"Augh!" Mega Man slumped back in the chair, the offensive bow tie finally undone and hanging loosely down his neck (he daren't lose it and have to tell Roll). "I just don't know anything about modern science these days. I tried talking to Dr. Cossack and Dr. Imahara, and it was so hard to keep up. That new technology they were talking about...it was just so above me!"

Mega Man brought this up because of Crystal Bot. This lab was full of all manner of technologies that he didn't recognise very well, and yet here she was casually using whatever tool or program she needed as if they were as commonplace as screwdrivers and hammers. Some of them he knew Auto had versions of in his lab, but others were Russian, and still more were custom inventions. A skilled scientific mind would know plenty about each, but most of Mega Man's technological data was twenty years old - he hadn't been a real lab assistant since then. Sonata, however, was comfortably wandering from machine to item to Bass, replacing parts and cleaning his armor. It was regular maintenance, particularly for someone that hadn't been in the lab for weeks.

It was the day after the party, at about four thirty in the morning. Only an hour ago Bass had been finishing up security detail, mostly making sure that all the guests were gone (and that pesky Dr. Weinburger not lurking about), as well as making sure specific scientists that Dr. Cossack allowed to stay for a while had all their equipment safely brought to a new laboratory Dr. Cossack had built for specific experiments on projects Russia was working on. The doctor was hoping to provide a cure for certain diseases, and the Russian government had just supplied him with extra funding. Bass cared little about the project and was very thankful when his duties were over; cleaning up after organics was Roll's job, not his, as he often remarked.

If Forte was a nicer person, he might have thanked Mega Man for helping. But he wasn't, and he didn't. He might have been able to muster up a "thanks" if it hadn't been for the fact that Mega Man was sitting in his lab right now, discussing the recovery of two (technically three) robots: Gemini Man and Sword Man. Besides the irritation of not being there when the bodies were found, Mega Man was in the lab, sticking his nose in. Moreover, the dark robot couldn't object; part of the conditions of his probation was that he had to allow Mega Man to see anything he was investigating. It wasn't a right that Rock used a lot, but that didn't mean Bass liked it. He had to make a constant effort not to glare.

"What do you mean?" Crystal Bot looked up from undoing some of the screws on Bass' arm to question Mega Man. "Do you mean when they were talking about AI redundancy systems or when they were talking about the best way to install pistons on scale 3 mechaniloids? Or did it have something to do with the electron particle data storage board?"

Mega Man's face froze, and his mouth hung open a little. Robot science had gone that far without him noticing it? What was that electron particle whatsit supposed to be exactly? Mega Man facepalmed and groaned. Crystal Bot enjoyed this reaction with a smug smile. Tormenting Mega Man about it was far too easy.

"Crystal, hurry up with that arm." Bass said, eager to get this situation over with. "I've got work to do."

"I got it, I got it." A swarm of sparks flew up from Bass' shoulder, and Crystal pulled away her blowtorch, finally able to pull the arm off. "You did something bad with this arm and its fused weird."

"Yeah, yeah, just hurry it up already."

The girl-bot hastily went off to the side of the room and more sparks proceeded to fly. This wasn't Crystal Bot's lab, but Dr. Cossack's. There were about five repair tables on the left side, three occupied by the aforementioned robots. The entire right side of the room was covered in Crystal Bot's hastily gathered supplies, so that she could be working on Bass while he got the investigation going. She knew how impatient he was. The lengthy room only had doors on the narrow north and south walls. This hall was for quick repairs, not for extensive works on the major Cossack-bots.

Bass used his other arm to wave Mega Man over to the left. "Come on and look at these guys. Treble found them last night buried in the snow. There was a snowstorm where this happened. Treble's still looking, but any tracks are long gone and it's a million to one for Treble to find anything in that snow."

"It's almost May." Mega Man noted. "There's a snowstorm this late?"

"This was up closer to the arctic circle. Spring never really happens up there."

Bass went over to the first of the three robot corpses, and Mega Man too came in for a look. This was the Gemini Man with slightly paler blue detailing: the clone. His armor was blackened and scorched, but next to him his originator was even worse off. Besides his blacked armor, Gemini Man's head was sliced clean through, and his headdress had snapped off somehow.

"It almost looks like they fought each other." Bass pointed out. "Because you see fire damage on Gemini Man, and there's the plasma laser damage on Sword Man."

Mega Man inspected Sword Man's damage. Whoever had killed him knew exactly what to do. His legs, which had always been separated from his body, were reduced to only facsimiles of legs. Without that support, it only took a shot through the torso and a shot to the head to end him.

"Wait, Sword Man used fire, but he couldn't have killed Gemini like this without hitting him with his sword." Mega Man exclaimed, leaning down closer over Gemini Man. "But there aren't any sword marks on Gemini Man! Even getting the top of his head cut off like that wasn't done by a sword. It's too rough, like it was pulled off."

"I know." Bass growled. He didn't appreciate Mega Man talking as if Bass hadn't already figured this out for himself. "It's obvious. Both of Gemini Man's CPUs were destroyed beyond repair. Sword Man's was damaged badly. Crystal Bot's trying to recover information from it in her lab, but it's anyone's guess how that will turn out. Sonata! Get over here and tell Rock what you found on Cut Man."

The girl-bot approached as she was told, though she wouldn't come too close. She liked Mega Man being around the lab about as much as Bass did, though the real problem were the broken robots. She stared at them, biting her lip in nervousness. Then she looked up at Mega Man. Seeing the pity in his eyes, she scowled and steeled herself to speak.

"Well, he was hanging out a lot with Team 2." Crystal Bot said. "Everybody besides Air Man was there. I don't know where they were meeting, but it might be a place that you recognise. I got you his CPU, and here's a disc that's got some specific things you wanna look at, like the path he took to go meet up with everybody."

The tech-bot handed Mega Man the CPU and a small zip drive. He tucked the CPU safely into his armor and stuck the zip drive into his neck. He nodded as the information ran through his mind and made itself known. As it processed, he felt himself filled with a sense of duty. Team 2 was the most serious and the strongest of the robot master teams, just the thought of fighting them again made Mega Man's selfless sense of heroism rise up. He just knew that he would be able to defeat them! Unconsciously he lifted a cute, determined fist, and Crystal Bot almost cracked a smile at how adorable he looked before she caught herself and forced in a frown.

Bass almost gagged. "So what was that encoded sub-directive that was supposed to be on Cut Man?"

This question got Mega Man out of his cute hero pose, much to Bass' relief. However, Crystal Bot seemed far less pleased with the question. She winced and made sure she turned to the right angle so that Bass and not Mega Man could see her the emphasis on her face. This lasted only an instant before Crystal Bot turned on her charm and pretended that nothing was wrong.

"It was deleted." Crystal Bot announced. "What I found out was if you try and hack into Cut Man's head, it'll automatically delete certain information, which is why Cut Man didn't remember the last month in his memory files. Someone does not want us to know what's going on here or in Monstropolis. I got the meeting with Team 2 and they were talking about getting Wily out of jail. That's all I know."

"Well, at least I know what I'll be doing next." Mega Man suddenly itched to go back home. "I can't give Dr. Wily the chance..."

A monitor on the right wall flashed, beeping three times before it stopped. It was a transmission, and Crystal Bot went over to answer it. With the push of a button, the face of a tall, Hispanic man appeared on the monitor. All three of them recognised him at once as Tim Reyes, their ethics agent.

"Annyong Mr. Reyes!" Crystal Bot cheerfully greeted. "What's going on?"

Reyes, by then far used to Sonata's obsession with Korea, just nodded. "I need to speak with Bass."

Bass irritably approached the viewscreen, addressing Reyes with his typical disdain for authority. "So? What is it?"

The blue bomber was in the vision of the viewscreen, and Tim Reyes eyed him cautiously. "I need you to come to the American embassy in Moscow. I have an important and classified mission for you."

"Mission? Are you nuts?" Bass almost slammed his hand on the console, his fangs shining dangerously. "I'm getting closer than ever to figuring out what's going on over here and you're about to pull me away from that?"

"The nature of this mission makes it more immediate. Besides, you can get Mega Man over there to hold things down for a while."

That was the absolute worst thing he could have said. Bass was immediately in a pale, cold world where sights and sounds blurred into one, and only the most terrible words ever echoed coherently throughout the confusion and doubt. Bass only barely heard the few words that freed him from that doomed place.

"Oh, I'm due back at Monstropolis tomorrow, Mr. Reyes." Mega Man politely objected. "And in my professional opinion, it's more important that Bass stay here and complete this objective. Whatever Wily is planning, it's going to be involving both here and America, or at least that's how it looks right now. We need him to keep working on this."

It was clear to everyone in the lab that Reyes regretted his choice of words. He cleared his throat and went on. "All the same, I need Bass to report in. Trust me, if this weren't important then I would find someone else."

The tone of the human's words sounded almost like flattery, at least to Bass' ears, and it was a step in the right direction. In any case, the dark robot was legally obligated to obey (how he was growing sick of all these laws!) and that meant he would be stopping by the American embassy. He sighed, giving in.

"I'll be right there." he said in a lot nicer voice than he had planned.

Reyes nodded, and the screen went blank. Once the vision was gone, Bass immediately walked off and snatched one of Crystal Bot's long distance teleporters, ready to leave. Turning around, he found himself face to face with a very nervous tech-bot.

"Um, Forte..." she nervously wrung her hands. "You're not gonna leave me here alone with Rock and those...those..."

Bass gritted his fangs in obvious annoyance, trying to make sure Crystal Bot knew that aggravating him was a worse fate than putting up with Mega Man and the broken bodies of old robot masters. Crystal Bot countered this with a pitiful lower lip, but that sort of manipulation never worked on Bass.

"I've got a job to do, Sonata." Bass hissed, past the point of being amused by her fear of death. "Now stop whining. Rock and dead idiots aren't going to hurt you. Rock's got to take them back to Monstropolis for the robot museum so go get him some crates."

"But..."

"Go!"

"Fine!" she pouted. "Here, take this."

She held out a zip drive to him and he quickly stuck it under his armor before teleporting out and leaving Crystal to her own whims. The information loaded into his mind as he landed in a round room inside of the embassy. It was a room he had seen from time to time, so he was used to having an armed guard waiting for him. Mostly. None of the governments really trusted him, and if he hadn't been working from Dr. Cossack's, Russia wouldn't have allowed him into their country until after his probation was complete, if then.

The staunch guard led him into a pleasant office. It was not remarkable to Bass, but anyone who appreciated interior design would have called it cozy and at once wanted to take a seat on one of the brown leather couches against the wall. Bookcases filled the places on the wall where the couches weren't, as if it were some small legal library instead of an office. That myth was dispelled by the very professional wooden desk that sat in front of the large window, surrounded by chairs as any officer's desk would be. The placard said that the office belonged to a Lieutenant Venston, but Tim Reyes was the one sitting there.

"You may leave." Reyes told the soldier. "I won't be needing you."

"Are you sure, sir?"

The soldier couldn't help a sidelong glance at Bass, suspicious. Bass frowned back, but said nothing. It wasn't good to act up in front of Reyes, who was legally in charge of his probation and could add time to it at will.

"It's fine. Now go on." the agent assured the young soldier. "Go on."

"Yes, sir."

Once the guard left, Bass promptly took a chair. As nice as it was to be given this opportunity over Rock, Bass was still eager to get it over with and deal with Zero.

"What happened to your arm?" Reyes asked, eyeing Bass' empty left shoulder.

"It's being worked on." Bass placed his remaining arm on the table. "What's this all about, Reyes?"

"All business still, I see." The Hispanic man sat down on the other side of the desk. "Well, it turns out that I have a mission I need you to look into. Mega Man isn't appropriate for this mission, and I need someone skilled enough to pull this one off."

The side of Bass' mouth turned up into a grin. Reyes really thought he was more skilled than Mega Man? Or was this just flattery? Either way, he was starting to feel far more open to whatever mission this was going to be. He relaxed a little in the chair.

"We have someone here guilty of several crimes." the ethics agent continued, placing a file in front of Bass. "Most of them pertain to espionage and various thefts, and at least one confirmed murder. The suspect is a robot, and we need to recover his CPU."

Bass took a look at the documents in the file, each one outlining a different crime. The dark robot started to get a strange feeling. "Most of these crimes are from several years ago."

"Yes, that's true. It's the murder that most of my superiors are concerned about. Up til now the evidence against the subject was circumstantial, but now he actually admitted commiting the crime. You know how the law feels about robots, and there's the possibility that he's responsible for more deaths. We want him taken in."

Bass stopped, his eyes widening in shock as he stared at a picture in the file. "What...what is this crap? This better not be some kind of joke!"

Tim Reyes took a deep breath of air, sighing as he let it out. "It's not. The fugitive you're looking for is Proto Man."

Bass' jaw dropped. That was nothing he had ever expected. There had always been rumors about what Proto Man did over the years, and people always gossiped about various theories. He never expected any of these accusations to be serious, much less Blues actually admit that he had done anything wrong. This was so far off of what Bass guessed Proto Man was capable of that he didn't know what to say.

"No, no way." Bass slammed the papers back down on the desk. "That guy? Not possible. He's the most self-righteous little prick Dr. Light ever built - a Light-bot for crying out loud. I mean, I get the espionage thing, but he's always going around telling people to straighten up and fly right."

Tim rubbed his eyes. "Have you really learned anything about what happened before your creation? Proto Man did serve Wily as a free range agent for a few years during the Team 2 and Team 3 incidents. Possibly even earlier. You as a Wily robot should know this."

Bass did know about Proto Man having worked for Wily, but he had always halfway suspected that it had been a scheme on Proto Man's part to protect Rock. In any case, Dr. Wily had never been eager to talk about Proto Man unless it was about killing him. It wasn't as if he was going to explain the whole history to Bass. If Bass had cared enough, he could have asked one of the robot masters. As it was, he just glared at Reyes. He didn't like being referred to as one of Albert's creations no matter how true it was.

"Wily wasn't a talkative guy." was all Bass muttered. "And I still don't believe that Proto Man is behind this."

"I understand how you feel." Tim said. "Before we had the confession, many people in the robotics ethics agency were considering pardoning him for the other crimes. Lately he's done everything he could to help Monstropolis even despite being wanted. Others feel that Proto Man is far too dangerous and secretive to be allowed any trust without being extensively reprogrammed, and then allowed to live as long as he used his considerable skills to help us."

"Proto Man listening to the government?" Bass snorted. "That'll be the day."

"He is stubborn." Reyes agreed. "Though some people said that about you. In any case, his confession has changed the situation entirely. The law is very strict about this. He has to be brought in. Here. Take this zip drive. It has the footage of the security camera on it the night that Gamma was stolen."

Forte took the drive and plugged it in, watching as the camera showed a scene of the Team 3 robot masters and Proto Man going throughout a large science facility. Blues and Hard Man trailed a security guard, one who fired off several rounds from his plasma pistol as he backed away through a door. Both robots followed him, and Bass could see the hint of darkness that meant Shadow Man was sneaking along right behind them. All of them left the security camera's range, though Bass could see the flashings of what was either Proto Man's plasma buster or the rockets of Hard Man's hard knuckle.

As Bass was watching all of this, Tim explained. "That security guard is the victim. His name was Richard Copenhagen, and he was guarding the 'peace-keeping' robot Gamma that night at Light Industries Warehouse. He left behind his wife Tessa and daughter Leila."

Bass was familiar with that scheme. It was after Dr. Wily's first two schemes had been stopped and he had pretended to come to his senses to fool Dr. Light into thinking that he had changed his ways. Wily even said he wanted to make sure that no one could ever try to take over the world the same way he had again. That was the inspiration for Gamma. Of course it was a trick and Wily stole Gamma for himself. Bass nodded and Reyes went on.

"Until yesterday, that was the only evidence we really had of the murder. As you can see, it's not very conclusive. Most of us were inclined to think that Proto Man wouldn't have done it because of his behavior in the past Wily incidents. Then we find out that it was him all along."

Bass shook his head. "This is nuts. I mean, you've been after this guy for years and you haven't caught him?"

"You know how evasive he is. That, and he keeps making all the right friends. If it weren't for Dr. Cossack, the Russian government might have dismantled him by now. I don't even think Cossack knows how much being able to hide at his lab has helped Proto Man."

"Cossack is a pretty calm guy." Bass agreed.

"So you see why it's obvious Mega Man can't be involved in this." Reyes leaned forward and rested his arms on the desk. "We've gotten in his reports how exactly he feels about his 'brother'. My boss wants to know exactly where you stand."

"Me? I can't stand the guy. He's a pest. But this?" Bass shoved the reports all back toward the human. "This doesn't sound like him at all. He's too moral for any of this. He's the last person that would ever want to kill someone. I mean, hell, I worked for Wily most of my life and I never killed anyone. It's not exactly impossible."

"You have to remember, Bass, he confessed himself. He actually went to the Copenhagen household and told Leila that he was the one that did it. Want to know the worst part about this?"

"No."

"I have to tell you anyway. I don't know why I asked." Reyes sighed. "Leila Copenhagen was one of Proto Man's biggest supporters. For years Proto Man did what he could to help her family, but now it appears that he was doing so out of guilt. She never knew this, and she thought he was doing it...I don't know, out of kindness."

"That's really sick." Bass did have to admit that that was a little more like Proto Man, but it still didn't make any sense to him. "Hell, I don't believe any of this! Proto Man hasn't done anything like this in a long time, even if this crap is true!"

Reyes frowned. "If Dr. Light had been murdered, how long would it take you to forget?"

That was a low blow, and if Reyes didn't know it already, then the sheer evil in Bass' eyes would have clarified that very quickly. Bass hissed impatiently, leaning back in his chair. The human was right.

"I still think this is all bullcrap," Bass said. "But I'll bring him in. If he's half as moral as he pretends to be, he won't be too much trouble."

"You think he would come in willingly?"

"Eh, if he's confessing this crap, then yeah, probably. There's no telling where Proto Man will show up at any given time, but the really lucky thing about this is it'll be easy to find him. I'm getting more leads on whatever Wily's planning out here in Russia, and if it looks bad enough Proto Man will show up. He's about as interested in taking down Wily's crap as I am, so he'll be back at some point."

"Good." Reyes started to gather up the papers and put them back in the folder. "In the meantime I want a report about all you know about him. Also, let me remind you that a lot of my superiors have their eyes on you. You might be out of the country, but you're still not exactly a favorite for the Robotics Ethics Agency."

"They're not my favorites either." Bass scoffed, taking the zip drive out of his neck and abruptly jutting it back out at the official. "Now are we done here?"

Reyes stared at Bass a moment. He silently held his hands out, indicating for Bass to keep it. With that, he folded his hands on the table, deliberately witholding his answer simply to test Forte's patience.

"Not quite." he said finally. "First I need to know your exact assessment of his character. I would rather we catch him without having to alert the media, because I'm not sure how Mega Man would react to this. I don't even know if Mega Man can handle learning this about Proto Man without doing something irrational. His...terminal naiivety can be somewhat unpredictable. However, if Proto Man is too great a threat, then we're just going to have to risk it. Can we afford to keep this as quiet as possible or is Proto Man too serious a threat?"

Bass could hardly believe his auditory sensors. "A threat? That guy doesn't want to hurt anyone. He's all about thwarting Wily. Just look at him around Rock! He's always saving him from his own stupidity and all that crap. I don't know what he was in the past, but nowadays he's just out to do the right thing."

"That's what you want me to submit to the agency?"

"That's the truth."

"Okay. I believe you." Tim stood up, prompting Forte to do the same. "I'll let you get to it then. You're saying that the best way to catch him is let him come to you, right?"

"Yeah."

"And if he's doesn't come?"

"Then he's dead." Bass was abrupt about it, and he spoke quickly as he started programming in the right teleport coordinates. "He's always going to be where he thinks he's needed."

"Alright, good luck then."

"I don't need luck. I know what I'm doing."

Before teleporting out, Bass stuck the zip drive Crystal had given him in his neck. It contained little, only some information. Bass' eyes widened. Cut Man's sub-directive hadn't been deleted; it was to go and find Zero. The coordinates of where to find Zero had been deleted, unfortunately, but if Cut Man had been sent, others were likely headed that direction as well. Luring Proto Man out there wasn't going to be hard at all.

Bass teleported out.

\\\\\\\

Author's notes:

- "Scale 3" is a reference to how big a mechaniloid is. Scale 1 is smaller than a person, Scale 2 is larger than a person to about the size of a car, and Scale 3 is the step up from there, usually the biggest that legal robots ever get. Scale 4 exists, but is very rare, like Gamma or one of Wily's bigger castle baddies.

- Man...it's so much easier to write Crystal Bot when she's being bad.

Character profiles!

=====Air Man
"What wind blows you here?"
Good Point: Putting on airs
Bad Point: Windy talk
Like: Surfing
Dislike: Fall of the leaf
Japanese data
Good Point: Stylish
Bad Point: Behaves with air of superior
Like: Menko
Dislike: Seasons with falling leaves

Air Man is a bad tempered robot a lot of the time, and he was known for giving Team 5 a hard time back when they served Wily. Known for being one of the more powerful Wily robots, Air Man sometimes takes himself more seriously than he needs to. He's admired by the rest of his team. He's very focused on whatever task Wily gives him, and is proud of his master.

Air Man was built as a part of Team 2 in the effort for Wily to prove that his robots were better than Light's. Wily had mentioned making a wind based robot back when he and Dr. Light were working together, but Dr. Light didn't think it would be so useful. Hence Air Man. Air Man spent a lot of time at the robot museum, but since about MM7 he has been out of it, doing whatever miscellaneous chores he can to please Dr. Wily. He and Burst Man hanged out a lot, mostly because Burst Man was never that bothered by his arrogance, and they both enjoyed surfing. Air Man went back into the museum just before MM10, but was freed again during the events of Okkusenman. Right now, his fate is unknown.

FYI, Menko is a card game that involves trying to flip over your opponents cards, and this can be done by throwing your card in such a way that it blows the other up. Air Man was known to cheat at this.

=====Dr. Kenneth Imahara
"If I just hook up this one wire..."
Good point: works hard
Bad point: works too hard
Likes: learning
Dislikes: interruptions

Imahara has a lot of trouble not being a workaholic. Ever since he was young he wanted to work on robots, and he was building rudimentary "robots" out of cardboard and remote controlled cars even when he was in kindergarten. During his high school years, it almost seemed that he would forget about his obsession as he learned to finally talk to people and have a social life. That, however, was before Dr. Light visited Japan. Dr. Light knew Kenneth's grandparents because they were some of his late wife's relatives, and he stopped by to have a social visit. Ken was like a crazed fanboy, and with Dr. Light's help he made it to college and became the famous scientist he is in Japan today.

Kenneth isn't married, but it's not something he's avoiding. It's just a conflict of interest right now. Normally he's a very happy guy, and despite being a workaholic, he does have plenty of friends. He is admired throughout all of Japan, and is considered a better robotics scientist than Dr. Cossack. He knows Rock and Roll well, but he has never met Blues. He trusts Bass because Dr. Light did, and wants to meet him. Bass was too busy at the party, however.