawk Man finally stopped twitching and was still. Getting down, Mega pried open his hand and scowled; there was nothing there. He had chosen the wrong one.
"Well, it had to happen sometime." He sighed. "At least Blues is here bringing down the real bad dude. I might as well leave, I suppose…" Grabbing the weapons chip, he teleported out.
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"Councilor Vinkus? Yes, he said he thought you would be coming by…" A nurse nodded proprietarily at the Roll, Kalinka and the three robotocists. "This way, please." Turning, she led them down the halls. "Please try to be quick… he's recovering, but he's still quite weak. Councilor… your visitors have arrived."
"Ah… thank you, nurse." Darwin Vinkus glanced up from the book he was reading. "I had hoped you would come by, my friends… eh?" His eyes widened at the bruises on Dr. Corbun's face. "Trent, what happened to you?"
"Oh, it's nothing, Darwin." Dr. Corbun shrugged. "Just had a few more drinks than I should have last night. I'll be fine."
"I've talked to you about that… be careful." Vinkus shook his head. "This is not the time to become an alcoholic… not that there's ANY time for that." He turned to the others. "Thomas, Sergei… I'm glad to see you're looking well. Little Kalinka… how nice of you to come see me. And… Roll." He looked a bit surprised. "Thank you for coming as well. I wasn't expecting a… well, never mind that." Roll bit her lip, knowing full well what he had been about to say. A robot. Though he was at least trying to keep it buried, the councilor's prejudices were obviously still firmly entrenched.
"We were all concerned when Dr. Corbun told us what happened." She explained politely after a moment. "We would have brought Rush and Eddie, but I don't think the hospital staff are trained to deal with those two…" Even Vinkus smiled at that. "I'm sure Rock and Blues would have been here as well if they weren't working full-time on the Rebellion."
"Ah yes, the Rebellion." Vinkus nodded, all traces of humor vanishing from his face. "How goes it on that front, then?"
"Two down… probably three by now, really." Dr. Light decided. "Rock left for Tomahawk Man's today, and both Plant and Blizzard were already taken care of. So far, he hasn't had too much trouble."
"So I see." Vinkus smiled a bit wanly. "Well, it's good to see that things are proceeding towards the end of the Rebellion… not that I doubted young Rock." He looked down. "He and Blues both remain as strong as ever… while I succumb to weakness at this most critical of times. I hope the UN hasn't been giving you all too much trouble… Martel from the US would try to control the others as best he can, but by himself…"
"We have been avoiding them for the most part." Dr. Cossack explained. "Rock has been purposefully trying to be gone whenever they call the house… he prefers to rely on his own judgment when deciding the order of attack rather than have it chosen for him by politics. Nothing personal, my friend."
"No, no, I know what those fools are like." Vinkus sighed. "That's why I'm so disgusted with myself about this… I should be there helping all of you out as much as I can, by keeping the other idiots off of your back… and here I am, bedridden and helpless. I've failed to do my part."
"Don't talk like that, Darwin." Dr. Corbun muttered, subdued. "It's not right. We're… you're not like this. You'll get better… be back on your feet in no time. Don't blame yourself for something you couldn't control." The others looked surprised; although they had been friends, Corbun and Vinkus had spent most of their association constantly sniping at each other, with Mr. X as mediator. Vinkus, however, merely smiled and nodded at the British man's sudden openness.
"You do the same, Trent… I won't press you, but you don't look like you just had a few too many. Make sure to take care of yourself as well, and I will strive to recover as fast as I can… hopefully before this Rebellion ends, so I'm not completely useless. If that were to be the case…" He looked away again. "Perhaps it would be time for me to start thinking about my retirement."
"…I won't tell you no." Dr. Light said quietly after a few uncomfortable moments in which everybody was silent. "I know and respect you too much for that. But don't rush into this… think long and hard. Once that decision is made, you can't take it back, you realize."
"Yes, I know." Vinkus smiled again. "Besides, it wouldn't have to be right away… I think I've got a FEW more years in me still. After all, even if I'm the second senior here I'm not as old as you are, Tom."
"This is what I get for being supportive." Dr. Light complained jokingly. "Blues was right. I should go off into the mountains and herd goats."
"What?" Roll choked. "When did he tell you THAT?"
"Oh, it was before your time." Dr. Light chuckled. "He said it while he was angry over a certain robotics experiment backfired rather messily. Blues only likes explosions when he doesn't have to clean up after them."
"Can't say I blame him for that." Dr. Cossack chuckled. "Still, I can't really see you as the farmer hermit type."
"It would cut down on the door-to-door salesmen incidents, at least." Roll cracked. "I almost felt sorry for that last one when Eddie answered the door."
"Ha ha…" Vinkus chuckled, a much broader smile crossing his face than any of them had seen for some time. "Thank you, my friends… I feel somewhat better now. I haven't had occasion to laugh enough recently."
"Blues told me something once." Kalinka offered. "He told me I should smile as much as possible… even when bad things were happening. He said that as long as you could find at least one thing to smile about, then you weren't completely lost… and never would be."
"Indeed." Dr. Corbun nodded in agreement. "Well then, we'll let you rest, Darwin… make sure to get better as soon as you can."
"I plan to." Vinkus shook all of their hands, and watched them walk out, promising to visit again soon. After Dr. Light closed the door behind them, the UN Councilor laid down and closed his eyes, the smile still present on his face.
"Time to start thinking, indeed…"