Back at the lab, Auto was busily looking apprehensively over at the wreckage of Napalm, Wave, and Charge Man. The other four heroes had brought back their bodies in the hopes they could be repaired, and immediately afterwards ran back out to rescue as many of the humans as they could. Monstropolis itself was so far untouched, but no one was fooled. Wily would surely destroy it at one point or another, and Auto believed that was what Zero intended to do. All the humans were evacuated, as Mega Man, Proto Man, Jewel Man, and Bass defended them.
These four, however, had fought their hardest. Even the best fighters took hits, and they were worn out as far as they could be without serious injury. After all, if they were too hurt, then there would be nothing they could do if special parts had to be ordered. In this nightmare no delivery would get through.
One of the monitors was on, and it was showing a news station, and surprisingly, no robot had bothered to destroy it.
"As of 9:15 this evening," the human reporter began. "All robots with ArmorCore, Light Subsidiary, and Hitenshi Firewall anti-virus programs have now gone berserk. We are also recieving reports that the world's military robots are also compromised. Everyone should remain in their homes and get into their basements or panic rooms. Don't try to resist the robots or attract attention to yourself. While most of the robots' acts are disorganized vandalism, there are some organized robots working together to destroy specific targets.
"There are a few robots left that didn't install a public anti-virus program, including local hero Mega Man. However, these few can only do so much. We have some good news from Dr. Cossack, who reports that after a random period of time, the robots' minds will shut down due to a mind-deletion program in each of their CPUs. It is apparent that this last scheme from Wily is intended to be the end of robotics as we know it. People are already referring to it as the Robot Apocalypse..."
"Auto...?"
The robot turned to look over at Roll, who had been shaky ever since her narrow escape from the space station.
"Can I shut off the news?" The girl-bot wandered into the room, not sure if she could even stand to see Team 5 they way they were. "I...I don't think I can stand it."
"Go ahead."
With relief, Roll went over to the console and pushed the button, and the image of the newscaster faded away. Roll was glad she was a robot. She knew she would be nauseous if she had the ability. Everything was simply too much for her.
"Roll!"
She whipped around, knowing the voice calling out to her. The three fighters were back, and they looked terrible. But Rock was glad to see her, and from his place holding on to Jewel Man's shoulder, he tried to run forward, only to trip on his broken foot armor. Roll was there in only a moment, and she embraced her brother almost as tightly as he held her.
"Roll...I'm so sorry!"
It was the appointed time, and all three of the remaining Cain-bots met together at the rubble that was once an apartment complex in Queens, New York. There was a tinge of worry to the meeting, and all of them were impatient. Psycho Man was still annoyed at the loss of his arms, and he kicked his thin, metal legs to clear the broken bricks away. And Algorhythm Man was indeed having problems in his data base. Every so often a glitch would randomly affect a finger or a facial feature, though overall he seemed in control as he leaned against a wall.
Epidemic Man was definitely the happiest of the bunch. He liked being combined with Demi, and he liked how much spikier his design had become. For the fun of it, he fired off a torpedo at an old doghouse, and its explosion was large and satisfactory. His laugh rang out, and it sounded remarkably more rusty and dark than before.
"If we could focus." Algorhythm Man said with emphasis, catching his brothers' impatient attentions. "We do have a problem we're going to have to deal with."
"Oh yes," A bored Epidemic Man picked up a rock and started scratching random doodles into it. "We're not on the plan. Oh whoop-dee-doo. We were allowed certain...liberties with it. No need to have to stick to it like a fly on sticky paper."
"Hee hee, the truth speaks Epi!" Psycho Man, now that he cleared away the rocks, had the room to spin a bit. "Everyone needs wiggle room!"
"Shut up, Psych." Algorhythm Man muttered. "Look, Wily wanted us to get the girl, then activate Zero once all the world was in an uproar. We need to get Crystal Bot back."
"What? And have them come look for her again?" Epidemic Man retorted. "Bass has that failsafe, and none of us are programmers. She's as good as gone. Wily did say that she wasn't entirely necessary to the plan. The old beast had just a touch of softness in his heart for her, and now there's nothing we can do. It's not our fault."
"Okay, so why haven't we let loose Zero then? He is the most important part of the plan. And the earth is in chaos, just like Wily wanted for his arrival."
"Oh, are you so infatuated with that doctor?" Epidemic snapped, coming close enough to Algorhythm to smack him.
"You seemed infatuated enough when he upgraded us!" The orange and neon robot shoved a finger in his brother's face. "I'm just following this stupid programming that he put in my head! You were the one that didn't leave when we had the chance - I wanted to break away and get out of there, and now look at us! You said it would be better with Wily! We'll die like the rest!"
"NO, WE WON'T!" The elder Cain-bot refused to give in, and the rock he was holding crumbled in his hands. "Listen to me! We would have been dead before now if we hadn't stayed to serve Wily! I knew what we were doing! So relax! Sheesh. You're getting Psych all worked up."
Psycho Man didn't seem to be paying attention, but his attention span was generally terrible anyway. He was starting to get bored, and Epidemic Man started to throw rocks at him. The clown-bot liked practicing to dodge.
Algorhythm Man just sighed as his brothers continued with the rocks. "Okay, so fine, what do we do now?"
Epidemic Man kept throwing whatever rubbish he could find as he spoke. "What you don't realize is this: losing the girl is much to our advantage. While she technically isn't required to fufill Wily's main objectives, her part in it is large enough so that we're not fully on track. Do you realize what this means? It means that we can improvise. It means that the parameters have changed so that we have to adapt to them."
"I think by adapt, Wily would mean fetch Crystal Bot-"
"Oh, bother the girl!" Epidemic Man threw an especially large cluster of bricks and cement at Psycho Man, and his psycho pulse shredded through it. "It's not like we can do anything to get her on our side again. Put her out of your mind, so far as 'rescue' goes. She'll have to be destroyed now, probably, and you know it. We can adapt, and our programming will allow us to get out of activating Zero right away-"
"-And so we won't have to be killed by him!" Algorhythm Man stood up from the wall in excitement.
"Now you get it!"
"And if we are of that fate free," Psycho Man kicked the next brick out of Epidemic Man's hand, as he was getting bored of that game. "What of us become will be?"
"Oh, Psych, that was a terrible rhyme!"
"Bah, I give up!" the bug-eyed Cain-bot wished that he could shrug. "But still, I want to play lots of games! Will we still play games with the puny human people?"
"The problem here is that we still are forced to finish this scheme of Wily's." Algorhythm Man noted. "And that means, adapting or no, we're going to have to activate Zero at some point."
"Yes..." Epidemic Man thought out carefully. "For the first part, we have a few other objectives left. One, there are still a few scientists alive. The only one I'm really that concerned about is Cossack, and for the rest we've already destroyed so much data that no one will ever learn to build sentient robots again. Two, there's that Mega Man and his laboratory."
"Oh yes, one of us is going to have to deal with the invincible robot." the Algorhythm Man remarked dryly.
"No robot is invincible!" The leader rebuked him, eyeing his brother with irritation. "It's only a matter of intelligence, something that has been sorely lacking in the blue bomber's enemies. I have a bit of a trick, which I'll use once I finish my other objectives. It's rather simple, but we can't all have fancy adventures."
"You didn't answer my question!" Psycho Man protested. "Will we still play games with the puny human people?"
"Ha ha, yes, Psych. You get to take down Cossack. Remember, that was your part of the plan."
Algorhythm Man was starting to get the idea of what his brother was trying to do. "So you're saying that we can complete our objectives and be free after that? Very well. But what of Zero? We can't destroy the activation device without being destroyed ourselves."
"Heh. That part is simple, dear brother. We get someone to destroy it for us. I already have a plan. You should trust your brother." Epidemic Man turned to his long-legged sibling and spoke up in a more jovial tone. "Well then, Psych, what say we play some more games, okay?"
"Alright! Time to see how many little bugs I can squish!" Psycho Man cheered.
"I just wish Dr. Cain were here." Algorhythm Man mentioned as the three started to leave. "Or anyone that can repair us, really."
"Ah yes, bit of tragedy, that." Epidemic Man said. "And he had to choose an awfully messy way to go. I'm just thankful that those do-gooders blew up the castle so that we didn't have to clean it. Not that you would catch me doing such a thing in any case. But don't fear too much for a repair. As long as our CPUs are intact, we can always force a mechaniloid technician to keep us in shape, worst come to worst. And don't be so glum. After all, you're going to get that fight with Fish soon."
"Hm, now that I don't mind. And I guess since Zero won't be showing up, I'll get to defeat him myself...somehow. He's rather tough, you know."
"We stole some nice things from those backwoods countries we ran into." Psycho Man pointed out. "You might find them useful!"
"Perhaps I will."
The three remaining Cain-bots walked together out of the shredded neighborhood, still talking about their next plans. They didn't bother worrying if anyone would hear them, as this neighborhood had long been destroyed, and any humans in it were either dead or fled, with no plans for returning.
Things were gloomy at Light Laboratories. Roll was beginning to wish that she had more technical experience: Auto had his hands full with trying to fix everyone. Wave Man, Charge Man, and Napalm Man were lying off to the side rather than on any repair tables, as they were beyond repair. Their back-ups had been on the space station, and guilt filled Roll as she thought of it. And no matter how much she told herself that she didn't know where to find them, if she could even access them, or if she could have left the station in time if she had gotten them, the guilt still came.
Fortunately the running around was helping her keep her mind off of that. Not that the work itself wasn't depressing enough. Proto Man was shut down in an automatic machine, and when he had arrived on Rush, he was far too broken and weary to protest the help of his siblings. But according to Auto, he would be fine enough when he was repaired. Roll gently touched his hand before she went off to bring a spare part for Jewel Man.
The bejeweled robot himself was fine, or mostly. The damage done to the exhausted Jewel Man's armor could be repaired, but at the moment nothing could be done for the large chip in his shiny gem head. But as crooked and cringeworthy as it looked, this was nothing compared to his expression, which would break anyone's heart to see. He was standing by Crystal Bot's repair table, letting Dub finish some wiring errors in his back as he watched over her. She wasn't hurt so bad physcially, but the virus was still taking its toll on her system. Her eyes remained wide open, darting back and forth aimlessly as the only sign that something was still going on in her mind.
"Auto...will she be okay?" Roll asked.
"I don't know." Auto answered as he typed away at the computer above Proto Man's machine. "That virus was designed to work specifically with the new model mind that Dr. Light invented, and it turns the recipient automatically loyal to the key virus source: Zero. It works within a robot's personality AI to change it for evil. There's nothing I can do to help her, that I know of. If she can't fight this off herself..."
"You're saying that...that X could get this virus?" she timidly asked.
Auto heaved his heavy shoulders as he grabbed a wrench. "Knowing Wily, it was probably designed for him."
But Roll didn't want to think like that. She couldn't stand it, and even the sound of Auto's depressed voice was too much for her. Her pitying glance went over to Bass. Out of all the robots, his injuries were the least serious, so he was waiting in a chair for his turn at an automated machine, plugged into the wall so that the computer could do a damage asessment. Just because he was the best off, however, did not mean that he was alright. The left side of his helmet was cracked, and a few tufts of his blonde hair could be seen underneath. And his legs looked like they were going to completely fall off.
"Bass," Roll approached him with uncertainty. "Auto will be able to get your repairs going in a couple of minutes."
"Mm."
"Um...Sonata brought over some of your spare parts earlier, so we can replace your helmet and legs with no problem."
"Mm."
Roll was scared to press him further. Part of her wanted him to say something, as she was worried about him. He hadn't said anything more than a few grunts since he had gotten back. But at the same time, he was seething, staring at the floor. Every once in a while he would twitch from some evil thought that passed through his mind, and Roll had to step away. Seeing the darkness of his attitude reminded her of why she had been afraid of Bass when she first learned of his existence.
Everywhere she looked there was grief. Mega Man, the passionate fighter, was by far the worst of all of them. He was still concious as the automated machine did its work, and he was searching the internet news for anything that might be of some use to him. The thought that millions of innocents all over the globe were being attacked by robots while he was laying there on the table useless tormented him. In his mind, each second he spent getting repaired was another person he couldn't save. By far this was much more frightening than Bass.
Rush seemed to think so. The little dog, himself freshly repaired, when with tail down and many whimperings over to the dark robot, cautiously approaching. He sniffed at Bass' hand, whimpering and nudging him with his nose. Bass looked up with narrow, exhausted eyes.
"DON'T, Rush." Bass hissed at the dog. "Just don't..."
The red dog back away and whined, his ears drooping even lower than before. He went to go find a secluded corner to go hole up in and have a cry. He didn't understand why Bass had to be that way. Treble was his friend too. Crawling in a small, empty space behind a computer, Rush put his front paws over his eyes and tried to cry as quietly as he could manage.
Bass looked over to where the Team 5 casualties were, and there was the now faceless Treble, one of them. Clenching his jaw, Bass looked down again. Treble had been his best friend since he was built, and the wolf had known him better than anyone else. Treble was the only one Bass felt safe talking to, and there were many secrets that only the two of them had known. If his sheer rage hadn't been keeping him under control (and the fact that there were so many Light-bots around), then he wasn't sure he wouldn't be glitching his eyes out. They had been far closer than he and Sonata had been.
Testing his temper, the dark robot let his eyes wander to the table that now held Crystal Bot. She was still twitching randomly, though from time to time it seemed like she was calling out - to him or whoever else he couldn't guess. Moments later she would be grinning faintly in an altogether unpleasant way, and it disgusted him. But both expressions faded away, leaving Crystal Bot blank, still other than her frantic eyes.
The poor girl-bot. All she wanted to do was help. As annoying as she was, Bass hoped she would somehow be alright. As good as he had said her CPU was, inwardly he had to admit that he was unsure. He didn't know how strong the virus was, and he did know how vengeful his hated creator could be. There was no telling if she would ever be free. Bass looked at the monitor beside him. His damage assessment was done so he pulled out the cord and limped over in her direction, his right hip joint screeching as he forced it along.
"You stay away from her."
Bemused, looked over to see Jewel Man glaring at him, his face contorted in either grief or hate; Bass didn't care to tell which. He kept moving.
"Shut up, Top Man."
"I mean it!" Jewel Man snapped, getting everyone's attention. "Don't get anywhere near her!"
"Hey, what's going on?" Mega Man was able to pull himself into a sitting position.
Jewel Man ignored the question and stayed focused on the half-incredulous Bass (the other half was pissed off). "You're the one responsible for this! You always got her into dangerous situations, and quite frankly I'm surprised that something like this hasn't happened before. And now this, and there's nothing that we can do to save her!"
"She always knew how dangerous it was." Bass' growl was a warning. "And besides, I did stop her from being another slave of Wily's so back off."
"If it weren't for you then she wouldn't be in that situation in the first place!"
"You didn't stop her!"
"I know! I know..." Jewel Man quieted some. But only a moment later the bitter lines on his face reappeared, and he snapped, "After the great job you did protecting Imahara and Alyosha, you'd think I would know better! You've been nothing but useless since this whole scheme started!"
"Jewel Man, don't start an argument." Mega Man insisted as he got up from the table and waved away Auto's protests. "We've all made mistakes, and you're not helping things any."
"Not helping? You mean like Bass?"
The bejeweled Light-bot was far from giving up, and as Bass neared he got up out of his chair and engaged his shield, blocking Bass' path. Folding his arms, he silently dared Bass to try and get around him. The subject of his hate stared with incredulity, throwing up his hands.
"What the hell is wrong with you?"
"YOU!" Jewel Man shouted in reply. "What have you ever done that means anything? You let Dr. Imahara die in the dumbest way possible, and you were utterly helpless stopping Ring Man from killing Dr. Polovstiansky! Ring Man! I could beat that idiot twice with my eyes closed, and you're supposed to be the greatest robot ever? And then, the worst thing you could have possibly done is not tell Rock about Zero from the very beginning! He could have found the real Zero and destroyed him! But you're so useless and arrogant that now any moment he could show up and make things worse than they already are!"
"Stop it, now!" Mega Man said, and if everyone hadn't been worried that Bass was going to retaliate, then they would have seen Mega Man angrier than he had ever been to date. "Arguing about it won't get us anywhere! We're all a team now, and that means we're going to have to trust each other!"
But Jewel Man just shook his head. He spoke to Rock, but his insipid glare was directed straight at Bass. "That day when Wily set Bass' self destruct...you should have let him die."
Everyone gasped. Even Jewel Man flinched a bit after he said it, though other than that he refused to waver. Roll's first instinct was to hide, but as she glanced over at Bass, she wondered why he was so quiet. It was because something amazingly terrible had happened. It was amazing because no one ever thought it was possible. And simply what it was was terrible: Bass ran out of ego. It was bad enough that his technician was incapacitated, and dealing with his best friend's death (for his protection, no less) had only torn up all but the last shreds of his hope. And Jewel Man had no way of knowing how guilty he felt about the doctors he had failed to save. Everything together was too much for him, and it wiped his normally relentless ego hollow.
All of this showed. The dark robot's face fell, and he drooped. But even then his loose fingers tightened into fists, and a sort of pale anger sounded through his hushed voice as he headed for the door.
"I worked too hard to put up with this crap...I'm through with this. Forget all of you!"
"But Bass, you'll die out there hurt like that." Roll found herself saying. "Don't - "
A glare from Bass cut her off, and she automatically shielded her face with her arms. Nothing happened. She lowered her arms a little, and to her surprise Bass seemed even more hurt than before. She had been expecting him to hit her, but it was as if the opposite had happened - and Roll could somehow hurt him. This barely had time to register before Forte abruptly walked off.
Bass wanted nothing more than to get out. He more sick of them than he could say, though it didn't completely surprise him that there was a tug on his arm. Expecting Mega Man, Forte ripped away his arm and tried to scowl away any further protest. But it wasn't Mega Man.
It was Sonata.
The girl-bot was frowning at him, her shining eyes begging him not to leave. Glitching once more, she grabbed his arm again to maintain her balance. Once the glitch had passed she sighed with relief and looked at all the shocked robots.
"Ho-how c-come eh...everybody doubts my s-self repairff functtions?" Crystal Bot tried to speak. "I-knowwwhat I'm ddo-oing..."
She gave it up and looked back up at her boss. She gritted her teeth and took a breath, trying to force her mind to cooperate.
"F-Forte-kun." she finally said. "You havenn't been listening to what J-jewel Man said, have you? You're nice and g-good, and you s-saved three hhundred and fif-fifty nine people in the past five years. I c-counted. A-and if it wuh...weren't for you, Rock would be dead, and so would I. Evennn if you did-didn't, yerr ma-my friend, and if someone cared about m-me," Here she turned to Jewel Man with a cold heart. "Then he w-would be nicer to my friend."
Crystal Bot had always been a sweet sort, especially towards her family. Or those she considered it. But to see her look at Jewel Man was to see her more evil than she ever had been with Wily. It was Jewel Man's turn for guilt, and his mouth moved as he tried to utter something. Nothing came out, and it was clear Crystal wouldn't have listened anyway.
"I will-ll never speak to you ever again."
"Crystal!" he managed weakly.
She, however, was already looking at the sorry condition of Bass' armor. As if the effort of telling off the jeweler had been some hard effort, Crystal relaxed a little.
"F-forte," she said only with forced effort. "Pplease fixx me. My Aay-eeeyee inhhibb-bbburaaatooohh - ungh!"
Unable to describe her condition, Crystal Bot pouted. But Bass got the idea.
"Auto can fix you." he said without looking at her.
She shook her head and tried harder, still tugging at his arm. "Nnnuh-uh. You k-know mahhsystems better. P-p-please. I need-d you."
Bass looked up at the other staring robots and scowled. He didn't appreciate having to stay around them any longer than he had to, but if Crystal Bot needed him, he would have to put up with it.
"Fine..." he said sourly. "If it's this bad we're going to have to go to the AI lab. Now come on."
Trying to smile, Crystal Bot happily took his arm. But his legs were still a creaking mess, and she giggled as they walked.
"B-between mah legs nn' yyour brainn," she managed as he put her arm around Bass and helped him along. "We'll-ll get somewheres."
Bass just rolled his eyes. And he momentarily forgot that the wreckage of three of her team members was still along the side wall. Crystal had already noticed them, and was trying her hardest not to look.
Jewel Man tried once more. "Crystal Bot...I'm sorry..."
And nothing. Bass looked down to see if the technician would do anything, but she went on as if nothing had been said. They disappeared behind the the AI lab door. Roll scowled at Jewel Man before going over to Rock to insist he finish being repaired.
"I missed something, didn't I?"
In the argument, no one noticed Proto Man coming out of the automated machine. He looked over at Jewel Man out of pure curiousity as he rewrapped his scarf around his neck, but the bitter robot just turned on one heel and left the room. Proto Man looked at his siblings for an explanation, but neither of them seemed to want to say.
"There was a fight..." Roll said. "Jewel Man...he said some horrible things..."
"That's enough." Proto Man replaced his helmet. "I don't want to know any drama. It's none of my business."
And he teleported out.
In the hallway outside, Jewel Man glitched as he leaned against the wall.
Why did I have to be such an idiot?
Jewel Man shuffled a foot against the floor. He had never liked Bass, and Bass hadn't bothered to give him a reason to think otherwise. He was rude, arrogant, and selfish. And now he had cost Jewel Man the one robot he cared about the most. Or so Jewel Man told himself. It was such a pathetic lie that even he didn't believe it. He was the one that had driven away his own "step-daughter".
She never was mine...
Once the virus Crystal Man had left on his system had been deleted, Jewel Man had begun to remember things about building Crystal Bot that had been repressed before. He had to wonder why Crystal Man just didn't delete the memories outright. There was one memory in particular that he had never showed her, despite Crystal's desire to see everything she could of her father. Jewel Man played it in his head, recalling the short period of time when he and the Team 9 robots had been reprogrammed by Dr. Wily.
"I shall now test her." Crystal Man announced to Jewel Man. "You will now step back and stay away unless I instruct you otherwise. Do not attempt to interact with her."
Jewel Man never liked how he was treated by Wily's shiny-bot, and he wanted to show that his jewel sattelite was much more powerful than any weapon Crystal Man could muster. But the Wily-bot had the upper hand, and had programmed a subdirective in him to keep Jewel Man in line.
Crystal Man reached toward the neck of the miniature robot girl on the repair table and flicked the switch. A moment later, the girl blinked. And then she smiled. Sitting up, the little girl-bot brightly chirped, "Hi, Daddy!"
"Hello, my daughter. How do you feel today?"
"Better." She hopped up on the table happily. "Can I have some dancing programs, Daddy?"
"If you so wish." Crystal Man replied, all while observing how well Crystal Bot was able to move. He had done a good job on her limbs, but it was her mind he was concerned about.
"Hee hee, thank you!" The little robot looked over in Jewel Man's direction and pointed. "What's that?"
"My daughter, you know Jewel Man. You have seen him before."
"I don't know..." Crystal Bot put her hand on her chin as she puzzled over it. And then she brightened. "But I know! Hi, Jewel - oh! And I remember that we're not supposed to talk to him. Sorry, Daddy. Uh...why am I sorry again?"
Crystal Man sighed, disappointed. He drummed his fingers on the table. How in the world was he going to make her three minds work together instead of seperately? Crystal Bot noticed this.
"Am I still broken, Daddy?"
"Yes. But I will fix you somehow."
"Yay!" she threw her arms around his neck. "I love you, Daddy!"
"And I love you, small one."
Crystal Man shut down the girl-bot and placed her gently back on the table before walking to the next room of his secret lab to get a part. Unable to restrain himself any longer, Jewel Man approached. All he wanted was to say hello to the little thing. He did feel that his work in stealing the parts for her at least granted him that, and he reached out for her activation switch. But out of nowhere Crystal Man immediately got between them, anger showing through what little of his face was exposed through his faceplate.
"I have long since told you that you are not to come near her! She is not yours by any means, and you will do well to remember! If I catch you speaking to her again, then I shall break your neck! She is not your daughter! Do you understand me?"
Jewel Man cut the memory there. It was not long afterwards that Mega Man had defeated him and he had been reprogrammed back for good. Or as "good" as he was now, he thought dryly. As it was, he had liked having Crystal Bot around. It hadn't taken long for her to occupy a secure place in his heart, and he liked to think that Crystal Man would approve of him watching out for her.
Heh, some watching out I did...I can accuse Bass all I want, but it doesn't make a difference...
Thinking of Bass made his teeth clench. He wanted to excuse "his part" of the blame for letting Crystal Bot be hurt because he wasn't as strong as Bass, and Bass should know better. Why in the world did she care about him so much?
She's blind to his flaws...she should know better! Ugh, I didn't create her! She's not my responsibility! What do I have to do with her anyway?
Jewel Man buried his face in his hands. He was doing it again - saying things he shouldn't say and didn't mean. And he didn't mean half of what he said to Bass. But something in him was against apologizing. He couldn't stand Bass, and he was pretty sure that the opposite was true also. But Jewel Man was in the wrong, and he knew it. Sinking his head downwards, he gave up. He was going to have to apologize.
There's no point doing it now. He's working and definitely angry still.
Jewel Man hoped that there was some way that he could get Crystal Bot to change her mind. She was a sweet girl-bot and also a bit ditzy, so perhaps she would change her mind, somehow.
"Urg, what am I doing here?" Jewel Man said aloud as he stared at his limbs and did a systems check. "I'm fully functional! I should be working to help people while I can! This nightmare isn't over yet, and I have got to get moving!"
Inwardly he knew better than to run off by himself. It was a lot smarter for him to just wait for the others to be repaired and work with them, but his guilt made him push this fact aside. Everyone had to be upset with him, and he felt that unless he made up for his sin, no one would accept him. Nodding to himself, Jewel Man teleported out.
\\\
Crystal Bot came back into the AI laboratory, hauling in the replacement legs and helmet for Bass. She presented them to her boss only with an attempt at a smile, as she was trying not to talk. Bass merely went "mm" and kept working on his scans of Crystal Bot's CPU, barely acknowledging her return. Her forced smile faded into a weak pout as she placed the parts on the repair table. She silently waved for him to come and sit down.
There were programs that Auto had designed in case of mental infestation, and Crystal Bot fortunately had her systems restore zip drive with her. That alone wouldn't take care of the virus, but it would certainly help once the invasive program running around in her hard drive was taken care of. But Bass was basically guessing what he had to do. This virus was completely beyond him, and if Crystal hadn't forced him to learn about working with CPUs, then he would utterly helpless. As it was, he had to estimate which program would make a difference, and how much of one. So far, none of them were having too much of an effect. Bass wasn't sure how Crystal Bot had managed to hold back the virus as long as she had. Would it strike her later?
Bass sullenly went over to the table, still numb from the damaging blow to his pride. He didn't even notice that Crystal Bot had to help him onto the table until he was already sitting on it, and once he realized this, he didn't care. Nothing mattered to him anymore. The dark robot lazily looked at his technician as she worked. Even through his numbness it annoyed him to see her upset as she was. And it was even more annoying how she was trying to cover it up by total focus on her work, other than a pale smile in his direction every so often. But she wasn't subtle; there was no fooling Bass. Bass just wanted the repair to be over, but she was intent on at least trying to help him feel better.
"You-our're a really n-nice robot, For-te, Ooo-kay?" she said with loving sadness in her eyes. "Jeweeel M-manan is a j-j-eerk."
"I don't give a crap what he said." Bass muttered this barely loud enough for her to hear. "He's only pissed off because he was upset you were in danger."
The girl-bot immediately looked up at him with a scowl, stunned by this statement. "I kknow you-rere not deffendingg him! Anybody that says somethignn liek what he asaid is not someone I want to be associ-ciated wtih!" She shook her head, wincing at her horrible stuttering. "Oakay, gett dow-dow-dow...muszzt teeeesst..."
Besides pride, Bass was also far out of patience. "Erg, just forget my repairs and get over to the computer! You sound like a retard! Can I walk?"
Crystal Bot barely had time to nod before Bass got to the floor, angrily pulling the girl-bot over to the chair by the computer on the far left wall. Going over to the panel, he slammed his fingers into the appropriate buttons in some semblance of typing. Pulling out a wire, he plugged it into the port of the computer. Intending for the other end to go into Crystal Bot's neck, it took him by complete and total surprise when he turned around, only for Crystal Bot to suddenly grab him around the waist in a tight hug.
"Darn it, Sonata!" the dark robot cringed and starting pulling at her arms. "Get off me! You've got to get fixed!"
"N-no!"
She only squeezed him tighter, and started to glitch. Normally Crystal Bot was a very affectionate robot, strange as that was, but she never attempted to hug him. She knew better, or so Bass had thought . She knew well enough that no robot had sensory perception, other than to detect vibrations (and not all models could do that), and he of all robots was by no means built for affection or kindness. He didn't get it.
That little voice in the back of his head that had been around ever since he had changed his directive for good (he hated it so much!) began to talk. Right now Crystal Bot was in the worst position she ever had been in her life. Her team was all dead, the space station was gone, and the lab she had worked so hard on building was probably already destroyed. If it weren't for him, she would be utterly alone and have nothing. And the voice didn't stop there. Bass wasn't just a friend to her, he was Crystal Bot's hero. If things were so overwhelming that he couldn't stand it, then there was nothing left for her to do but despair. Even more than this, she simply wanted him to be happy, and she was trying to comfort him in the only way she could think of.
Bass didn't like the voice or what he knew it wanted him to do. He looked down at the poor girl clinging to him, and he cringed again. But if he was going to be of some use, he would at least try to make her feel better. He forced his very reluctant arms to reach around her and awkwardly returned the hug.
"Sonata..." he said slowly. "What you said about me out there...it means a lot to me. Thanks."
Her glitching slowed and she squeezed him tighter. The stood there for a minute more, and the dark robot wondered how long this was going to take. Bass looked up at the door, noticing that Crystal Bot had to have left it open; otherwise he would have noticed Roll opening the door. The housekeeper was looking at them, a bit surprised.
Argh!
"Not a word!" Bass mouthed silently so that Crystal Bot wouldn't hear. But the sheer evil on his face definitely got the point across to Roll. "Go away!"
Roll nodded slowly and backed away. Frowning, Bass figured that Roll would have the sense not to mention this to anyone. Hopefully. But then a thought occurred to him. Crystal Bot had been fighting the virus when they found out what happened to the space station. She wouldn't know about Star Man or Stone Man.
"Sonata..." he began carefully. "About the space station...it-"
"NO!" she protested. "I dd-on't wannaa know! Rr-rock c-can tell-ll me about baaddd stufs, not-t you! Nevfer you!"
And she quieted again. As he continued to hold her, Bass realized something.
This is boring!
The dark robot plugged the wire into her neck. Fortunately for his boredom, he was at least close enough to begin loading some of the repair programs, and he reached out with one arm to get them started. Auto did know his stuff. He'd just hold her until the programs were loaded, then he'd have to remove her skull plating so that the necessary hardware could be replaced.
It was good to be needed.
\\\
Author's notes:
=====Wave Man
"Stay away from me!"
Good point: Sentimentalist
Bad point: Loves solitude
Like: Diving
Dislike: Sludge
Wow, reading the Mega Man wiki really makes me realize how far off I've gone from what they call Wave Man. They say that he cries or gets angry easily, but the one I write is a lot calmer. Emotional, just contained. Well, in the game he's actually a great close range fighter, and the description of him was wrong about that, so I'll just pretend the personality thing was wrong too, lol.
So in my world, Wave Man was very unsocial from his first construction. Wily built him because while Bubble Man was amusing, he wanted a more manuverable robot that could go from the sea to land without any problems. But because of lack of inspiration on Wily's part, Wave Man's weapons didn't end up being that handy. Wily was constructing him at the same time he was forcing Dr. Cossack to build Team 4, so more of Wily's efforts went to making sure Cossack built those robots properly rather than Wily's own projects at the time (Cossack actually learned a lot from Wily).
Wave Man liked the open seas, and Bubble Man, a bit jealous of the newer robot's mobility, had intended to assert himself as the superior water-bot under the guise of being Wave Man's friend. Wave Man, however, cared more about simple exploration and animal study, and he hated the annoying tendencies of Bubble Man. Also, he never at any time bothered much about Dive Man, who in turn found himself ignoring the Wily-bot to pursue greater threats to Russia. Before the death of Crystal Man, his closest "friend" was Pirate Man, who often asked Wave Man about underwater geography so that he could find places to hide his treasure.
Wave Man got along with his team surprisingly well after their defeat by Mega Man, though he was forced to stay away from water to build Wily Castles, a task that he didn't mind too much, overall, as they tended to be stashed on islands anyway. His team liked talking to him, as Wave Man never gossiped, and never cared enough to judge them. He was outspoken in defending his team when they were mocked by the other Wily-bots, his most vocal times. He got the leadership of Team 5 when Crystal Man was killed simply because he happened to be standing there at the time, and the position worked out well for his team.
After joining the good guys, Wave Man noticed that he had learned to get along with a greater number of people than he had realized, though in the end he still prefers to be alone. Working in the space station was a bit odd for him, as it did weird things to the water in his body. Other than that, he was perfectly happy.
- I'd like to point out that Ring Man isn't weak; he's about as strong as a normal robot master. It's just that Jewel Man's weapon is far superior.
- Algorhythm Man and Psycho Man are Epidemic Man's favorite brothers, because Al is the smartest, and Psych is the most fun. And they're the strongest out of all of the Cain-bots.
- Out of curiousity, which of the Mega Man games, as a whole, has the best collection of music in your opinion?
- So this chapter's depressing song is Angelicus, a very lovely piece with haunting vocals. Enjoy! www. youtube. com /watch?v=DqUb3L1IRYA