Chapter 8: Aw Shit!

Disclaimer: I do not own Mega Man or Bass.

The emotional echo on a data chip was a very strange thing, especially in its early stage of robotics that was a lot less restricted than the current models. Proto Man, for example, had full emotional capabilities and free choice as well as a different start, but he came to be an honorable robot, albeit a cold and distant one. Then there was Roll who was supposed to be the mirror image of an innocent little girl, as fragile and feminine as a little doll, but she had the mechanical skills and temperament of a mechanic. Not to say that she wasn't feminine, but she could get tough if she wanted to and kept her work very seriously. And no one could forget Rock, the closest thing a robot came to being human, almost as if he were a real life Pinocchio, but now he was definitely more mature through the constant fighting and it seemed as if he aged with the upgrades as well.

But if Dr. Light could pick the most interesting emotional echo, it would have to be the one that he hadn't created, the one that resided in the chip of his rival's greatest creation, Bass. During the diagnostics, Dr. Light had managed to make a copy of the data on it and then decided to upload the data onto a computer and began running diagnostics on it. Usually an echo was just a set program detailing how a robot began to act and over time it could change if it was advanced enough. But that was the current trend. When robotics had started out, the possibilities were endless and the original echoes were made from the last bits of energy in the brain as it died, the remnants of what Albert Einstein had defined a soul.

Proto Man was based off the eldest brother in a trio of orphans left over from a terrible war that nearly destroyed a nation completely. The three were sick from one of the biological weapons and the eldest had just passed on when Dr. Light had begun the extraction. It wasn't that this was done without their permission, this would be the chance to give them a new life, a second chance.

Of course Proto Man was where he made his first mistake in using the components of a fighting robot, something that was at the time very new, but then again, it had to be done quickly. The remnants of the soul would not last without some electrical stimulus, not long enough for Dr. Light to build a new robot anyways, so he was forced to put him in a working model of the Sniper Joe. The unfortunate side effect is that he suffered from pain and a shortened life, all factors that drove him into isolation despite the warm countenance of his previous echo.

Soon afterwards, the children suffered accidents that made it necessary for them to become robots and they soon became like his children, the best thing he could ever create. Bass on the other hand, was similar to a child soldier that had lived near that area that Blues, Rock, and Roll were at. It was almost as if Wily had taken an echo from the soldier, but he had met the boy long after Rock had taken up the title of Mega Man as one of the soldiers who helped out in the fight against Dr. Wily. He was also trying to be better than Mega Man because he was determined not to let himself be outdone by anyone.

There was no doubt that Bass was a product of the soldier named Forte, but it also seemed that it was placed over another consciousness and the two were starting to merge. Both were starting to merge and it was impossible to determine what type of personality Bass would have when it was all over.

"These readings seem to indicate that he has some very serious thought process and emotional capabilities," said Dr. Light as he showed the charts to the head of the Coalition forces.

Commander Eva stood in her full uniform which consisted of a blue military coat with no buttons that matched the blue military hat and trousers that she wore. Under the blue cap was an abundance of flowing light green hair that seemed very irregular for humans, but then again, with the new age technology, people could change their natural hair color at whim. The commander was a beautiful woman with the grace of a geisha and the fury that could match the intensity of a thousand suns.

She was very well respected among her crew and had a great many supporters in the higher levels. Thankfully for Dr. Light, she was also understanding and she could realize that Bass could not be blamed for his disposition since he was born with two different personalities colliding, it was only natural that the destructive side came out first.

"So you are saying that Bass's emotional chip could be the basis of a new age of AI," asked Eva as she took a look at the different diagnostics reports on the chip though she could only understand half of it.

"Yes that is exactly what I mean," said Dr. Light as he brought on another chart measuring emotional activity with curves that were lower than normal. "Right here is the chart of the emotional activity of Mega Man. As you can see, this chart has emotional activity that is less active than the chart in Bass's components and this type of higher level thinking and emotional adaptation is greater than any other such activity from my own Mega Man. I thought, up until a day ago, that Mega Man was the most complex thinking machine and AI, but he is still lacking the conflict that often rears its head in our most difficult decisions. Right now I believe that we need to help Bass as best as we can because he is a robot of pure choice, the most incredible technology ever created as far as AI goes."

"Dr. Light, please note that this will not go so well with the General since he has a grudge against all Robot Masters," said Eva slowly as she thought on the ramifications that this proposal would cause. "I know that you have been a most trusted individual and after the wrongful prosecution during the ninth Wily war you do have a lot of pull, but to get the General to back down from shutting down Bass is something that is impossible. Already he's angry with me for not having my men fire at him and entrusting so much to Bass."

"I'm going over his head for this one," replied Dr. Light as he pulled out a letter that had come in through fax and even had a holo device that produced official United Earth declarations. "This will ensure that you will get any stress from the General. Right now we can only hope that where ever Bass is going, he's questioning all his violent tendencies."

Hong Kong was still a beautiful port city near China that had many business class places that were filled with Red Light districts and it seemed almost untouched by war, half of it did at least. The Rogue Robot forces were coming in from China were pushing farther into Hong Kong until a mysterious force started to stop the advance with heavily damaging attacks and the deaths of top ranking Robot Masters that were overlooking the matter. Though things were looking good for the Coalition forces, the other half of Hong Kong was left in a ruin with destroyed buildings piled onto ash, rubble, and the bodies of the few unfortunate souls that had been left behind. It was so hard to see other people celebrating in the peaceful part of Hong Kong and then to see the horrors of the battlefield.

"And it's not even like there is much separation, just a thin line between the two," said Roll as she felt the scorched ground beneath her fingers. "Do you think Rock could be here?"

"If Bass went out to look for him so suddenly then he must be here," said Proto Man as he leaned against the wall in a cool pose. "He probably has a sense of whether Mega man is in the area or not, almost as if he can track his scent."

"I don't like this, he's out there on his own," said Roll as she tossed a handful or dirt to the ground and looked back at her silent older brother. "Even Bass has his limits, but I don't want to see them tested."

"He'll be fine now," said Proto Man as he jumped off into the night, leaving Roll alone with her thoughts and concerns.

"As strong as Bass is, I don't want to see him get hurt," whispered Roll as she turned around to look at the fence that separated the danger zone from the Hong Kong that was still full of life.

There was a slight movement of the shadows that lay near the moments between sunset and the ever dark night. It was so quiet, with the sounds of the celebrating people seeming so distance to this almost disturbing calm that had settled over the ruin area. It was quiet enough for Roll to make out the sound of something cutting through the fence, but it wasn't light enough to see the pair of hands that stretched out for her.

Nothing useful here, just a bunch of scrap metal

, thought Bass as he walked through the barren wasteland that had once been a thriving city with many people. It's not a very lively city anymore, at least not this part anyway. Robots must have been ruthless in their purging because I can pick up a single life form here, not even that blue coward. If he's been scrapped by these sorry excuse for Robot Masters and even sorrier excuses for cannon fodder then I'm gonna rebuild him, trash him, rebuild, then trash him again in an almost never ending cycle. And an even worse fate waits whoever scrapped him.

Bass stopped, both physically and mentally, as he began to pick up a familiar energy signature in the burn marks on certain robots. A smirk spread across his face as he walked towards it, his hand and felt the marks left by Mega Man's buster charge. It was only two days old with footprints barely leading a way in the path of the sand. Bass would have to act quickly or else he risked losing his target and it might be for good. He was determined not to let some other junk-bot scrap his prize.

"You're not going to get away from me this time, Mega Man," snarled Bass as he walked the trail towards the ruins of a news paper print. "Come on out and fight me coward!"

A buster pierced the sound of the sky and flew right past his head, but it was a wild shot, nothing to threatening, obviously the shooter was trying to warn him. Bass continued to move undaunted by the blast and the twenty other blasts that fired at him. It was Mega Man, that much Bass was sure of, this was someone else who was unskilled at using such a weapon or had damaged their visual lens. No this was someone who was looking for safety from the firing, probably a wounded soldier or civilian, but either way, it wasn't who he wanted.

"Keep firing and I'll blow this place to hell," warned Bass as he walked into the door and noticed the generator for power was now hooked up to something with multiple wires that trailed upstairs. Most of the furniture was in ruin with very little use to them besides something to throw on fire and it was apparent that someone had done just that. "I don't know who you are, but right now you're pissing me of and it's not a good thing to do."

"Are you working for the Robot Masters," asked a tired voice, male, probably middle aged. "I know of who you are, Bass."

"Then you know that if I wanted to I could have killed you long ago," said Bass as he started to walked up the stairs and turned to see a bearded man with a graying beard. Beside him was a girl, about Roll's age, with orange hair that was tied into a pony tail. She was dressed in a simple red dress that was similar to what Roll would usually wear. Why the hell did I think about that? "So then, I see my reputation precedes me."

"I'm Dr. Blanchef, this is my daughter Maria, and I know who you are because I was the one who gave you the personality you have now," said the middle aged doctor tiredly as he stepped back, his dirty doctors coat had tears in it that exposed the plain white under shirt. "The mind of the boy known as Forte, that was the mind that I was forced to extract by your creator and then he told me to mix it into our already existing chip to give you an edge."

"Who I use to be is meaningless right now, all I know is that Mega Man was near here and I want to know which way he went," said Bass unemotionally as he noticed the girl, Maria, run into the other room. "I thank you for keeping him nice and pretty for me."

"Wait, I cannot let you do that," shouted Dr. Blanchef as he jumped in front of Bass only to be swatted away with the slight flick of the wrist.

Bass walked into the other room to find his rival sitting there with a grimace on his face and he could see the wires attached to Mega Man. It was almost laughable to find him like that. The one person who was on the top of his list to destroy was now just sitting there helpless to anything he would want to do. After all the fighting, the close calls, the failures, the near misses, the brief strokes of luck, and the utter hell that it took to get him there, his nemesis was just sitting there, the easiest target in the world. It was harder to hit a Met without a helmet. The entire thing was just funny to him, so funny that he started to laugh and he laughed hard. He laughed so hard that it hurt; it actually gave negative feedback to his voice box and caused a sensation of pain.

"This is just…too much of a joke, hahahahahahaha," said Bass as he walked towards the defenseless Mega Man and pointed his buster at him. "I could just, hahahahaha, kill you right now, so easily and you couldn't do anything about it! After all those times I've hunted you and now here you are! It's all so damn funny!"

"Well Bass…if you do kill me...please…protect Roll…she has feelings for you," rasped Mega Man as he strained to speak due to how weak he felt. He stared at Bass knowing that this was one time he couldn't dodge the blast, the one time he couldn't escape. When he looked at the barrel of Bass's buster he knew that he was staring death in the face, but he knew he had to accept it.

"I'm not going to scrap you today," said Bass as he turned his arm back into its normal form. "If you couldn't manage to last this long in this area than its obvious that I just have to kill Adamus to claim the title. Right now it would be meaningless to kill something that can barely speak. As for Roll, you can talk to her yourself, she's over in the secure part of the city, so you don't have to worry about her."

It was at that moment that Bass received a call from his radio translink with the Coalition forces.

"Yes what is it, I'm very busy at the moment," demanded Bass in an angry tone.

"We've just confirmed that Roll has been kidnapped by the Adamus forces in Hong Kong," said the firm voice of Commander Eva, obviously unfazed by the comment or the tone. "From what we can understand they are asking for Mega Man to arrive to their base in three hours or else they're going to start taking her apart. Have you located Mega Man yet."

"Aw shit," cursed Bass.

"I'm here," called Mega Man as he got up to try and limp to the phone, but was knocked by the force of Bass's hand.

"What was that?"

"It's nothing," replied Bass as he cuffed the link. "I haven't found Mega Man, but I'll go rescue the creampuff on my own. And don't send anyone; they'll just get slaughtered along with all the others."

I don't know why I'm even thinking about doing this, but I guess I'll worry about that later. Right now all that I know is that I'm pissed! And when I'm pissed someone is unlucky.