Author's Note: Happy New Year Mega Man fans and readers alike. Yeah, yeah, I know what you're all thinking: "You're finally back?" Hahaha, yes I am, and of course I do sincerely apologize for being absent so long (I'm starting to sound like Dr. Wily with all these apologies… hahaha!), but since the end of Chapter 9, a lot of things just started to happen in life, whether it was with school/frat things or on a personal basis. Yes, I did finally graduate and obtained my bachelor's degree from the University of California, Riverside in June 2010, had some summer post-undergrad drama, took a month vacation in the Philippines, and I am now (temp) working full time for a company in Torrance. So as much as I hate to say this, updates may come about sparingly, but I'll do my best to stay as consistent as possible as a new chapter in life dawns upon me, but I refuse to give up my story-making abilities and such… and I refuse to give up video games, especially Mega Man =)

Despite the news back in October that Keiji Inafune has left Capcom =/ Nonetheless, I wish him the best in his future endeavours =)

Nate, Cameron, and Judy were happily munching on their sweet, delicious, and mouth-watering chocolate chip cookie ice cream sandwiches they had purchased from Diddy Riese, a small yet extremely popular dessert eatery, especially with nearby UCLA students, located on 926 Broxton Avenue in Westwood. Right after having an informative visit with Dr. Thomas Light on the UCLA campus and before arriving at Diddy Riese, the trio decided to spend a few hours visiting and browsing at the many little boutiques Westwood had to offer. Aside from the bustling amount of pedestrian traffic that sprawled the sidewalks of this particular Los Angeles neighbourhood, one could not help to notice the increased amount of robots that are starting to make a presence in this part of the city. Ranging from personal assistants of the rich and famous, to simple helper and greeter robots in many of the retail establishments, there was no escaping Westwood without at least seeing one android.

Even at Diddy Riese, the one who put together the trio's ice cream sandwiches was indeed… a robot.

"Who knew robots could put together the most uber yummiest ice cream sandwiches ever?" Cameron mused out loud, devouring the white chocolate chip cookie sandwich with mint chocolate chip ice cream in between, obviously making a reference to the robot working behind the counter at Diddy Riese. "But, who knew?"

"Uhhh… maybe because it's more about how they make the ice cream sandwiches rather than who puts it together…" Judy dryly replied with a hint of sarcasm in her voice, nibbling on her white chocolate macadamia nut cookie ice cream sandwich with cheesecake chunk ice cream in between. "Just sayin'…"

"Pssshhh, who asked you anyways?" the dirty blonde immaturely scoffed, sticking out his tongue towards the Wu.

"Oh yeah?" Judy fired back her own immature reply, a rarity for the group.

"Yeah!"

"Yeah?"

"Oh for God's sake you two, really?" Nate couldn't help but to lightly smack his forehead with his palm at the elementary-school-kids-battle going on right next to him, trying to enjoy his chocolate chip cookie sandwich with cookie dough ice cream in between. Despite trying to swallow all the information Doctor Light had shared with the trio earlier, he was trying his hardest to enjoy the moment of trouble-free sugar bliss. "Come on… we have to think more about our current predicaments at hand."

"My bad, dude, my bad…" Cameron decided to withdraw from the immaturity contest between Judy and him. However, he managed to get one more chance to quickly stick out his tongue.

"Yeah, sorry Nate…" Judy stated her apology, glaring at Cameron at the same time. The three continued to munch on their ice cream sandwiches while lounging on some green plastic chairs, taking in the view of the long queue for Diddy Riese, snaking its way onto the sidewalk, and watching traffic whiz by on Broxton Avenue.

"Right…" Nate took in the last chunk of his cookie ice cream sandwich, indulging in the sweet goodness before moving onto more serious matters. He grabbed a napkin and wiped his mouth, hoping he got every bit of cookie crumb and ice cream off of his face so he wouldn't look silly later on. Accomplishing that minor task, the brunette proceeded to dig into the pocket of his hoodie, pulling out a folded piece of paper. Making sure his hands were clean, he went ahead to unfold the piece of paper, with the words 22800 Plummer Street, Chatsworth written on it.

"So… are we really serious about visiting Dr. Light tonight?" Cameron inquired as he saw his best friend examine the piece paper. "Despite Judy already accepting the invitation for us with much haste?"

"Dude, shut up…" the Wu shot another icy cold glare towards the Frenchie blonde. "I mean, what are we gonna do? Just sit on our asses and chill until this crazy ass doctor and his demonic robots crash into our rooms and kills us in our sleep?"

The latter part of Judy's words did make Nate cringe and shiver just a little bit as he illustrated the thought in his head: Quick Man breaking through his window, using his signature golden boomerang, cleanly and coldly slicing Nate's throat as the brunette withers to the ground, unable to scream out in pain as Quick Man stares eye-to-eye with him, an evil grin glimmering from the corner his mouth with the old geezer known as Dr. Wily cackling from behind until the Figueroa's demise.

Dude, must I have a vivid imagination at this point in time?

Nate shook his head side-to-side, purging out the vision of his last moment on this planet alive. "Judy's right. It may seem a bit… awkward… to visit some old dude's house…" Nate couldn't help but to let out a small chuckle and roll his eyes to the side. "But you, Judes, and I know that this old dude, Doctor Light, will definitely have the answers for us."

Cameron shook his head in comprehension. He understood and was definitely aware of the potential problems that could and very well likely, occur in the future. "Well… looks like it'll be another adventure for us tonight, hahaha."

"Yeah, hopefully it won't be as action packed like back in NoHo," Judy sarcastically stated, earning a round of light-hearted chuckles from her two friends.

After the three finished up their ice cream sandwich cookies, they threw away their wrappers into the nearby trash receptacles. They got up and began to stroll up on Broxton, intending to go where the street ends at Le Conte Avenue where Mrs. De La Loire would pick the trio up after her shopping craze in Beverly Hills. Reaching the intersection, the trio awaited on the curb as Judy pressed the button to activate the crosswalk signal for them to cross the street. While waiting for the walking man symbol, Nate couldn't help but stare up at the azure skies while he went into deep thought, trying to summarize what's been happening in his life for the last couple of days.

Heh… dude, who knew that within the last few days, I'd be the prime target of some crazed robot, nearly fighting for my life at the NoHo station, and now meeting up with one of the most respected scientist in the robotics field and needing to go to his crib just to get some help? Pfffttt…

Despite the grim tone of the situation, the Figueroa couldn't help but to roll his eyes and smile just a bit, hoping to at least brighten up his life at the moment, even though his life flashed before his eyes a couple of nights ago.

"Yo, Nate!" Said brunette was knocked out of his stupor when he heard the blonde's voice creep into his ears. He shook his head side-to-side as he was getting back into reality, seeing Cameron and Judy already beginning to cross the street.

"Dude, wait for me!"

"Oh grrreeeaaaattt..." Cameron sarcastically dragged out when he noticed the SUV his friends and mom were travelling in was beginning to slow down after passing the Moraga Drive exit near the Getty Museum, seeing all the brakelights from the cars in front of them. On their way back to the Valley, the trio plus Madame De La Loire had to travel on Interstate 405, also known as the San Diego Freeway or just the 405 as most Southern Californians say. The trip back included a ride through the Sepulveda Pass, which is one of the few places within the Los Angeles metropolitan area that contains unspoiled nature as motorists travel through the Santa Monica Mountains that separate the San Fernando Valley and the Los Angeles Basin. In addition, the pass is notorious for traffic with Los Angelenos travelling from the Westside to the Valley and back, even on Saturdays. "Of course there would be traffic here in the Sepulveda Pass."

"Well, it is the 405, dude…" Nate uttered matter-of-factly as he continued to gaze onto the few trees and many bushes that dotted the pass, including the few multi-million dollar houses that perched on top of the hills. He couldn't help but to grin when he saw the glare the blonde gave off at the corner of his eyes. "The 405 is always bad, even on Saturdays. Whether it's in the Valley or the Westside or even down in Orange County."

"But it's so nice here. I'd say it's a nice change of pace from where we were earlier," Judy pointed out the contrastable difference between the urban landscape of the L.A. Westside and the pass.

"You're friend does have a point, mon chou," Madame De La Loire added in her two cents. Seeing that they would be stuck in traffic for quite sometime, she was able to do some multitasking, including putting on some makeup by using the driver's side illuminated vanity mirror.

"Mais, je déteste traffic, mom…" Cameron kept on his whiny and immature voice, seeing minutes of his Saturday being wasted sitting in stop-and-go traffic, which ended up totalling to about a half-hour worth. As the freeway picked up speed, they noticed something else going on that kept freeway speed to a minimum.

"Ugh, construction… really?" Cameron smacked his forehead a bit as he saw all of the CalTrans (California Department of Transportation) workers, both humans and robots, doing construction activity along the centre divider of the freeway.

"They're working on putting a carpool lane through the Sepulveda Pass, mon chéri," Madame De La Loire responded to her son's complaining.

"Hmmmm…" Nate observed the construction activity, especially noting all of the robotic workers that made their way into working within a state department. In addition, he also noticed a peculiar shiny red, crystal-like object affixed to one of the traffic cones separating the construction zone from mainline traffic. However, before he was able to put more thought into what he saw, the SUV had just passed it and was left behind.

Is it something they are using to… enhance… traffic cone ability?

"It would help the 405 move faster, especially during commute time, I can imagine," Judy stated while sending a quick text to one of her friends.

"Pffffttt… I guess…" Cameron shrugged, just glad that they were finally moving at full speed as they passed the Skirball Center Drive off-ramp and the Skirball Cultural Center on their left side. The group was about to approach under the five-decade-old Mulholland Drive overpass, which soared several feet high above the 405 freeway until—

"What the heck is that?" Nate pointed above towards the bridge at what seemed to be like two silhouetted figures looking at them from above, their size being a bit too large for normal human beings.

"What's what?" Cameron tried looking at the direction where Nate was pointing. However, by the time he was able to take a view, the SUV had already gone under the soaring bridge and the flat, urbanized San Fernando Valley came into view.

"Are you talking about the view of home?" Judy tried to also figure out where the Figueroa was pointing.

"No, no, no," Nate shook his head side to side, seeming a bit paranoid and agitated that his friends had practically missed the obvious… or at least what should've been the obvious to them. "Did you see those things on top of the Mulholland bridge?"

"Uhhhh… no…" Cameron furrowed his eyebrows at his best friend, thinking he's gone crazy.

"Sorry, Nate. I wasn't paying attention," Judy shrugged in concession as she resumed her gaze outside the window.

The brunette couldn't do much but sigh, deciding to cease his efforts to prove his point. "Whatever…"

As the SUV approached the Ventura Blvd exit, a disturbing thought couldn't escape Nate's mind.

Please don't let it be what I think they are…

On top of the Mulholland Drive bridge that hovered high above the 405 freeway, two mysterious figures… or rather, androids… stood side by side, watching as motorists snake along the concrete roadway among the trees, shrubs, and hills that make up the Sepulveda Pass. Despite being high above, one can still hear the sound of concrete and rubberised tires making contact with each other along the road, emitting noise pollution up above towards the heavens, along with the smog that's characteristic of Los Angeles.

"Should we really be standing here out in the open space?" A somewhat short, but still sizable robot, dressed in white, yellow, and reddish-orange armour mused out loud. The green circular gem on his chest shined as the sun reflected upon it. In addition, as he stretched his arms over his head, the drills coming out of his wrists shone as well under the basking sun.

"It's okay…" the anonymous tall, blue, yellow, and grey trimmed being with broad shoulders softly replied to his compatriot's question. He rubbed the yellow dome-shaped glass on top of his head as he gazed below at traffic below, seeing if he can get the glare to reflect onto a poor sap below. "Mulholland is closed for earthquake retrofit repair, according to Doctor Wi—"

"Fool!" The one with the oddly made visor shielding his face hastily cut off his partner in mid-speech. "Remember NOT to speak of our superior's name in public. I heard Metal Man was almost scrapped because of that."

"Oh yeah…" the blue, yellow, and grey robot nodded in concurrence. "Anyways, did you remember to leave… the surprise… down below?"

A subtle yet sinister smile began to emerge on the corner of the other android's mouth. "You bet I did. Just… watch…" he used his drills to point out towards the road below, specifically towards the construction site where CalTrans was putting in the new carpool lanes. Only about less than a minute passed by until—

BOOM!

A sudden explosion rocked the 405 Freeway and the Sepulveda Pass at the construction site near the Skirball Center Drive exit as a stream of fire and spoke began to spew up towards the sky. Motorists from both directions suddenly slammed onto their brakes as fender bender after fender bender began to occur, creating a chain reaction of accidents. Screams from both human and robot construction workers added to the hysteria on the freeway as some who were close to the centre of the explosion, but were still alive, tried to escape from the fire and flying fragments that began to rain upon them. Some were even caught on fire by the powerful explosion, others trying to aid them to extinguish the flames off of their bodies. In others words: chaos had descended onto Interstate 405 and the Sepulveda Pass.

"Heh… nice job..." the blue, yellow, and grey trimmed android complemented his partner's work.

"It was simple, really..." the other robot replied, continuing to take in the pleasure of viewing the disaster happening below him. "Nothing too hard planting that crash bomb into one of those cones before it left maintenance yard. Used a powerful one too... pretty confident it will leave a hole on at least two lanes on that freeway below."

"Heh…" Turning around, the other robot began to walk towards the other side of the bridge. He was able to take in the view of the smoggy San Fernando Valley in the distance.

"Don't worry," the one who planted the crash bomb walked next to his compatriot. "That whole Valley will soon be ours."

At around 7:50pm, Nate, Cameron, and Judy were on their way towards Chatsworth where they would soon be at the residence of the famous Doctor Thomas Light. Luckily, Nate was able to convince his older sister to give his friends and him a ride, although the distance from Encino to Chatsworth is something to note, despite being in the same Valley.

"You're lucky that I'm just happening to go visit some friends up in Porter Ranch, otherwise I would so not be doing this right now," Claire made her point to Nate and his friends as they were all in the older Figueroa's Lexus, cruising northbound along Topanga Canyon Blvd.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah…" Nate rolled his eyes, slightly slouching in his seat as his older sister continued to torture him in front of his friends.

"Dude, that was crazy that we were just in the Sepulveda Pass minutes before that explosion happened on the 405…" Cameron made a reference to the news they all heard about the explosion that occurred in the Sepulveda Pass earlier in the day, seeing the horrible images on TV as breaking news.

"Yeah, by the Skirball Center exit too…" Judy added in as well.

Tell me about it…

Nate mused to himself, extremely bothered that an explosion had occurred near the Mulholland bridge where he could've sworn that he saw two mysterious figures on top of the bridge. Especially since it was just minutes after they passed by.

Could it be… who or what I think they were?

Gingerly rubbing his chin, his mouth formed an O shape as he softly gasped, realising something else.

Could that shiny red thing I saw… possibly be… a… bomb… of sorts?

He shook his head side-to-side, not wanting to believe his assertions. However, scepticism did remain in his mind.

This should be definitely something I ask Dr. Light about when we get there…

The drive would soon not last much longer as they soon reached Plummer Street. Making a left, the street became a fairly narrow residential street as the neighbourhood started to become more rural-like, complete with equestrian trails running parallel on the sidewalks. Despite the darkness, one could tell that many of the houses in the area are equestrian properties as the houses also had horse stables on their property.

"Plummer Street, right?" Claire confirmed with her brother as she reached fork on the road, with the left turning into Valley Circle Blvd and the right continuing as Plummer, but as a narrow road not meant for general traffic to use.

"Yup…" Nate nodded in the affirmative, seeing the road they would have to enter.

Damn, does this dude live on a ranch or estate or something?

"Alright…" Claire veered towards the right as she continued to drive at about 5mph. Thankfully, the high-intensity discharge headlamps her car had was able to shed bright light onto the dark road as hardly any other lights were lit in the area, signifying they are quite away from the typical surroundings of the valley and more like out in the country. They could pretty much tell that the road was rising in elevation as they went up the Santa Susana Mountains foothill.

"Jeez, I wouldn't be surprised if Dr. Light lived on a big ass ranch or mansion or something like that," Cameron mused as he tried to gaze out the window, seeing only pitch black.

"Probably because he needs peace and quiet doing his research… or needing to get away from it," Judy decided to toss in. "It's so secluded here."

Or probably use the seclusion to perhaps conduct secretive research?

Nate could only reply to Judy's assertions in his mind. He was now having second thoughts about coming out here and if it was a really good idea. However, before he could pursue the thought any longer, he felt the car come to a complete stop.

"Looks like we're here…" Claire pointed out to all of her passengers as they stopped in front of a tall, modern-looking plexiglass gate with stainless steel framing, effectively marking the end of the line for Plummer Street.

"How do we get in?" Cameron asked, still staring in awe at the very peculiar yet interesting structure in front of the car.

"Shouldn't there be like a doorbell or intercom that we can ring in?" Judy suggested, trying to see if she can see one in the dark.

"There's one right there," Nate pointed out right after he heard his friend's suggestion. His older sister nodded when she saw what he was talking about. She drove the car up just a little bit more so that she was parallel with the intercom. Powering the driver's window down, Claire proceeded to stretch her arm out of the car and pressed the soft white-lit button on under the intercom speaker. A buzz sound emitted from the speaker until she released the pressure off of the button. A few seconds passed by with no response from the intercom.

"Is he home, yet?" Claire asked everyone in the car.

"Well, he asked us to come by his place at this time…" Nate shrugged as he began to wonder himself about why no one was answering.

"See? I told you it's a trap!" Cameron started to become more defensive, feeling as if they were all duped.

"Are you serious, Cameron?" Judy wanted to smack the paranoid blonde next to her really bad.

"Well, it's not myyyyy fault that we had to come here due to someone hastily taking the invitation," the blonde fired back as he and the Wu reengaged in their battle of wits.

"Well, hello Cameron! We are in a lot of trouble right now!"

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah!"

"You guys!" Nate hastily turned around, exposing a facial expression of irritation and frustration at his best friends. "This is seriously not the ti—"

"Hello? Hello? Is someone there?" Everyone in the car ceased at whatever they were doing as a familiar voice, well at least to the three teenagers, began to emit from the intercom. As if on cue, everyone suddenly turned their attention to Nate, implying that he is the one who must speak on their behalf. Taking a deep breath, he leaned a bit near the driver's side window so that his voice would project at the intercom.

"D— Dr. Light?" Nate's voice was a bit shaky at first, but was able to clear his voice before continuing. "It's Nate Figueroa from earlier today. You said to come over to your place at 8pm today?"

"Ah, yes! You've arrived right on time," Dr. Light replied over the intercom. "I'll have the front gate opened for you and have my assistants greet you at the front door."

"Thank you very much, Doctor…" No later as Nate said his thanks on their behalf, the gate began to swing open away from them as whirring noises from the motor began to sound off. Claire continued to drive on the dark, brick-paved road as the way was now cleared for her. The road, or rather driveway, continued to climb in elevation as they had to drive through some twisty roads for about less than a minute until a house finally loomed into view.

"Jeez, finally…" Cameron sighed in relief when he saw the house up ahead. The Light residence was a modest yet posh Spanish villa-architecture home. One could not mistaken the style with the mission tile roofs, various arches on the exterior, many softly-lit outdoor lighting, a fountain adorning the centre of the circular-end of the driveway, and the many palm trees dotting the yard. "Looks like the Doc is living large here…"

"Such a nice place to be living and possibly do research…" Judy admired the surroundings she and the others were delved upon.

"Definitely a contrast from outside the gates…" Nate noted as the car kept going until they circled around the fountain to where the grand front doors lay ahead.

"Alright, last stop…" Claire put the car in park, unlocking the doors so that the trio can get out of the car. "I'll be back in a couple of hours. I'll give you a call."

"Okay, that's fine," Nate nodded as he stepped out of the door, closing his door.

"Laters, loser… hahaha!" Claire laughed as she began to drive back down hill to head for Porter Ranch.

"Ugh, whatever…" Nate rolled his eyes as he and his friends began to make their way to the front door, needing to climb several steps up to reach the white splashed front porch. "So… who wants to ring the doorbell?"

"Don't look at me…" Cameron suddenly turned his attention towards the front yard, gazing at the view of the Valley down below.

"Ugh, I guess I will," Judy said annoyingly. She was about to press the doorbell button until—

"Good evening!" The trio jumped in surprised as a girl's voice greeted their ears. The front doors opened very quickly, revealing a tall blonde woman and brunette dude in front of them.

"You guys must be Nate, Cameron, and Judy. Dr. Light has been expecting you," the brunette spoke towards the three.

"Y-yeah… that's right…" Nate managed to croak out for the three of them.

Dude… are those the robots I saw on TV and at UCLA earli—

"Oh, and excuse us. You're probably wondering who we are," the brunette smiled. "I'm Rock."

"And my name is Roll."

Better chapters will be coming up! Just needed this as a warm up of sorts to get back into the mood of writing… so don't kill me! Don't forget to review =)