Dr. Cossack scratched his head again. This was the fifth time he'd scanned Skull Man, and he still couldn't figure out what the problem was. Skull Man had come home to the lab, only to have a sudden and almost complete systems shut down. He could activate, but that was it. He just sat motionlessly as Dr. Cossack and Bright Man tried their hardest to get him operational again. That was why he was sitting at his computer rapidly pressing the keys until he felt his fingers would fall off.
But that wasn't the thing that bothered the Russian scientist the most. Right now his work fervor was being fueled by his worry. Kalinka hadn't come home yet. She absolutely refused to go anywhere without first picking up her husband, so Dr. Cossack let her go, only if she would take Pharoah Man and a platoon of his mummy mechaniloids along. Cossack wondered if he was too possessive of her only briefly before tossing the thought aside. She was his only child, and her life was in danger. There was no being too possessive, not now.
"It's no use, Doctor." Bright Man shook his head sadly. "All of his personality AI is gone."
Dr. Cossack leaned his head in his hands, grunting in acknowledgement. He had known that for the past ten minutes, but had hoped that Bright Man would catch something he missed. "I have to rebuild him then...hmph. For now, contact Pharoah Man and see how Kalinka is doing."
Bright Man had to grin at that one. "I'd like to point out that it's been only ten minutes since you last called the boss, and Kalinka was just fine then. She's probably not even at Moscow yet. Give her some time before you worry. Mega Man already checked on Alyosha, and he said that Ring Man is with him. Everyone's safe, and they'll all be back soon enough."
"Anything can happen in ten minutes, you know." Cossack got up from the table and stared despondantly at his skull creation. "Poor Skull Man. You always were a loyal robot, and now this. Kalinka will be so disappointed. Bright Man, take him to the lab table and start removing his brain hardware."
"I'll get on it, Doctor."
Bright Man was getting worried about his master. Though Cossack had kept his looks longer than most did, he was starting to look his age for once. And now that there was a threat from the Wily-bots, his creator was even more troubled about the future. The bright robot wished he could somehow make his creator stop worrying, but with his daughter, son-in-law and future grandchild in danger, Cossack always felt like he had to do something. He couldn't trust that somehow things would turn out. But his creation was more optimistic. Mega Man would settle everything, just like he always did!
As Bright Man hauled his electronic brother over his shoulder, a blue streak zipped down to the floor of the lab. Mega Man materialized, his buster hand already armed and his most determined look was on his face. No one had ever bothered to tell him that his determined look was the most sweet and non-intimidating expression they had ever seen, and from the way Dr. Cossack was biting his lip to keep from smiling, it was going to remain a secret from the blue bomber.
"Dr. Cossack! You're alright?" Mega Man's sudden exclamation made Dr. Cossack jump up. "Oh, good! I was worried for a second that you plugged Skull Man into your computer."
"Uh, I did..."
Mega Man's face changed into one of horror.
"I do have a safe computer, Mega. If there's anything bad on Skull Man's CPU, it won't hurt my works."
"Oh!" Though he had no heart, Mega Man lifted a hand as if covering it anyway. "Whew! So your main network is fine? We had a problem. It turns out that Gyro Man had a pretty devastating virus. He...didn't make it. We think it came from Algorhythm Man, so I came to check on Skull Man. How....oh no!"
Mega Man saw Cossack's lab-bot standing over Skull Man's fallen form, and he ran to the table, sorrowful. "Poor Skull Man...is he going to be okay?"
"He's going to have to start everything over, including his memories," Bright Man explained. "But in the end he'll be alright, once we get his back ups installed. What sort of virus was it anyway?"
"It was supposed to be a lot like what killed Gravity Man. Except I think Dr. Cain had an ulterior motive: he wanted us to plug Gyro Man into our computers to have our computers and security compromised." Mega Man shuddered as he answered. "But Auto is working on the cure for the virus now."
"Wait, wait," Dr. Cossack was starting to get suspicious. "Why in the world would Dr. Cain practically announce this virus when he could do something more devastating with it? Now that you know about it, you can cure it. Why wouldn't he use it on as many robots as he can before you find out?"
"The solution is simple!" Drill Man came out from nowhere, and for a moment Mega Man aimed his buster in surprise. "Obviously Dr. Cain doesn't mind you knowing because he's already got his plans in place!"
"Oh, Drill Man!" Mega Man lowered his buster. "You scared me!"
"I scared you? The great Mega Man?" Drill Man's buzzing laughter shocked everyone. "Wow, now I'm really proud of myself! It makes me feel a little less bad about THIS!"
And Drill Man fired, not at the blue bomber, but his own creator. Fortunately, the blow never struck. Not only did Mega Man block the shot, but Bright Man used his flash stopper to freeze Drill Man in place, throwing off his aim. His fired drills ended up only crashing harmlessly into a wall.
"Drill Man, what are you doing?!"
The red robot couldn't look into his master's eyes. Drill Man tried to cackle evilly, but it only came out as whimpering, nervous laughter. "Good j-job, my old master, but I am a part of a new army now! M-maybe you can stop me, but can you stop all of them? Ha...ha ha...."
Drill Man winced, hanging his head. His uncertain laughter continued, but at the same time, he shook with a powerful emotional glitch. He finally managed to lift his eyes to his creator, and no one saw confidence. Instead, all they could see was desperation, a begging for help. But the traitorous robot's eyes tightened, and his violent words went on.
"What? You're not even going to look at your computers and see how doomed you are? That's...funny, yes...funny..." Drill Man said, looking like he was about to cry.
Mikhail didn't hesitate. He quickly signalled for Bright Man to stay next to Drill Man, then went to the computer. Mega Man stayed near him, warily eyeing the treacherous robot. From his hunched position over his computer's controls, Cossack gasped.
"We're surrounded! How did these robots get here? Mega Man!"
"Right!"
Mega Man teleported out to go deal with the threat. Bright Man shut down Drill Man and put him on the repair table next to Skull Man's, wondering what to do next. But for the moment, the safe computer was working, so he decided to scan what he could.
"Good." Dr. Cossack immediately noticed what Bright Man was doing. "See if he knows anything that these Wily-bots are planning. I'm going to check and see what Drill Man might have done to the rest of my computers....oh no..."
The Russian doctor had just opened the door to the next hall of his laboratory. Shredded computer bits, biological specimen, wires, and now unidentifyable metal covered the floor, all smothered in a fair dosage of formaldehyde. Mikhail let out a shaky moan as he sank to his knees, staring at the mess that all of his life's work had now become.
"Doctor...?" From his angle, Bright Man couldn't see what was going on. "What is it?"
The muscles on Mikhail's face tightened, and he began to tremble in anger. Returning to his feet, Dr. Cossack straightened. He knew exactly what he was going to do.
"Bright Man, let the computer find whatever it can on Drill Man's hard drive on its own. Contact Pharoah Man and tell him not to bring Kalinka back here, and keep her safe until he recieves further instructions. Then find whichever of our robots that you can and scan them. Most of them should be fine...if there's an army outside it's because they know that they haven't be able to do what they want through tricks."
"What are you going to do?"
Dr. Cossack turned back to his robot, more confident and youthful than Bright Man had ever seen him.
"I'm going to win."
"Whooo!" Blizzard Man exclaimed as he skied down the hill straight to Cossack's lab. "I haven't had this much fun since I left Canada! This place has great slopes!"
"Frost Man likes it too!" The giant robot yelled as Blizzard Man whooshed by. He smashed three of Pharoah Man's mechaniloids before adding. "I will make many popsicles out of these mummies! I love popsicles! Do you want one, 'Mitty?"
"Why was I grouped with these imbeciles? And on our most important battle to date!" Emit Man scornfully remarked, not caring in the slightest that they could hear him. "Blizzard Man! Stop goofing off and get the sniper joes in position! And Frost Man, hurry up and get rid of their mechaniloids! If we breach the laboratory wall we'll be able to get into the lab and get Dr. Cossack! Get to work!"
"'Mitty, you are no fun!" Frost Man firmly proclaimed as he froze another mummira in its tracks. "I do not like you!"
"I don't care!"
"Shut up down there!" Chill Man shouted from his position on top of the hill. "I've got the army ready, so either get us into that lab or get out of the way!"
"Who planned this battle?" Emit Man groaned. "But I've got to make the best of it!"
Jumping into the air, Emit Man gathered the shrapnel of Cossack's already defeated mechaniloids around him and began shooting his blade bombs out at the unnecessarily large door of Dr. Cossack's lab. The heavy metal panels were padlocked shut, several waves of little blades hit and stuck their way into them. The lights on the blades winked, then seconds later a huge explosion rocked the hill. As the smoke cleared, the heavy doors were still there, but broken and starting to come off of their hinges.
"Frost Man! Come pull off these doors!"
The robot in question wasn't paying that much attention. He just kept looking back and forth into the snow.
"Blizz Man? Blizz Man?! Where are -- Oh! I will help you!"
Reaching one hand into a snowpile formed by the explosion, Frost Man pulled out the Canadian robot and put his skis back onto more firm snow.
"Thanks, Frost Man!"
"You're welcome!"
"If you two are finished, we do have a battle to commence!"
The two Wily-bots looked at each other and shrugged. Emit Man was in charge, so they had to listen, much to their chagrin. Finding a piece of metal to slide down on, Chill Man joined the others, followed along by a field of sniper joes and bubble bats. A massive field of plasma pellets smacked against the mummiras, drawing fire away from Emit Man and the cold robots. But the Wily-bots didn't have the advantage for long. Huge auto-cannons came out from moving panels on the walls, and groups of sniper joes were getting pelted away all at once. And that was what all of the cold robot masters were for. While Frost Man went to work on the doors, Chill Man and Blizzard Man started freezing the auto cannons, and even Emit Man joined in to blow a few up.
So in other words, nobody noticed the blue streak falling from the sky. Chill Man was the first to get the blast of the crafty Mega Man's fully charged mega buster, and caught off guard, he was finished by an auto cannon.
"We've got company!" Blizzard Man yelled out to the others.
"I do not like Mega Man!" Frost Man complained. "He is not supposed to be here!"
"Clear out, idiots! I'll handle this one! You just get those auto cannons down and that door open!" Emit Man jumped in front of Mega Man, and the surge of sniper joes went around him. "So, Mega Man, you finally arrive! I've so looked forward to the challenge of fighting you...that is, if you are up to it!"
"I won't let you do this!" the blue bomber returned, shooting his buster at the bubble bats overhead as he spoke. "Emit Man, think it over! What will you gain from destroying good scientists?"
"It is what the master wants. The master made us better, stronger." Emit Man was completely matter-of-fact, and as if to demonstrate this power, he lifted into the air, hovering there as his shield of metal swirled around him threateningly. "And what are you but an archaic piece of blue metal? Now that your beloved creator is gone, do you really have what it takes to destroy us and stop my master's plans?"
"I will always fight for justice!" Mega Man fired at Emit Man, who allowed the plasma bursts to hit his flying junk shield so that Rock could see that they would have little effect on him. "Dr. Light made me the way that I am so that I could fight you as long as it takes for peace!"
"Oh? Is that why your creator built the precious Mega Man X? Wasn't it to replace you? Face it, Mega Man. You're old, obsolete. Old news and over with."
This bit of mockery stunned Mega Man. How in the world did any of the Cain-bots find out about Mega Man X? X had been kept a secret, and no one outside of Light Laboratories had ever been told about him. The government, the UN, and even Dr. Cossack knew nothing about the new robot. There was only one way that Emit Man could have found out --
"Don't worry, Mega Man! I'm here to help! Don't you listen to that loser!"
"Ring Man!"
The red and yellow Cossack-bot stood next to Mega Man, saluting cheerfully. "Let's end this together!"
"Right! You should get Frost Man -- gaaah!"
From the crazy look in his eyes, Ring Man made it very clear that he was going to do no such thing. Of course, the fact that he had planted some sort of de-stabilizer on Mega Man made it even more obvious. Rock felt all of his systems twitching, and his attempt to walk only brought him to the ground. His anti-virus fought against the invasion, but there was no way he could break free before someone destroyed him. Ring Man backed away, and even as electrical distortion clouded his view, Mega Man could still see the evil, sneering grin of Emit Man as he readied his bomb blades. He fired.
And then everything went black.
Or not completely black. A little light was still shining out at him. It took Mega Man a little bit to realize that he was behind some sort of blockade...the protoshield! As if distantly, Mega Man heard a burst. The blades did nothing to Proto Man's met armor shield. Feeling his power return as his anti-virus finished off the de-stabilizer, Mega Man got back to his feet. Ring Man's ruined metal body lay in the snow next to him, having had too many close encounters with hot plasma. Over him stood a red robot in a bright yellow scarf, who was staring defiantly at the Cain-bot before them.
"GAH! You stupid wanderer! You ruined my glory! I wanted to be the one to kill the little shrimp!" Emit Man screamed, sounding uncannily like a whiny five-year-old.
"That's just too bad." Proto Man picked up his shield as he turned to his brother. "Listen, Rock, I would stay, but right now there's someone that can help you more than I can."
"Blues, wait!"
But he didn't. He teleported out, and not two seconds later a dark orange streak landed, and Pharaoh Man materialized, his red eyes glowing with fury. He immediately lifted his arms, a bright orb of flame appearing above his head. But more frightening than this was the sight of the all of the ground at once being torn up from below. Skeleton mechaniloids began to rise from the ground, and they began clawing the sniper joes, slashing them and firing bone shaped bullets at the bubble bats from above.
"NO!" Emit Man continued to scream as he realized he couldn't fire his blades without hitting the sniper joes as well as the skull men. "Where did these things come from?!!!"
Mega Man, his confidence regained, equipped his super armor.
"Let's go, Rush!"
The dog appeared in Rush coil form, and Mega Man equipped the power bullet, a weapon he had gained from the Cain-bots in their last encounter. Running, Mega Man jumped on Rush, and it bounced him upward, through Emit Man's shield. Mega Man just absorbed the damage, and at the apex of his jump he fired point-blank. And that was the end of Emit Man.
The blue bomber quickly looked out at the field. Frost Man was still trying his hardest to break down Dr. Cossack's laboratory door, and he was succeeding. Though wave after wave of the mechaniloids went after him, he froze all of them, creating a barrier behind himself. Finally, the left door was ripped from its hinges, and the broken metal, though it was two feet thick, went like plywood into the Pharaoh army.
"Oh no you don't!" Mega Man directed Rush that direction, and began pelting Frost Man from overhead.
"Mega Man! I am mad! I am gonna get you!"
Frost Man prepared to jump, and Mega Man knew that even despite this robot master's bulk, he could jump ridiculously high. But before Frost Man had a chance, a huge group of little green toads landed on him, and they began to spit tiny streams of acid all over the Wily-bot. Frost Man tried to brush them off, but it was to no avail.
"Aaaaugh! Make them get off!"
"Hey, Rock!" Toad Man, from just inside Cossack's lab, waved at the blue hero. "How do you like my new croaker cannon?"
"Well, it certainly is effective!" Mega Man fired his charged buster and finished Frost Man off.
"Mega Man."
Pharaoh Man's voice boomed loudly over the noise of his mechaniloid servants, and as Mega turned to look at the speaker, a stunned awe hit him. Pharaoh Man's entire body was glowing with a beaming light, and his eyes had darkened to a complete black. With the strong hand gestures of a composter he directed his army, and the skeletal forces moved swiftly to finish off the sniper joes.
"Mega Man," Pharaoh Man continued as soon as he noticed he had Mega Man's attention. "Dust Man is cut off from us. Please go and retrieve him, if at all possible."
"Sure thing! Come on, Rush!"
And they flew over to the junkyard, where strangely enough the Wily-bots didn't seem that interested in. But that only made the blue bomber more suspicious. Why would they go around the junkyard instead of through it?
Like any other day, Dust Man had been crushing old cars and whatnot. His left hand grasped the control stick of the magnetic crane as he hauled the old rusted autos, and he steered it over to the giant compactor. Dust Man had a lot to crush that day, so he found it annoying when a skinny robot, peeked out at him from the side of a pile of junk. It looked uncommonly like a metal ant with a cannon. Whatever it was, it quickly disappeared behind the rubbish and Dust Man went back to his work, not entirely interested.
What he didn't know, was that this robot was Sight Man, created by Dr. Cain. And it was after him. After sending a narrow beam, heavily encoded signal out, Sight Man took his cannon from his shoulder and loaded it.
If this plan is going to work, I'll have to keep that janitor distracted. Sight Man thought. That shouldn't be too hard. That idiot doesn't look like he could hit me at point blank. Algorhythm Man had better hurry --- what the devil?!
Ker-thunk!
The magnetic crane lifted Sight Man high into the air, and because he was facing downwards, he could see the mellow and yet cold eyes of Dust Man staring at him as the junkyard robot directed the machine over towards the compactor.
"Hey, hey, stop that! Put me down!" Sight Man struggled to reach his cannon, but it too was stuck firmly to the electromagnet. "Fight me for real! Don't -- hey stop!"
Crash!
Sight Man landed on the corpses of some old mechaniloids and rusted out cars. The walls began to close in, but he wasn't going to wait for that to happen. The ant jumped out of the compactor, high into the air. He aimed his cannon at Dust Man, only to have a red laser smack into him before he could get in a shot. It tore a hole straight through Sight Man, and he fell back into the compactor. And the crane had not been idle during all this. Stuck firmly on the electromagnet was another broken down vehicle, and it was already swinging overhead. It hit him, and at just the right angle to trap one of his feet. Sight Man struggled to get free, but as the walls of the compactor closed in, this became increasingly difficult, until finally it was impossible.
Scrrrreeeeeeekkkksssshhhhhttt...
Dust Man always did a good job in the junkyard.
"Tsk, tsk," a voice from overhead sounded. "Dust Man, you really should know better than to attack my brother like that."
Dust Man's systems scrambled in a million different directions before he could even figure out where the voice was coming from. His assailant, however, allowed his eyes to return right again before hitting him with another EMP; it was Epic Man. Even Dust Man, who had never seen this Cain-bot before, could tell. The familiar thin antenae running back his helmet and the giant spike coming out of his left shoulder were far too distinctive for him to go unrecognised. Dust Man tried to fire his dust crusher, but found himself missing his target by a very wide margin. And getting hit by another EMP wave.
"What boring things you Cossack-bots are." the midnight blue robot muttered in a bored tone as he inspected his hands and landed near the still writhing Dust Man. "Ah, Mega Man, I was waiting on you to show up."
The newly arrived bomber directed Rush to the ground and jumped off, aiming his buster directly at Epic Man. "What is it that you're here for, Epic Man? I won't let you hurt anyone!"
"Oh really? I think the situation is a little different than you think it is." Epic Man said. "See, you have a choice. You can either stop me from destroying Dust Man, here, while Algorhythm Man, who is hidden somewhere roundabouts, hacks into that mechaniloid army and destroys everyone here you care about. Or, you could go after him and leave me here to not only destroy your junk heap friend here, but also Dr. Cossack himself. Choose wisely, because after all, Dust Man here is weak and won't distract me long from Cossack, and yet Algorhythm Man has been hacking now for several minutes. It won't be long before he uses Pharaoh Man's own command circuit to take control of them and decimate this entire lab. And yet what good would any of it be without the doctor?"
Mega Man struggled. With horror he glanced over at Dust Man, who was resolutely trying his hardest to speak.
" ---- Go, Mega. It doesn't matter what happens to me. Save the master and the mistre-zzzrrts ---- "
Dust Man's transmission cut off abruptly as another EMP shock hit him. Mega Man wanted so badly to save him, but he knew what he had to do. It was too late for Dust Man. The best he could do is fire back a few shots at Epic Man while flying away on Rush.
"Dust Man...I'm sorry...."
Mega Man had to focus. He shook his head firmly, promising himself that he would let the sacrifice have meaning. He sent off a transmission to Pharaoh Man to let him know what was going on, then he went to find Dr. Cossack. To his horror, he found Epic Man waiting for him there, standing casually next to the door of Dr. Cossack's lab.
"That's the thing about Dust Man. He's weak, and doesn't distract for long."
A torpedo smacked into Mega Man, smacking him down to the ground. Immediately jumping up, Mega Man pointed his buster -- at no one. Epic Man was gone. But he could still hear his departing footsteps from inside the lab, so Mega Man ran after him to begin the chase. He was starting to get closer, when he heard what was then to him the worst sound in the world: a weapon firing. Fearing that he was too late, Mega Man turned the corner.
"Doctor....Cossack?"
Mega Man stood there dumbfounded. It wasn't Cossack that was the victim. In fact, he was standing there, looking smug in his engineered met armor chestplate and helmet. His plasma rifle was still aimed at the violent Cain-bot below him. Epic Man didn't seem that damaged, but even lying on the floor he could still see that Rock had arrived.
"Oh how the tables have turned...." Epic Man said. "And you, Mikhail, no pathetic little human is going to strike me and get away with it."
Defying everyone's expectations, Epic Man simply teleported away.
"You really shouldn't provoke him, Dr. Cossack."
The Russian man only grinned as he hefted the plasma rifle to his shoulder. "Come on, you have to admit that I was a little impressive."
"Please, we've got to get you out of here." the blue bomber insisted. "Algorhythm Man is trying to take over your mechaniloids, and we can't let you be here if that happens."
"You're right. And first order of business is to make sure my daughter is safe."
Roll looked a little odd as her, Kalinka, and two mummiras went through the streets of Moscow. The people there seemed to be used to the fact that Cossack's robots were based on monsters, but the sight of the very human-like Roll going without a coat in the chilly night made a few people in the street glance at her. The girl-bot couldn't help but think it terribly ironic, as the mummiras always made her shudder.
But she always felt safer with Proto Man around. Glancing up at the buildings surrounding her, she spied out every flitting shadow, hoping that it was her eldest brother. Roll had to admit a little scorn within her. Couldn't Proto Man just walk alongside them for once? By now most of the public had stopped believing that Proto Man was a threat....or at least Roll thought so. Why did he always insist on being alone? Really he was just being practical, Roll tried to tell herself. From his vantage point, wherever that was, he'd have a good view of the group and be able to be sure no one was following.
Staring at the tops of office and apartment buildings had made Roll fall behind. She hurried back to catch up with Kalinka, who was frantically searching for a taxi and muttering insults at the airport for being so far from the hospital. The housekeeper-bot shuddered to think about it. They had called Alyosha's office from Dr. Cossack's jet, only to find out that none of them knew where he was, only that his office computers were completely virus ridden and worthless. Fortunately it was only ten panicked minutes that this went on. Unfortunately, Alyosha was at the hospital with critical injuries.
Alyosha was a good husband, Roll knew. He was always affectionate, and while he always complained about Kalinka spending his money, it was easy to see that he loved bringing home enough money that she could spend it less practically. It was silly man-pride, but since Kalinka was silly enough herself, they were perfect for each other.
Riding in the taxi with Kalinka was almost frightening. There was a dark glare on her face, and if Roll watched it long enough, she could see faint waverings of sadness overcome her. But the waverings didn't last long. Kalinka would straighten herself out and glare again, staring past the mummira bodyguard and out of the window as if angry at Moscow. Roll shuddered and turned away.
"Turn here, please." Roll told the taxi driver in perfect Russian.
"Sure, miss."
The poor man... Roll thought. Having to drive such a melancholy group.
When they arrived, Kalinka could barely let her bodyguard out before getting out of the taxi (of course neither of them let her have a window seat) and since they left to protect her, Roll was left to pay the man. Not that she minded. She got her wages from Kalinka in any case.
Before any of them could enter the door, out came the last person any of them expected. Bass flung open the door, but it was engineered to open and close slowly, so the noise and damage he wanted were denied him. So to get his desired damage, he went outside and punched a wall, cursing in all the most brutal words he could think of.
"What are you looking at?" Bass screamed at a couple walking by on the street. "Mind your own business!"
"Bass, what is going on?"
The dark and completely furious robot snapped his head around to growl, but as soon as he saw that it was Kalinka he froze.
"You're...not supposed to be here..."
"Tell me what happened!"
Kalinka was trying to keep her voice in control, but from the sound of it, it could break at any moment. As Roll rejoined Kalinka, she noticed that this was the saddest she had ever seen Bass. He stared at the ground and cringed angrily, but he forced himself to look Kalinka firmly in the eyes.
"It was Ring Man." Bass sputtered with hatred. "Somehow Dr. Cain got to him and he got a virus. He told your husband he was going to take him back to Cossack's lab, but that was a lie. Ring Man...I brought Alyosha here, but he didn't...make it."
Kalinka looked shot. As the realization sank in, she started to tremble, and shook her head stubbornly.
"No...no! You are a liar!" she sobbed. "It is not true!"
Bass stood there awkwardly, cringing and not sure what he should do. "Um, there's some paperwork inside you need to do...but I guess you could let it wait or get your dad to do it or something..."
Proto Man, out of nowhere, dropped to the ground next to Kalinka. He took her hand and said something to her, something that Roll couldn't hear. Kalinka sniffed and nodded, and though she attempted to say something, only a few sounds came out. She just covered her mouth with her hand and wept harder.
"It's okay." Proto Man seemed to know what she wanted to say. "I'm coming in with you."
"Can you really do that?" Roll asked him. "Won't you get in trouble or something?"
"It doesn't matter." Blues dismissed the concern at once. "I'm not leaving her."
Kalinka straightened herself. "I want to go in now. I have to see him."
Proto Man nodded, leading her into the hospital. One of the mummiras opened the door for his mistress, who was still struggling hard to remain control of herself. As they passed him, Proto Man looked momentarily at Bass. With most of his face was covered up, it was almost impossible to tell what exactly he was trying to communicate before he abruptly pulled the new widow away. Almost. Bass lips firmly pressed together in hatred and his fangs showed slightly as the others went in the hospital.
Uncertain of herself, Roll followed behind them for a few steps before turning back to Bass. He was staring down at the pavement with hatred, tensing his hands as if searching for someone to strangle.
"TREBLE!" he shouted. "GET OUT HERE NOW!"
The purple wolf came out of the bushes, spitting out the branch he had been chewing on and converting into jet mode. He stepped on the dog to leave.
"Bass...."
He turned back to Roll with a face full of fury. His red eyes twitched with evil, and Roll found herself stepping back. But she could still see the pain in his eyes, the failure. Roll managed to persist in saying what she wanted to say.
"Please...don't be upset at yourself. I'm sure you did what you could to help Alyosha."
Roll could almost see her words bounce off Bass' armor, for all the good they did. His evil eyes didn't budge a millimeter. It was impossible for her to tell if Bass had even heard her. But he had.
"Mind your own business." Bass said as civilly as he could, which at the moment sounded more murderous than anything else. A second later, he was gone.
Roll stood out in the cold night air. Or morning, rather. She could see the sun beginning to rise out in the distance. In any case, this left the girl-bot in red alone and wondering when everything went so wrong. Though she couldn't feel the cold, she shivered, wishing that somehow Rock would show up and fix everything.
No, he can't... Roll glitched bitterly. Alyosha is dead now, and there's no fixing that. But...I better go in, Kalinka will need me.
Roll looked up into the sky, looking towards that one last glimpse of sunlight. "Please...please make everything alright again."
\\\\\\\\\\\\
- Oh, when I put "I hope you don't like Dr. Cossack" in the summary, I really meant "I hope you didn't like Alyosha". :D Actually, how'd you like the guy? I know I really should have had him more involved. I think if I revamp How Many (which I am very likely to do) I'll include him hanging around somewhere.
=======Dust Man
"Don't let me suck more than I can."
Good point: Big appetite
Bad point: Bad breath
Like: Spring-cleaning
Dislike: Mice
Man, some of these MM&B data discs are just awkward. What is up with that quote? For my version of Dust Man, I didn't really get into the dust crusher. I just had him compress stuff outside of himself, because if you work as hard as Dust Man on a regular basis, you'd need something bigger than him to compress all the junk. So, in my mind, Dust Man is the sad but cute one, like Eeyore. He doesn't really talk to people, and his bad breath keeps most humans away, besides his noisy and dirty job. However, Dust Man is friendly, and he likes people. He's so good at his job that he is usually thinking about other things when he works.
Dust Man was originally meant for sanitation work before Wily interfered. Because Wily was very impatient with Dr. Cossack when the Russian doctor was trying to make his robots have weapons, the MM4 robot masters ended up with disadvantages. Dust Man's is that his buster arm didn't work. However, Kalinka, with the help of Crystal Bot, was able to make a working heat laser for him. It's designed to melt metal, so it's actually very powerful. This is what he uses against Sight Man.
- Okay, so this chapter's depressing music is Evil. It's one of my favorite songs ever, and maybe you've heard it. The music video doesn't really match the tone of the song, but whatevs. Enjoy. www. youtube .com /watch?v=v6qN-HBH54o
- In case you haven't played Mega Man 4 in a long time, mummiras are those robots that would fling their heads at you in Pharaoh Man's stage.
- Since Treble bites stuff, Bass generally never allows him inside of buildings unless he wants to annoy someone. And yeah, Bass is not that good at sympathy. Proto Man should really cut him some slack on that. It's not like it's something Bass does often.