Chapter 10: Into the Mega-Verse


Duo was back, on the trail of a villainous, dark energy fueled robot.

"I'm starting to suspect he actually herds these guys into our solar system."

"Sounds right," said Bass. "What I don't get is how can energy be evil? It's energy… and 'evil' is subjective—"

Holding up a finger, Break Man made a 'shush' gesture. "Shhhhh. Not that again."

Roll was demonstrating her weapons proficiency. So far she'd only been in minor skirmishes, and was looking forward to joining in on a real battle. She was also happy to show off her new armor. Identical to her brothers' uniforms, it was a white aramid polymer suit with peach briefs, the matching helmet, gloves, and boots accented with an orangey coral. A clear visor was a nod to Break Man's shades, and pigtails stuck out from under her helmet.

"Excellent! With the five of us—"

"Four," Mega Man said, casting a pointed look over at Bass, who hadn't even bothered with his armor.

Duo was a little confused. "Four?"

"You should use a human rifle," Roll suggested. "Or borrow Officer Giertz's explosive blaster."

"That's… not a bad idea. But Dr. Cossack would probably kill me."

Glancing around, Duo then shrugged, indifferent. "The four of us, then."


Their enemy was around Duo's size, decked in white and gray armor. It was strange looking, humanoid but with a hideous face on its chest, yellow animalistic eyes and a jagged mouth, a ring-shaped crest where a head would be. It charged forward when it saw them, but didn't seem to have any long range attacks, so the Light 'bots stood by to appraise the situation.

Duo did not. He went to meet the other alien robot head-on— in a manner of speaking— and started grappling with it. "Enkidu! Your fate is at hand!" With that, he proceeded to clock it with his oversized left hand.

"Hey, ugly!" Roll called out with a grin. "I came here to chew gum and kick butt, and robots don't chew gum."

Mega Man blinked in confusion. "Wait, that's not how that quote goes…"

"Are you back seat taunting?"

"What? No, of course not…"

She didn't stick around to listen, she sprinted into the fray and started firing. "Eat hot plasma, loser!"

When Mega Man started after her, Break Man grabbed him by the arm.

"Give her a minute."

Although she fought alongside Duo, she mostly ignored him, darting between and behind the two larger robots, never breaking the steady barrage of shots. It may have been her first real battle, but Roll acted like it was her hundredth. Combat was a very demanding, complex task, and without dedicated hardware to support it, she wouldn't get the same level of performance as the others… only she wasn't about to let a little thing like that slow her down.

Enkidu's hand transformed into a spinning drill-like weapon, and when it thrust out its arm in a broad, sweeping gesture, she slid underneath in a move taken straight from Mega Man. When it swung back the other way, she leapt over it with an impressive double-jump that was totally ripped off of Bass.

Discovering a weak spot between its shoulders, Roll concentrated her efforts there. A well-aimed back kick sent her tumbling head over heels. Mega Man tensed, ready to intervene, but Break Man tightened his grip and shook his head 'no'.

Twisting, she scrambled out of the way, narrowly avoiding the drill, which left a deep uneven fissure as it plowed into the turf.

Roll was undeterred. She jumped to her feet and fired a charged shot at the alien's eye, successfully cracking the lens.

Tenacious. Resourceful. Cocky.

"Man, it's weird, but she kind of fights like… oh." Stealing a quick glance at Break Man, Mega Man tried to keep a straight face. "It's probably best not to say anything."

Break Man didn't even bother to hide his amusement, as a wry grin crept across his face. "Good idea. Now let's go finish this thing."

Joining Roll, the blue bomber landed charged shot after charged shot on Enkidu's upper back. Break Man stayed in front, alternating between zig-zagging back and forth, swinging his shield and then dipping behind it, and taking pot shots at the damaged eye. He was able to keep Enkidu focused on him, while Duo more or less held the other robot in place, allowing Mega Man and Roll to wear it down.

The battle was a little tedious, because Enkidu was overwhelmed but had nearly impenetrable armor and a deep well of evil energy to draw from. It broke free twice, but never for long, and failed to land any serious blows.

When smoke started billowing from the grotesque face, Mega Man gave Roll a quick salute and took a large step back. Nodding, she did a recall, surprising both of her brothers when a hilt materialized in her hand and the green laser flickered to life.

"Where'd you—?"

Lunging, she drove the blade in, and Enkidu shuddered and groaned. Duo held tight for a few more seconds, then let go, grabbed Roll, and crouched over both her and Mega Man. Break Man didn't need to be told to use his shield. Moments later the strange alien robot violently exploded. There was surprisingly little shelling, but the shock wave was powerful enough to fling them several yards away.

"Are you injured?" Duo asked as he climbed to his feet, brushing hunks of grass and dirt from his shoulders.

Glancing at Roll, then past Duo at Break Man, who was jogging over, Mega Man laughed. "We're fine."

"Good." Smiling, Duo reached down to pat Roll on the head. "You fought excellently. I would not have believed it was the first time." After thinking about it for a moment, he then continued, "Your friend taught you well—"

"I'm self-taught," she said, look of pride turning to one of annoyance.

He was confused. "But your fighting style strongly resembles—"

"Ours," both Mega Man and Break Man said simultaneously.

Mega Man smiled sheepishly and placed a hand on Duo's giant wrist, while Break Man threw his arm across Roll's shoulders, praising her as he began leading her away.


To Break Man's family and close friends, there were few sounds as comforting as his signature whistle. This time Bass didn't even bother to look up from his handheld com— after upgrading to an N12, Lyric had kindly donated her old unit to a 'good cause'— and instead continued to sulk. It was frustrating enough that despite his wild prediction coming true, Dr. Cossack had stayed resolute, keeping him from accessing his native weapon and combat system. The fact that he was only a couple weeks away from being in the clear… that was agonizing.

"Don't feel too bad," Break Man said. "You didn't miss anything. It was a pretty dull fight."

"You're just saying that."

"No, it was a battle of attrition." He leaned against the near wall. "I can't believe you actually sat that one out. Whatever Dr. Cossack's doing, it's working."

Bass shot him a dirty look. "You know it's really rude to teleport straight into someone's room."

"Hey. I'm proud of you."

He didn't respond right away. "Why? I wouldn't have had to 'sit this one out' if I hadn't messed up in the first place. It doesn't matter how I'm doing now— because sooner or later I'll mess up and get in trouble again."

"I'm sure you will."

"Shut up."

"It's just a part of the process. You move forward, sometimes you trip and stumble, but then you get back up and keep going." He paused to laugh. "Remember when we first met? You deceived Mega Man, tricked him into bringing you to the lab, stole his upgrades, attacked Dr. Light— a defenseless old man, and destroyed half the lab out of sheer malice."

Then Break Man smiled warmly at him, despite dredging up his villainous past.

"I look at you now, and I don't see anything left of that jerk. Sure, you still have a bad temper and even worse impulse control, but the person you used to be? He's been gone."

Bass thought it over, then smirked.

"Are you actually proud?"

"Why, are you looking for validation?"

"N-no…"

"Heck yeah, of course I am." Break Man snapped his fingers. "Oh, by the way. It looks like Wily accidentally copied a bunch of your combat utilities over to Roll."

"What."


Break Man's words were meant to be reassuring, and in some ways they were.

But they also got him thinking about all the awful things he'd done over the years. Bass was originally built to fight and destroy Mega Man, so he felt no remorse over any of that— he hadn't killed him, wasn't that enough in itself?

The times he'd been needlessly cruel, however, or gone out of his way to cause trouble, or when he'd done things that had harmed Dr. Light, Break Man, and others… those were things he regretted.

"Oh, hello," Dr. Light said, surprised by his unannounced arrival at the lab. "I'll let Rock know you're here."

"No need. I'm not looking for either of those two chumps."

Both Dr. Light and Roll looked at him quizzically. "Is… there something I can help you with, then?"

"Kind of." Bass shifted, uneasy. "Uh, do you remember when I stole those upgrades for Rush?"

"Yes, of course. Why?"

"That… that was a lousy thing to do. I could have got the plans without wrecking the lab, or attacking you, or whatever."

"Ah… I see."

"Was that supposed to be some kind of apology?" asked Roll. "Because if so, it stinks."

"It's quite alright, Roll." Dr. Light waved his hand, signaling for peace. "I appreciate it anyway."

"Ugh. Nah, she's right. I— sorry for being such a jerk."

He chuckled, his laughter full of warmth. "What a pleasant surprise. Thank you."

Bass should have left then, but he hesitated. There was another thing that had been bothering him.

"Hey, I was wondering, did you— did you and Wily used to be like boyfriends or something?"

Roll was outraged, because it was none of his business either way. Dr. Light's expression was unreadable as thought over the response, as if it could be anything but 'yes' or 'no'.

"Does it matter now?" he said finally, giving a cryptic non-answer.


Talking a mile a minute, Bass hadn't shut up since he returned. Normally Dr. Cossack didn't have trouble following him, but this went beyond what was normal.

Thankfully he already knew the basics, because he and Dr. Light— along with two other Dr. Lights and a Dr. Wily— had been monitoring the situation as it unfolded. They were not the only ones. Many Dr. Lights (not all of them Thomas), Dr. Wilys, Dr. Cossacks (some of which were Kalinka), a couple Dr. Lalindes, and a solitary Dr. Hikari, had worked hard to fix the damage and get everyone safely home.

The whole affair was the handiwork of yet another Dr. Wily, one who'd tampered with forces beyond his control and very quickly found himself in over his head.

One by one, different versions of Mega Man across various dimensions and timelines were pulled into the epic multiverse crossover.

Some of them Mega Man— their world's Mega Man— had already met. Others were a surprise. For example, many of the Mega Men were childlike in their design and personality, but one was a literal child, who went to elementary school and everything. Not all of them were even robots. One was an advanced computer program, a purely digital being. Another, some sort of Frankenstein-esque creature, a golem built from a reanimated body.

Break Man, Roll, and Bass had tagged along, discovering that most dimensions had a version of themselves as well.

Break Man was a little annoyed to find he was one of the few to go by that name. Most of his counterparts were 'Proto Man'. He was disheartened that his good relationship with Dr. Light was just as rare. Almost all of them were Mega Man's older brother, but the nature of their brotherhood ranged from supportive to antagonistic.

Roll was often the little sister that stayed at home, but was happy to find several versions of herself had been armed and even fought against Wily— something she'd missed out on. In fact, there was one Roll who not only fought at Mega Man's side, but who was actually built by her version of Dr. Wily, only to be taken in by Dr. Emilia Light… Thomas's daughter.

By and large, the different versions of Bass were very much alike. Most were still stuck in their dysfunctional relationship with their creator, with varying degrees of disloyalty. Needless to say, Bass didn't like them— but then, none of them really liked any of the others.

Now that he was back, Bass spent hours ranting about the psychotically violent Forte; that the schoolboy Aki's 'verse had neither a Break Man or a Bass, but some kid who was a bit of both; how another version of himself had accidentally been bricked by that ones Wily.

Then there was the fact that the digital Bass·exe wasn't made by a Dr. Wily at all.

In the midst of it all, with both heroes and villains struggling to untangle the mess and set the multiverse straight… Bass·exe hijacked one of his corporeal counterparts and went hunting for Dr. Cossack. Any Dr. Cossack.

Bass found himself invariably working alongside two random Proto Men— 'Archie' Proto Man (who used his world's unofficial nickname) and 'Whistler' (who opted to name himself)— as well as a couple of 'Capcom' Cossack Robot Masters, to stop him.

"And what did they call you?" Dr. Cossack asked, interrupting him.

"It's not important," Bass replied.

The Dr. Wilys and fellow Wily 'bots had taken to calling him 'Comrade Bass', which he didn't appreciate. Only 'Capcom' Dr. Cossack called him by his chosen alias… to everyone else he'd ended up 'Wolfie'.

'Capcom' Dr. Cossack had been confused more than anything, having never interacted with the 'Capcom' Bass, but he'd also been sympathetic. Even after the danger passed, he had let him stay at the citadel.

For Bass, that experience was nothing short of surreal.

"They're like one big happy stupid family." There was a sort of bitterness in his voice.

"That Dr. Cossack and his robots?"

"Yeah. All the 'Capcom' Robot Masters were self aware and everything. Actually… it was like that for most of the universes. The way things are here is kind of different." Then, adamantly, "Of course, every version of me was still way stronger and better than all the other Robot Masters."

"Ah, of course." Dr. Cossack had a pretty good idea what was bothering him. "You know, all human beings are self aware, sentient, and sapient individuals. It is the 'individual' part that makes each one of us special."

Bass rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah, 'Capcom' Cossack said basically the same thing."

As much as he went on and on (and on) about his own counterparts, or the strange links that seemed to transcend dimensional boundaries, or the other versions of Break Man, Dr. Cossack, Mega Man, and even Roll… Bass had very little to say about Dr. Wily.

"It was really weird having all those different Wilys around. The one I stayed with at first, the 'Archie' one, was nicer than— anyway, that Bass had no idea how good he has it."

"Hmm."

Mikhail could only imagine how much a shock it must have been. Truth be told, he'd confessed to both Dr. Right and 'Battle Network' Dr. Wily that he was afraid Bass might not come back. After all, the Wily 'bot had admitted more than once that he would return to his creator if possible.

It was a silly thing to be worried about.

Two days later it came up in the middle of a conversation about manufacturing equipment amortization. "Seeing Wily alive—" Bass said, completely out of the blue, "It was— it made me—"

A dark expression flashed across his face and he glared at the ground.

"I'm… I'm glad. I miss him so much, but… I'm glad he's gone."

Dr. Cossack barely caught himself before saying 'Not as glad as I am', instead choosing his next words carefully. "As far as I'm concerned it's the only thing he ever did right." That was taken the wrong way, judging by Bass's look of distress. "As a father, I mean."

"He wasn't—"

Holding up a hand, Dr. Cossack gestured for silence. "Parents are supposed to support their children, even when it means sacrifice. You were never going to have a life of your own as long as Dr. Wily was around. What he did protected you from Zero, yes, but it also… gave you freedom. It was a gift. Gifts should be appreciated."


It turned out that Mega Man was in just as much turmoil.

"I just… I don't know. I'm feeling… restless…? All I ever wanted was peace, and the last few years have been pretty much everything I wished for, and now…"

"Now you're bored." Break Man laughed. "I can't believe Bass adjusted to civilian life better than you have."

"That's not true!"

Or maybe it was.

Being around all those alternate versions of himself had been… interesting… to say the least. Discovering that their world was just one of many dubbed a 'Super Smash-Captain N continuum' was a bit of a shock. Seeing how some of his fellow Mega Men were still deeply involved in their own 'VideoLand' dimension made him, well, nostalgic.

Things weren't the same since the Mushroom Kingdom had entered the picture, but if he was being honest, he'd drifted away long before that. There had been a lull between when Mother Brain retreated to Metriod and before Bowser showed his ugly mug.

The team he once knew had split up— with Kevin finally finding his way home, and Lana ascending to the throne. There was a Simon Belmont, but it was a different Simon, one from another universe. Kid Icarus— now going by his real name, Pit— was still around, but he had his mirror counterpart Dark Pit as company. There were others: Link and Princess Zelda were there, as was Samus.

But by and large, he didn't recognize the team of heroes who now championed the Palace of Power.

"Your friends moved away and now you don't feel welcome."

"It's not that straightforward," he protested.

"Isn't it, though?"

He didn't dignify that with a response.

"And let's be honest. With Dr. Wily out of the picture, it's been years since our world has had a threat that Roll couldn't handle."

"What are you saying, Break? I should come out of semi-retirement and move back to the Palace of Power? Trust Roll not to get in over her head, and Bass not to wreck everything we worked for?"

His brother chuckled. "I'm not saying anything. It's just that the whole multiverse adventure thing gave all of us a lot to think about."

"Oh?" He studied him carefully for a moment. "So what did it give you to think about?"

There was a long pause, as Break Man considered just how to answer that.

"I know Drs. Light and Cossack don't want anyone else using the AI Wily developed, but I wonder if Dr. Lalinde is interested in building some robots."

Mega Man burst out laughing.

"Like Tempo! Why, so you can have a girlfriend?"

His laughter petered out as he realized that Break Man was serious.


- A/N: As of the 12th, I'll have been continuously posting this series for a whole year. Sooo... happy anniversary 'Running in Second Gear'?

- Roll's armor is the Mega Girl armor from the Captain N cartoon because it had to be. Today's cameo appearance brought to you by the Gunmen of Gurren Lagann. (This one's a pastiche of Viral's and the titular mech.)

- I keep wanting to write some giant Megamultiverse fic which incorporates all the versions of Classic, some alternate timelines, Battle Network games, some fanfic 'verses and AUs. But I never will because it's just too ambitious. It needs to be an epic tale of good versus evil, the kind-hearted Mega Man against the diabolical Dr. Wily. Meanwhile all I actually want to write is twenty different versions of Bass bickering with each other.

• The "Frankenstein-esque creature" is from 'Rock on the Scorching Sand' by MiggyBird, a most excellent post-apocalyptic zombie golem AU.

• Super fighting robot Roll is from the Rockman Pachislot game (which looks like a fun spin on these characters, but suffers from a tragic lack of Bass). Forte and Dr. Right are the Megamix version. Aki and his bro are, of course, from the Fully Charged cartoon.

• The version of Bass "accidentally bricked by his Wily" is from my stand-alone fic 'Recursion', about the bad future timeline where Rock becomes Quint.

To get this scene right, I also wrote a scene for that fanfic that will never be, if anyone's interested I can post it as a bonus.

- FFN deleted Bass·exe's name and I didn't catch it until later in the day, so. That's fixed. Hopefully that part makes more sense now.