Mega Man was never one to give up. He had to find out where Crystal Bot had gone. Monstropolis was a big city, but even then he knew his way around it. He also knew Crystal Bot's last intentions, or at least the ones she told to Auto: she had gone to find some parts for Dub. Mega Man knew that most of the machine shops in Monstropolis would be shut down from the lack of supplies coming into the city, but there were still a few places to go where functioning parts could be aquired, if they weren't too large or complicated.
So the blue bomber knew exactly where he was going when he flew over the city on Rush jet. Normally he talked to Rush as they flew together, but today he was entirely silent. Over the past months he'd done a lot of worrying about his sister, and today was so much worse. He'd hoped that maybe Roll wasn't with Crystal Bot. Maybe she had just left the house without telling him. She could have been visiting a neighbor or taking a walk...without answering a transmission, for some reason. At any moment since her disappearance he'd hoped that she would randomly appear back at the lab safe and sound, or he would hear her voice through the radio waves telling him that she had just gone to the store.
He wasn't that naiive. Mega Man inwardly knew that Roll was in horrible danger, probably Crystal Bot's captive. As much as Bass doubted Crystal Bot's capacity to be evil, Mega Man wasn't in the place to doubt it. Rock very much wanted Sonata to become a good guy and be a happy technician, but she was now like any other enemy to him. If she was endangering Monstropolis, she would be dealt with.
Mega Man directed Rush over to Greenwood Drive. It was a street near the edge of Monstropolis, away from the taller buildings and the more crowded roads. The northeast side of Monstropolis was hardly rural, but it did give Mega Man the sense of relaxation from crowded city design. There were more homes and less apartments; more owner-run stores and less shopping complexes.
One of these old shops was run by Mr. Albert Redford, an older gentleman who had been in Monstropolis since day one of Dr. Wily's obsession with destroying it. He was a good storekeeper, but a fairly strict one to his employees. He ended up being called "Wily" himself, as no one ever let it pass he had the same name as the villain. Maybe if he was as sweet as pie people would forget about it, but as long as he kept going down the areas of his store going "sweep that floor", "don't get grease all over the walls", and "we're overstocked on data cards so sell 30 today", then he was going to be called Old Man Wily for the rest of his life. It didn't help that Redford was himself a robot engineer that preferred working on his stock himself, so he was perpetually disheveled. This included his hair: wild, grey, and balding. It got to the point where he kept it in a ponytail just to stop people from pointing out the resemblance.
Mega Man spied out Redford's shop in the distance. He actually liked it very much. It was in one of those old buildings with the metal walls that nobody built nowadays, making the place look sort of like a 1960's warehouse. Structurally speaking, it was perfectly boring. Just a giant, grey metal rectangle. However, the grass around it was green, the parking lot freshly paved, and bright red letters painted right on the wall, announcing "REDFORD ROBOT SHOP: HOURS 10 TO 10 MONDAY-SATURDAY 2 TO 10 SUNDAY". Those hours hadn't changed in thirty years.
Rock made Rush land in the parking lot. After Rush changed back into dog form, Mega Man gave him a pat on the head.
"You stay outside and keep an eye out for something suspicious, okay, boy? I don't think we're being followed but I don't want to take a chance."
"Woof!" Rush wagged his tail.
Mega Man managed a little smile for his pet, but it faded as soon as he went through the big, already open metal door. It was the sort that opened just like a garage, so all Redford had to do to open was push the buttons at the control panel. The interior of the shop was much like the outer: it gave the shopper a sense of the old timey general store experience. The back of the shop was a separate room, but since the double doors to it were perpetually open, anyone could see metal arms moving, sparks flying, and the mechanical workers moving things back and forth. As for this half of the building, it dealt with the more fragile components of robots: chips, datacards, and some standardization software that made programs compatible with most robots. These were meant to be set up on the walls and cover the register counter over to the left. The center of the room held the armors, incomplete weapon arms (buster generators were locked up elsewhere), structural supports, and even a set of robotic faces on the wall to the right.
However, Mega knew this from memory. As it was now, the shelves and counters were mostly empty, besides a couple armors and a few specialized tools. What little there was left was being looked over by a few people from town, but with the drop in shipments Mega Man guessed that what little stock was left would be gone at the end of the week, if shipping didn't get reorganized and sent into town soon.
"Well hey there, Mega Man." a petite, freckled girl called out from behind the counter. "I ain't got much left out here, but if we've got what you're looking for, I'll try and get it for you."
"Hi, Holly." The blue bomber approached the counter. "Actually, I'm looking for Mr. Redford. Do you know where he is?"
"Sure. He's working. I'll go get him."
Holly casually got out from behind the counter. She was a sweet high school girl, a junior from South Carolina, who spent her afternoons picking up some cash for college working for him. As always, she was dressed to cute perfection in her green, frilly blouse and tan capris, and yet somehow she still fit in with the masculine greasemonkey look of the place. Holly was to this place as lemonade was to old, dusty front porches with rocking chairs.
"Hey Old Man!" Holly hollered through the door to the back. "You got someone lookin' for you!"
"What?" Redford's cantankerous voice came through above all the noise of the workshop. "Give me a minute!"
Holly, content that her work was done, went on back behind the counter. Before she reached it, the long legged strides of Albert Redford were already carrying him out into the store. He was a strong man, and rightly so. He had been putting machines together since the only "robots" that existed were Microsoft computers. Whatever he was doing that day, he sure was dirty. Redford wiped his hands on an already pitifully oil-blackened rag as he approached.
"Hey there, Mega Man." it wasn't hard to guess who wanted him. "What can I get for you? I'm afraid that stock isn't great right now."
"That's okay." the cute hero-bot said. "I just wanted to talk to you about something. You know a robot named Crystal Bot, right?"
"Sure I do." the human nodded. "She called me the other day from Russia wanting a part for a mechaniloid of hers. Said she was going to be here in Monstropolis soon, but I haven't seen hide or hair of her since, except when I called to tell her the part was in. This was before everything went haywire, mind you. Managed to get here in time." Redford stuffed his rag down an overall pocket. "You here to pick it up? I'm surprised she hasn't shown up yet."
"Well, you see, that's the problem." Mega Man's voice, though pained, remained steady. His eyes focused on Redford with a sternness that the human didn't understand. "You see, Crystal Bot and Roll are gone. No one knows where they are. Last we knew, Crystal was coming here."
"Sorry, she didn't show up." Redford shrugged. "Maybe she and Roll went somewhere. Doesn't seem like your sister not to tell you, though."
The bomber was quiet a moment, then lifted his eyes once more to change the subject. "You've got a lot of work going on in the back for someone who hasn't been getting the proper shipment of metal in. It's just as noisy as always back there, and shipment of metal is almost null right now."
"You see," Redford said carefully. "I had a lot of metal in storage. I tend to overbuy for emergencies. Always got to be prepared."
"You saved enough to take the contract for replacing all the broken track at the railway?" Rock lifted an eyebrow, cutting into his typical adorable look. "And two dozen cargo cars? Seems like a lot of work for a robotics shop of this size. Those aren't even your only two major contracts. I've done the research. Plus, there are witnesses reporting that you were here at midnight to present to large crates to persons unknown. Now, when exactly over the past three decades has this shop been open to customers later than ten o'clock? You might as well come clean, Mr. Redford. The way I figure it, whoever has been giving you those supplies has something to do with the disappearance of Crystal Bot and my sister. Isn't that right?"
Redford startled. He stammered a bit, trying to find something to say. Finally he stiffened, straightening up and clearing his throat. That got a reaction out of Holly, who had been paying half attention to their converstation. It wasn't as if she had much else to do. Her eyes were almost as wide as Redford's were, at least until he saw her.
"Holly, you go and clean those display shelves while there's no stuff on 'em." Redford added a firm point of his finger at the shelves for emphasis. "Go on."
"Alright, I'm going."
Holly did get out from behind the counter and saunter on out to the shelves - emphasis on saunter. She went on looking at Mega Man and Redford, reluctantly hoping that they would stop watching her go and continue the conversation while she was still in earshot. Mega Man, however, had just enough patience to wait until she gave up and went to get some rags before letting their talk go forward. Once she was gone, he stared at Redford with firm expectancy, waiting for the human to come up with some excuse.
"Now look here." Redford wasn't about to back down, and while he knew he was caught he wasn't going to go as far to say that he was wrong. "Everything I did was to keep my employees here safe. I got to watch out for them. This place'd been a crater long before now if I didn't."
"And it's my job to watch out for Monstropolis." Rock was as steady as his name when he spoke. "It's hard for me to take that someone like you would be involved in illegal activity. If you were in danger, why didn't you tell me?"
It surprised Redford how crushed he felt for disappointing Mega Man. He seemed in pain as he pulled back, cringing at the hero's stern glare. His tongue darted out to lick his lips, something he always did when he was nervous.
"It's like this, Mega Man," Redford attempted to explain. "Y'see, I've been in this town ever since my dad pulled us out of North Carolina, and I've seen us been blowed up so many times that it's a wonder we're still standing. I admit I'd made a good livin' off of building robots, but...well, if there's going to be a villain running around these parts, I'd a million times rather it'd be Nikola Cain rather than Albert Wily. Cain at least thinks he's helping out. Wily doesn't care about anyone but himself."
"Oh, I get it now." Mega Man nodded, folding his arms. "I knew Dr. Cain's mechaniloids had to come from somewhere. He was always just a programmer, and he wouldn't have the ability to produce robots on his own. So that's why you're the only mechanic in Monstropolis that has what it needs to keep running: Cain makes sure that you do. Nice trick for you to leave your shelves empty so no one would be suspicious."
He was shorter than Redford but that didn't stop him from making the human feel completely guilty. He winced like a child being scolded for hitting a dog.
"Look, I didn't exactly volunteer to work for Cain." Redford rubbed his neck, and if he kept it up the skin there would be completely raw. "He showed up at my shop last year with these eight robots, and he says if I don't start building for him then he's destoying everything I got. He even wrecked my guard-bot with one of his fancy viruses. He called me up because he heard that Crystal Bot was looking for him, and he wanted me to lure her here so that he could deal with her. I couldn't resist without putting my workers in danger. There was nothing I could do about it."
"You mean besides tell me?" Mega Man's frown deepened, and the restrained anger on his face was enough to bring sorrow to any heart with the worry that they had been the one to offend him. "You at least could have mentioned something while he was in prison. Or were you afraid that the law would interfere with your life? Well, there's no getting past it this time. I'm really sorry, Redford, but I've already contacted the police."
The old man paled, lost in a world of horror. To a person like him, it was the worst thing in the world for the law to suddenly appear and let everyone in his shop know exactly what he had done.
"Don't worry too much." Mega Man said quietly, shifting a bit as he departed from his stern mannerisms. "I want to do everything I can to find out what happened to my sister. I'm going to take you downtown, and on the way you can tell me everything you know about Dr. Cain's whereabouts. Even if you don't know for sure, any information can help."
"I'm really sorry, I don't know." Redford answered, completely honest. "His robots just show up here with supplies and demands."
Mega Man sighed. Already he had so much worrying to do, and not knowing where his sister was killed him on the inside. He had sworn to protect his family after Dr. Light died, and now here he was trying to find his missing sister. That never happened while Dr. Light was alive; he had screwed up somewhere.
"That's...fine for now." the robot finally said. "Let's just go. I'll signal for the police to come and protect your shop. Dr. Cain's robots will probably show up again at some point, and we won't let him do any more damage to Monstropolis, here or otherwise."
-t-
"This is just amazing..." Epic Man told his brother. "We finally get to work with Dr. Wily! And he even says he'll upgrade us! For once we're going to have a real plan, with real destruction!"
"I don't know why you like him so much." Algorhythm Man replied, sneering at Epic Man. "Here we are just hauling supplies for him like a slave."
And so they were. They bore in their arms bins of machine parts; Wily had taken one look at their mechaniloids and refused to work with them. That meant that all the robots would be working as hard as possible to get a good invasion force going. It was only a few hours since Wily's arrival, and he had fully taken over the arrangements of the base. Quick Man and Crash Man took over watching for outsiders, and now all the others, especially the Cain-bots, were doing all the grunt work.
"Did Cain treat us any better?" Epic Man was so scornful he wanted to spit. "Now at least we know we're going to be kept around. Did you really think Cain would let us live after he destroyed all the rest of the robots?"
"The master wouldn't do that to us." Algorhythm shook his head, stubbornly walking a little faster. "He would let us live after we worked so hard for him. It's better at least than working for an insane man."
"Don't be such an idiot. Cain never cared about us. We could all be killed by Mega Man and all he would do is complain that he lost his help." Epic snorted in disdain, but after a bit managed a smug smile. "Ha, you're that daring then? You know Shadow Man is following us right at this moment. I don't suppose he'd like you backtalking his creator."
"Bah, let him hear. It's not as if I could disobey Wily now. I'll say what I like if I can't do anything else. I do wish he'd let me stay with Dr. Cain. I don't like him being guarded by Heat Man."
"Ah yes," Epic Man oozed sarcasm. "Because Wily cares ever so much about his enemies. Come on, here's the lab, so at least don't talk that way in front of Dr. Wily. He is my hero, you know. A remarkable champion for a robot's rights!"
Dr. Cain's main lab was much like his communications room: a large, stone space with an arched roof. This building was larger and shaped more like a rectangle with rounded ends, but the metal supports going into the roof showed that it was generally constructed the same way. Crystal Bot wasn't sure she liked this lab. Dr. Cain didn't have a single automated machine in the place. That meant that tedious, generic work that had to be done on any particular robot had to be done herself, and she couldn't focus on more interesting tasks.
She supposed she should be grateful. The lab did have several repair tables in the center, as well as two wall computers fifteen feet and ten feet long each. The larger one was on the north wall, and it had the lab's viewscreen. The smaller one was shorter because it was on the wall that had a door in it, leading into a storage room.
"Bah, Grandpa." Crystal Bot huffed as she went off to the main computer to push some buttons, leaving a half-armored Zero behind at her repair table. "This lab isn't efficient at all. I can't work in a place like this."
"Don't say that, sweetheart." Wily said from the next repair table over, where he worked on hacking into Roll. "You're simply used to the best. You've been at Light's, Cossack's, and of course my labs. You never had the chance to realize how much superior we are to low-grade fools like Cain."
"Can you please wait until I'm out of the room to insult my intelligence?"
Dr. Cain was still in the lab, working at the larger of the control panels. His fingers didn't stop typing even as he turned to give Dr. Wily his nastiest glare. He wasn't too afraid to spite Wily with his words, but he was afraid to stop working. Heat Man was starting to look eager to spit flames, and his eye was getting twitchy. Cain had the feeling that Wily would let his robot attack, so he would program those viruses just as he was told.
"Hm, what was that?" Wily looked around himself in pretend confusion. "Crystal Bot, did you hear something?"
"Nope! Sure didn't!" she giggled, going back to her repair table. "You must be hearing things."
Algorhythm Man tried his hardest to keep his ugly scowl under control as he and his brother entered, though he did let Crystal bear the brunt of some of it while she passed him by. They approached Dr. Wily with their loads. Algorhythm Man refused to get too close to the evil doctor, but Epic Man was of the opposite spirit. He could hardly contain his great big grin, and he approached the doctor very merrily.
"Dr. Wily, we've brought what you told us." he said. "What do you want us to do with this?"
"Go to them and have them show you the right way to build a non-sentient robot." Wily pointed at the repair tables further down the room, where several other robots worked. "I want to produce at least one hundred and fifty by tomorrow, and we're not relying on some transplanted redneck for them. Redford? Bah! Get to it."
"Right away!"
Epic Man went off with his box, not at all disheartened by the menial labor ahead of him. Algorhythm Man groaned as he tagged along.
" - Suck up. - "
" - Oh, shut your face, little brother. - "
Epic Man wasn't disheartened by Algorhythm Man at all. He reached the other robots first, then promptly, and teasingly, punched Algorhythm Man in the arm.
"Stop. You'll get me in trouble in front of your hero."
"Oh, stop your whining and give me that box." Epic Man laughed. "Now, Sight Man, how are those mechaniloids coming?"
Sight Man had been pulled from the base's outer security, mostly because Wily wasn't sure how much he trusted one of the Cain-bots as a guard. The black, metal ant was standing over this repair table, where the scattered pieces of some sort of flying mechaniloid were stretched out before him. A stack of the completed tellies lay at the base of the table, representing how much he managed to complete while Epic Man was running around.
"This is harder than it looks." Sight Man lifted a screwdriver and started to fiddle with a tellie's frame. "Bah, I can't stand doing construction when my real forte is fighting."
"Don't you mention Forte to me." A sour Algorthythm Man joined Epic Man at a repair table and started to sort out the contents of the boxes they brought in. "I should have killed him long ago. I swear, Wily must have modeled Bass after himself. I can very easily see the similarities between the two bastards."
"Stop saying stuff like that." Bubble Man let his eyes wander with worry over toward the other side of the lab. "Wily might hear you. He can't stand Bass. Don't compare them if you want to live. Speaking of which, let me show you how to build these. We've got two other types of mechaniloids to get to work on, and if we don't have a suitable force by the end of the week, Wily won't be happy. He's not a patient guy."
Algorhythm Man blinked, his mouth forming a line as he turned to his brother and spoke in a completely flat voice. "Yes, I see very clearly why you love Dr. Wily so much. He is a great and magnanimous master with all the wisdom of an ancient sage."
Epic Man grinned. "Yes, indeed. So true. Pity you never recognised evil as an art form. Now Bubble Man, how exactly do we install these propulsion systems?"
Wily wasn't listening to their converstation, fortunately for them. He did let his eyes go up from his (Cain's) handheld computer and his work on Roll to glance at them with the suspicion that they weren't working quite as hard as he wanted them to. They were working, and besides the four robots mentioned above, Wood, Metal, Bullet, Signal, Psycho, and Frantic Man were all rushing to make enough mechaniloids to keep their master happy. A steady, growing pile of non-sentient machines was below at their feet, so many in fact that Frantic and Wood Man were assigned to start hauling them off to store elsewhere.
"Okay, I got all his armor back on, Grandpa." Crystal Bot tapped on Zero's shoulder with his screwdriver, producing an absolutely perfect ping just as it should.
"Why exactly did you take it off in the first place?" Wily asked, looking up from his handheld. "Being my spy and all."
She giggled, smiling in a way that would be accompanied by a blush were she human. "Come on, this is the best robot you ever built, and you expect me not to be curious? Aw, he's so cool! Please tell me he's ready to go! Aw, I wanna see him fight stuff! Please?"
"Haha, be patient. We'll get to him soon enough." Dr. Wily said. "We're saving him for last. First we're going to need to prepare a distraction, so that the peoples of this world will have no clue what is about to happen to them! Bah. It would be much easier if Roll here was being more cooperative."
The wild-haired old man gritted his teeth at Roll, as if growling at her would remove the security in her head and make her give up all the secrets of Light Laboratories. Crystal Bot quickly rushed to his side.
"Oops! I almost forgot to tell you." she took the handheld computer from Dr. Wily. "I didn't remove all the stuff I put on Roll's head yet. I didn't want Dr. Loser over there to find out anything." she scowled mockingly in his direction before returning to the datapad. "That, and the file doesn't really work right. It's supposed to repress her goodie-goodie A.I., but well, you know I'm no good at artificial intelligence. Here, lemme show you what I did. It's this file here...and...bingo!"
With the pressing of several buttons in sequence, the blonde girl's eyes opened. For a moment, she simply groaned and blinked. Seconds later, she was screaming her head off. The robots over at the far side of the room stared, frozen and not focusing at all on their construction. Dr. Cain turned back in his chair, a foul aura about him.
"For the love of something you care about," Cain hissed. "If you're going to make me work for you, at least shut that piece of junk up."
"You shut up!" Wily yelled, starting to turn red. He glared over at the now very distracted robots on the far side of the lab. "And you over there, get back to work!"
"Eek, Roll, stop it! Bad girl!" Crystal Bot turned and called out, "Dub!"
The green spider-bot was formerly engaged in getting more bolts for the mechaniloids, but at that call he dropped everything. His long legs had him across the room in three strides, and in seconds Roll was bound by his metal arms. One claw clamped down on her face, but it wasn't really necessary. The sudden sensation of being held down sent Roll into shock, and she stopped, whimpering a little.
"I see..." Dr. Wily thought, still miffed a bit, but calming down. Opportunities to show off his technological superiority had that effect on him. "I know what you did wrong. you were trying too hard to repress normal A.I. functions. That doesn't stop me from hacking into her, it just stops her from being conscious."
"Jongmal-ehyo?" Crystal Bot stared at Roll more or less like she was a broken computer. "Oops."
"What are you talking about?" Cain still wasn't minding his own business. "It was giving me trouble!"
Wily's eyes widened, and he nodded in a way that was fairly reminiscent of a kindergarten teacher affirming that his student's scribble did indeed look like a duck - only it it didn't really. Wily smiled with restrained laughter, just enough to make Dr. Cain squirm in his seat.
"Are you sure you want to admit that?" Wily said. "Don't let me interrupt your programming. Heat Man, if our gracious host turns anywhere from that computer screen for the next two hours without my permission, then shoot him in the leg. He doesn't need legs to program."
Dr. Cain immediately snapped around in his chair and settled into his work, letting his ordinarily very quick fingers go even quicker than usual. Drops of sweat appeared on his pale skin; even though he wasn't looking, he could see in his periphery Heat Man's hideous smirk. Of all the Team 2 robots, Heat Man's horrible grin looked the most like his creator's. It was as if they both practiced in the mirror how exactly to look as evil as possible.
"Tee hee." Crystal Bot giggled. "I feel kinda bad for him."
"Don't. He's getting exactly what he deserves." Finally blinking and coming to see Roll as more of a person, Wily leaned forward with question. "Hm. It's been a long time since I was able to work on you, Roll. You've really been upgraded."
Crystal Bot could tell that Wily was curious enough to talk to Roll, so she gestured for Dub to let go of her face. The spider-bot still clung tightly, keeping Roll's arms in check. Seeing as she had no options, Roll relaxed a little, but her brows were still pinched with worry and doubt. She glared several daggers at Crystal Bot before turning her hatred to Wily. Yes indeed, she did hate the man. Though it had been months and a lifetime ago, Roll knew what Wily's goals were, and no matter how much his evil grin shined on her she scowled right on back. She had seen the Maverick virus and knew the future. She wasn't going to be afraid of one old man again...she hoped.
He was the one that made the future horrible. Dr. Wily had created that awful virus, which plagued robots, started wars, and ultimately destroyed the future. One foolish man had done enough to ruin the earth for the simple reason that "they didn't appreciate him". How stupid could he get? The world had no attention span. It got caught up with someone for fifteen minutes, then go tired of them and let them go about their lives. The best people in the world were those that could live and die without craving attention, but accomplishing a good goal that made life not only happier for them, but everyone else. Dr. Light had taught her that, and she wasn't going to forget it.
All of this showed up on her face as clearly as if someone had written it, but unfortunately it was a feast for Dr. Wily, who fed on infamy like a vampire feeds on blood. He was on the edge of a maniacal laugh, but for the moment resisted. As if something was wrong, he glanced at her hesitantly, the gears in his head going around.
"You're not hurt are you?" he asked, with at least some vague concern for her welfare. Perhaps it was some lost partical of concern still floating around from when he had been a friend of Dr. Light. It might have been simple respect for a robot far more complex than anything Dr. Cain could have built, and Roll guessed it was that from his ugly glances in the captive scientist's direction. "Dr. Cain didn't do something weird to you, did he?"
"Oh, don't you do that!" Roll snapped, pulling against her bonds. "Don't you even pretend you're concerned about me, you horrible man! You hate your own robots! You'd let them all die if it meant you could rule the world, you sick freak! I know what you're planning! Oh yes, I know all about Hitenshi Firewall and Armorcore Anti-Virus! You're going to try to kill all the robots that there are except for Zero, just so that you'll be the 'father of the robots'! That's why you wanted Dr. Cain, because you knew he could help you do it!"
As interested as Dr. Cain was in this conversation, his eyes only went as far as Heat Man's face. From the way the lighter-bot was grinning, he knew it was just better to put his eyes right back on that screen and forget he had heard anything. But no, Roll wasn't at all done. She turned with desperation to Crystal Bot, hoping to appeal to whatever good might still be contained in her former friend.
"Sona-chan, please!" she begged. "He's only going to let you live because he wants you to repair Zero! What about Wave Man, and Stone Man and Charge Man, and all the rest? You can't want them to be destroyed! He's even going to kill all the robots that work for him! As soon as they do what he wants, the data-kill virus will disable them and delete their minds! I saw it happen to Gemini Man...it was so horrible...he died right in front of me..."
Roll quieted as she remembered the horror. She whimpered again, squinching together her eyelids as the pain refreshed itself anew. She had been at Kalinka's house, preparing for the arrival of Kalinka's child. That day which had started so marvelously was only one of the first in a long series of terrible atrocities, the first of which was Gemini Man's terrible death as he and his team tried to kidnap or kill Kalinka. Roll had never been sure which.
Dub jumped in, using his spidery legs to trap Gemini Man. Though the robot tried to escape in any direction he could, one of Dub's eight legs was always in his way. Gemini Man made an attempt to jump over the body of Dub, but was caught by the leg and brought to the ground. Before he could do anything about it, Dub had him pinned securely.
"Good job, Dub!" Roll cheered. "Keep him there so that Rock can question him, okay?"
"No!" Gemini Man immediately protested in fear. "You can't do that! Anything but that!"
"What did Algorhythm Man mean when he mentioned war?" Kalinka asked. "What kind of war is it?"
Gemini Man didn't answer. He was hurriedly trying to get Dub's limbs out from around him, but failing. Every time he managed as much as an arm, the spider-bot's claws would snatch it down again. Gemini Man was starting to get frantic.
"Answer her question." Skull Man said, readying his buster.
Gemini Man finally responded, turning to the others in desperation. "Don't do that! Stop it!"
"Stop what?" Mega Man asked.
The Wily-bot turned his head so quickly that Mega Man thought it might snap. "Stop asking me questions! I can't answer them! Now let me go! Or just kill me yourselves! Whichever you prefer!"
This wasn't at all like the Gemini Man they knew. Where was the overly confident, gleaming-smiled robot that didn't even seem to know how to be afraid? Mega Man went closer, despite the terrified gasps of those behind him.
"Please, tell us what's going on-"
"Why did you have to do this to me...WHY?" Gemini Man screamed at all present. "I could have died fighting! I hate you! I hope-"
With a sickening twitch, the screaming stopped, replaced by an agonizing moan. Two more futile thrashings later, there was nothing left. Gemini Man's body fell limp, settling down as gravity tugged his head and limbs to the floor.
As Roll opened her eyes, she noticed Crystal Bot waving at her, trying to get her attention.
"Um, Roll, Gemini Man wasn't killed by a virus. It was the Cain-bots." Crystal turned to the far part of the lab. As hard as they were working, it was difficult for the robots mentioned not to hear what was going on. "Isn't that true, you guys?"
"Yeah." Signal Man spoke up, his nervous eyes flitting toward Wily and silently begging to be forgiven for answering instead of working. "Me and Frantic Man took out him and Sword Man out in the far north part of Russia weeks ago. We didn't use a virus."
If one of Roll's hands were free, she would have facepalmed. How could she forget that all of the robot apocalypse, the Maverick Wars, and discovering the terrible future would be all nonsense to anyone else? It happened in another universe, another world that hadn't yet come. Remembering what she was told, Roll straightened herself. She was going to change all that future and make it better! Granted, she didn't know how, but she would do it anyway! That's the spirit!
"She's been like this since exactly two weeks after Dr. Light died." Crystal explained to Dr. Wily. "She says weird things and her emotional relay is all out of wack. I don't know why. Auto's worked on her like a billion times since then."
Wily didn't immediately answer. He rubbed his chin thoughtfully, staring critically at Roll. She kept resolve set on her face, refusing to show outwardly how nervous she was. The grizzly mad scientist said nothing. He didn't react at all. He only stared at her, letting the gears of his mind turn and turn. Roll knew she had struck a nerve. After all, Roll saw the world where Wily's mad schemes had come true. She knew his tricks already. He leaned forward, getting much closer to Roll than she was comfortable with. She pulled back as far as she could go, but Dub's constraining legs kept her well within an awkward proximity of Wily's face.
"How much of this does Mega Man know?"
"Everything!" Roll blurted out. "He knows all your plans!"
Oh no! Why didn't I tell Rock anything? I can't believe how stupid I am! I'm a complete idiot! Why, why, why, WHY?
Was Dr. Wily reading her mind? Instead of being afraid, he was amused. Backing away, he chuckled a little. It was a dark chuckle. Oh, he was mad. Roll hadn't forgotten his subtleties (of which the blunt man had few), though it was years since she had last seen Dr. Wily in person. He was mad. Amused, yes, but very, very mad. Crystal Bot noticed the reactions of both people, but said nothing. She just looked back and forth from one face to another, not letting anything but her eyes move as she waited patiently. She was very used to working with Dr. Wily.
"You're still a terrible liar, Roll." he said. "Weakling. Your brother doesn't know anything. You don't know anything. How could you? You're a simple housekeeper with no real part in anything that's happened in the past forty years. Now that Dr. Light is dead, you have no purpose at all. You're making all this up just to seem important."
It was as if the man was schooled well in How To Make Roll as Pissed Off and Hurt as Possible 101. As much as she tried to look fierce and unafraid, she couldn't fight back her simulated grief. Were she human, hot tears would be streaking down her face. As it was, that was the only thing missing from her picture of sadness. She started shaking and glitching. She looked again at Crystal Bot for support, but there was no reaction.
"Horrible...I hate you..."
Neither Wily or his "granddaughter" was sure which one of them she meant, but neither one reacted in shame. Dr. Wily just rolled his eyes. Crystal folded her arms in annoyance.
"Grandpa, she's really bugging me. Can I reprogram her now? I think I know what I did wrong with it."
Dr. Wily chortled. "Hack into her first. I want as much data as possible. Focus on anything you can find about Light Laboratories, and see if you can find out what the hell she was saying about Gemini Man. I'll check on Zero. I hope Dr. Cain was smart enough not to put anything on Zero's CPU..."
Though Wily's hateful look was wasted on his prisoner, who didn't dare look away from his programming, the threatening growl of Wily's voice was enough to make him shudder. Crystal Bot, however, giggled at this.
"Ha, don't worry about him." she said as she gleefully neared Roll, swinging about a screwdriver to taunt her. "He didn't even get past Zero's outermost security. I checked."
"Good."
Wily said that word with finality. Crystal Bot knew that meant he was going into "I'm programming now so leave me alone" status. Smiling, she reached over to Roll to shut her down.
"Sona-chan, please!" Roll begged. "You can't listen to him! If he wins he'll kill everyone and destroy the earth and eventually be responsible for the death of humanity!"
"Poor Roll." Crystal Bot turned her head to the side, looking at Roll with the sort of disdainful pity that would make anyone angry. "You're really losing it aren't you? Especially since you seem to think I'm your friend. I did warn you once, Roll. And I'll feel even sorrier for you if you dare call me by that stupid name Forte gave me. Now be a good girl and shut up."
With that, Crystal reached over and shut Roll down, merrily going back to the handheld computer still stuck in Roll's neck. She began to quietly hack and program, and the room was filled with only the sounds of tapping keyboards, computer processing, and the tools and quiet conversation of the numbered robots. Poor Heat Man was looking bored, but he knew if he asked one of his Team 2 members for something to do he'd be yelled at and told to keep his attention on Dr. Cain. Out of boredom, he actually looked at what Dr. Cain was doing. Like always, most of the programming was nothing but letters and symbols in a pattern that he didn't understand.
At the bottom of the computer screen was a panel, and a little red light was going off. Curious, Heat Man glanced over at Cain's face. The human seemed to be ignoring it, focusing completely on his work; whatever he was programming, it was taking up a lot of his mental powers. He was hesistant to interrupt Dr. Cain, knowing how much Wily hated delays. But figuring that he would get in more trouble for not being cautious, Heat Man poked Dr. Cain in the shoulder.
"Hey you." he said, pointing at the screen. "What does that mean?"
"That?" Cain replied a little too innocently. "That just means I guessed wrong. That's all."
"Guessed wrong about what?" Heat Man had a feeling he might need to use his fire power. "Programming?"
"More or less. You wouldn't understand. It's very complex."
"I'll bet I can understand."
Wily appeared almost from nowhere, shoving aside Dr. Cain so that he flew out of his chair on the ground. Heat Man was quick to swing around and grab Dr. Cain, of course staying as far out of Wily's way as possible. The grumpy old scientist bent over the controls, shrinking the programming panel only to find out that there was a long distant security breach a half mile out.
"There's nothing in this area!" Wily screamed. "People wouldn't come here unless they had a specific reason to! Someone knows where we are!"
Wily immediately snapped about, directing his hateful wrath at Dr. Cain. He grabbed Dr. Cain's collar and snatched him out of Heat Man's grip, bringing him close in (poor Dr. Cain had to put up with Wily's old man breath) as he growled.
"What did you mean, you guessed wrong?" Wily hissed. "Tell me!"
"Ha, if you had let Algorhythm Man stay on security, you might have noticed them sooner." Dr. Cain grinned, ruffled but not completely undone. "No, your stupid Shadow and Metal Men have no extensive scanners. Haha, you should have trusted the superiority of my robots!"
Epic Man sent a nasty look at Algorhythm Man. " - Why didn't you volunteer to use your scanners? - "
" - He told me to haul things. - " Algorhythm Man shrugged. " - I was just doing what I was told- - "
Epic Man didn't take any excuse from his brother, least of all this one. He snatched up Algorhythm by the arm and shoved him toward the door.
"You stop this crap at once and go tell Metal Man and Shadow Man what's going on. Go!"
The orange and neon robot winced. His brother's face had never been uglier, but he didn't have time to wait and observe it. He just had to run off like Epic Man said, though he didn't do it without giving a grand grimace himself.
Dr. Cain was likewise tormented. It was hard to keep talking with Wily shaking him about the neck. It would have been hard to hear what Wily was saying also, only the way he was screaming the other robots were sure that he could be heard as far as Osaka.
"You tell me what's going on, NOW, Cain!"
Wily stopped shaking the victimized doctor long enough for him to grin mockingly and glance to the side. "Do I really have to say it? Can the great and powerful Wily really not figure it out?" Here Cain's wicked glance turned to Crystal Bot and he grinned. "It turns out she wasn't your spy."
Dr. Wily snapped his head around (he would have a sore neck in the morning) to see that four of Dub's legs had pulled themselves from around Roll. They carried Dub and his prisoner, and were halfway out the door when Dr. Wily spotted them. Crystal Bot, however, stood stock still. Wily's evil eyes darted over to her next, and there was not a drop of mercy in them. Dr. Cain fell out of his grasp, thudding to the floor.
Perhaps a more clever person could have lied away the trouble, but Crystal's eyes gave her away at once. Her shivering alone would have done the job. She didn't bother to speak, and made no whimpering attempt at making an excuse. Nor would Wily accept one. It was far too late for that; Crystal Bot had betrayed him again. Fearing for her life, Crystal shot out the door like a bullet, leaving behind only four crystal eyes to bounce around the room and cause whatever trouble random orbs could.
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Author's Notes:
- Hey guys, I really owe you an apology. Through lots of personal madness, I didn't post my last update. One, I was moving, two, I found out that I had to extensively edit the tail end of it, and three, I was getting ready to travel. Travel to where? Where else? China! Had a lot of fun these past two weeks. Anywho, I'm back now and recovering from jet lag, so hopefully I can get these chapters more into order. Unfortunately, the next chapter is going to require more editing, but I plan to have it up at about next Friday or Saturday. It shouldn't take me too long. Honestly, I really hate to end the chapter at this point, but I'd like you guys to at least be able to read something of mine after this wait.
- I'm kinda sad I made Redford a baddie. I like him.
- A tellie is one of those endlessly homing at you bad guys that appear several times in Mega Man classic, just in case you haven't played those games. These baddies are kinda shaped like flying metal cans.
=====Heat Man
"Wait a minute...I'll get ignited!"
Good point: Living
Bad point: Burned out
Likes: Barbecue
Dislikes: Ice cream
Dislikes ice cream? Blasphemy! I really don't get his good point. Living? The Japanese data doesn't help, as it only says "my pace" instead, which is arguably more confusing.
Heat Man was one of Dr. Wily's favorite robots. He was built after MM1 to be a better version of Fire Man. In this Wily succeeded, and Wily was most proud of Heat Man's cruising teleport, in which he traveled as a beam of fire.
Heat Man was never very motivated, as his high temperatures can tire him out easily. However, the rest of the group is proud to have him, and he, like the rest, is reputed as one of the most powerful robots Wily ever created. His main torment in the public eye is being seen as "cute". His round cheeks, smaller build, and cigarette lighter shape almost always leaves those he meets with an underwhelming first impression, leaving Heat Man little choice but to start up his flames and start contradicting that notion as soon as possible.
After the robot museum was properly outfitted during MM3, Heat Man became one of the prime features of the place and stayed there until MM7, when he made his escape.
Over time he noticed that Wily was starting to lose his appreciation for Team 2. As powerful and intelligent as this group of robots was, Wily's sentiments only went so far. That, and Wily was always focused on the newest, biggest idea he had in his head. He didn't have time for projects "that couldn't help him defeat Mega Man". Heat Man mentioned this to the rest of the team, and they all agreed together that they were going to prove their worth to Dr. Wily by breaking into a science convention and stealing technology shortly after the failure of the MM10 scheme. This effort mostly failed, as all were captured and put into the the robot museum for their crimes. Their primary goal was, however, to impress Wily, and this they sort of did; as all the confusion was taking place in the attacked convention hall, Wily brought the Skull Capsule in to snatch some technology from the attending scientists.
Team 2 was freed from the museum during the events of Okkusenman, and since the last Skull Castle was destroyed, Team 2 gathered together, avoiding both capture by Mega Man and slavery to Dr. Cain. They worked constantly on plans to free their master from prison, but were only successful when Wily was transferred to different and more secure facilities. The irony was that the greater security made Team 2's plans easier, as it kept Wily more in solitude.
=====Toad Man
"After rain comes, destruction!"
Good point: Natural science
Bad point: Tone deaf
Likes: Long jump
Dislikes: Snake Man
I really like Toad Man. He's cute.
Anyway, Toad Man is of course a Cossack-bot. He, along with Bright, Dive, and Dust Man, was began by Dr. Cossack to benefit his household. As a biologist, Dr. Cossack wanted to make sure that his plants were well taken care of, and that was to be Toad Man's directive. Dr. Wily kidnapped Kalinka before he could finish, however, and Toad Man became evil temporarily as a part of the MM4 scheme. His rain became acid rain, and he was shoved off to the sewers.
Toad Man hated those sewers. He didn't like the mice in them, and he certainly didn't like that Snake Man kept creeping around before Mega Man got there. Thankfully, Dr. Wily found out and told Snake Man to stay away; this scheme was supposed to frame Dr. Cossack and he couldn't risk letting Mega Man see a Wily-bot.
Toad Man, however, was clearly not intended to be a fighter robot, as his fight with Mega Man proves beyond all doubt. Dr. Cossack was rushed through the construction of his eight robot masters, leaving Toad Man, the last one to be finished, with an extreme lack in ability. To make it even worse, some of the technology Dr. Wily used messed up Toad Man's battle A.I. and made it automatically reset every time he was shot.
Team 4's first stop after being defeated was the robot museum in Monstropolis. Dr. Cossack immediately protested this. Toad Man was among the first five he managed to get free from the museum's control through much aggravation and legal procedures. Pharoah Man, Skull Man, and Ring Man were the ones still legally in trouble, as Pharoah Man was the leader and Skull and Ring Man were Wily's ideas. They remained in museum custody until after MM7, and Toad Man did the best he could to earn money for Dr. Cossack so that the lawyers could get paid and the last three robots could return home.
The amphibian robot was very much delighted to be free from Dr. Wily, and does not look back on his evil days with any sort of sentimentality. He loves being away from the sewers, and he absolutely loves having gorgeous greenhouses full of flowers and plants while there's snow on the ground outside. He's a vital part of all of Dr. Cossack's experiments in biology. He gets along best with the three robots began at the same time as him, though since Dive Man is usually out of the lab and Dust Man is always in the junkyard, he talks mostly to Bright Man. He's a little afraid of Skull Man, but he's (mostly) sure that Skull Man would never do anything to hurt him.