Crystal Bot, or Sinistra, as she was calling herself lately, worked tirelessly at hacking and bypassing security protocols on Zero. The work was far more complex than she had expected, and hacking through him wasn't going that well. As much as she had studied the notes Auto had given her about how X level minds worked, this was just insane. Everything that Dr. Light programmed into X was twisted and contorted, made to fit into a pattern that Crystal Bot just didn't understand. So much about Zero was reworked in ways that didn't make any sense.
One thing was certain. Zero was more madly powerful than any robot Crystal had ever seen. More so than any Wily or Light number, unless X was more strong, and she'd never had the opportunity to find out. She wasn't even sure that Auto ever worked on Dr. Light's secret robot.
"Whew." Crystal Bot took a moment to lean on the table. "This is a lot harder than I thought. I mean, it's still fun, but I really hope I can actually show Dr. Cain something before he wakes up. I think I've made some headway, but I'm not entirely sure. This is just so hard!"
Frantic Man said nothing. He waited there the entire time as Crystal Bot worked on Zero. Occasionally he helped her, but most of the time he just watched her, listening to the things she said. Crystal seemed full of story, though mostly she described what she was doing. There was no need for him to respond to her, in his limited way or otherwise; she seemed happy just talking to him.
That didn't stop Crystal Bot from working. She already had most of Zero's armor off, and it lay on a pile on the floor at her feet. The handheld computer was doing the best it could to repeat the hacking patterns she programmed into it, but it just wasn't working.
"I've done all I can." Sinistra aimlessly drummed her screwdriver against Zero's arm. "It's just a matter of time before I can really get through Zero's defenses. Trouble is, I'm estimating a five-year period of continuous hacking before we can really get anywhere. And that's a hopeful estimate. I wanted to at least tell Dr. Cain something about his power core, but I'm afraid to mess with it. He's got the bassnium kind, and nobody can reproduce it. That might include Dr. Wily too. It's hard stuff for even him to mess with, and he invented it!"
"Frrrvt veep voop."
She didn't even try to guess what Frantic Man said. It was easier to pretend that it had something to do with what she was saying. "I just don't know what to do next. I mean, I might have to hook up my head to his. I've got...well, the closest kind of brain that Zero does. Trouble is, 'closest' doesn't mean 'close'. I just hope I found out enough for Dr. Cain to figure something out from here."
"Veep voop nrrrtow."
Crystal Bot turned to him with curiosity, leaning her head a bit to the side. Relaxed for the moment, she leaned back against the repair table. It wasn't as if she could do too much more to Zero, especially without a burst of inspiration. So her focus turned to the wild construct robot.
"It's kinda sad to see you." she said. "You've got Turbo Man's head, but back when he was all put together, he could talk. Let me guess. You're stuck with a mechaniloid language that only Cain-bots can understand."
"Zzzt. Veep bzzt ggggnv oop."
"Aww." she stuck out her lower lip. "That must be so horrible for you. I guess I don't blame Dr. Cain for being so cautious, but still. I don't know. Maybe if you're good he'll let you talk, at least to me. Dr. Wily never would do something like that. Dr. Wily was the nice kind of bad guy! Um, sort of. I just...I just wish he didn't kill my dad."
Crystal Bot sat down on the floor, quietly settling there. Dub walked over to her, but she directed him to go plug Zero into the main computer and begin cracking whatever code he could from there. That done, she folded her hands and slumped. Frantic Man very carefully sat next to her. This made Crystal Bot smile, but nothing more of a smile than the flicking up and down of one side of her lips.
"I used to think Wily was so wonderful. I used to think he liked me, and I was his little girl. I'd have been happy enough going on like that." Crystal Bot sighed. "If it weren't for Forte I wouldn't know anything. Then again, I'd be dead if it weren't for Forte. Things have just-" Remembering herself, she looked into Frantic Man's eyes and cut herself off. "I mean, not that I want to go back to Forte or anything. Nope! Definitely not! I just...I just want my real dad back. I want to forget all about Dr. Wily and everything bad and just see Crystal Man again. It's not fair."
Frantic Man said nothing. He lifted his head, giving off the impression he was staring into space. She wouldn't understand him anyway, so he didn't see the point in speaking. All he could do was gently pat her shoulder. Suddenly his head jerked to the side, and he beeped loudly. He began to pull at Crystal Bot's arm, gesturing back up at Zero.
"Veep voop nrrrtow!"
"You said that before. What does that mean?"
He just tugged Crystal Bot back to her feet and shoved her Jamie wrench back into her hands. Before they both knew it, the door was opening. In came Dr. Cain, followed along by Epic Man and Demi. The scientist looked much more put together than before, and his hair was still slightly wet from a shower. Evidently he felt better, as everything he did had a renewed sense of energy. That included his critical glare.
"Alright, report." he ordered Crystal. "What have you discovered here?"
"Wow, I didn't realize I was working that long." Sinistra pulled up the handheld computer, it's cord still plugged into Zero's neck. "Here's as far as I got. Sorry it's not more, it's just that this guy is really encoded. Oh hey, Epic Man. Hand this over to Algorhythm Man." Lying on the table were the discs Frantic Man had brought her. She shuffled a couple of them aside, picking it up and handing it over to the midnight blue robot. "These are Forte's schematics. They'll be handy in helping him win in a fight."
Epic Man took the disc, but Dr. Cain gave him a suspicious look. Answering him without words, Epic Man shrugged and stuck the disc under his armor. Cain's flitting eyes went back to the girl, and he disdainfully took the handheld computer and gave it a glance. Perusing it, he gave a grunt.
"So...this is all you did, or all you're willing to do?"
"I don't understand." she put down her wrench back on the table. "You worked on Zero yourself, I'm sure. It's not exactly easy to do."
Cain said nothing, but there was judgementalism all over his face. Was he expecting Crystal to do more? She nervously backed away from him, being careful not to go too far and make it too obvious that she was afraid. He passed Crystal Bot by to get a look with what she'd done to Zero's armor, and she pulled back further. Crystal Bot wasn't sure if Cain understood what he saw. Tugging at her fingers, she winced as Dr. Cain's glance seemed to disapprove of every little thing she'd done.
"Ah, don't reach too closely for that power core settings panel." she cautioned, nervous to contradict his inspection. "It's not good to mess around with the power core. It's filled with a bunch of nasty radiation. Fortenium is bad stuff."
"I knew that already." he huffed, and from his appearance you would never guess he was lying. "Now is there anything you can show me on here that I don't know?"
"Um, I got into some initializing coding in his head." she pointed to a button on the hand held. "You can see it there. I think it's coming along nicely. I just have to figure out how to get further without setting off the crippling code security functions in Zero's head. I can connect myself to him-"
"No, none of that." the master answered sharply, glaring down at Crystal. He put down the little computer and folded his arms. "And now, I want you to tell me all about . I couldn't help but notice that it's the opposite of your name 'Sinistra'. More people than just you know about the technical terms surrounding music. So why exactly does Roll have a program signifying the right hand and you're the left?"
"Um, well," Crystal Bot blushed. She held her hands behind her and put on her most adorable face - it was one specially crafted to charm humans. "I wanted to wait until the right time to ask you this, but you went to bed really quick earlier. I was kinda hoping that you would make her my evil villain sister, and we would be bad guys and blow up stuff, and rule the world-"
A loud groan from the scientist, as well as a subsequent facepalm, interrupted her request. Epic Man laughed. Demi did this same, rocking back and forth on the floor with his rusty, creaky laugh. Merriment for him was a full body workout.
"Ha ha!" Demi squealed. "Aw, what a crackup!"
"She mentioned this to me and Al before she was brought here." Epic Man told his master. "I think she means it."
"I couldn't possibly care if she does or not." Cain focused sternly on the girl-bot. "One, humans should rule the world, not robots, and secondly, you will now explain why exactly this program is interfering with my ability to hack into Roll and discover how to take over Light Laboratories."
Stupid Roll! Crystal wanted very much to stomp her foot and pout, but she had no other choice but to stick out her lip in the most adorable manner she could and pretend to be confused. "Um, I don't know. It's not supposed to do something like that. It's just supposed to block out her artificial personality so she won't act like a goody-goody, not block her memory. I'm not always good at A.I. though. Don't worry. I can fix it. I guess I'll just have to delete the program entirely."
"You'll do that." Dr. Cain nodded firmly. "I'll send you to her later, and I expect her to be following my every orders very soon. For now, tell me more about this 'fortenium'."
"Well, it's either called that or bassnium." she explained, pointing over to the core. "Because it's named after Bass and Wily invented it while he was building Bass. It's pretty dangerous stuff and cost prohibitive. I'm not sure if it's useful to your purposes."
"It's not. I want it destroyed." the scientist huffed. "Now, who knows how to make it?"
"Besides Wily himself, nobody. He even made it by accident and I'm not sure if he has the equipment or money to make any more. If he could make as much as he wanted, he would have made the later robot master teams with it."
"Good. How likely is Wily to teach someone this before he dies?"
Crystal Bot tried not to shudder at the mention of death. "Um, there's really no reason why he would. He doesn't have any kids and he doesn't tell anything too important to his robots. I think he'd rather just...um, pass away without telling anyone and let the world remember him as a genius. I know some about it from working on Bass, but this particular power core processor itself is something I could only understand after examining this one here for a long time. Bassnium itself I'm not sure I ever could."
"Even better." Dr. Cain's voice took on a tone that actually sounded a little happy. "So, all I have to do is destroy Zero, kill Bass, and get rid of Wily then this knowledge will disappear.
Epic Man made sure that Dr. Cain didn't look and see his wince. He sort of liked Crystal Bot, and even if she didn't get the implication, Epic Man was all too familiar with Dr. Cain's ways. He hoped for her sake that all Dr. Cain would do was delete any details about bassnium Crystal Bot had in her head rather than resort to more extreme measures.
"What do you know about his mind?" Dr. Cain asked the girl-bot. "What makes him different from ordinary robots?"
"I didn't get to work on him before," Crystal Bot explained. "But he's based on the same sort of CPU I am, other than him having a single mind rather than three. My father stole some technology from Dr. Light to build me, and then Dr. Wily found it and made it even better because he understood it more than Crystal Man. From what I can tell by the hardware involved, he's got a...well, really, really complex multiprocessor going on. He's got more gigs of memory than your average robotics lab, and I can only imagine how fast he must run with all that RAM involved. This guy could run an entire base just on what he's got in his head. But don't worry, I can hack into it. Gwenchannulkoheyo!"
Epic Man winced, and his dastardly face showed genuine pity for Crystal Bot before it was covered by his dramatic facepalm. There was no pity in Nikola's eyes, however, and he even bared his teeth a little.
"What?" Demi looked up at his master and his comrade. "I don't get it."
"I seem to recall giving you the order to speak only in english." Cain threatened the girl-bot. "So what exactly enabled you to break my orders? Epic Man!"
The blue robot was behind her in a flash, snatching her up by the arms with a force she knew she couldn't resist. The pitiful whimper she gave out amused Epic Man, but it did nothing to engender any sympathy from Dr. Cain. Without even being ordered, Frantic Man grabbed Dub and deactivated him.
"So apparently you can escape my control somehow." Cain said. "It doesn't matter. You've done well enough. So you've got the same technological basis as Zero's CPU? Good. That means taking your mind apart will tell me more about him than leaving you active would."
"Please don't! I'm really loyal!' Crystal Bot insisted. "Um...it's just sometimes minor orders reset in my head after a while, and korean-"
"Oh, shut up. If you weren't a part of building Zero then you're no good activated." Dr. Cain was through speaking to her. "Demi, you check Zero and make sure she hasn't encoded him more. I just hope it's not too late-"
" - Dr. Cain! - " Algorhythm Man's frantic voice came in a transmission. " - I'm recieving an enemy proximity alert! There's a band of opposition on the cliffside above us. - "
"It's fine for now." Cain hissed. "We've got great security and worst come to worst it will be easy enough to escape without them reaching us."
"Aaaah! Frantic Man, you horrible slacker!" Demi screamed, banging his paws on the wall computer. "Didn't you check this computer? She's been using Zero as a cover for sending out a signal to outsiders!"
"Wait, wouldn't we notice something like that straight away on our main computer?" Epic Man looked down at his captive. "My dear, we certainly have underestimated you. Pity we have to kill you now."
"Crap! Shut it down!" Cain hissed.
"It's already gone! I'm engaging the sensor block now!"
" - Um, Master? - " It was Algorhythm Man again. " - We're recieving a transmission... - "
" - I'll be there in a second! - " The master swung an indomitable finger over at Epic Man. "Bring her along to the main lab. I'm sure she's got everything to do with this. Let's go!"
Epic Man was not a slow walker, and Crystal Bot found herself struggling to keep up with his mad pace to the main lab, even being half dragged along the way. Faster than both was Dr. Cain, and he charged right through those stone halls with a frightening aura of fury - it was as if getting too close to him would set you on fire. Crystal Bot was torn between trying to maintain the pace and trying to keep well away from the doctor. It wasn't much use; Epic Man's grip was too much.
The main lab was essentially a command center, and entering it, Crystal Bot couldn't help but feel that she was on an episode of Star Trek. The round room was decked out with various computer systems, each commandeerable from the chairs before them. The center of the room was a wide, circular platform, one built of stone. Part of this platform was cut out to form steps to the top, leaving a round, stage-like area. The domed roof above them held some sort of metal circle in the ceiling, a circle panel with metal claws holding it like roots into the rock. There wasn't much time to notice all of this as Crystal Bot was shoved onto the center platform, right behind Dr. Cain.
"Epic Man," he thundered. "Hand her to Frantic and go to the main weapons station. See if you can get the intruders on our targeting screen."
Not waiting for Epic Man to act, Frantic Man (he had been following the whole time?) tossed a deactivated Dub by Dr. Cain's feet and went to snatch up Crystal, firmly holding her and letting Epic Man do as he was told.
"Alright, put the message on screen." Dr. Cain flung a hand at the left front station, where Algorhythm Man sat.
One large side of the domed roof suddenly lit up. No one who saw the barren rock wall would have guessed that it was indeed a viewscreen. Crystal Bot brightened. Surely the transmission was from one of her former friends. More than likely it was Mega Man, but even seeing his dopey face would be encouraging, because being captured by good guys was still better than being killed.
But Mega Man's wasn't the face that appeared on the viewscreen that blinked into life. Dr. Wily, his face large and wrinkled on the height of the screen, appeared on the viewscreen instead. From the technology and glowing lights around him, Crystal guessed that he was inside the Skull Capsule. That was the single rational thought that remained in her head, as everything else fled in fear.
Dr. Cain didn't wait for Wily to speak. He grinned menaically, trying to force his face to show that he was in control. "Good afternoon, Dr. Wily. As you can see here, I've caught your little spy!"
"It is a good afternoon." Wily's eyes flitted over to Crystal Bot only momentarily, and he showed only the mildest surprise. "Really, Cain, if you didn't want me to find out where you are, you shouldn't have answered my transmission."
"You don't know where I am." Cain huffed. "I'll give you credit for escaping prison, but I'm afraid this is as far as you will go. You don't even know what sort of defenses I have here. At any point in time I could decimate you if you tried."
"Right, and that's why you're sweating right now." Wily grinned, his wrinkled smile and shiny eyes ready for a nice, defiant laugh. Wily restrained himself, though. Proper evil laughs required perfect timing. "Heh. So maybe we can talk. After all, you are so frightening that I can't help but wish to negotiate. Look, I'm a nice person. As I said in prison, I can help you with your aims. I don't suppose you have a plan to deal with how exactly you're going to live after you, ahem, destroy all the world's robots. Won't everyone try to kill you? I don't suppose you know how you're going to handle that."
"You managed to survive all your schemes." Cain retorted. "Or is it because all your schemes have failed and people have made good economics of it? You by yourself did wonders for the Anti-Robotic Shielding Company. Let's make one thing clear. I'm the one in charge here. I decide how this thing turns out. After all, I found your little robot. Your...Zero. I'll gladly destroy him. After all, he's just a robot. Enough C-4, and he'll be rubble."
That got a change in Wily's tone. His smile froze on his face, and once he realized he was staring in stunned shock, he let his face melt down into anger. Each bit of skin went pale and slumped, and his eyes narrowed. Crystal shuddered. That was definitely a bad face. She automatically tried to pull away and get out of range of that horrid expression, but Frantic Man held her still.
Dr. Cain, however, didn't realize exactly how much trouble he was in, and he went quite happily on.
"And as for my plans to destroy the robots of the world - it's quite eloquent you know - I think I'll start with her!" Cain snatched her chin and held her up for Wily to see. "Your sweet little spy! She had me almost fooled with her little story about you. A perfect diversion. I know you, Dr. Wily, sentimental fool! You can't stand one of your poor robots being destroyed."
Crystal tugged her chin out of his hand, sullenly forcing her gaze to the floor. Cain didn't know Dr. Wily at all. Zero he cared about for his purposes, but the others were in his good graces only as long as they did what he said. He might care about most of them as each a different breakthrough and a different power he had invented, but there could be no way he would ever forgive her. She didn't kill Mega Man when she had the chance, and she and her team had betrayed him. Crystal Bot didn't bother whimpering. She just stared at the floor, wishing that the last thing she would ever see wouldn't be the inside of a dark cave.
"No, wait, stop!" Wily hissed. "Fine. Don't hurt her! What is it that you want?"
Crystal's head went up, daring to look at her former master. Her eyes went reluctantly to his face on the viewscreen and she saw him looking almost as reluctantly back at her. Only for a moment, though. He still had to maintain face in front of Dr. Cain. Any sensitivity he had vanished in a grumpy frown at the competing scientist.
"Ha, now that's more like it!" Cain's grin was entirely cheshire. "I'm going to need to you fufill my plans by gathering together the rest of your robots. I do hope Shadow Man is alive, because I'll need him to sneak into the Robotics Ethics Agency. You will also reprogram Zero so that I can understand him. After my plans are complete, all your robots should be disassembled."
"What? Are you crazy?" Wily smacked his hand into control panel, producing a violent sound. "As if the least of my robots couldn't pound yours into the ground!"
"Even Toad Man?"
"I didn't build him, you idiot!"
"Hm, too bad." Dr. Cain merrily folded his arms. "That doesn't sound very respectful. Frantic Man, kill her."
Any one of his powers could do so. Morbidly, Crystal ran through all of the methods in an instant, horrified as she imagined herself being burnt to death by his Fire Man power or electrocuted by Clown Man's. Something seemed to be wrong though. Frantic Man was shaking, glitching. Were his different components not working right together? They way he was slapped together, she guessed it was very likely.
"What are you doing?" Dr. Cain snapped. "Break her neck!"
The Clown Man hand lifted up and reached over to obey, grabbing the side of her head with a very shaky hand.
"Aha!" Wily said, grinning. He flung a tough finger at the screen. "Stop!"
Instantly Frantic Man's arm dropped, and he stood there stiff. His eyes glowed, but he did nothing more than this, just standing there unable to move. Wily laughed one of his classic laughs, wiggling his eyebrows for emphasis.
"Not so great a programmer as you thought, huh, Nikola?" Wily couldn't stop laughing. "Even if you take over my robots, I can still make them stop. You, there, whoever you are, reset 297!"
At once the strange robot blinked, looking around as his mind shifted itself into its regular obedience to Dr. Wily. However, if Crystal Bot thought they was going to get away, that thought was quickly dispelled by the upward swing of a plasma gun Cain held. He glared at her angrily as he aimed his weapon, but his words were meant with equal ferocity at Dr. Wily.
"That doesn't keep me from just shooting her or Frantic Man, idiot." Cain snapped.
The distraction that saved Crystal's life was the disappearance of the viewscreen. It was once again a wall of rock without any sign of ulterior technology. Before this change could really register in anyone's minds, the large metal circle above them turned and set to the side, coming closer as it opened up the top of the laboratory. Before Dr. Cain could say as much as a word, his plasma gun flew out of his hand, sliced clean through by a shadow blade. Team 2 robot masters fell from the top entrance, quickly surrounding and overwhelming Signal Man, Epic Man, and Algorhythm Man. Frantic Man gently pushed Crystal Bot aside with his clown arm as the rest of him went to guard Cain.
Once these defensive measures were taken, everyone's attention went to the dramatic figure of none other than Dr. Albert A. Wily as the metal door, doubling as an elevator, carefully circled around and lowered the mad scientist to the floor. His confident posture and stylish cane only made him more the glorious figure (his walking was fine - the cane was just for looks). Even his wild grey hair was combed out to look bigger than before, and as the metal panel finally brought him down to everyone else's level, he was more intimidating than anyone had ever seen him before. He stepped down off the panel with a kingly swagger.
"Yeah!" Crash Man cheered from his position guarding Algorhythm Man. "That's our doctor!"
The other robots joined in, and Dr. Wily gleefully approached his would-be competitor, who at this point didn't know if he wanted to be afraid or if he was going to fly into a rage. Either way, Dr. Cain was entirely red, and only Shadow Man standing behind him kept him from acting on either of his impulses.
"If you didn't want to let me in side your base," Dr. Wily said. "Then you shouldn't have answered my transmission. But anyway, since you so cordially let me in, why don't you show me around? I would love a tour! My robots feel just the same way, don't you?"
Wily lifted his arms like a grand circus master as he addressed his minions, and their cheers rose again. Epic Man glared at his master, silently demanding that he do something. Dr. Cain, however, was definitely afraid, and there was nothing for Epic Man to do but sigh and let his depression be completely ignored by the jolly enemies around him. He glanced over at his brothers, and neither Algorhythm or Signal Man seemed hurt. Epic Man wasn't entirely sure how he would get past Quick Man and Heat Man to help them anyway.
"So!" Wily rubbed his hands together once his jolly minions calmed down. "I am now in charge of things. You will now command your robots to obey me. Or I can let Shadow Man kill you. I'm fine either way, but it would save me a lot of programming if you would just cooperate."
"Fine. Robots, listen to Wily." Cain snapped, falling into one of those adult pouts - the kind that pretends to have the moral superiority even though they don't have the ability to do anything about it. "I should have got human minions..."
"Very good. Now let's get going. I want you to show me exactly what firepower this base has first, and then we'll discuss exactly what I need you to program."
"I have all the plans in my office." Cain huffed. "It's just this room to the back here-"
"Quick Man." Dr. Wily looked over at his fastest robot, directing him with a nod of the head. "Go inspect this office of his and make sure it's not trapped. Wood Man, you too."
"Sure, boss." Quick Man patted Epic on the shoulder. "Hey, I've seen some of your fights on the news, and you're not so bad. Now that we're allies, why don't we race later?"
The red and yellow robot didn't wait for an answer. He had to go run off and obey. Frantic Man was moderately gentle about getting Dr. Cain down from the platform, but from then on the human was in Quick Man's discretion. Quick Man snatched an arm, disappearing with a very grumpy Dr. Cain behind a door in the back. Cain tried to shut it, but Quick Man simply pushed the doctor aside, sending him flying into something that from the sounds of metal and crashing, seasoned by several disgusting swears, it was far less than comfortable. Quick Man ignored whatever damage this may have done to Dr. Cain and just made sure the door stayed open, holding it in mock manners for Wood Man.
"After you, miss."
"Shut up, idiot." Wood Man rolled his eyes and gave Quick Man a prompt punch in the shoulder.
"Hey!" Algorhythm Man hissed, causing Metal Man to promptly grab his arms and Crash Man to aim bombs at his face. "Don't you hurt Dr. Cain, you wretched creature!"
"Oh, shut up. I'm not going to kill him." Dr. Wily rolled his eyes. "I need him for my plans, and if he is a good boy, then he will survive. You show Metal Man everything about that control panel. Don't get any ideas, because I don't need you. And while we wait to make sure they don't do anything stupid, I think I'll deal with my little spy."
Dr. Wily stepped onto the circular platform, and Crystal Bot began to shudder. It had been months since she had last seen Dr. Wily, and that last meeting consisted of being screamed at and sentenced to reprogramming for betraying him. It had been a long time since, but every fearful second of that horrid day filled the terrified girl's memory as Wily's wrinkled face came ever nearer. He didn't seem angry, but he wasn't smiling. All that showed on his his face was curiosity and a mild suspicion.
"So, you're my spy are you?" Dr. Wily said. "Or was your transmission part of the plan for the worst mistake I ever bothered creating and his naiive blue friend?"
"Nuh-uh." Crystal Bot trembled, regressing into shyness. "I was...I mean..."
Crystal Bot stopped and tried to clear her head. She had to focus. Her life was at stake here. Steeling herself and forcing her head up, she continued with resolution.
"I left Forte. He was getting mean. He never let me do what I want, and he never let me blow stuff up, and he makes me do what the government says! Worst of all, he says he's not gonna fight Mega Man anymore even though I did everything in my power to make him stronger and better. I hate Mega Man! He ruined my life!"
"Yes." The girl-bot was really disliking the way Dr. Wily just pushed her to talk, using just that voice that sounds like he was a wise father and she was nothing more than a little three year-old. "And what was your plan here?"
"I was gonna make you take me back." Crystal Bot backed away a step, shyly rubbing her hands. "I was gonna show you how to find Dr. Cain's base and help you fix everything I did wrong. I'm so sorry I betrayed you! I should have just killed Mega Man when I had the chance, and then you could do whatever you wanted. I tried to pretend to be a good girl with I was with Forte, but I'm a natural villain. I...I got to look at Cut Man's memories."
Here, Crystal Bot found that she couldn't look Dr. Wily in the eye, and her gaze settled down to the ground. "I saw the part where you said I was gonna be the next Dr. Wily. I...I wanna do that! So that's why I stole Roll and tricked Dr. Cain. I was going to reprogram Roll, and she was gonna be Destra, and I would be Sinistra, and we'd be evil villain sisters and blow stuff up and rule the world, and...and..."
When she looked back up again, she found that Dr. Wily was smiling. It was an evil grin, sure, but it definitely signalled his approval. He laughed heartily, throwing an arm around the crystal girl-bot's arm.
"That's so precious." Wily laughed. "You and Roll ruling the world? Ha, why not? How sweet! And just imagine how angry Mega Man would be! Hahaha! You're right, you are a natural villain. So the little Light-bot is here now? Very good! Flash Man, go take Epic and have him bring Roll to me, if Cain hasn't messed up her head already."
Crystal Bot didn't share his joy. Instead, with an amount of daring that even surprised her, Crystal Bot pulled herself out of his grip and turned away. Dr. Wily winced a bit, more grumpy than otherwise. He knew exactly what was going on. Wily stepped toward her.
"I'm sorry about Crystal Man." he said, quietly so that the other robots wouldn't hear. "That was a mistake."
"Really?" Crystal Bot faced him again. "You...you mean it?"
"Yes, I mean it." Dr. Wily said with a bit of a grumble. Admitting he was wrong was never something he could be comfortable with. "If I let Crystal Man keep working for me, he probably would have done even more good than building you. After all, it's because of him that I know about Mega Man X."
"Then I'm sorry I left you and didn't kill Rock." Crystal Bot said. "That was the worst mistake I ever made! I wanna stay with you again and take care of you. You're not getting any younger, you know. Ooh! Now that we've got Roll, she'll help too! Oh please say that she can be my evil villain sister and we can blow stuff up! Please!"
Dr. Wily laughed heartily at the pleading girl-bot, giving her a good slap on the back. "Now that's my girl! Of course you can. So you've been in Mega Man's laboratory a lot by now, haven't you?"
"Yep! Sure have!" Crystal Bot giggled and clapped her hands. "They changed the codes by now I'm sure, but I can get you some security descriptions and stuff so that we can get in with bombs or something. Let's do it soon! I wanna blow it up!"
"Ha ha, yes, yes, muahahaha!" Dr. Wily just couldn't stop laughing. "Ah, now I remember how much I've missed you, sweetheart."
Crystal Bot smiled up at him. She too remembered all the good times she had with him, stealing and attacking unsuspecting peoples. It was nice. Her little flashback was interrupted by Frantic Man. He was staring at them, and Crystal Bot could have sworn that the normal glow of his eyes faded just a little.
"Wrrrt. Nrr...tweep twonk zz-beep. Nrr-veep-voop beep."
"Eh...what was that?" Wily faced the wacky robot. "What was that supposed to mean?"
"Frantic Man said there's still some of Dr. Cain's failsafes to deal with." Algorhythm Man called out, getting up from his chair. "He doesn't speak english, but he can understand everything you say."
"I'll have to fix that." Dr. Wily rubbed his chin in thought. "Bah. Later. You...Frantic Man, I guess, go and deal with whatever you were talking about and report to me when you're done. Metal Man, you have access to the computer, yes?"
"Al here deactivated the passwords." The deep, gritty voice of the blade robot answered as he took Algorhythm Man's seat. "We've got full access to all files and weapons systems."
"Excellent. Quick Man!"
The red and yellow robot popped his head out of the office door. "All clear here. I had to relieve Mr. Cain of a few guns, but it's taken care off. No traps or anything."
"Wonderful!" Dr. Wily seemed very much amused with himself. "Metal Man, you look for anything relevant on their computer and report to me after I have a little conference with Cain. Heat Man and Bubble, you two find Zero and bring him back here. Don't return without him."
Dr. Wily's voice darkened with threat as he spoke of Zero, and Crystal Bot found herself shivering. She spoke up nonetheless, twisting her auburn hair.
"Um, they've got him behind a secret panel down the long north hall. I can go with them if you want." Crystal Bot paused a moment to bite her lip. "Um, I was working on Zero some, because I had to pretend to be hacking him for Dr. Cain. Dr. Cain tried himself, but he didn't get very far. I don't think he knows anything about Zero."
"You hacked into Zero because you were told to," Dr. Wily lifted an eyebrow. "Or because you were curious?"
Crystal Bot would have blushed if she had the ability. "Um, the second one."
"Ha, that's fine. You didn't tell Cain anything, right?"
"Nah, I didn't get that far anyway." she smiled. It was good to know that Dr. Wily wasn't mad at her. "And I woulda lied to him if I did."
"Good, good. Hm, it's high time you actually learned to work on him." Dr. Wily got a new look in his eyes, one that Crystal wasn't sure she understood. It was frightful, but also something not unlike a happy emotion, so she contented herself with that. "You're going to need to know how to repair him."
"Really?" Crystal Bot squealed with glee. "Yay! Come on, you guys! Let's go get him now!"
Crystal Bot ran off with delight, followed by Heat and Bubble Man. With them off on their assignment, Dr. Wily waved to the others. Crash Man and Algorhythm Man followed the mad doctor to Dr. Cain's office right away. Frantic Man knew he should go along to, but he stopped for just a moment and watched as the other robots left. But he couldn't stay behind forever, and with one last glance he too went to the room in the back.
Dr. Cain's office was small. Like his secret room, it had walls of painted concrete blocks and a nice tile floor rather than just be another chamber in the cave. Other than his paper files and a single computer at his desk, there wasn't anything in there, giving the place a nice open feel. Well, there was also a picture of his two sons as younger children, but that had been snatched up by Wood Man, who amused himself by laughing at the fact they were dressed up as mice.
"It was a school play, alright?" Nikola hissed, attempting to snatch the picture away from Wood Man. "Give that back!"
"I'm not done looking at it." the tree-bot just smiled and held it out of the scientist's reach. "Hey Quick Man, wanna see his kids? They actually look kinda smart."
Wood Man tossed it through the air at the far wall, leaving Dr. Cain to gasp in horror. Quick Man dashed over to it, and before anyone could really comprehend what was going on he was standing there, casually looking at the picture he just barely caught.
"Heh, you're right. They do look smart. Take after their mom, don't they, Cain?"
"I refuse to play 'keep-away' with you infantile robots!" Dr. Cain seethed. "If you know what's good for you, put that down!"
"What? You're really threatening my robots?" Wily entered the room, trying to make his voice sound bored. His amusement, however, would not be contained. "Heh, you're not really in the position to do anything to them. Quick Man, put that down. I'm sure Dr. Cain misses them a lot. Make sure he never feels lonely, from now on."
"Oh definitely." Quick Man flashed his brilliant grin. He put the picture atop a paper file and took several steps closer to Dr. Cain, standing just behind him at the exact, irritating angle to make the losing doctor as uncomfortable as possible. "He sure looks like he could use a friend."
Cain rolled his eyes, gritting his teeth as if he were the picture perfect definition of frustration. "Look, Wily, you have to know what you're interfering with! This is my most brilliant plan ever! I've spent months working on this, and you can't stand in the way of what I've done! You just can't! Look here, at these papers all over my desk. These illustrate my plans for the destruction of earth's sentient machines and even provided a ten year plan for economic recovery! Look at all this work I've done! The earth will recover from all this robot nonsense!"
As Dr. Cain spoke, Dr. Wily sauntered on behind the desk, sitting himself in Dr. Cain's chair as patiently as you please. He listened to Cain's words without reaction. He merely slumped into the chair with abrupt, casual attention. As Dr. Cain finished his words, desperately clinging to the papers on his desk, Dr. Wily cleared his throat. A moment later, two thunks sounded as Wily calmly lifted each of his booted feet and plopped them on the desk, right atop all of the paperwork.
"Erk!' Dr. Cain startled. "Hey, wait, what are you doing? All of this is valuable information!"
Dr. Wily lazily directed his head over to his robots. "This guy just doesn't get it. Crash Man, help me out here."
"Ha ha! Okay!"
The bomb robot scooted another chair next to his master, sitting down next to him. His legs went up next, joining Dr. Wily's on the desk.
"Oh, I got some grass stuck in my foot armor." Crash Man noticed. "Well, I'll just get that off..."
Crash Man lifted his foot and smacked it back down repeatedly on the desk, not only denting the desk and wrinkling up the plans, but also getting green and black smudges all over the blueprints for some machine none of the robots cared about. They snickered together, creating a fitting ambiance for Dr. Cain's ever reddening face.
"Stop it! I can't believe what you're doing to my work!" Dr. Cain was ready to pull his hair out. "You don't understand all that I've done to ensure humanity's safe transition back into a robot free society! I beg of you, stop this at once!"
"Wow. I can't believe it. He still doesn't get it." Wily pulled down his legs, contentedly glorying in his dominance - in other words, he quite enjoyed Dr. Cain's groveling. "Wood Man, perhaps you had better make sure that my point is perfectly clear."
Crash Man followed Wily's example and pulled his legs off of the desk. Just in time too. Wood Man shoved Dr. Cain aside and lifted his huge fists. They banged into the wooden desk with noise and violence, pounding fist after fist into the actually very nice desk. It wasn't a cheap desk, but one of those nice ones with the thick plank construction. Too bad it ended up being smashed in half, with its middle shredded to splinters and the sides leaning in. The papers on it were smashed and scattered all over the floor, leaving nothing for Dr. Cain to do but stare at it with a face drained of blood.
"Let me make myself very clear." Done playing around, Wily's tone got serious. He got out from behind the decimated desk and began to circle Dr. Cain. "I am entirely in charge of this situation. None of your plans matter. Do you really think that I'm here to make humanity better? They won't get anything from me but destruction! It's my plan to make absolutely certain that they remember the name of Albert Wily, and fear!"
Cain started to shudder. It was beginning to dawn on him exactly how much trouble he was in. Wily wasn't like others. He had no sense of rationality or concern for people. Before this, Nikola would have said he knew that already, only now it was so much more real. The wrinkled, despicable face of the old man was without mercy, and for someone that generally associated age with old fashioned naiivety or senility, this revelation was frightening to deal with. Dr. Wily was completely insane.
That's what comes of having only robots for company!
"You're lucky, Cain." Wily grinned in a not at all friendly manner. "I could use your help. If you're good, you'll get through this alive. Just do some programming for me. This base you have here is just perfect, too. You won't even be able to think about escaping this cave. Remember, Cain, you're helpful, but I can get by without you. Just don't act like a fool, and you'll see the other side. Quick Man will watch and make sure that you remember this. Right, Quick Man?"
"Sure." Quick Man's grins were never comforting, and Cain shuddered once more. "I'll protect him from his stupidity! See how nice I am, Dr. Cain?"
Dr. Cain managed the courage to scowl at the red and yellow robot. Algorhythm Man neared his creator. He didn't like where this situation was going and he didn't know how to get his master out of it, but he was at least going to support his master in the nice but meaningless gesture of standing beside him.
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Author's Notes:
- Sorry that this chapter is a day late. I'm thinking of moving the update day to Saturday anyway, but you'll hear more about that later.
- It's actually Signal Man's idea that Frantic Man can't talk, not Cain's.
- Gwenchannulkoheyo means "it will be okay".
Character profiles!
=====Wood Man
"Enjoy the marvels of nature!"
Good point: Naturalist
Bad point: Touchy disposition
Like: Mountaineering
Dislike: Harm to nature.
Y'know, one of the things I never got about Wood Man is why a lot of people are crazy about his theme. I mean, it's a good tune, but it seems over hyped to me. I dunno.
Anyway, Wood Man was created by Wily for the same reason his other Team 2 robots: to prove that he had more skill than Dr. Light. He wanted to see if he could make a robot made entirely out of wood, just to spite common science and prove it could be done. Well, not only could it be done, but Wood Man actually turned out to be a magnificent fighter. His leaf shield proved to be very strong, and his attack tripped up fighters very well. Wood Man recieved some mild teasing in his earliest years for his unusual construction, but the building of Team 5 later on pretty much erased this, and it wasn't that bad in the first place.
Wood Man is very loyal to Wily. He's fairly sensitive, and sometimes the slightest wrong word can set him off. He's completely intolerant of those that don't serve Wily well, and tends to get angry if other robots needlessly cut down trees or stomp on woodland creatures. However, he's not angry all the time. He has about the disposition of a Highland middle-aged man, and if he were human, he'd probably be a drinker. He's reasonable most of the time, but most robots, particularly the ones weaker than him, try to avoid getting on his nerves.
===== Flash Man
"Stop in the name of love!"
Good point: Kind to subordinates
Bad point: Whiner
Like: Camera
Dislike: Commercials for wigs
I can't get over how cheesy that quote is. Actually, I can't get over his data. I put the Japanese data up here, because I just wasn't going to bother with the english. They actually put "miseryguts" rather than "whiner". How in the world is "miseryguts" more coherent? On the plus side, I know have a new insult. :D Proto Lawrence, don't be such a miseryguts. Oops, I mean RedAxl. ;) Oh, and by the way, the only classic games I consider strictly canon are Mega Mans 1-8 and Mega Man and Bass. Game boy games, Powered Up, etc don't count as far as the main story goes. Whoops, we're talking about Flash Man now...
Flash Man really enjoys working for Wily. He enjoys being the first time freezing robot, and he's very happy working with any of Wily's servants to get something done. Whenever Quick Man wants to split up Team 2, he generally puts Flash Man in charge of the other half. Flash Man very much loves serving Wily, and constantly volunteers himself and his team to do things - much to the chagrin of his team.
Flash Man, after his defeat, was one of the first robots to enter the newly built robot museum completed shortly before MM3. He was broken out by an impatient Wily later on so that he could use Flash Man to show his captive Dr. Cossack how to create a time freezing robot when Dr. Cossack attempted to delay finishing Bright Man. Flash Man, however, was incomplete at this point, and wasn't fully restored until MM8 when Wily started playing around with evil energy. Flash Man wasn't finished in time before Duo and Mega Man destroyed the evil energy, but he was still completed eventually and continued to serve Wily.
Flash Man narrowly escaped being a servant of Dr. Cain by using his time stopping ability to freeze some already captured robots from taking him over. He was one of the last robots to find the rest of his team, and together they engineered Wily's escape from prison.