Chapter 31 - An Act of War
'Will Sebastian really do it? I've known him for quite sometime.. He was never a person to fall into such temptation.. Something must be pushing him into this.. But what.. I don't know.. There's nothing that comes to mind. He has the fame, he has the money.. What else could he want? Companionship? Losing the feeling of loneliness due to the stress scientific ventures puts on a person? The only way to find out.. Is to make it through this.'
The body of Quick lay still upon the table. Both Faern and Claude were at a lose on how to fix the Sebastian bot. Sebastian had taken an old design and put so much advancement into it, it was a wonder that it was damaged at all. Quick's chest armor had been completely removed, the power core was showing openly. It glowed sharply, sending brilliant rays of yellow around the room.
"Is there anything even wrong with him?" Claude asked, scratching the side of his head.
Burn stepped closer to the table and extinguished the flames upon his right hand, pointing out multiple anomalies in the core and also the random blast marks and dents across Quick's exterior.
"Hmm.." Faern nestled his chin into the palm of his hand, staring at the core for a moment, "Well.. Claude, get me the Archtype Plasma Injector. Burn is right about the core, we need to fix that up first."
"Alright, Faern."
Claude turned away from the opened-chested prototype, stepping over to a cabinet. He pulled it open and looked around inside of it for a moment. Faern watched Claude staring around, and was about to point out where it was, when Claude grabbed the long tube and pulled it away from the device attached to the floor of the cabinet. He brought it back over to Faern, handing it over.
"Sebastian has the newer version of this.." Faern shrugged a little, responding lightly, "I'm not rich."
Blues watched as Faern inserted the needle-like tip of the plasma injector into the core, extremely carefully. Claude activated it and the green liquid shot up through the tube and injected into the core. Claude returned to watch as the machine worked, having never been able to when working with Sebastian on anything.
"That's amazing.."
Blues smirked, reaching for a rubber mallet from the trolley and hefting it up easily. He moved down to the lower section of Quick's body, slamming the dull end against dents on the legs, pressing the bubbled dents outward. He rotated the mallet connections around the dents, forcing them outward while not creating any more dents in the process. He looked up as Burn came over and took the mallet from him, motioning Blues toward the door.
Blues leaned against the doorframe of the building, his left hand morphed into his buster. Burn had taken the mallet away from him and sent him over to keep watch.
'Burn is right.. I need to keep watch. Someone has to do it anyways, might as well be me..'
His eyes moved about the room, watching Faern, Claude, and Burn work methodically on Quick's still form on the steel table. His eyes then shifted across the room, to Mega Man, who was sitting in the corner.
'You were always the fighter, Rock.. Why am I, out of the two of us, willing to fight? Was battling brother robots so hard back then that it's effecting you now..'
Blues turned his eyes away from his brother, looking out through the door, his shades glinting as the rays of the sun splashed across his face. He set his right hand down upon the barrel of his buster, clasping it lightly.
Mega Man watched Blues turn away from him, looking about out the door. He set his hands over his eyes, sighing heavily. He closed his eyes, setting his hands down on either side of his body.
'Blues is probably disgusted with me. Me.. The 20XX Hero.. Unwilling to help people in need later on in life. That's the thing, Blues.. My life was over, bringing me back doesn't change that. My time ended when I stopped functioning the first time.'
He pushed himself to his feet and walked over to the doorway, slipping past the table and the three forms working on Quick. He stopped beside Blues, leaning against the other side of the doorframe, his eyes settling outside. He noticed Blues' head twist slightly, knowing he was looking at him through the corner of his eyes.
"Blues.. Are you disgusted with me?" Blues laughed shortly, "No, Rock."
"Why do you still call me that?" He looked over at his brother, who had returned to scanning outside, "Because, that's the name you were given."
"Then why don't you go by Proto Man?" Blues laughed again, this time longer, "That's not a name. It's a title."
"Do you really plan on fighting for this cause, Blues?" Blues looked over at Mega Man, staring him straight in the face, "If one of us has to be the bigger man, here, Rock. Yes, I will fight."
Mega Man didn't know what to say, or think. His mind ran circles around itself, trying to understand what exactly Blues was trying to get at. He looked away from his brother, sighing lightly, his left hand twitching slightly.
The two pods at the side of them room whirred to life, their protective barriers lifting, the two Reploids inside reactivating their systems, coming back online. Shift stepped down out of his pod, the sounds of a charging buster coming to his ears. Lizzy leapt down beside him, running over to the door. Shift finally opened his eyes, just in time to see Blues fire off a fully charged blast into the street, explosions quickly following it. Lizzy leapt through the doorway, her axe already activated.
'What a thing to wake up to..'
Shift ran after her, watching Mega Man slip out of the way from the doorframe and move into the middle of the building, out of the way of the fighting, as well as out of the way of the repairs taking place on Quick. Shift morphed his hands into his sabers as he leapt through the doorway as well.
"Shoryu, the first wave should be arriving as I tell you this."
"They won't last long, start the second wave, Elcazor."
"Of course."
Lizzy's axe worked double-time, both ends cleaving through the body parts of Repliforce Grenadiers and random versions of Joe's. She grit her teeth, feeling plasma splash across her back. Her left hand formed to a buster and fired behind her, the explosion knocking her forward slightly.
'Closer than I thought, damn..'
She grit her teeth, crossing her arms over her face. A ride armor slammed its fist straight into her arms, sending her flying back, her axe gripped tightly within her right hand. She slid to a stop and uncrossed her arms, dashing forward. She leapt upward at the last second, her axe ripping through the ride armor and the drone inside of it. It exploded as she landed behind it, her buster charging quickly, releasing a full shot straight into the crowd of humanoid Reploids, blowing a half dozen apart with that single shot.
"This is going to be a LOVELY freakin' day!"
"Didn't we put the ride armor units in the third wave?"
"It doesn't really matter, Elcazor."
"Why?"
"We're the only thing that will end up doing any sort of damage to them anyways."
"..."
"Just sit back and enjoy the fireworks."
Shift kept shifting what his left hand was doing. First it was holding a saber, cleaving through Joe's like they were butter. Then he switched it to a buster and was littering random Reploids with plasma holes. Then he switched it into a buzz saw, which is what it still currently was.
"I found something effective!"
Shift morphed his right hand into a buzz saw as well, running forward quickly, both blades rotating quickly, their blades ripping through Joe's and Repliforce drones like they were nothing, which they were. He leapt backward, a ride armor slamming down in front of him, its shield taking the full front of his buzz saws. Shift went flying when the ride armor slammed the shield into him. He hit a wall and splattered, reforming on the ground, his hands wielding sabers once more.
"You obviously don't know how much that stings!"
The ride armor activated its thrusters and went flying toward Shift, who leapt backward and kicked off the wall, landing on the drone's head, slamming both of his sabers downward, leaping forward away from the explosion that resulted. He absorbed a few scrap pieces from the ride armor that landed around him, recovering some lost material.
Blues' buster went off rapidly, each shot half-charged. He grit his teeth, noticing how the Mavericks were getting closer, no matter how hard he tried to keep them back. He grabbed his shield, twisted it around, and threw it out the door, watching it impale through four Joe's, ripping their torsos from their waists. The shield slammed into a building across the street, sticking in deep. Blues fired a fully charged shot, obliterating a full row of charging Joe's, their bodies breaking into multiple pieces from the power of the blast.
"I need a close range weapon.. My buster can't do this forever."
Sebastian stared up at the monitor of his computer, a video was playing. It was a video of the attack against Faern's lab, live coverage. He watched with keen interest, looking away only every few seconds, looking over the designs laid out on his computer screen.
"Ugh, distracting!"
He finally muted the video, putting his full attention on to the design with the schematics. So far, he had completed the torso, shoulders, and head of his Zero. He ran his finger over the red gem in the center of his forehead.
"Despite Zero being blue, do you think they will care? It's Zero. The hero of their era. They won't care what color he is, I could make him neon pink and they'd embrace him back into their ranks."
Sebastian stepped around the table containing Zero and walked over to a stack of metal, a very shiny metal. He reached down to grab a sheet of it, right as the phone rang from behind him. He groaned and righted himself, walking over to the phone. He snatched it from the hook.
"Hello?" His tone was annoyed and disgruntled.
"What a greeting, doctor." Sebastian's eyes widened slightly, "Ah, what a surprise."
"I have contacted you with the information you requested. The factory in Calamity is on schedule, and going very smoothly. But there have been energy jumps surrounding that location lately, nothing too significant. I will gladly send someone out there to investigate, if you wish it." Sebastian was silent for a moment, before scratching his chin, "Do nothing for now, but if the anomalies continue, investigate."
"Of course. And also, your Chinese cohorts are falling behind on their promises. Three of the eight factories have been shut down by the government, one is out of material. Which is impossible, since you supplied them with an abundance that should have lasted for at least three more years. And the other four are in pristine shape, on schedule."
"You should probably get someone into China and work on some negotiations. Forceful negotiations."
"Of course. And last, but not least, President Goompas, who is located in America, has confirmed this morning that the Global Utopia of the People have, proving rumors true, created a group of Reploids under the title of the 'Wandering Souls.' And a solitary unit capable of being an army in itself. And also, Vice-President Cicero is reported to have begun his resignation."
"I do believe that this should be investigated by you, personally. I don't trust your underlings."
"And you trust me, doctor? I'm flattered." Sebastian grit his teeth slightly, "Just do your job."
"Of course. I will speak to you again. Probably sooner, rather than later. Good bye." The phone clicked off before Sebastian could make a response.
Sebastian set the phone back down on the hook and walked back over to the table containing Zero. He pulled the sheet over the half-completed body and moved into a chair, un-muting the video of the attack on Faern's lab and settled in for a good fight.
'If what he says is true, then two months will be too long. I will have to go back on it. They will get one month, if that, to get their forces together. If they cannot.. Then that is their problem. The Chinese are failing their part of the plan. I need my Sigma drones done, and I need them done soon. If the energy spikes in Calamity are correct, then Sigma might not be dead. I need to know..'
Faern glanced to the side, watching the explosions erupt just outside the door, which was wide open. He twisted his gaze from the door, trying to shake away the feeling of fear coming over him, that something is going to get through the door. He finally looked up from his shaking hands, looking over at Burn.
"Burn.. Please go and help them fight. At least protect the door." Burn stared at Faern only for a moment, before nodding and heading over to the door, his fingers blazing to life with the strikingly bright green flames.
'I was built for fighting. Though I am fighting those built by a man that could technically be called my father, I must still fight them. Harming those who are weaker may be the way of the tyrant, it will not be tolerated.'
Burn's fingers erupted into larger flames, his hands aimed forward out into the roads. The flames suddenly flickered, going out for an instant, before reigniting, balls of fiery green erupting across the surface of Reploids running across the road, melting through their armor and into their circuitry.
'I was built as a prototype. I am not even a Reploid. Why do I think of such things as I do? Was I built to be something more? I will ask Faern of these feelings later, after we have all survived through this battle.'
Shift slid to the right, his right buzz saw swinging forward, leaving a large gaping wound across the umpteenth ride armor that he has encountered in the last ten minutes. He leaped upward, forming his left hand into his buster, firing a concentrated shot straight into the back of the drone's head, the entire armor exploding. He landed heavily, absorbing some of the debris. He watched Lizzy go flying past him, only to skid to a halt and dash back forward, her buster out and glowing intensely. The blast that erupted took out a large count of Mavericks, leaving smoldering legs and arms before them.
"Are you alright, Lizzy?" Shift strolled forward to stand beside her, both taking a moments rest while the Mavericks regrouped.
"I'm glad I took that quick recharge. That blast wouldn't have been half as powerful if I hadn't." Lizzy grinned wildly, the hum of her buster coming to his sensors, "Glad to hear it. Well.. Time to get back to work!"
Shift lurched forward rapidly, his body surging downward into a puddle. He erupted upward around a Joe, encompassing it and tearing it apart from the inside, absorbing it entirely. Shift watched Lizzy shoot past, her double-axe tearing through the armor of multiple ride armors, leaving explosions in her wake.
Claude took over where Burn had been working, his hands wielding the rubber mallet efficiently, quickly restoring the leg armor to its original shape and form. He returned the mallet to the trolley, stepping up beside Quick's head. Faern glanced over at him and nodded, carefully removing the injector from the core. Claude moved to the closet and switched the machine off, letting the soft hum dull down, leaving only the sounds of explosions come to their ears.
"Alright, Claude. All we have to do now is complete the reassembling of Quick's chest, internal and exterior, finish rebuilding the broken gauntlets, and fix his helmet. Shouldn't take too long. If we work quickly, we'll be finished before they are."
"Wonderful.." Claude glanced to his side, where Mega Man came to a stop, "I can help."
"Are you sure you're up to it, Mega Man?" Faern was skeptical, but Mega Man gave a reassuring smile, "I was Doctor Light's lab assistant before I was turned into a combat unit."
Mega Man stepped around Claude, who was snatching up a welder and something that resembled a pair of tweezers. Faern took a step back and moved around the two of them, walking over to the cabinet. Mega Man took the 'tweezers' from Claude and proceeded to reconnect wires with the electric charge that shot between the tips.
"Claude, can you help me with this?" Faern was holding up a chunk of metal molded into the shape of a chest, Claude quickly joined him, helping him carry it over to the second table.
"You and Claude can work on that, I'll finish this part." Faern nodded to Mega Man, who continued with the rewiring.
Blues dropped down to one knee, aiming his buster high. The fully charged blast pushed him back a bit across the ground, the plasma erupting across the surface of the D-1000 that came hovering across the street. He set his free hand to the side of his mouth, cupped slightly.
"Lizzy! Shift! We got... Uhm.. Big things!"
Lizzy drives her hand through the Joe's chest, pulling out a mass of wiring, her axe taking the Joe out the rest of the way. The two halves separate and explode, leaving Lizzy within a shroud of smoke. She turned toward Blues' voice, but quickly leaped backward when a claw slammed into the spot where she just was, the D-1000 retracting the claw and proceeding after her.
"Not you again.."
She leapt backward, barely catching hold of the front of the building behind her. She triangle-kicked hard, pushing upward quickly. She drove the axe down sharply, the first end ripping through the face of the giant Reploid, sparks shooting from the wound. The second blade pushing farther into the mechanism, ripping apart necessary components. She landed heavily, dashing forward, feeling the heat from the explosion on her back.
"And where are YOU going!" Lizzy slammed into something hard, at her neck. She went flying backward, slamming into the ground and skidding backward sharply, ripping into the asphalt.
Shoryu drew out his beam sabers, both igniting simultaneously at his sides, their green glow glinting off his armor, leaving jade shades upon his form. He strode forward slowly, watching Lizzy push herself to her feet, her beam axe returning to her hand after falling from her grasp. He listened to her cough, trying to restore her breath.
'There will be no mistakes this time.. Death will come to you. Whether swiftly or torturously slow, is up to how I feel when it comes to it.'
"DIE HUNTER!"
Shoryu launched forward quickly, the two sabers sweeping in at different angles. He watched Lizzy's axe catch one blade and side-step to avoid the other, slamming her foot straight up into his chest, knocking him back a bit.
Lizzy followed after him, swinging the axe for him quickly, both blades seeming to stream through him at the waist. She leapt backward swiftly, his foot slamming into where she had been standing. His blades came for her, but she leapt upward, swinging her axe vertically. She watched him duck beneath the first blade, dashing forward and rolling away from the second one.
"Come on, Hunter. Show me what you're really capable of!"
"Gladly!"
Lizzy's buster ignited the sky with a bright flash, the fully charged blast slamming into the ground all about Shoryu's form, launching him backward, sending him crashing into a building, the rafters collapsing inward, the entire building crumbling. She landed softly, going into a battle stance, her axe behind her.
Shoryu pushed aside the rubble, getting to his feet. He grabbed for the hilts to his sabers, only locating one. He activated it immediately, leaving his right hand free. From his wrist sprouted green energy, a saber splitting through the air in front of his right arm.
'If she keeps it up, I won't win.. I have to get rid of that axe..'
He crouched down and activated his foot thrusters, pushing forward rapidly. He swung his wrist blade forward quickly, which Lizzy easily caught, twisting the axe preemptively to catch the attack from the saber. But he jerked his wrist blade back and struck forward again, catching Lizzy by surprise. The force of his thrusters, as well as his attack, sending Lizzy slamming into a wall, Shoryu locked against her, both of them crashing through the thick concrete. Shoryu stumbled over the rubble, rolling across the floor and two his feet. The sizzling of fluids coming from the end of his wrist blade.
"Seems to me like you're injured," He sneered at his female opponent, who laughed lightly. "What's so funny, Hunter!"
"That was idiotic of you."
Lizzy gazed through the smoke, the wound in her chest already closed over. He had left the blade inside too long, it had cut, but it had also burned the metal closed, locking in the fluids, she wouldn't be effected by the injury as much as she could have been. She caught his movement, watching him run forward, but she reacted swiftly, dodging to the right and then skidding and back to the left. She deactivated her axe and used it like a pole, tripping up his feet. She twisted it back and slammed it rapidly into his chest multiple times, before he finally caught in on his wrist, yanking it from her hold.
'Shit!'
Her buster activated immediately and she leapt backward away from him, vanishing into the rising dust, the only noise heard from her was the soft hum of her charging buster.
He held his hand tightly over his chest, where the baton had shattered the plating of his armor in multiple places. He grit his teeth, his breathing sharp. He deactivated his wrist blade, tossing the saber to his right hand, spinning it a bit.
'One more attack.. If it doesn't destroy her, get out of here, Shoryu.. She's not worth dying for, and neither is Sebastian. This is pointless, we have yet to win a battle.. Now.'
He threw his weight forward quickly, running forward, his feet slamming down hard against the concrete footing, shattering it with each step. He leapt upward a few steps through the shroud and swung his saber forward, the sound of humming showing him where to strike. He lurched backward quickly, his saber meeting nothing. The blast ripped through his gut and threw him backward, sending him slamming down into the ground, ripping through the concrete, fluids erupting upward from his mouth.
'Ow..'
Lizzy watched as the blast sent her attacker flying away from her. She relaxed visibly, smiling to herself. She morphed her buster back into her hand and slipped out through the hole that they had created earlier, minutes earlier.
'Or was it seconds?'
She hurried back to where, she hoped, both Shift and Blues would be waiting for her safe return from her one-on-one battle with the Maverick that had took her down too easily the first time.
Elcazor leapt from the D-1000 as Shoryu did, landing meters away from him. He would let his companion have his fun with the girl. Elcazor's rapier was already lit and weaving patterns through the smoke filled air, reflecting back plasma shots from the doorway of the laboratory they were sent to attack.
"Oh come now, I won't hurt you. You can show your face."
He watched as a red Reploid stepped from the shadows of the doorway. He repulsed visibly at the sight of a Reploid in red armor, gritting his teeth angrily.
'Red armor.. Shades.. Buster.. Shield.. It's like a damn copy. Am I being punished for something!'
Blues' buster glittered as it completed its charge in silence, unlike other busters that hummed to full power, his was silent. He lifted up his shield, which he had retrieved earlier, when Burn had come to help them fight. He watched the rapier silently, aiming with his buster at the beret-wearing Reploid, watching him repulse at his sight.
"What's wrong, Maverick? Have you seen a ghost?" The Maverick growled dangerously, "I've seen far too many in these few days of my existence. You are not the first."
"Then let me see yours!"
Blues' buster activated, the blast tearing across the asphalt, ripping a crack through the ground as it sped for Elcazor's form.
Elcazor swung his rapier hard, its thin blade inserting into the side of the blast, but didn't cut through it, to his surprise. He slid back along the ground, before shoving himself to the side, the blast exploding against the side of the building. The blast had impacted with his armor, burning through it slightly, but he was amazed that the blast had not exploded upon contact. He went for the red Reploid, his rapier shrieking as it tore through the air, making contact sharply with a shield, sparks littering the ground beneath their feet.
"Heh, your shield holds up well. The last time I dealt with one, I cut it to pieces." The red Reploid laughed, "Don't underestimate me!"
Blues shoved hard, pushing the Maverick and his rapier a few feet back, changing the mode of buster mentally, shots rapidly escaping the end of his buster, going for the Maverick's body. He watched, gritting his teeth a little harder as each shot was swept aside with the purple blade.
"And don't underestimate me, relic." Blues blinked at this comment, before shaking his head.
Shift spread out across the ground slowly, wincing internally slightly with each step upon his form. As he neared full expansion and shot upward, pulling himself into a tight ball, every Reploid on the road becoming trapped within his form. He formed swords with his form and shot them through the close knit ball of Reploids, absorbing the debris as each Reploid exploded. He sank down into a puddle on the street, no trace of Maverick left aside from the two attacking Mavericks battling Blues and Lizzy.
'No point to reforming.. Blues will handle the one with the beret, and Lizzy will handle the one with the horn. I'm perfectly fine as a puddle.'
Burn stood in the doorway, watching Blues and the rapier-wielding Maverick battle in the middle of the room. Burn's green eyes flared with each attack that Blues took, while inflicting a few upon the Maverick, seemed to do little to no effect. He launched his body forward quickly, his fist connecting sharply, over Blue's head, with the chest of the Maverick, sending his slim body flailing wildly through the air, watching him slam into a building across the road.
"Thanks, Burn.." Blues had hesitated with his gratitude.
Elcazor angrily tore through the rubble of the building, throwing pieces aside. A long cut ran from his ankle to his knee, fluid trickling through his armor. He whipped his rapier out in front of him, his eyes gleaming dangerously.
'Stupid prototype, you have injured the Great Elcazor. You will feel pain this day.'
He shot forward quickly, his legs pumping faster than he could have dashed. He slammed his shoulder straight into the prototype's chest, sending him sprawling backward and through the doorway, taking part of it out, slamming it down on top of him. He swung the rapier for the red Reploid, who ducked and flipped backward, landing in the doorway, his shield raised. He drove the rapier forward, aiming to rip the shield apart.
Faern looked up from the metal on the table as Burn came thundering down through the door, ripping the top of the doorway down with him, covering him with plaster and concrete. Faern pulled the pistol from his pocket, setting it down at the table in front of him. Claude stared at him for a moment, but Faern shook his head.
"Just in case." Claude nodded and the two returned to shaping the chest armor to fit Quick's form.
Blues slid back into the room, almost tripping over Burn's downed form, which wasn't moving. There were multiple holes in his shield, where the rapier had penetrated and melted through the metal. He fired a half-charged shot past the shield, the blast splashing over Elcazor's armor, recoiling him backward, but to Blues' fear, he continued on, the rapier ripping gashes into the shield.
'Dammit! My shield is useless! I can't take much more of th-.. What the hell!'
Elcazor stumbled backward, a fist-sized hole in his mid-section, fluids trickling from it. He glanced over to where the shot came from, his eyes blazing with a fire of such hatred that he mentally feared he might melt his circuits.
"YOU DIE HUMAN!"
Faern gripped the gun tightly within his right hand, smoke still billowing from the tip of the barrel. He prepared to fire again, as the Maverick slammed his right hand against Blues' shield, slamming it against the Reploid and kicking him to the ground, across the room, where he didn't get up.
"Faern..What should we do?" 'I don't have any idea, Claude.. I really don't.' Faern made no response to Claude's question, only held the gun firmly, aimed at the Maverick.
"Step back, Maverick!"
Mega Man leapt forward, his fist slamming into Elcazor's jaw, sending him down to one knee, the connection sending fluid splattering across the floor at both of their feet.
"Reploids aren't meant to hurt humans!"
"You don't know anything, do you, relic?" Elcazor stared up at the blue Reploid, a robot of old, reborn, "Why do you even bother fighting?"
"If my enemies are weaker than me, why should I fight? If my enemies are stronger than me, why should I fight? If my enemies are as strong as I am, then they will realize how pointless fighting would be. But.."
"But what?" Elcazor glared at the small Reploid.
"But if my enemy is you.. Then I guess you won't be giving my any other choice!"
Mega Man's buster erupted loudly, sending Elcazor sprawling backward across the ground, out of the laboratory and back into the road. He leapt after the Maverick, his buster already charging, much quicker than Blues' had.
"I fought to protect others!"
The buster left off another deafening roar, the blast missing Elcazor by inches as he got to his feet and dashed out of the way. Mega Man landed and aimed at the Maverick, a fire of compassion filling his gaze.
"I was built to help people.. You were built to destroy. We will cross paths many times, unless I end you now."
"Then end my existence. Kill me."
Mega Man's arm faltered, the blast ripping through Elcazor's left shoulder, ripping it straight from its join, fluid trickling from the wound, a scream of pure pain leaping forth from Elcazor's lips. He gripped at his shoulder, trying to stop the fluids from seeping through.
"Ugh.. Dammit.."
Elcazor turned and fled, leaving Mega Man to stand alone in the middle of the road, tears threatening to spill down his cheeks. He had done what he said he wouldn't do anymore, but he couldn't stand by and watch people be hurt.
'I don't understand what to do anymore..'
Shift watched Elcazor flee the street, sliding over to the doorway, leaving Mega Man alone in the road to be with his thoughts. He reformed just inside of the doorway, to the surprise of both Faern and Claude. Shift just stood there, and then spread his arms wide.
"Looks like we're all alive and well."
"It's silver pudding!" Shift stared silently at Claude, he was grinning widely, "Right.."
Lizzy returned to the laboratory, seeing that the road was clear, she stepped into the laboratory. Burn was standing close to the table containing his fellow prototype, who was close to being finished. Shift leaned against the wall right across from the door, he nodded to her, which she returned. She looked over to where Mega Man was leaning against the corner, Blues standing nearby, they were whispering something she couldn't catch.
"Since all seems well here.. I'm going to head back to headquarters. Shift, keep in touch, we need to keep everyone alive from now on." Shift nodded as Lizzy left the building.
"Okay, Claude, careful."
Claude placed the armor covering softly down on top of Quick's open chest. It fit perfectly. Burn stepped over and lifted his middle finger and let the flame weld the metal together, quicker than the welder would have done, and the connection didn't need to be welded, which amazed Faern and Claude.
"He's finished, Burn. As good as new."
"But does he work, Doctor Faern?"
"Only one way to find out.."
Faern reached down and pressed the tiny button just below the back of the collar to the armor. As he released the button, Quick's body jerked, his eyes flicking open. He sat up and stared over at Burn.
"Is that what it feels like to be dead, brother Burn? I don't like that feeling. It was cold, and wet. I feel like I need a towel."