~ 48 ~
Axl stared intently at the credit chip he held between his fingers, then his gaze moved slowly to Vile's expecting right hand. The idea of giving him five thousand Zenny was not pleasant at all, and the fact Zero and X were also present didn't make things any better. The young hunter suddenly recalled the moment Vile used some sort of flash grenade to blind everyone but him when they were all near the tower, a trick that allowed him to win their bet.
"C'mon, kid," Vile urged. "It's been five days, give me my money."
"Damn it Vile, this chip has half my savings!" Axl groaned, recalling it took the bank almost a full week to grant his request to withdraw such a large amount of Zenny from his Hunter Investment Account.
"I don't care. Besides, you're a rich kid. I'm sure your dear old dad can give you some cash if you ask him," the purple armored hunter said with a shrug. "Now, pay up."
"I'm not going to ask my father for money," the prototype said. "Are you defective or something?"
"Leave the insults to the grownup crowd, junior," Vile laughed. "You're still too green to properly bite back. Give me that chip, I don't have all day."
"Just let him have the money," Zero advised. He and X had been forced to act as witnesses of this little transaction by both Vile and Axl to make sure the bet was honored, and he was already fed up with it. "I have better things to do with my time than being here watching you two acting like fools over some Zenny."
"Same here," X rejoined. "I do have something very important to do later today."
"Fine," Axl sighed in defeat and finally handed over the chip to Vile. "Enjoy it."
"You bet I will, kid," Vile said with a prideful tone. "Nice making business with you, call me again if you want to gamble the rest of your savings."
Not waiting for an answer, Vile turned and walked down the hallway, spinning the credit chip between his fingers as he went.
"Pallette is going to be so pissed if she finds out about this," Axl lamented.
"Don't tell her, problem solved," Zero suggested. "Anyway, I have to go meet with Douglas; he wants me to take one of the new Ride Chasers out to test how they handle, so I won't be here when you two go to Russia, but good luck finding what you're looking for."
"Thanks, I'm sure we will," smiled Axl, forgetting about Vile as the idea of exploring the Cossack Citadel filled him with excitement. "I'm sure we'll find something cool!"
"Or useful," X added, remembering the only complete memory transfer of his father apparently resided in the Citadel. "I just hope there's nothing dangerous there."
=0=
Mikhail ran through the halls of Cossack Mansion until he reached the massive garden out back and from there he rushed to the landing platform to his right, where his parents and Splash Woman were talking with a group of reploids formed by X, Alia, Axl and Pallette. The boy knew his parents were going on some sort of expedition, and while he didn't know all details, he had heard they would be looking for the ruins of his great-grandfather's laboratory.
And Mikhail was not going to miss on that.
With a determined stride, the child entered the landing platform and stood next to his father, waiting in silence until there was a pause in the conversation, and then…
"I want to go!"
Viktor Cossack looked down, surprised by the demanding tone in his son's voice. Mikhail was not a spoiled child, so this behavior was very unusual. The man crouched, feeling glad he could do that and thankful his leg and torso had healed well, and placed a hand over his son's shoulder.
"I'm sorry, but you can't come with us. It'll be too cold out there and you could get sick. Besides, it may be dangerous, there might be aggressive guardbots where we're going."
"But I wanna gooooo!" the kid pleaded, tears glistering in his eyes.
Viktor was momentarily at a loss. It was obvious Mikhail was preparing a monster tantrum, something the child had never done before, and he didn't really know how to react. Should he reprimand his son in front of his guests? No, that would only worsen things and cause a terrible scene. Then what?
Nina was also a little confused; Mikhail was normally a very well behaved child so she didn't have much experience dealing with a situation like this. Her electronic brain started running simulations as quickly as it could, trying to find a way to defuse her boy's temper.
"Let him come, dad," Axl said then, placing a hand over Mikhail's shoulder. "I'll keep my brother safe, I promise."
"Are you sure?" Viktor asked. "I was not lying when I said it could be dangerous, some of the old Citadel's defenses may still be active."
"I'm sure Mikhail will be a good boy and keep close to me and Pally at all times," the older Cossack sibling said. "Isn't that right, brother?"
"Of course, I'll stay with them!" Mikhail promised. "I won't get in your way while you work, dad, I just want to see my great-grandfather's lab!"
The good doctor took in a deep breath and, staring at X and the other reploids, who all nodded their agreement, finally conceded.
"Alright, son, you can come."
"Yay, this will be awesome!" Mikhail shouted, earning a good humored chuckle from most reploids present, Splash Woman included, but not from Nina and Alia, who were starting to worry the boy could catch a cold during the expedition.
"I just hope you keep your promise and stay with your brother. Now go with your mother and get your coat and hat," Viktor ordered, looking at his wife and nodding at her, smiling when she nodded back. "And bring your gloves, and boots… and a scarf or something to cover your face!"
=0=
"X seems to be closer to you than before," Nina observed while she was busy selecting Mikhail's best smart-coat. Mikhail was busy taking a shower, as his mother had insisted he was clean before they left. "Did you finally tell him how you feel?"
"No, I have not," Alia admitted with a sigh. "But I may tell him soon, if things keep going well… and you're right, sister, ever since the Oil Rig incident, he's been… frequenting me more than before. It's… it's nice."
"Well, I'm glad," Nina smiled. "For a while I thought Splash Woman would steal him from you, you know? I'm so relieved they discovered they are siblings."
"Yeah, me too," the navigator nodded. She looked out the window and noticed Splash Woman and Mega Man X walking together until they sat on a bench, where the two started a conversation.
"I wonder what they're talking about," Alia thought, but was distracted when her sister asked if she could help her pack some extra clothes for Mikhai. "It's ok, I'm sure X will tell me later if it's important…"
=0=
"It'll take Viktor's crew a while to finish with the standard procedures before we can go," X said as he relaxed on his seat, his eyes going from the Bee Blader that was being refueled to the magnificent garden in front of him. "I heard they'll have to bring more food and water now that his son is coming too, just in case we have to stay out there longer than we planned to."
"All necessary precautions," Splash Woman said. "I'm glad he agreed to let you pilot the Blader, it saves me the trouble of sharing the location with anybody else but you."
"Well, Axl, Pallette, Nina and Alia will certainly keep it in their memory files once we're there," X reminded her. "And I'm sure Viktor will record it too first chance he gets."
"I know, but they're trustworthy," the Robot Master touched her chin with her index finger as she considered something. "And Viktor is the rightful heir to the Cossack Citadel, after all."
"True."
"What is it that you wanted to talk about, X?" Splash Woman asked.
He took in a deep breath and the leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. Suddenly he didn't know if asking was a good idea, since he would be getting the answers he wanted pretty soon, or at least he hoped he would. Still, he needed to hear this from her, so he straightened and looked at Splash Woman.
"Tell me about the past," he requested, his voice low. "Why did you really get a land mode? You told me father wanted to improve your mobility, but not why."
The mermaid remained silent for a moment, pondering if she should tell X about the reason why she got her upgrade or not. In the end she decided he did deserve to know.
"Doctor Light's health was deteriorating," she revealed with a sad whisper. "Roll had been able to take care of him until then, but he feared she would need assistance at some point, and I volunteered."
"Father was ill?" he asked. "What was it?"
"Lung cancer, he never stopped smoking, X," Splash Woman sighed, an image of Doctor Light enjoying a smoke from his pipe entering her mind. "Medicine back then couldn't cure his condition, unlike now."
X nodded. Current medicine could deal with cancer thanks to improvements in nanotechnology and organ cloning procedures, medical breakthroughs that had been implemented only in the last decade or so.
"I'm sorry to hear that, it must have been painful for all Lightbots."
"It was. Our main concern was his health, but…" she made a pause, "We also feared without father present, someone could decide to retire all of us."
"Humans would consider doing that?"
"Yes. I told you once we were tools back then, didn't I?" Splash Woman recalled. "Tools can be discarded when they're no longer needed."
"But…"
"Doctor Cossack offered to take us all in if that ever happened, and his daughter Kalinka promised her family would always help Lightbots," the mermaid revealed then. "You can't imagine how relieved we all felt, and how grateful Doctor Light was."
"It seems we owe the Cossacks more than what I thought," X said after a moment. "I'm sure Viktor would like to know about that."
"Perhaps I'll tell him later," she smiled. "He's a nice man, isn't he? He reminds me of his forefather quite a bit."
"Sister… there's something else I want to ask," Mega Man X said.
"Of course, ask," she invited.
"You once said Doctor Wily wasn't genocidal. What does that mean? Was he really not as bad as history books describe?"
"Doctor Wily…" Splash Woman frowned and closed her eyes for a moment before feeling she was ready to continue. "I never liked him much before I met him, and I disliked him completely after he reprogrammed me and my friends… but I must admit he was not interested in killing humans. He just wanted to rule the world, and resorted to almost all means he could to achieve that objective, like kidnapping Kalinka Cossack, for example."
"How did he die?" X asked. "Did my predecessor…?"
"No, heavens, no," the mermaid said in alarm. "Rock would never hurt a human being, no."
"Then how?"
"Cancer, too," she said. "Gastric cancer to be precise; but unlike Doctor Light who got treatment and managed to live longer, Wily ignored his symptoms until it was too late."
"So he died alone?"
Splash Woman shook her head. "No, X, he didn't. Wily arrived to Light Labs one day, demanding he was allowed to see Doctor Light. He surrendered that day, you know?"
"What do you mean?"
"Only that he gave up. He was too sick to continue his Robot Rebellions by then. Wily even asked Doctor Light to call the police and didn't resist arrest," the Robot Master explained. "Once in jail Wily started talking with Doctor Light again, and they rekindled their friendship, if you can believe that."
"I can," X said.
"You're too kind, brother. Anyway, Wily knew he was dying, but his mind was still as sharp as ever," the mermaid indicated. "I don't know much about what he said to Doctor Light, but I do know the two of them perfected the memory transfer process at this point. Apparently, Wily and Light had both been toying with the idea at the same time, and together found a way to complete it. I do know Doctor Cossack got involved at some point, but I ignore what his contributions to this project were."
"So they devised the same technology separately at around the same time?"
"Both of them developed analog technologies quite often. Their space engines worked similarly but differed in size, for example," Splash Woman explained. "I do admit I never imagined the completed memory transfer process would be as advanced as what I saw in your capsules, X. I thought it would be simply video recording of a human's memories."
"Hearing all that is… extraordinary," X said, clearly impressed by his sister's words. "I always thought Wily was just a warmonger who couldn't compare to father."
"Oh, trust me, he could," Splash Woman said as she remembered what she had discovered about Zero. "He really could, as much as I loathe admitting it."
"And after he died? I know he had these… Skull Castles and an army of active Wilybots at the time, didn't he?" X asked, recalling Sigma had hidden inside one of those Castles' ruins during the fifth Maverick Uprising. "What happened to those Skull Fortresses?"
"After Wily died?" the mermaid shuddered at the memories, her mood turning suddenly dark. "It was bad, really bad. You see…. Wily said he deactivated all his Wilybots before surrendering. He even told the authorities the location of his remaining Skull Castles, and used a remote to have them all self-destruct."
"I see… and what happened next?"
"Two days after Wily died, all Wilybots attacked," Splash Woman said. She brought her hands up her arms, feeling unexpectedly cold. "They told us Wily didn't destroy two Skull Castles, and when the main computers in those remaining ones received notice about his death… they reactivated his remaining Robot Masters."
"But why would they attack you?" Asked X, his voice full of concern. "Without Wily they should have been peaceful, wouldn't they?"
"They couldn't help it," she explained, looking up to the clouds with sad eyes. "Doctor Wily's passing triggered a command that caused all his robots to go violently crazy, forcing them to complete his final orders: 'Destroy all Lightbots, make sure no more are built'. That madman always planned to unleash his final revenge from beyond the grave."
"But…" X went over his files to look for information about the Wilybots, setting on an image in particular. "What about Bass? I have records that he rebelled against Wily on occasion."
Splash Woman tensed and her lips pursed as she heard that name.
"Bass…" she hissed, cold fury evident in her voice as she repeated the name. "Doctor Wily's last command drove that bastard completely insane… the things he did to us are unforgivable!"
Mega Man X was surprised by Splash Woman's reaction, he couldn't really imagine what terrible things Bass had done to earn this much hatred.
"Did this command you mention started the Robot Master War?" he asked, already knowing the answer. Splash Woman's words explained quite well the horrible event which caused the world government to halt and ban production of Robot Masters, a ban that remained in place until Reploid construction was authorized.
"Yes. The 'Robot Master War' mentioned in your historical records," Splash Woman said, still visibly upset. "I read about it when I researched why no more Robot Masters were around. I noticed you don't have any information regarding what happened to us; only that this event ensured no more Robot Masters were built. They didn't even write our names, just our numbers. It's as if they wanted us to be forgotten!"
"I'm sorry," X said reaching for her and holding her close, feeling glad his embrace seemed to be helping her calm down. "But I'm here for you, sister, and I care for you, I always will."
"Thank you, X… it's just that… I miss him…" she whispered then, burying her face in his chest. "I miss him so much it hurts, and seeing him forgotten like this… it's…"
"You're talking about him again, aren't you? Blues. Proto Man," X said, letting Splash Woman go and observing how she left her seat, walking two steps before turning to look back at him. She was crying now, something that he also thought was not possible for her.
"Yes… yes, I am talking about him," she admitted, bringing her hand up to dry her tears. "I think about him every day, X. I can't forget him, Blues was…"
X observed Splash Woman and finally understood why she remembered Proto Man with such intensity. She didn't think of him only because she admired him. She was acting like a widow! But was that even possible? Robot Masters were not supposed to… No, it was entirely possible, he decided. He knew Splash Woman well enough now to accept she was capable of experiencing real emotions. But, how and when?
"You and Blues…" he started, going to her, hoping asking about this wouldn't force her remember painful past events.
"Yes," she said with a nod, her voice low and pained by memories of her lost love. "We were together. We were the first Robot Masters to share such a relationship, and it was good."
"Did… did father know?"
"He did, but he never approved or disapproved of it," Splash Woman said. "Doctor Light only said what we had gave him an idea, but I never knew what it was."
"The Bee Blader is ready!" Pallette announced from the edge of the garden, not realizing she was interrupting an important conversation.
X stared at his sister and understanding she was not going to talk more about her relationship with Proto Man, finally turned to look at the young navigator. "Thank you Pallette, we'll be there in a minute."
=0=
Notes:
If there is one thing I wanted to clear was the reason why there are no Robot Masters in X's time. I figured something really bad had happened to stop their production, and I finally got the chance to reference it here.
There are hints at important things that will happen in future chapters as well, but they will be revealed soon.
Thanks for reading!